The Locked Questions Feature That Fixed Nucleus Multi-Stage Entry Workflows
The Locked Questions Feature That Fixed Nucleus Multi-Stage Entry Workflows
In this final post looking back at impactful features launched in 2025, I wanted to showcase locked questions. Earlier in the series I covered how we consolidated pricing, improved judge creation workflows and simplified award listings for entrants. This feature came directly from an admin request and became one of our most effective tools for managing entry form data.
The BAFTA Film Awards require a significant amount of data, so we collect it across a multi-stage submission process. Entrants don’t need to provide all the data on the initial form. Those who don’t pass initial eligibility checks haven’t wasted time on huge data sets. This approach has worked well within Nucleus for years.
To protect validated data, admins could set questions as read-only on subsequent forms. Once a form was submitted and checked, entrants couldn’t edit previously submitted answers.
This read-only approach unintentionally created blockers between stages. If all Stage 1 data was correct except one question, the entire form stalled until that answer was corrected and validated. Entrants had to log in, fix one or two fields, submit, wait for admin approval, then log back in to continue with Stage 2.
These round-trips added up. Many could have been resolved in the next stage but not when questions were locked by default.
An admin asked if it would be possible to selectively lock certain questions while leaving others editable? I thought it was a great idea, nice and clean, sensible requirements with a valid use case. The concept lent itself naturally to question locking.
I wrote up the approach and presented it to the developers, who were on board. The key decision was the default state. Should it be locked or unlocked? Making admins click lock or unlock hundreds of questions would add to the workload and defeat the purpose.
Instead we tied it to an existing workflow. Admins already mark each question with a status “checked okay,” flagged for issues and so on. We linked the lock to “checked okay” and when an admin selects the status the question locks automatically. No extra clicks required and the behaviour matched admin expectations.
I worked with the designer on a simple padlock icon so admins can see lock status at a glance. We shipped it in time for the 2026 Film Awards entry cycle.
Feedback has been positive. So far much fewer entrant round-trips, less back-and-forth communication and a streamlined checking workflow. The broader takeaway is that tying new functionality to existing admin behaviours meant zero onboarding friction. Admins were already marking questions as “checked okay,” so the locking just worked.
