PLT-354 - Initial version of identifiers

Pull request to add identifiers.

This is an initial version of identifiers necessary so we can work on code higher up the stack. It is closely based on previous code and as a result will benefit from refinement. Such refinement can only occur with more experience of usages of the code.

PR is on the basis of looking for major issues only.
Coverage 97%.
What's the primary use for this? Don't ids generally come from db sequences?