Getting Started with NetSuite part 1

Getting Started with NetSuite

Logging in

You should have received an email from either the support desk or from NetSuite with your temporary username and password. Go to www.netsuite.com and click the Login button. After you enter your username and password you may be asked to set up 2 factor authentication. If you are asked complete the setup and enter the code sent by NetSuite.

When you login successfully for the first time you may be asked to change your password. Your password must fit the following requirements:

·      A prior password cannot be reused.

·      There must be a significant difference between a new password and the last password. (For example, a user cannot change a password from MyWord!123 to MyWord!145.)

·      Easy-to-guess passwords, such as common names, words, and strings like abcd123456 are prohibited.

·      Non-ASCII characters are considered illegal characters and are prohibited.

·      The minimum password length must be at least the minimum required by the selected password policy.

·      Passwords must contain the appropriate variety of character types specified by the selected password policy:

Character types are:

o  Uppercase alphabet (A, B, ... Z)

o  Lowercase alphabet (a, b, ... z)

o  Number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0)

o  Non-alphanumeric ASCII characters, for example ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ) ; ' [ ] "{ }.

After changing your password you will be asked to enter 3 password recovery questions. If you forget your password you can you these questions to gain access to your account.

NetSuite Roles

When you are set up as a new user in NetSuite you will have at least one role this role is the employee center role. In our case it will be called TC Employee Center. This role has very limited access and we use it primarily to enter and view Expense Reports. Based on your responsibilities and needs within NetSuite you may have 1 or more additional roles assigned. To see, change or select your role, click on your name in the upper right hand portion of the screen.

Preferences

You are able to customize NetSuite to customize how NetSuite works for you. You can access your personal preferences by Navigating to the Home button and selectin set Preferences.

There are a lot of preferences and most of them are probably fine as they are set. If you need information on a particular preference you can click the label near the field and it will show you a brief help topic or explanation of the field.

You can personalize the look and feel of your NetSuite account by navigating to the Appearance tab and selecting a Color Theme. This is extremely useful if you are going to be using the NetSuite Sandbox, typically I recommend choosing different colors for your Production and Sandbox instances, this will give you a quick visual reference to determine which environment you are working in.

Dashboards

You can create a unique dashboard setup to ensure maximum efficiency and ease when you use NetSuite. For each user, NetSuite displays a variable set of tabbed pages, called a center. The center is based on the user's assigned role. Each NetSuite center provides the pages and links that users with the same role need to do their jobs.

Most tabbed pages of each center display a collection of real-time data relevant to the page and to the role of the user viewing the page. This collection, called a dashboard, provides a visual workspace that gives users instant, uninterrupted access to accurate information. A dashboard is available not only on your home page, but on every page you see in NetSuite except the Documents, Setup, and Customization pages. On your dashboards, you can view the data you need to make decisions, and edit records.

Dashboard content is displayed in a variety of portlets, dynamic data display windows. Some portlets provide direct access to raw data, and others display data that has been synthesized into critical business metrics, such as key performance indicators (KPIs), performance scorecards, trend graphs, chart-based workbooks, and report snapshots. Other portlets enable you to display data from website RSS feeds.

For each page, NetSuite provides a default dashboard configuration that can be changed to meet individual users' business needs. Administrators can personalize the dashboards for one or more pages and publish them to a group of users so that they all see a consistent interface. The dashboards that users see depend on their roles. Administrators can choose whether to give individual users the ability to personalize their own dashboards further.

You can customize the layout of your dashboard by using the Personalize and Layout buttons located in the menu bar. In a future document I will go through some of the many dashboard set up options that are available.

Or within the settings portlet.

Global Search

The NetSuite global search feature enables you to find records anywhere in your account data. In the Search field near the center at the top of any page, enter keywords that map to all or part of a record name or ID.

You can quickly move the cursor to this Search field by pressing Alt+G.

Global search keywords can be made up of letters, numbers, dashes, underscores, and % wildcards. Any other characters entered in keywords are considered white space. You can use OR as a separator in global search keywords. You can include a prefix in keywords to narrow the search by record type. A search prefix is made up of all or some of the letters of a record type plus a colon or a caret. For example, you could use it: to search for items.

For successful global searches, NetSuite recommends that the keywords you use are between 3 and 32 characters long. If a keyword is longer than 32 characters, all additional characters are ignored. If a keyword has less than 3 characters or is not unique, your search may not return the results you expect when you are searching over a large amount of data.

By default, global search provides a list of suggested matches as you type. You can select a suggested match or press Enter to return all matching results.

• When you select a suggested match:
• To open a record in view mode, click directly on the record name.
• To open a record in edit mode, click Edit that appears at right.
• To open a record in a new tab or new window, right-click on the record name or Edit, and choose Open in New Tab or Open in New Window.
• To open the customer dashboard for a suggested customer record, click Dash that appears to the right.
• You can also use the Tab key to move through the suggested matches list.
• For more information, see Notes about Global Search Auto Suggest.
• When you press Enter, keywords are compared to record name and ID field values.
• If multiple records match your keywords, a list page of results opens. This list includes a Type column displaying the record type for each row.
• If only a single record matches, by default the record opens in view mode.
• To return a single result record on a list page instead, go to Home > Set Preferences, click the Analytics subtab, and check the Show List When Only One Result box.
• For item records, keywords also are compared to Vendor Name/ID and UPC Code values.
• If you have made any custom fields available for global search, keywords also are compared to these fields' values. See Including Custom Fields in Global Search.
• If you do not want a list of suggested matches to display for global searches, you can disable the Global Search Auto Suggest option at Home > Set Preferences on the Analytics subtab.

By default, global search results are sorted by record type, and within each record type, by name or ID. To sort results by name or ID, without dividing them by record type, you can enable the Global Search Sort by Name/ID option at Home > Set Preferences on the Analytics subtab.

Important

Global search is designed to return the best matches quickly, not to return every possible match. For searches with a large number of possible matches, global search limits results to maintain speed and ease of use. To return every possible match in result sets over 300 records, NetSuite recommends that you use a record type search instead. See Running Searches.

You can print, email, or export global search results to a CSV or Microsoft® Excel file.

Global Search Prefixes

You can use record type prefixes in global search keywords, to narrow search results to records of a single type. A search prefix is made up of some or all of the letters of a standard or custom record type name plus a colon or caret, for example: cu: or cu^ for customer searches, em: or em^ for employee searches, bu: or bu^ for budget searches.

Important

The global search prefixes that work for you may vary from the prefixes listed on this page, depending upon the language you have selected at Home > Set Preferences and renaming of records in your account by your account administrator.

The system provides “keywords starts with” matching for record type prefixes, meaning it returns results with record type names that either contain or start with the letters in a prefix.

For example, to search for an inventory item, you could use any of the following prefixes:

• i:
• it:
• inv:
• inve:

However, some of the above prefixes would return extra results, because they match more than one record type. For example, a prefix of inv: could return results for both inventory items and invoices.

For more details, see Example Global Search Prefixes.

For example, to search for results with a record type of plain text file, you could use any of the following prefixes:

• p:
• pl:
• t:
• te:
• fi:
• fil:

However, some of the above prefixes would return irrelevant results, because they are not unique matches to one record type name. If the letters entered as a prefix match more than one record type name in your system, the search may return records of more than one type. So for example, a prefix of p: could return results with record types of plain text file, phone call, promotion code, partner, page, and others.

Note that the colon and caret are special command characters for global search, used to separate a type specifier from keywords. If you enter characters that end with a colon or caret, you receive an error requesting keywords.

You can use a prefix of the entire record type name and enclose it in quotation marks to search for records only of that record type. This capability is useful when your account includes custom record types that contain the names of other record types, for example a custom record type named Customer Survey. In this case, use of the customer prefix causes the search to return only customer records, not customer survey records. Without the quotation marks, both record types would be returned.

By default, the cu prefix returns records only for customers, not for leads or prospects. To cause records for customers in all stages to be returned when you use the cu global search prefix, including leads, prospects, and customers, enable the Global Search Customer Prefix Includes Leads and Prospect preference, at Home > Set Preferences on the Analytics subtab.

Note

You can use the dash: prefix with a customer name to go directly to that customer's dashboard.

Example Global Search Prefixes

The following list of example global search prefixes is based on a language setting of English (U.S.) and default record names. This list is intended to provide examples, not a reference of prefixes that work for you!

Prefix

Record Type

cam

Campaign

cash

Cash Sale

con

Contact

cust

Customer

emp

Employee

est

Estimate

ev

Event

exp

Expense Report

fi

File

invo

Invoice

iss

Issue

it

Item

opp

Opportunity

par

Partner

ph

Phone Call

sales

Sales Order

You do not need to select a global search prefix from this list. You need to use the first few letters of the record type name as a prefix, enough to be unique so that other record types are excluded.

As always if there are any questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly.