Project Numbers

PROBLEM

project numbering hints in the Master Index
giving jobs text or other than integer codes in MacNail accounting software
from newsletter #14

DIAGNOSIS

MacNail uses consecutive integers in the Master Index to identify each project that you work on, unless you use some other system of identifying each project used in MacNail Construction Accounting Software
It’s fine to skip numbers, but they must be in ascending order for the ‘lookup’ formulas to work correctly.

SOLUTION

You can use other systems for identifying projects. Some people use decimals—for example, the first project in 1992 can be 92.01, the second 92.02, and so on.
Many MacNail owners like to use the year, followed by the project number, to identify each project. For example, 92-14 would be the fourteenth project started in 1992. Because of the way computers sort text, start with 92-01 (or 92-001 if >100 projects). Otherwise projects will show up in ‘illogical’ order.

WARNING -- Excel tries to be ‘smart’ about interpreting text that looks like dates, so some kinds of job numbering systems will not work correctly. For example, 1-01 or 1/01 will convert to January 1.

If using text it's a good idea to switch to cost control and choose Put Projects in Order from the Format menu.

COMMENTS

Entered 1/10/96 by Rudy.