NetSuite’s 2022.1 release is about to start rolling out to customers, and it includes a broad range of enhancements.
Many of the enhancements will be of interest to NetSuite customers, regardless of the industry they operate in – and some will be of specific interest to customers using industry specific functionality to support their business operations.
In this article, we cover what we believe to be the most interesting functionality improvements that customers should be looking at and considering for use within their business. Or you can download the full NetSuite 2022.1 release notes below.
Project 360
Project 360 is a new dashboard within NetSuite SuiteProjects that brings an additional layer of visibility and reporting enhancements.
Oracle NetSuite Project 360 provides a centralised view of key metrics, reports, statuses, and resources, from across SuiteProjects to give project managers greater insight into vital project information.
This helps project managers reduce the amount of administrative tasks related to projects and quickly identify projects needing attention so they can take the appropriate corrective action.
With Project 360, project managers can optimise:
- Project Budget Analysis: Helps project managers understand if sufficient budget remains to complete a project by analysing spend and allocation. In addition, Project Forecast Estimate at Completion (EAC) helps calculate if the project will be delivered within the original budget.
- Project Billing: Helps project managers rectify and send invoices when necessary by enabling display of how much is currently billable to the client and what has yet to be billed.
- Project Profitability: Helps project managers determine if a project is making the desired profitability based on recognized revenue and total costs to date.
- Project Resourcing: Helps project managers understand the resources dedicated to a project by providing a “social view” (names and pictures) of the project team, a visualisation of the project Gantt chart, and insights into how much time each resource has spent against the total for each assignment.
- Project Health and Status: Helps project managers quickly and easily access specific information on project health and status including billing and revenue, budgets, resourcing and planning, and financials.
- Client Information: Gives project managers an upfront synopsis of the client and surfaces client contact information and data.
Invoice Presentation Templates
In conjunction with Project 360, NetSuite release 2022.1 also includes new, customisable invoice presentation templates allow you to configure exactly the line-item format that each client — or even each project — requires.
You can choose to include granular backing sheets on the time posted by each consultant, subcontractor costs and more. This helps give clients the information they need to sign off and pay an invoice, allowing for quicker approvals and payment.
Cash 360
NetSuite 2022.1 includes the Cash 360 dashboard, which is a new cash management solution that includes a configurable dashboard and automated cash flow forecasting capabilities that provide a real-time view of cash positions, as well as weekly cash flow projections.
This long awaited feature enables you to effectively manage cash flow by providing a real-time view of your company cash position and generate fast and accurate near-term cash flow forecasts. Cash 360 also simplifies cash management by providing a configurable dashboard that monitors receivables, payables, and available cash in real time to help businesses effectively manage cash flow.
You are able to review current cash flow trends and a rolling six-month cash flow forecast for more informed decision making. The release improves forecast accuracy by combining multiple data points, like new funding sources, planned expenditures, billing schedules and sales forecasts, with open AR and AP transactions. Historical averages based on a customer’s own data are then applied to estimate collections and disbursements, improving forecast reliability.
Cash 360 is a powerful tool, particularly when used in conjunction with other NetSuite capabilities, such as billing automation, bank reconciliation, approval workflows, and budget validation, gives businesses added accounting efficiencies, greater control of cash inflows and outflows and more flexibility when making financial decisions.
Bulk Customer Payments
An exciting new feature for retailers, and SaaS software companies, focuses on bulk customer payments.
In conjunction with the recent advancements in NetSuite’s banking automation and reconciliation capabilities, this functionality helps to address the challenging issue of companies who receive large numbers of customer payments that need to be reconciled against sales transactions in NetSuite.
Offering a multitude of pricing and billing options, retailers and SaaS software companies need the ability to process groups of payments quickly and accurately at different times throughout the month or year based on whether they are using a subscription, usage/consumption, flat rate or other charge model.
Bulk customer payments spares accounts receivable managers from needing to process invoices on an individual basis. Instead, payments can now be grouped and processed from multiple customers in one step.
Scheduled credit card payments for recurring transactions can be automated based on user specified dates and the payment application process is expedited and accuracy is improved.
This functionality should be a big time saver for retailers, SaaS software companies and any other businesses who receive a large volume of customer payments.
United Kingdom Localisation Enhancements
United Kingdom Localization version 1.05 includes the following enhancements:
- Period VAT return – VAT100 (pre-2021) and UK Submit VAT Return via CSV – These reports can now be exported in PDF format.
- Period VAT return – VAT 100 – This report now supports multi-book accounting.
- Intrastat – Arrivals – These reports are updated in accordance with Brexit negotiations.
Three reports are now available:
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- Intrastat – Arrivals (Pre-2021) – Valid through December 31, 2020.
- Intrastat – Arrivals (2021) – Valid from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021.
- Intrastat – Arrivals (Post-2021) – Valid starting January 1, 2022.
- SVB BACS, MULTIBACS or Faster Payments – This new payment template from SVB bank is now available in CSV format.
Labour Expense Allocation
The labour expense allocation feature previously available only to nonprofit customers is now available to all NetSuite customers. This feature provides valuable insight via automated allocation of personnel costs to specific programs or projects that incurred the expense.
Performance Management Tools for Attracting and Retaining Talent
NetSuite 2022 Release 1 contains multiple enhancements to SuitePeople Performance Management to promote engagement and ensure employee retention. Goal management enhancements allow employees and managers to have more flexibility and insight in the performance management process. Managers can ensure they remain on the same page with their direct reports by accessing a repository of alterations to goals where both parties are able to see all changes to an “In Progress” goal.
The new manager digest feature provides a monthly update on team developments, including issues, successes and the status of defined objectives.
Companies can become prone to letting performance reviews slip through the cracks when experiencing rapid growth. Advanced scheduling makes it easier for HR managers to ensure this does not happen. Using a SuiteAnalytics dataset, HR can define a group of employees that will receive a review and define a review timeline based on a relative date, like an employee’s start date.
Richer Datasets for Improved Business Planning and Analysis
SuiteAnalytics dataset linking feature allows multiple datasheets to be linked together, to greatly expand and enhance the scope of your analytics and dashboards in NetSuite.
Multiple datasets – like quota vs. sales by software representative, AP vs. AR and budgets vs. actuals – can now be easily linked with a new interface, creating important visualizations with multiple datasets in a single workbook without the need for SuiteScript.
Paired Intercompany Transactions Enhancements
NetSuite 2022.1 lets you pair stand-alone intercompany credit notes and supplier credits. You create a link between the two documents through the Paired Intercompany Transaction field on the two records.
NetSuite filters the relevant documents based on the subsidiary, entity, and currency.
For more information about pairing intercompany documents, see the help topic Pairing Intercompany Transactions.
