Throughout the 25+ years that I've been in the business, I've allways utilized the "zones" on the format for referencing dimensions, changes, etc. I've never heard of numbering the dimensions. However, you are able to show the properties of the dimension which has a numeric value added to it, i.e. d1, d2, d3, etc. You might try to show these on your drawings and utilize it to accomplish what you are trying to do.

good luck,