Put the deal dates in the team's Outlook calendars

The signing, the closing and the filing deadlines need to be in the team's diaries, not only on the board. Otherwise someone books a hearing on another matter on the day Project Alpha signs. An automation on the board sends an Outlook invitation for each task's date to the people you name on the task, and updates it when the date moves.

Two questions decide the set-up. Which dates belong in people's calendars? Signing, closing and filing dates do; every internal deadline on the checklist does not. And who should be invited? The automation invites the people in one People column on each task.

Set up the invitations

1. Open the board and click Automate in the board header. Automations are set up by the board's managers.

2. On Templates, open Integrations and click the Outlook Calendar template: "When a task is created or updated, create an event in Outlook Calendar, and sync future changes from Juristic".

   

3. After "The event occurs on", click "start date" and choose the date column the invitations follow, such as "Key date". Date and Date & time columns are listed.

   

4. Leave the event as "All day", or set a time of day and a duration if the meeting has a fixed slot, such as a signing at 10:00 for two hours.

5. Click "time zone" and choose the deal's time zone, so the time on the invitation is right for everyone.

6. Click "attendees" and choose the People column whose members are invited. Everyone in that column on a task receives the invitation for that task.

7. Choose whether past events should be synced. Leave it on No unless you want the dates that have already passed in the calendars too.

8. Click create automation. It is on as soon as it is created.

What happens next

The invitation comes from Juristic's calendar account, not from you, and its subject is the board's name followed by the task's name, so "Project Alpha - Signing" in the invitee's calendar.

A task gets an invitation once it has both a date in the date column and at least one person in the People column. After that, Juristic keeps it in step:

• Move the date or change the time, and the event moves.
• Add or remove people in the People column, and the invitation list follows.
• Rename the task, and the event's subject changes.
• Clear the date, or remove everyone from the People column, and the event is removed from the calendars.

The automation acts when a task changes. For tasks that were already on the board when you set it up, open manage automations, open the automation's menu and choose Manually trigger: it sends the invitations for every task on the board that has a date and people.

Tips from practice

• Only the dates that belong in a diary. Use a separate date column, such as "Key date", for signing, closing and filing, and point the automation at that, so the team does not get an invitation for every internal deadline on the checklist.
• A People column for invitations. A column such as "Invite", filled in only on the key tasks, keeps invitations separate from who is responsible for the work. A task with nobody in it sends nothing.
• Agree the time zone first. On a cross-border deal, set the time zone the signing is planned in; Outlook shows each invitee the time in their own zone.

To see the board's dates beside your own Outlook events without sending invitations, see see the deal's deadlines in a calendar. To have Juristic email the person responsible before a date, see get reminded before a deadline.