Troubleshooting
The alert reached me too late
It fired when there was no time left to act. It is rarely a fault: it is a margin set by the wrong clock.
The alert fired when it was meant to, you received it, and you were still late. The normal reaction is to raise the margin at a guess; the useful one is to look at what renewing that thing depends on, because the right margin is rarely set by your calendar.
How much notice is really needed
| Who the renewal depends on | How long it takes in practice | What margin to set |
|---|---|---|
| You | As long as you take to sit down | Little: days |
| A small supplier | As long as they take to reply and issue | Weeks |
| A public body or an appointment | Whatever appointment they give, not your speed | Far more than it seems |
| Several parties in a chain | The sum of all, not the slowest | Double your estimate |
Important
The third row breaks the arithmetic and is never in front of you when configuring: **some renewals run on a clock neither you nor your supplier controls**. If an appointment, an inspection or an official issuance is required, the clock belongs to whoever grants it — and that can be two months out. A thirty-day margin is lavish for an insurance policy and laughable for that. Which is why margins are set per document type, not as one number for everything.
What to look at once it has happened
- 1
Check whether the alert fired and who to
Sometimes it arrived and went to someone who was away.
- 2
Measure how long the renewal actually took
That figure, not a hunch, is next year's margin.
- 3
And raise the margin only for that document type
Raising it everywhere creates noise, and noise gets ignored.
Watch out
Beware the obvious-looking fix: **a huge margin on everything makes alerts arrive so early that they get filed**. A ninety-day warning about something solved in two afternoons is read, postponed and forgotten — and when the final reminder fires nobody looks, because that document «already warned». A margin fitted to each case fires less often and is therefore read.
The two cases where the margin is not the problem
Worth knowing
If the document belongs to a third party, warn them before your own alert fires: their clock starts when they find out, not when you do.
›What margin is reasonable by default?
However long it took last time, plus a third. Better data than any rule.
›Can I set two alerts, one early and one just before?
That works best: one to plan, one to act.
›What if the supplier is always late?
That is a different problem, and worth raising with them, not more alerts.
A real case
The situation
A company gets fifteen days' notice on something needing an appointment two months out.
What you do
- Measures how long the last renewal took and raises the margin for that document type only
What you get
The next alert arrives while an appointment can still be booked, and nothing else gets noisier.
The situation
The warning fires with two days to go and two weeks are needed.
What you do
- Adjusts the lead time to the real renewal time
What you get
The warning arrives while action is still possible.
The situation
The deadline is calculated without allowing for the supplier.
What you do
- Adds the time the third party takes to respond
What you get
The margin includes the wait, not only the paperwork.
The situation
Warnings arrive in August and nobody reads them.
What you do
- Brings forward those falling in holiday periods
What you get
The calendar accounts for when people are around.
The situation
The warning goes to somebody who has left.
What you do
- Reviews who the warnings are addressed to
What you get
The warning reaches somebody who can act.
The situation
All warnings use the same lead time.
What you do
- Adjusts it by document type
What you get
What takes longer is warned about earlier.
This article answers
- the expiry alert came too late
- how much notice should alerts give
- I found out when it had already expired
- setting the warning margin