Activate new periods and rounds and inactivate (or retire) current periods and rounds annually. There are different strategies that might be considered to accomplish this while meeting the needs of various admissions practices.

This practice provides a window in which institutions can strategically review the application process and implement necessary updates. There is no mandate when to inactivate the current period and create/activate the new one. However, it is best practice is to update periods and rounds after they have finished processing (and have released decisions on) the majority of application records. Institutions may refer to this window as their “quiet” time.

Academic cycle reports can be built using the term data stored at the application field level. Reporting based on the period is not necessary and wouldn't be recommended for rolling admissions practices.

• A period year does not necessarily reflect either an academic year or a calendar year.

• Institutions with an application process based on a traditional academic cycle may map the period year to reflect the academic year from September to June.

Under an admission process with cyclical early and/or regular decision plans, there is often a time in the year after one admission season has passed and before a new begins. There isn't a need to manage the overlap of admission terms when it comes to your periods in this scenario. To accomplish this:

• Configure new period and rounds

• Inactivate existing period and rounds at the end of the cycle

• Activate new period and published rounds to open the new cycle

Each period and round is associated with a discrete application year where one cycle closes before the next one opens:

If at least some of your applications are rolling or there is overlap in the timeline between the applications for different years, the rolling admissions strategies below would be best practice.