Split Your Number Sequences To Make Them Look Intelligent

The Number Sequences within Dynamics AX are great because they allow you to add a lot of intelligence to your document and transaction numbering. You can add constants to them so that you can quickly see where they came from and sort though them. But it doesn’t stop there. If you have incorporated some logic into how you are actually numbering the records, then you can split the number up itself so that even though it’s still continuous, there may be segment separators that highlight that certain numbers are significant.

Now you just need to train the users on what the numbers mean…

How To Do It…

In my system I have a simple scheme for numbering my products i.e. 1XXXXX for Raw Ingredients, 3XXXXX for Finished Goods, 4XXXXX for Packaging Supplies and 9XXXXX for Configured Products. So I would really like to highlight this by separating out the first number when I create the products so that it has the format X-XXXXX.

To do this, click on the Product Information Management Parameters menu item within the Setup group of the Product Information Management area page.

When the Product Information Management Parameters form is displayed, select the Number Sequence page, and then right-mouse-click on the Product Number number sequence and select View Details from the pop-up menu.

When the Number Sequence maintenance form is displayed, click on the Edit button within the Maintain group of the Number Sequence ribbon bar.

Our original Number Sequence in this example is 6 digits long, and is one continuous number string. Click on the Add button within the menu bar of the Segments tab group.

When the new segment record is created, change the Segment to Constant.

Then set the Value to –.

Repeat the process and add another Alphanumeric Segment and set the Value to #####.

So that there are still only 6 places in the total number of Alphanumeric placeholders, set the first Alphanumeric segment mask to #.

Note: Since the mask has 6 # placeholders then the numbers that are allocated to the sequence will remain the same even though there are 7 characters in the full product number record.

How It Works…

Now when I go out and create a new Product In Dynamics AX, it will format the number with my intelligent number separator after the first character.

Now if only I had done this from the start, then all of the products would have looked intelligent.