Running a programme: dates, pause, close and renew
The four states
Every app is in exactly one state. You change it from App settings → Status.
| State | New entries | Records, dashboards, export | The public link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active | Accepted (within the dates, if you set any) | Available | Works |
| Paused | Not accepted — a temporary stop | Available | Says the programme is paused |
| Closed | Not accepted — the programme has ended | Available, read-only | Says the programme has ended |
| Archived | Not accepted | Hidden from the list, can be restored | Stops working, as if it was never shared |
Setting the dates
Under Status → Dates you can set when the programme opens, when it ends, and how many late-entry days it keeps accepting after the end date. Field data arrives late by nature — the visit is on the 28th and the report is typed up on the 3rd — so a few days of grace is usually right.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Opens on | Before this date the link says when the programme opens, instead of showing a form that would be refused. |
| Ends on | After this date — plus the late-entry days — the programme closes by itself. Leave it empty for no end date. |
| Late-entry days | How long after the end date entries are still accepted. During this window the link shows a notice that the programme has ended and late entries are being accepted. |
- Dates are India time. A date with no time means the whole of that day: an end date of 31 December stays open until the end of 31 December, not until early that morning.
- Leave both dates empty for an open-ended programme. That is the default, and how every app behaved before dates existed.
- Closing happens automatically, checked every hour. You do not need to do anything on the end date.
Pausing and closing
Pause is for a break you expect to end — a school holiday, a data-quality review. Resume brings it straight back. Close programme… is for the end of the programme. It asks you to confirm and first shows what is on file, so nothing is a surprise:
- How many records and submitted entries the programme holds.
- How many people are assigned to it.
- How many unfinished reports there are. These are discarded on closing — a half-written report for a programme that has ended can never be submitted.
Everyone assigned to the programme gets a notification when it is paused, resumed, closed or reopened.
Reopening
A closed programme can be reopened from the same place. If its end date has already passed, you must choose a new end date (or remove it) at the same time — otherwise the hourly check would close it again straight away and Reopen would appear to do nothing.
Starting the next cycle
When a programme runs in rounds — this year's, next year's — use Status → Next cycle → Create next cycle…. It makes a new app from the old one:
| Copied | Not copied |
|---|---|
| Steps and their rules, schedules and limits; appearance and settings; the reporting-cycle setup; (optionally) the assigned people and their areas. | Submitted entries, the public link, and any hand-made fixed reporting windows (their dates belong to the old cycle). |
The people, the steps and the settings come across; the data does not need to, because records belong to the record type, not to one cycle. Both cycles see the same students and their full history from day one.
Duplicate… in the same place makes a separate copy with no link between the two — useful for a similar programme in another region.
Archive, delete and Trash
- 1Archive (available once a programme is closed) tucks it out of the list but keeps everything. Tick Show archived on the Apps page to see it, and Restore from archive to bring it back — it returns as closed, never straight to active.
- 2Delete moves an app to Trash. Organization admins open Trash from the Apps page and can Restore it exactly as it was.
- 3Delete forever(in Trash) removes the app itself — its steps, assigned people and reporting windows. You must type the app's name to confirm. The records and the entries already submitted are kept.
Keep reading
Field workers and areas
Create field worker accounts, give each their schools or area, and choose what they can change.
The ImpactLens App
Install it on a phone, find your records, see what is due, and add or correct entries.
Exporting an app's data
Background export jobs for pulling every record and response out of an app at once.