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Close a Current Season

Learn how to finalize administrative activity for the season that has just concluded

Updated today

Closing your current season is a required process once you have completed a camp season.

You can do this "rollup" process any time after your summer season is over, but its best to close ASAP.

💡Tip: If you wait until you have applicants filling out forms for the next season, CampInTouch will default to the previous season. This could result in applicants filling out the wrong forms.


1. Preparation

Before closing your season, make sure to complete key tasks like justifying discretionary accounts, running audit reports, confirming camper and staff status, among other important steps.

Close a Season: Preparation Checklist

1. Open Your Next Season

2. Justify your Discretionary Accounts

3. Run an Audit Report and a Transaction Report

4. Ensure all Enrollment Management campers have grades

5. Confirm Staff Status

6. Confirm the status of all Campers

7. Save Scheduling Reports

  1. Open your next season: Navigate to Admin > Camper Setup > Season Settings. Click the + sign to open a new season.

    📖 Related Help Materials:

  2. Justify your Discretionary Accounts: This action moves any remaining balance from your Discretionary Accounts (typically used for camp store or canteen funds) to the Family Financial tab. If you don’t justify these accounts before closing the season, the balances will stay in the previous season’s account.

    📖 Related Help Materials:

  3. Run an Audit Report and a Transaction Report: Running these reports before closing gives you a clear snapshot of your season’s finances, ensuring you have a complete historical record when the season is closed.

    📖 Related Help Materials:

  4. Ensure all Enrollment Management campers have grades: Since you'll be moving campers who are over grade to your Alumni or Staff partitions, all campers' records will need to have a grade to make this determination.

    Run a camper User Report and include the "Camp Grade" and "School Grade" fields.

    💡Tip: Click on the jpeg below to enlarge.

    Use the Edit Inline dropdown to add a grade to anyone missing it.

    Note: If you don't have camp and school grades, you'll get an error message when you try to start rollup.

  5. Confirm Staff Status: make note of the staff you would like to invite back, vs. staff who will not be returning.

  6. Confirm the status of all Campers: make note of the camper who will not be returning, any over age campers you would like to invite as CIT or staff next season.

  7. Save Scheduling Reports: Before closing a season, download and save any scheduling reports you may need, as they will no longer be accessible once the season is closed.


2. Prerequisites

Don't close the current season until you've read the "Closing Season" document and made all necessary preparations.

💡Tip: You don’t need to close the entire season at once. However, once a group is disposed of, the action can’t be undone. Each disposed group will show the completion date and the user who performed the action.

Navigate to Admin > System Maintenance > Close Current Season. Click the blue "Current Season Closure Parameters (Start Here)" link under the Prerequisites section of the main page.

💡Tip: A pop-up page will guide you through the decisions and verifications needed before closing your season. Click "Continue" at the bottom of the page.

  1. Select Disposition of Family Balances: Enter your choice for how you would like to proceed with family balances. There are four options to choose from:

    • Option 1: Do not roll balances forward. Family balances stay on the financial tab from the previous season. You can still add payments to the closed season, just ensure you're in the correct season when doing so!

      💡Tip: If you want to keep each season's financials 100% separate, this is the way to go.

    • Option 2: Roll ALL Credit and Debit balances Forward. Selecting this option zero's out the family balances in the current season. This closes and moves that balance to the financial tab in the upcoming season.

      💡Tip: rolling balanced forward may make it easier to collect those finds, since they will be lumped into any new charges the family is assessed.

      Note: The Balance Forward Report generates a list of all balances brought forth from the previous season.

    • Option 3: Roll ONLY CREDIT balances Forward or

      Option 4: Roll ONLY DEBIT balanced Forward. Like rolling all balances forward, this option closes the financial tab in the previous season, but, depending on your selection, only rolls forward either positive or negative balances.

      Example: maybe you’ll forgive any outstanding balance owed for next season, but want to ensure that credit balances are taken into account for next year’s financials - or vice versa.

      💡Tip: Be mindful of the season you're adding payments to. Depending on your selection between options 3 and 4, you might need to go back to the previous season.

  2. Maximum Grade For Campers and CITs. After deciding what to do with balances, you'll next set the maximum grade for campers and CITs. This tells the system the highest grade eligible for camp; campers above this grade are marked as over-grade.

  3. Determine Cut-Off Date For "New" Staff Applicants. Occasionally, counselor applications may come in after you've finalized hiring for the season.

    Example: An applicant submits on June 5th, past the April cutoff for this year, but still eligible for next season. Applications submitted after the cutoff are marked as "recent applicants," not "other applicants," and will appear in the appropriate section during the staff rollup.

    💡Tip: many camps choose a date that corresponded closely with the start date of their first session from the to-be-closed season.

  4. Clear Billing Memos At Completion of Current Season Closure. Before closing the season, decide if you want to delete any billing memos from the Financial Tab. To keep a record, run a user report with the "Financial Memo" field and export it to Excel.

You've completed the prerequisites for closing the season. Return to the "Close Current Season" menu, where you'll see a "Completed" status under the heading.


3. Campers

Next, you'll begin rolling up your campers from one season to the next. Each row in the list represents a step in the season closing process.

For each step, you'll review a list of campers in that status and decide how to move them forward for the next season.

  • Camper Management: campers who had attended camp this past season.

  • Enrollment Management: campers who did not come to camp this past season (applied and didn't attend, or rolled up from a previous season and didn't attend)

💡Tip: Campminder will save your work as you move down this checklist. Because of this, you can take a break, but It's important to close your season in a timely manner.

The process for setting camper status is the same across all six camper group designations.

  1. Begin with "CAMPER MANAGEMENT: Over-Grade Campers" at the top and work your way down the list, adjusting individual camper statuses as needed.

  2. When you select a link from the list, you’ll see specific instructions for that designation and can choose how to sort the list.

  3. From the list of campers, select any that need a status change.

    Note: Each designation has a default status that you can change by selecting a different radio button.

  4. If a camper’s record has a yellow exclamation point icon, it indicates an outstanding balance. At least one non-lead sibling must stay in Enrollment Management until the balance is resolved. This may prevent moving a camper to certain statuses (e.g., Alumni or Staff). Contact support if you need help.

  5. When you’re satisfied with the status changes, click the green Save button at the bottom of the page.

  6. Continue working down the list until all six items are completed.

    Note: If you see the message “No Records found. Click to mark as completed,” simply click the link to move to the next item in the list.


The Six Camper Designations

  1. CAMPER MANAGEMENT: Over Grade This indicates campers who are no longer eligible to attend next year. Based on the grade settings defined in Prerequisites, these campers are considered too old for future seasons. The default status for this list is Alumni.

    💡Tip: Click the jpeg below to enlarge

    💡Tip: If needed, you can change a camper’s status to Staff or Remove using the radio buttons. If you’re unsure whether they might become staff next year, leave them as Alumni—you can always update it later.

  2. CAMPER MANAGEMENT: Eligible these campers are still young enough to return as campers or CITs. The default status is Retain, which keeps their records in Enrollment Management for next season and makes them eligible for camp sessions.


    ​💡Tip: If you know a camper won’t be returning, mark them as Alumni to avoid sending their parents promotional materials.

  3. ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT: Over Grade This section is for campers who did not attend last year and are no longer eligible to return. If a camper has attended camp at least once, they’ll be marked as Alumni by default.

    Note: Campers who only applied but never attended can’t be marked as Alumni. Choosing Remove won’t delete their record—it simply prevents a new record from being created for next season.

  4. ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT: Eligible These campers are still eligible to return as campers or CITs. They may have attended in a past season or only applied but were never enrolled this year. Their default status is Retain.

  5. ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT: Other Statuses This group includes campers with unique or outdated statuses, often from a past data import. It’s common for this section to be blank. If you do have campers listed, the link will provide instructions for handling them.

  6. ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT: Archived These campers have been archived, meaning they won’t appear in reports or receive future communications. Archiving usually indicates you don’t plan to work with the camper again. If you’ve never archived campers, this section will be empty.


4. Staff

The procedure for accessing and selecting status for staff is the same as for campers (which you just completed).

Starting at the top with "STAFF RECRUITMENT: Staff Leads", make your way down the list, editing individual staff status as needed.

  1. STAFF RECRUITMENT: Leads A Staff Lead is someone who has never worked for your organization or submitted a staff application. They may have shown interest or been referred but haven’t taken further action. The default status for Leads is Retain.

    Note: Selecting Delete permanently removes their record for next year and they won’t be kept as a contact.

  2. STAFF MANAGEMENT: Hired Staff This section lists staff who were hired for the previous season. You can choose to retain them, move them to Alumni, or remove them. The default status is Retain in Hired Staff.

  3. STAFF RECRUITMENT: Veteran Staff This section includes staff who were hired in past seasons but not in the current one. The default status is Retain in Veteran Staff.

  4. STAFF RECRUITMENT: Recent Applicants This section contains applicants whose application date is later than the cutoff date you set in Prerequisites. By default, they’ll be retained in Staff Recruitment with their current status for next season, but you can also choose Delete.

  5. STAFF RECRUITMENT: Other Applicants This section includes applicants whose application date is on or before the cutoff date you set in Parameters. These are typically applicants you chose not to hire.


    💡Tip: If an applicant was close to being hired—maybe even marked as Next Year—you can choose to retain them. They’ll be given Staff Recruitment records for next season.

  6. STAFF RECRUITMENT: Archived This section contains previously archived staff. Archived individuals are excluded from communications and reports. Often, this section will show “No records found,” allowing you to mark it complete quickly.


5. Scheduling

The final rollup step is to close the "SCHEDULING: Elective Availabilities" section. Elective availability sets can be carried over and edited for the next season as needed.

Note: If there are existing Activity Categories and Activity Definitions for the next season, you will not be able to do this.

  1. Uncheck any Elective Availability Sets you DO NOT want to be copied into the next season. Click "save" when completed.

  2. When finished, click "Save".


Congratulations, the current season is now closed! Now that this is complete, season dropdowns will default to the new season.

  1. Next, enable the necessary forms for the new season on your forms admin page.

    📖Related Help Materials:

  2. If you chose to move Balances and Credits forward into the new season, run the Balance/Credit Forward report.

    📖Related Help Materials:

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