Automatic Vendor Numbers in GP

GP does not have the ability to create automatic vendor numbers on an incremental basis. But there is a simple workaround where you can automatically create vendor numbers. We will need to use the “Next Temp. Vendor ID” setup in the Payables Setup Options window. Obviously, if you do create temporary vendors, then you will not be able to use this workaround. Alternatively, if you have security restrictions where the user who can create vendors not being able to create and vice versa, you will not be able to use this workaround. If you that level of security, then you would have to look into 3^rd party products or some sort of customization.

To setup the Vendor Number format that you want to use, you would go to the “Payable Setup Options” window by going to Tools >> Setup >> Purchasing >> Payables and then clicking on the “Options” button on the “Payables Management Setup” window. On this window, setup the Vendor number sequence you want to start with. For example, you could start with V000001 so that your vendor numbers are V000001, V000002 and so on.

Creating temporary vendors is done through the following AP transaction windows (Payables Transaction Entry window, the Payables Manual Payment Entry window, and the Edit Payables Checks window). For our example we will use the Payables Transaction Entry window.

On the Payables Transaction Entry window, with the focus on the Vendor ID field, hit Ctrl+T (or you can drop down on the Options menu and select Temporary Vendor).

This should open the Vendor Maintenance window with the next vendor number populated. Be sure to change the status to “Active” before adding additional vendor information and closing the window.

If you have already have vendors setup with different vendor numbers, you will have to change the vendor numbers. You can do this using the PSTL tool. But that is for another post!