Description of the Rule Elements 

Rule elements consist of a technical name and a description.

The following rule elements can be selected:

Current Date

This rule element adds the current date to the ID. You can determine in which output format the date appears in the unique ID.

The following formats are available:

Format	Description
YY	Year (two characters)
YYYY	Year (four characters)
MM	Month (two characters)
DD	Day (two characters)

All other characters are included unchanged in the generated ID.

Date Entry

This rule element adds a date to the ID. This date has to be entered by the user. In the administration function, you determine in which output format the date appears in the unique ID. The same formats apply as for the current date. You can create query and help texts, and default values for the user.

Attribute Value

This rule element adds the value of an attribute to the ID. For a record number you can use the attributes of the record, and for a document number you can use the attributes of the document. In the administration function, you have to specify the technical attribute name as it is defined in the content model.

Definite Text

This rule element adds a definite text to the ID. In the administration function, the definite text can be enclosed in inverted commas to enable spaces to be inserted at the end of the text. The inverted commas at the beginning or end of the text are not inserted in the generated ID.

Text Entry

This rule element adds a text to the ID. This text has to be entered by the user. You can determine an entry format for the text that is entered by the user. Use the following keys and characters:

9 = Figure

Z = Letter

? = Any character

The user entry is only checked if you specify an entry format.

You can create a query and help text, and a default value for the user.

You can specify a minimum length and you must specify a maximum length.

If you select Change to Uppercase, the user entry is converted to uppercase spelling before it is included in the generated number.

The specified separators are added to the ID before or after the specified text. If the separators are enclosed in inverted commas at the beginning and end, spaces can also be inserted at the end of the text. The inverted commas are not inserted in the ID.

Number Range

This rule element triggers the generation of a new number from the specified number range, and inserts this number in the ID.

If the generated number does not contain the maximum number of characters, you can specify whether leading zeros are used to fill the space specified maximum length.

The number range that you want to use also has to be specified in the administration function. Use the input help. You can only specify existing number ranges.

To ensure that the number can be accessed by the number range, the following prerequisites must be met:

·        If the number range is year-dependent, there must be exactly one number range interval for the current year with internal number assignment (which means that the option External Number Assignment is not selected for the interval). If multiple intervals with internal number assignment exist for the current year, the first one is used.

·        If the number range is not year-dependent, there must be exactly one number range interval with the number 01 and internal number assignment (which means that the option External Number Assignment is not selected for the interval 01).

Organizational Unit

This rule element adds an organizational unit to the generated ID. The key, long text, or short text of the organizational unit is included. You can create a query and help text, and a default value for the user.

File Plan Position

This rule element adds the file plan item of the record to the generated ID. You have to select a file plan that exists in the system. The user then selects an item from this file plan when an ID is generated.

In the administration function you can specify whether the key or the description of the file plan item are included in the generated ID.

You can create a query and help text, and default values for the user.

Rule Link

This rule element is a link to other generation rules.

The following constellations are not permitted:

o        Linking from a rule to itself

o        Loops in the rule definition

Example: Rule A links to B; B links to C; C links to A.

Context Counter

This rule element is a counter (similar to a number range) that is dependent on a part of the generated record number (its context).

Example:

You want to map a record number where all records that were created for the same record plan ID (=file plan item) are numbered in ascending order.

Example:

Ref1 – 4711.1 / 24

Ref2 – 4711.1 / 25

Ref3 – 4711.2 / 2

Ref1 – 9876 / 241

Ref1 – 9877 / 67

This example needs to be numbered according to a certain substring of the generated ID (gray text in the example).

The context counter is used for this purpose.

To select the part of the record number that you want to use for the numbering, there are two selection elements:

o        Start selection for the context counter

o        End selection for the context counter (has to be behind the start selection in the rule definition)

The part of the record number that is generated from all the rule elements between the two selection elements defines the uniqueness area (context) of the counter. If there are values of this string that are the same, different counter values are generated.

The rule element context counter is inserted in the rule definition behind the end selection, and generates a new number based on the context string (result of both selection elements), which is then included in the record number.

The selection elements and the counter element are connected by the element name. Since the names of rule elements have to be unique within the rule, the selection elements and the placeholder have a (non-modifiable) name prefix (MBEG_, MEND_, and PHLD_).

The context counter element must always be behind both selection elements since the context string is required for calculating the new number. If the generated number has to be in front of and in the context string, a placeholder element can be used that is assigned according to whether the name after the prefix PLHD_ is the same. This means that the number generated by the counter is not inserted where the context counter element is; instead it is inserted where the placeholder element is.

If you want to use a placeholder, this has to be specified explicitly in the context element by selecting the setting Use Placeholder. Otherwise the placeholder is ignored.

In the administration function, you can specify in the context counter settings which number is assigned first. If the generated number does not contain the maximum number of characters, you can specify whether leading zeros are used to fill the space specified maximum length. If you use a placeholder element, this option has to be selected in the context counter.