Common questions, organised by topic.
Cycles
Why can I only have one Active cycle at a time? CIMA expects CPD records to have a clear, non-overlapping timeline. CPDFlow enforces this as a compliance constraint — your active development work belongs to one cycle at a time. You can have historical (Complete) cycles and a cycle in Draft or Planned state simultaneously, but only one can be Active.
Why can’t I edit my completed cycle? Completed cycles are read-only by design — they are your audit record. The integrity of that record depends on it being unchanged after the fact. If something was missed before closing, it goes into the next cycle’s record with accurate dates.
Can I reopen a cycle I’ve already closed? No. Once a cycle is Complete, it cannot be reopened. This is intentional. If you need to record something from that period, add it to your current cycle with the accurate dates — and if it is material, reference it in your current cycle’s evaluation.
What happens to my data when a cycle is archived? Nothing is deleted. Archived cycles are simply hidden by default in the Cycles list to keep the UI clean. Select “Show archived” to make them visible. All data — objectives, activities, snapshots, PDFs — remains fully accessible.
Objectives
What’s the difference between an objective and an activity? An objective is an outcome — what you want to achieve. An activity is the work you do to achieve it. See Chapter 4 — Objectives §4.1 for a fuller explanation with examples.
Can I create activities without linking them to an objective? Yes. Activities do not have to be linked to an objective. Ad-hoc activities — attending a spontaneous event, reading something unplanned — are perfectly valid as standalone entries. They contribute to your hours total and can be included in your CIMA form. They are just not linked to a specific planned development goal.
What does “Deferred” mean for an objective? Deferred means the objective is being postponed to a later quarter in the same cycle. It is still active — just reassigned. This is managed through the quarterly review dispositions. If you want to carry an objective into the next cycle entirely, use the carry-forward feature at cycle close instead.
Why is my objective showing as “deferred to cycle close”? This disposition is set during a Q4 quarterly review. It means the objective was not completed by end of Q3 and you chose to defer the final decision to the cycle close wizard. In the close wizard, you will be asked whether to carry it forward into the next cycle, or mark it completed or cancelled.
I’m a Member in Practice — why is CPDFlow asking me to add an AML objective? CIMA requires Members in Practice to include at least one AML (Anti-Money Laundering) compliance development objective in their annual CPD record. This is a regulatory requirement, not something CPDFlow imposes. When your profile is set to MiP, CPDFlow tracks whether an AML objective exists and flags it if not, so you are not caught out at submission time.
Activities
Should I cancel or delete an activity I didn’t complete? Cancel rather than delete, unless the activity was created in error. A cancelled activity — one you planned but didn’t do — is honest information in your CPD record. It shows what you intended and provides context for why your plan changed. Deleting removes that context entirely.
My activity shows as “overdue” on the dashboard — what does that mean? An activity with a status of Planned whose end date has passed is flagged as overdue. CPDFlow surfaces these as a prompt to make a decision: did you complete the activity (update the status), do the dates need adjusting, or should it be cancelled? Leaving activities in Planned indefinitely makes your record inaccurate.
Can I link one activity to more than one objective? Yes. An activity can be linked to multiple objectives. This is useful when a single course or learning event addresses several development goals simultaneously.
The Inbox
What happens to an inbox item I dismiss? Dismissed items are removed from your active Inbox and will not appear again. They are retained in the background (your capture history is preserved) but do not appear in any metrics or reports.
Can I promote an inbox item into a previous cycle? No — when promoting an item to a new activity, the activity is created in your currently selected cycle. If you need to add something to a historical cycle, create the activity directly in that cycle (by selecting it in the cycle selector first) rather than via the Inbox.
The auto-fetch didn’t get the right title for my URL. Can I fix it? Yes — the title field is editable. Overwrite it with whatever is most useful to you.
Quarterly Reviews
Do I have to do quarterly reviews? No. Quarterly reviews are not required by CIMA and are not mandatory in CPDFlow. You can close a cycle without any quarterly reviews. The close wizard covers everything a quarterly review would — it just does it all in one step at year-end rather than progressively through the year. See Chapter 8 — Quarterly Reviews §8.1 for more on what quarterly reviews offer.
What if I miss a quarter? If you start a later quarterly review without having completed earlier ones, CPDFlow automatically creates skipped records for the missed quarters. Your plan history remains complete. Skipped quarters are flagged in your plan snapshots — they are not errors, but worth a brief note in your evaluation if asked at audit.
Can I edit a review after confirming it? Confirmed reviews are read-only. You can add a post-confirmation amendment to add an objective that was missed — but you cannot change a disposition that has already been confirmed. See Chapter 8 — Quarterly Reviews §8.9.
What is a plan snapshot and why can’t I edit it? A plan snapshot is an immutable record of your development plan at a specific point in time — created at each quarterly review confirmation and at cycle close. Its value is precisely that it cannot be changed after the fact. This is what allows you to compare your original plan against what actually happened — and what makes it credible as an audit record.
The CIMA Declaration
My PDF shows ”—” in some fields. Why? Missing profile data. Fields marked ”—” correspond to profile fields that are blank. Go to Settings and complete your profile — then regenerate the PDF. See Chapter 11 — Settings & Profile.
Can I generate the PDF before closing my cycle? Yes. You can generate a CIMA Declaration for an Active or Evaluating cycle at any point. The PDF will include whatever data exists at generation time. Generating from a Closed cycle gives you the complete, final record.
Do I submit the PDF to CIMA directly? No. CIMA uses a Microsoft Form for submission — there is no API for direct submission. The PDF is for your own records and to use as a reference when completing the Microsoft Form. Copy the content field by field into the CIMA form. Each field in the PDF corresponds to a specific question in the CIMA form.
Some of my reflection text was cut off in the PDF — why? CIMA’s form has a 3,000 character limit per text field. If your objective description or activity reflection exceeds 3,000 characters, the PDF flags this with a warning. You will need to shorten the text before copying it into the CIMA form.
Subscription & billing
I subscribed during my trial — when will I be charged? On the date your free trial ends. No payment is taken when you go through checkout. The Stripe checkout page shows the exact charge date before you confirm. See Chapter 12 — Subscription & Billing §13.3.
When does my 14-day cooling-off period apply? From the date of your first payment. If you subscribed during a free trial, that means the cooling-off period starts on your trial end date — not the date you entered your card. See Chapter 12 §13.5.
How do I request a refund within the cooling-off period? Email support@cpdflow.com with your account email and a note that you are cancelling under the cooling-off right. Refunds are processed within 5–10 business days.
Where do I find my invoice PDFs? On the Subscription page, the Billing history table has a PDF download link on each row. You can also access all invoices via the Stripe Customer Portal — select Manage payment & invoices on the Subscription page.
What is the invoice reference number on my receipt?
Each invoice has a reference in the format {account-code}-{sequence} — for example ABCD1234-001. Your account code is shown on the Subscription page. Quote this reference if you contact support about a specific invoice.
Account and access
I’ve forgotten my password. How do I reset it? On the login page, select Forgot password and enter your email address. A reset link will be sent.
Can I change my email address? Email address changes are not currently self-service. Contact support.
Is my data secure? CPDFlow is a multi-tenant application. Your data is isolated from other users at the database level using row-level security. Data is stored on encrypted infrastructure. Your CPD record is visible only to you.