Deadlines lose meaning when they quietly move. The escalation flow keeps due dates honest: every change to a measure's due date is counted, and when a measure hits the project's limit it escalates automatically so leadership sees it. You can also escalate a measure manually at any time.
Turning it on
The escalation flow is switched on per project in Project Details → Settings (see Project Details). That's also where you set the escalation limit: how many due date changes a measure gets before it escalates. The default is 3, and you can set anything from 3 to 9.
How to escalate a measure manually
To escalate a measure yourself, open the measure and set its status to Escalated. That's it: the measure is marked with a red border on the board and its due date locks, exactly as with an automatic escalation. Use this when a measure needs leadership attention now, without waiting for the due date limit.
How counting works
Every change to a measure's due date counts: moving it later, moving it earlier, or removing it entirely
Setting the very first due date on a measure is free, only edits after that count
Re-saving the same date doesn't count
Changed your mind right after an edit? You have 90 seconds to settle: only your final value counts (see below)
Changed your mind? The 90-second window
Not every edit should cost a change. When you update a measure's due date, a 90-second window opens, and inside it you can adjust the date as often as you like: only where the date ends up when the window closes is compared against where it started.
If the final date is different from the original, that counts as exactly one change, no matter how many edits you made in between. The due date history gets a single entry, from the original date straight to the final one
If the final date lands back on the original, nothing counts: no change is logged, no history entry appears, and the counter stays where it was
A few details worth knowing:
The window runs for 90 seconds from your first edit, not your last, and it closes on time even if you navigate away or close the tab
The change counter on the card, in the list and in the drawer stays stable while the window is open: it moves up when your edit would count, and drops back if you revert to the original date
After the window closes, the next date change starts a fresh 90-second window of its own
A genuine revert never triggers the escalation confirmation
Once a measure is escalated, the window no longer applies: reverting does nothing, and every date edit by a lead is logged individually
In short: you get 90 seconds to settle on a date, and only your final answer counts.
Warnings before escalation
You won't be caught off guard. There are exactly two pop-ups on the way to escalation:
At 50% of the limit, a warning modal tells you how many changes are left and shows the new due date you're about to confirm
At 100%, a confirmation modal shows the new due date and appears before the final change is saved. If you confirm, the change commits and the measure escalates
From the halfway point, a count badge also appears next to the measure's due date on its card, in both the board view and the list view of the Plan section, darkening from amber to red as the count climbs.
What escalation means
The measure's status flips to Escalated and the card is marked with a red border on the board
The due date locks: it disappears from the card and the list row, and only Work Package Leads, Project Leads and Consultants can still edit it from the drawer
Escalation is final: changing the date back afterwards does not undo it
Resolving an escalation
Only Work Package Leads, Project Leads and Consultants can resolve an escalation, in two ways:
Change the status from Escalated to a different status. If the measure escalated by hitting the limit, the most recent date change is removed from the count automatically (you'll see it struck through in the due date history), leaving exactly one change before it escalates again. If it was escalated manually, the date simply unlocks and the count stays where it is.
Remove due date changes from the measure's history using the X icons. Once the count drops below the limit, the measure de-escalates automatically and returns to its previous status.
For example: the limit is 3 and a measure has used all 3 changes and escalated. A Work Package Lead, Project Lead or Consultant removes 2 of the changes from the history, bringing the count down to 1. The measure de-escalates, and the team has 2 due date changes left before it escalates again.
Good to know
Turning the flow off unlocks all escalated measures, and Escalated behaves like a normal status again. Counts are kept in the background, but switching the flow back on resets them to zero.
Changing the limit mid-project applies from that moment on: already escalated measures stay escalated.