Whether you need to pause for a few days before sending a follow-up or wait until a specific date, the Delay Step allows you to do this.
Pause vs. Wait: What's the Difference?
While both terms sound like they do the same thing, they handle time and human action differently.
Pausing for a Set Period of Time
How it works: The workflow stops and rests for a dynamic, relative duration (e.g., 3 hours, 5 days, or 2 weeks) starting from the time the workflow hits that step.
The benefit: It dynamically adapts to whenever the parent or staff member triggers the workflow.
Example — New Staff Onboarding Feedback: When a new staff record is created in Arbor MIS, a workflow triggers. You want to ask them how their first week went, but not the second they walk through the door.
The Setup: You add a Delay step configured to Pause for 7 days.
How it runs: If Teacher A starts on a Tuesday, the workflow pauses for 7 days and sends their feedback form the following Tuesday. If Teacher B starts on a Friday, it pauses for 7 days and sends theirs the following Friday.
Waiting Until a Specific Date
How it works: The workflow pauses and waits until a specific calendar date before proceeding, regardless of when it arrived at that step.
The benefit: It ensures that no matter when individual workflows are kicked off, the next action happens at a defined date. That date could be fixed for all workflows, or it could be based on a date tag referencing an early data point in the workflow.
Example — September Term Prep & Welcome Packs: Parents of new students submit their enrolment forms throughout June, July, and August. You want to send them their final "First Day of Term" checklist email at the exact same time.
The Setup: You add a Delay step configured to Wait until September 1st.
How it runs: Whether a parent submits their enrolment form on June 15th or August 20th, their specific workflow will halt at that step and wait. The system will release the welcome email to all parents on September 1st.
Scenario: New Student Onboarding
Imagine a workflow designed to get a new student set up in your school.
The "Delay" (Set Period of Time): Once the parent submits the registration form, you don't want to spam them immediately with welcoming materials. You program an automated Delay of 48 hours. The system pauses for exactly two days before firing off the welcome email pack.
The "Wait" (Set Date): Once the student's admission is processed, the system sets an automated Wait until September 1st (or the official term start date). On that exact date, the workflow unpauses to send the parent the first-day arrival instructions and gate code.
Scenario: Staff Leave of Absence Request
A teacher requests a day off for professional development.
The Business Need: A staff member requests CPD leave 3 months in advance. While HR approves it early, reminding the Line Manager 3 months before the absence is useless because scheduling for that week hasn't been done yet.
The "Wait" (Date-bound): Once the leave request is approved, the workflow sets a Wait step configured to pause until 3 days prior to the Absence Start Date.
When to Use a Delay Step
Adding a delay is perfect for handling time-sensitive school processes without needing manual reminders. Common examples include:
New Staff Onboarding: Wait 5 days after their start date before automatically triggering a check-in form.
Admissions Follow-ups: Send an automated email confirmation immediately, wait 3 days, and then trigger a checklist for the admissions team to review documents.
Absence Management: Delay a notification to the senior leadership team until 2 hours after a staff absence is logged, giving the cover manager time to arrange a solution first.
Any 'timed' communications and tasks.
How to Add a Delay Step
Because order is critical when pausing a live process, follow these steps to configure your delay correctly.
1.Add the automated step:
In the workflow builder, click the + icon where you want the pause to occur. Select Delay Workflow from the Automated Steps menu.
2.Name your delay type:
3.Add any Rules (optional)
4. Delay Settings: Configure whether you want a 'pausing' step or a 'waiting' step. Remember, pausing is for a set amount of time and waiting it until a certain date.
If setting up a 'Pausing' step: select your pause period from the dropdown menu.
If you are setting up a 'Waiting' step: select the 'waiting' part of the toggle to update the options.
From here, either use the month and day drop downs to quick a specific date:
or, select 'switch to tags' to use a date that is specific to or collected as part of the workflow. Then you can choose to leave that date as it is or adjust it to tailor when the next step is triggered.
The workflow will hold at the delay step for the configured time, then instantly fire the next action.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I cancel a delay while a workflow is actively running?
If a workflow is currently paused on a Delay Step, users with permissions to see, review, and amend workflows can view the active workflow status and manually push it to the next step if needed.
What happens if a delay is followed by a human step?
The delay will pause the entire workflow. Once the delay timer ends, the workflow will move to the next step for example, sending a Decision (Approval) request or a Form to a human user's task list.