I believe that if your data base was define with a 4 character item code, single segment, it may be possible to "tweak" the ICGLOB file to make it a 2 segment item code with LLLL-L as the format.

All original item numbers would have a "space" as the 5th character, for new items you could add the 5th trailing character.

The finder behaviour would change for those old items that had less than 4 characters. In the old data if you typed 14 and enter in a finder box it would take you to the correct item #. If you made the change above typing 14 would bring up 1400. So to bring up 14 you would now need to type space space 14.

If you have products interfaced to IC other than OE and AP, such as Sales Analysis or Purchase Orders then the above may not work or at least some additional "tweaking" would be needed.