How to Use the 1st Column in this Case?

Platform discussions
1

Note: For the sake of the question, I’ve simplified my boards a ton.

I have 3 boards:

  1. Companies (all the company contact info, can be linked to multiple contacts)
  2. Contacts (all the individual contact info, can be linked to multiple companies)
  3. Inventory (packages available for sale, how many of each, price of each)

Now I have a 4th board: Transactions.

The purpose of this board is to:

  1. log which company bought what package
  2. update the inventory available quantity (this is done via formula, no issue here)

This board has (1) transaction per pulse

This board has the following columns:

  1. Company that purchased the package (linked to the Companies board)
  2. Contact that is main person dealt with (linked to Contacts board)
  3. Transaction Number
  4. Date of Sale - date column
  5. Payment Status - a status column
  6. Notes - a long text column
  7. Files Column for Supporting Documents

I cannot figure out how to best use that first column!

  • Transaction number makes sense, but then I’m manually typing them and I’ll easily lose track of which number I am up to and will lead to a mess as this grows, not scalable

  • Date maybe but that’s not unique so it’s kind of weird for the first column? And you can’t format that first column as a “date” column, so again, unnecessary

  • Can’t use the company name because it can’t link to the other board and they need to be linked

  • Can’t use the package purchased because it can’t link to that other board and they need to be linked

I’m at a loss! But I am sure there’s a solution I’m just not seeing.

Thanks for your help as I learn how to best use this system.

2

@mondayzato,

On your transactions board, you might want to double check your use of the Transaction No column. These values can changed… seems like maybe you want it to be something else.

If you need a fixed transaction number, you might check with @basdebruin. He has a solution that will give you that. We did a similar thing in house with Integromat.

1 Like
3

Hi @mondayzato as mentioned by Jim the AutoID Column app gives you unique sequential ID that are highly configurable. You can also output that unique (transaction ID) to the left most column. See marketplace https://monday.com/marketplace/17 or our app-store at Downloads Archive - Excellent Team

4

Thanks everyone about the auto ID - but I have zero issue there. I went ahead and removed it so that I don’t get any more info about it. But can I get some feedback on the question itself? I am still not sure how to proceed with that first column. Thanks!

5

That’s a mistake. I am not using auto number.

However, any feedback on the first column question?

6

@mondayzato,

It is unfortunate that the name column is locked into being just a lowly text type column.

If you don’t have any additional needs, I would be inclined to just do what is easiest until a better use presents itself. As far as what is easy, how are the items in the transactions board going to be created?