---
title: "Managing Rolling Admissions Structure (Annual Maintenance)"
slug: "managing-rolling-admissions-structure-annual-maintenance"
description: "Manage rolling admissions in Slate with annual maintenance to ensure database health by archiving periods and rounds, moving applications backward for archiving, and using Query Batch Management to keep only active applications in the current cycle for efficient admissions processing."
tags: ["Periods", "Applications", "Rounds"]
updated: 2026-03-16T17:22:00Z
published: 2026-03-16T17:22:00Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.technolutions.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Managing Rolling Admissions Structure (Annual Maintenance)

Under a typical rolling admissions process, applicants may submit applications at any time and often to future terms but it is still essential to the health of your database to annually maintain periods and rounds. This practice provides a window in which institutions can strategically review the application process and implement necessary updates. It is best practice 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 (entry term does not make for a good round name). 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 (hard open and close application dates) may map the period year to reflect the academic year from September to June.

Institutions that accept and release decisions on applications on a “rolling” basis or have a mix of “rolling” and traditional “hard” deadlines may choose to not include the period-year association in the name or year setting of the active period (or the round) so that the active period and round will appear consistently for applicants from one cycle to the next.

While a rolling admissions cycle means that the application is never "closed," it is important that annual maintenance and updates are made each year to promote the health of your database. This maintenance allows for:

- Archiving of old applications
- Preventing rules from unnecessarily running on older applications

## Step 1: Create Archive Round in an Archive Period

Create the archive period and round one time when first establishing this maintenance structure.

| Administrative View |  |  |  | Applicant View |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Name** | **Key** | **Period** | **Status** | **Name** |
| Undergraduate Application | UG | Application Cycle | Active | Undergraduate Application |
| Graduate Application | GR | Application Cycle | Active | Graduate Application |
| Non-Degree Application | ND | Application Cycle | Active | Non-Degree Application |
| Archived Undergraduate Application | UG | Archived Application Cycle | Inactive | Not visible to the applicant |
| Archived Graduate Application | GR | Archived Application Cycle | Inactive | Not visible to the applicant |
| Archived Non-Degree Application | ND | Archived Application Cycle | Inactive | Not visible to the applicant |

## Step 2: Move Applications Backward to Archive Round

Using Query Batch Management, move applications to the archive round as often as needed, at least once per year.

When application terms close for each review period, or at least once per year, all decided and closed applications may be moved to the inactive period and round for archiving using Query> Round> Batch Management. This is important for the health of a Slate database as many rules and processes will be filtered by only the active period.

## Round Batch Management

Using Query> Round> Batch Management is necessary to keep only active applications in the active period.

> [!TIP]
> **Best Practice**
> 
> Use a test environment to test the Round Batch Management process before taking action in production.
> 
> 1. Create the query outlined below in the production environment, but **do not** execute.
> 2. Refresh the test environment.
> 3. Run the query in the test environment to evaluate the results before executing it in production.
> 4. If the results **do not** reflect the desired results, make modifications in the production environment and repeat steps 2 and 3.
> 
> If the results **do** reflect the desired results, navigate back to the production environment and run the query.

1. Select **Queries / Reports** on the top navigation bar.
2. Select **New Query**
3. Drag the appropriate filters to identify the population who should have the round updated.
4. Select **Run Query**.
5. Select **Round** from the **Output** dropdown. This will effectively change the round in batch for all those records.
6. Select **Export**.
7. Select the new 'Round.'
8. Select **Submit**.

This will update the round for all applicants in the query from the original round to the destination round.