Matter key date reminders at 90, 30 and 7 days, to two people, with an acknowledgement trace

Outcome. Every dated deadline a firm has written into its own diary produces a reminder to two named people at ninety, thirty and seven days, and the record shows who acknowledged it and when.

Workflow map Enrollment, branches and actions at a glance legal-003

flowchart TD
    A[Daily run over open matters with a key date] --> B{Date passed and not acknowledged?}
    B -->|yes| C[Alert attorney, second recipient, practice head]
    C --> D[Task to the practice head, check the file today]
    B -->|no| E{Less than 7 days?}
    E -->|yes| F[Alert both, task to both, repeats daily]
    E -->|no| G{Less than 30 days?}
    G -->|yes| H[Alert both, task in 3 days, clear acknowledgement]
    G -->|no| I{Less than 90 days?}
    I -->|yes| J[Alert both, task in 5 days, check the date]
    I -->|no| K[Nothing this run]
    F --> L[Timeline note on every reminder sent]
    H --> L
    J --> L
    L --> M{Acknowledgement task completed?}
    M -->|yes| N[Stamp acknowledged date, timeline note]
    M -->|no| A
    P[Weekly hygiene run] --> Q{Date, second recipient or verifier missing?}
    Q -->|yes| R[Task to fix it, named owner, 2 days]

When to use it, when not to

• UseUse it as a second pair of eyes over a diary that already exists, to make sure a date somebody entered gets seen by more than one person as it approaches.
• UseUse it when matters move between fee earners, because the reminder follows the field on the record rather than a personal calendar that leaves with the person.
• SkipDo not use it as the firm's diary or docketing system. It reminds against a date a named human entered and checked. It does not compute a period, it does not know your rules of procedure, and it has no opinion about whether the date is right.
• SkipDo not use it as the only reminder on anything the firm treats as critical. An automation that a portal outage, a deactivated user or a switched off workflow can silence is a support to a diary, never a replacement for one. The kit page says this too, and it is worth repeating to whoever signs off the build.
• SkipDo not put the substance of a matter into the reminder text. A subject line is visible in notification previews, in exports and in whatever email client the recipient uses.