With these automations, you can make sure that a card is automatically locked as soon as you plan it from the backlog, or create a new card on your planboard. Locking cards is a way of locking your planning, and in this way ensuring that other users cannot modify the planning. If you work with stages, locking cards also allows you to ensure that the process takes place in the correct order by using status-based automations to unlock a card when the previous card is completed.
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You can have cards in vPlan automatically lock or unlock when you plan a card, or based on status changes. With the combination of both automations, you can ensure that the planning is no longer changed, and that cards are handled in order.

The parameters you set are stage, lock/unlock, and stage again. First, you choose which stage the automation is triggered at, when you plan or create a card on that stage. Then you choose what you want the automation to do, lock or unlock the card. Last, you choose at which stage(s) the automation should perform the lock/unlock action.
A common variant of this automation is to automatically lock all cards except the first one. In fact, you can combine this very well with the automation to lock and unlock other cars based on status (explained later in this article).

For this, we have two different automations. The first automation automatically locks or unlocks the card in the succeeding stage, while the other automation lets you choose in which stage a card is locked or unlocked.

The conditions you set are stage, status, lock/unlock, and at the second automation stage again. First, you choose at which stage the automation is triggered, when you plan or create a card at that stage. Then you choose at what status the automation should work. Next, you choose what you want the automation to do, lock or unlock the card. Last, you choose at which stage(s) the automation should perform the lock/unlock action.

Imagine a process in which you plan the preparation, production and assembly. You want the planning to be done in a fixed order as much as possible, without the possibility of simply changing the planning or the order of the planning. You can then combine the two automations as follows.
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First, you can choose to lock the cards immediately when they are planned. This can be done manually, or you set up this automation:

When card is created on stage 1, lock card in stages 2 and 3

You can choose to also lock the card in the first stage, but note that the user who needs to execute the first card cannot do so while the card is locked. So you will have to manually unlock the card yourself in the first stage to get started.
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Then you set the automation that unlocks the card in the next stage, once the card is completed in the first stage:

When the status of a card in stage 1 changes to Done, unlock card in stage 2
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Next, do you even want to go so far as to re-lock the completed card in the first stage as soon as one starts on the next card? Then set up this automation:

When the status of a card in stage 2 changes to In Progress, lock card in stage 1

The combination of automations looks like this in your plan board configuration:
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Repeat the bottom two when using more than two stages.