> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.range-mate.co.uk/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.range-mate.co.uk/for-club-admins/membership-lifecycle.md).

# The Membership Lifecycle

Users are the people with their own login to your club. This explains the membership lifecycle they move through and the roles that control what they can do.

A **User** is anyone with their own login to your club — applicants, members, guests and visitors all have a User account. (Under-18s are usually [Junior Members](/for-club-admins/junior-members.md) instead, who don't have their own login and belong to a parent User's account.)

Every User has two things that determine what they can see and do:

* a **state** in the membership lifecycle (e.g. applied, probation, member), and
* one or more **roles** (e.g. member, admin).

{% hint style="info" %}
You can now **define the conditions** for moving between states — for example, what a member must do to pass probation — rather than every move being a manual decision. See [Membership workflows](/for-club-admins/membership-workflows.md). The manual actions below still work; workflows sit on top of them.
{% endhint %}

## The membership lifecycle

Range Mate models membership as a lifecycle. A person moves through it as admins review and progress their application. The main states are:

* **Applied** — has submitted an application and is awaiting a decision.
* **Interview** — invited to your club's interview stage.
* **Waiting list** — held on the waiting list for now.
* **Probation** — accepted onto a probationary/training membership.
* **Approved** — a full member.
* **Guest** / **Visitor** — limited-access accounts (see [Account Types](/for-members/account-types.md)).
* **Rejected** / **Left club** — no longer active; their records are retained.

### Moving people through it (admin Actions)

From a user's profile, admins use the **Actions** menu to move them between states. Each action is deliberate and explained in the app — the key ones are:

| Action                                | What it does                                                                                                               |
| ------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Apply**                             | Starts the application process for full membership.                                                                        |
| **Invite**                            | Sends your interview-invite email and moves them into the interview stage.                                                 |
| **Waiting List**                      | Places an applicant on the waiting list and notifies them.                                                                 |
| **Approve**                           | Puts the user on **probation**, creating a probationary membership that starts today. An invoice is sent automatically.    |
| **Passed Training**                   | Ends probation today and creates a full membership of the chosen type, valid until the end of the current membership year. |
| **Skip**                              | Skips the whole workflow and approves the user for full membership right away.                                             |
| **Set as Guest** / **Set as Visitor** | Grants guest/visitor access (and reinstates a login for someone who previously left).                                      |
| **Invite to Upgrade**                 | Invites a guest to upgrade to full membership.                                                                             |
| **Reject**                            | Rejects an applicant and emails them; their details are retained.                                                          |
| **Reapply**                           | Puts a rejected or former user back into the application workflow.                                                         |
| **Leave Club**                        | Ends any current membership today and stops their login working.                                                           |

{% hint style="info" %}
Some actions have conditions. **Invite** and **Approve** require the applicant's **proof of ID to be verified** first. **Invite** and **Waiting List** send a club-specific email, so they stay disabled until you've written your club's own version of that email. See [email templates](/for-club-admins/email-templates.md).
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Approve** and **Skip** create a billable membership, so they respect your club's billing cap — if approving someone would exceed your plan's member limit, you'll need to adjust your subscription first.
{% endhint %}

### Changing someone's membership type

A subscription is one membership type for one term at that type's price. You can change the type on a subscription that hasn't been paid for yet: it moves onto the new type's default price, and the member picks how to pay as usual. Once a subscription has been paid for, or a monthly or quarterly plan is collecting for it, the type is fixed. To move that member, add a new subscription for the other membership type and end the current one by editing its end date.

## Verifying ID and police checks

When you open an applicant's profile, a **Needs doing** card at the top gathers the actions still outstanding for them, so you don't have to hunt around:

* **Approve their ID.** View their proof of ID, then approve it. **Invite** and **Approve** stay disabled until this is done.
* **Police check.** Send a check, or skip it if your club doesn't need one for this person. Once you've sent one, the card lets you record the result when it comes back as **passed** or **failed**, and you can resend at any time. The current state shows on their profile.

{% hint style="info" %}
A workflow stage can wait on either of these. Add an **ID approved** or **Police check cleared** requirement (see [Membership workflows](/for-club-admins/membership-workflows.md#requirement-types)) and the member won't move on until it's done. Skipping a police check does not count as cleared, so **waive** the requirement if you want to let someone through without one.
{% endhint %}

## Roles

Roles control permissions. Your club starts with a set of default roles — **admin**, **member**, **trainee**, **applicant**, **bookings manager**, **guest** and **visitor** — and you can create your own (for example Range Officers) under **Roles** in the admin menu.

A user can hold more than one role, and roles are often assigned automatically as part of the lifecycle (applying adds the *applicant* role; approving a member assigns the role tied to their membership type).