NetSuite’s 2024.2 release brings significant updates and new features designed to enhance functionality across various modules. This latest release focuses on improving benchmarking, cost variance analysis, and quality management while introducing new tools for payroll, calendar management, and tax compliance. Here’s a brief overview of some key enhancements and SuiteApps introduced in this release.

NetSuite 2024.2 

What’s new?  

Benchmark 360

Benchmark 360 is a SuiteApp that allows comparison against other companies in the same industry/region. It includes many default KPI’s and list functions and features as below:

• Review industry benchmark for five KPIs included in the dashboard
• Define performance metrics and set adjustable target values for each metric
• Compare performance metrics against other companies in the same industry and region
• Map different subsidiaries to the corresponding industry and region to view benchmark data
• View industry benchmark data by region for a selected subsidiary
• View NetSuite products and features relative to your industry and region to improve your KPIs
• Use NetSuite contents and articles as guides to implement best business practices

Cost Variance Analysis SuiteApp

The Cost Variance Analysis SuiteApp analyzes variances during the processing of work orders. These variances are the differences between the planned values and the actual values recorded for quantity and cost in work orders.

• Measure the performance of work orders and act toward preventing cost overruns.
• Review cost variances by work order, cost type, and operations.
• Component – Displays planned material costs, actual material costs, and cost and quantity variances for each work order component. You can use this information to analyse cost overruns.
• Conversion Costs– Displays cost variances for manufacturing operations. You can use the details on this subtab to understand any cost overruns that occur in any step of the manufacturing process for an item.
• Cost Category – Displays the cost breakdown and variances by cost types for a work order.

Accounting & Finance

ARM – Config Mode

• Advanced Revenue Recognition now houses a configuration mode that allows changes to setup without effecting transactions.
• Helpful for situations where a sandbox is unavailable to test changes to configuration.

Payroll – View Restrictions

• Within the SuitePeople module, payroll totals can be hidden on the GL from roles that have the permission removed.

Period Close – Quantity Mismatch

• Period close now has a task that will report on quantity mismatched between posting transaction’s items lines and inventory detail.

General Configuration/Functionality

Roles – Read-Only and CRM limited

• Similar to an employee centre role which can carry out expense, time and purchase actions a CRM Limited Access User Role will allow Sales, CPQ, Marketing and Support activites to be carried out.
• A second role is being introduced called Read Only which allows management to review reports and records in NetSuite, but not make any amendments. This will be useful for managers in situations where they do not need to carry out any tasks in NetSuite but needs to check performance or approve transactions.

Reports, Searches and Analytics

• Workbook pivot tables can now be exported to XLSX files.

Calendar Management

• Users can grant other users access to manage their calendars.

Warehouse and Manufacturing

Waves – New date fields

• Updated fields are now viewable on wave transactions; created, release and completed dates.

Bins – Replenishment Schedules

• Bin replenishment tasks can now be scheduled with frequency, start and end support by notifications.

Scanning – Bulk Serial Numbers

• With a new rule ‘Scan bar codes with bulk serial numbers’ you can receive purchase orders and scan the serialized barcode without entering of scanning each serial number, streamlining and hastening the process.

Bins – Change During Order Picking

• Where Picking Sales and Transfer orders, users can opt to change the bin they are picking from to another bin even after picking a partial quantity from the initial bin.

Manufacturing Mobile

GS1Support

• GS1 bar codes can be scanned to populate lot and serial numbers, expiries and quantity values in production process.

General Enhancements

• Multiple operations to work orders or the same work order can be carried out in a work center
• Employees can badge with only badge ID
• Perform the setup activity more than one time, where previously it was once at a time
• Print labels after production
• Scrap reason codes included

Quality Management

Inspection Generation Including Parent Transaction

• Inspection Generation Including Parent Transaction The NetSuite Quality Management SuiteApp enables you to better control the generation of inspection queues by including the parent transaction with the inventory transactions. This enhancement allows you to define individual inspection criteria based on a combination of parent and inventory transactions.

Enhanced Inspection Capabilities

The following inspection features have been included in the NetSuite 2024.2 Quality Management

SuiteApp:

• Inspection tasks can be performed only by employees who have been assigned to an inspection. This ensures that inspection reporting is carried out by the approved employees and prevents unauthorized personnel from updating data.
• To help improve the integrity and security of the data, the system prevents updates to inspection data for completed inspections.
• To avoid unnecessary emails being sent when email notifications are not required, email notifications are generated based on configuration settings.
• The Quality subtab now displays a list of the following quality inspection transactions and their status:
  • Work Order
  • Work Order Completion
  • Assembly Build
  • Item Receipt
  • Item Fulfillment
  • Purchase Order
  • Sales Order
  • Vendor Return Authorization
  • Transfer Order
• You can now generate an inspection queue by entering the transaction quantity in decimal format in the Ad-Hoc Queue Creation page.

SCM Mobile

General Enhancements

• Table rows can now be highlighted with colors
• Printer groups can be assigned to printers. Create groups for dedicated areas, zones and teams. Specify group at printing level.
• Images and files can be attached to custom records

Localization & Tax

Templates – Purchase Order

• An advanced Purchase Order template will exist that will comply with tax regulations.
• A new field will exists that allows purchase order notes per subsidiary, this column field is named ‘purchase order notes’, and will be beneficial when there are requirements to display certain data on purchase orders based on subsidiary selected.
• Arabic is now supported in printing Sales Orders, Invoices and Credit Memos.

India – Languages

• Support for new languages, the  India localization suite app support 21 languages.

India – Tax Engine

• A new India tax engine plug in is available.

India – TCS

• You can now calculate TCS on a transaction in which exchange rate applies. The SuiteApp updates the accumulated tax bucket values in the base currency of a subsidiary or company and calculates TCS accordingly on transactions.

India – Additional Reporting

India Localization SuiteTax Reports SuiteApp version 5.00.0 includes the following saved searches to display transactions applicable to table 4 and table 5 of the GSTR-9 report.

• India GSTR9 Exempted
• India GSTR9 Nil Rated
• India GSTR9 Non-GST Supply
• India GSTR9 Table 4 Credit Notes
• India GSTR9 Table 4 Inward Reverse Charge
• India GSTR9 Table 4 Outward B2B
• India GSTR9 Table 4 Outward Export
• India GSTR9 Table 4 Outward SEZ
• India GSTR9 Table 4 Outward B2C

Philippines – NON-VAT

• You can now specify whether a seller is a VAT or NON-VAT registered company for Philippine subsidiaries using the PH Seller Type list.

Philippines – Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Invoicing Compliance

Invoices now become the primary support document for VAT purposes. Official Receipts are now supplementary documents and no longer a valid proof to support the claim of input tax by buyers or purchasers of goods and/or services.

• Philippines Official Receipt PDF / HTML Template – The phrase “THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT VALID FOR CLAIM OF INPUT TAX” is now added and appears in the footer section of this template. For official receipts that have multiple pages when printed, the footer phrase appears on the last page.
• Philippines Official Receipt PDF / HTML Template (Without Footer Phrase) – This new template allows you to reuse an official receipt as invoice (if applicable). The footer phrase “THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT VALID FOR CLAIM OF INPUT TAX” is excluded from this template.

Philippines – Sale Type

• A new Sale Type column is now included in the Items subtab of sales invoice and credit memo transaction forms for Philippines customers.
• For applicable printed documents, a corresponding Sale Type column is inserted in the line item before the Tax Amount column that indicates VATable Sale, VAT-Exempt Sale, or Zero-Rated Sale.

Philippines – Exemptions

Transactions that are not subject to both value-added and percentage taxes can now be specified as exempt.

The following appears when printing sales invoices and official receipts for exempt transactions:

• The word “EXEMPT” appears in the header of printed Philippines documents.
• The phrase “THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT VALID FOR CLAIM OF INPUT TAX” appears in the footer of printed Philippines documents.

Avalara License Check

Additional license checks will be added for transactions using Avalara services for

certification. You must have the following active licenses to generate e-documents for transactions and get them certified from Avalara:

• NetSuite Electronic Business Network Extension
• Avalara Processing for NetSuite Electronic Invoicing Cloud Service

Legacy Tax Reports Fixes

You can now successfully save your setup information by clicking Save on the following page and windows:

• Online Filing page
• Tax Filing Setup window
• Formatting window
• EU Sales Filing Setup window
• The UK MTD System Notes pagination now shows the complete history of submission details.
• The UK MTD Submit via CSV page now shows the correct submission dates. Previously, some dates resulted to incorrect data formatting after submitting the VAT100 Return report in CSV format.

Bill Capture

There have been reports of bill capture issues, NetSuite has sought to rectify these.

• More than 5 pages can be captured (performance drops past 30 pages)
• Deletion controls
  • Failed email/drag and drop uploads
  • Directly from review scanned bill page
  • Multiple item/expense lines at the same time
• Scan bill information can be overwritten with content from a Purchase Order when one is linked
• Custom segment filtering and sourcing supported
• Type ahead supported when reviewing scanned bill page
• Additional warnings for mismatches between expense amounts on Purchase Order vs scanned Bill
• When reviewing items and expenses, the PO popup window now shows the item and expense name in the header for better clarity
• For linked POs, item description, units, and rate are now carried from the PO.
• There are several improvements to subsidiary, vendor, and location mapping logic to improve accuracy. For example, sender email address, customer address, and customer zip code are now considered during mapping.

With NetSuite 2024.2 release on the horizon, preparing your systems for the upcoming changes is crucial. A smooth transition can greatly impact your operations, and we’re here to ensure you’re ready. 

That’s where ERP Buddies comes in! We’re your NetSuite experts, ready to help you:  

• Evaluate your system’s compatibility: Ensure your infrastructure can handle the new features smoothly.  
• Develop a personalized implementation plan: Craft a roadmap to incorporate the changes that matter most to your business.  
• Optimize your workflows: Leverage the new features to boost efficiency and achieve your goals.  

Don’t let the transition hold you back from maximizing the potential of NetSuite 2024.2. Contact ERP Buddies today! Our team of experts is here to guide you through the process and ensure a seamless and successful upgrade.