Having recognized the risks associated with using Social Security Numbers to uniquely identify personnel in their information systems and paper processes, many organizations are moving to alternative identification numbers to mitigate this risk.

Skills Manager stands prepared to meet this challenge by providing up to three different identification numbers per individual. Social Security Number serves as the default identifier in Skills Manager because most United States citizens have one and many organizations have traditionally used this number in their systems. Two additional, user-named identification numbers can also be assigned to personnel These identifiers can store values such as Employee Numbers, Badge Numbers, License Numbers, Certificate Numbers, etc., depending on your need. Any of the three identification numbers can be used to search the database for specific individuals and one, two, or all three identification numbers can be printed on reports.

Some customers have used the three identification numbers as follows: SSN (Federal Id); Alternate Id #1 (State Id); Alternate Id #2 (Employer Id).

The following paragraphs provide information that will help you configure Skills Manager to use alternative identification numbers.

Choosing a Primary Identification Number

Skills Manager requires that you designate one identification number to serve as the primary identifier. This identifier should be configured to disallow blank values and to require unique values for two important reasons.

First, the primary identifier should uniquely identify a specific individual in your database. As a database increases in size the possibility two or more individuals sharing the same name increases. If two individuals share the same name but have no identifier to uniquely identify them, it is nearly impossible to know which records belong to which individual or which employee new history records should be attached to. When unique values are required in an identification number field, the software prevents users from entering the same value for multiple individuals. When blank values are disallowed in an identification number field, the software forces the users to enter a value in this field. 

Second, the unique primary identifier is used when importing records to prevent duplicates from entering the database and to insure accuracy when employee records are updated from other Skills Manager databases or sources external to Skills Manager.

Configuring Identification Numbers

Identification numbers are configured via the Setup window.

1. Click on the Utilities menu.

2. Choose Setup from the pop-up menu.

3. Click on the Renaming tab.

Skills Manager allows you to name the alternate identification numbers with terms that are meaningful to your organization. The name you choose is displayed on all forms, menus and reports where the identification number appears. Two alternate identification fields are provided however you do not need to use both. Each identification number is configured independently with respect to blank values and unique values.

In the illustration above, Alternate ID #1 has been named "Serial #" and the check boxes indicate that unique values are required and blank values are not allowed.