Learn how to automate the population of custom Date fields & the possible ways you can use this to set your processes on autopilot....
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Estimated Read Time: 5 Minutes
Estimated Configuration Time: 10 - 15 Minutes
Sections in this Article
Automatically Setting your new Date field
Advanced: Setting variable periods
Re-setting the date for Recurring Scheudled Reviews
Introduction
Background ℹ️
Gatekeeper Workflows are our tool for structuring and streamlining your Contract & Vendor Management processes
They allow you to create dynamic & structured kanban boards to organise and facilitate the steps you takes for key processes like negotiating new contracts, onboarding new vendors and so on
One key feature you can leverage within these workflows is an "AutoAction"
Put simply, an "Actions" can generally be summed up as a task taking place on the workflow which affects something outside the workflow
For Example,
The Create Contract action will take the data from a Workflow Form and use it to create a new record in the Contracts Repository
An AutoAction is just an "Action" which will run on its own once a workflow form reaches a specific phase of the kanban board...
The "Auto" side of these actions works to populate metadata values in 2 ways:
Function 1: They can take values from the form which users have provided
Function 2: They can set "default" or "backup" values so that:
a) Form values missed by your users do not lead to a poorly populated repository
b) Some values can be hidden from your users so that forms they have to complete are shorter and quicker!
Pictured below: An AutoAction: Create Contract Configuration Screen where an admin can set the values Gatekeeper will use for each metadata field for new contract records
💡 Here, Status and Approval will not take user input; they set logical values as the "default" for an "in-progress" contract
This Use Case ✨
With the May '23 enhancement to AutoActions, you can use "Function 2" (see above) to automatically populate any Date field based on the time at which the AutoAction runs
This will allow you to configure calculated date fields for your Contract/Vendor records which self-populate based on processes which have just taken place or processes which you wish to schedule for future reviews
Demo Video Coming Soon...
Example Diagram
Configuration
Adding a Custom Date Field
Adding a "Date" Field to your data model
Step 1) Go to Settings > Configuration > Custom Data
Step 2) Open either the "Vendor Dates" or "Contract Dates" group
You could also add a new custom group for your new Date fields if required;
Step 2.1) Hit Add > Add Custom Group
Step 2.2) Name this group & use "Allocated to" to attach this to either Contract or Vendor data records
Step 2.3) Hit ✅ Save
If you wish, you can restrict the Contract/Vendor Types for which this set of data should appear by selecting 🔘 Apply to specific Types
Step 3) Hit Add > Add New Custom Field
Step 5) Create your new custom field, populating Label & setting Type to "Date"
Step 6) Repeat Steps 2 - 5 until your Date field/s are added
Adding the field to your workflow form
If the group to which you added your date field was already in the workflow form, you should not need to perform these steps
Step 1) Go to the start phase of the workflow & hit Edit this Phase
Step 2) Navigate to the Form tab
Step 3) Scroll to the bottom and hit ADD SECTION
Step 4) Give the section a Name
This can be the same as you chose for the Custom Data group, but does not need to be!
Step 5) For Predefined, select Contract or Vendor, depending on your date field
Step 6) For Custom Data Group, choose the group which contains your new date field
Step 7) Hit ✅ Save
Optional Extra Steps
If there are fields in this form section which will be interacted with by users during the workflow:
Step 8.1) Use REORDER to drag & drop this new section to where you wish for it to appear in your form
Or - if there are not any fields in this form section which need to be viewed or set by users during the workflow:
Step 8.1) Set the form section to 🔘 Hidden on every phase
Setting the Date Field
Step 1) Choose a phase of the workflow where your AutoAction runs & hit Edit this Phase
Step 2) Navigate to the Actions tab
Step 3) For the enabled AutoAction, hit Edit AutoAction Values
Step 4) For your new Date field, select a number of Days/Weeks/Months which Gatekeeper should calculate for workflow cards
Step 5) Hit ✅ Save
⚡️ Advanced - Setting Variable Periods ⚡️
Configuration Video Coming Soon...
Part 1 - Creating Multiple Action Phases
Part 2 - Configuring Conditional Transitions
Using the Date Field
Data Tab & List Views
As with any other metadata field in Gatekeeper, the information itself can be valuable to your users for granting visibility
Triggered Workflow Reviews
The true power which comes from this use case is not just setting the Dates automatically, but using them automatically as well
If you have a Triggered workflow, you can use this date as the condition for the workflow
Step 1) Head to the Workflows page
Step 2) Click to edit your workflow then select the Workflow Triggers option
Step 3) Hit ➕ ADD TRIGGER
Step 4) Choose a Name for your trigger then hit ✅ Create
Step 5) Hit ➕ ADD to compile your rules for trigger to fire, using the custom date field
⚡️ Advanced - Re-Setting the Date ⚡️
The final piece of this, the step to truly get your system running on auto-pilot is making these fields multi-use:
In your Triggered workflow, if you add an AutoAction to the end of the process, not only can you capture any updates to the Vendor data which were made by users during the workflow, you can update the date, moving it by a year to trigger the next annual review
Use Cases
Basic: Setting "Contract Executed"/"Vendor Onboarded" Dates
You can set your AutoActions on the Done phases of workflows to capture the exact date that a setup process completed
Pictured below: A Vendor Onboarding form receiving the final approval to mark the workflow process as complete
On the Done phase, Gatekeeper populates the current date automatically in the Onboarded Date field
These can avoid users needing to go back to find the workflow forms to see when the last update happened
These are the obvious use-cases for an audit-history type field based on the most common workflows we see being used in Gatekeeper - but the concept can be applied to any processes you have in Gatekeeper
For instance, if you are storing NDAs in Gatekeeper, you may wish to capture confidentiality expiration (if these differ from the Contract End Date in your standard terms)
Advanced: Vendor Onboarding ➡️ Annual Refreshers (/Re-Onboarding)
Completing Vendor Onboarding & Due Diligence at the start of your relationship is good practice to make sure you are aware of any risks & storing the accurate information for your Contracts/Vendors
Similarly, an annual repeat/check-up is good practice to make sure you are aware of any developments (good or bad) which might affect your relationship with a vendor
Advanced: Due Diligence assessments ➡️ Specific Due Diligence Refreshers
If you are using Gatekeeper workflows to complete multiple Due Diligence Assessments (e.g. Biennial SOC 2 Audit / Annual ESG Reviews), you can create & set multiple specific date fields for each of these
For a real example of this, see the walkthrough guide for our Best Practice Template
Advanced: Contract Request ➡️ Quarterly Contract Reviews
Similar to the above Due Diligence ongoing refreshers, when you enter into a new contractual agreement, you may want to schedule periodic reviews to follow-up and check that key milestones, deliverables & SLAs are being met
When creating multiple reviews you have the option of either:
a) Creating a single "Next Review Date " field (and updating by 3 months at the end of each review workflow)
b) Creating multiple "Review Date" Fields
We recommend option b) here so that delays to any review being completed will not lead to delaying the start of the next review. Also users will see all milestones from the repository record if each one exists as. a separate date field
Expert: Variable Review Periods
The above scenarios generally have included "one-size-fits-all" processes when it comes to managing you Vendors & Contracts.
However, it is possible to add some flexibility by setting up different AutoAction phases which will set different values for your dates. You can then use Conditional Transitions to direct your cards. to the appropriate AutoAction phase based on
For Example
"Critical" Vendors ➡️ Quarterly reviews
Use an AutoAction phase to set the "Next Review Date" as [Today + 3 months]
All Other Vendors ➡️ Annual reviews
Use an AutoAction phase to set the "Next Review Date" as [Today + 12 months]
💡 See Setting Variable Periods above for Configuration Guidance
Configuration Video Coming Soon...
FAQ 💬
Q: Scheduled reviews & assessments is very similar to how I use Events....should this replace my usage of Events?
A: Maybe not entirely, but Yes.
If you have recurring/scheduled processes which you complete for most/all of your Vendors or Contracts, you should definitely considering switching over to this functionality to save yourself admin effort in the long run
While there is certainly more configuration required to set up your workflows as per the above use-cases, once you have completed these, much of your Gatekeeper system can be running on autopilot
Events can then be used for unique/ad-hoc tasks which don't fit into a global workflow process
Q: Can I see these dates in an list so I can see upcoming reviews, similar to Events dashboard views?
A: This would be a perfect scenario to create a Saved View
See 📖 Saved Views for more information & guidance on this feature
If you are interested in new dashboard features like this, please upvote the below ideas:
Additional Reading 📚
Learn more about Workflow Actions, including AutoActions
Configuring a Workflow Trigger
Lean more about this feature which can be used to automatically initiate workflow processes