NetSuite WholeSale Distribution: Enhancements in v21.2.0

At the previous article we have discussed some other features NetSuite has enhanced in 2021.2. Today we will discuss another major feature enhancements: WholeSale Distribution.

Supply Planning Enhancements

NetSuite introduced the Supply Planning Workbench last year and has been adding to its functionality with each release. NetSuite has advanced supply planning capabilities, like the hierarchical pegging view which, along with the handy Supply Planning Workbench, equip planners with the tools they need to manage their dynamic business environment.

With 2021.2 there will be a new option in the Supply Planning Workbench, allowing the planner to display planning results in daily, weekly/monthly periods — thus enabling more dynamic forecasting to shift strategies on the fly. The planner will exclude previously rejected recommendations to avoid confusion when creating the forecast, and control how far back the planning engine will look for past due, unconsumed forecasts.

Furthermore, this release will bring an enhancement in allocation functionality which will enable planners to map and prioritise inventory allocation to sales orders by gross profit or revenue. There will be a feature to provide the earliest date an item will be in stock/available at any specific location, enabling planners to be more accurate when setting expectations. The calculation of the earliest available date will consider supply chain lead times, any supply allocation strategies set, as well as sales channel allocations and reservations. When reallocating orders, planners will get deeper insight into how those changes will affect allocations on other transactions.

With the new release, NetSuite will generate a certificate of analysis for any item in the system, configurable to the needs of each customer, enabling wholesale distributors to meet and exceed customers’ quality and compliance standards. Users will print the certificate directly from NetSuite for attachment during shipment, with a saved electronic copy easily accessible for future reference.

Joined Up Customer Experience

More and more, it is becoming important for wholesale distributors to optimise the ecommerce experience they offer their customers, particularly as more and more distributors are also selling directly to consumers. To answer the concerns, there are enhancements expected in 2021.2 that will make even quicker and easier optimisation in implementing NetSuite’s ecommerce module ‘SuiteCommerce’, alleviating the time consumed to set up an ecommerce website considerably.

A further new feature in the upcoming release that will enhance the customer experience is a new payment link feature, which will allow wholesale distributors to email invoices to their customers with a link to an online payment portal, thus allowing them to pay their invoice with a credit or debit card. NetSuite will subsequently record invoices as paid partially or in full.

In addition, companies will give their customers the ability to pay invoices by ACH electronic payments via SuiteCommerce, so that payment processing is fast and without fees.

Inventory Management Enhancements

To appropriately manage the pace of inventory flow, lot numbering must be efficient and accurate. With NetSuite 2021.2, it will be easy for staff to generate lot numbers automatically once it has set a lot number for the item. They will also be able to configure custom lot fields for additional inventory details, for example, the supplier lot number or the date of manufacture.

NetSuite’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) optimises the day-to-day warehouse operation using the best practices. This process takes in cycle counting, intelligent pick and pack process, barcode scanning, and shipping system integration. Companies that use WMS can run their warehouses more efficiently and press handling costs. This will get even better on the launch of the 2021.2 release, with which NetSuite WMS will enable staff to quick ship a pallet from a handheld device and will be possible to hold a pallet until it is full, allowing staff to pack items together that are going to the same destination but are within different orders, thus increasing cost efficiencies.

Automations in Financials and Operations

NetSuite is and always has been about streamlining and automating otherwise manual and / or time-consuming processes, to free users up to add value to their business, and 2021.2 has even more of this type of functionality. Within the core financials of NetSuite 2021.2, users will enhance their audit trails by choosing those changes made to the COGs or Asset account reflects only on future transactions enter the system, thus preserving accurate data in past transactions and reports.

In addition, new functionality will automatically merge purchase requisitions across subsidiaries and allow for goods to be received at the relevant subsidiary regardless of who placed the order or created the requisition. Also, NetSuite will automatically cross-charge receipt and payment processes across, for example, two unique entities, to balance ledger and intercompany accounts.

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