Autogenerated Attribute Values in Spreadsheet Templates

In spreadsheet templates for the Worker object you can specify that values for some attributes, such as Person Number and Assignment Number, are generated automatically.

For example, on the Design page in a Worker spreadsheet template, you edit the Person Number attribute in the Selected Attributes panel and select Autogenerate. In this case, users don't have to supply the person number value in generated spreadsheets. However, so that related records can be identified and processed together, a unique identifier must still be supplied. Therefore, Person Number must appear in generated spreadsheets and its value must be a unique identifier. This value isn't used as the person number, which is generated on successful creation of the worker record.

To ensure that users supply this unique identifier for a logical object, these rules apply to the template definition:

• If you select the Autogenerate option for an attribute, then the Required option is selected automatically and made read-only.

• If the Required option is selected and the Default Value field is set to None, then the Visible option is selected automatically and made read-only.

• A default column heading is defined. For example, for the Person Number attribute the column heading is Person Unique Identifier. For the Assignment Number attribute, the column heading is Assignment Unique Identifier. You can change the default column heading.

• The default description of the attribute explains that a unique identifier must be supplied. You can edit this description.

Spreadsheets generated from the template include the Person Number or Assignment Number attribute, as appropriate, with its new column heading and description. For the attribute value, users must enter a unique identifier to ensure that records are loaded successfully.