NetSuite, as one of the leading cloud-based ERP systems, has revolutionised how businesses manage financials, operations, and customer relations. With its broad scope and flexibility, it’s no surprise that businesses worldwide rely on NetSuite to run their daily operations. However, mastering NetSuite's administration is essential to fully unlocking its potential.
This guide breaks down 10 critical NetSuite administrative tasks that every business should prioritise. By properly managing these tasks, businesses can ensure the smooth operation of NetSuite, mitigate risks, and leverage the platform’s full power to drive efficiency and growth.
1. User Management: Creating and Assigning Roles
User management in NetSuite is not just about adding or removing employees from the system; it’s about ensuring that each individual has access only to what they need. This means managing roles, permissions, and access control with precision.
Why It Matters
Giving users too much access exposes the business to risks, including data breaches and unauthorised transactions. On the other hand, too little access can reduce efficiency, as employees may lack the necessary tools and permissions to perform their tasks.
Best Practices
- Custom Role Creation: While NetSuite offers default roles (like Administrator, Accountant, etc.), custom roles can be created to match specific job functions. For instance, you might want to create a "Junior Accountant" role that has fewer permissions than the standard "Accountant" role.
- Segregation of Duties: One key principle in access management is to separate duties to prevent fraud or errors. For example, the person who approves invoices should not also be the one creating them.
- Scheduled Audits: Regularly audit user roles to ensure they are up-to-date. Business roles change, and so should access permissions. Additionally, remove access for users who have left the company or changed roles.
2. Data Management and Backups: Protecting Your Data
In today’s digital landscape, data is one of the most valuable resources a company has. With NetSuite, your financial data, transaction history, and even customer information are stored in the cloud. Having a robust data management and backup strategy is critical.
Why It Matters
Data loss can occur due to system errors, human mistakes, or cyber threats. Without proper backups, businesses could face catastrophic consequences, including financial losses, reputational damage, and operational downtime.
Best Practices
- Backup Frequency: Implement regular automated backups using SuiteCloud tools. It's important to store these backups in multiple locations (on-site and off-site) to safeguard against localised data loss.
- Data Export/Import Protocols: When transferring large sets of data, such as during system migration or integration with another platform, follow strict import/export protocols to avoid data corruption.
- Regular Data Cleansing: Over time, data can become redundant or outdated. Schedule periodic cleansing sessions to remove obsolete records, duplicates, and irrelevant data, which helps in system optimization and maintaining data quality.
3. Customization and Scripting: Tailoring NetSuite to Your Needs
NetSuite’s customizability is one of its key strengths. Administrators can tailor everything from dashboards and reports to automating complex business processes using SuiteScript. However, customising NetSuite can also introduce complexity and potential performance issues.
Why It Matters
Customization allows businesses to modify NetSuite’s interface and workflows to match specific operational needs, thus improving productivity. Without customization, businesses may struggle to fit into NetSuite’s out-of-the-box processes.
Best Practices
- Customization vs. Configuration: It’s important to distinguish between configuration (adjusting existing settings) and customization (adding new functionalities). Whenever possible, rely on configuration, as it’s less likely to cause performance issues or complicate future upgrades.
- Maintain a Customization Log: Keep a detailed log of every customization and script added to the system. This will make troubleshooting easier and prevent conflicts during system updates.
- Testing and Version Control: Use NetSuite’s SuiteCloud Development Framework (SDF) for version control and always test custom scripts in a sandbox environment before applying them to your production system.
4. Transaction Management: Keeping the Flow Smooth
Effective transaction management is at the heart of any ERP system. In NetSuite, transactions include purchase orders, sales orders, invoices, payments, and journal entries. Properly managing these transactions is crucial for accurate financial reporting and cash flow management.
Why It Matters
Mismanaged transactions can lead to inaccurate financial data, which in turn leads to poor decision-making. Whether it’s missing payments, duplicate invoices, or incorrect journal entries, transaction issues can wreak havoc on your business's financials.
Best Practices
- Automation: Wherever possible, automate routine transaction tasks. For example, set up automated reminders for overdue invoices or unsent purchase orders to ensure transactions don’t fall through the cracks.
- Reconciliation: Regular reconciliation of bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial records with NetSuite’s transaction records is crucial for preventing discrepancies. This should be done monthly, if not more frequently.
- Transaction Audit Trails: Use NetSuite’s audit trail functionality to track every change made to a transaction. This ensures transparency and allows you to quickly identify the source of errors.
5. Financial Reporting: Generating Actionable Insights
Financial reporting is the cornerstone of any business’s decision-making process. In NetSuite, administrators can generate a wide variety of financial reports, including balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow reports.
Why It Matters
Accurate and detailed financial reports allow stakeholders to make informed decisions about the company’s financial health. Misreported figures or incomplete data can lead to poor strategic choices, missed opportunities, and even regulatory penalties.
Best Practices
- Report Customization: Don’t settle for generic reports. Customise financial reports to reflect key performance indicators (KPIs) specific to your business. You can add custom fields and filters to ensure that the data is relevant and actionable.
- Scheduling Reports: NetSuite allows you to schedule reports to be generated and emailed automatically. Use this feature to ensure that your leadership team has access to up-to-date financial data.
- Drill-Down Functionality: One of NetSuite’s strengths is its ability to drill down into reports to see the underlying transactions. Use this feature to trace discrepancies back to their source and resolve issues before they become larger problems.
6. System Performance Monitoring: Keeping NetSuite Running Smoothly
NetSuite is a robust platform, but as with any software, system performance can degrade over time, especially as the volume of transactions and data grows. Regularly monitoring system performance ensures that the platform continues to meet the needs of the business.
Why It Matters
A sluggish system can slow down employees, delay critical business processes, and reduce overall productivity. Additionally, performance issues could be indicative of deeper problems, such as misconfigured custom scripts or excessive data storage.
Best Practices
- SuiteAnalytics Workbook: Use SuiteAnalytics Workbook to monitor system performance metrics, like response time and system errors. By keeping a close eye on these metrics, you can proactively address performance bottlenecks.
- Script Optimization: Overly complex custom scripts can drag down system performance. Regularly review scripts for optimization opportunities, such as reducing the number of calculations or simplifying logic.
- Cache Management: Use NetSuite’s built-in tools to manage cache and optimise memory usage, especially after large data imports or during peak usage periods.
7. Security and Auditing: Safeguarding Your Business
As a cloud-based system, NetSuite holds a wealth of sensitive information, including financial records, customer data, and operational details. Ensuring the security of this data is paramount for both legal compliance and business continuity.
Why It Matters
Cybersecurity threats are more prevalent than ever. Whether it’s data breaches, unauthorised access, or ransomware attacks, the consequences of a security lapse can be devastating. Moreover, businesses in regulated industries must comply with strict security and privacy requirements.
Best Practices
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Implement 2FA for all users to add an additional layer of security. This makes it much harder for unauthorised users to gain access, even if passwords are compromised.
- Password Policy Enforcement: Require strong passwords that include a mix of characters, numbers, and symbols. Set policies for password expiration and reuse to further enhance security.
- Regular Security Audits: Perform periodic security audits, reviewing user access logs and tracking any unusual behaviour. NetSuite’s audit trail feature can help identify potential security risks before they escalate.
8. Workflows and Automation: Streamlining Processes
NetSuite’s SuiteFlow feature allows admins to design and implement workflows that automate a wide range of processes, from order approvals to employee onboarding. Effective use of workflows can drastically reduce the time spent on manual tasks.
Why It Matters
Automating repetitive tasks helps eliminate human error, reduce operational costs, and speed up business processes. Without automation, businesses risk inefficiency and inconsistency in their workflows, which can lead to costly mistakes.
Best Practices
- Simple Yet Effective Workflows: Start with simple workflows, such as approval processes for purchase orders or notifications for overdue invoices. As you become more comfortable with the tool, you can build more complex workflows that incorporate conditional logic and custom actions.
- Testing in Sandbox: Always test new workflows in a sandbox environment to ensure they function as expected. This avoids disruption to live processes.
- Maintenance: Over time, workflows may become obsolete or inefficient. Regularly review and update them to ensure they continue to meet your evolving business needs.
9. Data Cleanup and Optimization: Enhancing System Performance
As a business grows, its NetSuite system can become cluttered with outdated or irrelevant data. This not only impacts system performance but also reduces the accuracy and usability of reports.
Why It Matters
Clean data is essential for effective decision-making. If your system is filled with outdated customer records or duplicate transactions, you’re likely to encounter errors in your reporting and operational processes.
Best Practices
- Archiving: Instead of deleting old transactions or records, consider archiving them. NetSuite’s SuiteStorage module can help manage this data in a way that reduces system load without permanently deleting valuable historical information.
- Duplicate Management: Use NetSuite’s built-in duplicate detection tools to identify and merge duplicate records. Regularly reviewing customer and vendor lists ensures your data is accurate and up-to-date.
- Data Retention Policies: Develop and implement a clear data retention policy that aligns with your business needs and legal requirements. Automate the archiving and deletion of records based on these policies.
10. Training and Support: Empowering Your Team
Even the most powerful system is only as good as its users. Providing ongoing training and support ensures that your team is equipped to use NetSuite effectively and efficiently.
Why It Matters
A lack of training can lead to mistakes, frustration, and underutilization of NetSuite’s features. This can, in turn, slow down business processes and prevent you from realising the full value of your NetSuite investment.
Best Practices
- Regular Training Sessions: Offer regular training sessions, especially when new features or updates are introduced. Tailor training programs to the specific roles within your organisation, focusing on the features that are most relevant to each user group.
- Documentation and Resources: Create a repository of training materials, such as user guides, FAQs, and tutorial videos. Make these resources easily accessible to employees so they can troubleshoot issues independently.
- NetSuite Support: Leverage NetSuite’s extensive support resources, including user forums, customer service, and the NetSuite SuiteAnswers knowledge base. Encourage your team to explore these resources when they encounter challenges.
Conclusion: Mastering NetSuite Administration
Mastering NetSuite’s administration tasks is essential for any business aiming to streamline its operations, safeguard its data, and make the most of this powerful ERP platform. From user management and data protection to custom workflows and system optimization, each task plays a vital role in ensuring that NetSuite runs efficiently and securely.
Whether you’re handling these tasks in-house or seeking expert assistance, the key is consistency and attention to detail. If your business is looking for help with NetSuite administration, System Strategist offers specialised support to ensure that your NetSuite environment is optimised, secure, and aligned with your business goals.
Contact us today to learn how we can help take your NetSuite system to the next level.
