There are no global 'best practices' - just general advice that will help shape a solution for you.
Generally, with very large systems, there will be a central PLM/PDM/ERP type software that is the record keeper for all parts. That software will manage the part number allocation and lifecycle. ALl other software packages will communicate with that to software to get the data for each part. Once you have a PLM/PDM/ERP software, the part number doesn't really matter. I've worked with companies that try to bake part description or ID information into their part number (M for machined, P for part... that kind of thing) but they're fragile, and often encounter cases where the numbering scheme breaks down. The most robust method is pure sequential numbers. That (more or less) takes care of the metadata part.
The other challange is the management of the files. For Inventor, the obvious choice is Vault. Vault Professional has some of its own lifecycle management tools, but I haven't worked anywhere that has robust AND easy-to-use configuration - the two requirements seem to be at odds with one another. I suggest Vault for editing management (check-in, check-out). If your PLM/ERP/PDM has revision control - use that. Depending on how it's configured - that will impact your Vault setup.
The Next big one in my experience is storage volumes - i.e. the number of files in one folder. Vault and Windows both index file storage (as far as I know), which means that large numbers of files (>1000) in a folder shouldn't be an issue. However, Vault checks the status of each file when you browse to a folder, so the more files in the folder, the longer that operation takes and the more painful navigation becomes. I've worked in companies that only had 1 folder and 100,000+ files... That was SLOOOOOWWWW to navigate with, and they didn't feel the need to change because "Vault indexes". I suggest finding a logical way to break your folder storage up - if you're using sequential numbers, then breaking for every 1000 files or so might make sense. You'll need to consider your average network speeds (considering that some users might spend considerable time working remotely). Vault also does paging, which limits the display of files to (some number - 1000 out of the box I believe), but this is also a pain because you need to click a button to expose more files - which takes time to load the next 'page' and the file you're looking for might not appear for several pages.
The other trap - and it's somewhat general, is that customisation via VBA, iLogic etc will be almost unavoidable. Use it where you have to, but avoid investing too much into unique customisations is a real trap. I've worked with multiple companies that have invested big dollars into customisations and they all cause more problems then they solve. Stick with out of the box processes as much as possible, and you won't have to worry about the maintenance of the customisations. Use your customisations for smaller operations - automate checking files, exporting, clean up etc. These days with the AI coming so far, ChatGPT is pretty good at generating basic scripts for you very quickly.
The last thing to keep in mind, is that there are as many solutions as there are opinions - consider all advice carefully to make sure advice suits your situation, and expect that your first attempt probably won't be the perfect solution, so keep an open mind and look for opportunities to improve.
Hope that helps.
