25.1.9.1.10 Handling Time-Sensitive Tasks

Configure due dates and expiration behavior for time-sensitive tasks.

By default, a task is open-ended. Potential owners get to it when they can. When a task is time-sensitive, you an assign it a due date. By choosing an appropriate Due On Type, you set the due date using:

• A time interval relative to the creation date – e.g. 2 days from now
• An exact date and time computed using an expression, function body, or SQL Query, or
• The first occurrence of a DBMS_SCHEDULER expression – e.g. "weekly on Tuesdays at 9am"

When tasks have a due date, they display additional information in the Unified Task List "inbox" page and users can sort by the due date to work on the most time-critical tasks first. At any time, a task's business administrator can change the due date if necessary.

Once a task goes beyond its due date, end users can see that it's overdue in their task list, but by default nothing else automatic happens. To automatically handle an overdue task, configure the Expiration Behavior to one of the following optional strategies:

• Expire – Close the task with the status of Expired, or
• Renew – Close the task as Expired, then create a new "renewal" task if it has not yet exceeded your maximum renewal count.

When using one of these expiration behaviors, you can notify assignees about the impending deadline using a task action on the Before Expire event. You can declaratively send a reminder email or push notification, or execute custom code. When it finally expires, you can react to that with an action on the Expired event.

If you opt for the creation of a renewal task, know that it is a new task instance. It is linked to the previous now-expired task. When viewing a renewal task in a task details page, the end-user can optionally view the history of the complete "task renewal chain" if needed. Your dynamic participant assignment logic can reference the value of :APEX$TASK_RENEWAL_COUNT and :APEX$MAX_RENEWAL_COUNT to decide whether to assign the renewal task in a different way.

• Letting an Initiator Approve a Task
  Enable initiators to approve their own tasks when the business process requires it.