Fetching the Next Value.

create function Fetching_Next_Project_Number() 
returns char(5) 
as 
begin 
  declare @lastval char(5); 
  set @lastval = (select max(project_id) from Project_Master) 
  if @lastval is null 
  set @lastval = 'P0001';
 
  declare @i int; 
  set @i = right(@lastval,4) + 1; 
  return 'P' + right('000' + convert(varchar(10),@i),4) 
end