Creating a Sequence Format

Sequence formats enable you to specify the information you want sequence numbers to contain. You can create a new sequence format from:

  • The Sequencing page
  • The Sequences subtab on the Foundations Setup page
Tip:

Sequence format details are stored as custom metadata records. If you have already created sequence formats using custom metadata records (for example, in a previous version of Foundations), you can edit them from the Sequencing page or the Sequences subtab.

Creating a Sequence Format from the Sequencing Page

From the Sequencing page, you can create sequence formats using customizable parts. For detailed information about the part types available and the options and actions that you can apply to them, see Sequence Format Parts.

To create a sequence format:

  1. From the App Launcher, search for and click Sequencing.
  2. From the Sequences table, click New.
  3. In the Sequence Details section, enter a label for the sequence.
  4. [Optional] Edit the automatically generated unique name. Ensure it begins with a letter and contains only alphanumeric characters and underscores. The name cannot end with an underscore or contain two consecutive underscores.
  5. Add parts as required in the Sequence Format Builder section. As you add parts, a preview of the format displays.
    • To add a field placeholder part:
      1. Click Add Field Placeholder.
      2. [Optional] Click Open the field placeholder part menu to select an option or action in the part's box to display available options and actions. Then, select an option or action to apply it.
    • To add a text part:
      1. Click Add Text.
      2. [Optional] Change the default hyphen (-) value by editing it in the part's box.
      3. [Optional] Click Open the text part menu to select an action in the part's box to display available actions. Then, select an action to apply it.

    • To add a number sequence part:

      1. Click Add Number Sequence.
      2. [Optional] Click Increase number length by one and Decrease number length by one next to the Number Length field to increase or decrease its value. You can also modify this value by editing it in the part's box.
      3. [Optional] Click Increase starting number by one and Decrease starting number by one next to the Starting Number field to increase or decrease its value. You can also modify this value by editing it in the part's box.
      4. [Optional] Click Open the number sequence part menu to select an action in the part's box to display available actions. Then, select an action to apply it.
      Tip:

      To delete a sequence format part, select the part you want to delete and click Delete selected sequence format part on the Sequence Format Builder toolbar.

  6. In the Sequence Target Field Settings section, specify an object in the Target Field Object field. This must be the object of the field where you want to store the generated sequence. Enter at least three characters to view matching results, then select the object you want to specify.

    Tip:

    To clear the field, click Remove selected option. When you clear the Target Field Object field, all the related sequence format fields will also clear.

  7. Select a target field for your sequence. This must be the field where you want to store the generated sequence.
  8. [Optional] If you want to generate sequences conditionally, select a filter field that is a checkbox or a formula field of type checkbox. If you specify a filter field, sequences only generate when the specified field is selected on the record. Enter at least three characters to view matching results. Filter exampleClosed If you have specified Sales Invoice as the object, you can specify Approved as a filter to ensure Foundations only generates sequence numbers for approved sales invoices.
  9. If your sequence format includes field placeholder parts, you must specify the source fields that provide values for the placeholder parts in the sequence. You must select a placeholder field for each field placeholder part in the sequence. Enter at least three characters to view matching results. Selecting a lookup field enables you to select related fields. You can nest up to ten fields using lookups. Placeholder exampleClosed If you have a sequence structure of Placeholder-Placeholder-Placeholder-00000 and you select Company Name, Country Code and Account Name, your sequence structure is Company Name-Country Code-Account Name-00000, such as Merlin-US-Enterprise-00000.

  10. Select the Enabled checkbox to generate sequences for the specified target field. Sequences will only generate for the field if this option is selected.

    Tip:

    To clear the fields in the Sequence Target Field Settings section, click Clear this set of target field settings in the section. If the target field you want to clear is the only existing target field, its content will be deleted, but the text box will remain. However, if there is more than one target field, the target field box and its content will be deleted.

  11. [Optional] Click Add Target Field to add more target field rows. This enables you to create a generic sequence format and apply it to several objects in your apps. You can specify a total of ten target fields for each sequence.
Notes:
  • Sequence formats cannot exceed 255 characters. When calculating the total number of characters, each field placeholder part counts as five characters by default.
  • The Target Field Object field only displays objects for which you have permissions.
  • The Target Field field only displays text and text area fields for which you have permissions.
  • The Filter Field field only displays checkbox fields and formula fields of type checkbox for which you have permissions.

Sequence Format Parts

This section describes the three customizable part types that you can use to build your sequence formats. There are three common actions that you can apply to these parts: Move Left, Move Right, and Delete. For more information about these actions, see Buttons and Actions.

Field placeholder parts enable you to include a value from a specific field in your sequence format. When adding field placeholder parts, you must indicate the fields whose values you want to use by specifying these fields in the Sequence Target Field Settings section.

You can apply the following additional options to field placeholder parts:

  • Reset Sequence Number: Select this option if you want each unique value in the specified placeholder field to reset the generated sequence number. When selected, the text in the field placeholder part changes from Placeholder to Placeholder (Reset) to indicate the option is applied.
  • Reset Sequence Number and Hide Part: Select this option to reset the generated sequence number without displaying the part that resets the number. When selected, the text in the field placeholder part changes from Placeholder to Placeholder (Hidden) to indicate the option is applied.

For more information, see:

Text parts enable you to add static text values to your sequence format. For example, you can use the text part to enter a separator between a field placeholder part and a number sequence part. Text parts default to a hyphen (-) and have a character limit of 254. They cannot be left blank.

Number sequence parts enable you to specify the number of digits and the starting number of your sequence. This part is required, all sequence formats must include exactly one number sequence part.

By default, the number length is five and the starting number is zero. The minimum number length is one and the maximum is 255. The starting number must be equal to or greater than zero. If the starting number is greater than the specified number length, the number length automatically adjusts to match the starting number's length.

When you generate sequence numbers, the length of the number sequence part automatically increases to accommodate larger values. For example, if you specify a number sequence part length of four, its length remains four digits until the sequence number reaches 9999. The next number Foundations generates is 10000, automatically expanding to five digits.

Editing a Sequence from the Sequencing Page

From the Sequencing page, you can edit any of the sequences in the Sequences table. You can easily edit a saved sequence if you want to make changes.

From the Edit Sequences page you can:

  • Edit the sequence details
  • Edit any of the existing sequence format parts
  • Add new placeholders, text and number sequences
  • Add, edit or remove target fields
Note:

You can only edit the sequence details of a custom sequence that you have created.

To access a sequence edit page:

  1. From the App Launcher, search for and click Sequencing.
  2. From the Sequences table, click on the sequence you want to edit and click Edit.

To edit a sequence:

  1. [Optional] If you created the sequence, you can edit the unique name.
  2. [Optional] Remove parts from the sequence format, edit the existing parts or build the sequence format further by adding parts as required.
  3. Specify where you want to save the sequence number.
  4. [Optional] Add new rows as required if you want to apply the edited sequence to other objects.
  5. Click Save.

A success message toast displays following the successful save of the sequence edits.

Deleting a Sequence from the Sequences Page

A user assigned the FDN Core-Administrator permission can delete a sequence from the Sequences page.

Note:

Sequences with a related namespace are contained in Certinia product packages and cannot be deleted. Only sequences with no related namespace can be deleted.

To delete a sequence:

  1. From the App Launcher, search for and click Sequencing.
  2. From the Sequences table, click on the sequence you want to delete.
  3. Click Delete.
  4. Click Delete.

A success toast message displays following the successful deletion of the sequence.

Creating a Sequence Format from the Sequences Subtab on the Foundations Setup Page

To create a sequence format:

  1. From All Tabs, click Foundations Setup.
  2. Click Sequences.
  3. Click New.
  4. Enter a label for the sequence.
  5. Check or edit the unique name.
  6. Build the sequence format by adding parts. As you add parts, Foundations displays a preview of the sequence format. Click Add Part and select the part you want to add:

    Use the field placeholder part to include a value from a specific field. You specify the field that replaces the placeholder in the next step.

    To perform additional actions on a field placeholder, click next to the relevant part to display the menu:

    • To specify that each unique value in the related field resets the generated sequence number, select Reset Sequence Number.
    • To reset the generated sequence number without displaying the part that resets the number, select Hide.
    Tip:

    You can only hide a field placeholder part that resets the sequence number.

    For more information and examples, see Resetting Numbers and Hiding Parts in a Sequence Format.

    Use the text part to add static text to your number sequence. For example, you can use the text part to enter a separator between your field placeholder and number parts. The default value for the text part is a hyphen (-).

    Use the number sequence part to specify the number of digits in your sequence and the starting number. The default number length is 5 and starting number is 0.

    When you generate sequence numbers, the length of the number sequence part automatically increases to accommodate larger values. For example, if you specify a number sequence part length of four, its length remains four digits until the sequence number reaches 9999. The next number Foundations generates is 10000, automatically expanding to five digits.

  7. Specify where and when to save the sequence number:
    1. Specify the object for which you want to generate sequence numbers. Enter at least three characters to view matching results.
    2. Specify the target field that will contain the generated sequence number.
    3. [Optional] Specify a filter field to determine whether or not to generate a sequence for particular records. If you specify a filter field, Foundations only generates sequence numbers when the value for the specified checkbox is selected on the record.
      For example, if you have specified Sales Invoice as the object, you can specify Approved as a filter to ensure Foundations only generates sequence numbers for approved sales invoices.
    4. When you are ready to generate sequence numbers for the selected object, select Enabled. Foundations only generates sequence numbers when the row is enabled.
    5. Specify the fields that provide the values that replace the field placeholder parts in the sequence.
      For example, if you have a sequence structure of Placeholder-Placeholder-Placeholder-00000 and you select Company Name, Country Code and Account Name, your sequence structure is Company Name-Country Code-Account Name-00000, such as Merlin-US-Enterprise-00000.
  8. [Optional] Click Add Target Field and repeat the previous step to add another row. This enables you to create a generic sequence format and apply it to several objects in your apps.
    For example, you can apply the same sequence format to several objects in Billing Central, PSA, or both. For more information, see Applying One Sequence Format to Several Objects.
  9. Click Save.

When you have created and enabled one or more sequence formats, you can generate sequence numbers for one or more objects.

For more information, see Creating a Sequence Format from the Sequences Subtab on the Foundations Setup Page