Item Identity

Introduction

Items such as codes and titles are records seen by the program as a number and not the code you give it. So if you decide to change a code or title the record number will stay the same.

This is not a very important issue for you to understand but it does have 1 consequence for you to be aware of.

Examples

Lets say you have a product called A123 and you have sold these to customers thus the code A123 is part of a sales history or even current work requirement. If you went back to the product editor and changed the code of the product to AC345 then all previous and current sales records would instantly change to the new code. You see, the system know the record (product) as something else and the code we assign it is just an identifier for our own logic.

Lets say you create a Process called 'Sand Blasting Glass Trophy' and use it in product process listings or have added this to a sales order. If you go to the Process editor and change the process title to say "Sand Blasting Glass Trophy Medium then all records will change to this new title because the programs background record number identification does not change.

This also applies to titles such as Product Type, Component Type, Departments etc. And, it is the same for records such as delivery methods payment methods etc.

Lets say you have set up a delivery method called "Fast ways" and you have used the method in sales. You then realise that you have spelt it in correctly and you go back to Delivery Methods in System Set Up and change the spelling to "Fastways". Once you save this all previous and future records will be changed to this new spelling.

Warning

Lets say you decide to change freight companies form Fastways to Couriers Please.

If you change the record of fastways to Couriers Please then all previous transactions will show that Couriers Please did the delivery so your records will be wrong. However all customers that had Fastways as there default delivery method would know say Couriers Please. So you'll need to decide whether have old records with incorrect freight is worth the effect of all customers being instantly changed to the new freight company for future orders.

Conclusion

AwardPro program data logic knows your records as a set up record numbers. These numbers do not change if you change the User Item Identity.