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PNM period visibility

A PNM Period is the application cycle for a recruitment semester. Periods are an org-wide concept: when your national admin opens a Fall 2026 period, every chapter in the org is rushing together inside that window. As an officer, you do not open or close periods, but periods drive most of what you see on your PNM page — which applicants are listed, which application form is shown to the public, and whether the public apply URL is live or closed.

This page covers what officers see about periods and how it affects your day-to-day. For the admin side (creating periods, opening, closing, configuring the closed message), see PNM periods (org admin).

What you see​

On the chapter PNM list page, the Period dropdown above the applicant grid is your view of the period system. The dropdown options are:

  • All time — every PNM ever applied to your chapter, across every period.
  • A list of periods for your organization, each labeled with semester, academic year, and status. For example: Fall 2026 — Active, Spring 2026 — Closed, Fall 2025 — Closed, Fall 2027 — Draft.

A few rules to keep in mind:

  • Status is one of Active, Closed, or Draft. Active is the live recruitment window. Closed periods are finished — no new applicants can apply. Draft periods exist but are not yet open; your admin is still setting them up.
  • There is at most one Active period at a time for your org. The dropdown can show many Closed and Draft periods, but only one will be Active.
  • The Active period drives the public apply URL. If no period is Active, the public URL shows the closed-period message instead of an application form.

Period selector dropdown showing one Active period and two Closed periods. Period selector dropdown showing one Active period and two Closed periods.

The closed-period message​

When no period is currently Active — either because the academic year hasn't started yet, the period is in Draft, or the previous period just closed — anyone visiting your org's public PNM apply link sees a closed-state page instead of the application form.

That page shows:

  • Your organization's name, logo, and primary color.
  • A welcome message your admin wrote (if any).
  • A closed message drawn from the most recently closed period. Admins set this when they close a period — typically something like "Recruitment is closed for this semester. Watch for our next round in September."

Officers cannot edit the closed message. It is the org's voice to prospective applicants and lives on the org-level PNM period configuration.

When applicants stop appearing​

A common officer question is "we closed the period — why are some applicants still showing up?" The answer depends on what "closed" means:

  1. The period status flips to Closed. From the moment a national admin clicks Close, the public apply URL stops accepting new applications. The URL itself is not removed — visitors will see the closed-period message instead of a form.
  2. All PNMs in the period who have not crossed are auto-archived. Specifically, when a period closes, the system walks every PNM in that period whose intake status is not Crossed and flips their membership from PNM to Inactive. Crossed PNMs are left alone — they are already full members at that point.
  3. Already-submitted applications stay in your list. Closing a period does not delete the applications. They remain in your PNM list under the closed period's filter. You can still read them, mark notes, and (for any still in In Progress) cross them after the period closes if needed.

So if you are seeing PNMs after the period closed, they are existing applications, not new ones. Switch the Period filter to that specific period to confirm.

How long the public apply URL stays live after a period closes​

The public apply URL is always live — it does not expire when a period closes. It is the same URL used for every period (it is bound to your organization's slug, not to a specific period). What changes when a period closes is the content the URL serves:

  • During an Active period: the application form, with all configured questions and consents.
  • During a closed window (no Active period): the closed-period page with your admin's closed message.

If your admin opens a new period after the previous one closed, the URL serves the new form starting from the new period's open date. There is no need to re-share the URL with prospective applicants between semesters.

Cross-period applicant transfer​

In v0.62.1, applicants are not automatically transferred between periods. A PNM who applied during Fall 2026 belongs to the Fall 2026 period for the life of their record. If they don't cross by the time Fall 2026 closes, their membership is flipped to Inactive — they don't roll over to Spring 2027 automatically.

If you want a previously-archived applicant to apply again in a new period, they need to submit a fresh application during the new period's window. The two applications will be separate records.

When your chapter gets cut off from new applications​

Officers sometimes ask "can I close just my chapter's intake while the org's period is still open?" In v0.62.1, the answer is no. Periods are org-wide. While the org's active period is open, the public apply URL shows your chapter as an eligible destination as long as your chapter status is Active. To temporarily stop your chapter from receiving new applicants, either:

Step-by-step: scoping your PNM list to a specific period​

  1. Open the chapter PNM page from your sidebar.
  2. Click the Period dropdown above the applicant grid.
  3. Pick the period you want to see — for example, Fall 2026 — Active for this semester's pledge class.
  4. The grid refreshes to only show PNMs associated with that period.
  5. Combine with the Status filter (Not Started / In Progress / Crossed) to narrow further. For example, Fall 2026 — Active + In Progress gives you this semester's currently-pledging members.

To go back to seeing every applicant across history, set Period to All time.

Mobile differences​

The Period filter renders as a native select on phones. On tablets it expands inline like on desktop. The closed-period message is fully responsive — it has been designed for prospective applicants who are most likely on a phone.

What admins see that you don't​

National admins see the full periods management UI. From there they:

  • Create new periods with a semester and academic year.
  • Open, edit, and close periods.
  • Edit the closed-period message for each period.
  • See cross-chapter PNM counts per period.

Regional admins can read but do not have the Open or Close buttons. Officers do not see the management page at all — only the dropdown on their chapter PNM list.

Errors and edge cases​

  • The Period dropdown only shows "All time" and no other entries. Your org has not created any periods yet, or the periods have not been saved. Ask your national admin to set one up. Without a period, applicants can still be added manually but won't be tied to any cycle.
  • Closed period applicants are gone from my list when I select "Fall 2026 — Closed". Confirm: the period filter is filtering by period association, not by status. If an applicant was added before periods were introduced (in pre-v0.40 builds), their period is null and the filter "Fall 2026 — Closed" will not include them. Use the "None" option (if present in your build) or switch to All time to find legacy records.
  • The public URL still shows the old period's form even though my admin opened a new period. Period transitions take effect immediately on the server side. Have the visitor hard-refresh, or wait a few seconds for any cached state to clear.
  • An applicant I crossed last semester appears as Inactive. This is correct behavior — they crossed and were promoted, then the closing of their period left their membership status alone. Inactive may be a display side effect of older crossed records; check their member profile for their actual current status.

Troubleshooting​

  • Applications stopped coming in mid-recruitment. Confirm the period is still Active. Your admin may have closed it earlier than expected, or the period's close_date passed automatically.
  • A prospective applicant says the apply page is "closed" but you think it's open. Check the period status on the dropdown. If it shows Active, ask the applicant for a screenshot — they may be hitting the wrong URL (a chapter URL instead of an org URL, for example).
  • You want to see only this semester's data on the PNM dashboard. Set the Period filter to the current Active period. This is the most common officer view.

Last verified against v0.62.1 (2026-05-11).