Top 3 NetSuite 2020.1 New Module Features

For 20 years, twice a year, Oracle has been providing updates on NetSuite addressing everything from customer requests to updating specific roles in NetSuite. All to ensure a better platform for users and to assist customers in their wants and needs to enable businesses to grow. In NetSuite’s latest update 2020.1, NetSuite introduces features to enable customers to perform at their best. Not just in the short term but for the foreseeable future. In this article, I have highlighted 3 modules that are truly game-changing for NetSuite and its customers. Now, let’s dive in:

Inventory Management Enhancements

NetSuite release 2020.1 ensures you never lose track of any inventory. With this update you can now track, replenish and allocate inventory items with these three features:

Supply Allocation Exceptions Management

In the 2020.1 release, NetSuite users can access supply allocation exceptions to help make more informed reallocation choices. Users can now review all sources of supply and order allocations to ensure that high priority sales orders ship with the correct items on time. With this update, NetSuite can now generate intelligent supply reallocation recommendations for users. These features were added to Supply Allocation Exceptions Management in 2020.1 release:

1. Exceptions on Demand Orders: displays a reallocate link that reallocates the order item page where you can reallocate items.
2. When a supply order has allocated demand, the allocated demand column displays a link to reallocate the order item page where you can reallocate those items
3. The new reallocate order item offers performance like:

• • Generating recommendations
  • Ability to accept recommendations and reallocate to allocate the resources needed
  • View the targeted sales order number on the reallocate orders items page header
  • View possible source orders resources on the select orders for reallocation subtab
  • The affected orders subtab displays a system recommended list of orders, resources, and order impact
  • The allocated supply subtab displays the available supplies to target and candidate orders after you allocate supplies

Warehouse Management Enhancements (WMS)

1. Inventory status filter for bin lists when using the inventory status feature on the mobile app
2. Real-time recommendations of bin list on a mobile device
3. New pick strategy filter options. The transaction type filter now includes the work order and replenishment options. Users can apply pick strategies to either transaction type
4. WMS now uses bulk processing jobs to create fulfillment for released orders. We can monitor the status of multiple bulk processing jobs in real-time and view any fulfillment orders
5. Workbook support for warehouse management records: wave transaction, pick task record, pick task strategy record, zone record, item family group record, item process group record

Supply Chain Control Tower Enhancements

1. Location records now include user entry predicted risk section composted of days late fields
2. Capabilities to provide intelligent predictions and simulations on transfer order risks and recommended actions that will optimize your supply chain
3. The new “Suite Analytics Supply Chain Workbook” provides a way to efficiently analyze supply chain imbalances
4. Meet delivery requirements by automating the re-allocation of inventory when supply is constrained with new supply exceptions capabilities
5. Optimize outsourced manufacturing operations by automatically creating work orders when placing a purchase order on your contract manufacturer activities
6. Ability to schedule automatic creation of fulfillment requests simplifies supply allocation while predictive analytics can determine what orders might be at risk for a delay and make recommendations 

Order Management Updates

For upgrades on the way you manage/ revise subscriptions, revenue management, and multi-subsidiary customers, check out these features from NetSuite’s 2020.1 release

Subscription Revisions

1. When users create, edit or void a subscription change order, NetSuite generates a subscription revision with the individual contract modifications and the associated revenue impacts
2. NetSuite added the ability to update and make bulk changes to subscriptions
3. Can set subscription charge periods to align with subscription start date rather than its bill dates
4. Automatically extend the estimated revenue recognition end date. When you create a new subscription never need to manually extend the end date

Multi-Subsidiary Customer Integration with Billing Accounts

If you have billing accounts across subsidiaries, you can take advantage of all multi-subsidiary customer features and add secondary subsidiaries to existing customers

New Accounting Preference Related to Advanced Revenue Management (ARM)

1. Can now use the new “Create Revenue Elements to Subscription Revisions” accounting preference to determine whether individual revenue elements are created for each subscription change order
2. Improved visibility into contract revenue brings better insight into revenue allocation and increases an organization’s understanding of whether offerings have been fully billed or not

Employee Management Upgrades

In NetSuite’s 2020.1 release companies can now manage their employees with less hassle, using a variety of new features

Employee Change Improvements

1. Human resource administrators can enter guidelines and relevant links on the employee change request type page to assist managers in imitating employee change requests (ECR’s)
2. HR administrators can now view insights on the range of employees’ salary increases and job duration based on two years of organizational data. These insights provide context to help managers and approvers make informed decisions when approving or declining change requests. To enable insights, Setup > HR Information System > Employee Change Request Types and click the insights tab on the change request type
3. With the bonus dispersal and pay feature, organizations can now setup bonus types and targets, track historical payouts and enter current/ future bonuses
4. CSV imports can now perform bulk updates to employee records of past, current, or future date. In order to reflect changes from a review cycle or changes from a department re-organization
5. Lastly, organizations can speed up the employee exit processes with the ability to create an offboarding plan and set tasks to be due for assignees based on the exiting employees’ scheduled termination date

Advanced Employee Permissions

1. Can customize advanced employee permissions to restrict the instances that a role has access to the employee record by location and subsidiary
2. In order to customize restrictions for advanced employee permissions, you must have the manage custom restrictions permission enabled
3. When advanced employee permissions feature is enabled, it now includes the employee record full permission. A role with this permission can access all the information on the employment record, except the fields and sub-lists exposed by the employee system access permission

Employee Specific Expense Report Attachments and Override

Users can now select an expense account for individual expense items on an expense report. Also, a new expense report file structure has been added to the file cabinet.

• To enable the employee-specific attachments, Setup > Company > Enable Features then under data management, check the enhanced file security (use the employee-specific expense folders box)
• When you enable this feature, any expense report attachments are automatically submitted to a dedicated employee’s expenses folder

Time Modifications Enhancements

1. Now able to update unbilled or non-posted time entries with generated charges
2. When you filter time entries on the “update time entries” page, only time entries you have permission to edit appear in the list
3. Now bulk edit all time entries submitted for assigned projects (must be assigned the project manager role to have full access to the bulk time entry modification)
4. Can use a workbook to audit all-time entry updates and actions
5. When ‘Override Rates on Time Records” is turned on, you can see the rate and price level for each time entry

If you would like more information on this topic or others related to NetSuite, please reach out to RSM’s NetSuite professionals by contacting us at NetSuite@rsmus.com or call 855.437.7202.

Daniel McDermott