Ok, here is what I am doing.  I have to match up an item number on my drawing with an item number in an Excel document.  The item number is already pre-determined and cannot change (don't ask, long story).  I create my drawing, auto-balloon the assembly, create the bom, then change the item number in the bom.  When I do that, it automatically updates the balloons.  Now, I would like the same item numbers to carry on through the rest of my drawing, including sub assemblies, and part details.  I cannot use the part number feature in configurations because it is a standard part.  Is there any way to store a custom property of a standard part that would only show up in a specific assembly or drawing?  It would need to be saved at the configuration level because the standard parts are tube and we use configurations to control the lengths.  Any ideas?

By the way, I am using 2009 SP 0.0, on Windows XP, 32 bit.