A typical NetSuite implementation takes 3-6 months, depending on complexity and resource availability at the organization that is transitioning to NetSuite. One of the first steps of the implementation process is the development of a detailed project plan, which outlines each of the tasks that need to be completed prior to the go-live date along with deadlines.

NetSuite’s role-based architecture gives you the ability to control which users can perform each of the various functions and view related data within your environment with laser precision. This level of customization is extremely powerful when used correctly, but can cause inefficiencies, employee frustration, and even erroneous data when configured poorly. In this article, I’ll share five of my best practices when working with user roles in NetSuite.

In previous posts, I’ve covered some of the ways that both saved searches and workflows can be leveraged to create automatons, enforce business process and controls, and provide proactive updates and metrics, but I haven’t spent much time showing how the two tools can be used together. In this post, I’ll provide an overview of how to create scheduled workflows that trigger based on saved search results and share a few practical examples that show how you can put this functionality into use in your NetSuite environment.

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.

Whether you’re just embarking on your NetSuite implementation or you’re looking to put a new business process into place in your existing NetSuite environment, leveraging systemic controls is a great way to ensure that your organization’s desired processes are followed exactly as designed. That being said, putting too many systemic controls in place can lead to bottlenecks that create unnecessary delays and cause frustration for employees and customers alike.

 

If you buy or sell products or services using NetSuite, then you have probably noticed the wide array of item types available for selection when entering new items.  Determining which type is right for your application can feel overwhelming when you are first getting started in NetSuite but once you understand the basic differentiating factors between each type, you’ll find it to be a much clearer process.  In this post, I will provide details on what distinguishes each item type and share a few practical use cases along the way.

 

Scriptable email templates in NetSuite allow you to harness the capabilities of HTML and FreeMarker code to create highly-customized emails for both internal and external communication.  In addition to supporting the display of both standard and custom fields in both the subject line and email body, scriptable templates also support the use of more advanced coding functionality like the insertion of subtemplates, current date/time, and dynamic formatting for multi-select field values.  In this blog post, I’ll share the basic steps for setting up a new scriptable email template and provide five of my favorite tricks for making them even more useful.

 

The ability to quickly and easily create custom fields in a variety of types in order to meet unique business requirements is one of the things that sets NetSuite apart from other ERP platforms.  In addition to creating checkboxes, open text fields, and date fields, NetSuite also allows users to source custom lists or existing records as drop-down lists using the “List/Record” field type.  In some cases, it is beneficial to give users the ability to select from all available values within the drop-down field.  At times, you may only want to expose a specific sub-set of data in the drop-down list in order to prevent mismatches and make it easier for users to the desired value.  By taking advantage of the Sourcing & Filtering options, you can limit the available values in a List/Record field to only those that apply at the time of entry.  In this blog, I’ll walk through setting up the Sourcing & Filtering options to create dynamic drop-down fields and share a few practical examples of using this functionality.

As you may have caught on by our previous blog posts, we really love NetSuite saved searches at Concentrus.  Saved searches have many uses and are one of the easiest tools to learn and use in NetSuite.  It doesn’t matter if you are an everyday user or log in occasionally to get the information you need, saved searches give you the tools to get the data you need, how you need it and when you need it.

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you’ve probably gotten a sense of how much I like working with saved searches in NetSuite.  In my opinion, the saved search functionality is one of the most powerful and easy-to-use tools available to NetSuite users; whether you are brand new to NetSuite or are a highly-experienced user with a technical background, you’ll find that saved searches can make accessing data fast and easy.  In this post, we’ll discuss the basics of using Summary Types in saved searches (both as criteria and in the results) and look at a few practical examples that show how you can make use of Summary Types to enhance your searches.