Autonumbering Overview

When you set up autonumbering, the system increments record IDs (or other specified fields) by one when a user inserts a new record. For example, a user creates a new work order and the system automatically inserts a number in the Work Order field that is one higher than the previous work order.

Many applications, such as Work Order Tracking, Purchase Requisition, Purchase Orders, Invoices, and others, already have autonumbering set up for their key (record ID) fields. You can modify the default starting sequence and/or you can add a prefix to an existing numbering sequence or add autonumbering to other fields. For applications that do not have autonumbering, you can set it up for the record ID field, or other fields, as needed.

As described in Application Levels and Data Storage, applications store data at one of four different levels. You use different actions to set up autonumbering for applications at each level system, set, organization, and site. For a multisite implementation, you can then have different autonumbering sequences for different organizations and sites. For example, Work Order Tracking is a site-level application and you can set up different autonumbering sequences for each site.

For specific instructions on setting up autonumbering for applications at different levels, refer to the following help topics:

Note: Even though you specify the numbering scheme for autonumbering in the Organizations (SP) application, it is not automatically implemented in the entity you are autonumbering. To do that you use the Database Configuration application. For the attribute (field) you are autonumbering, you must define the Default Value field to be &AUTOKEY& and reconfigure the database. For more information, refer to Database Configuration help.