Period Lock improved workflow

ideas
1

I know I have mentioned this in the past but I have not made it into an idea so I will create a separate post for that.

The period lock is a useful feature, however, its GUI representation is lacking in terms of ease of use.

The current setup is:

  • The :ballot_box_with_check: Lock accounting period checkbox determines if the lock icon is visible or not

  • The Until field determines whether the lock icon is open and closed.

I am sure that there’s logic behind this, mainly telling the user the state of today itself, however, I’d argue that this isn’t the most useful representation.

Improved setup:

  • The Until field determined whether the lock icon is visible.

  • The :ballot_box_with_check: Lock accounting period checkbox determines whether the lock icon is open or not

The reason for this is that in case the user decided to make some changes to a locked period, its better to keep the Until field untouched and simply uncheck the :ballot_box_with_check: Lock accounting period, this is not only faster but :ballot_box_with_check:

  1. the open lock icon will show the user that there’s a discrepancy in the Lock period settings

  2. The user can unlock the period without losing the information from the Until field which will reduce lock mistakes

  3. The user can easliy get back to the Lock period settings after unchecking the box since the icon is there. Currently, if I uncheck the box, the icon disappears and I have to manually navigate to Settings page which isn’t convenient.

This leaves us with the only benefit to the current setup which is figuring out whether today itself is locked, this can easily be done by color coding the lock icon to reflect this information.

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2

Maybe the way to go would be to move the Lock Date from Settings to Customise to select the use of a Lock Date. When selected the Lock date icon would be visible (unlocked initially).

Then:

  1. Icon would show locked when both the “Until” field is populated and the “Lock Accounting Period” is checked(ticked)
  2. Icon will show unlocked when either or both of these are not set.
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3

That could work too!

But I don’t understand why Lock Date should have its own tab, it will be the least impressive tab since it only has one field.

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4

I would prefer if the lock date icon in settings retained it’s in use state (not greyed & at the top) if either date or check mark was entered. The icon constantly changing position decreases application usability. Not a disaster but a minor change would be better.

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