Next
Some users (usually managers) have permission to unlock other people's projects. If you unlock a project that is locked by another user, any project files in the shared folder become available to other users. Files that the user has in his/her user folder remain there and do not become available to other users. If these files have been changed more recently than the files in the shared folder then there is the possibility that whoever works on the project next will be using out of date files.
Here is a very simple example that clearly illustrates why project locking is so important and why you should not unlock other users' projects unless it is really necessary.
• Ben creates a new project and uses Build to build the questionnaire. IBM® SPSS® Data Collection Interviewer Server Administration locks the project as soon as Ben uses Build. Ben knows that it will take a few days to complete the questionnaire so he decides to check his files in at the end of each day but to leave the project locked until he has completed the questionnaire.
• Michael unlocks Ben's project and opens it in Build. He makes some changes to the questionnaire, checks in the files, and unlocks the project.
• Ben does not know that Michael worked on the project, and continues building the questionnaire using the files in his User folder. He checks his files in at the end of the second day. Ben's files overwrite the files that Michael checked in and all Michael's changes are lost.
This situation could have been avoided if Michael had told Ben that he wanted to work on the project. Ideally, he should have asked Ben to unlock the project. If Ben was not available to do this, Michael should either have left the project locked, or he should have told Ben that he had worked on the project. In either case, Ben would then have known to check out the latest files from the shared folder before adding new questions to the questionnaire.