Plan Automation Trigger - When a Date Passes

This article explains how to configure the When a Date Passes trigger for Plan Automations in OnePlan.

This trigger allows you to automatically run plan‑level actions after a specific date stored in a plan field has passed. It is commonly used to respond to milestones such as planned start dates, planned end dates, or other important plan‑level dates.

What you will accomplish
By the end of this article, you will be able to:

• Configure a When a Date Passes trigger
• Understand how scope affects available date fields and configuration options
• Control how often the automation runs after the date has passed

Requirements

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• A OnePlan account with Licensed permissions
  (Basic, Professional, or Enterprise)

If creating automations from a Portfolio Area

• Enterprise-level permissions
• Manager or Owner role (OOTB Permission Groups)
• Access to the Portfolio Area

If creating automations from within an individual plan

• Contributor or Owner permissions for the plan

See OnePlan Plan Permission Hierarchy for more details.

Background

The When a Date Passes trigger is used when you want an automation to run after a specific date stored in a plan‑level field.

Common examples include:

• Planned Start Date
• Planned End Date
• Phase or stage start/end dates
• Custom date fields used for governance or reporting

This trigger can be used in both Portfolio Area automations and plan‑level automations, with some differences in how scope and field selection work.

Important

• Each automation can have only one trigger.
• If you need an automation to respond to multiple events, create separate automations, each with its own trigger.

Trigger Scope and Configuration Behavior

How the When a Date Passes trigger behaves depends on where the automation is created.

Automations Created from a Portfolio Area

When an automation is created from a Portfolio Area:

• Scope
  Automatically locked to All Plans
• Plan Types
  You must select one or more Plan Types before selecting the trigger.
• Available Date Fields
  The list of available date fields is based on the selected plan type(s).
• Trigger Behavior
  The automation runs for any plan of the selected plan type(s) after the selected date has passed.

Automations Created from Within a Plan

When creating automations from within an individual plan:

• Scope
  Automatically locked to This Plan
• Plan Types
  Plan types are not required.
• Available Date Fields
  Only date fields available on the current plan can be selected.
• Trigger Behavior
  The automation runs for the current plan after the selected date has passed.

Instructions

Open the Trigger Editor

1. Open the Plan Automations editor.
2. In the automation flow, select Trigger.

The Edit Trigger panel opens on the right side of the screen.

Select the Trigger Type

1. In the Trigger field, select When a Date Passes.

This trigger runs the automation after the date stored in a selected plan‑level date field has passed.

Select the Date Field

1. In the Date Field field, select the plan‑level date field you want to monitor
   (for example, Planned Start Date or Planned End Date).

The available date fields depend on where the automation is created:

• Portfolio Area automations show fields based on the selected plan type(s)
• Plan‑level automations show fields available on the current plan

Configure When the Automation Runs

1. In the When field, choose how often the automation should run after the date has passed.
2. The configuration options update dynamically based on your selection.

Daily

1. Select one or more Days of the Week.
2. Select a Time of Day.

The automation runs on the selected days each week after the date has passed.

Monthly

1. Select the Day of Month.
2. Select a Time of Day.

The automation runs once per month after the date has passed.

Save the Trigger

1. Review the trigger configuration.
2. Select Update to apply the trigger to the automation.

Next Steps

Once your trigger is configured, continue building your automation:

• Add Filters to further control when the automation runs
  Plan Automation Filters
• Add Actions to define what happens when the trigger fires:
  • Send Notification
  • Update Plan
  • Reorganize Plan
  • Copy or Create Plan
  • Approval Task Workflow

Filters and actions can be added in any order after the trigger is set.