How to name custom settings?
Custom settings are a means to manage custom sets of data or configuration settings that are available across your org. JustOn Billing & Invoice Management ships a number of custom settings to support the business processes around invoice generation and management.
For an introduction and general information, refer to Create Custom Settings in the Salesforce Help.
When creating custom settings, be aware the following limitation.
Custom settings names must not exceed 38 ASCII characters. In addition, special characters like brackets will be URL encoded, which makes them count three, like ( makes %28.
However, these record names are used internally only. They are not exposed to your customers. See them as a "handle" that helps to unequivocally identify and easily manage your settings. So you do not have to specify exact names or numbers in the Name field of custom setting records.
We recommend to use a reasonable naming convention that, on the one hand, provides for descriptive and unique names and, on the other, considers the naming limitation.
Info
As an exception to this rule, the names of G/L account assignment rules and collective account settings may be output as part of the booking text for booking details, if configured accordingly. This makes them visible to your accounting staff.
Example: Business entities
There is no need to specify the exact name of a business entity in the Name field of its custom setting record. The record name is merely an internal "handle". The company name that becomes public (being printed to a PDF) is taken from the Company field.
Think of a company that rents pedelecs, "The E-Bikers", with subsidiaries across Europe, officially named like "The E-Bikers (UK) Ltd", "The E-Bikers (España), S.L.", "The E-Bikers (Deutschland) GmbH" and so on. In your working environment, it is very likely that you would call these entities the "Spanish branch" or just "Spain" – so it is perfectly fine to use these short names as the custom setting record names, providing the complete name in the Company field.
For details, see Business Entity.
Example: G/L account assignment rules
Using the target account number as the name for a G/L account assignment rule seems to be straightforward and intuitive. But what about multiple rules to check different conditions that all produce the same G/L account? The account number alone will no longer work.
Instead, consider combining, for example, the account number with the rule condition that makes the difference to the other rules for this G/L account.
Assume you book revenue made in a certain region to a dedicated account, like 3493. One part of this revenue is identified by the business entity that has made it ("Bizkaia"), another part is identified by a specific tax rule valid for this region ("VAT Spain"). Consequently, you can name your G/L account assignment rules 3493 Bizkaia and 3493 VAT Spain.
For details, see Assignment Rules - G/L Account.
Related information:
Custom Settings Overview
Create Custom Settings in the Salesforce Help
Custom Settings Limits and Considerations in the Salesforce Help