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NetSuite 2021 Release 2

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The NetSuite New Release Process

Twice per year, NetSuite releases two major upgrades bringing new and exciting requested features, updates, bug fixes and enhancements to your NetSuite platform. Each release is rolled out in multiple phases, across several months, in order to test the upgrade internally before the official release date.

Release 2021. 2 will be rolled out from August - October 2021.

You can find the details of your assigned release phase, release preview and upgrade dates in the New Release Portlet on your home dashboard.

Our 2021.2 Top 5 Highlights

1. Smart Financials and Operational Automation

  1. Online Invoice Payments - Your customers can now efficiently pay their invoices online through "Payment Link". Invoices sent via email will include a link to a secure payment portal or other e-payment method. Once the partial or full payment is performed, it will be automatically recorded in NetSuite.
  2. SuiteAnalytics - There are a number of new/enhanced features released, including dataset linking, cached data in datasets, CSV export options in pivot tables, application of conditional formatting for customised highlighting of values, and customisation of formula fields and calculated measures to gain real-time insights.

2. Banking Enhancements

  1. Automated Cash Application – Cash application will now be automated. This new feature will automatically match the imported bank payments against the open invoices in NetSuite and once on your system and once this is approved, GL payments will be created by NetSuite. This will highly improve your cash flow process by lowering days sales outstanding (DSO) and reduce AR aging.
  2. Enhancements to Matching and Reconciliation – Bulk matching, automatically clear held transactions and enhancements to navigations

3. Streamlined Inventory Management

  1. Warehouse Management Enhancements -This feature will optimise your shipping costs due to the flexibility in rapid shipping and packing of multiple orders to the same location. Users can now also add and remove cartons from a pallet.
  2. Prioritisation of inventory allocation and visibility improvement.
  3. The process of generating lot numbers has been improved, leading to a more streamlined inventory and warehouse management process.

4. Project Enhancements

  1. Purchase to Project version 1.00 SuiteApp - manage purchase transactions within the Project Management module. This SuiteApp brings together project purchasing experience and the ability to manage both purchase orders and vendor bills linked to a project.

5. Other Industry Features and Enhancements

  1. New Rate Provider for Currency Exchange Rate Integration
  2. New Sandbox Refresh Options
  3. Cross-Subsidiary Requisitions
  4. Electronic Bank Payments Enhancements
  5. Improved Security for Storing Custom Password Field Values

What To Look Out For:

1. New Sandbox Refresh Options

Your NetSuite account may have existing users with Sandbox access that are assigned Administrator roles, who now have permission to perform Refresh activities. Note: This feature is only available for NetSuite premium accounts.

Recommendation: Administrators must communicate all Refresh activities. Review user access roles via Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Users in all Sandbox accounts. Make sure that only valid users have access to roles with administrative permissions.

2. Core Administrator Permissions Feature Enabled by Default

Some NetSuite accounts utilise custom roles that are already configured with sufficient permissions. In this case, no changes should be identified and affected by the New Release.

Recommendation: Administrators to review custom roles via Setup > Users/Roles > Manage Roles. Make sure that the preference is unticked.

3. End of Support for HMAC-SHA1 Signature Method for TBA Postponed

HMAC Signing is an access token method that adds another level of security by forcing the requesting client to also send along a signature that identifies the request temporarily to ensure that the request is from the requesting user, using a secret key that is never broadcast over the wire.

The end of support for the HMAC-SHA1 signature method for the Token-based Authentication (TBA) feature has been postponed until release 2022.1. Customers may have existing integrations (ex. Website Integration) that they need to review to determine what signature method they are using.

Recommendation: Review existing integrations with your administrator. When your account is upgraded to NetSuite 2022.1, any integrations using the TBA feature with HMAC SHA1 as a signature method will stop working. The end of support and the request to change the signature method to HMAC-256 also applies to third-party integrations.

4. End of Support for Some Browsers

As of 2021.2, NetSuite no longer supports the following browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML), and all Safari versions prior to 13.1. Some users may still be using these browsers when accessing NetSuite.

Recommendation: If currently using any browsers included in the list, inform users that they need to switch to another supported browser. This will avoid any unexpected behaviour in the system.

5. MD5 and SHA1 Hash Algorithms are no longer valid

Customers may have existing custom scripts that they need to review.

Recommendation: Review the existing hash algorithm with your administrator. Scripts that use MD5 or SHA1 as the hash algorithm must be updated to use a different hash algorithm, such as SHA256 or SHA512, to ensure these scripts continue to work as expected after the upgrade to 2021.2.

6. Changes on how to access Custom Password Fields via script

NetSuite accounts may have existing custom scripts that they need to review.

Recommendation: Review existing custom scripts for custom password fields with your administrator

The Importance of Release Preview Testing

Prior to your upgrade, a separate Release Review instance can be requested through NetSuite for users to test their account’s compatibility with the latest version. The Release Review instance includes your specific setup and customisations, and can be requested using these steps:

Setup > Company > Release Preview > Request Release Preview (must be logged in as an Administrator)

At the very least we recommend you request a New Release Preview and test your business processes - focussing on key business processes as well as any customised processes involving scripts or workflows. Alternatively, onlineone can perform a release assessment specifically on your behalf. See options below.

How onlineone Can Assist With Your NetSuite 2021.2 Upgrade

1. Full Release Review

In addition to the general features and updates detailed in the release notes, onlineone can:
  1. Provide insights on how the update will impact your specific use of NetSuite and advise you of any particular features that you should be testing, which are relevant to your business’ processes, customisations and integrations.
  2. Highlight any risks in the new update that are specifically associated with your business’ NetSuite environment.
  3. Detail any possible gains to be made in taking advantage of new features

2. Risk Assessment Only

At your request, our onlineone consultants can complete a detailed analysis of the New Release and flag any specific risks associated with the upgrade that may affect your business’ unique account.

3. Customised Solutions

Upon reviewing the release notes and running tests in the release preview environment, if you come across any features you currently utilise that are scheduled to be deprecated or upgraded, our consultants can provide you with customisation solutions to resolve any issues that may arise, before the update officially goes live.
Should you have any questions about the upcoming release, our team at onlineone are always here to assist. For more information on the new features and enhancements and how to use them to your advantage, or clarification around what this release means specifically for your business, feel free to get in touch.

Gijette Pabalate
Customer Success Manager
gijette.pabalate@onlineone-staging.abouttoday.com.au
support@onlineone-staging.abouttoday.com.au
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