You are here: All Help Topics > Engagement Management > File Maintenance > Lockdown notes and considerations
-- More Info --

Lockdown Notes and Considerations

  • Locking down a file is not reversible. With lockdown set for a future date, you can change some of the parameters of the lockdown. See Changing the Lockdown Parameters for details.
  • If you do not want certain documents locked down, perhaps you still need to work on your tax documents, you can keep those documents active before locking down the file. See Keeping Documents Active within a Locked Down File.
  • If protection is turned on, only those with rights to Lock Down can lock down a file.
  • If you set the lockdown to occur at a future date, you can monitor when lockdown will occur either through Tracker or when you open the file in Working Papers. See Monitoring Lockdown.
  • If someone accesses a file past the date of the lockdown, lockdown occurs immediately and cannot be stopped. See Locking Down a File After The Document Completion Date.
  • During the lockdown file process, diagnostics are run on the file and items you may want to consider completing before lockdown are presented to you.
  • While a file is checked out and the document completion date is set, but not yet locked down, on the Engagement ribbon, the Lock Down button is not available.
  • After a file has passed the document completion date and lockdown occurs, the file cannot be unlocked until all files checked out before lockdown occurred have been checked in.
  • When a locked down file is checked into the locked down master, all lockdown milestones are regenerated with the newly introduced data.
  • For files set to lockdown after document completion date, reminders are given at weekly intervals starting at roughly 25% of the time left. For a lockdown based on 60 days after the release of the reports, Working Papers provides 3 warnings.
  • You cannot rename a client file that has been locked down.
  • Passwords can be set at the template level or at the file level when locking down a client file. See Creating a Lockdown Override Password at the Template Level
  • You can exempt documents from lockdown. See Keeping Documents Active within a Locked Down File.
  • Files set for lockdown that have passed the lockdown date will lock down the next time the file is accessed.
  • Documents can still be added to a locked down file, but you must provide an explanation. See Adding Documents to a Locked File.

    For documents that do not pertain to the audit, for example tax documents, you may not want to provide an explanation every time a document is added. See Adding Documents to a Locked Down File Without Providing an Explanation.

  • External files such as Word or Excel files in the document manager are flagged as read-only on lockdown of the client file.
  • Invalid sign off indicators are disabled while files are in a locked down state and will reappear when unlocked.
  • Documents that were not locked or new unlocked documents added to the locked down file (where sign offs get into a state where the indicators would normally appear) will appear when the file is temporarily unlocked.
  • Once lockdown is set up, the locked down or pending lockdown file can be checked out and worked on. When lockdown occurs, the file cannot be unlocked until all checked out files are checked back in the master.
  • When files are checked out, the Lock Down feature is not available.
  • After a file has passed the document completion date and lockdown occurs, the file cannot be unlocked until all files checked out before lockdown occurred have been checked in.
  • When a locked down file is checked into the locked down master, all lockdown milestones are regenerated with the newly introduced data.
  • If you choose to lock down the file in the future, a History event will be created automatically. On the Engagement ribbon, clicking History will display who locked down the file and the date it was set to lock down. A new History event will be created every time the lock down date is changed.
  • The size of the History database files may increase after a Lockdown. Milestones for every document are stored in the HI.FPT file. For more information about the History database files, see History Database File Size.

Related Topics