@classmethod
def get_active_settings(cls):
    """
        This method is used to easily retrieve the currently active settings object.
        This information is cached for a short amount of time (5 minutes) in order to
        speed up processing and reduce database load.
        Returns None, if no Setting object exists
        :return: Currently active settings object
        :rtype: Setting | None
        """
    try:
        return cls.objects.filter(active=True).first()
    except cls.DoesNotExist:
        return None
