Views:

Scenario Overview

In this business scenario the requirement is to generate an Auto-Number on the Account entity. The specific requirement is that the first 3 characters of the account name is used as a prefix and that when generating the AutoNumber we need to count the number of existing prefix records & increment by one. 

Below is an example of what we require,   

                                                   Account Names
                                                   Microsoft - Ireland
                                                   Microsoft - UK
                                                   Microsoft - USA
                                                   Microsoft - Canada

                                                   Account Numbers
                                                   MIC-0001 
                                                   MIC-0002
                                                   MIC-0003
                                                   MIC-0004

Note1:
As always whenever we are using the North52 Auto-Number formula type we are guaranteed consistency when generating Auto-Numbers so no duplicates will be created even with multiple application servers for any of CRM Online, OnPremise or Partner Hosted.

Note2:
It is assumed that the 'Account Number' field is read-only, accounts are never deleted (only deactivated)  & users cannot change the field.

North52 Decision Suite Solution

The North52 Decision Suite solution works like this,

  • Execute on the create of Accounts within the system
  • Have a formula that generates the auto number requirements
  • This formula executes a fetch-xml query passing in the prefix to get the existing count & adds one
  • Have the formula place the result of the formula into the Account Number field of the Account entity 

North52 Decision Suite Steps

Formula Steps

  • Create a new formula of type 'AutoNumber'
  • Set the Source & Target entities to 'Account'
  • Set the Source & Target Property fields to 'Account Number'
  • Copy & paste the formula description below into the formula description field & click save 

Formula Detail Steps

  • Scroll half way down the formula & click to add a new formula detail record (i.e. add the fetch-xml query)
  • Set the Name to 'GetCurrentAutoValue'
  • Copy & paste the fetchxml below into the query field & click save
  • You are now ready to test

Formula

 Upper(Left([account.name] ,3)) + '-' +

 PadLeft(FindCountFD('GetCurrentAutoValue',
                                     'accountnumber',
                                     '0',
                                      true,
                                      SetParams( Upper(Left([account.name] ,3)) + '%' ))
                                      +1,
               4,'0')

Fetch-Xml Description

<fetch version="1.0" output-format="xml-platform" mapping="logical" distinct="false">
  <entity name="account">
      <attribute name="accountid" />
      <attribute name="accountnumber" />
        <filter type="and">
            <condition attribute="accountnumber" operator="like" value="{0}" />
    </filter>
  </entity>
</fetch>

 

Did you know?

Decision Tables Enable Responsive Businesses

You can make, test, and deploy changes to decision logic without software development. Rather that waiting weeks or months for internal or external developers to make needed updates and changes, they can be made by business analysts as they are needed.

Decision Tables within the North52 Decision Suite provide a business-friendly representation of the decision logic so that business analysts can define how the decisions are made. As you define your decision, you can test and validate the decision approach and when ready, deploy the decision logic to your production instance.

Learn more about the North52 Decision Tables

Keywords: AutoNumber, FindCount, FindCountFD, Left, PadLeft, Upper, SetParams, Formula Manager