When working with forms,  it is possible that 2 people could be editing the same form instance at the same time. This is especially true when using form saving (click here to read an article about auto save and button save).

This can result in person 1 changing field 1 to ABC and then a save or submit action happens - then 1 minute later person 2 is in the same form and changes field 1 to DEF which then also is saved or submitted. Then 4 minutes later form 1 auto saves again and overwrites field 1 to ABC and so on.

To overcome this, each time someone edits an Other, Performance review or Performance Improvement forms type, the Natural HR system will create a form lock for 5 minutes, during which time no one else (including admin level users) can edit that form instance.

In this example, an employee (person 1) logs in to Natural HR then clicks on their 'Forms' icon on their left side menu. Person 1 then clicks actions followed by Add

Person 1 partially completes the form which either auto saves or person 1 clicks on the 'Save' button

An information banner appears at the top of the screen confirming the form has been saved.

At the same time, the employee's manager (person 2) clicks on their 'Forms' icon in the left menu bar then clicks actions followed by the 'View data' action

Next, person 2 clicks on the 'Edit' action of the form instance that is currently being saved by person 1

Person 2 will see a warning banner at the top of the screen telling them the form is currently open for editing by another user, person 1, who is named in the warning banner. Person 2 is unable to edit any of the fields in the form

The message generated reads:

This form is locked to prevent editing as it is currently open for editing by another user - you should ask NAME to close the form and then wait for 5 minutes so the lock can be removed. This is in place to prevent data corruption if more than one person attempts to submit or save the same form at the same time

There are two ways to release the lock:

1. Person 1, who raised the form, clicks on 'Save' and then leaves the form, after 5 minutes the lock is lifted and person 2 can then edit the form which in turn creates a form lock preventing person 1 from editing the form.

2. Alternatively, person 1 logs out of Natural HR, upon logoff, the form lock table is cleared down so there is no need to require the 5 minute wait.

Please note: If the person who is causing the lock is away from their desk and leaves the form open for editing, there is no way to bypass the lock - the person wishing to edit the form must wait until either the other person returns and comes out of the form, logs out or their session expires.