SIM ID or Autonumber as PK

[economyman]

Hi

Can someone tell me if I am better off using an Autonumber as the PK in a table of SIM cards (GSM phone cards). Each SIM has a globally unique SIM ID number. It has a certain structure however from my perspective I don't care too much about the structure. I have a list of SIMs we have (several thousand at the moment) and I have their corresponding SIM numbers.

I am building an Access application to manage the addition and deletion of SIMs we "own" and their corresponding information.

I have several tables in which I have created primary keys using the autonumber.

However I have a dilema about the main SIMs table because each SIM has a definite unique ID anyway. That said, since it is 15 or 16 digits long, and has no numerical importance I plan to store it as text and so have a feeling that I would be better off with a unique numerical primary key such as one generated by autonum.

Any insight here would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[georgedwilkinson]

Use an artificial autonumber. Computers have to do less work comparing two integers than they do having to compare two complex strings. And you never know when industry standards will change, making the current sim numbering strategy obsolete.

You can still put a unique index on the sim number.

 

[economyman]

Thank you for that George. It makes sense.

Cheers!

Michael