With the Project Number Builder it is possible to build project numbers with two different formats.
- Yearly Project Number Builder: Client ID + Year and + Client Yearly Project Counter.
a. Each Client is given a unique Project Number counter, ie for each client the Project number series could start with
number 1.
b. Project Numbers restart every year. - Monthly Project Number Builder: Year – Month – Number
a. Project numbers restart every month
The Project Number builder is found in the Server Setup > Projects tab. Click on the button “Number Format Setup” to open the “Selector” window that is used to define how the Project Numbers will be set.
It is also important to note that if you are implementing a new Project Number Format, you should manually search existing projects for the same format. For example, if you were using YYMM001 you can search all projects, including archived projects in the Toolbox or Project window, with variations of the current year and months to see if the formatting has already been used beforehand.
This will prevent Project Numbers becoming out of order without explanation, or a pattern of incorrect Project Numbers at the start of each month. If this is happening in your system, you may need to search out older Projects that are causing this issue and rename them.
Project Number With Client ID – Year – Project Number Counter
Make Sure Client ID Is Set
To be able to use the Client ID, make sure all Clients have an ID entered. To check if the Clients have an ID, open Contacts in the navigation bar. Filter to Type: Clients, and click Search. The ID column shows if the Client has an ID or not. If not, open the Client Details and add.
To add the Client ID column click on the Dropdown menu in the upper right corner just above the list of names, select “Edit View”. In the “Edit View” window move the row ID from the left to the right column and with drag and drop up or down, select where to position the column.
Client ID + Client Yearly Project Counter + Year (yy)
The different parts can be in any order.
The Client Yearly Project Counter creates new numbers per Client and restarts the numbering every year.
With Paddings it is possible to define how many digits each part should consist of.
Example: Client ID (Padding 3) + Year (yyyy) + Client Yearly Project Counter (Padding 3)
Below is a view from the Toolbox > Projects: Example Mondana Films.
There are three Projects from 2012 with Project Numbers 001, 002, 003, and two Projects from 2014 with Project Numbers 001, 002. This means that with this function the Project Number series starts from 1 each year. It consists of three digits since Padding 3 was selected. The Client Numbers also have Padding 3, and therefore consists of three digits. Maya Pics Client ID is MP, with the Padding it becomes 0MP.
Different Clients have the same Number Counter. What differentiates the complete Number is the Client ID. Compare “Silent Night” MFI.2012.001 with “I Love Music” 0MP.2012.001
Project Number with Year – Month – Number
With yymm and Number, the Number builder restarts every month. There is no distinction between Clients.
The Projects displayed in the Toolbox show how the numbering restarts when the month changes. In this example there are four Projects in July 2014 and three in August 2014. The Padding has been set to three and the Project Numbering consists of three digits 001, 002, etc.
Apply New Project Numbering to All or only New Projects
There is no feature to ‘Auto-Upgrade all existing Projects’, i.e. implementing a new Project Numbering format will not automatically change all old Projects as this is too dangerous with respect to Archived and Invoiced Projects.
In case of change and if all old Projects should have the new Number format there are two options:
- To do it in one go: farmerswife has to do the change, based on your specifications.
- Manually renumber each Project by reselecting the same Client in the Edit Project window.