Step by step

1. Open 'Start a new year' from the action menu

   In the admin office, make sure your lodge is the selected organisation. Open the 'Manages' action menu in the top-right corner and click 'Start a new year'. This option only appears for lodges, so if you do not see it, check that a lodge is selected.

2. Wait for the screen to load your current roster

   The system verifies your lodge session, reads your current lodge year number and start month, and retrieves every active office along with its current term holder. It also loads all active members and works out what the next year number should be. If no lodge is selected, the screen will tell you to choose one before continuing.

3. Review the pre-filled officer roster

   Each office is listed with its current holder's name shown for reference and a dropdown already set to that holder. You only need to change the entries that are different this year. The form also shows a field for the new lodge year number, an optional term-start date, and an optional installation date.

4. Adjust the roster, set dates, and submit

   Update the year number if needed. Optionally enter a date for when the term begins and a date for when officers were or will be installed. For each office, select the incoming member or leave it vacant. When everything looks right, click the 'Start the [year] lodge year' button — for example, 'Start the 2026 lodge year'.

5. Let the server validate your entries

   The server re-checks your session, confirms the year number is a valid number of 1800 or later, and ensures at least one office-and-member pairing is present. If anything fails these checks, an error is returned before any data is touched.

6. Dates are calculated and checked for consistency

   Using the start month recorded on your lodge, the system calculates the first day of the new term and the last day (one day before the same month the following year). If the dates cannot be resolved, or if the end date would fall before the start date, you will see a plain-language error and no changes will be saved.

7. A transaction opens to protect the rollover

   All the writes that follow happen inside a single transaction. If any step fails, the entire rollover is cancelled and your data is left exactly as it was. Your lodge will never end up with no officers because of a partial write.

8. Outgoing officer terms are closed

   Every term currently marked as active is updated: it is marked no longer current, and its end date is set to the day before the new term begins. If a term started after that calculated end date, it is closed on its own start date to keep the dates sensible.

9. New officer terms are created

   A new term record is created for each appointment you submitted. Each record is marked current, carries the computed start and end dates, inherits display order from the office, is set to publicly visible by default, and includes the installation date if you provided one.

10. Your lodge year number is advanced

    The tenant record is updated so that the current lodge year reflects the new number you entered. Dues assessment periods and reporting windows will now follow this new year.

11. An audit record is written and the transaction is committed

    Before closing the transaction, an audit event is recorded showing the operation, how many officers were installed, and how many terms were closed. The transaction is then committed, making all changes permanent at once.

12. Read the confirmation and confirm the public page is updated

    The rollover screen reloads showing the new year's data, and the public officers page is refreshed at the same time. A message tells you exactly how many officers were installed and how many terms were closed and kept on file.

13. Edit individual terms directly when needed

    Outside the rollover screen, you can create or edit a single term of office through the Officer Terms collection. Each term links one office to one member and carries its own dates, year, visibility, and an optional contact email. Marking a term current there will automatically stand down any other current term for the same office.

What happens next

Once the rollover completes, all previous officer terms are closed with a proper end date and kept on file for your records. The incoming officers each have a new term record marked as current. Your lodge year number is advanced on the tenant, so dues periods and reports align with the new year. The admin rollover screen reflects the new state immediately, and your public officers page is updated at the same time so members and visitors see the current line without any further action from you.

Good to know

The rollover is all-or-nothing. If anything goes wrong mid-process, the transaction rolls back and your data is unchanged, so you can fix the problem and try again without cleaning up partial records.

If your incoming line is mostly the same as last year, the form saves time by pre-selecting each office's current holder. You only need to change the seats that are turning over. Offices can also be left vacant if no appointment has been made yet, and you can go back and add or correct individual terms through the Officer Terms collection at any time.