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.

NetSuite Saved Searches are a powerful tool.  Previous blog posts have covered more advanced uses of Saved Searches.  This post will cover a basic understanding of the header level checkbox options of a Saved Search. For the purpose of this blog, the name of the search being used is “Bill Lookup.”  

Any time an organization embarks on a change to technology there are several important decisions to make.  The most important is usually the product, followed by the vendor or in the case of NetSuite the partner to implement your ERP.  In this post we’ll explore another critical decision point that is often overlooked: choosing the right internal implementation team. 

Why are roles and permissions important?

 

Roles and permissions are how NetSuite controls what functions or records a user can or can't access.  A role is defined as a compilation of permissions or restrictions; permissions and restrictions are usually given around the functional role of each user.  Each user is granted access to NetSuite with a specific role(s).  From an administration point of view, permissions can be changed at a role level instead of for each individual user, making it easy to manage permissions for groups of users.

A great way to reduce manual efforts is to use the standard Electronic Bank Payments function in NetSuite.  Instead of manually entering in the ACH payments in your bank's interface, you can generate a standard NACHA file that can be uploaded to your bank. This is a free and easy bundle installation and setup.  

In my experience, people generally hate to escalate. Many team members think escalation is snitching on a fellow team member or will reflect bad on their own performance.  To a project manager, escalation is just another method of communication; it's how we can foresee and manage situations, and all projects have "situations" that impact scope, budget, or time.

Regardless if you are on time and on budget, people make or break a project.  What I’m going to discuss today is not managing scope and change orders, but rather managing changes that team needs to go through.

As humans, we are creatures of habit. When new systems are brought in, it requires the systems adopters to not only to learn a new system, but also change their processes. If change is not properly managed, a seemingly smooth project can be easily thrown off the tracks.  

In my previous blog, we explored what Project Methodology is meant to do at a high level and why it is important.  When professional services organizations share their methodology with their customers, they are showing them what to expect and preparing them for success.  The more the client is bought into the outlined process and understands the value, the more likely the project is to succeed.

In any project, models or mock ups are the best way for Client’s to validate and communicate with the Project Team.  Written requirements and use cases are a great start and the next best step is to be able to see the functionality.  As a Project Manager, I have seen plenty of situations where Client’s expectations were not met, and development was already completed. This often results in frustration and wasted work.

Project Methodology is defined by the Project Management Institute as “a system of practices, techniques, procedures and rules used by those who work in a discipline.”  Project methodology is full of fancy buzz words like sprints, scrum master and burndowns.  It sounds complicated, but let’s breaks down what it really means and why it’s important for an organization and their clients.