Locking scenarios and periods in Catalyst provides essential data governance and control over your financial planning process. This guide explains how to lock scenarios, the benefits of period locking, and best practices for maintaining data integrity while managing your planning cycles.
What is Scenario and Period Locking?
Scenario and period locking gives administrators precise control over when and where users can edit financial data in Catalyst's Planning screens. By locking specific time periods or entire scenarios, you create guardrails that prevent accidental changes to finalized budgets, historical actuals, or approved forecasts.
🔒 Key Locking Capabilities
Lock specific months or quarters
Apply to all or selected entities
Lock financials, rates, or FX separately
Who Can Lock Scenarios and Periods?
Access to scenario and period locking is restricted to users with appropriate administrative permissions. This ensures that only authorized personnel can control data governance settings.
Client Administrators
Users designated as Client Admins have full access to scenario locking features. This role provides comprehensive administrative control over all scenarios and locking configurations.
Users with Edit Permissions
Non-admin users can access scenario locking only if they have been granted navigation access to Administration → Scenario with Edit permissions (not just Read permissions). Users with Read-only access can view scenario settings but cannot modify lock configurations.
Verifying Your Access
If you don't see the Administration menu or cannot access the Scenario management page, contact your Client Administrator to request the appropriate navigation permissions. Remember that Read permissions allow you to view scenarios but not modify lock settings—you'll need Edit permissions to make locking changes.
Permission Requirements Summary
Why Lock Scenarios and Periods?
Locking provides multiple benefits for financial planning governance, data integrity, and operational efficiency. Understanding when and why to lock helps you establish effective controls.
Key Benefits
Unintended Consequence: Blocking Expected Data
Be cautious when locking periods if you expect integration data to land in those periods. If you mistakenly lock a scenario or period while waiting for ERP data updates, that data will be received but won't flow through to your cubes. Always verify your locking strategy aligns with your data ingestion schedule.
Accessing Lock Periods
The Lock Periods interface is accessible from the Manage Scenario screen, providing granular control over which periods users can edit within each scenario.
Navigate to Scenario Management
Go to Administration → Scenario under Site Management.
Select Your Scenario
Click on the scenario you want to manage (e.g., "2024 Budget" or "2023 Actuals").
Click the Lock Periods Tab
From the scenario management screen, select the Lock Periods tab to access locking controls.
Understanding the Lock Periods Interface
The Lock Periods interface provides comprehensive control over data editing permissions with granular options for companies, data types, and time periods.
Interface Components
Selecting Lock Periods
Each data type column provides a dropdown menu where you can select which period to lock through. The options range from "None" (no locking) to periods 0 through 12.
When you select a period number (e.g., "7"), all periods up to and including that period become locked. For example, selecting period 7 locks periods 0-7, leaving periods 8-12 editable. Selecting "12" locks the entire fiscal year.
How to Lock and Unlock Periods
Locking Periods for All Companies
Use the "Set All To:" row at the top of the table to apply locking settings across all companies simultaneously.
- Click any dropdown in the "Set All To:" row
- Select the period you want to lock through (e.g., "12" to lock the entire year)
- Repeat for each data type (Financial, Rate, Volume, Currency Exchange Rate) as needed
- Click Update to save your changes
- The selected lock period will be applied to all companies in your organization
Locking Periods for Specific Companies
For more granular control, you can set different lock periods for individual companies.
- Locate the specific company row in the table
- Click the dropdown for the data type you want to lock (Financial, Rate, Volume, or Currency Exchange Rate)
- Select the period to lock through
- Repeat for additional data types as needed
- Click Update to save your changes
Example: Selective Data Type Locking
You might lock Financial data through period 12 (entire year) to preserve your finalized budget, while leaving Rate and Volume unlocked (None) to allow profitability modeling adjustments. This gives your team flexibility for scenario planning without risking changes to the approved financial budget.
Unlocking Periods
To unlock previously locked periods, simply change the period selection to a lower number or to "None."
- Navigate to the Lock Periods tab for the scenario
- Select the dropdown showing the current lock period
- Choose a lower period number or "None" to remove all locks
- Click Update to save your changes
💡 Tip: Unlocking periods is common during budget adjustment cycles. You might lock periods after initial budget submission, unlock them for revision after executive feedback, then re-lock once final approval is received.
Using "Actuals Thru Period" for Automatic Locking
The "Actuals Thru Period" setting provides an alternative method for controlling period editability in planning scenarios. This feature automatically locks periods in Budget, Forecast, and Plan scenarios while keeping those same periods editable in the Actuals scenario.
How Actuals Thru Period Works
When you set "Actuals Thru Period" to a specific month (e.g., period 7), the following behavior occurs:
In Actuals Scenario
Periods 0-7 remain fully editable. You can continue updating actual financial results as data arrives from your ERP systems.
In Planning Scenarios
Periods 0-7 become locked for manual editing in any Budget, Forecast, or Plan scenario that references these Actuals. This prevents users from overwriting actual performance with manual entries.
Future Periods
Periods 8-12 remain editable for planning. Users can continue forecasting, budgeting, and adjusting projections for months that haven't yet occurred.
When to Use Actuals Thru Period
- Rolling forecasts: Automatically lock historical periods as actual data becomes available
- Hybrid planning: Combine actual results with future projections in a single scenario view
- Simplified management: Update one setting to control locking across multiple planning scenarios
Learn more: Actuals Thru and Dependent Scenarios
Best Practices for Locking
✓ Recommended Practices
- Lock historical periods as soon as they're finalized and reconciled
- Lock budgets after executive or board approval
- Lock forecast snapshots when you want to preserve a specific projection for comparison
- Document your locking schedule in your budget calendar
- Use granular data type locking when you need flexibility for specific analyses
- Communicate lock schedules to planning teams in advance
✗ Common Mistakes
- Locking periods while expecting integration data to flow
- Never locking completed budget cycles
- Forgetting to unlock periods during revision windows
- Applying company-wide locks without considering departmental needs
- Locking all data types when only financial data needs protection
- Failing to test lock settings before critical planning deadlines
Typical Locking Workflow
Most organizations follow a systematic approach to locking aligned with their planning calendar:
All periods unlocked
Lock all periods
Unlock for edits
Re-lock all periods
Remains locked
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Problem: Data Not Flowing from ERP
Likely Cause: The scenario or period is locked, blocking data ingestion.
Solution: Check Lock Periods settings for the affected scenario. If periods are locked and you need data to flow, temporarily unlock them, allow the data refresh to complete, then re-lock if needed.
Problem: Users Can't Edit When They Should
Likely Cause: Periods are locked unintentionally, or Actuals Thru Period is set higher than expected.
Solution: Verify Lock Periods settings and check the Actuals Thru Period value in Scenario Details. Adjust as needed and communicate changes to your planning team.
Problem: Inconsistent Locking Across Companies
Likely Cause: Company-specific settings were applied accidentally or during a previous planning cycle.
Solution: Use the "Set All To:" row to apply uniform settings across all companies. Review individual company rows to ensure consistency.
Problem: Changes Not Saving
Likely Cause: Forgot to click the Update button after making changes.
Solution: Always click Update after adjusting lock period settings. The system won't save changes until you explicitly confirm them with the Update button.
Related Resources
📖 Additional Scenario Documentation
Comprehensive guide to scenario types, creation, and management
Deep dive into automatic period locking via Actuals Thru Period
How to link scenarios and copy data between planning versions
Managing currency exchange rates in multi-currency environments
Effective scenario and period locking is essential for maintaining data integrity and establishing governance in your financial planning process. By understanding the locking options—from granular period-level controls to automatic Actuals Thru Period settings—you can create the right balance between data protection and planning flexibility. Remember to align your locking strategy with your budget calendar, communicate changes clearly to planning teams, and always verify that locking won't inadvertently block expected data flows from your source systems.
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