05 two sets locks they mean
Two Sets of Locks-What They Mean
The ES2C Codes Screen (accessed from ES2C with the F12 key) contains several “lock” flags that are applied to individual micro records. Many people have become confused as to why there are two sets of locks and how they are used differently. The ES2C locks (on phone number, physical address, mailing address, legal name, and trade name) are designed to protect data that you have corrected against IMT (or batch e.g. 024E, 024P, and 121D) updates. The IMT extract (processed in the 001Q, 001D, 001S, and 001X jobs) is built primarily with data from the U-I Tax File. The other updates to the micro file are using these batch locks as well. If you have established a corrected physical address, phone number, etc., but the revised information has not been posted to the U-I data, then erroneous changes could be enacted via obsolete data in the Tax File.
The ES2C locks block changes to the protected fields, preventing the IMT data from erasing corrections that have been made previously. Sometimes the QCEW unit will know of systemic problems with U-I data regarding a specific field (such as phone numbers). If there is no trust in the currency of a particular field, the IMT records can also be built with a blanket lock to that field. This allows an IMT or other batch value to go across only when the Micro File field is currently blank.
By comparison, the locks set on the ES2I screen are not designed to block IMT updates, but will change the affected fields to turquoise on the screen. They take place immediately, so that the locks are applied globally and instantaneously. The ES2C locks, on the other hand, need to be set record-by-record (though they can be set in the EARS 121D job for any record that changes its value), have no impact on on-line updates, and can be revoked at any time as well. If you lock the legal name field on ES2C, but the administrative data flag on ES2I has not been set, then you can change the legal name at will, but a different name on the IMT record will be rejected.
One noteworthy override to these on-line locks is available in the system. Those individuals with administrator-level access (shown as an “A” in the ES2M screen), can still make changes to most fields in all quarters within the ES2C screens. This bypass to the locks is available due to the need for last-minute corrections prior to submission of the EQUI deliverable. Outside of this exception, however, all locks should be enforced in all screens for all individuals.
In addition to blocking changes to locked quarters or administrative data, these locks also prevent records from being added to, or deleted from, the Micro File in on-line actions. It is not possible to add a record when all locks are in effect (administrative data and all quarters). Deletions are also blocked when the account is active for one or more of the locked quarters. These restrictions, particularly the deletion lock, are safe-guard measures, since account deletion from the Micro File should not be a common occurrence. Micro records selected for deletion may contain necessary, historical reported data that would be lost if record deletions were to be conducted haphazardly. The primary reason for record deletions is for the removal of micro records that were added to the file erroneously.
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