When you build a scoring model, you can use Rhythm’s built-in engagement metrics and any custom metrics your association has defined. This reference explains what each built-in metric measures, so you can choose the right metrics with confidence. Rhythm starts measuring these metrics in your Rhythm account only after engagement scoring is turned on.
Built-In Engagement Metrics
| Metric | What it counts | Time window |
|---|---|---|
| Years of Membership | How long each contact or organization has been a member, plus the time since the most recent lapse. Rhythm counts whole years and rounds down, so 23 months of membership counts as 1 year | All-time, based on today's membership status |
| Flowdown Memberships | The number of active individual memberships beneath an organization's membership. Rhythm counts only memberships owned by contacts, not memberships owned by another organization | All-time, based on today's statuses |
| Custom Activities | The number of custom activities of each type that staff have recorded for a contact or organization | All-time; unlike most metrics below, this one never decays |
| Certification Activities | The number of certification activities a contact logged, both in total and by type. Rhythm counts activities, not weights, so hours or credits on an activity do not change the count | Past 12 months |
| Certification Credits | The number of certification credits a contact earned, both in total and by credit type. Credits can include fractions, so allow decimals when you set score ranges for this metric | Past 12 months |
| Course Registrations | The number of uncancelled certification course registrations a contact made, both in total and by course type. Rhythm uses the registration date, not the course's own date | Past 12 months |
| Committees | The number of committee seats a contact currently holds, both in total and by committee type. Rhythm counts seats, not committees, so two seats on the same committee count twice. Organizations do not get a committee measurement | Current, as of the measurement date |
| Event Registrations | The number of uncancelled event registrations a contact has, based on the event's start date | Past 12 months |
| Abstract Submissions | The number of event abstracts a contact submitted. Rejected and withdrawn abstracts still count | Past 12 months |
| Speaking Engagements | The number of times a contact spoke at an event. Each speaker entry counts, so speaking more than once at the same event counts more than once | Past 12 months |
| Gifts | The number of gifts a contact or organization gave, and the total amount, regardless of payment status. Rhythm adds the amounts without currency conversion | Past 12 months |
| Merchandise Purchases | The value of merchandise billed to a contact or organization. Rhythm credits the purchase to the billed-to record, so a purchase billed to someone's organization is not credited to the person who bought it | Past 12 months |
Tip
Most metrics use a rolling past-12-months window, so their counts move forward as time passes. Custom Activities is the exception because it counts every matching activity ever recorded.
Why a Metric Might Always Read Zero
- The application it depends on has nothing recorded yet. Committees, courses, certifications, events, gifts, and merchandise purchases all rely on activity in another Rhythm application. If your association does not use that application, or has not recorded anything in it, the metric has nothing to count.
- Engagement scoring isn't turned on. Rhythm does not measure any metric in your Rhythm account until engagement scoring is turned on there.
- The contact or organization doesn't qualify. Committees are measured for contacts only, never organizations. Flowdown memberships count only child memberships that belong to contacts, not another organization.