Automations with custom field
Asked by Marketing Team:

I would like to create a Trello board which helps us track required marketing activity in the run up to events.

We are a venue so have for example a weekly event with different marketing requirements.

We being marketing around 4 months out, then have plans which take us through 3 months, 2 months, 1 month, 6 weeks, 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week.

I want to create something that triggers the completion of these dates in custom fields based on the due date (the event date). Is this possible?

And then the custom fields will trigger labels and moving of cards based on required tasks...which I presume is possible and quite easy?


Answers:
author: Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows
body: [@Marketing Team](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4998112) welcome to the community! :)

It is possible to populate custom date fields in a card based on the due date using the {cardduedate} variable. Your variables would then need to subtract x amount depending on when the date needs to be set (see [date arithmetic](https://support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/arithmetic-and-formatting-in-date-variables/)).  

Are you able to clarify a bit more the second part around adding labels/moving cards? I'm assuming you're wanting to trigger these actions on the dates shown in the different custom fields? If so, you might struggle with this part. You have due date commands that trigger when a card is due, but it only applies to the native due date, not the custom date fields.  

You might want to look at creating "subtask" cards for each of the actions relating to the event like a parent-child relationship between the events and the different marketing efforts. So something like this:  

![parent child relationship.PNG](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/208988i20695A16F14E8C8F/image-dimensions/341x369?v=v2 "parent child relationship.PNG")  

<br />

There's a guide [here](https://support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/creating-and-managing-task-dependencies/) that talks about how to set this up. Additionally, you can automate the dates on the "subtask" cards based off the event date using butler automation.  

From there, you can use the due dates on the subtasks to create automations to move them to different lists or apply labels (e.g. X days before a card is due, move the card to the "Upcoming" list).  

If that sounds like a viable option, I'd be happy to help with setting up that workflow!

comments: author: Marketing Team
body: Thank you Hannah

The date arithmetic works well for the custom fields.

As you say I think there might be another way to track the tasks

So in a month we might have 5 events...for each one we start marketing 4 months before and have set tasks to complete at different intervals such as 2 months to go, 6 weeks, 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week.

I would like to be able to add an event...Show A on 1st December...for the pre-event marketing intervals to be calculated for me (which the custom field date arithmetic does do) and then to be able to track the associated tasks...so...

SHOW A - 1st Dec

1 week before tasks lists

2 weeks before tasks list

1 months to go task list

I have so far set this up with one card and many checklists...but it isn't then easy/ possible to automate a due date for a particular task (is it?)...so things will still get missed.

I am happy to consider linked cards/ parent-child ones...but would like to be able to automate the creation of these as much as possible...but can't work this out/ if it can be done....


author: Hannah Humbert - Simpla Workflows
body: [@Marketing Team](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4998112) you can automate the checklist item due dates based off the card due date. Someone asked a [similar question](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Trello-questions/Can-butler-create-due-dates-for-advanced-checklist-items/qaq-p/2095582) recently actually! In your case, you would just need to subtract the dates instead of add.  

The suggested solution of creating parent-child cards is fully automated. Here's a quick snippet of what it looks like:   

![subtasks trello.gif](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/209632iA54E1200D92057D5/image-dimensions/378x456?v=v2 "subtasks trello.gif")  

You could then look at automating it further with having the checklist items added automatically rather than manually inputting them as shown above, as well as automating the due dates.  

The benefit of separating the tasks out into their own cards is you can add additional information to the tasks like comments, descriptions, labels, attachments, etc., and also set up due date automations on these cards to trigger certain actions like moving the cards to different lists, adding labels, sending slack/email reminders, etc. The downside is you might end up with a lot of cards on your board, but there are ways to mitigate that.