How to configure Membership Status Rules so expired members can renew?

Question

My dilemma is not being sure I have set the membership status rules correctly. One enigma is the Start/End event adjustments. An example of explanatory text goes:

Optional adjustment period added or subtracted from the End Event.

Using the plus [+] or minus [-] sign does not get retained when saved, so how is an integer interpreted without a sign, in those adjustments?

The primary problem I've been alerted to is difficulty with renewing any expired memberships. Despite this helpful prompt . . .

Renewing will add the normal membership period to the End Date of the previous period for members whose status is Current or Grace. For Expired memberships, renewing will create a membership period commencing from the 'Date Renewal Entered'. This date can be adjusted including being set to the day after the previous End Date - if continuous membership is required.

. . . it seems that I have set something up incorrectly, as, when folks try to process an expired (after-grace-period-has-ended) member's renewal, the response is:

Sorry but we are not able to provide this at the moment. Oops, it looks like there is no valid membership status corresponding to the membership start and end dates for this membership. Contact the site administrator for assistance.

It seems they can't get to the point where the dates can be changed to effect continuous membership for tardy payers. I.e:

For Expired memberships, renewing will create a membership period commencing from the 'Date Renewal Entered'. This date can be adjusted including being set to the day after the previous End Date - if continuous membership is required.

What have I done wrong and how do I fix it, please?

v4.4 running on WordPress

EDIT (as requested)

The organisation only asked for three types: current, grace and expired. The present rules are:

Status......Start Event......End Event......Member

Current.....start date.......end date...........Yes....(weight 1)

Grace.......end date.........end date..........Yes....(end event adj 12 months, weight 2)

Expired.....end date..................................No....(end event adj 13 months, weight 3)

Not sure how my attempt as columnar layout will fare, so I apologise if it's hard to read/follow.

The requested grace period was one month. I recently changed that to 12 months, in an effort to get over the problem described in my first posting. Despite heeding the advice and looking at the WP demo, (during which nothing bit me in the eye), I do think I have a mental block with this conundrum. (aka user incompetence)

Answer 1

I think there are 2 separate issues here. I'll try to tackle each.

Using the plus [+] or minus [-] sign does not get retained when saved

I just tested on Civi 4.4, and a minus sign is saved, a plus sign is not. An unsigned integer is considered positive here. If this isn't what you're seeing, try to replicate your situation on the demo site.

Oops, it looks like there is no valid membership status corresponding to the membership start and end dates for this membership.

CiviMember works by evaluating the membership status rules in order. The rules may overlap - for instance, a "current" member can be start date to end date, and a "new" member can be start date to (start date + 1 month) - in that case, whichever rule comes first takes priority. However, you can NOT have a gap where no status applies. That's what causes this error.

Given your particulars, my guess is that your users are trying to create an "upcoming" membership - where the join/start dates are in the future. Unless you create a membership status that covers that (e.g. "upcoming is (start date - 1 month) to start date"), you'll get this error.

If this doesn't answer your question, please edit it with concrete numbers - what your membership status rules are, and what the join, start and end dates are for a membership that causes this error.

UPDATE: I know this is months old - but I just saw your update. The "Grace" period ends 12 months after the end date - but expired doesn't take effect until 13 months after the end date. You'll see the error you're seeing for anyone whose membership ended between 12 and 13 months ago. Set your "Expired" to take effect 12 months after the end date, to match the end of the Grace period.

Answer 2

I agree with Jon G's diagnosis.

You can fix the status rules by returning them to their default state and then changing them carefully one by one.

Use the status rules from d45.demo.civicrm.org or wp45.demo.civicrm.org as your guide if you don't have a pristine v4.4 install available to you. I'm pretty sure these default status rules haven't changed in several versions.

Please edit your question with more details of what statuses you want.