CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

Hi Vandalf - your original post was here http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/topic,12679 - I just looked at your Profile and your previous Posts - alternatively I could have Adv Search and put your name in the field.
Anyhow, now that I see you are doing this for a kayak club (yay paddlers!) I will be more more supportive than I might have when I first read this post ;-)
So - you are right - this is a missing feature - but it seems like it isn't one that has been widely asked for. And certainly doesn't appear that anyone who wants it has yet put their hand up to help/fund the development of.
As a community project that is how such features get built.
So yes the above did sound a bit harsh.
I see your original post didn't acknowledge or respond to Dave's suggested work around (which I suspect isn't going to work in your case)

I just cannot believe that we're the only ones that would like this opportunity, and as far as I can tell, this must be a really important topic to fix? After all, memberships is what civicrm is all about, isn't it?

• If you can point us to others who have asked, then perhaps we can knit them together and get the needed resources together to 'make this happen'
• see above
• civicrm is about much more than membership but yes it is a core feature

So I am happy to help do what I can to get the specs for this sorted but we still need to find someone who can put their hand up to provide a patch or put money towards someone else doing it.

In terms of specs - and assuming we are only considering multiple monthly periods that add up to 12 months (ie 2, 3, 4 or 6 months) then what i think is going to be required from the UI side is
- when multiple months are entered, a start fixed period field is provided. The user then enters the first month of the cycle (most likely Jan - or maybe this doesn't even need to be an option?)
A rollover date is offered, which would be set for the rollover period in the first cycle.
CiviCRM then has to calculate the other Fixed periods and Rollover dates.
eg for a 3-monthly cycle with a 2-week rollover period

Membership Type = Fixed
Period = 3 Months
Start Date #1 = Jan 1
(End Date #1 calculated as Mar 31)
Rollover date = Mar 15

Therefore Period 2 is calculated as
Start Date #2 = Start Date #1 + period of months set in field in UI = April 1
Rollover date = Rollover Date #1 + period of months set in field in UI = June 15

Therefore Period 3 is calculated as
Start Date #3 = Start Date #1 + 2 x period of months set in field in UI = July 1
Rollover date = Rollover Date #1 + 2 x period of months set in field in UI = Sept 15

Therefore Period 4 is calculated as
Start Date #4 = Start Date #1 + 3 x period of months set in field in UI = July 1
Rollover date = Rollover Date #1 + 3 x period of months set in field in UI = Sept 1

Does that sound like the recipe we are after?

First, sorry if I was a bit harsh (I do think I was). It was just several years (literally) that finally surfaced after many hours of frustration building our page. And of course, I'm from Northern Norway, and up here, we just haven't got any manners at all (and there I probably insulted thousands of people once more ).

To define my problem in a little more detail: I'm not very interested in the start date, actually. What I need is to be able to set the roll-over/end date to a fixed date (end of term). That is the topmost important thing. Then of course, I need the statistics, but this should contain only how many was in fact members during that particular term. So when they started exactly, is not so interesting, only that they were members. Thus, the start date could either be fixed to the first day of the term, or be defined to the date the member joins/pays. The statistics is only for getting funds anyway, as we do get paid per member from our mother organization.

I think that what you described in your first (very kind) response, was just at the spot! Except that in my case, I'd only need two terms, though, but that's of course besides the point.

About finding others, I really tried hard to find those posts I read before about this, but I just cant recover them for some strange reason. I probably just suck at searching this forum, though...
Then it is the funding, I guess I could raise about $200 (edit: $400) from our club, but more than that I'd really have difficulties defending I think. And I'm pretty sure that this isn't by far enough.

Still, I do believe it would be a serious "lift" for CiviCRM, especially when directed at this kind of associations/clubs, tied to school terms and such, as these clubs (at least in Norway) mostly offer term-based memberships.

What do you think (in terms of cash) that this job would take (I really haven't got a clue)?
(and I'll try controling my temper in the future! I'll probably break it if I promised to stop, but I'll do an effort )

Thanks for your response!

If i had to take a rough guess, w/o seeing the spec, i suspect this is a 40-60 hour project.

Yes, it would be a serious "lift" for folks using civicrm and civimember. Hopefully we'll get a few of them come on the forum and support it and/or design/implement a solution

lobo

Agree with Lobo, it will be a 40-60 hours job. In euros that would be roughly between 3000 and 4500 euros. I also think it would be a really good one, but as Pete pointed CiviCRM grows with funded or community development. I would certainly recommend writing a blog post about it to attract a little more attention?