A batch moves through several statuses as you work on it. This article explains the status changes you make yourself: closing, verifying, archiving, reopening, and deleting a batch. For posting, unposting, and downloading a batch, use the articles for those tasks.
When to Use This
Close, verify, or archive a batch when you need to show where it stands before posting. Use Reopen when a closed batch or a batch in Error needs to accept work again, or when a batch is stuck. Use Delete only when a batch was created by mistake and does not have anything in it yet.
Prerequisites
- You need permission to edit batches to close, verify, or archive one; permission to reopen batches to use Reopen; and permission to delete batches to delete one.
- The batch you want to change must already exist and be open in the Console. Go to Finance & Billing › Batches and open the batch from the search results or the recently viewed panel.
Close, Verify, or Archive a Batch
You close, verify, and archive a batch from the edit form by changing its status.
- On the batch's page, open Batch Options and select Edit Details....
- Change Status: to Closed, Verified, or Archived.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
Rhythm saves the new status and returns you to the batch's page.
Warning
After you archive a batch, you cannot change it back through this form in the Console. If you archive a batch by mistake, contact Support. An archived batch is also excluded from your financial management software and cannot be reopened. If an invoice in the batch still needs a correction, such as a write-off or credit memo, you generally cannot make that correction until Support helps you reopen the batch.
Archiving is a useful way to keep a batch's transactions out of your reports without deleting anything. Use it for transactions you want to keep out of normal activity, such as transactions you isolated for review or corrective entries you made to document a fix. Move those transactions into their own batch, then archive that batch instead of leaving it in Error or Open. Add a note to the batch so it is clear later why the batch exists.
Archiving this way also keeps the batch out of your regular financial batch processing. You do not need to keep moving it into future periods just to keep it away from the batches you want to post. Because archiving changes only the batch status and does not delete anything, the transaction records stay available for later review.
You cannot edit a batch while it is actively posting. If the batch has been in Posting for five minutes or less since its last change, Rhythm refuses every edit. After five minutes, Rhythm treats the batch as stuck because the posting run did not finish cleanly, and the lock lifts. You can then move the batch back to Open or into Error so you can investigate and try again.
Reopen a Batch
Reopening changes a closed batch or a batch in Error back to Open so it can accept transactions again.
- On the batch's page, open Batch Options and select Reopen.
Result
The batch's status changes to Open immediately, with no confirmation step. Rhythm shows a message confirming the batch was reopened, and the page reloads.
Reopen is available only when a batch is Closed or in Error. If a batch is Posted or Downloaded, you cannot return it to Open with Reopen or by editing it. To return a posted batch to a working status, unpost it.
Rhythm does not accept new orders or payments into a closed or posted batch. Checkout and payment submission are refused the same way any other transaction is refused when the batch cannot take new work. Reopen the batch, or direct the transaction to an open batch instead, to accept it. Reopening a batch does not reopen orders that were already completed; a completed order stays completed even after the batch it posted through is reopened.
You can also reopen a batch from the edit form by setting Status: back to Open, the same way you close or verify it.
Tip
A closed fiscal period does not stop you from reopening the batch. Reopening a batch is separate from whether its accounting period is still open.
If a batch failed to post because one of its invoices was still pro forma, reopening it is not enough by itself. Open the invoice, use Invoice Options › Adjust Items to clear its pro forma status, then reopen the batch and post it again.
Delete a Batch
Delete removes a batch entirely, and you cannot undo it.
- On the batch's page, open Batch Options and select Delete....
- Confirm the prompt, Are you sure you want to delete this batch?, by selecting Yes, delete it!.
Result
The batch is deleted, and you return to the Batches home page.
You can delete a batch only when both of these are true:
- It has never been posted or downloaded. After a batch reaches Posted or Downloaded, Delete is disabled because you cannot delete a posted batch.
- No transaction still belongs to it. If any invoice, payment, refund, credit, memo, or write-off still names the batch, Rhythm refuses the delete. Move or remove those transactions first. To see what is inside a batch before deleting it, see Find and Review a Batch.
Deleting a batch also removes any automatic posting time you set on it because there is no longer a batch for the timer to post. Its name becomes available again afterward, so seeing that name in use elsewhere does not confirm the original batch still exists.
Warning
If a batch is the active batch for a recurring batch setup, deleting it is not blocked the way a posted batch is. If you delete a batch that is still in active use this way, new transactions that would have gone to it may fail to be assigned automatically until the recurring batch setup is corrected.
Warning
Deleting a batch that was assigned to a pay-later order before that order's payment is recorded is also not blocked, because no transaction belongs to the batch yet. If you later record that payment, the order can be left showing an unexpected status such as Awaiting Payment or Open instead of completing normally. Anything the order was meant to fulfill, such as a membership, may not finish either. Check the order's status after recording a late payment like this, and contact Support if it has not updated the way you expect.
Related Reading
To create a new batch or change its name, date, or business unit, see Create or Edit a Batch. To find a batch and see what is inside it before you close, reopen, or delete it, see Find and Review a Batch. To understand what posting a batch writes to your books, see How Posting Creates Ledger Entries.