This lesson will show you how to configure the way in which SaasCase generates client numbers.
Access client numbering
At SaasCase we understand that different businesses will have different ways of generating unique client identifiers.
In order to accommodate this, the client numbering system used by SaasCase is entirely customizable - allowing you to maintain continuity in the way your clients are numbered.
In order to access this feature, click the "Client Numbering" button in the "System Settings" section of the settings menu.
The client numbering page
The client numbering page contains several elements:
- This is an example client number that shows what numbers generated by your system will look like. The example number uses the client name "John Doe" and a client's number of "1".
- These are the pattern items. These are the elements that make up the client number. The layout of the pattern items here reflects the layout of the client number; for example the default is: Client's last name (Doe), Client's first name (J) then Client's Number (001). You may notice that the pattern items are not displayed in full; for example the first name "John" is displayed as only a "J".
- These are the pattern item options which govern the appearance of pattern items.
Pattern item options
Below the pattern items are a range of options that allow you to customize the appearance of each item. In the screenshot above you can see that some elements have been changed from the previous step.
The item that has been edited is "Client's Last Name". First of all the character truncation has been changed. The value entered in the character truncation field governs the amount of characters that appear in this field.
Since the truncation has been set to "4" but there are only three characters in the name "Doe" a padding character has been used. Padding characters are used when there are not enough characters to fill the allocated amount.
You can set your padding character in by typing it in the text box. You can also select whether the padding character appears to the left or right of the pattern item. Finally, the "Format Options" Dropdown allows you to choose whether the characters displayed are in upper or lower case.
Adding new pattern items
Of course your business may rely on different pattern items to the SaasCase default. to add a new pattern item click the "Add Pattern Item" button and select from the dropdown menu. You can also select "Custom String" to create your own unique pattern items. In this case we will add a dash to the client number so we click the "-(Dash)" button.
Moving pattern items
Once you have added a pattern item:
- Select it and use the arrows to change the position of it within the order of items. You can do this to any existing pattern item by simply selecting it then using the arrow buttons.
- If you want to remove a pattern item, click the red delete button to delete it from the sequence. With these tools you can create a client numbering system that reflects the way your business works.
Updating existing elements
Once you have created a new client number, all future cases and clients will adhere to its format. However if you want to update your existing cases and clients, tick the appropriate checkbox:
- Clicking this will update all of the clients on your system to use the new numbering format.
- This will update related cases to use this client numbering scheme.
- The allows you to enter the number that the next client will start with. The default is "1" but if you have four records from a previous system then you will end up with two clients being allocated the numbers 1,2,3, and 4. To solve this, simply enter the number "5" in the box and SaasCase will generate client numbers starting from 5 onwards.
Save your client numbering system
Once you have set up a client numbering system that suits you, click the "Save changes" button to complete your changes.