Most credits come from processing an activity, completing a course, or attending an event. When someone earns credit outside of something Rhythm already tracks, or when you bring credit over from an older system, you can record it by hand on the same page you use to correct credits.
When to Use This
Use this page when a contact needs credit for something Rhythm did not already process. You can also use it to find, correct, or remove an existing credit, including a credit that points to a contact, credit type, or source record that no longer exists.
Prerequisites
- Permission to create credits, if you need to record one by hand.
- Permission to edit credits, if you need to correct an existing one.
- Permission to delete credits, if you need to remove one.
- The credit type you want to use must already be defined.
Record a Credit by Hand
- Go to Certifications › Credits and select Record a Credit. If you are starting from a specific contact's record, use Record a Credit from their Credits panel instead, so Rhythm preselects the contact.
- Fill in Contact:, Date:, Type:, Quantity:, and Status:.
- Choose an Origin: — Legacy System, Course Registration, Certification Activity, or Event Registration.
- If you chose an origin other than Legacy System, select the matching source record: Activity:, Course Registration:, or Select a Registration:. Rhythm only shows records that belong to the chosen contact.
- Add any Notes, then select Save Changes.
Tip
Custom fields on a credit are mainly for carrying over data from an older system when you bring legacy credit history into Rhythm. Most credits, including credits you record by hand for something Rhythm does not already track, do not need custom fields.
Result
Rhythm saves the credit and assigns its number automatically. A new credit starts with quantity 1 and status Submitted unless you change those values. A submitted credit counts toward applications right away, just like any other status that counts.
Warning
If you choose an origin other than Legacy System, you must also select the matching source record, even though the form does not mark that field as required. If you save without it, Rhythm refuses the save and tells you which link is missing. When you choose an event registration, Rhythm also fills in the credit's event automatically, so you do not set that separately.
Tip
Changing Origin: after you pick a source record does not clear that source record. If you change the origin, clear the now-unused source field yourself before you save, so the credit does not list an activity or registration under the wrong origin.
Find and Review a Credit
- Go to Certifications › Credits.
- Use Search Credits to narrow the list by Type:, Date:, Quantity:, Status:, or ID:. To search by status, choose exactly two statuses; the search does not accept only one status or more than two.
- Select a credit's type in the results to open it.
Result
The credit page shows Quantity:, Used:, and Qty Available:, along with the credit's type, origin, and notes. For a credit tied to an activity, the page also shows the linked activity's own details. The Applications tab lists every application that used the credit as a non-reusable credit, including each application's type, program, date, and status. The tab count and the applications shown do not include uses where the credit was applied as reusable.
Tip
Qty Available: can go below zero or higher than what an application actually needs because Rhythm does not compare a credit's usage total to its quantity. If a total looks wrong, check the Applications tab for every application using the credit, since Rhythm does not enforce the running total automatically. If the numbers still do not add up after you check the Applications tab, remember that the tab only shows non-reusable uses; a reusable use of the same credit toward a different application's requirement does not appear there.
Tip
You can find a credit's ID, which other systems and imports use to identify it, by adding it as an output field in a Credits query or from Credit Options on the credit's own Credit 360 page. Rhythm assigns the credit's number automatically, but that value does not appear on the Credit 360 page or on the edit screen. If you need to look it up, run a Credits query and add number as an output field.
Correct or Remove a Credit
- Open the credit and select Edit Credit to change its details, including its status, quantity, type, owner, or origin.
- To remove the credit instead, select Delete Credit and confirm.
Result
Rhythm saves edits immediately and does not keep a history of the prior values alongside the credit. Deleting removes the credit outright.
Warning
Deleting a credit is never blocked by anything that points to it, including an application that has already used it, and Rhythm does not warn you when you delete. Check the Applications tab first if you want to know whether removing a credit will leave an application short. Removing a credit reference that no longer points to a real credit can also reveal that an application only appeared to meet its credit requirement because of that stale link. After you remove it, the application may show as no longer meeting the requirement if it has no other valid qualifying credit.
If a record has duplicate credits for the same thing, correct it the same way: open the extra credit and delete it.
Tip
If you are holding credits for review instead of letting Rhythm verify them automatically, you do not have to update them to Verified one at a time. A mass update can set Status: to Verified across many credits at once.
Warning
A credit that came from processing an activity behaves differently. You can edit it, but the next time that activity is processed again, Rhythm deletes the credit it produced and creates a new one in its place, even if you corrected the old one. Any status you set by hand is also reset to submitted when that happens.
Why a Save Can Be Refused
Rhythm refuses to save a credit, whether you are recording a new one or correcting an existing one, if it names a contact, credit type, or source record that does not exist. The source record could be an activity, course registration, or event registration, and the error tells you which reference is missing. This most often happens when a linked record was deleted, when you select a source record but leave the origin as Legacy System, or when you do the reverse.
Importing Credits in Bulk
If you import credits instead of recording them by hand, the same Quantity: and Type: (credit type) fields are required, and Origin: still determines what else you need. A Legacy System origin needs nothing further, while a Certification Activity origin needs an activity type identifier that is already defined in Rhythm. To identify an existing credit in an upload, such as when you are updating rather than creating credits, use the credit's id, not its number; id is the value Rhythm treats as the credit's unique identifier for this purpose.
Related
A credit's usages and available quantity matter most when an application applies credit toward a requirement, and when staff or a contact prints a transcript of all credits earned. Credit types, including whether they are reusable, are configured separately from the individual credits recorded against them.