Delivery date: recording the promise to the customer

In Gantway an order has two dates at its end, and they mean different things:

• Delivery date — the date you promised the customer. You enter it, and only you change it.
• Planned end — Gantway calculates this from the positions: it is the end of the last scheduled position and moves with every rescheduling.

Gantway compares the two and warns as soon as the planned end lies after the delivery date. The delivery date locks nothing and triggers no status change: scheduling is always possible, even when it gets tight.

Some of the messages below are not translated; German texts are quoted with the meaning in brackets.

Where you enter the delivery date

The field is called "Delivery date (optional)" everywhere and takes a plain date without a time:

• When creating an order: in the "New order" dialog and in the guided assistant (step "Order").
• Later: sidebar Orders → open the order → tab "Overview" → card "Master data" → "Edit". The card shows the date in the "Delivery date" row (otherwise "No delivery date"). By default admins, planners and team leads may edit, team leads only for orders assigned to them.
• On the desk: in the "Create new folder" dialog (button "New folder").
• In the offer: when creating it and when editing the offer. Gantway stores it on the order behind the offer, so after acceptance it is the same date. If you create an offer for an existing order, the field is pre-filled with that order's delivery date: "Prefilled with the order's delivery date. A change applies to the order; clearing the field removes the date." More under Creating an offer.

Planned end: calculated as soon as positions have dates

In the edit dialog, "Start date (optional)" and "Planned end" sit above the delivery date. Once the order is scheduled and at least one position has a date, both fields are locked, with "Calculated from the positions." underneath. You only maintain the period by hand for orders without scheduled positions.

As soon as an order is scheduled via "Plan" or "Release", it takes its start and planned end from its scheduled positions. If you enter start and end by hand on a draft that already has work positions, Gantway schedules it with that: the positions are scheduled from the new start, and afterwards the period follows the positions.

The delivery date, by contrast, always stays editable. If it lies before the start or before the planned end, the dialog shows a yellow hint ("The delivery date is before the start." or "The planned end is after the delivery date."); you can still save.

If you promised the delivery date in a sent or accepted quote and the date on the order now differs from it, the "Master data" card and the edit dialog show a hint such as "Promised to the customer in offer AG-2026-014: 15.10.2026." The accepted quote counts; otherwise the most recently sent one. This hint does not block anything either.

Where Gantway warns

• In the scheduling dialog, before you click: at the top it says "Delivery date: 08.10.2026". If the chosen window ends after it, you see "Expected end … is after the delivery date …." instead, and suggestions that end too late are already marked "Ends after the delivery date" in the list. See Scheduling an order — suggestions and traffic light.
• On the order: below the status buttons there is a coloured line, such as "3 working days buffer until the delivery date", "No buffer: planned end on the delivery date" or "Planned end is 2 working days after the delivery date". How to read it is explained in Is my order still on schedule?.
• In the order list: the "Delivery date" column colours the date red if the planned end lies after it, and yellow with at most 2 working days of buffer; the tooltip gives the reason.
• In the Gantt: a dashed line marks the delivery date. Its colour shows the situation: grey while there is enough buffer (or the order is not planned yet), amber with at most 2 working days of buffer, red only once the planned end lies after it. A hatched area shows the buffer (green) or the overrun (red). The order's row shows "→08.10." and a badge with the working days — red with a plus sign when exceeded ("+2d", or "!" if there is no working day between delivery date and planned end), plus the label "Due" at the line. This applies to the Gantt in the project overview and to the order Gantt.
• On the desk: every folder shows a badge with the date and the working days remaining, such as "08.10. (5d)", on the day itself "(today)", after the date with an arrow such as "(2d↑)". It turns red when the date has passed or the planned end lies after it. You cannot change the delivery date there directly: the pencil "Open order" on the folder leads to the order detail, where you use "Edit". Within a column, orders with the earliest delivery date come first.
• On the dashboard: the "Delivery dates" widget and the delivery date shown for orders in progress, described under Dashboard widgets.
• When editing a position: if it ends after the delivery date, Gantway reports on saving "„Name der Position“ endet am … — nach dem Liefertermin …" (position ends on … — after the delivery date).

Notifications about the delivery date

• "Planung überschreitet den Liefertermin" (planning exceeds the delivery date) — as soon as a rescheduling (scheduling, moving, resolving a conflict) pushes the planned end past the delivery date for the first time. Once per order and day, to admins and planners plus the order's team leads.
• "Liefertermin naht" (delivery date approaching) — when the delivery date is today or within the next 2 working days and the order still has open positions (or none at all). This also applies to drafts and orders not yet scheduled. Once per order and day, to admins, planners and team leads. Gantway checks this every morning, and again when someone in the company opens the dashboard, so a date entered during the day is caught as well.

You switch off both under Settings → Notifications in the row "Delivery dates", see Notifications.

What else happens to the delivery date

• Duplicating does not copy the delivery date; the copy is a new promise.
• Completing leaves the planned end as it was; the delivery date stays as well.
• The CSV export of orders contains the column "Liefertermin" (delivery date).