Discover what’s new in the NetSuite 2024.2 release

The 2024.2 release of NetSuite delivers powerful upgrades designed to enhance various aspects of your business operations. This update introduces improvements in supply planning, manufacturing, shipping, and subscription management. These enhancements are designed to simplify your workflows, boost accuracy, and support smarter decision-making. In this blog, we’ll explore the key features of NetSuite 2024.2 and show you how they can help your business grow.

NetSuite 2024.2 introduces major advancements in supply planning that enhance efficiency and control. Key updates include a revamped Supply Planning Workbench, refined planning parameters, and smarter Planning Engine logic, making it simpler to manage your supply plans.

• Supply planning workbench: Improved navigation and customization options reduce clicks and make inventory management more intuitive. Users can now seamlessly move between items without returning to the summary page, making it easier to compare inventory levels.
• Minimum order quantity (MOQ) and lot sizing options: Users can now combine MOQ with any lot-sizing option, offering greater flexibility in order management. MOQ has been updated from a lot-sizing parameter to an additional limit, providing more control over order quantities.
• Extended demand planning horizon and purchase lead time: The 2024.2 release extends the demand planning horizon from 1 year to 3 years, offering businesses more flexibility and control when planning for the future. Additionally, the purchase lead time has been extended from 1 year to 10 years, allowing for more comprehensive long-term planning and better alignment with strategic goals.
• Workday calendar for Purchase Orders: The Supply Planning Engine now recognizes workday calendar entries for purchase orders, giving users more control over when purchase orders are received. This feature allows the assignment of working and non-working dates for POs, which previously applied only to work orders.
• Improved cycle error handling: The Supply Planning Event Log now provides more detailed cycle error information, including links that explain the cause and how to correct it. Users can exclude problematic transactions directly from the supply plan without refreshing the entire repository, improving error reporting and troubleshooting.

The NetSuite 2024.2 release introduces several new capabilities to Ship Central, aimed at maximizing packing and shipping efficiency within the SCM Mobile or Ship Central module.

• Packing by waves: You can now search and pack orders by wave number, allowing for more efficient packing of all orders within a wave. This feature simplifies the packing process by enabling users to filter by wave, packing multiple orders associated with a single wave transaction.
• Reopening packed cartons: The “Reopen cartons that ship as is” rule allows you to open packed cartons and add additional items before shipping. This flexibility means you can adjust shipments without having to start the packing process over.
• Shipping with best rate: The app can now automatically select the most economical shipping method for your orders. By enabling the rate shopping rule, the system applies filters to choose the best available rate without requiring intervention from the shipping manager.
• Mark as shipped option: After packing orders in the app, you can now mark fulfillments as Shipped directly from the packing summary screen. This eliminates the need to complete the entire packing process in Ship Central, streamlining order fulfillment.
• Tracking shipped packages: You can track packages directly from item fulfillment. By clicking on the Delivery Details link, you can view the package’s location, delivery status, and history from the carrier.
• Advanced shipping options: The app now supports additional shipping options for carriers, such as handling hazardous materials, delivered duty paid, and payment details for collected shipments. These options can be applied per package or carton, depending on carrier preferences.
• Printing return labels: The app now allows you to print return labels for local shipments. You can generate labels for one or more existing shipments and modify the carrier or method before printing.
• Bill to recipient: You can now bill shipping costs to recipients set up in the customer record or Ship Central Preferences page. This feature allows you to classify billing types and choose the appropriate billing method when adding a new account.
• Support for shipping items on commerce websites: Ship Central now supports displaying shipping methods on Commerce websites. Shoppers can select a shipping method during checkout, and the system will automatically create a shipping record in NetSuite.

Included in the 2024.2 release of NetSuite are improvements to SCM Mobile. These enhancements in SCM Mobile are designed to provide a better user experience, improve operational efficiency, and offer greater flexibility in managing mobile processes.

• Dedicated printing groups: You can now create and assign Print Groups to specific printers through PrintNode. This allows for better management of printing tasks by grouping printers based on location or team, and setting default or priority printers.
• Data table with colors: SCM Mobile now supports the use of six standard colors to highlight rows in data tables. You can configure up to three colors per table, setting conditions to apply colors to specific data. This visual enhancement helps users quickly identify important information, such as dates, statuses, or quantities, based on the set rules.
• Export and import configuration: The new export and import feature allows you to transfer standard mobile processes between different accounts using the same mobile app. This feature is particularly useful for replicating customized configurations without manually reapplying settings in each environment, saving time and ensuring consistency.
• Image capture and file upload for custom records: You can now attach images and files to custom records in addition to standard transaction records. This extended functionality enhances record-keeping and data management, allowing more flexibility in capturing and storing information relevant to your operations.

The NetSuite 2024.2 release introduces several new features and enhancements for electronic bank payments, improving control, efficiency, and flexibility. Updates include:

• Role-based approval routing: You can now set approval limits based on roles rather than individual employees. This enhancement allows for more customized and scalable approval settings, improving decision-making and compliance.
• Send reminder email to primary approver: A new Send Reminder button on the Bill Payment Batch and Global Bill Payment Batch pages allows for reminder emails to be sent to primary approvers for batches in Pending Approval status. This feature helps speed up the approval cycle and minimize delays.
• New checkboxes and filters: The electronic bank payment Suitelets now include additional filtering options. Use the Amount From and Amount To fields to filter transactions by payment amount range, and the Include All Credits checkbox to display all credit transactions.
• Override vendor payment approval routing: The new electronic payments preference allows users to override vendor approval workflows, enabling the processing of both electronic and non-electronic payments with their respective approval levels. This resolves the restriction of processing non-EP payments under previous versions.
• Enhanced return email address preference: The Return Email Address and Custom Email Address fields on the Electronic Payments Preferences page now allow you to specify an email address for receiving responses to payment notifications.
• Identify PFA with global payments: You can now use the Total Payments filter in Saved Searches to identify if a PFA is processed using standard or global bill payment functionality. Add the Is Global Payment checkbox to differentiate between payment types.
• Support for tax calculations on term discounts: The Include Tax For Term Discounts box on the Accounting Preferences page now supports tax calculations for transactions with term discounts, applicable for accounts with SuiteTax disabled.

Bill Capture allows users to automatically scan and enter vendor bills into NetSuite via drag and drop or email, using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Document Understanding and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Users can then verify or edit field suggestions, create vendor bill records, and start the approval process. The 2024.2 release of NetSuite includes AI-powered enhancements to Bill Capture that improve accuracy, control, and efficiency in capturing vendor invoices. These updates streamline the invoice processing workflow, minimize errors, and provide more precise capture of scanned bills.

Scanned vendor bills page enhancements: Users can now upload PDF files with up to 30 pages. For optimal performance, it is recommended to keep files within this limit. Additionally, users can delete failed uploads and unnecessary files, which helps maintain organization and reduces space usage in the File Cabinet.

Review bill page enhancements: Several AI-driven improvements have been implemented, including:

• Enhanced matching technology compares additional purchase order values and highlights variances.
• Improved subsidiary, vendor, and location logic for better accuracy.
• New preferences allow you to choose whether linked Purchase Order (PO) content needs review or should be automatically created.
• Direct file deletion from the Review Scanned Bill page and the ability to delete multiple item and expense lines simultaneously.
• Custom segment filtering and sourcing, including support for custom segments in primary information, item lines, and expense lines.
• Type-ahead functionality for all fields, and warnings if item and expense amounts from the PO do not match.
• Clearer PO details in the popup window, including item descriptions, units, and rates.
• Enhanced accuracy through mapping improvements, such as considering sender email addresses, customer addresses, and zip codes.

The 2024.2 release introduces several enhancements to NetSuite WMS designed to improve inventory accuracy and streamline warehouse operations. These updates focus on optimizing cycle counts, barcode scanning, lot numbering, and wave management to boost efficiency and control within your warehouse.

• Cycle count updates:
  • Generate from plan mobile process: You can now create inventory counts directly from a cycle count plan using the app, with the ability to handle up to ten items per plan.
  • Start and complete counts on the app: Activate the “Start and Complete Counts on App” rule to begin and finalize cycle counts within the app. Once counts are processed and completed, they are automatically submitted for approval.
  • Change lot entry sequence: Enabling the “Change Lot Entry Sequence for Counts?” rule allows lot numbers and quantities to be entered on the same screen, reducing errors associated with the previous sequence that required input on separate screens.
• Scan barcodes with bulk serial numbers: The “Scan Bar Codes with Bulk Serial Numbers?” rule enables scanning of an item barcode with up to 50 serial numbers during PO receiving. This feature streamlines the process by allowing you to review serial numbers on the item receipt without scanning each individually.
• Autogenerate lot numbers: The “Autogenerate Lot Numbers?” rule now supports generating lot numbers during the Build Assembly process for work orders on the app, simplifying the assembly build by automating lot number creation.
• Bin replenishment scheduling: You can now create and manage bin replenishment schedules directly from the NetSuite UI, specifying frequency, start time, and end time. Notifications for successful or failed runs are available, and scheduled replenishment tasks are accessible on the app.
• Wave Saved Search updates: The Wave Saved Search now includes additional timestamp columns for Created Date, Released Date, and Completed Date, allowing you to prioritize orders more effectively. The updated search also includes a “Printed Pick Ticket” filter to help generate lists of waves with or without printed pick tickets.

The 2024.2 release of NetSuite introduces several enhancements to SuiteBilling, designed to simplify and enhance subscription management. These new features cater to businesses with consumption-based pricing models, improving billing accuracy and efficiency while providing greater flexibility in managing subscriptions.

Key enhancements include:

• Prepay functionality: Businesses can now charge in advance for services, allowing customers to consume these services over their contract period. The system tracks the remaining prepayment balance and can automatically replenish it when it drops below a set threshold.
• Integration with CPQ: NetSuite’s configure, price, and quote (CPQ) solution now integrates with SuiteBilling, enabling subscription items to be included in product configurations. This integration streamlines the sales process, especially for businesses that offer both services and physical products.
• Saved Search email alerts: New options allow users to receive email alerts when subscription records, lines, or change orders are created or updated. This ensures timely monitoring and management of subscription changes.
• Optional subscription plan and price book: Subscription plans and price books are no longer mandatory when creating new subscriptions, providing flexibility to create custom subscriptions with add-on lines.
• Pricing detail breakdown: Invoices and charges now include detailed pricing per tier, helping customers understand the breakdown of their charges. This information can be added to PDF documents for transparency.
• Total contract value metrics: A new summary section on the subscription record page displays metrics like total contract value, active contract value, and more. These metrics can be used for detailed reporting and scripting.

NetSuite 2024.2 introduces a new feature called Advanced Revenue Management (ARM) in Configuration Mode, designed to streamline the setup of ARM without disrupting your current revenue recognition processes. Traditionally, when ARM is enabled, all transactions are immediately processed through the ARM engine, which can force businesses to halt operations while they configure their ARM setup. The new Configuration Mode addresses this challenge by allowing you to configure both Advanced Revenue Management (Essentials) and Advanced Revenue Management (Revenue Allocation) without impacting your ongoing revenue recognition activities. This ensures that your ARM setup is fully complete before it goes live. ARM in Configuration Mode is automatically enabled when you turn on the Advanced Revenue Management (Essentials) feature, maintaining your existing revenue recognition processes until you’re ready to transition to ARM.

While ARM in Configuration Mode is active, your revenue recognition continues as it did before enabling ARM, giving you the necessary time to ensure everything is set up correctly. Once you disable ARM in Configuration Mode, all future transactions will be processed using the Advanced Revenue Management (Essentials) feature. It’s important to note that this mode cannot be re-enabled after it has been disabled, so ensure your configuration is complete before making the switch. This new feature is particularly valuable for businesses looking to implement ARM without the risk of interrupting their current operations, providing a smoother and more controlled transition to advanced revenue management.

NetSuite 2024.2 introduces significant improvements to the Manufacturing Mobile SuiteApp, aimed at streamlining production processes and strengthening manufacturing controls.

Key Features:

• GS1 barcode scanning: Automatically populates Lot Number, Serial Number, Expiry Date, and Quantity values in the production process, improving efficiency and accuracy.
• Lot auto numbering integration: Automatically generates lot numbers through integration with the Lot Auto Numbering SuiteApp.
• Enhanced Scrap Tracking: Allows capturing and tracking of scrap reasons directly in the mobile app, with the ability to assign reason codes to locations.
• Advanced machine and labor controls: Perform multiple work orders or operations simultaneously at a work center, with the ability to badge in using an employee-assigned ID.
• Mobile label printing: Enables printing of labels directly from a mobile device after production, with customizable label templates at the item level to meet specific organizational needs.

Excited to leverage the powerful enhancements in NetSuite 2024.2 for your business? Whether you’re ready to dive in and start using these new features or want to explore further, Rand Group is here to help. As a trusted NetSuite Partner with a track record of successful implementations and ongoing support, we’re dedicated to helping businesses thrive with NetSuite. Reach out to one of our NetSuite experts today to discover how you can leverage the latest innovations in NetSuite 2024.2 for your organization’s success.