Document Status Change - Locking - Methods

Hi Experts,

I've requirement where in i need to change the status of a trip when an custom event occurred with in workflow. For this, i'm using an activity which will call custom method created for trip status change. The custom method just changes the status of the trip if the trip/employee is not locked by someone else.

Now, the problem is with the status change when the trip/employee is locked by someone. Current workflow logic is handling this situation.

I can think following solutions to handle above situation.

1. Code changes in custom method to check whether the trip/emp is locked or not. If locked, wait for some time and try. This can be repeated for some time say 5 mins.

2. Workflow design can be changed using another activity which will check the lock status of the trip/emp and using a loop, which will be executed every 10 secs till next 5 mins.

Can you please suggest me which solution is better and why? I think this can be done using methods tab in the activity step. Please let me know, how this can be done without using loops and time frames.

Thanks in Advance,

Siva Sankar.