Session 1: Users, Roles, and General Settings

Users

A “user” is an individual who has access to a NetSuite account.

Generally, most users are employees, but vendors, partners, and customers can also be users.
Users need to be set up in the NetSuite system through the creation of employee, vendor, partner, or customer records. For users to access NetSuite, their records must include an email address (which serves as their user ID) and a password.
Each role includes a set of associated permissions that determine the data users can see and the tasks they can perform. For example, the “A/P Clerk” role lets users enter bills and vendor credits, pay bills and sales tax, and view A/P and inventory reports.
Each role is tied to a “center”—a set of tabbed pages that display as the NetSuite user interface. Each center is tailored to the business needs of users in a specific functional area, such as accounting or sales. A role's center determines the pages that users see when they log into NetSuite.
A user may be assigned multiple roles. In this case, the user has a default role used for login, and can switch among roles by using the Change Roles icon in the NetSuite user interface. For more information, search NetSuite Help for “Switching Between Roles.”

Roles

A “role” is a defined access configuration that can be assigned to Users.

Standard Roles

NetSuite provides many standard roles with pre-defined permissions. Most of these roles correspond to common employee positions, such as “Accountant” and “Sales Rep.” Standard roles also are available for vendors, partners, and customers who have account access.

Custom Roles

Standard roles cannot be modified, so it is a good idea to use these roles as templates to create your own customized roles for users in your account. The process for customizing a standard role is easier than creating a new role from scratch. If you assign custom roles rather than standard roles to users, you can make permission changes to users' assigned roles as needed.

Customizing and Assigning Roles

There are two approaches to consider when assigning roles to employees:

Start with restricted roles and add permissions later
(Recommended) Start with relatively unrestricted roles and remove permissions later.

A user can have more than one role assigned to them. In some cases, it may help to assign the standard role that appears to match their job description then add an additional role such as “Full Access” so they can perform certain job functions that aren’t included in the first role. This lets the user identify the permissions they need, so you can modify their role to include those permissions. Standard NetSuite roles can be customized and saved under a new name, but they cannot be changed directly.

To review the permission differences between roles in NetSuite, go to:

Setup > Users/Roles > Show Role Differences

Choose one Role to compare from the Base Role dropdown
Choose one or more Roles to compare from the list below
Check or uncheck the Only Show Differences box
Click Show

Employee, Vendor and Customer Centers

NetSuite provides three types of roles that provide limited access to certain entities: Employee Center, Vendor Center and Partner Center.

The Employee Center generally provides employees with the ability to track and approve time, enter and approve expense reports, review and respond to cases and update personal information. For a more complete list of permissions and information, search NetSuite Help for “Employee Center Role.”
The Vendor Center provides vendors access to vendor records such as bills and bill payments, as well as their company information, such as address and phone number.
The Customer Center provides customers with access to estimates, sales orders, payments, support cases and their company information such as addresses and phone numbers.

Permissions

For the most up-to-date information about Permissions, please search NetSuite Help for “Understanding NetSuite Permissions.”

Adding A User

To create a new Employee user, go to:

Lists > Employees > Employees > New

Enter a first and last name
Enter Email Address
- Note that this is the email address the User will use to access NetSuite.
If the user’s supervisor is already in NetSuite, choose them from the Supervisor dropdown. Otherwise, assign supervisors when all employee records are entered.
On the Access tab check Give Access
Enter a password in both fields
From the Role dropdown choose Employee Center or Full Access
Enter any additional information you would like to include on the Employee record
Click Save

You can return to this record and make changes at any time.

Dashboards, Menus and Preferences

When users log in to NetSuite, they are taken to a screen with three primary elements that can be customized: the Dashboard, Menus and Preferences.

Dashboards

Dashboards can be customized to include content that is specific to the User and their job function. Dashboards are arranged in boxes called “Portlets” and can be pre-configured, published and restricted based on a role. If a user has permission (most roles do), they can customize their own Dashboard content.

Important: For a complete list and description of the types of Portlet or Dashboard content available, please search NetSuite Help for “Portlet Types Table.”

Portlets can be moved and arranged to the user’s preference. The following section provides examples of how to add, remove and change Portlets. Using the “New Release” portlet as an example, from the Home Dashboard, to:

Remove a Portlet
- Choose the Edit dropdown from the upper right corner of the “New Release” Portlet and select Remove
Add a Portlet
- - Click the Dashboard’s Personalize menu to reveal the Personalize Dashboard content display
  - Use the right arrow on the display box to review the various content types available. Some content types appear more than once in order to show the same content in different views. For example, one calendar Portlet might display a monthly calendar view for quick reference, while the other might show a daily agenda.
  - Using the right or left arrow, scroll until you see the “New Release” Portlet icon, then left-click on it once.
  - The New Release Portlet that we previously removed is now added back to the Dashboard. All Dashboard Portlets can be added and removed this way.
  - Close the Personalize Dashboard content window
Moving a Portlet
Moving a portlet is a simple drag-and-drop function.

- Locate the Shortcuts Portlet on the Home Dashboard
- Click and hold anywhere in the title bar, then drag the Shortcuts Portlet to the top of the Dashboard area until it reaches the top, above the New Release Portlet, then release the cursor to drop the Shortcuts Portlet in this position.

Menus

Menus in NetSuite are based on roles and may vary depending on the user and their role. For example, the standard NetSuite role named “A/P Clerk” features a menu tailored to Entities such as Customers and Vendors, with transaction sub-menus for each.

To provide a consistent user interface among all roles, NetSuite.org recommends enabling the “Classic” interface. To enable the Classic Interface on a non-Administrator role, go to:

Home (icon) > Set Preferences > Appearance

The Classic Menu (also known as the Classic Center) referenced throughout this guide is:

The menu for the A/P Clerk Role, as referenced above and as an example, is:

Personal Preferences

Individual users can personalize certain elements of their NetSuite dashboard. To access and change personal preferences, go to:

Home (the House icon on the main menu) > Set Preferences

The General, Transaction and Appearance tabs provide the most options for customization from a personal standpoint. A few important notes are:

The Nickname field is typically the user’s name and is the “from” name when the user sends emails from the system. If the user sends emails frequently, they may want to make their Nickname the organization’s name rather than their own.
Signature refers to the email signature included on correspondence sent from NetSuite. If it includes more than one line of text, such as an address and phone number, you will need to use HTML formatting to show the data on separate lines or to style the font with bold or italics.
On the General tab, check the Show Internal IDs checkbox. This helps users identify and find recently created records.
On the Appearance tab, the Landing Page dropdown provides the ability to change the default Dashboard to a menu Dashboard if preferred
On the Transactions tab, under the Printing section, choose the PDF radio button if you prefer to send attachments as PDF instead of HTML.
On the Analytics tab in the Search section, the option Show List When Only One Result ensures that the search results screen is displayed rather than an individual record when only one result matches the search. This is a common option to select.

Important: Once you have live data in your system, NetSuite.org recommends utilizing the SuiteVolunteer program to assist with further development, customization and publishing of Dashboards for employees. For more information visit http://www.netsuite.org/pro-bono.

Setup Menu

Throughout the following section and others, we will reference the Setup menu. When logged in with the Administrator role, the main menu and submenus will appear as follows.

The following sections describe submenus under the Setup menu.

Company

You’ll need to configure NetSuite with information unique to your organization such as the organization name and address, logo, features you need and related information. To do this, you will go to:

Setup > Company

The Company submenu will call out several additional menus that will be used in the configuration process. The following Company menu entries are used to update settings.

Enable Features

Once your account is provisioned, you can log in and enable or disable features in the account. To enable the following features, go to:

Setup > Company > Enable Features

Use the following table as reference to the tabs on the page. You can switch between tabs without hitting Save – just remember to save once you have completed changes to all tabs. Some additional settings outside of the ones listed in the table below may be available and may be selected -- you can leave those at their default settings.

Tab	Feature	Description	Setting
Company	Departments	Record income and expense transactions to the Department dimension.	ACTIVE
	Locations	Ability to record income and expense transactions to the Locations dimension.	ACTIVE
	Classes	Ability to record income and expense transactions to the Class dimension.	OPTIONAL
	Projects	Ability to record income and expense transactions to Projects.	ACTIVE
	Inline Editing	Provides the ability to change data in lists. Much faster updating/editing capabilities compared to opening each record individually.	ACTIVE
	File Cabinet	Stores documents and files.	ACTIVE
	Duplicate Detection and Merge	Determine whether or not records have duplicates.	ACTIVE
Accounting	Accounting	Enables the Accounting features.	ACTIVE
	A/R	Accounts Receivable includes issuing invoices, accepting payments and running reports.	ACTIVE
	A/P	Accounts Payable includes entering bills, making payments and running reports.	ACTIVE
	Accounting Periods	Creates distinct accounting periods; can be calendar or other fiscal year.	ACTIVE
	Expense Allocation	Account for fixed expenses without splitting them among individual departments, classes or locations before incurring the expenses.	ACTIVE
	Dynamic Allocation	Dynamically calculate the weight of any statistical allocation, based on the balance of the statistical account through statistical journals, at the time the allocation journal is generated. Also enables you to run multiple dynamic allocation schedules in a specific sequence, or batch.	ACTIVE
	Consolidated Payments	Allows all payments, credits, and deposits to be accepted either through the highest-level customer in a customer-subcustomer hierarchy or through the individual subcustomer for whom the invoice is entered.	ACTIVE
	Statistical Accounts	Used in conjunction with Expense Allocations and Allocation Schedules, track non-monetary data and then use this information on reports and income statements to view its relationship with the financial activity of your organization.	ACTIVE
Tax	Not Used
Transactions	Estimates	Prepare estimates or quotes to send to customers. Can be used as part of the fund raising and income projection process.	ACTIVE
	Sales Orders	Create and track Sales Orders. Also useful as part of the fund raising and income projection process.	ACTIVE
	Purchase Orders	Create and track vendor purchase orders. This feature is required for the Approval Routing feature	ACTIVE
	Advanced Billing	Provides the ability to manage recurring billing on Sales Orders	ACTIVE
	Billing Operations	Create and manage billing operations, schedules, groups and invoice approvals.	ACTIVE
Items and Inventory	Not used
Employees	Expense Reports	Use forms to track employee expenses, including reimbursable.	ACTIVE
	Approval Routing	Route purchase requests and expense reports for approval based on approval limits	ACTIVE
	Purchase Requests	Allow employees to create purchase requests for approval by supervisors	ACTIVE
	Time Tracking	Track employee time using single-day time records.	ACTIVE
	Time Tracking for CRM	Track and bill time associated with Cases, Tasks and Events directly from CRM records	ACTIVE
CRM	Customer Relationship Management	Manage all of your business relationships. Includes managing your calendar, contacts, events and tasks.	ACTIVE
	Sales Force Automation	Manage your funding and revenue pipeline, track forecasts, route income opportunities and convert prospects to customers and donors.	ACTIVE
	Marketing Automation	Create targeted marketing campaigns, measure and analyze ROI and track campaign effectiveness	ACTIVE
	Opportunities	Track donation and sales opportunities	ACTIVE
	Lead Conversion	Track leads and convert them to prospects, donors, contacts, opportunities and tasks	ACTIVE
	Online Forms	Add online form to your existing website to capture new leads and enter customer and donor records	ACTIVE
	Mail Merge	Perform bulk email operations	ACTIVE
	Capture email replies	Save replies to email sent from records in NetSuite	ACTIVE
	Partner Relationship Management	Create and manage records for business and community partners	ACTIVE
Analytics	KPI Scorecards	Create Key Performance Indicator scorecards for your dashboard	ACTIVE
Web Presence	NetSuite can host a basic e-commerce store. These functions will be initially disabled, in order to simplify the menu structure.		INACTIVE
SuiteCloud	Custom Records	Collect information specific to your organization that can be integrated with standard NetSuite records	ACTIVE
SuiteCloud	Custom Segments	SuiteGL section - this will allow you to segment your accounting data.	ACTIVE

After you hit Save, NetSuite will ask you for your opening balances. Leave these blank for now, and hit Save. Opening balances will be entered in a later session.

Rename Records/Transactions

This feature allows you to change the transaction and entity record names in NetSuite. To tailor your account for nonprofit use, NetSuite recommends changing the standard NetSuite record names. To rename records, go to:

Setup > Company > Rename Records/Transactions

This is only a recommendation, NOT REQUIRED

Rename “Customer” to "Constituent”

Auto-Generated Numbers

NetSuite.org recommends that you enable the Auto-Numbering feature for Entity records to help avoid duplicates. To enable auto-numbering, go to:

Setup > Company > Auto-Generated Numbers

Ensure Enable is checked on Customer, Subcustomer, Project, Vendor
Uncheck Enable on Employee records
Click Save

NOTE! Auto-Generated numbers can impact the search functionality in fields, to alleviate this issue you will need to set MAXIMUM ENTRIES IN DROPDOWNS to 20.

General Preferences

The General Preferences screen provides important choices related to date formats, default settings for Customer and Vendors records and more. The General Preferences screen manages:

Maximum Entries in Dropdowns (set it to 20)
Global date and time formats
Phone formats
First/last name preference
Password policies

Login welcome
Screen font
Default customers as individuals or companies
Show lists with only one result
Others

Printing and Fax Preferences

Here we cover two important and commonly used features.

If you are going to print checks from NetSuite, you’ll want to choose whether you use the “Standard” or “Voucher” style checks. Voucher is most common; it prints a check at the top and two vouchers below. Standard prints three checks on one page. To set the preferred check style, go to:

Setup > Company > Print & Fax Preferences and choose either Standard or Voucher from the Check Printing section.

In most cases, “receipts” or PDF Print Forms are expected to print on the entire page. However, NetSuite does not do this by default. To extend forms to print to the bottom of the page, go to:

Setup > Company > Print and Fax Preferences

In the PDF section, check the box next to Extend Columns to Bottom of Page.

Homework: Prior to the next session:

Define roles and add users
Set personal preferences and menus
Complete the Company information page.
Enable features as indicated in guide.
Rename records\transactions.
Set general preferences.
Set printing and fax preferences

^{^[1]}http://nccsweb.urban.org/knowledgebase/detail.php?linkID=400&category=77&xrefID=1070&close=0

Documentation