What are Period Lock and Period Unlock (PPA)?

The following 2 min 0 sec clip explains what period lock and period unlock are, along with how to use them:

Prior period lock functionality is enabled by selecting Enable Prior Period Adjustments (PPA) from within the Admin | System | System Settings | Rate Generation screen.

The basic principal of the prior period processing is that once all duties and diary events have been reconciled for a given period, you Prior Period Adjustment (PPA) functionality allows you to lock off a period that your finance/payroll team would approve. Locked periods can be unlocked by those with the appropriate level of administrative rights to modify as needed and then relocked. This means that arbitrations can be made throughout the period, rather than just at one final point in time, as desired. Once an overall period is finalised, it can be closed. When the period is both locked and closed, for audit purposes, it can no longer be changed. Each period that is locked is given a unique transaction number. This provides a great way to locate pay periods rather than searching by date.

There are 2 stages to this lock process:

  • Lock - This will create the transaction number and assign it to all affected duties and diary events. At this stage, duties and diary events can still be edited and if this results in rate generation information being re-created, then the transaction number is removed from the duty/diary event in question. When the user then re-locks the period, the existing transaction number is once again, written to any changed duties/diary events
  • Close - Once everything is reconciled in the period, the user then chooses the close option. This process flags all duties and diary events in the period as being closed. No further editing of affected duties or diary events can be carried out *unless* the user has permission to unlock the duty/diary event to carry out the change. Any duties or diary events that are edited in this way and are subsequently re-rate generated will have the adjustments recorded in the next period

When a duty has been period locked, it can only be edited if you have the correct security permission to unlock and then lock again. This is best done using the “relock" feature). To relock from the Manage | Queues screen:

  • Select Manage Period Lock to open the Update Period Lock Job screen

  • Select the existing period from Duty Rates Period. Select the magnifying glass. A new Select Period dialog box will be displayed. Choose your period from those displayed or by using the search function.

  • Select Relock

For more information about using PPA, see How should I use Period Lock/Unlock/Close (PPA)? .