The next step is to decide whether this new activity has a starting date or due date. This depends on what kind of activity it is. You will find your Dashboard maps are much more useful if you are consistent about the use of dates on tasks.

For any activity, you can define up to three pieces of date information:

• The Start / Review date. This date describes when an Activity becomes startable, and controls when ResultsManager displays activities in dashboards (where they are filtered by date). No Start date means "Start as soon as possible" and is eligible from today. You can keep things out of sight until they are needed by defining a Start date in the future. 
• The Due date. This date describes when the Activity should finish. If there is no Due date, it means "finish as soon as possible". Only Activities with specific due dates can be overdue.
• The Deadline marker. When combined with a Due date, this marker distinguishes between preferred due dates versus those that are immovable and must be achieved. An example of a non-deadline date is the date when you think you should finish painting the garage door. An example of a deadline date is the date of the shareholder's meeting. It is unlikely that the shareholder's meeting will be delayed if you have not finished your presentation in time. The Deadline marker has no meaning if there is no Due date for an Activity.

ResultsManager recognises six different combinations of Start / Review Date, Due Date and the Deadline marker. These reflect different types of activity. They are:

Start Date	Due Date	Deadline	Meaning
-	-	-	Start and finish this as soon as possible, and remind me about it from today
Yes	-	-	Remind me about this from the Start date, finish as soon as possible after that
-	Yes	-	Start this as soon as possible, and preferably finish it by the Due date
Yes	Yes	-	Start this from the Start date, and preferably finish it by the Due date
-	Yes	Yes	Start this as soon as possible, and it must finish by the Due date
Yes	Yes	Yes	Start this from the Start date, and it must finish by the Due date

• No Start date or Due date means "Start and finish this as soon as possible"
   
  
  This is an "as soon as possible" activity. You have not deferred it or scheduled it, and want to be reminded about it until it is complete. Typically, this would be something that you could put off until either you can make the time for it, or it turns nasty, or it just goes away. ResultsManager will automatically display undated Activities in the Dashboard maps as actionable today, if you have enabled the "Rollover" option.
   
• A Start date only means "Remind me about this from the Start date"
   
  
  This is an "as soon as possible" activity that you don't want to be reminded about for a while. Setting a future Start date means that ResultsManager will only display it in the dated sections of Dashboards when this Start date is reached. Once it becomes startable, it should be finished as soon as possible. Use this for reminders about future activities that are not critical, such as a decision whether to go to next year's trade show. (Note: this date combination cannot be entered if Outlook Support is enabled, as tasks must have both dates)
   
• A Due date only, without the Deadline marker set, means "Start this as soon as possible, and preferably finish by (date)"
   
  
  This is an activity that you want to be reminded about straight away, and has a preferred finish date. You can use this when there is not much time between now and the finish date, or if you really want to keep it in view all the time in case an earlier opportunity arises. An example of this is finishing a report for your manager by the end of the week. Be careful not to let too many of these kinds of activity build up, otherwise you will still need to re-evaluate them in your dashboard maps. (Note: this date combination cannot be entered if Outlook Support is enabled, as tasks must have both dates)
   
• A Start date and a Due date without the Deadline marker set means "Start this from (date), and preferably finish it by (date)"
   
  
  This is an activity that needs some preparation beforehand which you want to be alerted to. ResultsManager will display this in the Next Actions section of a dashboard from its Start date, and it will become Overdue after its Due date. Use this for scheduling activities where the finish date is important but not completely immovable.
   
• A due date, with the Deadline marker set, means "Start this as soon as possible, and it must finish by (date)"
   
  
  Anything with a due date and the deadline marker set is a Deadline, and ResultsManager will display it in the Deadlines section of a dashboard. Deadline means "Must be done on or by this date". It does not mean "It would be nice idea to complete by this date". Don't use Deadlines to "schedule" things that  can slip, otherwise you will  reduce the significance of your list of things that cannot slip. Use Deadlines for anything that you would put in a calendar, or where the consequences of missing the date are important. (Note: this date combination cannot be entered if Outlook Support is enabled, as tasks must have both dates)
   
• A Start date and a Due date with the Deadline marker set means "Start this from (date), and it must finish by (date)"
   
  
  This is an activity that needs some essential preparation beforehand which you want to be alerted to. ResultsManager will display this in the Deadlines section of a dashboard on its due date, or in the Bring-Forward section starting from its start date. Use this for activities such as a presentation that will take a couple of days to prepare, to ensure that you don't only remember it on the morning of the presentation, when it's too late to do anything about it.

You can type dates by hand (following the "short date" format on your system), or you can browse for dates with the buttons. The options are the same for both start and due dates.

The "date list" button  lets you pick from a predefined set of dates:

 

Choosing predefined dates

For example, if you were reviewing an existing project and decided to bump a follow-up phone call to next week, you could click on "One week from now" to change the date.

Clicking on "More dates..." or clicking on the date browse button () displays the Date picker:

 

Date picker dialogue

If you set a Due date for an activity, then the browse button (  ) for the Start date will offer a list of prior dates, relative to the Due date:

Choosing a relative Start date

If no Due date has been chosen then the list is the same as the Due date (tomorrow, end of month etc.) Note that ResultsManager converts these relative dates to an actual calendar date and saves that. Changing the Due date afterwards will not automatically move the Start date to maintain the same gap.

Working with Start and Due dates

If a Start or Due date is set on an activity, and the option for automatically rolling incomplete activities over is enabled in the ResultsManager Dashboard Options, then ResultsManager will keep bumping the date of overdue activities to today until they are complete. This means that even if the date has passed, you will still see this activity in today's Dashboards unless you decide to change its status.

If no date is given for an activity, ResultsManager looks "up" the tree for a parent Project or Result to see if there are any dates there. If it finds a Start date on the parent Project or Result, then it will not display this Activity until the Start date of the parent Project or Result are reached. This feature can be switched off by disabling the option "Automatically inherit activity settings" in the Dashboard Options dialogue.