NetSuite delivers two major releases every year, and now, we welcome the arrival of NetSuite 2023 Release 2 (NetSuite 2023.2)! Let’s take a glimpse at 2023.2. These features and changes for NetSuite 2023.2 will only be accessible to customers once they have completed the upgrade to NetSuite 2023.2. To identify your current NetSuite ERP version, you can check the version number at the bottom of your Home page. Please be aware that certain features and SuiteApps outlined here might not be available in your specific NetSuite ERP account. Access to these features and SuiteApps is subject to the terms and conditions stated in your NetSuite contract. Additionally, some features may require an additional purchase. So, upgrade and avail these new features below!

1. Accounting

NetSuite’s 2023.2 release brings significant improvements to SuiteAnalytics and revenue recognition features. A new “Budget Legacy” record type allows custom segments on budgets in datasets, enabling users to create custom segments for budgets. With improved plan amount calculations, revenue recognition for kit/package items during prospective merges is more accurate. After prospectively merging revenue arrangements with different foreign currency rates, the exchange rate calculation has been enhanced to ensure stability. Additionally, four new fields on the revenue element subtab and record provide improved functionality when enabled by the Advanced Revenue Management feature. These enhancements enhance budget management, revenue recognition, and prospective merges in NetSuite 2023.

2. Account setup and Maintenance

NetSuite 2023.2 introduces notable improvements to the account setup and maintenance features. Specifically, System Notes now offer visibility into Line ID and Line Transaction ID fields. These new fields enable efficient tracking of changes made to line items using SuiteAnalytics and SuiteQL.

3. Authentication:

NetSuite 2023.2 introduces essential updates to its authentication features. After March 1, 2024, support for two-factor authentication (2FA) via SMS/Voice Call will be discontinued, requiring users to switch to an authenticator app for 2FA. Additionally, the Outbound Single Sign-on (SuiteSignOn) feature will no longer be supported in non-production accounts starting from NetSuite 2024.1 and will extend to production accounts from NetSuite 2024.2 onwards. Users are encouraged to use NetSuite as OIDC Provider as an alternative. These changes aim to enhance security and provide users with improved authentication options in NetSuite.

4. Banking SuiteApps

The 2023.2 banking enhancement to SuiteApps, specifically in Cash 360 version 1.1, brings valuable improvements to cash projection visibility, opening balance consideration, and the cash forecast table. Users can now access cash projections for their subsidiary and other active subsidiaries, including consolidated subsidiaries. The opening balance now considers the sum of all charts of accounts with the type “bank” for the subsidiary but only up to the current posting period. The cash forecast table now incorporates all posting transactions contributing to the computation of Accounts Receivable (A/R) and Accounts Payable (A/P) amounts, including future-dated transactions. Users can view these future-dated transactions in the cash forecasts and click on various amounts to see detailed account calculations. This enhancement offers a more comprehensive and insightful view of cash projections and a better understanding of cash balances for multiple subsidiaries.

5. Globalization:

NetSuite has recently revised the names of 37 countries in its system, aligning them with the ISO standard.

6. Inventory Management

NetSuite 2023.2 introduces significant enhancements to supply planning, wave creation, pick task details, pick reversal capabilities, and other mobile processes in Warehouse Management. The planning engine now requires a Minimum Order Quantity for new planned orders, with specific lot sizing options available. Wave creation allows custom wave criteria templates and the option to assign wave statuses to unreleased orders. Users can view additional pick task columns and perform bulk pick task assignments. Pick reversal capabilities now include reversing pick tasks for work order components and bin selection during reversals. Other mobile processes see improvements, such as PO Receiving supporting item searches by Manufacturer’s Part Number and enabling tally scans for different item types. These enhancements provide users with enhanced flexibility, efficiency, and control in warehouse operations.

7. Manufacturing:

NetSuite 2023.2 introduces significant manufacturing enhancements to SuiteApps. The Costed Bill of Materials SuiteApp calculates assembly costs based on bill of materials revisions, routing, and templates, providing comprehensive cost breakdowns and analysis for assembly items and individual components. Manufacturing Mobile SuiteApp updates include restricting Bulk Manager access, controlling work order display, supporting custom fields and records, and allowing scrap reporting for WIP Work Orders from mobile devices. The Work Instructions & Traveler SuiteApp generates traveler reports for required work orders, facilitating day-to-day assembly operations, with support for work instruction viewing in Manufacturing Mobile SuiteApp and CSV import/export. These enhancements improve cost calculation and visibility, streamline mobile manufacturing processes, and efficiently manage work instructions for assembly operations.

8. Order Management:

In NetSuite 2023.2, SuiteBilling introduces a new feature called “Commit Plus Overage.” This feature allows companies to charge customers a prepayment for a contracted amount of usage at a specified rate. Any additional use is set at an adjusted rate if the customer exceeds the contracted amount.

In addition to this, the SuiteBilling module offers new “Make Copy” functionalities for billing accounts and subscriptions. The “Make Copy” feature allows users to create duplicate billing accounts and subscriptions, with most fields automatically populated from the original records. This streamline setting up similar billing accounts and subscriptions with minimal manual data entry.

Furthermore, the pricing tab in subscriptions becomes more flexible with the ability to customize the layout of its standard sublist fields. Users can change the display order and labels and show/hide specific fields to tailor the pricing information according to their business needs.

Regarding invoicing and location sourcing, NetSuite  2023.2 allows the location at the invoice line level to be sourced from the lines on the subscription record, providing more control over location information during billing operations.

Moreover, the Canada Sales Tax Reports SuiteApp has been updated to version 1.0.4, which includes a new button on the GST34 Worksheet report, enabling users to view General Ledger details directly from the report.

These SuiteBilling enhancements offer improved flexibility, efficiency, and control over billing processes, making it easier for companies to manage commitments, customize subscriptions, and handle sales tax reporting in the Canadian context.

9. Projects:

NetSuite 2023.2 introduces significant usability improvements to Project Billing and Revenue, enhancing visibility and transparency in the revenue recognition process. The addition of the Revenue tab in project billing rules links to Project Revenue Recognition rules, allowing a direct display of revenue elements and recognized revenue on project revenue rules. The Summary box shows the recognized revenue, making auditing and monitoring billing and revenue rules more straightforward. Furthermore, project records now display Project Revenue Recognition Summary information on the Financial tab, providing total revenue, recognized revenue, planned revenue, and a link to the Revenue Arrangement for improved transparency. The Project Plan subsection in the System Information tab now shows Project Plan Recalculation data, including recalculation date, time, and triggers. Time and Expenses enhancements allow toggling notifications for the Reject Time Entry box, granting control over status in accounting preferences. These updates streamline revenue management, create a closer link between revenue recognition and projects, and improve overall project planning and monitoring.

10. SuiteAnalytics

NetSuite 2023.2 brings user interface enhancements to SuiteAnalytics Workbook, offering improved functionality and ease of use. Users can now add all fields to table views using the “Add all fields to the table” button in the Dataset Panel. A new menu icon next to workbook tabs allows users to rename or delete tabs, streamlining tab management. The Number Format Settings have been enhanced, removing the Override box to directly define settings. However, noting a change in SuiteAnalytics Connect and SOAP Web Services fields is essential. The parent field of the Accounting Period record type is now only available if the Multiple Calendars feature is disabled, and if enabled, users should use the parent field of the Accounting Period Fiscal Calendars record type instead. Furthermore, support for HTML code in saved search Formula (Text) fields is ending, and users should replace them with the new Formula (HTML) field for improved search security. These updates enhance the overall user experience and data management in SuiteAnalytics Workbook.

11. SuiteApp Distribution:

NetSuite 2023.2 explicitly introduces SuiteApp distribution changes related to Bundle Support During Release Phasing. During the release phase of 2023.2, some accounts may still use 2023.1 while others are upgraded to 2023.2. Bundles developed with 2023.1 can be installed in versions already on 2023.2 and vice versa, with some limitations. However, if a bundle from 2023.2 is installed into a 2023.1 account and contains object types not supported in 2023.1 or uses new APIs available only in 2023.2, it may need fixing or not function correctly. It is essential to review the compatibility of bundles to ensure smooth distribution during the release phase.

12. SuiteCloud Development Framework:

NetSuite 2023.2 introduces enhancements to the SuiteCloud Development Framework (SDF) features, specifically for the “item custom field” SDF custom object. With enhanced feature dependency support, SDF SuiteApps can now be fully installed even if some NetSuite features are not enabled in the target account. If the Administrator later enables those features, the relevant SDF custom objects become available to users of the SDF SuiteApp. This improvement provides greater flexibility in deploying customizations and ensures a smoother experience for SuiteApp users. For more information about enhanced feature dependencies, refer to the help topic “Enhanced Feature Dependencies for SDF Custom Objects.”

13. SuiteCloud SDK

The SuiteCloud Software Development Kit (SDK) for NetSuite 2023.2 includes several features and updates, but some components still need to be available. The 2023.2 SuiteCloud Extension for Visual Studio Code, SuiteCloud CLI for Node.js, SuiteCloud IDE Plug-in for WebStorm, and SuiteCloud CLI for Java are all targeted for release in August 2023. These tools provide developers with various options for developing SuiteCloud projects, integrating with their preferred development environments, and deploying customizations to their NetSuite accounts. Users can refer to the provided help topics and GitHub repositories for more information about each tool once available.

14. SuiteScript

The 2023.2 SuiteScript Records Browser has yet to be made available. However, the N/crypto/random Module is introduced in this release, providing cryptographically secure pseudorandom generator methods. The module offers three modes:

• random.generateBytes() for generating cryptographically strong pseudorandom bytes,
• random.generateInt() for generating cryptographically strong pseudorandom numbers,
• random.generate UUID () for creating v4 Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) using a cryptographically secure random number generator.

These methods are suitable for generating random values that should not be predictable, such as unique IDs, keys, tokens, statistical sampling, and other applications where security is crucial.

15. SuiteTalk Web Services Integration:

SOAP web services version 2023.2 is not yet available, and there is currently no Araxis Merge diff file highlighting the schema changes between the 2023.1 and 2023.2 endpoints. However, when the Araxis Merge diff file becomes available, it will contain information about various changes, such as new record types, added, removed, or modified elements (fields), new sublists (lists), new joins, new search filters, search return columns, and new platform operations. The Araxis Merge diff file will be generated using Araxis Merge, providing an overview of all schema changes for the respective endpoint. Note that the screenshots in the documentation are only for illustrative purposes and do not reflect specific changes for any endpoint.

16. Taxation:

The Multiple Shipping Routes feature in SuiteTax allows you to ship items to multiple addresses using different shipping methods within the same transaction. Starting from version 2023.2, shipping and handling information at the line level is sent to tax engines as tax calculation input lines, including shipping and handling rates and shipping methods. Additionally, line-level shipping and handling tax amount fields are now available in the Shipping subtab. This enhancement enables tax engines to calculate shipping and handling taxes based on detailed line-level information. To utilize this feature, you must first allow Multiple Shipping Routes and then enable the “Enable Item Line Shipping” option on your sales transaction. This will grant access to shipping addresses, shipping methods, and shipping and handling costs at the line level. You can also manually add taxes for line-level shipping and handling costs using the tax details override setting.

17. User Interface

The maximum number of saved searches available in the NetSuite navigation menu is 100. To view all saved searches, go to Reports > Saved Searches > All Saved Searches.

NetSuite has started the process to remove the Ext JS library to optimize performance. The Ext JS library will be removed in the 2024.1 release. This may break external references to the library, and users relying on its API must replace it with their own external instance or adjust their code without Ext JS.

NetSuite now supports only the two most recent stable significant Safari browser and Mac OS versions. Users should update to a supported version before upgrading to NetSuite 2023.2.

18. Vendors, Purchasing and Receiving

The Bill Capture feature in NetSuite has been enhanced to provide more control over how content is uploaded and displayed on the Scanned Vendor Bills page. Users can now upload multiple files at once and receive notifications for successful and unsuccessful uploads. Additionally, rows of scanned bills can be hidden or deleted, improving user experience and performance when filtering. The Review Bill page has also been enhanced with features like subsidiary mapping, improved expense line mapping, and reference number duplicate detection. These enhancements aim to streamline the bill capture process and improve accuracy in categorizing and managing vendor bills.

NetSuite continues to be a leading solution for businesses seeking comprehensive and scalable enterprise resource planning. With its latest updates, NetSuite has further enhanced its capabilities, delivering unparalleled efficiency, agility, and visibility across all aspects of business operations. Moreover, NetSuite pricing ensures cost-effectiveness by offering tailored packages that suit diverse organizational needs, eliminating unnecessary expenses while maximizing value. As a result, businesses can make informed decisions, optimize processes, and drive growth while keeping NetSuite costs in check. Embracing NetSuite ERP empowers organizations to stay ahead in today’s dynamic market, making it a wise investment for any company aiming to thrive in a competitive landscape.