NetSuite releases two system upgrades per year to all accounts, often providing new functionality within existing features in addition to launching brand new capabilities. Prior to being upgraded to the new release, all accounts are given access to a release preview environment that allows users to preview the changes in a sandbox-like setting. Detailed documentation describing all changes that are included as part of the new release are also provided at this time and can be accessed from the New Release portlet and in SuiteAnswers. In this post, I’m going to share the five changes that are being made as part of 2020.2 that I am most excited about.
- Automatic Application Vendor Prepayments
For organizations that make payments to vendors in advance of billing, the vendor prepayments functionality has been a very helpful recent addition to NetSuite. One of the biggest limitations of vendor prepayments, however, was that they had to be manually applied after billing which left a lot of room for human error. In 2020.1, the ability to automatically apply vendor prepayments upon billing is being added. Much like the customer deposits made at sales order level, vendor prepayments made from purchase orders will automatically be applied to the vendor bill when it is created. Best of all, if you issue multiple prepayments against purchase orders (i.e. 25% at time of order and 25% at time of shipment), all deposits will be automatically applied the moment that the bill is generated.
- Subsidiary Hierarchy Modification
If you’ve ever had to adjust the hierarchy of subsidiaries in NetSuite, you know that it is a somewhat involved process. While it isn’t an action that most organizations perform with any frequency, being able to restructure your subsidiaries is critical when you’re dealing with consolidations, acquisitions, or other structural changes within your business.
In 2020.1, NetSuite is making it easier than ever before to make modifications to your subsidiary structure with the Subsidiary Hierarchy Modification feature. Making these changes requires some additional permissions along with activating the Allow Subsidiary Hierarchy to be Modified general preference. You can read additional details about the prerequisites and impacts of making changes to your subsidiary hierarchy in SuiteAnswers article Subsidiary Hierarchy Structure Modification (ID 91150).
- Custom Emails for Standard Transactions
One of the most frequent requests that I hear related to transaction emails generated within NetSuite is to use a custom email template in place of the standard system-generated content. Upon upgrading to 2020.1, organizations will now be able to specify a custom template to use in place of the standard version for all transaction emails. By leveraging a single shared template, users will be able to design a branded email template that sources dynamic data from both standard and custom transaction fields with minimal configuration. I anticipate many organizations configuring this as soon as it’s available within their accounts.
- Antivirus Scanning on File Cabinet
The threat presented by cyber attacks is growing by the day, making it more important than ever to have precautionary measures to help prevent the transmission and distribution of dangerous files within your organization. As of 2020.1, all accounts will have additional protection against viruses and malware thanks to embedded virus scanning within the NetSuite File Cabinet – without any configuration required. Additionally, all files attached to emails are also subject to scanning. Only files that are scanned and cleared are uploaded to your File Cabinet.
- Partially Receive Transfer Orders
The fact that transfer orders could not have partial quantities received against the fulfillment quantity has been a limitation with significant impact to many organizations with multiple locations configured within NetSuite. I’m extremely excited to share that changes being made as part of release 2020.1 will enable users to receive less than the fulfillment quantity on transfer orders that use the item cost as the transfer cost. There are a few limitations pertaining to costing methods and instances that use multi-book accounting so be sure to read the release notes for complete details, but the new functionality should apply to many accounts.
NetSuite release 2020.1 is jam-packed with great new features and updates, and includes many more enhancements beyond the ones I’ve listed above. If you haven’t yet reviewed the release notes, you can download them here.
Want to learn more about NetSuite release 2020.1? Contact Concentrus today to discuss the new release and learn more about the changes that will impact your business.
