Start and Due Date Calculations

“Milestone dates” is a broad term to signify important dates throughout the Advvy system.

The most common Milestone dates in Advvy are Start and End Dates, which are set up by the user at the workflow level. Since these calculations are established at the workflow level, every time a campaign is created using that workflow, the start and due dates are calculated in the same way. This helps keep your team on schedule regardless of when the campaign officially begins.

The Start Date of a Stage or Activity refers to when a task needs to be started so it can be finished by its due date. For Example, if a task is calculated to be due on September 4^th, and it takes three days to complete that task, the Start date will be set to three days before the due date on September 1^st.

Due dates, as the name suggests, is when a task needs to be completed by.

When setting up Milestone Dates in Advvy, the user needs to select where these dates are calculating from. There are several options in Advvy the user can choose from.

Calculation Based On options in Advvy:

Significant Date: A significant date that’s chosen at the campaign level
Start Date: The start date of the campaign (entered when creating a campaign)
End Date: The end date of a campaign (entered when creating a campaign)
Stage Due Date(Activities and Subtasks only): The activity’s due date is calculated from the Stages due date. Keep in mind Stage due date calculations can be set up at the Stage level.
Date Record Created(Activities and Subtasks only): When the campaign is first created.

The following sections wills cover setting up start and due date calculations at the workflow level in Advvy.

To create a Milestone Date at the stage level, follow these steps:

Go to Agency Settings.
Go to Media Workflow.
Click on the workflow definition you want to edit.
Click on the Stage you want to edit.
Scroll towards the bottom of the page to locate the Milestones box.
Select the Calculation Method. Users can select either Before or After, this is in reference to the “Calculation Based On” box.
Select the Calculation Based On Option
Input the Number of Days for Ideal Time Frame

Important: Stage Due Dates override any due date calculations at the activity or sub-task level unless those activities are calculated based on the Stage due date.

To create a Milestone Due Date for an Activity or Subtask, follow these steps:

Go to the Agency Settings section in Advvy.
Go to the Media Workflow section.
Click on the Media Workflow Definition you want to edit.
Click into the appropriate Stage where your activity is.
Click into the activity that you want to edit.
Scroll down towards the bottom of the page and locate the Milestone Due Dates box.
To calculate the Due Date, select a Calculation Method, Calculation Based On, and Number of Days for Ideal Time Frame.
For subtasks, follow the same steps but edit the Milestone – Due Dates box in the subtask you want to edit.

Example: If the Calculation Method is before, the Calculation Based On is the Start Date and the Num of Days for Ideal Timeframe is 1. The Due Date for this activity will be one day before the Start Date of the campaign. Remember, the Start Date of the campaign is input when the campaign is first created.

To create a Milestone – Start Date for an activity in a workflow, follow these steps:

Go the Agency Settings section.
Go to the Media Workflow section.
Click into the Stage where your activity is located.
Click on the activity you want to edit.
Scroll down to the Milestone – Start Dates box.
Select the Start DateCalculation Method. The options available are Weight in Days or Weight in hours. (In other words, what span of time we’re using to measure this task.)
Enter the Weight e.g. the amount of Days or Hours.

Note: It’s important to remember that the Start Day Calculation is calculated based on the Due Date of that activity. For example, if the Weight in Days is 3 and the Due Date for a task calculated to September 4^th, then the Start Date will be 3 days before the due date on September 1^st.

It’s a very good idea to set Start Days for all of your activities in a campaign because it sets a baseline for how long certain activities should take to complete and will allow users to track which tasks are taking longer than expected to complete. The only way to gain these insights is if the Start Dates and Due Dates are calculated in Advvy. Therefore, it is highly recommended that Start Dates and Due Dates are set up in Advvy when creating your workflow.

Important: If a Due Date is not calculated in Advvy, the Due Date will default to the start date of the campaign. The start date is selected at the campaign level upon campaign creation. If Start Dates are not set up, the start date will automatically set to a day before the due date.

Workflow Overview