The Attribute Values for SKUs can be updated using the options available in the UI / through an import / synchronization process. In case of an import (using templates / standard files / synchronization / POST API, all the SKU Attribute values will be added as an multi value attribute or the values will be overwritten depending on the option chosen during the process. Sometimes, you do not want to make any changes in the attribute values for certain SKU attributes present in the Catalog as there is no change in the value. However, an import / synchronization / POST API process will impact these values depending on the options selected and the values will be updated for all SKUs present in the file being imported.
PCC enables you to handle this by locking the SKU attributes in a catalog. The SKU attribute values can be locked which stops that SKU attribute value from getting updated by any change process like import, synchronization or portal based SKU-Edit. Thus, once locked, the values of locked attributes cannot be modified unless the lock has been removed. However, if you try to update the values for locked attributes through UI, a message is displayed stating it is locked and cannot be updated. If an import / synchronization is processed which has values for locked attributes, those values will be stored in a staging table only if the manual override option is checked while locking the attributes and you will get an option to accept the new value. If you accept the value, the SKU attribute will be populated with the new value but the lock will continue to stay. If the manual override option is not checked while locking the attributes, the value will never be added to the staging table and an icon will never appear on this screen.
Thus, in case of SKU attribute values which are locked, the updates will not happen automatically. Any value imported will be stored in the staging area and you will be provided with the necessary options to update them as explained in the following sections. Also, if the lock is removed, the staging value will be removed and the SKU’s original value will stay the same.
Locking Attribute Values for a SKU
You can choose to lock certain attributes for all / specific SKUs for which the values should not be modified either through the portal / import / synchronization process.
To lock certain attributes for SKUs:
Click the Quick Actions
icon and then click Manage Attribute Value Locks as shown below.
OR
Click the menu icon on the upper-left corner, and then click Catalog > All Catalogs. The Catalog page appears. Click the Manage Attribute Value Locks 
icon on the catalog you need to work with as shown below.
The following screen appears.
Click Add New Attribute Lock(s) and the following screen appears.
There are 3 /4 steps to add a new attribute lock depending on the lock option selected.
Step 1: Select lock option – Here, you must select the appropriate option for attributes to be locked.
The following 3 options are displayed:
Lock certain attributes for all SKUs in the entire catalog – Select this to lock one or more attributes from the attribute master list for all SKUs in the catalog.
Lock certain attributes for one or more users chosen SKUs – Select this to lock one or more attributes from the attribute master list. You can choose the SKUs for which the attributes should be locked.
Lock certain attributes for SKUs residing in one or more user chosen Taxonomy nodes – Select this to lock one or more attributes from the attribute master list. Here, the taxonomy tree for the entire catalog in the primary hierarchy is displayed. You can select multiple nodes and the attributes for all SKUs present in the selected nodes will be locked.
NOTE | In case of derived attributes which are locked, the values stored in the staging area will be based on the changes in formulas associated with these attributes. |
Also, an option to select Do you want to allow manual override of locked Sku-Attribute values? is displayed. If you select this option, you will get an option to accept all the incoming values for the locked attributes through catalog import or synchronization process. If not selected, no option will be displayed.
NOTE | Only users with the SKU edit lock privilege role assigned to them can lock a SKU attribute. Similarly, only users with the SKU edit privilege role assigned to them can perform a manual override action. |
Case 1: Let us select option 1 to lock attributes for all SKUs
Click Lock certain attribute(s) for all SKU(s) in the entire catalog and select the manual override option if needed.
Click Next and the following screen appears.
Step 2: Select Attribute(s)
A list of attributes present in the attribute master list is displayed.
Type and search the attributes either through name / customer ID and select attributes to be locked for all SKUs and then click Next.
NOTE | Currently, when you try to lock attribute values for all SKUs in a large catalog which has more than 70-80k SKUs using this option, the process might take some time as the count of SKUs is huge. Hence, an email notification is sent on the registered email ID once completed successfully. However, if the process fails, a failure notification is sent and you can try performing the action again or contact the Bluemeteor Customer Success team for assistance. |
Case 2: Let us select option 2 to lock attributes for one or more SKUs.
Click Lock certain attribute(s) for one or more user chosen SKU(s) and select the manual override option if needed.
Click Next and the following screen appears.
Step 2: Select Attribute(s)
A list of attributes present in the attribute master list is displayed.
Type and search the attributes either through name / customer ID and select attributes to be locked and then click Next. The following screen appears.
Once the attributes are selected, the next step is to choose SKUs for which these attributes will be locked.
Step 3: Select SKU(s)
Here, you can select SKUs using one of the following options available:
Taxonomy Structure – The taxonomy hierarchy is displayed, and you can select the nodes which have SKUs as shown below.
Select SKUs and then click 
to move all the selected SKUs to the right section as shown below. You can also click 
to add all SKUs selected.
Once the SKUs are selected and added, click Next to proceed.
Global Search – You can search for specific SKUs by typing the Item ID / SKU Title and based on the keyword matches, the results will be displayed as shown below.
Select the SKUs or drag and drop them in the right section and click Next to proceed.
Saved Search Condition – A list of saved conditions created for searching SKUs as explained in section Saved Conditions is displayed here as shown below.
You can search the SKUs based on the condition. Click the Preview Search Condition 
icon to view the condition created and click the Search SKU(s) using this condition 
icon to search SKUs as shown below.
Select the SKUs or drag and drop them in the right section and click Next to proceed.
Case 3: Let us select option 3 to lock attributes for one or more SKUs present in nodes selected.
Click Lock certain attribute(s) for SKU(s) residing in one or more users chosen taxonomy nodes and select the manual override option if needed.
The taxonomy tree is displayed on the right side to select the nodes.
Select the nodes and all SKUs present in those nodes will be selected as shown below.
Click Next and the following screen appears.
Step 2: Select Attribute(s)
A list of attributes present in the attribute master list is displayed.
Type and search the attributes either through name / customer ID and select attributes to be locked and then click Next.
Once the attributes and SKUs are selected using any of the options as explained above, the final step is to verify the details.
Step 3: Confirm
Assuming that 2 attributes Brand and Dial Color have been locked using option 3, that is, a Node Analog has been selected and the 2 mentioned attributes for all SKUs in this node will be locked.
The following screen is displayed.
Click Submit and the selected attributes are locked. A message indicating the count of SKUs that will be locked is displayed as shown below.
Details of the locked attributes are updated and displayed on the Attribute Value Lock screen as shown below.
NOTE | This count will include both SKUs and PF. |
Also, since the node Analog is selected, the lock icon will be displayed next to the attribute values for Brand and Dial Color attributes that have been locked for all SKUs having these attributes as shown below.
The Attribute Value Lock 
icon is displayed next to all SKU attribute values which are locked. Also, the View staging value(s) for this Attribute 
icon is displayed only if the manual override option is selected while locking the attributes. This option will enable you to update the values of locked attributes, if needed as they would be stored in a staging table when an import / synchronization process is carried out.
If you try to update the value for the locked attributes through UI, the following message is displayed.
NOTE | The SKU-Attribute combinations locked for all SKUs in the entire catalog as well as for SKUs present in selected nodes will continue to stay even if an import is processed for those SKU attributes. However, the SKU-attributes that have been locked using option 2, that is, by selecting specific SKUs, an import process will release the locks and the values will be updated for those SKU-attributes. |
Another scenario is that you can also add locks to a SKU-Attribute combination which does not have any value yet. For example, a node Target>Tapes>Masking Tapes has 3 SKUs, and an attribute Material is locked for this node. 2 SKUs have value for this attribute whereas 1 SKU does not have any value. When the first import is run after the attribute is locked, the 2 SKUs with value for Material will not be updated as it is locked. However, the SKU which does not have any value for this attribute will be updated with the value present in the file imported. Once the first value is added, it will be locked and any future updates will not happen automatically and will be stored in the staging area if the manual override option is selected for the locked attribute.
Viewing Locked Attribute Information
You can view details of all the locked SKU attributes in the Locked Attributes screen.
To view the names of the SKU attributes as well as the SKUs for which they are locked, click the Quick Actions 
icon and then click Manage Attribute Value Locks. The Locked Attributes screen is displayed as shown below.
This screen displays the names of the SKU attributes locked as well as the SKU ID of the SKUs having the locked attributes based on the selections made while locking the attributes.
The Action column displays the Unlock this Attribute 
icon next to each locked SKU-Attribute combination. Also, if the manual override option is selected while locking a SKU-attribute and if an import / synchronization process has resulted in new values, these values will be stored in a staging table and will be indicated by a View SKU Attribute Value Changes 
icon next to all SKU attributes that have new values to be updated as shown below.
Here, you also have an option to filter the locked attributes to view them based on the attribute name / taxonomy path / SKU Item ID. Click the Group By option to filter the locked attributes as shown below.
Attribute Name – Click this option to filter based on the locked attributes as shown below.
Click the name of the attribute to view the SKUs that have the locked attribute.
Taxonomy Path – Click this option to filter based on the taxonomy path, that is, the complete path of the nodes where the SKUs with locked attributes exist is as shown below.
In this case, all the SKUs with locked attributes exist in a single node. Hence, only 1 taxonomy path is displayed.
SKU Item Id – Click this option to filter based on the SKUs as shown below.
Click the SKU Id to view the attributes locked for the selected SKU. Depending on the number of attributes, the count is displayed next to the SKU ID. If a SKU has 2 attributes locked, it will show 2 entries for the same SKU as shown below.
Updating Values of Locked Attributes
The SKU attribute lock mechanism allows you to lock attributes for which values should not be updated through the import / synchronization process. However, you can still update values of locked attributes if the manual override option is selected while locking the SKU attribute. This option allows you to update values without removing the locks. Thus, the values stored in the staging table through the import / synchronization process will be displayed here.
Let us assume that an import has been processed and values have been stored for the locked attributes in the staging table as the manual override option was selected.
To update values of locked attributes:
Open the SKU panel which has the locked attributes as shown below.
Hover the mouse on the View staging value(s) for this Attribute 
icon next to the SKU attribute values for which you need to update the values as shown below.
In this case, the attributes Brand and Dial Color for node Analog have been locked and hence the icon is visible only on these attributes.
Click the View staging value(s) for this Attribute
icon next to the SKU attribute to view the staging values and update it and the following is displayed.
Here, the Existing value(s) as mentioned is Dressberry and the Staging value(s) has been processed through import. Thus, you can update the value to Guess here.
Click Approve Staging Value(s) and the value is updated successfully as shown below.
Similarly, you can update the values for all locked attributes. This feature is thus useful when you want to lock the attributes and can update values for specific SKUs as required. The lock continues to stay even after the staging values are updated.
NOTE | If a SKU attribute has multiple values, all the values will be updated with the staging values. For example, a SKU attribute Dial Color has existing values as Red, Brown and the staging table has a value Green, both Red and Brown will be replaced by Green. You cannot change a subset of values. All the values will be impacted here. |
Unlocking the Locked Attribute Values for a SKU
A SKU attribute value which has been locked can be unlocked if it no longer needs to be locked. Once the SKU attribute is unlocked any change process such as an import will update the values like the earlier workflow. However, unlocking a SKU attribute lock will not update the staging values automatically, if present. All the staging values will be removed and the existing attribute values will continue to exist.
You can unlock any SKU-attribute combination or unlock multiple combinations selected. Let us understand how to unlock the SKU attribute values.
To unlock the locked attribute values for a SKU:
Click the Quick Actions
icon and then click Manage Attribute Value Locks as shown below.
The following screen appears.
A list of locked SKU-attribute combinations is displayed here. There are 2 ways to unlock the SKU-Attribute combinations.
Case 1: Using the Unlock icon displayed next to each SKU-Attribute combination
Under Actions column, click the Unlock this Attribute 
icon next to the SKU attribute to be unlocked. For example, let us unlock the Brand attribute for SKU Anaq7852. The following screen is displayed.
Since a single SKU-attribute combination is selected, the 2nd option is highlighted by default and shows the count of SKU-attribute combinations that will be unlocked.
Click Unlock selected attribute(s) for one or more user chosen SKU(s) and click Next. The confirmation screen is displayed as shown below.
Click Submit and the SKU-attribute combination is unlocked successfully. The SKU panel is updated, and the lock icon is now removed as shown below.
You can also select multiple combinations here. Select the checkbox as shown in the following image and all combinations will be selected. You can then unlock multiple SKU-attribute combinations by following the same steps as mentioned above.
Case 2: Using the Unlock Attribute Locks option to remove locks for multiple SKU-Attribute combinations.
Click Unlock Attribute Lock(s) as shown below.
The following screen appears.
There are 3 options available for unlocking attributes.
Unlock attribute(s) for all SKU(s) in the entire catalog – Select this to unlock one or more attributes that are locked for all SKUs in the catalog.
Unlock selected attribute(s) for one or more user chosen SKU(s) – This option will be enabled only when attributes have been selected for unlocking as explained in Case 1. You can then choose the SKUs for which the attributes should be unlocked.
Unlock attribute(s) for SKU(s) residing in one or more user chosen taxonomy node(s) – Select this to unlock one or more attributes. Here, the taxonomy tree for the entire catalog in the primary hierarchy is displayed. You need to select nodes which have SKUs with locked SKU attributes to remove the locks for all SKU attributes in the selected nodes.
Option 1; Unlock attribute(s) for all SKU(s) in the entire catalog
Click Unlock attribute(s) for all SKU(s) in the entire catalog and click Next. The following screen is displayed.
In this case, only 2 attributes are locked. The count of SKU-attribute combinations locked is displayed next to each attribute. This indicates that there are 3 SKUs having the locked attributes Brand and Dial Color which will be unlocked depending on the option selected.
Type the attribute Name / Customer Attribute ID and select the attribute to be unlocked and then click Next as shown below.
Option 3; Unlock attribute(s) for SKU(s) residing in one or more user chosen taxonomy node(s)
Click Unlock attribute(s) for SKU(s) residing in one or more user chosen taxonomy node(s) and the entire taxonomy structure present in the primary hierarchy is displayed.
Select the nodes having SKU-attributes locked for SKUs and then click Next to proceed.
The Select Attribute(s) screen is displayed.
Select the attributes to be unlocked for SKUs present in the nodes selected and click Next to proceed.
Once the SKU-attribute combination is selected using any of the 3 options mentioned, the final step is to verify the selections made as shown below.
Click Submit and SKU-attribute combination selected are unlocked successfully as shown below.
The attribute Brand was selected and it was present for 3 SKUs. Thus, the count of SKU-attribute combinations unlocked is displayed.
You can also verify by checking the SKU panel which has this combination as shown below.
As shown above, the locks are removed and any change process will now update the values for this attribute. Also, the staging values if present will be removed when the attributes are unlocked.