Summary
When you first create a pathway you’ll need to set up the pathway schedule. This schedule isn’t set in stone for the duration of the pathway's life, nor is it unchangeable for specific users. Rather, the dates provided within the schedule set the default dates for that pathway. This guide will take you through the basics of setting up your pathway schedule and some of the best practices surrounding this.
Step 1 - Navigate
You can find the pathway schedule page from within any pathway by going to the following, whilst logged in as a site administrator:
Site administration > General > Manage pathways > *Pathway name* > Schedule
Step 2 - Create
There are two key areas within the pathway schedule which need to be set up. The “Availability” dates establish the default dates for users that are allocated to the pathway, the “Allocation Window” dates define the date range in which a user can be allocated to a pathway. We'll touch on each of these in more detail below.
Availability
- Start date - The start date for the pathway controls when this pathway becomes accessible to a user. Prior to this date, the user will not be able to see or interact with the pathway. We recommend using the setting below for this date as it allows the user to access the pathway immediately after being allocated and receiving their first notification.
- Due date - This is the date you expect the user to complete the pathway by. The system will also be aware of this date and schedule notifications to be sent out to the user around the due date. We recommend using the setting below and setting the time period as required, for example, 2 months will allow the user 2 months to complete the pathway after the start date
- End date - The end date controls when the pathway is last accessible to a user. After this date has passed the pathway will no longer display on a users dashboard page and for any users who haven’t completed the pathway before the end date they’re status will update to “Closed”. Typically, we recommend extending the end date out several years after the due date to avoid users having their pathway status’ closed, which requires manual intervention to update. Completed pathways will therefore sit on the users dashboard for some time after completion, however, filters are available to users to only show uncompleted pathways which remedies this issue. For the example below, the end date has been set for 10 years after the due date.
Allocation window
The allocation window defines the dates within which a user can be allocated to a pathway using allocation rules. You can define the allocation window using the following date ranges.
- Start date - This is the start date of the allocation window, after this point users can be allocated to a pathway and allocation rules will run as expected.
- End date - The end date sets the end of the allocation window, once the end date has passed users cannot be allocated to a pathway and allocation rules will no longer run.
Step 3 - Save
Following the steps highlighted above, you’ll now have a default schedule setup for your pathway. Whenever a new user is allocated to the pathway these are the dates which will apply to the user, unless altered at the point of allocation or following the user being allocated.