{"id":82721,"date":"2021-10-07T17:34:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T08:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/support.questetra.com\/?p=82721"},"modified":"2026-07-31T12:10:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T03:10:53","slug":"service-task-calculation-datetime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/support.questetra.com\/en\/developer-blog\/service-task-calculation-datetime\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Set a Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When creating a Workflow App, you can set when a task occurs and when its processing deadline falls. For example, consider a Business Travel Request\/Report App: if a task to report on the details of your trip arrives immediately after the trip request is approved, that’s a bit awkward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though there are still days until the trip, will the Report task notification just keep sitting in My Tasks the whole time?<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are also cases where you’d want a submission deadline for the trip report. You can tell employees by group chat, email, or verbally that they should submit the report by a certain date, but that\u2019s not very efficient. If you set a deadline on the task itself, Questetra BPM Suite will manage the deadline automatically. In this tutorial, we’ll use Timer Intermediate Events<\/strong> and Human Task deadline settings<\/strong> to build an app that handles a series of business trip-related workflow processes. By making effective use of these features when designing your app, you can create tasks and control deadlines according to a schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, since this tutorial focuses on how to control the progress of Tokens based on date and time, we’ll build the Travel Request\/Report App with the minimum configuration needed. If you actually use this in a real business setting, you’ll likely need to work out conditional branching in the workflow diagram, and to configure the User settings in the Swimlanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advance Preparation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To create the App please refer to the Travel Request App described in the Get Started<\/a> guide. Create a new App in accordance with the contents of Chpt.2<\/a> and Chpt.3<\/a> up to the section \u201cSettings related to input values\u201d. Chpt.1<\/a> and 2 are almost independent in terms of contents, but the User \/ Organization registration information prepared in chapter 1 is also used in chapter 2 and thereafter. For Users and Organizations, read as appropriate according to your environment, or prepare new ones by reading chapter 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workflow Diagram<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Edit the App you created so that it looks like the diagram below. The round icon labelled \u201cBusiness Trip Start\u201d is the Timer Intermediate Event. You can find this in the palette of Intermediate Events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Timer Intermediate Event is located in the Intermediate Event task palette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In order to make the App we require it is necessary to set the Human Tasks, so please set the App up like this for the time being. We will touch on the Confirmation Task branch later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data Items<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Set things up so there are\u00a07<\/strong>\u00a0Data Items as shown below. Reuse the data items that have already been configured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data Item Name<\/strong><\/td>Data Type<\/strong><\/td>Field Name<\/strong><\/td>Notes<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Subject<\/td>Text \u00b7 Single line<\/td>
<\/td>
<\/td><\/tr>
Business Trip Start Date<\/td>Date \u00b7 Year\/Month\/Day<\/td>q_trip_start<\/td>The start date from your first step<\/td><\/tr>
Business Trip End Date<\/td>Date \u00b7 Year\/Month\/Day<\/td>q_trip_end<\/td>The end date from your first step<\/td><\/tr>
Requester<\/td>User \u00b7 Search Select Box<\/td>q_trip_user<\/td>
<\/td><\/tr>
Request Details<\/td>Text \u00b7 Multi-line<\/td>q_purpose<\/td>The details from your first step<\/td><\/tr>
Amount<\/td>Number<\/td>q_budget<\/td>
<\/td><\/tr>
Report Details<\/td>Text \u00b7 Multi-line<\/td>q_report<\/td>
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Data Edit Permissions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Set the permissions as follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/td>		Trip Request<\/strong><\/td>Request Confirmation<\/strong><\/td>Content Report<\/strong><\/td>Content Confirmation<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Subject<\/td>Editable <\/i><\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only <\/span><\/td>Display only <\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Business Trip Start Date<\/td>Editable <\/i><\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Business Trip End Date<\/td>Editable <\/i><\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Requester<\/td>Editable <\/i><\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Request Details<\/td>Editable <\/i><\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Amount<\/td>Editable <\/i><\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Report Details<\/td>No display<\/span><\/td>No display<\/span><\/td>Editable <\/i><\/span><\/td>Display only<\/span><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBusiness Trip Start\u201d Settings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Timer Intermediate Event<\/strong> is an object that pauses the token mid-flow until a specified date and time. By inserting this event in the middle of the workflow diagram you can pause the Case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, we will use the Timer Intermediate Event to prevent the Report Task from occurring until the business trip begins. Set the timer to \u201cDatetime specified by Data Item\u201d in the Settings window and select the Data Item \u201cBusiness trip start date\u201d. With this, the token will stay on \u201cBusiness Trip Start\u201d until the date which has been entered at the Travel Application task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the \u201cBusiness trip start date\u201d, the token proceeds to the Report Task. This prevents the Report Task from entering the applicant\u2019s My Tasks list before the trip begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To specify the timer with a Data Item, either of the Date-type or Datetime-type is used. When the Date-type is used like in this example, the timer starts operating at 00:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Report Deadline Settings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By configuring a deadline in the Human Task’s settings, you can force the task to be terminated once a specified date\/time has passed, or have a notification sent to the assignee. Here, we’ll set the deadline to 7 days after the Business Trip End Date and send a notification once the deadline has passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Deadline setting, choose [From 00:00 of (date type)]<\/strong>, specify Business Trip End Date as the reference, and set it to [7 days later]<\/strong>. This makes the task deadline 7 days after the Business Trip End Date. (The deadline time will be 00:00 on the 7th day after. If you want to allow submission through the end of the 7th day, specify [8 days later] instead.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The data items you can use as a reference are Datetime or Date-types (excluding month\/day-only types). If you specify a Date-type, “00:00 of that day” becomes the starting point<\/strong> (if you leave the [days later] dropdown blank, the deadline becomes 00:00 of the specified date as-is).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to specify things in more detail, turn on [Expression] to display and edit the settings as a SpEL expression.<\/strong> For functions you can use when calculating Date\/Datetime type data items, refer to R2271: Auto-Population of Date-type\/Datetime-type Fields (Data Configuration Expressions)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you set the deadline action to “No action”, a notification that the deadline has passed will be sent once the deadline is exceeded, but the task can still be processed even after the deadline. (Along with the overdue notification, the deadline column for that task in “My Tasks” will be displayed in red text, but the task itself is not deleted.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n