Flexible Locking for Lead Sources Overview
Flexible Locking for Lead Sources is a Command & Control setting that lets you enforce your brand's lead sources across your franchise network while still letting each franchisee add and manage their own local lead sources.
Before Flexible Locking, Command & Control was all-or-nothing; locking lead sources meant franchisees couldn't add any of their own. Now you can protect your brand-standard lead sources and still leave room for local ones.
Flexible Locking for Lead Sources allows you to:
Lock and sync your brand-standard lead sources to every linked account
Keep those locked lead sources uneditable on franchisee accounts
Let franchisees add, edit, and delete their own local lead sources alongside yours
How Flexible Locking Works
When you turn on Command & Control for Lead Sources, you choose one of two locking modes:
Lock all Lead Sources (default): your template's lead sources replace and lock the lead sources on every linked account. Franchisees cannot edit them or add their own.
Allow Flexible Editing: your template's lead sources are locked on linked accounts, and franchisees can still add and edit their own local lead sources alongside them.
With Flexible Locking on, every lead source on a linked account is one of two types:
Locked: synced from your Template account as your brand-standard Lead Sources
Franchisees cannot edit, delete, or archive these
Local: Lead Sources created by the franchisee
They can add, edit, and delete these freely
Turning On Flexible Locking
When you enable Flexible Locking for Lead Sources, your template’s lead sources sync down immediately. Here's what happens:
Your template's lead sources are added to every linked account as locked values.
If you’re enabling this for the first time and did not previously use Command & Control: Lead Sources, your franchisees' existing lead sources stay in place and remain editable as local values.
If a franchisee already has a lead source with the same name as one of yours, it's absorbed into your locked set.
Before syncing, let your franchise network know the change is coming - locked lead sources will become read-only on their accounts.
What Your Franchisees Experience
On a linked account with Flexible Locking on, franchisees will see:
Your brand-standard lead sources locked, marked with a lock icon so they know these come from the brand
They can't edit, delete, or archive them
Their own local lead sources, marked by a “more” menu icon
They can add, edit, and delete as usual
System Lead Sources can be archived - anything that is archived on your template account will also be archived on your franchisee’s accounts
Switching Locking Modes Later
Flexible → Global - franchisees' own local lead sources are archived, leaving only your template's locked lead sources on their accounts.
Global → Flexible - your existing locked lead sources stay as they are; franchisees can simply begin adding their own local lead sources again.
Not managed → Flexible - franchisees' own lead sources will remain, but your brand-standard lead sources will be synced to their accounts
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What's the difference between Global Locking and Flexible Locking?
A: Global Locking replaces a franchisee's lead sources with your template's and prevents them from adding any of their own. Flexible Locking locks your template's lead sources while still letting franchisees add and manage their own local ones.
Q: Can franchisees edit or delete the lead sources I lock?
A: No. Lead sources that come from your Template account are read-only on linked accounts — franchisees can't edit, delete, or archive them.
Q: What happens to a franchisee's existing lead sources when I turn on Flexible Locking?
A: They stay in place and remain editable as local lead sources. If any share a name with one of your template's lead sources, they're absorbed into your locked set.
Q: Can franchisees still add their own lead sources?
A: Yes — that's the point of Flexible Locking. Franchisees can add, edit, and delete their own local lead sources; they just can't change the ones you've locked.
Q: How will franchisees know which lead sources are locked?
A: Locked lead sources are visually marked on the franchisee's Lead Sources page so they're easy to tell apart from local ones.
Need help?
Chat with Support using the Blue Chat Bubble in your Housecall Pro account, or call (858) 842-5746.