Lock time expiration task

The lock time expiration task is used to correct an issue with locking items that can occur when an operator is authorized to use multiple components. In this environment, an operator can establish and hold locks for a long time without the normal unlocking mechanisms operating. While an operator for a component holds a lock, no other user of that component can repair or review the item.

A long locking scenario occurs when an operator uses a component that locks payments and switches to another component before they complete the task that locked the items. For example, Suspect Image Review locks several items for review. When the operator switches to using Payment Repair, the items that are locked by Suspect Image Review remain locked by the ID of the operator. While the operator continues to use Payment Repair, or any other Control Center component, their login session does not time out. If the operator does not log out and does not review their locked items, those items are withheld from any other Suspect Image Review operator. The work for the business day cannot be completed since the items that are locked in Suspect Image Review were not reviewed.

A supervisor can unlock the items by using the lock management page. This method is not ideal because it relies on the supervisor realizing this situation occurred, which might not happen until late in the business day.

To fix this problem, Payment Repair has a lock time expiration task that releases the locks. It runs every n minutes, where n is a configurable time interval. The interval for the lock time expiration task is configured by using the Maximum Lock Time property. It is in the range 1 - 10000 and has a default value of 10. This property is validated by the properties page.

If the lock time expiration task runs and any pending items exist, those items are finalized in addition to releasing the locks due to time expiration. These pending items occur when the operator that is using Payment Repair has pending items on the repair page and switches to using another component, such as Suspect Image Review. The items in pending state in Payment Repair remain pending to that user ID. While the operator continues to use Suspect Image Review, or any other Control Center component, their login session does not time out. If the user does not log out and does not finalize the pending items, those items are finalized when the lock time expiration task runs.

Each time a lock is removed due to expiration, an audit record that indicates a lock was removed due to expiration is written. If items were finalized when the lock time expiration task ran, an audit record that indicates an item was finalized is also written.