How to Add a Lookup to the Term Table

A term is a period of time during which classes in your religious education program are in held. The length of a term is defined by the start and end dates entered into the term's record when you create it and save it to your system.

A term is considered "active" if it has one or more sessions or classes associated with it. You cannot delete an active term from your system nor can you change an active term's start and end dates.  

Below are a few tips to follow when adding a term lookup.

• Use unique and descriptive names for terms

You can name a term whatever you want. However, the system requires that term names be unique. To differentiate among the terms in your system, create term names that are sufficiently descriptive, for example, "Summer 2014" (instead of "Summer") or "2015 - 2016".

• Specify a date range longer than you need

When you create a new term record, the system requires you to specify a date range for the term. After you attach sessions and classes to a term, the system will not allow you to change the term's start and end dates. Therefore, as a best practice, we recommend that you extend the date range of the term period by adding a month or two at the beginning and end of the term's actual start and end dates. In other words, make the term period longer than you think you need. Doing so can help you better manage unanticipated schedule changes.

Suppose, for example, that you need to add make-up dates to a term for classes missed due to foreseen circumstances, such as cancellations due to inclement weather or instructor absence. If the term's start and end dates provide sufficient leeway, you can easily add dates to accommodate your make-up classes.

• Overlap term dates, if necessary

The terms you create can have overlapping start and end dates. For example, you can create a fall term that ends some time in June and a summer term that starts some time in May.

• Consider making the term the default selection during data entry.

Looking for a time saver? If you will be working mostly with the data for a specific term, consider making that term the default selection for the Term field. Doing so can save keystrokes in the long run, especially when you are doing data entry work associated with the term.