Whether you're a seasoned administrator or just beginning your journey, NetSuite offers a simplified approach to providing essential functionality to users. Take a deep dive into this blog to explore the key responsibilities of a NetSuite administrator, empowering you to tailor, maintain, and optimise NetSuite to meet the specific needs of your users.
Creating and Modifying Custom Roles
A role within NetSuite serves as a structured access configuration essential for managing user access to your account. The Administrator role is crucial for setting up roles that can be allocated to users, defining permissions for data viewing and editing.
These roles dictate the pages users can interact with in the NetSuite interface, shaping the tasks they can undertake. NetSuite offers a range of standard roles tailored to various employee roles like accountants and sales representatives, extending to vendors, partners, and customers with account privileges.
Custom Roles. Opting to customise a standard role instead of creating one from scratch can streamline the process and make it easier for making necessary permission changes to users' assigned roles. This flexibility allows for modifications to be made to a role without the hassle of adjusting multiple users' role assignments, ultimately simplifying maintenance tasks.
Customising a Standard Role. To customise a standard role, go to Setup > Users/Roles > User Management > Manage Roles, and on the Manage Roles page, click Customise next to a standard role. This type of custom role inherits all the standard role’s permissions to start, and you can make changes as necessary. In the Name field, enter a name for this custom role. This name should be easy for you to recognise when assigning it to users. Example: CompanyName – <role name>.
Creating Custom Roles. To create a new role that does not start with a list of associated permissions, go to Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles > New. You’ll first select the center type to base the role on. The center type sets default permissions and access levels that you can customise below. Note: If you are customising a standard role, the center type is predefined.
Copying an existing custom role. As Administrator, go to Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles. Click on Customise or Edit next to the role you want to copy. Enter a different name in the Name field. Example: CompanyName – <role name>. Save or Save As as needed.
Custom Item Number Fields. These custom item number fields are designed to enhance serial- and lot-numbered inventory records by allowing you to track specific information tailored to each item or workflow within your business. For instance, you can utilise these fields to monitor quality control procedures or manage recall information effectively.
Duplicate Detection
Every day, new data flows into your NetSuite account. It's up to the NetSuite Administrator to safeguard against duplicate records, ensuring that users have access to the most up-to-date and accurate information. Duplicate records can sneak in when data shares matching or similar details.
There are four record types that support duplicate detection: Customer (including Leads and Prospects), Vendor, Partner, and Contact. To enable duplicate detection, go to Setup > Company > Enable Features.
On the Company subtab in the Data Management section, confirm that the following features are selected:
- Inline Editing: Allows you to edit records directly from their corresponding list and from search results.
- Duplicate Detection and Merge: Allows duplicate detection of entity records and management of the duplicates.
Once you have enabled inline editing and merge features, you can navigate to it by going to Setup > Company > Duplicate Detection. Now you can define the criteria for detecting potential duplicates. On the Detection subtab, confirm or select the checkbox for Detect Customer Duplicates and the other available entities.
Tip! False duplicates might occur when multiple contact records, from one company, use the same domain name in their email addresses. Be sure to review the evaluation of the email field on a Company versus Contact record.
Publishing Personalised Dashboards
NetSuite offers a range of pre-set dashboard portlets for each tab within every center. Depending on your role, you have the flexibility to customise the majority of these default dashboard settings.
Personalisation options encompass the addition of portlets, layout definition, and portlet arrangement. As an administrator, you have the ability to personalise your own dashboard and share it with users who have similar roles within your center.
To publish a dashboard, you need to complete the following two steps:
- Personalise the dashboard you want to publish: Personalisation can involve changes you make to the standard NetSuite tabs or the creation of custom tabs of your own.
- Publish the dashboard: When you have finished personalising your own tabbed pages, you can publish one or more of them to appear on other users’ tabs.
See Publishing a Dashboard.
When you publish a dashboard, you make the following choices. Note that some choices can be changed after you have published the dashboard, and others cannot.
- The roles to which the dashboard should be published. (Can be changed later.)
- Whether the dashboard should be published to new users only or to both existing and new users, replacing existing users’ dashboards. (Can be changed later.)
- The tabbed pages to include in the dashboard. (Cannot be changed later.)
- The restriction levels for users’ dashboard personalisations. (Cannot be changed later.)
Once your dashboard is published, you have the flexibility to continue making adjustments and replicate it across any of your accounts as needed.
Extending NetSuite Capabilities with SuiteApps
SuiteApps are innovative tools that enhance NetSuite functionality to cater to specific industry and business requirements. These applications are crafted by Oracle NetSuite experts or members of the SuiteCloud Developer Network (SDN). SuiteApps are meticulously developed on the SuiteCloud platform and undergo certification as "Built for NetSuite" (BFN) to guarantee they meet all technical standards. BFN SuiteApps are revalidated biannually to ensure compatibility with each NetSuite release. Additionally, certain SuiteApps integrated into your account can also serve as valuable dashboard portlets.
You can view all SuiteApps in the SuiteApp Marketplace by clicking on the SuiteApps tab in the menu bar, or by navigating to
Customization > SuiteCloud Development > SuiteApp Marketplace.
Each SuiteApp is represented by a SuiteApp tile that contains the following information:
- SuiteApp Name: The name of the SuiteApp, as provided by the publisher or solution provider.
- Publisher: The publisher name that identifies the SuiteApp publisher or solution provider.
- First Release Date and Description: Roll over the tile to see the first SuiteApp release date and a brief description.
NetSuite SuiteApps are generally available for installation. Some SuiteApps are available only to accounts designated by NetSuite. For details about limitations that may apply to a specific SuiteApp, be sure to explore the prerequisites.
Supporting You Along the Way
Being a NetSuite administrator involves a range of responsibilities, from creating and customising roles to managing duplicate records and personalising dashboards. By extending NetSuite capabilities with SuiteApps, you can further enhance the functionality to meet specific business needs.
If you require support or guidance on navigating NetSuite, don't hesitate to get in touch with our team. We are here to assist you every step of the way, ensuring that you optimise NetSuite to its full potential.
