Understanding the "Completed" (Ended) Activity Status

This article explains what the Completed status means for an activity, what triggers it, and what to expect once an activity reaches this state.

What does "Completed" mean?

When an activity shows a status of Completed, it means the activity has been ended — either manually by a user or automatically by the system. The activity's budget period is closed, no further spending is expected, and the end date is set to the current date.

Display name vs. internal status: The status displayed as "Completed" in the Custodia interface corresponds to the internal status ended. You may see either term referenced in exports, API responses, or reports.

How can an activity become "Completed"?

There are several ways an activity can reach the Completed status:

1. Manual action by a user ("End Activity")

An authorized user (such as an admin or activity manager) can manually end an activity by clicking the "End Activity" button in the activity details view. This option is available when all of the following conditions are met:

• The activity has no pending cash expense reports awaiting approval.
• Either the activity's end date has already passed (it would naturally expire), or the activity is currently in one of these statuses: Active, Used, or Locked.
• The activity is not already archived or deleted.
• The "Delete" and "Archive" actions are not already available — the "End Activity" option appears only when neither of those is shown.

2. Budget fully spent (automatic)

When the total spending on an activity reaches or exceeds the allocated budget amount — or the transaction count limit is reached — the system automatically marks the activity as Used. At this point:

• The allocation status becomes used.
• The underlying budget allocation(s) status becomes ended.

The used status is closely related to ended and in many contexts they are treated equivalently (for example, both map to the same budget allocation status of ended).

Note: If additional budget is later added to an activity that was marked as "Used", the system will automatically revert it to its previous status (typically Active).

3. Bulk activity deletion (with "End" option)

When an administrator performs a bulk delete of activities (for example, removing a group of recurring activities), the system may choose to end activities rather than fully delete them — particularly when the activities have associated transactions. In this case, the activities are marked as Completed instead of being permanently removed.

4. System scheduler (lifecycle transitions)

The system runs periodic cleanup jobs that transition activities through their lifecycle. Activities in the ended state can be further transitioned to:

• Expired — after the configured expiration grace period (default: 14 days after the activity end date).
• Archived — after the configured archive grace period (if enabled for the organization).

What happens when an activity is ended?

When an activity transitions to the Completed state, the following actions occur:

Activity lifecycle overview

The table below shows where "Completed" fits in the activity lifecycle:

Can a "Completed" activity be reversed?

In general, no. Once an activity is manually ended, it cannot be directly reverted to Active from the user interface.

However, there are two indirect exceptions:

• Budget-based reversal: If the activity was marked as used (budget fully spent) and additional budget is subsequently added (e.g., a budget increase), the system will automatically revert the activity to its previous status.
• Expense detachment: If expenses are removed from a used/ended activity and the usage drops below the budget limit, the system may revert the budget allocation status back to active.

Important: Reclaim operations (recovering unused budget) are not allowed on activities that are already in the ended state. If you need to recover budget from a completed activity, please contact your administrator.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my activity show "Completed" even though the end date hasn't passed?

This can happen when:

• An admin manually ended the activity before its scheduled end date.
• The entire allocated budget was spent, causing the system to mark it as Used (which is functionally similar to Completed).
• The activity was part of a bulk operation that ended it.

Why can't I see the "End Activity" button?

The "End Activity" option only appears when the "Delete" and "Archive" options are not available. It also requires that there are no pending cash expense reports. If you have unsubmitted expenses, submit or remove them first.

What is the difference between "Completed" and "Used"?

Used means the budget was fully consumed (spent amount ≥ allocated amount, or transaction limit reached). Completed (ended) means the activity was explicitly closed — either manually or as part of a bulk operation. Both statuses result in the same budget allocation state (ended), but "Used" can be automatically reversed if more budget is added, while "Completed" cannot.

What is the difference between "Completed" and "Expired"?

Expired is set by the system scheduler after the activity's end date has passed and the expiration grace period (typically 14 days) has elapsed. Completed is an explicit end action. A Completed activity will eventually transition to Expired or Archived through the normal lifecycle.