[Michael Hill]

Something that I've pitched to the other mentors on our team and might be going with next year is having a subset of our part numbering scheme just for COTS parts. Our standard numbering scheme we used last year was IRYY-AA-SPP.

YY - year
AA - System Assembly (i.e. Drivebase, manipulator, etc)
s - Subassembly
pp - Part

I'd like to continue to use this for all manufactured parts, but for COTS parts, I'd like to use:

IR00-TT-PPP

TT - Type (Gearboxes, gears, sensor, etc.)
PPP - Part #

Everything is sequential (both manufactured and COTS). Then we can just use an Excel spreadsheet (or Google doc) to cross reference our part number with vendor and manufacture part number.

That way, when we specify a ball shifter, we don't have a new part number year after year, we just have a single part number that we can use.

Last year was the first of a new year for us using PDM and part numbering schemes, so we're experimenting with what works for us.