What’s new in the latest NetSuite 2021 Release 1?

As companies look ahead to new growth opportunities in 2021, NetSuite 2021 Release 1 brings more automation and intelligence into everything from financial and project management to multi-subsidiary operations and analytics. We have selected some of the most exciting enhancements included in this release to provide a quick overview of some of the enhancements.

As part of NetSuite 2021.1, NetSuite has included a new Advanced Numbering feature that enables you to set up flexible document and transaction numbering that reflect the requirements of the country you are doing business in. This feature allows using prefixes and suffixes and creating multiple complex numbering sequences per transaction type, fiscal year, and other selected criteria. Advanced numbering uses rule sets and rules to define the numbering scheme and set the run order for the rules in the set.

The advanced numbering feature also determines the numbering to use when importing transactions from another application. If external document numbers are present, Advanced Numbering uses those document numbers otherwise uses Advanced Numbering rules to generate document numbers. These transactions can be imported using any of the following methods:

• SuiteScript
• CSV Import
• REST
• JSON

This new enhancement now allows adding invoices not associated with a sales order to an invoice group. With the ability to group invoices you can now use this feature for projects and subscriptions. It also allows you to group imported invoices.

You can now also add an invoice to an invoice group from the invoice. If an invoice is eligible for grouping, an Add to Group button appears on the invoice. A list of all available groups appears, and you can select the invoice group that you want to add the invoice to.

NetSuite 2021.1 introduces the Centralized Purchasing and Billing feature to OneWorld accounts that enables you to receive orders and fulfill vendor returns across multiple subsidiaries. This feature enables the automation of intercompany cross charges between the billing subsidiary and the target subsidiary. The automation can be set to run automatically when the accounting period closes.

Posting vendor bill variances are also compatible with Centralized Purchasing and Billing. This includes support for multi-currency scenarios, in case the base currency between subsidiaries differs. When you enable Centralized Purchasing and Billing feature, the Vendor Return Authorization transaction and Ship Vendor Returns page also contains the Target Subsidiary and Target Location columns.

One of the enhancements that we think most of our AP users will be excited about is the introduction of Default Vendor Payment Account preference. With this enhancement, you can set the default vendor payment account on three levels:

• Company Level – Set a company-wide accounting preference
• Subsidiary Level – Set preferences at the subsidiary level
• Vendor Level – Set preferences for individual vendors

Individual preferences override preferences set on a higher level. For example, a default vendor payment account set for a vendor overrides the setting at the subsidiary or company level.

Some of the exciting new features added to SuiteAnalytics is the introduction of NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (Beta), which calculates measures and conditional formatting in SuiteAnalytics Workbook, and updates to SuiteAnalytics Connect.

NetSuite Analytics Warehouse has been released as a beta version (subject to changes or discontinuation without prior notice) with NetSuite release 2021.1. With NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (Beta), you can extend the analyses of your data to include historical data from multiple sources in addition to what is currently available in SuiteAnalytics Workbook. This data can then be used for analysis and better insights with a wide set of visualization.

With NetSuite release 2021.1, you can now enhance your pivot tables and charts by creating calculated measures. Calculated measures are custom measures that you define by creating a calculation from existing measures and basic operators. You can now also apply conditional formatting to your workbook table view and pivot table results. Conditional formatting highlights results based on rules you define, allowing you to quickly analyze data. This can be applied to any fields with number or string values, including custom formula fields and calculated measures.

If you have any questions about the changes and enhancements listed above, our team of certified NetSuite experts can help. Contact a Rand Group representative to answer your questions today.