Purpose
In the Inventory section under Dashboard, the Reporting Periods feature allows users to lock specific months, preventing any backdated inventory changes from being made. This ensures that once a reporting period has been filed and finalized, the data remains intact and accurate.
What can you do with it?
With Reporting Periods, you can lock individual months to protect finalized inventory data after filing regulatory reports (e.g., CTLS). Once a month is locked, no one can go back and make inventory changes for that period unless an authorized user reopens it. This helps maintain data integrity, prevents discrepancies in filed reports, and eliminates time spent tracking down problems caused by backdated transactions.
How is it done?
Navigate to Reporting Periods: Go to Dashboard > Inventory > Reporting Periods.
Select the Month to Lock: Click on the month you wish to lock. You can navigate back through historical months — reporting periods are available as far back as 2022.
Confirm and Lock: Review the selected period, click "I understand" to confirm, and then click Lock to finalize. The selected month is now locked.
Repeat for Additional Months: Locking a specific month only locks that individual month — it does not automatically lock all prior months. If you need to lock multiple months, you will need to lock each one individually.
Unlocking a Period (if needed): If a change must be made to a locked period, an authorized user can reopen the period, make the necessary adjustment, and then lock it again.
Important Considerations
Locking is per-month: Locking one month does not lock any other months. You must lock each month individually.
Permissions are required: Only users with the appropriate permissions (typically super admin or facility-level roles) can lock and unlock reporting periods. Verify that your user role has access to this feature.
Feature visibility: If you do not see the Reporting Periods tab under Inventory, it may be hidden behind a feature flag for your account. Contact Elevated Signals support to have it enabled.
Ensure data is finalized before locking: Confirm that all inventory transactions, purchase orders, and adjustments for the month are complete and accurate before locking. Elevated Signals should be treated as the source of truth — make sure it is fully up to date before closing a period.
Best Practices
Lock periods promptly after filing: Once a regulatory report (e.g., CTLS) has been filed and finalized, lock the corresponding month immediately to prevent any accidental or unauthorized changes.
Lock all historical months: When first adopting this feature, go back and lock all previously filed months to protect historical data.
Communicate before backdating: If a transaction needs to be backdated into a locked period, discuss it as a team first. Consider whether the transaction can instead be recorded in the current open month to avoid amending previously filed reports.
Audit user permissions regularly: Review who has admin and super admin access periodically. Limit the number of users who can lock and unlock reporting periods to maintain tight controls over your inventory data.