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<ManualTopic ID="/baanerp/tc/onlinemanual/000004" xml:lang="en">
	<Header>
		<Title xmlns:ssa="http://www.ssaglobal.com" xmlns:HTML="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">To use number groups and series</Title>
		<Keyword><Level1>Number groups</Level1>
		</Keyword>
		<Keyword><Level1>Series</Level1>
		</Keyword>
		<Keyword><Level1>First free numbers</Level1>
		</Keyword>
		<Keyword><Level1>Order numbers</Level1>
		</Keyword>
	</Header>
	<GeneralSection><Paragraph>You identify orders, contracts, invoices, and other documents by their order number or document number. The document number consists of the series code followed by a sequential number. In addition, you can use series codes and series numbers to identify other types of records than documents.</Paragraph>
		<List><ListIntro>For example, you can use series to identify:</ListIntro>
			<ListItem>Business partners</ListItem>
			<ListItem>Addresses</ListItem>
			<ListItem>Purchase contracts</ListItem>
			<ListItem>Sales orders</ListItem>
			<ListItem>Production orders</ListItem>
			<ListItem>Service orders</ListItem>
			<ListItem>Warehousing orders</ListItem>
			<ListItem>Freight orders</ListItem>
		</List>
		<GeneralSection><SectionTitle>Number Groups</SectionTitle>
			<List><ListIntro>You use <Link href="/baanerp/tc/glossary/glossary#NumberGroup.tc" role="glossary">number groups</Link> to assign series sets to different types of orders, documents, and other records. For each number group you define:</ListIntro>
				<ListItem>One or more series codes</ListItem>
				<ListItem>The length (number of characters) of the series code</ListItem>
				<ListItem>The starting number (first free number) of each series</ListItem>
			</List>
		</GeneralSection>
		<GeneralSection><SectionTitle>Series code</SectionTitle>
			<Paragraph>You can define alphanumeric series codes of up to 8 characters. The maximum length of the series code plus the number within the series is 9 characters.</Paragraph>
			<Paragraph>To use the series for a type of document or record, you must assign the number group to the document type or record type. You can assign a number group to only one type of document or record.</Paragraph>
			<Paragraph>As the series codes can be alphanumeric, the generated document numbers can be alphanumeric and they can consist of up to nine characters.</Paragraph>
			<Note><SectionTitle>Note</SectionTitle>
				<Paragraph>You can use identical numbers for related records. Refer to <Link href="#tc4A" role="internal">To use identical numbers for related records:</Link>.</Paragraph>
			</Note>
		</GeneralSection>
		<GeneralSection><SectionTitle>Dedicated number groups</SectionTitle>
			<Paragraph>You can use dedicated number groups to generate unique numbers for orders and documents for a specific use. All the series numbers that SSA ERP generates in number groups dedicated to the same type of use are unique. To ensure that the numbers are unique SSA ERP checks that the series codes that you define in the number groups cannot result in duplicate numbers. See also the <Link href="#tc4B" role="internal">Examples of dedicated number groups</Link>
			</Paragraph>
			<List><ListIntro>You can dedicate number group to the following purposes:</ListIntro>
				<ListItem>Maintenance</ListItem>
				<ListItem>Assembly control</ListItem>
				<ListItem>Shop floor control</ListItem>
				<ListItem>Service</ListItem>
				<ListItem>Purchase orders</ListItem>
			</List>
			<Paragraph>You assign the number groups to various purposes in the corresponding sessions. For example, in the <Link href="/baanerp/td/sls/tdsls0100s400" role="session">Sales Order Parameters (tdsls0100s400)</Link> session you can select the number group for sales orders and sales schedules. In the <Link href="/baanerp/td/sls/tdsls0512m000" role="session">Sales Offices (tdsls0512m000)</Link> session you can then select a series of that number group for the sales orders generated by a specific sales office.</Paragraph>
		</GeneralSection>
		<GeneralSection><SectionTitle>First free number</SectionTitle>
			<Paragraph>SSA ERP numbers the orders, documents, or other records sequentially by using the first free number in the series. You specify the starting number of each series in the <Link href="/baanerp/tc/mcs/tcmcs0150m000" role="session">First Free Numbers (tcmcs0150m000)</Link> session.</Paragraph>
		</GeneralSection>
		<GeneralSection><SectionTitle>Order numbers</SectionTitle>
			<Paragraph>The resulting number consists of the series code followed by the first free number. The number must consist of 9 characters. SSA ERP adds leading zeroes to the first free number to make up the required number of digits.</Paragraph>
		</GeneralSection>
		<ExampleSection><SectionTitle>Example</SectionTitle>
			<List><ListIntro>The series code is NR08. The first free number is 100. Documents in this series get the numbers:</ListIntro>
				<ListItem>NR0800100</ListItem>
				<ListItem>NR0800101</ListItem>
				<ListItem>NR0800102</ListItem>
			</List>
		</ExampleSection>
		<GeneralSection><SectionTitle>First free numbers cache</SectionTitle>
			<Paragraph>To improve the performance of sessions in which new order numbers are assigned, you can define a cache size for a series. The cache size is the number of new series numbers that SSA ERP generates and puts in the user's cache. The users do not have to wait while SSA ERP generates and checks the next series numbers.</Paragraph>
			<Paragraph>If you use the first free numbers cache, the order numbers can be nonsequential; the numbers that are still in the user's cache are lost when the user logs off.</Paragraph>
			<Paragraph>If you do not want to use the first free numbers cache, you must set the cache size to zero.</Paragraph>
		</GeneralSection>
		<ExampleSection><SectionTitle>Example</SectionTitle>
			<Paragraph>You set the cache size to four. The first time a user creates a new order, SSA ERP generates four new series numbers and puts them in the user's cache. The user has to wait while this happens. The first number is used for the new order. SSA ERP retrieves the numbers for the next three orders that the user creates from the user's cache. When the user creates a fifth order, SSA ERP generates another four numbers, puts them in the user's cache, and so on.</Paragraph>
			<Paragraph>If the user creates six orders and then logs off, the last two series numbers that SSA ERP generated for the user are not used.</Paragraph>
		</ExampleSection>
		<GeneralSection ID="tc4A"><SectionTitle>To use identical numbers for related records:</SectionTitle>
			<ProcedureList><ListItem>Define a number group for each type of record, by using the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/mcs/tcmcs0151m000" role="session">Number Groups (tcmcs0151m000)</GUIRef> session.</ListItem>
				<ListItem>Define identical series codes in the number groups, by using the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/mcs/tcmcs0150m000" role="session">First Free Numbers (tcmcs0150m000)</GUIRef> session.</ListItem>
				<ListItem>Define the same first free numbers in the identical series, by using the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/mcs/tcmcs0150m000" role="session">First Free Numbers (tcmcs0150m000)</GUIRef> session.</ListItem>
				<ListItem>Assign the number groups to the two types of records, by using the appropriate session.</ListItem>
				<ListItem>Select the identical series for the records.</ListItem>
			</ProcedureList>
			<Paragraph>SSA ERP generates identical codes when you create the different types of records that you want to link. You can use this, for example, to use identical codes for related orders or contracts in different companies.</Paragraph>
		</GeneralSection>
		<GeneralSection ID="tc4B"><SectionTitle>Examples of dedicated number groups</SectionTitle>
			<Paragraph>You define the number groups SF2 and SF5 with the following details:</Paragraph>
			<TABLE border="1"><THEAD><TR><TD>Detail</TD>
						<TD>Value</TD>
					</TR>
				</THEAD>
				<TBODY><TR><TD>Number group</TD>
						<TD>SF2</TD>
					</TR>
					<TR><TD>Series length</TD>
						<TD>2</TD>
					</TR>
					<TR><TD>Dedicated to</TD>
						<TD>Shop Floor Control</TD>
					</TR>
				</TBODY>
			</TABLE>
			<TABLE border="1"><THEAD><TR><TD>Detail</TD>
						<TD>Value</TD>
					</TR>
				</THEAD>
				<TBODY><TR><TD>Number group</TD>
						<TD>SF5</TD>
					</TR>
					<TR><TD>Series length</TD>
						<TD>3</TD>
					</TR>
					<TR><TD>Dedicated to</TD>
						<TD>Shop Floor Control</TD>
					</TR>
				</TBODY>
			</TABLE>
			<Paragraph>For the SF2 number group, the series codes AA, AB, and AC are not allowed for this number group because they can also result in the same numbers as those generated in the number group SF5, if very high numbers are generated (such as AA1255734, AB2766438, and so on).</Paragraph>
			<Paragraph>For the SF5 number group, the series codes AA1, AB2, and AC3 are not allowed because they can result in the same numbers as those generated in the number group SF2.</Paragraph>
		</GeneralSection>
	</GeneralSection>
	<RelatedTopics><SectionTitle>Related topics</SectionTitle>
		<RelTopic><Link href="/baanerp/tc/onlinemanual/000006" role="manual">To define order numbers</Link>
		</RelTopic>
		<RelTopic><Link href="/baanerp/tc/onlinemanual/000008" role="manual">To change the series</Link>
		</RelTopic>
		<RelTopic><Link href="/baanerp/tc/onlinemanual/000007" role="manual">To assign number groups</Link>
		</RelTopic>
	</RelatedTopics>
</ManualTopic>
