Introduction
NetSuite is an incredibly powerful Enterprise Resource Planning system with near endless customization and integration capabilities. To create this type of power, NetSuite built a unique ecosystem of features that combine to allow for easy alterations, automation, integrations, platform development, analysis and more.
In this article, we’ll take a brief look at the following unique-to-NetSuite features, and how they’re used to give NetSuite its award winning functionality:
- SuiteCloud Platform
- SuiteScript
- SuiteAnalytics
- SuiteTalk
- SuiteFlow
- SuiteBuilder
- SuiteBundler
What is the SuiteCloud Platform?
The SuiteCloud Platform allows for the customization of NetSuite instances. It’s designed for both no-code and coded development, and aims to reduce the time and effort required to make customizations and extensions in Netsuite. This not only reduces the workload required by IT staff, but allows businesses to remain more agile, adaptable, and change capable. The platform is designed to retain past customizations made by organizations, so that updates do not disrupt operations. Per NetSuite, it is designed to “configure, customize, integrate and programmatically extend any capability provided in the core product.”
What is SuiteScript?
One of the most powerful features of NetSuite is its ability to automate and customize business processes, thus decreasing the manual labor required by your organization. Built on JavaScript, SuiteScript is NetSuite’s platform for creating and maintaining these types of automations and customizations. This is done utilizing a combination of components including Suitelets, User Events, Portlets, UI Objects, Scheduled SuiteScript, and Client SuiteScripts.
A major benefit of being built off of JavaScript is that it can be modified using HTML and CSS, meaning that your technical staff isn’t stuck learning a new coding language just because they don’t have NetSuite development experience.
What is SuiteAnalytics?
Real-time analytics are an essential feature of any ERP or accounting system. With highly customizable platforms like NetSuite, it’s important to make sure that data flows across all of the customizations and add ons. SuiteAnalytics solves this issue by allowing for any customizations or applications that are built with SuiteCloud to seamlessly integrate. This allows you to utilize real-time dashboards in any custom applications, easily track and report on KPIs, and improve the functionality of your custom applications.
What is SuiteTalk?
SuiteTalk is NetSuite’s pre-built integration tool and is used for integrations between NetSuite and third-party systems, websites, mobile applications and more utilizing an API. Essentially, it serves as a way for all of these different systems to ‘talk’ to each other using a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).
As an added bonus, SuiteTalk comes with error handling and robust security, so you can be confident that your data is clean and secure.
What is SuiteFlow?
One of the biggest benefits of NetSuite is its ability to automate routine processes and tasks. These tasks can include data error handling, notifications, sales agent assignments, email automations, and a whole lot more.
Using SuiteFlow’s intuitive workspace, you can map out automations, include conditional logic, select triggers for entry and exit, and send users to other parallel workflows to name a few.
Triggers can be based off of a wide variety of actions such as user driven events, edits to the record, record creation, schedules, and nearly any other action or condition within NetSuite. The vast possibilities behind the triggers, conditional logic, and available actions makes SuiteFlow an incredibly powerful tool.
SuiteFlow allows businesses to streamline operations and automate manual tasks while saving time and decreasing overhead.
What is SuiteBuilder?
Customization is key in the ERP game, and SuiteBuilder is NetSuite’s answer to this core functionality. Since every business is unique, heavy amounts of customization will be required within NetSuite in order to maximize your ROI.
SuiteBuilder allows you to customize your NetSuite instance without the need for complex coding. Not only does this allow you to utilize point-and-click methodology for customizing your instance, but you can gain better control over your data by defining custom objects like fields, relationships, and records.
Your employees will love the personalized interfaces that allow them to only display relevant information creating a distraction free environment. Plus, customizations created with SuiteBuilder automatically carry over any time the NetSuite platform is upgraded or updated so you can “set it and forget it.”
What is SuiteBundler?
SuiteBundler lets users bundle custom objects to be installed in other NetSuite accounts. Most notably, these bundles are often referred to as SuiteApps, and have their own marketplace called the SuiteApp Store.
With SuiteBundler, you can create customization bundles or configuration bundles. Customizations might include objects such as SuiteScripts or custom records which can be installed in NetSuite instances. These are often built by internal teams for their own instances, or built by developers for sale on the market.
Configuration bundles are geared more towards preferences, settings, and back-end items. These types of bundles assist with account configuration, roles, available features and more.
Through SuiteBundler, applications can be built, sold, and installed to maximize your NetSuite instance, improve profitability, and meet your business’s unique needs.
Conclusion
Every business is unique, so an ‘out-of-the-box’ ERP system will likely stunt your growth and keep you from experiencing peak ROI. NetSuite has catapulted itself to the top of the ERP leaderboards by creating a platform that can be easily and thoroughly customized. Through a combination of the above features, your business can enjoy process automation, custom records and objects, unique data flows, simplified user interfaces, improved organizational visibility and more.
If you’re looking for NetSuite experts to optimize your instance to its fullest potential, ScaleNorth’s NetSuite Innovation team is standing by to help. Our certified NetSuite professionals can perform a NetSuite health check, then customize, optimize, and integrate your instance to improve your operations. Contact us today to get started.