Re: Internal Document numbering

["Metzger, Lucinda" <cmetzger -at- DUKANE -dot- COM>]

Jennifer wrote:

>I think the key with document numbering is to set a standard and stick to
>it, and to have one person in charge of assigning those numbers. We have two
>different types of document numbering schemes where I work. Any type of
>literature that is included with a product (i.e. manuals, dataplates, etc.),
>and which are thus tracked in inventory like any other component, are given
>a six digit part number that starts with the numbers 145. When we run out of
>145xxx numbers, we'll move to 146xxx, etc. For literature that is not
>tracked in our standard inventory system (primarily catalog sheets), we use
>a numbering scheme starting w/ 201xxx. This system really works well for
>us...it assures that all literature is easily trackable and identifiable,
>and since no literature can be ordered without a part #, and only one person
>can assign part #'s, it assures that any literature produced has gone
>through the appropriate review process.
>I believe this whole system is part of ISO 9001 procedures (it falls under
>our design control process).

We do something similar, except we take it one step further so that the
doc number reflects more doc types. All our doc numbers have a 427-
prefix, then a 2-digit number that indicates the doc type (e.g., 01 is a
spec sheet, 02 is an operation manual, 03 is a service bulletin, and so
on), then a 5-digit number at the end. So the first spec sheet we did
under this numbering system was 427-01-00001, the next one was
427-01-00002, etc. We would have preferred shorter document numbers, but
we did it this way to tie everything in with our company-wide part
numbering system. As with Jennifer's company, no docs can be ordered
without a part number, and only certain people can take out these
numbers.