Creating Employee ID Numbers for College Staff: What Factors Should You Consider?

Dear Sir,

I would like to formulate an employee identification number for an engineering college so that all his data will be related to that ID number. The complete employee's profile and service record will be located by that number.

I would like to know what parameters to consider before assigning every employee an ID number and what the ideal number size should be.

Thank you,
Mr. Vivek Gulhane

I would suggest categorizing by Role and Department.

For example:
M12345 - Maths Department
C12345 - Chemistry Department
A12345 - Admin Department

If your total number of employees is not more than 1000, stick to 5/6 digits. This will help manage the system even after 10 years of attrition.

It is indeed a great thought to have an identification number. While formulating a unique ID number for each individual is a basic criterion, I can think of the following parameters requiring consideration:

Scope of the ID Number

Will the ID number be restricted to only employees, or will it also include students and temporary/visiting staff of your college? You may want to maintain uniformity throughout all college personnel and even identify alumni through the ID number if issued to students.

Format and Structure of the ID Number

Assuming lecturers will not be restricted to any particular department, having a generic ID number starting with 3 to 4 alphabets of the college followed by a number may make the ID number specific to your college. Also, having just a number, especially 0 in the beginning, will require a format change in Excel; otherwise, the number 0 will not be visible and may affect certain applications.

Integration with Existing Systems

If your college is using or plans to use any application or software to maintain records where this ID number will be used as input, you will also need to consider the input format.

Size and Range of the ID Number

The size of the number will again depend on the individuals to whom the ID number is being issued. If students are involved, every year at least 300 numbers will be used. Accordingly, you can calculate the number of years you would want to have this ID before increasing its range.

Regards,
Shivaraj