Opportunity Lifecycle
Understanding opportunity states, transitions, and what happens at each stage.
Every opportunity moves through a series of states from creation to completion. Understanding these states helps you manage your research effectively.
Opportunity States
| State | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | The opportunity is being configured. It is not visible to participants. |
| Active | Recruitment is live. Participants can discover and apply to the opportunity. |
| Paused | Recruitment is temporarily stopped. Existing participants can still complete in-progress work. |
| Completed | The opportunity is closed. No new applications or submissions are accepted. |
State Transitions
Draft to Active
Launching an opportunity moves it from Draft to Active. Before launching, Terac verifies:
- The opportunity has a title and description
- Compensation is set
- Your organization has sufficient credits
- At least one recruitment channel is configured
Active to Paused
Pausing an opportunity stops new recruitment while letting current participants finish. Use this when:
- You've reached enough participants temporarily
- You need to adjust screening criteria
- You want to review early submissions before continuing
Paused to Active
Resuming a paused opportunity reactivates recruitment. All configuration remains unchanged.
Active or Paused to Completed
Stopping an opportunity closes it permanently. Outstanding submissions in progress will still be processed, but no new applications are accepted.
Stopping an opportunity cannot be undone. If you want to temporarily halt recruitment, use Pause instead.
Submission States Within an Opportunity
While the opportunity itself has a lifecycle, each participant's submission also moves through its own states:
| State | Description |
|---|---|
| Applied | Participant has submitted their application |
| Screening | Screening questions or AI interview in progress |
| Screen Passed | Participant passed screening and can begin the task |
| Screened Out | Participant did not meet screening criteria |
| In Progress | Participant is working on the task |
| Awaiting Review | Task submitted and waiting for your approval |
| Approved | Work approved; participant is paid |
| Rejected | Work did not meet quality standards |
| Completed | Submission fully processed |
| Abandoned | Participant left without completing |
| Timed Out | Participant exceeded the time limit |
| Cancelled | Submission was cancelled by the researcher or system |
For details on managing submissions, see Submissions.
Adjusting a Live Opportunity
You can modify most settings on an active opportunity without pausing:
- Participant cap - increase or decrease the target number
- Deadline - extend or shorten the timeline
- Filters - adjust demographic or geographic targeting
- Compensation - change the per-participant payout (applies to new participants only)
- Screening questions - edit questions on a live study
Editing screening questions or broadening filters on a live study does not re-evaluate participants who have already been screened. Changes apply only to participants screened after the change. When you broaden filters, experts who were previously out of scope can now qualify and may be invited.
Larger changes to task structure are best made by pausing the opportunity first so participants do not encounter the task mid-edit.