How do I get reminders before staff or client documents expire?

Key Points

Use a record automation with a Schedule trigger on the document's expiry date field, for example 1 month before the expiry date.
One automation can send several reminders. Add each timing (for example 60, 30 and 7 days before) and join them with Or.
Automations can send the reminder to the staff member's manager, using the manager set in the Manage Teams tool.
Add a condition of Staff Status = Active so archived staff don't get reminders.
Repeated or unexpected reminders come from how the automation is set up. Check its schedule, conditions and recipients.

How do I set up a reminder before a document expires?

Expiry reminders are record automations built on the Form that holds the document, such as a Police Check or First Aid Form. You need access to Automations in the left-hand menu.

In short, you:

Create a Record Automation and choose the Form that holds the document.
Set the trigger to Schedule, choose the expiry date field and set the timing, for example 1 month before.
Add conditions, such as Staff Status = Active.
Choose who receives the reminder, the sender and the message, then save.

For the full steps, see How do I create a record automation?

To remind the staff member the document belongs to, choose them as the recipient from the record. If you choose a Group instead, everyone in that Group gets every reminder.

How do I send several reminders, such as 60, 30 and 7 days before?

You can do this in one automation:

Open the automation and go to the Schedule trigger.
Add a timing for each reminder, for example 60 days before, 30 days before and 7 days before the expiry date.
Join the timings with Or.
Save the automation.

Always use Or between timings. With And, the automation never sends, because a date can't be 60 days and 30 days away at the same time.
Use days or weeks rather than months. A timing in months doesn't send when the calculated date doesn't exist, such as 3 months before 31 May.
Every reminder from one automation goes to the same recipients. To send each stage to different people, for example the staff member at 60 days and their manager at 7 days, create one automation for each stage.

How do I send a reminder to the staff member's manager?

Automations can look up the staff member's manager from the Manage Teams tool. In the automation's recipients, choose the manager option instead of a person or Group. Each reminder then goes to the manager of the staff member the document belongs to.

This only works if a manager is set for the staff member. If no manager is set, the reminder doesn't go to anyone in that role. To set managers, see How do I set up teams with the Manage Teams tool?

How do I stop reminders for archived staff or clients?

Without a status condition, an automation reminds people of any status, including archived staff. Add an If condition so it only runs for current records:

For staff documents, add Staff Status = Active.
For client documents, add a condition that the client's status is Active.

Changes to an automation apply to future reminders only.

Why am I getting the same or the wrong reminder again?

Repeated or unexpected reminders come from how the automation is set up. Open the automation and check:

The schedule. Check each timing and that it's set to the expiry date field you expect.
Old documents. Each record is checked on its own. If a staff member has an old Police Check record and a new one, the old record still sends reminders for its old expiry date. Add a condition that ignores old records, such as a status or current-record field, and update the old records.
Recipients. If the recipient is a Group, everyone in the Group gets every staff member's reminder. If you're in more than one recipient Group, you get one email for each Group.
More than one automation. Separate automations don't know about each other. If two automations cover the same document, both send.
Applying to past records. Applying an automation to historical records sends it again for every record that matches.
Status condition. Make sure archived staff and clients are excluded (see above).

To see each time an automation ran and which record triggered it, check its log from the automation list. If you still can't find the cause, contact our Support team.

Where can I see which documents are expiring soon?

KPI Widget - shows expired documents in red and documents expiring soon in orange. The expiring-soon period is fixed and can't be changed. To be alerted at a set time before expiry, use an automation. See What does the KPI Widget show? and How do I set up the KPI Widget to track compliance documents?
Calendar - an expiry date can show on the Calendar on the date itself, if Show in Calendar is turned on for the date field. It doesn't show in advance. See How do I use the FlowLogic Calendar?