Delays

Learn about using delays between Workflow steps.

Eric Range avatar
Written by Eric Range
Updated over a week ago

Overview

Delays allow you to customize the timing of step actions. They're particularly useful for actions involving sending communications and notifications. An action like auto-submitting a student's application would also benefit from a delay.

Delays can be based on the time since the last step occurred or relative to when a person in the workflow did something, such as starting an application.


How to Add a Delay

The process of adding Actions is outlined in our help articles on creating Workflows + Rules:

When you add a new step to a workflow, the delay defaults to 0, meaning the step will happen immediately unless you specify a delay. To add a delay:


Delay Types

Standard Delay

A standard delay is based on when the last step was completed.

  • If the delay is on the first step of a workflow, the time is based on when people entered the workflow.

  • The delay is simply entering the number of seconds, minutes, hours, and days. The seconds and minutes are for precision. It's OK to indicate only days or hours.
    ​

Relative Delay

Relative delays are based on when a person in the workflow did something or a specific date.

The first fields are the same as in the standard delay, but you now have the option to select:

  • Before or After: Should the step occur before or after the time you enter

  • Parameter: When a person in the workflow does something or when something happens in relation to their account. For example, when they start an application or last logged into it.

Once you select a parameter, you'll need to configure the constraints. Constraints are the specifics of a parameter. For example, the name of the application a person starts or the calendar date of their birthday.

Click the heading below to view the list of parameters available:

Parameters

  • Application Completed Date: The date a Contact completed their application by filling in all required fields and submitting necessary documents.

  • Application Registration Date: The date a Contact started their application.

  • Application Submission Date: The date a Contact submitted their application.

  • Event Date: The date of an event a Contact is registered for.

  • Last Email Click Date: The most recent date a Contact clicked on a link in an email.

  • Last Email Delivery Date: The most recent date an email was successfully delivered to a Contact.

  • Last Email Open Date: The most recent date a Contact opened an email.

  • Last Event Attendance Date: The most recent date a Contact attended an event.

  • Last Event Registration Date: The most recent date a Contact registered for an event.

  • Last Page View Date: The most recent date a Contact viewed a page.

  • Last SMS Click Date: The most recent date a Contact clicked on a link in an SMS message.

  • Last SMS Delivery Date: The most recent date an SMS message was successfully delivered to a Contact.

  • Last User Login Date: The most recent date a user logged into an application, microsite, etc., on Element451.

  • Specific Delay Date: A chosen date for delaying a workflow step. This step will be on hold until the specified date and any set delay conditions are met. The step will execute at midnight UTC if only a date is set. Workflow instances reaching this step after meeting the date and delay conditions will execute immediately.


​

Did this answer your question?