Every credit on a contact record tracks two changing totals: the quantity used and the quantity still available. This article explains when Rhythm recalculates those totals and why Rhythm may stop you from deleting a record connected to a credit.
How the Used and Available Quantities Are Calculated
When you save a credit through the usual Console or Portal process, Rhythm recalculates the credit’s used and available quantities. Rhythm does not require usage to stay within the credit’s original amount. If the usage entered is greater than the credit amount, the available quantity becomes negative, and Rhythm saves that value. Rhythm also allows negative usage entries, so a negative usage entry increases the available quantity instead of reducing it.
Tip
If a credit’s available quantity looks wrong, check the recorded usage entries first. Rhythm saves negative usage entries, and usage greater than the credit amount, exactly as entered.
Rhythm only recalculates these quantities when you save a credit through the standard process that runs Rhythm’s usual save processing. Credits created or updated through a bulk operation or direct data-loading path may not go through that same recalculation.
Why You Can't Delete a Record a Credit Points At
A credit can point to several related records, including the contact who owns it, its credit type, the activity that produced it, a course registration, an event, an event registration, or the certification application it came from. If a credit still points to one of these records, Rhythm refuses to delete that record. You’ll see a generic error on the page where you tried to delete the record, instead of a message that names the specific credit blocking the delete.
Warning
If you can’t delete a contact, an activity, a course registration, or an application, check whether a credit still points to it before assuming something else is wrong. The usual fix is to delete the credit or reassign the record it points to.
This protection applies to credits saved through the standard process, which is the same process that keeps the used and available quantities current. A credit created or updated through a bulk operation or direct data-loading path does not always create this protection, so it may not stop a delete the way a normally saved credit does.
Credits Rhythm Writes for You
Not every credit is entered by hand. Course registrations and certification applications can write, replace, and delete their own credits as part of their processing. For example, Rhythm grants a course’s credits once the course registration is paid for; it does not wait for attendance to be confirmed.
If your association tracks attendance-based credit through a Zoom integration, that automated credit tracking depends on Zoom's attendance events being matched to the stored registration. When the match fails, Rhythm does not record a check-in or departure time on the registration, and automated credit tracking cannot award credit for that attendee. The registration and any related credit may need to be handled manually instead.
Related
For how a credit requirement on an application counts these same quantities, see How Application Requirements Are Evaluated.