Overview
Date Locking lets an administrator lock past trading dates for a venue. Once a date is locked, staff cannot create, edit or delete financial records on it — so once your books are reconciled, the figures behind them stop moving.
Past dates only – only past trading dates can be locked. Future dates stay open and editable.
Venue-level control – each venue has its own locked dates, set and managed independently.
Full audit trail – every lock and reopen is recorded with the trading date, who did it, their email and the exact time.
Viewing stays open – a lock stops changes, not visibility. Historical records can still be viewed and exported as normal.
Date Locking is switched on per venue. If Locked Dates does not appear under Admin, contact Wirely support to have it enabled for your venue.
Recommended Workflow
The intended use is for the Accountant or Bookkeeper to lock the past period in Wirely before generating the accounting journal. That way the figures you export are final and cannot change after the fact, keeping Wirely and your accounts in step.
Step 1: Assign the Date Locking Permission to a Role
Go to Settings → Roles & Permissions.
Find the Date Locking permission.
Assign it to the roles that own your period close — typically Accountant or Bookkeeper.
Only roles holding this permission can lock or reopen dates for a venue. Everyone else is affected by the locks but cannot change them.
Step 2: Lock a Past Period
Go to Admin → Locked Dates to open Locked Dates Settings.
On the Locked Dates tab, use Select Week to pick a whole trading week, or set the Start Date and End Date to bring up the range you want.
Lock the dates using the Lock/Unlock action. You can lock a whole range at once, or an individual trading date from the Action column in the table.
Each locked date records who locked it and exactly when. Only past dates can be locked, so there is no way to accidentally freeze trading that has not happened yet.
Locked Dates Settings — lock or unlock past trading dates individually or by week, with the user and timestamp recorded on each.
Step 3: What Your Team Sees on a Locked Date
Wirely enforces the lock across every module that supports it. Any attempt to create or edit a record on a locked trading date is blocked, and the person sees a message explaining why rather than a silent failure:
“This trading date is locked. Please contact your administrator if you want to make changes to this date.”
The wording varies slightly depending on where they are — the Safe dialogs, for instance, say “Current trading date is locked. Please contact your system administrator to unlock.” The effect is the same in every case.
Records on locked dates stay fully visible and can still be exported and reported on. Future dates are unaffected, so day-to-day trading carries on as normal.
Step 4: Reopen a Date If You Need To
Locks are not permanent. If something genuinely has to be corrected in a closed period, someone with the Date Locking permission can reopen the date from the same Locked Dates tab using Unlock.
Reopening is itself recorded, appearing in the Audit Log as Reopened against that trading date. If you reopen a period you have already exported a journal for, re-check the figures before your next export — the whole point of the lock is that the two agree.
Step 5: Review Every Change in the Audit Log
Open the Audit Log tab in Locked Dates Settings to see every lock and reopen for the venue. Each entry shows the Trading Date, the Action, who Performed By, their Email and the Timestamp.
Action reads Locked when a date was closed, or Reopened when it was unlocked again.
Use Filter by Action to show only locks or only reopens, or leave it on All Actions.
Use the date filter to narrow the log to a particular period.
The log is written automatically, so there is nothing for your team to maintain by hand.
Audit Log — a searchable record of every lock and reopen, with the user, their email and the timestamp.
Best Practices
Lock each period as soon as it is reconciled, and before the journal export — not weeks later.
Advance the lock as you close each new period, so the open window only ever covers trading you are still working on.
Keep the Date Locking permission with the people who own the close rather than with general venue staff. A lock that anyone can lift is not really a lock.
When you reopen a date, make a note of why somewhere your team can see it. The audit log records that it happened, not the reason.
Re-lock as soon as the correction is made, rather than leaving the period open.
When to Contact Wirely Support
Locked Dates does not appear under Admin — the feature needs enabling for your venue.
The Date Locking permission does not appear in Roles & Permissions.
A date shows as locked but staff can still change records on it.
You would like help planning your first period lock.
Contact [email protected].