In short: Lock an assessment when it is final, for example after approval by management or before the audit. A locked assessment is read-only for everyone, including the AI agent and connected AI tools such as Claude. You can still view it and export it to Excel or as an image. Every lock and unlock is recorded in the audit trail with date and person.
1. When to lock
- After management or the board has approved the results
- Before you hand the assessment to your auditor (see our DMA audit checklist)
- At the end of the reporting period, to keep the reported state
2. Lock an assessment
- Go to your Dashboard.
- On the assessment card, open the menu.
- Select Lock.
- Confirm with Lock. Nobody can change the assessment until it is unlocked again.
The card now shows the badge Locked.
On every page of the assessment a banner shows who locked it and when.
3. What is frozen
While locked, nobody can change:
- IROs, ratings and justifications
- Stakeholders
- Documents
- Company information
- Assessment settings, thresholds and imports
- The AI agent and connected AI tools (MCP)
Still possible: viewing, filtering and exporting.
4. Unlock an assessment
Click Unlock assessment in the banner, or select Unlock in the card menu on the dashboard, and confirm. The assessment is editable again. The unlock is also recorded in the audit trail.
5. Lock, archive or delete?
| Lock | Archive | Delete | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Freeze a final state | Hide an assessment you no longer use | Remove permanently |
| Visible on dashboard | Yes, with "Locked" badge | No | No |
| Can be reversed | Yes, unlock | See archive article | No |
| Export possible | Yes | Yes | No |
FAQ
Who can lock and unlock an assessment?
Only the Owner and Admins of the company. Editors and viewers see that an assessment is locked, but cannot lock or unlock it. See User access management.
How do I start next year's assessment from a locked one?
Use Duplicate in the card menu. The copy is not locked, so you can update your double materiality assessment while the original stays unchanged.
Does locking show up in the audit trail?
Yes. Each lock and unlock appears as its own entry ("Assessment locked" or "Assessment unlocked") with date and user.
Can Claude or the AI agent still change a locked assessment?
No. The lock is enforced on the server and applies to every way of changing data.