LinkedIn Recommend a strategy ?

A linked in discussion post question;

There's a large organization which refers to customers by an id, or reference like ‘1234A’ (four numbers and a letter). These id’s are used pretty much everywhere, database queries and primary keys, about 40 Java applications, many external interfaces, there’s Visual Basic, spread sheets, you name it.
They will need to change this from ‘1234A’ to also allow the format ‘1234AB’ (four numbers and two letters). It looks like a big job!
I’m starting to think about what might be a good approach. Might anyone know any recommended strategies, or patterns etc?

Thanks!

Lisa Marie Martinez • Actually, I've done this with all the major carriers in the US.

The billing benefits are wonderful. Not a big task if you are adopting the online tools and start with the design before you migrate. I used branch code identifiers to prefix and summarize the services into cost centers "automatically".

Sales "will become your biggest fan" if you use the identifiers they recognize. Try using the geographical identifier to aggregate automatically...USCOM1, USENT1, USSP1 to sort and summarize by theater and region for example.

With Projects, I try to use the Project ID as the prefix on all records in the life cycle of a sales project. Ensures the disconnected always have a connection.

I found it useful to use the segments for sales or use cost center (non-restricted), very helpful to align those chaotic transaction type things systematically sorts and summarizes for you.

11 days ago