12 field lock indicator
Field Lock Indicator (IMT-FIELD-LOCK)
The field lock indicator is located at positions 534 and 535. Its intended purpose is to aid in preserving name, address, and phone number information from inadvertent erroneous batch changes. The field uses a "pseudo-binary" structure in that it combines six field locks into one indicator. The locked fields are found from the sum of the individual field lock values, which are: physical address lock (1), mailing address lock (2), legal/corporate name lock (4), trade name lock (8), phone number lock (16), and attention name lock (32). Combinations can produce any value from zero to 63. For instance, if the two address blocks and the phone number were to be locked, the indicator value would be the sum of the corresponding field lock values, namely 1 + 2 + 16, or a field lock indicator value of 19.
Many States have experienced problems with data integrity in the State Tax Files, as opposed to manually entered information in the QCEW data. In a quarterly extract, accounts which have received name, address, and phone number corrections can have that work overridden by the automatic replacement of any fields with differing values from the tax file to the Micro File.
The opposite of this situation is also a problem. When a legitimate field change has occurred, but such changes are arbitrarily locked out by an interface program, mailings may go to the wrong address, the firm's name fields may become obsolete, etc. This is one of the trickiest parts of setting up an interface between two primary data systems.
In general, it is recommended that the field lock indicator be left as low-values. However, if a global condition exists — if the physical address is always considered more accurate on the QCEW file for instance — a locking value can be applied to all IMT records. When this is done, the locks will apply only to attempted changes to the locked fields. However, for new accounts, IMT lock flags will be copied to the Micro File record. It is important, therefore, that the IMT field locks be administered carefully even here. The global setting of IMT lock flags should only be attempted if 1) a distinction can be made between existent and new accounts, or 2) the global application of field locks to new accounts is desired.
Locks within the Micro File records themselves are intended to be permanent locks set by the QCEW analyst by on-line entry. Locks in this field are generally set by on-line data entry to the Micro File data. The ES2MI01 EXPO interface program produces an optional report showing locked-out attempts at field changes with IMT and Micro File values shown side by side for analyst verification.
Note: A second field locks field has been established in the Micro File. However, no values for this field have yet been determined. In addition, there will be no IMT equivalent to the second field-locks field.
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