Lock Element

The Lock Element command freezes the element, its attributes, its parameters, its structures, and its design-oriented relationships against any modification regardless of permissions. This command can be applied at many different levels enabling fine-grained control. This command works alongside the access control model and is well-suited for temporal situations (locking the project in advance of a critical review, etc.).

When an element is locked, a small lock icon will be displayed on the left side of the name field on the element property sheet. If the element is unlocked, no icon is present.

Locking at the Element Level

To lock one or more elements, select the desired elements from the element list in the project explorer. Right-click to access the pop-up menu and select the Lock Elements command from the Manage submenu. You must have administrator privileges for the selected elements in order to lock the elements.

Locking at the Folder Level

To lock all elements in a folder, select the desired folder from the project pane in the project explorer. Right-click to access the pop-up menu and select the Lock Elements command from the Manage submenu. You must have administrator privileges for all elements within the folder.

Locking at the folder level will lock all elements included in the folder and all subfolders.

Locking at the Package Level

To lock all elements in a package, select the desired package from the project pane in the project explorer. Right-click to access the pop-up menu and select the Lock Elements command from the Manage submenu. You must have administrator privileges for all elements within the package.

Locking at the package level will lock all elements included in the package and all subpackages.

Locking at the Project Level

To lock all elements in a project, you may use the project explorer or the administrative tools. From the project explorer, select the Lock Elements command from the Manage submenu on the Project menu. From the administrative tools, select the project in the projects pane and select the Lock Elements command from the Manage submenu on the Project menu. You must have administrator privileges for the project.

When locking an element, the intent is to lock those relationships that are part of the system design (allocation for example) but not those relationships that enable management of the system model (perhaps a custom relationship for entering review comments). The system definition flag on a relationship definition indicates whether the relation is a part of the controlled system definition. Those relationships tagged as part of the system definition cannot be changed if either the source or target element is locked.