An expiration rule set determines how long a certification or application lasts. Application processes use the rule set you choose when they date the records they create.
What It Controls
Each rule set has a name, a permanent identifier, and a default expiration. Rhythm uses the default when none of the rule set’s conditional rules applies. The default can be:
- Anniversary — a term counted in years, quarters, months, weeks, or days from the start date. You also set the cut-off day that decides which month the start counts toward, and whether expirations can fall in the middle of a month.
- Calendar Year — expiration at the end of the number of calendar years you choose. A cut-off date decides which year the start counts toward.
- Never — the certification or application does not expire from this rule set’s default rule.
An anniversary default can also include fixed expiration dates. When a start date falls inside one of those yearly ranges, it expires on the fixed date you choose instead of following the anniversary term.
A rule set can also turn on reinstatement. When you use reinstatement, the rule set stores the reinstatement period in days and whether reinstating during that period uses renewal pricing. Turning this on does not offer reinstatement by itself; you still need a separate application process of type Reinstatement. The rule set’s reinstatement settings change how that process behaves by overriding its configured renewal period and, optionally, allowing renewal pricing.
Rhythm does not have an expiration rule that calculates a certification’s expiration from a related membership’s expiration date. The rule set’s default and conditional rules are the only source for how a certification or application expires.
Warning
A rule set’s record can include conditional rules that override the default for applicants who match specific conditions. The Console does not have a screen where you can view or change these conditional rules; they can only be written directly through the API. If your rule set already has conditional rules from an earlier setup, editing it here leaves those rules unchanged and hidden. Cloning the rule set copies them to the new set as well.
Where to Find It
Go to Setup › Applications › Expiration Rule Sets. Rhythm opens the Expiration Rule Sets list.
- Create Expiration Rule Set opens a blank form.
- A row’s Edit icon opens that rule set, and Clone starts a new rule set copied from it.
Prerequisites
You need the permission your administrator grants for application setup to reach this screen.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| How does expiration occur? | Anniversary, Calendar Year, Never | Anniversary | Chooses the default expiration rule |
| Term length and unit (anniversary) | A number and Years, Quarters, Months, Weeks, or Days | 1, Years | Sets the length of an anniversary term |
| Sell for next month after (anniversary) | A day of the month | 15 | Sets the cut-off day after which a start counts toward the next month |
| Allow expirations in the middle of month? (anniversary) | On, off | Off | Controls whether an expiration can fall in the middle of a month |
| Fixed Anniversary Expiration Dates switch | On, off, with date ranges | Off | Uses fixed dates you choose for starts inside a range instead of the anniversary term |
| Start of Calendar Year (calendar) | A month | January | Sets the month when the calendar year begins |
| Sell for Next Year After (calendar) | A day of the year | December 31 | Sets the cut-off date after which a start counts toward the next year |
| Number of Years (calendar) | A number | 1 | Sets how many calendar years one term covers |
| Reinstatement switch | On, off | Off | Stores a reinstatement period and pricing choice for the rule set |
| Reinstatement Period (days) | A number | Blank | Sets how many days after lapsing reinstatement is stored as allowed. After that many days pass, the person can no longer access reinstatement and needs to complete a new certification process instead. |
| Give renewal pricing during the reinstatement period? | On, off | Off | Stores whether reinstating during that period is meant to use renewal pricing |
Dependencies and Precedence
- An application process can choose from the list of active rule sets available when you configure it. An unfinished application receives an expiration date from the process’s application expiration rule set only when the application was bought through a paid, fulfilled order with an application-fee line, and the process names that rule set. If any of those pieces is missing, the application receives no expiration date and never expires.
- Marking a rule set Inactive stops it from being offered when you configure a new application process. It does not remove or change the rule set from processes that already use it.
- An application's own expiration date and a certification's expiration date are separate fields on separate records. A process’s application expiration rule set dates the application while it is pending; it does not set or change the resulting certification’s expiration date. That expiration date comes from the process’s certification expiration rule set when the application is activated.
- Expiration outcomes depend on the process and rule-set configuration in effect when a record was created or activated. Certifications activated at different times under the same-looking program setup can end up with different terms if the process or its rule set changed in between. If expiration dates for a program look inconsistent across time, check whether the process or rule set assignment changed before assuming the rule set is wrong.
- When a certification application is approved and activated, Rhythm calculates the certification’s new expiration date from that activation, using the process’s certification expiration rule set. It is not simply “the approval date plus the configured term” unless the rule set’s default is defined that way. If a validity date does not match what you expected from the term length alone, check how the rule set’s default and any conditional rules apply to the certification’s own dates instead of assuming a fixed offset from approval.
- Previously accrued certification credits carry forward, rather than resetting, when a member completes a certification’s renewal application process.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- You can change a rule set’s name or default expiration at any time. This does not touch any conditional rules already stored on the record; Rhythm copies those rules back unchanged.
- Deactivating a rule set does not affect processes that already point to it, and their reference is not cleared.
- Changing a rule set’s settings is not retroactive. It does not recalculate expiration dates already stored on existing certifications or applications. Only newly processed applications and newly created certifications use the updated rule from that point forward, so you can adjust a rule set for future activity while leaving already-issued expiration dates exactly as they were.
- Deleting a rule set is permanent. A legacy process that still names the rule set blocks deletion until that reference is removed. See Delete a Program, Program Group, or Expiration Rule Set for the full deletion behavior.
Warning
In some cases, a certification’s expiration date has been advanced a second time during an application’s payment flow. For example, this can happen when a check payment, or a Pay Later order, is processed after the application was already submitted and dated once. If an expiration date looks further out than the rule set should produce, check whether the payment was processed separately from submission.
Permissions
You need the permission your administrator grants for application setup to create, edit, or delete an expiration rule set.
Validation and Errors
- A rule set requires a name and a default expiration.
- Term length, the calendar year count, and the fixed-date range fields must be filled in when their expiration type is chosen. A fixed-date row left incomplete prevents you from adding another row.
- Use Test These Settings to check a rule set’s default expiration against a sample start date before saving. The test is not saved, and it checks only the default rule. Because of that, a test result can look correct while a real renewal or activation still produces a different date. The live process considers the certification’s actual current status and dates, which the test does not. When you troubleshoot an unexpected expiration date, check both the rule set’s test result and the end-to-end renewal or activation instead of trusting the test alone.
- Deleting a rule set while a legacy process still names it is refused.
Related
See "Related" in the sidebar for deleting programs, groups, and rule sets, grandfathered renewal, and your account’s audit history.