Before You Can Lock: What Must Be True
Locking a roster confirms that the schedule is complete and ready for payroll. Before Sona will allow you to lock, the following must all be true:
- The week or day is in the past. You cannot lock a current or future period — only weeks or days where all shifts have already elapsed.
- All shifts are published. Any shifts still in draft must be published or discarded.
- There are no shifts still in progress. If any employee is currently clocked in and their attendance record has not yet been completed, locking will be blocked.
- There are no outstanding pay queries. Every pay query for that period must be resolved.
- There are no unreviewed unplanned shifts. Any unplanned shift clocked by an employee must be reviewed.
- All pending holiday requests are resolved. Outstanding holiday requests covering that period must be approved or declined.
- All shifts are covered by valid employment periods. If any shift falls outside an employee’s employment period dates, locking will be blocked.
- All previous weeks or days are already locked. Locking is sequential — you cannot lock a period if an earlier one is still unlocked. See the section below on sequential locking.
If any of these conditions are not met, the Lock roster button will either not appear or locking will be blocked. When locking is blocked, Sona displays a specific message naming the issue and the number of affected records — for example: “3 unresolved pay queries” or “2 draft shifts prevent locking”.
Sequential Locking: Weeks and Days Must Be Locked in Order
Sona enforces a sequential locking requirement. This means:
- You cannot lock a later week until earlier weeks have been locked.
- If daily locking is enabled for your organisation, you cannot lock a later day until earlier days in the sequence have been locked.
For example: if weeks commencing 3 March and 10 March are both unlocked, you must lock the 3 March week first before you can lock the 10 March week. If you attempt to lock 10 March first, Sona will show: “The previous week must be locked before you can lock the current week.”
The same applies to daily locking: if Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are unlocked, you must lock them in order — Monday first, then Tuesday, then Wednesday.
If you cannot lock a week or day, check first whether an earlier period is still open. This is one of the most common causes of an unexpected block.
The Most Common Reasons Locking Fails
1. An earlier week or day has not been locked
As described above, locking is sequential. If a previous period remains unlocked, Sona will not allow you to lock the current one and will show: “The previous week must be locked before you can lock the current week.”
How to resolve:
- Navigate back through earlier weeks on the roster.
- Identify the earliest unlocked week or day.
- Resolve any blockers on that period and lock it first.
- Work forwards until you reach the period you originally wanted to lock.
2. Shifts still in progress
If an employee is currently clocked in and their attendance record has not yet closed, locking is blocked. Sona will show the number of affected shifts — for example: “2 shifts in progress”.
How to resolve:
Go to Payroll Hub → Review payroll records and filter for the relevant period. You may need to ask the employee to manually clock out, or wait until the attendance completes, depending on your organisation’s process.
3. Outstanding pay queries
Pay queries are flagged when a shift’s attendance record needs review — for example, a late clock-in, an unexpected clock-out time, or a missing clock record. Sona will show the number of open queries — for example: “3 unresolved pay queries”.
How to resolve:
- Go to Payroll Hub → Review payroll records.
- Filter by the week or day you are trying to lock.
- Work through any flagged records — process or dismiss each one.
- Once all pay queries show as resolved, return to the roster and try locking again.
4. Unreviewed unplanned shifts
If an employee clocked in when they had no scheduled shift, this creates an unplanned shift. These appear on the roster view and must be reviewed before locking. Sona will show the number of unreviewed shifts — for example: “1 unplanned shift that must be resolved before the week can be locked.”
How to resolve:
- On the roster for the relevant period, look for any unplanned shifts.
- Click into each one to review it.
- To convert it to a paid shift, select Create as Shift.
- If the shift should not be paid, you will need to delete or amend it after creating it — there is no direct “reject” option.
- Once all unplanned shifts have been reviewed, try locking again.
5. Shifts still in draft
Shifts that have been created but not published are in draft state. Sona will not allow locking while unpublished drafts exist for that period and will show, for example: “3 draft shifts prevent locking. These draft shifts must be published or discarded before this period can be locked.”
How to resolve:
- Review the roster for the relevant period.
- Publish any draft shifts, or delete them if they are no longer needed.
- Once no drafts remain, try locking again.
6. Pending holiday requests
If an employee has submitted a holiday request covering the period you are trying to lock, and that request has not yet been approved or declined, it will block locking.
How to resolve:
- Go to the Holiday section and filter for the relevant period.
- Approve or decline any outstanding requests.
- Return to the roster and try locking again.
7. Shifts outside employment periods
If any shifts fall outside an employee’s employment period — for example, shifts scheduled after their recorded finish date — locking will be blocked. Sona will display: “This week cannot be locked because it contains shifts uncovered by employment periods.”
How to resolve:
- In the locking error detail, find the affected employees and their employment period end dates.
- Either delete the out-of-period shifts, or go to the Employees tab to extend or correct the employment period.
- Once all shifts are covered by valid employment periods, try locking again.
What Happens When You Lock: Payroll Approval
Locking a roster does more than freeze the schedule.
When you lock a period, Sona automatically approves all shifts that are awaiting payroll approval. This is why resolving pay queries before locking matters: once a pay query is resolved, the shift is ready for payroll, and locking then approves it in the same action.
You will be shown a summary before confirming the lock, indicating how many shifts are awaiting approval and will be submitted to payroll when you proceed.
This means:
- Resolving pay queries + locking = shifts approved and submitted to payroll.
- Make sure the roster is accurate before locking — you cannot easily unsubmit shifts once they have been approved for payroll.
- If any shifts have already been individually approved for payroll before locking, they remain approved. Locking approves any that remain.
Once shifts have been submitted to payroll, any corrections must go through the amendments process.
Locking by Week vs. Locking by Day
Depending on your organisation’s settings, you may be able to lock the roster by individual day rather than by whole week.
- Weekly locking — the standard option. The entire roster week is locked in one action.
- Daily locking — available for organisations where Sona has configured this. Days must be locked in chronological order, and the sequential requirement applies: you cannot lock Wednesday without first locking Monday and Tuesday.
Daily locking is not a self-serve setting — it is configured by Sona on your account. Contact Sona support if you need daily locking enabled or disabled. We recommend transitioning from one to the other at the start of a week, to avoid overlapping weekly and daily locks.
The same pre-requisites apply regardless of granularity: no shifts in progress, no outstanding pay queries, no unreviewed unplanned shifts, no draft shifts, no pending holiday requests, and no employment period issues for the period being locked.
Permission Requirements
Permissions to lock and to unlock are configured independently — a user can have permission to lock but not to unlock, or vice versa.
Unlocking is typically restricted to more senior roles, as it carries greater risk — particularly if shifts have already been submitted to payroll.
If you believe you should have permission to lock or unlock but the button is not visible, ask your Sona Administrator to check your permission settings.
Note: Role names such as “Manager” or “Payroll Manager” are customised per organisation in Sona. Check with your admin for the exact role names used in your account.
Locking vs. Submitting to Payroll
These two things are related but distinct:
- Locking the roster prevents any further changes to the schedule — no new shifts can be added, no absences can be amended, and no existing shifts can be edited.
- Submitting shifts to payroll approves the shift records so that gross pay can be calculated, and in most cases also locks the roster.
Whether locking and payroll submission are combined or can be separated is a configurable setting. Contact Sona support if you are unsure how your account is set up.
Unlocking a Roster
If you need to make changes after a roster has been locked, a user with the unlock roster permission can unlock it — but only if payroll has not yet been run for that period.
How to unlock
- Go to Scheduling → Roster.
- Navigate to the locked week or day.
- Select the location you need to unlock.
- The Unlock roster button will appear in the top actions area if you have the required permission.
- Click Unlock roster and confirm.
Just as locking is sequential, unlocking is also sequential — but in reverse. You cannot unlock an earlier period if a later period is still locked. Sona will show: “Unlock all future periods first before unlocking these periods.”
For example: if weeks commencing 3 March and 10 March are both locked, you must unlock 10 March before you can unlock 3 March. This must be done manually — unlocking one week does not automatically unlock later ones.
The same applies to daily unlocking: days must be unlocked in reverse chronological order.
Important limitations when unlocking:
- Shifts that have already been submitted to payroll remain submitted. Unlocking does not unsubmit them.
- You can add new shifts, absences, and holidays to the unlocked period, but previously submitted records are not affected.
- Once you have made your changes, lock the roster again. Because locking is sequential, any later periods will also need to be re-locked in order before payroll can proceed.
If payroll has already been run, the roster cannot be unlocked. Any corrections must be made as payroll amendments. Contact the bureau team or your payroll manager.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I’ve resolved everything I can see, but locking still fails. What else should I check?
There may be a shift that was moved from another week into the one you are trying to lock, leaving a reference that is not visible on the roster. If you have checked all pay queries, unplanned shifts, draft shifts, holiday requests, and employment period coverage and locking still fails, contact support — this may require investigation.
Q: Can I lock a week if some employees don’t have clock-in records?
Missing clock records generate pay queries that must be resolved first. Go to Payroll Hub → Review payroll records and work through the flagged records before attempting to lock.
Q: I unlocked a week to make a change — do I need to re-lock it and any later weeks?
Yes. After making your changes, lock the period again. Because locking is sequential, any later periods that were previously locked will also need to be re-locked in order before payroll can proceed for those weeks. Note that unlocking one period does not automatically unlock later ones — you must unlock each future period manually (working backwards) before you can unlock the target period.