Jordan, have you checked out Jenny Carney's LEED-EBOM webinar recording, which provides some key tips on performance period management? I would recommend it.
Part of the reason I am deferring to that resource is that I don't have an answer to your question that I feel really certain about. However, my understanding is that in general it's important to schedule activities during the performance period, otherwise you may not get credit for them.
I am pretty confident that "years later" won't fly. Perhaps "months later" might fly, in some energy-related credits. But the requirements are pretty specific so this is not necessarily the case.