Information may be sorted in a number of different ways. When in alphabetical sequence, all codes beginning with a number will appear before codes beginning with a letter. Just as words are sorted alphabetically left-to-right based partially on the number of characters, so numbers are sorted left-to-right based partially on the number of digits:

SAND 1

SANDMAN 10

SANDWICH 105

SANDY 2

For this reason, Viewpoint recommends that all codes that will be sorted in alphabetical sequence be assigned the same number of characters/digits. This is especially important when using numbers: use 001, rather than 1 and 037 rather than 37, and more.

In order for the software to sort these codes properly and in sequential order, it is important to set up an appropriate numbering system. Unless leading zeroes are used, the software will sort as "1", "10," "100," then "2," "20," and "200," and more. If leading zeroes are used, the codes will sort as 001, 002, 003 ... 099, and more. All codes will then be three digits long and, as long as you don't go to 1000, the codes will sort properly.