Use cases by capability
Tracking expiry dates without remembering them
Have the system warn you before things expire, instead of finding out during an inspection.
Documents that prove something almost all expire: insurance, tax clearance certificates, training, vehicle inspections, approvals. And on the day they expire nothing visible happens — the problem surfaces months later, when someone asks for the paper and it is out of date.
How to set it up
- 1
Mark which documents expire
On each document type, say it has an expiry. The ones that do not, none.
- 2
Let it read the date
Most certificates carry it in writing and it is extracted automatically. Those that do not are set by hand once.
- 3
Choose the margin
Thirty days is usually reasonable: time to ask and for the other side to send it.
- 4
Let renewal request itself
When the warning fires, the request goes to the third party using the usual process.
Margins that work
| Document | Warn at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Public liability insurance | 45 days | Renewal depends on an insurer, not on them |
| Tax clearance certificate | 15 days | Issued on the spot, no more needed |
| Mandatory training | 60 days | A course has to be arranged |
| Approvals and audits | 90 days | Depends on a third party with a diary |
Important
A warning is useless if it reaches someone who cannot act. Put it in the name of whoever has the supplier's phone number, not a general inbox.
Watch out
An expired document does not disappear: it stays, marked as expired. That is correct — it still proves what it proved at the time.
›What if the supplier sends a new one early?
It replaces the previous one and the countdown restarts automatically.
›Can I see everything expiring this quarter?
Yes, by filtering on expiry date.
›Does an expiry block anything?
If you marked it mandatory, the case goes back to incomplete.
A real case
The situation
A company with 80 subcontractors discovers during an inspection that 14 have lapsed insurance.
What you do
- Marks insurance as an expiring document
- Sets a 45-day warning to the purchasing lead
- Lets renewal request itself
What you get
The following quarter there are zero lapsed policies and nobody had to keep count.
The situation
One person tracks a hundred and twenty documents' expiries in a spreadsheet and reviews them by hand every Monday.
What you do
- Records validity when each document is received
- Lets the warning go out on its own with the set lead time
- Keeps Monday for acting on what was flagged, not for hunting it
What you get
Monday goes from two hours of review to ten minutes of action.
The situation
Somebody leaves the company and expiry control leaves with them.
What you do
- Configures warnings against a role, not a person
What you get
The departure does not orphan the calendar.
The situation
Everything triggers a warning and the team stops reading them.
What you do
- Warns only about what requires action
What you get
The warning works again.
The situation
Two people review the same thing just in case.
What you do
- Makes clear who answers for each type
What you get
The work stops being duplicated.
The situation
The document is renewed and nobody clears the warning.
What you do
- Records the new document with its date
What you get
The status reflects reality without intervention.
This article answers
- track certificate expiry
- alert before an insurance policy expires
- automatically renew supplier documentation
- expired document alerts