Set up recurring tasks on a schedule

After closing, the work comes back on a rhythm: the borrower's quarterly covenant compliance certificate, the annual filing for each company, the board minutes every month. Rather than adding the same task by hand each time, let the board create it on a schedule, with the owner and the deadline already filled in, so it is on the list before it falls due.

One question decides the setup: how often does it come round, and how much notice does the team need? The schedule sets when the task appears; the deadline you give it sets how long the team has.

You need to be a manager of the board to set up automations.

Set the schedule

1. Open the board, click Automate in the toolbar, then Templates and Create your own automation.

2. Click When this happens and choose Every time period.

3. Click Every time period to set the schedule. Choose Daily, Weekly or Monthly:

   • Weekly lets you pick the days of the week.
   • Monthly lets you pick the days of the month. For a quarterly certificate, choose Monthly, set it to every 3 months and pick the day.

   Set the time of day it runs. The line at the bottom reads the schedule back, for example "Every 3 months on the 1st at 09:00".

   

A scheduled rule has no conditions: it runs every period.

Create the task

1. Click Then do this and choose Then create a task.

2. Click title and name the task, for example "Covenant compliance certificate, Beta Holding A/S". You can add Task Board Name from the panel beside it.

3. Click task group and choose the group the task goes in, such as Post-closing.

4. Click and set values, then Add value, and pick the columns to fill on each new task:

   • The owner, from a people column, so the task lands with the right associate.
   • The deadline, in a date column. Choose Relative to creation and enter the Days from creation: 0 is the day the task is created, 14 is two weeks later. Fixed date puts the same date on every task, so it rarely suits a recurring one.
   • A status, so the task starts as open work.

   Columns you don't set keep their default value.

   

5. To send a reminder at the same time, click the plus and add Then notify someone via email to the person who should know. A scheduled email goes to a named person, not a people column, because there is no task to take the name from.

6. Click the note icon at the top right (add title & description) and give the rule a title, such as "Quarterly covenant certificate". Then click create automation. The rule is switched on and waits for its first run.

Check the first run

1. After the first scheduled time, open Automate, click the three dots on the rule under manage automations and choose Run history.

2. Click a run to see its steps; a scheduled run is Automatically triggered. Completed means the task was created; on Failed, the run says why, for example "The task group used by this automation no longer exists." Click View automation to put it right.

Tips from practice

• Give the deadline in days. A deadline set Relative to creation moves with each new task, so every quarter's certificate has its own due date. Set the schedule so the task appears with enough notice before it falls due.
• One rule per obligation. A separate rule for each filing or report keeps the titles, owners and schedules clear, and the run history shows each one on its own.
• Turn it off rather than delete it. When a facility is repaid or a company is wound up, switch the rule Off under manage automations. The rule stays on the board if the obligation comes back.
• Created tasks stay quiet. A task the schedule creates does not set off the board's other automations.

For the rules that react to the work on the board, see automate the routine steps on a deal. To close out the deal itself, see wrap up the board after closing.