How Overdue Notifications & Supervisor Emails Work
How pre-due-date reminders, monthly overdue emails, bell notifications, and supervisor emails work on the Due Date Workflow.
When a staff member is enrolled in a course with a Due Date Workflow, Acorn sends a predictable sequence of notifications: reminder emails leading up to the due date, an overdue email once the due date passes, and then a fixed monthly repeat of that overdue email until the course is completed. This article explains how each of these notifications works, including the timing rules for reminders, the overdue email cadence, and supervisor notifications.
Pre-Due Date Reminder Emails (“Coming Up for Overdue”)
Staff members can receive reminder emails before their completion becomes overdue. These are fully configurable on the course’s Due Date Workflow and can include multiple reminders, each scheduled at a specific point in time before the due date — for example, “30 days before due,” “2 weeks before due,” or “1 month before due.”
Important: Only the most recently due reminder is sent at any given time — the system will not send multiple outstanding reminders at once. For example, if a staff member has both a 2-month and a 1-month reminder configured, and the system runs after the 1-month mark has passed, only the 1-month reminder is sent (not both). Each reminder is only ever sent once per person, per course.
Note: Reminder emails are only sent to staff who have never previously completed the course. If a staff member has completed the course before (i.e., this is a re-completion requirement), reminders are instead handled by the Refresher Workflow, not the Due Date Workflow. See Workflow Definitions for more on how Due Date and Refresher Workflows differ.
Overdue Emails (After the Due Date Has Passed)
Once a staff member’s due date has passed and they have not completed the course, they receive an overdue notification email. After that initial overdue email:
- The system continues to send overdue reminder emails once per month, every month, for as long as the staff member remains incomplete.
- This monthly cadence is fixed — it is not configurable. Overdue emails always send on a monthly cycle.
- Emails stop as soon as the staff member completes the course.
In addition to email, staff also receive an in-platform (bell/alert) notification on the same monthly cycle.
Supervisor Emails
Supervisors can also be notified when a staff member becomes overdue, but there are some important limitations to be aware of:
- The supervisor email is an on/off toggle set at the workflow level — it is either enabled or disabled for the entire workflow applied to that course.
- There is no separate frequency setting for supervisors. A supervisor receives their email at exactly the same time the staff member’s overdue email is sent — meaning supervisors also receive notifications on the same monthly cycle as the staff member.
- The supervisor email contains the same content as the staff member’s overdue email, but is prefaced with a note identifying who is overdue (e.g., “You are receiving this email because you are the supervisor of [Staff Name].”)
- The email goes to the staff member’s direct/assigned supervisor in the system. If a staff member has no supervisor assigned, no supervisor email is sent.
- Supervisors are not copied on pre-due-date reminders — only on overdue notifications.
Other Things Worth Knowing
- Users on leave: If the “on leave” feature is enabled and a user is assigned to an “on leave” cohort, they can be excluded from all of the notifications described in this article. This is an optional platform configuration.
- Suspended or deleted users: These users are automatically excluded from all notification processing.
- Retroactive emails: If a workflow is applied to a course where staff members already have a past due date, whether those staff receive emails is controlled by a separate “retroactive emails” setting on the workflow.
- Per-course configuration: These notification settings are configured per course workflow, so different mandatory courses can have different reminder schedules and supervisor notification settings.
To review or change any of these settings, go to Admin > Workflows in your tenancy and open the Due Date Workflow applied to the relevant course. See Workflow Definitions for a full overview of workflow types.
Summary
Staff receive pre-due-date reminders (on whatever schedule is configured on the course’s Due Date Workflow — e.g., 30 days or 2 weeks before), then a notification when they become overdue, followed by a monthly repeat of the overdue email until they complete the course. Supervisors receive the same overdue email on the same monthly cadence — this frequency cannot be adjusted independently — and supervisors are not notified about upcoming (pre-overdue) reminders.
FAQ
Q: I configured a 2-month and a 1-month reminder, but my staff member only received one email. Is this a bug?
A: No — this is expected. Only the most recently due outstanding reminder is sent at a time, so if the system runs after the 1-month mark has passed, only that reminder sends.
Q: Can I make overdue emails send weekly instead of monthly?
A: No. The overdue email (and the matching bell notification) cadence is fixed at once per month and cannot be configured.
Q: My learner completed the course before, but reminder emails still weren’t sent this cycle. Why?
A: Pre-due-date reminders only apply to staff who have never completed the course. For re-completions, reminders are handled by the Refresher Workflow instead.
Q: Why isn’t a supervisor receiving any emails for an overdue staff member?
A: Check two things: that the supervisor email toggle is enabled on the workflow, and that the staff member has a supervisor assigned in the system. If either is missing, no supervisor email is sent.