An accreditation framework is the master definition of an accreditation: its name, the categories of hours or points it contains, the rules for each category and overall, and the interval over which it runs. Frameworks are the foundation of the module — every accreditation added to a contact or organisation is an instance of a framework.
This feature's label is configured per account and may appear as Accreditation, Goals or CPD; this guide uses Accreditation.
How frameworks are configured
Framework setup is not self-service. Your SwiftFox account manager or support team configures your frameworks from a template you complete. This keeps complex hour/point rules and intervals consistent across your account.
To request configuration:
- Contact your account manager or support and ask for Accreditation to be configured.
- Complete the template they provide, specifying every element described below.
- Confirm the profile tab label you would like (Accreditation, Goals or CPD).
- Once configured, validate the framework on a test contact before rolling it out.
What you define in a framework
Accreditation name
- The display name of the accreditation as it appears in the picker on a contact or organisation, in the Accreditations table, in the Action Centre and in List Builder.
Categories
- Each framework can contain one or more categories that group hours or points (for example by activity type or competency area).
- Categories appear in the snapshot and on each activity, where hours or points are allocated to a chosen category.
- A category is measured in hours or points (for example "CPD Points (pts)").
Hour and point rules
- Set a minimum and maximum per category, so records must earn at least a set amount and cannot exceed a cap.
- Set an overarching total required for the accreditation as a whole.
- These rules drive the snapshot (hours/points to date vs required) and the Achieved? indicator.
Intervals
- Define the interval the accreditation runs over — for example the anniversary length (such as one, two or three years) and the start-date behaviour.
- The interval governs renewal and the date range used when hours/points are counted (including backdating).
Rolling intervals
As well as a fixed period shared by everyone on the framework, and an anniversary measured from each member's own start date, a goal can use a Rolling interval. Ask for it during configuration if your program is written as so many points in the preceding twelve months rather than so many points this year.
A rolling goal is counted over a moving twelve-month window that always ends today, in your account's time zone. The window starts twelve calendar months before that, plus one day, so it is inclusive of both ends; where the member's goal starts later than that, the window starts on their start date instead; and where their goal has an end date earlier than today, the window ends on that date instead.
Two consequences are worth planning for:
- Progress can go down as well as up. Because the window moves with the date, an activity that counted last month can fall out of the window this month without anyone changing anything. A member who has met a rolling goal is not permanently finished — they stay above the line only while enough recent activity remains inside the window.
- Rolling goals cannot auto-renew. There is no period to roll over, so the renewal setting is not available on them; SwiftFox rejects the combination.
A later start date on a member's goal only limits when they can begin earning towards it. It does not move the end of the window, which still ends today — or on the goal's own end date, where it has one that has already passed.
The window is a fixed twelve calendar months. It is not a length you set per framework.
Managing Activity sources (self-service)
Administrators can manage the list of Activity sources — the labels used to classify where an activity came from — without support, at Settings → Features → Accreditation.
For the full steps — the Person and Organisation tabs, adding a source, editing it with the pencil icon, and deleting it — see Goals & CPD activity sources (Document ID: 398).
Note this manages the source labels only — it does not configure frameworks, categories or rules.
Profile tab label
- The profile tab that surfaces Accreditation can be labelled Accreditation, Goals or CPD to suit your program. Choose your preferred label during setup; support configures it. Documentation and training should reflect the label you choose.
Portal permissions and approval
- Whether members can add, edit and delete their own activities, and whether their submissions auto-approve or require manual approval, is configured in Umbraco on the relevant Accreditation block's Settings — see Member portal self-service (Document ID: 180).
Tips
- Decide your categories and hour/point caps before configuration — changing them later affects how historical hours and points are counted.
- If you are considering a rolling interval, check that your program is genuinely written as a rolling requirement. A member who has met a rolling goal can fall below it again without doing anything differently, which is correct for a points in the last twelve months rule and wrong for an annual one.
- Get the interval and start-date logic right up front, because it determines which activities count (especially when backdating).