Removing Users from their Renewal Period

What is it?

So long as a user possesses an open renewal invoice, they will be in their renewal period. If you want to remove a user from their renewal period, or if their renewal invoice is outdated and you need to issue them a new one, then you'll need to void their renewal invoice in a specific way so that no long-term issues occur. This guide details how to do this.

How to Access

You can locate a user's open renewal invoice by entering their profile, clicking on the Invoices tab, then locating the open, renewal invoice in the list, which will look like the below.

Why not manually void the invoice?

You'll notice in the above screenshot there is a 'Void' option, meaning that it's possible to manually void a renewal invoice. In some cases, manually voiding a renewal invoice is the appropriate option, such as if you're going to immediately make a new renewal invoice for the user after you void their original invoice. This is useful if you need to immediately create a new, updated invoice for the user because either the dues amount for their Member Type has changed, or you need their invoice to possess updated information.

If you're hoping to remove a user from their renewal period without creating a new renewal invoice, however, or if you want to create new, correct renewal invoices for a large number of people at once and don't want to be forced to do so individually, then you will not want to manually void a renewal invoice. The reason for this is that when the MC Professional platform attaches an invoice to a renewal notification, it attaches the last unpaid renewal invoice present in the profile. As a voided invoice is technically unpaid, the system will attach it to the notification if it is the most recent renewal invoice the user possesses. As it is voided, the user will be unable to pay it.

How to properly void an invoice

Though manually voiding a renewal invoice will cause the issues described above, you can completely sever a renewal invoice's connection to a profile by temporarily changing the profile's Member Type. As different Member Types are typically charged different amounts for renewing while also possessing different invoice details, when you change a user's Member Type, the system will understand that any previously-generated renewal invoices attached to that profile are now outdated. As such, it will not only void those invoices, but will prevent the voided invoices from being attached to any notifications going forward. Once you've changed the user's Member Type in order to properly void their renewal invoice, simply change their Member Type back to their original Member Type. If you're unfamiliar with where a user's Member Type is listed in their profile, check the screenshot below.

To change the Member Type of a single user, you can edit their Member Type by clicking the edit button in the screenshot above. To change the Member Types of multiple users, continue reading.

Step One: Removing Users from their Renewal Period

Choose to view the profiles you wish to remove from their renewal period by either clicking on the number of profiles listed within a particular Member Type on your admin home page, or by clicking the Profile List button in the upper right-hand corner of the admin home page. Once here, you can use the 'advanced search by' drop-down in the upper left-hand corner of the page to search for those that you wish to remove from their renewal period. Once you have your list of profiles, click the Tag All button at the top of the page to tag the profiles. Next, follow the steps in the screenshot below to change your users' Member Types.

1. This displays which profiles are tagged an which are not. If a profile does not possess a check mark next to it, then it means the profile is not tagged and as a result will not be subject to any changes you make.
   
2. This shows how many tagged profiles you currently possess. If this number is too low or high and you're uncertain why, I suggest clicking the Untag All option just to the right of this display to untag all of the profiles, then choose to re-tag the needed profiles, as we don't want to accidentally edit additional profiles.
3. Once you've tagged all the needed profiles, click the Actions tab.
4. In the drop-down that appears above the Actions tab, choose the Change Member Type option. Once you do, choose any Member Type to change your tagged members to in order to void their renewal invoices.

To Note: You'll notice next to step three in the above screenshot there is the option 'Untag profiles after an action.' Do not have this button selected during this process, as we want these profiles to remain tagged.

What happens to my tagged profiles?

At this point, you might be concerned about how you'll be able to keep track of the tagged profiles you've just edited. Worry not, as once profiles are tagged, they will remain tagged until you choose to manually untag them. The only exception to this rule is the 'Untag profiles after an action' option described above. The reason we need to keep these profiles tagged is because once you've changed their Member Type, we're simply going to click the Actions tab in the Profile List one more time and choose to change them right back to their original Member Type. As the profiles will still be tagged, there will be no need for you to run additional searches to locate them.

Once you've changed their Member Types as described above, all tagged profiles should no longer possess an open renewal invoice, nor will they be in their renewal period.

Will my profiles then receive renewal notifications?

If a profile possesses an expiration date that is within the date range of your renewal notifications, then yes, the profile will be sent the last notification they should have received which will have a new, open invoice attached. If this is your goal, then go back to the Profile List, click the Actions tab at the bottom of the page once more, and choose the Change Status option. Once you do, choose Active, then confirm the change. This will set all the tagged profiles to the Active status. You want to do this because the system's Membership Automation will run that night and generate new notifications and invoices for any users that need them. If a user is not meant to be in the Active status, for example an expired user, it will also set them back to their appropriate status, such as Graced or Lapsed.

What if I don't want them to receive any notifications?

Whether or not a notification sends to your users will depend on two things, which are the users' expiration dates and whether or not your Member Type notifications are turned on. If a user possess an expiration date that is within range of your renewal notifications, and your renewal notifications are turned on, then the user will receive a notification. To prevent this, you either need to change the user's expiration date so that it is no longer in the renewal notification range, or you need to edit your notifications/turn them off. To access your notifications, go to Database->Member Types. Once here, hover of a Member Type and an Edit Notifications button will appear out to the right. Click on this button. Once here, you can either edit when your notifications are set to send out, or turn them off entirely.