Table of Contents
Overview
Revisions & Versions
Effective End Date Filters
Effective Date vs Effective Term
Search Functionality
Related Articles
Overview
Think of “Effective Dating” as a way to determine when an object is active.
Effective Dating gives you the ability to create and edit objects in present and future date ranges, while also creating multiple versions of those objects for each date range.
This is helpful because it allows you to say, for example: “This course revision only applies to Fall 2023, whereas this other course revision applies to Fall 2024”. In other words: thanks to Effective Dating, you can work on and plan for multiple terms at the same time.
Revisions & Versions
When you change the effective start date for a course/program/document type, a new revision is created so long as a revision doesn’t already exist with that start date.
When you make additional changes to that course – but the effective start date remains unchanged – you create a new version within that revision.
Effective End Date Filters
Effective end dates have no impact if “Enable Effective End Date Filters” = No.
This is configured by an admin in the Admin Panel.
The recommended setting for most schools is “No”.
Effective Date vs Effective Term
Either the “Effective Start Date” or the “Effective Start Term” field needs to be on your templates in order for you to leverage Effective Dating. Use whichever one matches your SIS’s terminology.
If you search/filter for results using the “Effective Term” option, the system is looking at the effective date(s) assigned to that term on the backend.
If you don’t define an Effective Start Date for a term, the system will search the term’s “Start Date”.
Search Functionality
Overview | Best Practice | Returned in Search | Will Not Return in Search
Overview
When you search for an effective dated object (e.g. course) from within another effective dated object (e.g. when building program requirements), the object will return in results if a handful of conditions are met.
Best Practice
Always check the displayed term and/or dates before conducting the search to ensure results will be as needed/expected.
This same logic applies to setting Effective Dates for a Catalog; when you edit a catalog, it will always default to displaying the “Effective Start Term” even if you have assigned an Effective Start Date.
Returned in Search
An object (or revision of that object) WILL be returned in a search – or appear in a Catalog – in either of the below scenarios.
“Enable Effective End Date Filters” Disabled (Most Common Setup)
The object/revision’s effective start date is on or before the effective start date of the lookup window.
“Enable Effective End Date Filters” Enabled (Less Common Setup)
The object/revision’s effective start date is on or before the effective start date of the lookup window, AND the object/revision's effective end date is on or before the effective end date of the lookup window.
Will Not Return in Search
An object (or revision of that object) WILL NOT return in a search in either of the below scenarios.
“Enable Effective End Date Filters” Disabled (Most Common Setup)
The object/revision’s effective start date is after the lookup window.
“Enable Effective End Date Filters” Enabled (Less Common Setup)
Its effective start date is after the lookup window OR its effective end date is after the lookup window.