Written by Having someone in your team that has strong SuiteScript skills is essential in maximizing the real potential of NetSuite for your client’s or your business.
However, that doesn’t mean that for every solution, you should always resort to scripting to make something happen.
When a NetSuite account becomes overloaded with scripts, it does more harm than good. The number one in the list of ugly results that it could bring is performance degradation. When too many scripts are deployed on a record, it leads to extreme slowness on data entry which then results to frustrated users and even worse, failed implementations.
A knowledgeable SuiteScript developer knows what type of scripts he/she needs to build upon understanding the use case. An exceptional SuiteScript developer seeks out simpler solutions before writing the script. This is also the reason why the mix of both functional and technical talents is crucial in ensuring your team’s success for maintaining the health of yours or your client’s NetSuite account.
Before you or your team decides to jump into scripting, look at the other avenues on how you can accomplish a certain requirement. We prepared a list below for your review:
Disclaimer: This article is not meant to discourage you from deploying scripts to your NetSuite accounts. There will always be a requirement that can only be delivered through scripting and that is why it is important to have a NetSuite Consultant in your team who is highly knowledgeable about NetSuite in order to diagnose and design the best solution for your NetSuite requirements. You can schedule a free 30-minute consultation with us to discuss your current requirement and receive an advisory about how to move forward.
1. Saved Searches
This is arguably the top skill to learn when you become a successful NetSuite professional. Saved searches is probably the most powerful tool in NetSuite. It is the most commonly used tool in building reports for the top-level managers and finance users of any company. It can go way back in time to find certain transactions. It can save a lot of time in auditing. And what’s the best thing about this is that you do not have to write a single line of code to use it. A common use case for Saved Searches is sending an email when a certain stage is reached by a transaction, like a notification to your customer when their order is being shipped.
2. CSV Import
Performing a bulk import or update of records is certainly possible via script. However, before you discuss specifications with your developer on this, explore CSV imports first. CSV Import is a must-learn tool for any NetSuite user as it is convenient to use and saves a huge amount of time. You can let it run in the background while it processes and focus on other tasks, improving efficiency. Do you usually receive complaints from your NetSuite users that they are getting tired of manually creating transactions in NetSuite? Introduce them to CSV Imports and they would love it!
3. Mass Update
Not everyone knows about NetSuite’s Mass Update feature but once discovered, it could bring huge difference in your automation goals. It is used to perform mass updates to hundreds or thousands of records, resulting to a massive increase in productivity. Its key difference versus CSV Imports is that its main purpose is to update records that are already existing in NetSuite. Another difference is that through Mass Update, you will have visibility on the records that you are going to update before proceeding by running a search and setting some criteria. Here’s a sample screen preview of how you will see the records that you are updating before confirming the action.
There is also an option to schedule it so you do not need to trigger it every time.
4. SuiteBuilder
SuiteBuilder, also known as the “point and click customization” to many is probably the top favorite feature of NetSuite among NetSuite professionals. With its array of features like adding custom fields and customizing transaction forms, it allows an organization the flexibility to customize their NetSuite account according to their specific business process. What’s nice about this is you can easily do this and only takes as fast as twenty seconds, without any coding involved. Be mindful of not overusing this feature though. Like scripts, it can also add clutters to your NetSuite system if not used properly.
5. Advanced PDF / HTML Templates
Advanced PDF / HTML Templates is one of the most valuable features of NetSuite in terms of customizing forms. This is what allows organizations to design their printed PDFs according to industry standards and government regulations. Take a look at this feature by following the navigational path shown on the following screenshot:
6. SuiteFlows
SuiteFlows, also known as “workflows”, is feature introduced by NetSuite primarily for users who are not familiar with scripting. It allows you to customize certain parts of your interaction with a NetSuite record without writing a single line of code. Through its “click and drag” functionality, you can add validations to specific fields, set some field values based on a user trigger or do something more advanced like designing an entire approval workflow. Though it’s designed for non-developer users, it’s still recommended for NetSuite Developers to learn this as 1) it is more intuitive and takes faster to implement which is useful in a fast-phased implementation and 2) it is advantageous to the end-user as it’s easier to maintain, eliminating the need to hire a developer. Take note though, that SuiteFlows behaves like scripting and so using too much of it will also add performance overhead.
Again, always resorting to scripting without following a proper planning, analysis and design could lead to catastrophic events in your NetSuite account later on. Learning about the available features before using SuiteScript will not just maximize your NetSuite investment but also prevent undesirable results that you will regret in the future.
Your team deserves to have an exceptional SuiteScript Developer. Someone who understands NetSuite very well and provides only the best solution for your NetSuite account. Click on the link below to have that conversation with us!
Contact LEACC CONSULTING now!
LEACC Consulting is a team of NetSuite Certified Developers with IT experience solely dedicated to NetSuite technologies for eight years. We are experts in both SuiteScript 2.0 and SuiteScript 1.0. Our team has worked with 400+ NetSuite scripts and workflows combined.
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