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Entering a Person Record - Number Series Card

This page describes the 'Number Series' card of the Person record. Please click the following links for descriptions of the other cards:
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You can define the number sequences (known as "Number Series") that you want be used when generating Order Numbers, Invoice Numbers, Transaction Numbers and so on.

If you have not defined a Number Series for a particular register, the sequence will begin at 1 and continue consecutively. For example, if you have not defined a Number Series for Invoices, the first Invoice that you enter will carry the Invoice Number 1, the second one will be Number 2, and so on. If you change the sequence at any time, the sequence will continue from that point. For example, if you change the Number of the first Invoice from 1 to 1000 before you save it for the first time, the next Invoice will be given the Number 1001.

For many registers, you can define a Number Series, or several Number Series that are to run concurrently. For example, the Number Series - Invoices setting allows you to define Number Series for Invoices. Defining a Number Series involves specifying the first and last Numbers and the period during which the Number Series can be used. The period can be open-ended.

Having defined Number Series for a particular register, each new record in that register will by default take its Number from the first current Number Series in the setting. When entering a record, you will be able to change to the first unused number in any other current Number Series using 'Paste Special'.

Depending on the register, if you have defined several number sequences in the relevant Number Series setting, you can use the Number Series Defaults setting to specify which sequence is to be used as the default when creating new records. You can often specify that a particular sequence will be used when a particular user creates new records, using these fields on the 'Number Series' card of their Person record.

The illustration below shows a Number Series - Invoices setting in which we have defined three number sequences for Invoices for the year 2015:

If we leave the Number Series Defaults setting empty (and the 'Number Series' card in every Person record empty as well), new Invoices entered during 2015 will by default be numbered according to the first valid Number Series in the list, 970000 - 970999 (in a multi-user system, an Invoice will not be given a Number until you save it for the first time). When entering a particular Invoice, it will be possible to choose a number from one of the other two sequences if necessary.

If we want to use a different Number Series as the overall default, we can choose one in the Number Series Defaults setting. In the illustration below, we have specified that the second sequence (9700000 - 9700999) is be used as the overall default in standard Invoices. Enter the first number in the sequence (9700000 in this example) in the Invoices field. We have also specified that we want to use the third sequence for Interest Invoices:

If we want an individual user to use a specific sequence, we can choose their Number Series on the 'Number Series' card of their Person record. This sequence will be used instead of the one in the Number Series Defaults setting, but only for Invoices created by this user. Again, enter the first number in the sequence in the Invoices field:

Take care to specify a number that falls in a recognised and current Number Series in each field. If you specify a number that is not in a Number Series, the Person will not be able to enter new records in the affected register. The implications of this are quite far reaching: for example, Invoices will not be created by any of the remote Invoice creation functions (e.g. from Sales Orders). This situation will be most common in cases where Number Series are tied to a period such as a calendar year and that period ends.

You do not need to specify a Number Series in every field. A Person can have their own number sequence for Invoices, for example, but use the default sequences for all other records.

In a single-user installation, you will need to quit Standard ERP and restart (or log in again using the button in the Navigation Centre) for any changes that you make to the number series fields to take effect. In a multi-user system, you only need log in again (i.e. you don't need to restart the server).

Do not specify number sequences for POS Invoices (in the POS Invoice field) for any users who will enter POS Invoices on tills with live-sync connections to the server. On these tills, POS Invoice Numbers should always be taken from the Number Series - POS Invoices setting, which will be controlled by the Synchronised Number Series setting in the Technics module.

In countries where personal identity cards are carried, you can enter the Person's ID number from their card in the Personal ID field. You can have this printed on forms such as the Expense form (by including the "Person ID" field in the Form Template).

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