IBM FileNet P8, Version 5.2.1            

Activity step - deadline

You can specify a time limit for a participant to complete a step. The deadline indicates an amount of time relative to the time that the step was routed to the participant. Optionally, you can specify that the assigned participant receive a reminder of the pending deadline; the reminder is relative to the expiration time of the deadline. You can also define a submap that runs when the deadline or reminder expires.

If the participant does not complete the step within the specified time, an icon displays in front of the step name in the participant's inbox. If the participant selects email notification for deadlines and reminders, an email message is sent when these events occur. A tracker for this workflow can also select email notification for deadlines and reminders.

A workflow deadline is independent of step deadlines. If you are defining both a workflow deadline and deadlines on individual steps, check that the total deadline for all the steps is not greater than the workflow deadline. While there is no consequence of overlapping deadlines, the messages could be confusing.

Important: As with all timers, deadline and reminder timers are not guaranteed to expire at the exact time specified. Content Platform Engine timer processing can vary in accordance with the following factors:
  • The timers that were previously queued
  • The timer processing rate
  • The timer polling rate

To set a deadline, enter values for the Complete within section of the Deadline tab for an Activity step. This section has the following fields:

Radio buttons

Specify the expiration time for the deadline in one of the following ways:

  • Specific value. Select the first option to enter the maximum amount of time for a participant to complete the step. This amount can be entered as a number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks. The default setting, 0, indicates that no deadline is specified.
  • Expression. Select the second option to enter a time expression. An example of an expression is addminutes(systemtime(), deadlineTime) where the data field deadlineTime contains the number of minutes. For help with defining a time expression, click the ellipsis button () to launch the expression builder. Alternatively, click the pencil icon to enter a time expression that is based on an available service-level agreement and work schedule.

Deadline Map

Optional. Select a submap to run when the deadline expires.

To set a reminder, enter values for the Send reminder before deadline section of the Deadline tab for an Activity step. This section has the following fields:

Radio buttons

Specify the expiration time for the reminder in one of the following ways:

  • Specific value. Select the first option to enter the amount of time before the deadline expiration that a reminder is to be sent to the participant. This amount can be entered as a number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks.
  • Expression. Select the second option to enter a time expression in a similar manner as you did for the deadline. Here are some examples of reminder expressions:
    • 5 minutes before the deadline:
      addminutes(adddays(systemtime(), 5) , -5)
    • 30 minutes before the deadline:
      MyReminder = -30 
      addminutes(adddays(systemtime(), 5) , MyReminder)
    • One day before the deadline:
      adddays(adddays(systemtime(), 5) , -1)

Reminder Map

Optional. Select a submap to run when the reminder expires.



Last updated: March 2016
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