Sequences

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Item Number Auto-Sequencing is part of the Item Type Configuration process.

item number auto sequencing

We currently have 4 different auto-numbering sequence types:

  • XX — a straight incrementing number. Eg: 00001, 00002, 00003…
  • YYYY-XX — the 4-digit year followed by a straight incrementing number. Eg: 2021-00001, 2021-00002, 2021-00003…
  • YYYYMMDDXX — the date the number is created followed by a straight incrementing number (with no separators). Eg: 20211217001, 20211217002, 20211217003…
  • YYYY-MM-DD-XX –the date the number is created followed by a straight incrementing number (with dashes as separators). Eg: 2021-12-17-001, 2021-12-17-002, 2021-12-17-003…

Select whichever scheme best suits the item type you’re configuring. Note that you can use the same scheme on multiple item types, and they’ll then all appear the same but the incrementing portion of the number will depend on how you have that configured.

Number Of Incrementing Digits (XX): this is an integer controlling the number of digits in the incrementing portion of the item number. For example, if you chose:

  • XX sequence with 4 incrementing digits you would have 0001, 0002, 0003…
  • XX sequence with 7 incrementing digits you would have 0000001, 0000002, 0000003…
  • YYYY-XX sequence with 3 incrementing digits (and this was the year 2021) you would have 2021-001, 2021-002, 2021-003…
  • YYYY-XX sequence with 5 incrementing digits (and this was the year 2021) you would have 2021-00001, 2021-00002, 2021-00003…
  • YYYYMMDDXX sequence with 3 incrementing digits (and today was December 17, 2021) you would have 20211217001, 20211217002, 20211217003…
  • YYYY-MM-DD-XX sequence with 4 incrementing digits (and today was December 17, 2021) you would have 2021-12-17-0001, 2021-12-17-0002, 2021-12-17-0003…

Allow Manual Entry: determines if the user-interface allows someone to over-write an item number or if they’re forced to use a sequenced number.

Unique Across Item Types: determines if this item type has sole claim to a particular sequenced number, or if other item types can also have the same number. For example, if you were using a XX scheme with 4 digits, and created a part then a document and then a raw material, and all item types were set up the same way you would have:

  • Unique Across Item Types = No would produce Part 0001 then Document 0001 then Raw Material 0001
  • Unique Across Item Types = Yes would produce Part 0001 then Document 0002 then Raw Material 0003

Seeding your item numbers: This is not a configuration option so much as it’s how you start off your numbers. If you’re using an empty database to get going then your incrementing portion of the sequence is going to start at 1. However, you can manipulate this by manually creating an item that uses a starting point number as a seed. This is the same effect as if you’ve imported some existing items — the system will see their item numbers and sequence from there.

To manually determine where a sequence starts, simply add that number yourself. (You will need to have Allow Manual Entry set to Yes for this to work). For example, you’re using XX with 4 digits, so create an item numbered 0500 and that’s where the sequence will key from. The first auto-sequenced number will be 0501, and then 0502, 0503, etc..

If you have a need for a different sequence type, please contact us with a description of what you need and we can work on it.