ID Naming Conventions

There are several different places in the program that you will see ID numbers (Customer ID, Vendor ID, Item No, etc).  The Invoices, Orders, Back Orders, Quotes and Customer forms use Customer ID numbers.  The Bill, Purchase Orders, and the Vendor forms use Vendor ID numbers.  The Employee form uses Employee ID numbers, the personal Contacts form uses Contact ID numbers, the Jobs form uses Job ID numbers and the Inventory forms use the Item No numbers.  There are several other forms that use ID numbers, below describes how you can setup these numbers in a consistent fashion.  You can use any ID format you wish and they way we are describing below is only one of several methods that can be used to make up an ID.

1.To begin with, you must assign an ID when it is requested.  The ID's are primary key fields that are unique identifiers for the specific data being entered.  For example, in the Invoice form you enter a Customer ID in the Customer ID combo box and the customers unique data will be retrieved and fill in the Bill To and Ship To.  This eliminates duplication and the need for additional typing.

2.Being consistent in a formula for adding ID's will assist you in retrieving the information you have entered into each area.  One example of a very common format for assigning ID's is by using the first four letters of the customer's last name followed by the first letter of their first name and then the number "01".  If there is more than one customer with a similar name (i.e. John Smith and Jane Smith), the second customer would be assigned the next higher number.  Thus, John's ID number would be "SMITJ01" and Jane's would be "SMITJ02".  There are many other options for entering a consistent formula.  Some people may choose to use the company's name or telephone number for the ID.  We don't recommend telephone numbers, as it is almost impossible to remember them when you find it necessary to retrieve an ID.

3.All the ID fields can be up to 15 characters in length except for the Item No field, which can be 25 characters in length.  This can be modified but generally that gives you more than enough room for your ID numbers no matter what format you choose.

Things to remember

You cannot use asterisks (*), or double quotes (").

You cannot use leading or trailing spaces. Spaces in between characters are allowed.

Account numbers are sorted alphabetically with numbers coming before letters. For example, an account starting with a "6" would list before an account starting with an "A."

You need to use leading zeros to make the numbers sort properly. For example, these numbers are ordered this way: 1, 100, 1000, 27. To properly sort, enter the numbers as 0001, 0027, 0100, and 1000.