How Suite It Is!

Current NetSuite users will soon have even more to love about their NetSuite solution with NetSuite’s upcoming new release – and how fitting that the upgrade is scheduled to happen on a day known for love, Valentine’s Day.  And just to make sure you don’t get your sweets mixed up with your suites, we are sharing some of the excellent enhancements you can expect to see with this impending upgrade.  This new release includes updates for NetSuite ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Ecommerce, OneWorld, and SuiteCloud Platform, but there is so much to talk about that today we are only covering the enhancements to NetSuite’s ERP module.  So if you are a NetSuite ERP user, expert, or enthusiast, below is a sneak peek at what NetSuite has in store for you.

New Services Resource Planning
Mobile Timesheet and Expense Management with iPhone

Telecommuting is on the rise and more work is being completed when we are away from the office and on the go. Using just a smartphone and an internet connection, many of our day-to-day tasks can be accomplished anytime, anywhere. Mobile capabilities are particularly relevant to consultants and other professionals who are responsible for tracking project-related time and expenses on a regular basis.

With NetSuite Version 2014 Release 1, we are excited to introduce the latest version of the NetSuite for iPhone app. This new version enables iPhone users to work with more record types, plus offers mobile-specific time tracking and expense management capabilities. Users can:

• Create and submit time entries and expense reports after completing a job, directly upload images of receipts, view time entries on a timesheet/week basis, and more
• Manage business relationships with complete access to vendor and partner records, and create, edit and approve bills and purchase orders
• Track and maintain other important business information via custom record support, specifically search for any exposed custom record, use saved searches to access more NetSuite data, and create and update information without the need for prior configuration
• Upload any image from the device, such as a receipt photographed with an iPhone, as an attachment to any supported record

Improved Work Order Management

Although manufacturers are always seeking growth, they must stay mindful of their capacity. Insufficient capacity can result in turning away or delaying orders and eventually customer dissatisfaction and business decline. Capacity constraints are painfully noticeable when having to prioritize work order scheduling and determine what inventory can be committed to meet demand.

With NetSuite Version 2014 Release 1, work order planning is easier to manage since production managers can now monitor planned build-completion time for work orders against work center capacity. New statuses are available for work orders—for instance, work orders that have yet to start production can carry a planned status when inventory has not been committed. Similarly, work orders can carry a released status when inventory has been committed. A new field is also available for work orders for tracking time estimates. Planned time will be available on the work order, which will enable production managers to see the total time allocated to each of the work centers.

As a result of these enhancements to work orders, regular comparisons can be made between the capacity estimate for all work orders with planned status and the capacity estimate for the work centers on a daily basis. Production managers can be proactive and take the proper course of action whenever enough capacity is not available. Run your operations by optimizing your work order planning within capacity constraints.

Improved Credit Card Handling for Recurring Payments

Although credit cards are convenient for processing recurring payments, these transactions eventually confront an expiration date that can delay the billing process until a customer service representative is able to obtain updated credit card information from the cardholder. With NetSuite Version 2014 Release 1, we are excited to introduce a new capability that can provide a seamless recurring credit card payment process that won’t be interrupted by a card’s expiration date. A new option will be available in the payment tab of a sales order so that a customer service representative can flag the transaction as a recurring one, which will then communicate with the payment gateway. The system will now recognize all recurring transactions so that a sales representative will not have to perform additional work. As a result, merchants will not have to contact cardholders to obtain new credit card expiration dates and can maintain a seamless payment experience that will ensure incoming cash receipts. And because these payments will also be classified as recurring transactions, the interchange costs will be significantly lower than those of single mail order and telephone order transactions. Improve your profitability with improved credit card handling for recurring payments.

These are just three of the many exciting enhancements NetSuite is making to its ERP module.  Click over to NetSuite’s ERP upgrade sneak peek page to view the details on all of the upcoming improvements.  Which ERP enhancement are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in a comment below!