Item Codes

Overview - What is an Item Code?

In IFP an Item is any asset which needs to be recorded. In a Sales database this may be an individual product or service. In a P&L database this may be salaries per team, or expenses per department. Many of these Items may be similar and therefore a unique Item Code is assigned to each variant of every Item in IFP.

How is an Item Code made?

An Item Code is typically made up of a combination of characters which detail Classification Variables for all Items in IFP such as Account, intended Market, or Item Type. Each item code should have unique identifiers as duplicates are not allowed.

Usage Example

Below is an example from a P&L Database where the Item Code is made up of the Country Agent, Cost Centre, Account and Product relating to that Item:

Adding and Removing Item Codes

Note: Only Local Administrators should update, add or remove Item Codes.

Please see Importing Item Codes and How to Delete Item Codes from a Database.

Updating Item Codes

Note: Only Local Administrators should update, add or remove Item Codes.

It is possible that an asset may change over time, meaning that its Classification Variables need to be updated. In a P&L Database if the Classification Variable being updated is included in the Item Code structure, IFP will automatically update the Item Code (shown in the New Code column) upon saving the changes.

In the below example we have updated the Country Agent from 2020 to 3000:

The structure of Item Codes in Sales Databases means that the Item Codes are set and so do not change when Classification Variables are updated.

For more information on Item Codes, please see Codes Maintenance.