Working back from a due date

[emilym (Emily Medders)]

I’m trying to use the solution listed in this discussion from Feb 2022, but I don’t see a way to utilize date formulas in automations. Is this functionality no longer available, or am I missing somehting?

Setting up timeline due dates based on event date

Hello! First time poster and newbie Monday user here I am attempting to set up a project management board for an event that I manage. I’d like to assign due dates to items/tasks based on the date of the event. For example, one of the items on my board is to “Determine event topic.” This tasks needs to be completed 45 days prior to the date of the event. Instead of manually selecting the timeline/due date for this task, I’d like to be able to input a formula based on the 45 days prior t…

[basdebruin]

hi @emilym

Welcome to the community. If you are looking for backward planning and dependencies between items I recommend to try out this app https://monday.com/marketplace/10000139 from Work Perfect. It can do backward planning with dependencies.

[tanner_elevate (Tanner Nelson | Elevate Operations)]

Hi @emilym! The key here is that they are creating dependencies within the items - it’s not a specific automation that uses a date formula. I’d be happy to show you how it works if that would be helpful to you. Let me know!

Tanner
tanner@elevateops.io
Monday.com Consultant

[GCavin (Gilles Cavin - Reinventing Formulas in monday.com)]

Hi @emilym,

I don’t see a way to utilize date formulas in automations. Is this functionality no longer available, or am I missing somehting?

If you open the Automations Center and select Due Dates in the Categories column, you’ll see recipes that use dates and the one mentioned in the original post is the first of the 5th line.

[Bill_Stamos]

That’s not it. They are looking for the (Dependency) automation of Adjust the DATE of an item to reflect the changes made in the date of its DEPENDENT ON item. Currently there are only 3 Dependency automations to choose from (which are not this). Choosing Strict on the Dependency column logic will push forward, but not backward as intended (leading up to a specific Go Live date, etc).

[JP_AUER (Julia Peer)]

Hi, just to clarify: There is still no native option for backward planning in monday?
This is an essential feature especially when you work with templates. You can’t always adjust every single the date for each task, again and again.

Please keep me updated if there is any change in the near future!

[basdebruin]

I believe there is nowadays.

[Clarey (MondayMotivator)]

Hi Julia, I have done backwards planning templates for people before. We set the date of the product go live and all the other dates populate to say when it needs to start to achieve this! It was like magic seeing it in action You need to set up dependancies and also have durations / lead and lag times in there. Feel free to DM if you want to discuss more or have a call.

See more information here too on dependancies

https://support.monday.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007402599-Dependencies-on-monday-com

[JP_AUER (Julia Peer)]

Hi Clarey, thanks for your response. I set up the dependencies, durations and timelines. I do not have the option of lead and lag times. I have an enterprise account in Austria, maybe there are some restrictions. But did you do the backwards planning with the default “finish to start” dependency or with the “start to finish” and the reverse logic?