When you set up autonumbering and a user creates
a record, the record IDs or other specified fields increment by one.
Many applications, such as Work Order Tracking, Purchase Requisition,
Purchase Orders, and Invoices have autonumbering set up for their
key fields such as record ID. You can change the default starting
sequence. You can also add a prefix to an existing numbering sequence
or add autonumbering to other fields. For applications that do not
have autonumbering, you can set up autonumbering for the record ID
field or other fields.
Applications store data at one of these levels: system, set, organization,
and site. You use different actions to set up autonumbering for applications
at each level. For a multisite implementation, you can have different
autonumbering sequences for different organizations and sites. For
example, Work Order Tracking is a site-level application. You can
set up different autonumbering sequences for each site.
You specify the numbering scheme for autonumbering in the Organizations
application. To implement the numbering scheme in the organization
that you are autonumbering, use the Database Configuration application.
System-level autonumbering
You can specify
autonumber seeds and prefixes for applications at the system level.
For example, Incidents is a system-level application. Incident
IDs are unique at the system level. If you implement autonumbering
for incident records with a seed of 1000, each new incident record
increments by one. This increment occurs regardless of where the incident
record is entered. If incident 1000 is inserted at site 1 in organization
A, and the next incident record is inserted at site 3 in organization
B, then the incident number at site 3 will be 1001.
Organization-level autonumbering
If you
want all organizations to be part of the same numbering sequence,
you can use the Organizations application to implement autonumber
seeds and prefixes for organization-level applications.
For example, Calendars is an organization-level application.
Calendar IDs are unique at the organization level. If you specify
autonumbering for calendars in organization A with a seed of 1000,
then each new calendar record increases by one in the organization,
regardless of which site generates the calendar. If calendar 1000
is inserted at site 1, and the next calendar record is inserted at
site 2, the calendar number at site 2 is 1001.
Site-level autonumbering
If you want all
sites in the organization to be part of the same numbering sequence,
you use the Organizations application to implement autonumber seeds
and prefixes for site-level applications.
For example, Preventive Maintenance is a site-level application
and preventive maintenance IDs are unique at the site level. However,
you can implement an organization-level sequence. You can choose to
have the autonumbering work in the following ways:
- All sites are part of the same sequence. You set the autonumbering
for preventive maintenance records and the autonumbering works the
same as with an organization-level application. If preventive maintenance
1000 is inserted at site 1, and the next preventive maintenance record
is inserted at site 2, the preventive maintenance number at site 2
is 1001.
- You have three sites and you want one to have independent preventive
maintenance autonumbering. You want sites 1 and 2 to be on the same
autonumber sequence, but you want site 3 to be independent. You set
preventive maintenance autonumbering to 1000. You then specify an
independent autonumber sequence for site 3.
- You want all sites to have independent preventive maintenance
autonumbering. You specify autonumbering for all sites, or you specify
autonumbering for all sites except one. The exception is defined by
whatever you specify in the Organization Level window.
Set-level autonumbering
In the Organizations
application, you can specify autonumber seeds and prefixes for applications
at the set level.
For example, Item Master is a set-level application, and
item master IDs are unique at the set level. You implement autonumbering
for item master records with a seed of 1000. Each new item master
record increments by one, regardless of where the item master record
is added. If item master 1000 is inserted at site 1 in organization
A, and the next item master record is inserted at site 3 in organization
B, then the item master number at site 3 is 1001.