Rhythm can suggest a chapter when a member joins or renews in three ways: by distance from the member’s address, by address-matching rules in an assignment mapping, or by custom logic in your Rhythm account. This article explains how to choose the strategy and build assignment mappings. For what members see while joining, see "How Chapters Are Suggested, Offered, and Priced While Joining" in Related below.
Where to Find It
In the Membership & Committees Console:
- Go to Setup › Other Settings and open the Chapters card to choose the Chapter Assignment Strategy.
- Go to Setup › Chapters › Assignment Mappings to create, edit, or delete a mapping.
Tip
The Chapter Assignment Strategy choice and the Assignment Mappings menu entry appear only after Rhythm turns on chapter mapping for your Rhythm account. Contact Rhythm Support if you need this turned on.
Choose the Strategy
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter Assignment Strategy | Distance (Default) — suggest the nearest chapter based on the member’s address; Mapping Rule — use an assignment mapping based on postal codes, states, or countries; Custom Logic — use a custom function for advanced chapter assignment logic | Distance | Controls how Rhythm chooses the chapter to suggest. |
| Assignment Mapping Rule | An active assignment mapping | — | Appears, and is required, when the strategy is Mapping Rule. |
| Lambda Function | A function from your Rhythm account | — | Appears, and is required, when the strategy is Custom Logic. |
Warning
If chapter mapping is not turned on for your Rhythm account, Rhythm changes the strategy back to Distance each time you save Other Settings. Rhythm also clears any saved Mapping Rule or Custom Logic choice without a message, which is why the chapter suggestion strategy may keep reverting to distance.
You can override chapter suggestion on a membership package. On the package, turn on Override Chapter Settings, then set How should we handle chapter automatic assignment? there. Members of that package follow the package’s setting instead of the account-wide strategy above.
Chapter assignment for a terminated membership can also depend on your account’s reinstatement configuration. If a chapter does not populate as expected during reinstatement, check the reinstatement rules too instead of relying only on the address or state.
Build an Assignment Mapping
An assignment mapping is a named, ordered list of rules. Each rule matches an address by postal code range, state, or country, then sends that address to a target chapter. You can also choose a fallback chapter for any address that does not match a rule.
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: / ID: | Text / generated | — | Required. The ID is what Other Settings saves when you choose this mapping as the strategy. |
| Status: | Active / Inactive | Active | Rhythm skips an inactive mapping when it suggests a chapter. |
| Description | Text | Blank | A note that helps other administrators recognize the mapping. |
| Default Chapter (Fallback) | An active chapter, or blank | Blank | Suggested when no rule matches. A chapter chosen here cannot be deleted while it is the fallback. |
| Deletion Protection: | On or off | Off | Shown to Rhythm staff only. |
Rules
Select Add Rule to add a rule in the order you want Rhythm to check it. Use the up and down arrows to reorder rules. the first matching rule wins, so place more specific rules above broader ones.
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rule Type | States, Countries, Postal Code Ranges | States | Chooses which criteria the rule checks. |
| Target Chapter | An active chapter | — | Required. This is the chapter Rhythm suggests when the rule matches. |
| States | Multi-select of United States states, Washington, DC, and the armed-forces codes | — | Required when the type is States. |
| Countries | Multi-select country picker | — | Required when the type is Countries. |
| Postal Code Ranges | One or more Start / End pairs | One blank range | Required when the type is Postal Code Ranges. Rhythm compares ranges as text, so a range without leading zeros, or a ZIP+4 code, may not match the way you expect. |
Warning
Rhythm does not check whether a postal code range’s start comes before its end, and it does not warn you when two rules overlap. Review your rules carefully because an overlapping or backwards rule fails silently instead of showing an error.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Rhythm checks rules from top to bottom, and the first matching rule decides the suggested chapter. Rhythm uses the fallback chapter only when no rule matches.
- You cannot delete a chapter while a mapping names it as a rule’s target or fallback.
- Other Settings stores the mapping’s identifier as your Rhythm account’s chosen strategy. Renaming a mapping does not change its identifier, so the strategy still points to the same mapping.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Editing a mapping’s rules changes chapter suggestions immediately for anyone who starts an application afterward. It does not change chapters that have already been assigned.
- Deleting a mapping that is currently selected as the account's strategy is not blocked, and nothing warns you. Later chapter suggestions silently fall back to distance suggestions. If you are retiring a mapping, choose a different strategy or mapping in Other Settings first.
- Making a mapping inactive is reversible. Reactivate it to restore its rules instead of deleting it.
Permissions
Choosing the chapter suggestion strategy and managing assignment mappings are Membership administrator actions in the Console. If you cannot reach Setup › Other Settings or Setup › Chapters › Assignment Mappings, ask the person who manages security roles for your Rhythm account to give you access.
Validation and Errors
| What you see | Meaning and what to do |
|---|---|
| A message names a rule and its missing criteria, for example "Postal code rule '<id>' must have at least one postal code range" | The rule type requires criteria you have not entered. Add at least one value of the right kind. |
| "A record already exists with this name." beside ID: | This is a warning only, and it does not stop you from saving. |
| Rhythm refuses to save the strategy for Mapping Rule when no mapping is chosen, or Custom Logic when no function is chosen | Choose the required mapping or function, or switch back to Distance. |
| "Unable to save Chapter Assignment Mapping" immediately after deleting your last mapping | Create a new mapping again from a fresh form. Deleting every mapping can leave your Rhythm account unable to save a new one from this screen until you retry. |