Introduction

NetSuite continues to build upon its ability to provide customers with real time reporting and actionable insights through SuiteAnalytics. In this blog post we will explore one of the enhancements made to SuiteAnalytics in recent years - the SuiteAnalytics Workbook.

Saved searches have long been used by NetSuite customers as a means of quickly producing a required set of results from the system. These results are then typically exported to Excel for further analysis and summarization, where required e.g. pivot tables.

Well now there is no need to leave NetSuite to run this analysis. With SuiteAnalytics Workbooks, users are able to create datasets and related Workbooks in the system and visualize the output in table, pivot or chart format.

Let’s jump in and take a closer look.

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What is SuiteAnalytics Workbook?

The SuiteAnalytics Workbook is a reporting tool that NetSuite customers can use to create actionable insights across multiple data sources. The customizable Workbooks can be presented as tables, pivots and charts that can be added to end users’ dashboards.

The UI allows users to report on data from multiple sources, without necessarily understanding how the records are connected on the back-end. No knowledge of SQL is required to perform these record joins.

One of the great things about the Workbook is that it supports multilevel joins, enabling users to create datasets that span multiple record types, including custom records. As such, many Workbooks will source from a single dataset, as the dataset itself supports multiple levels of record joins.

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How to create them in NetSuite?

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Enabling the functionality

Before you can create a SuiteAnalytics Workbook you first need to enable the feature. Navigate:

Setup -> Company -> Enable Features -> Analytics -> Select “SuiteAnalytics Workbook” -> Save

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Now that the feature has been enabled in your NetSuite environment, you will need to grant access to your end users. You can do this by adding the new “SuiteAnalytics Workbook” permission (“Reports” subtab) to the appropriate user roles. Once added, users will see the “Analytics” tab in the navigation bar at the top of the screen.

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Creating your first dataset

Before you can create a Workbook you first need to create a dataset. Why? A dataset is the data source for a Workbook. Workbooks can be associated with multiple datasets, but must be connected to at least one dataset.

To create a dataset, navigate:

Analytics -> Datasets -> New Dataset

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Similar to a saved search, select the record type you wish to create a dataset for. A default dataset will then load with no criteria set and some generic columns. Take the time to populate the dataset criteria, just as you would for a saved search. Notice that once the criteria has been updated the dataset results automatically refresh.

Continue to drag and drop criteria and columns you want to be available to report on. If you need to add a custom formula, click on “Formulas” then “New Formula”. In the popup screen that loads, give your formula a name, set the output type and add your formula either manually or with support of the field list at the bottom.

Before saving, click on “Validate” to make sure your formula is valid and has the appropriate output type set. Once validated, click “Save”. Now you can drag and drop the new formula to the criteria section and/or the data columns.

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Once your dataset is complete don’t forget to “Save” and give it an appropriate name that will be easily recognizable when referencing in a Workbook. Although adding a description is optional it is highly recommended, so that users understand the intended use of the dataset.

Now that you have created your dataset it is time to create your first Workbook.

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Creating your first Workbook

To create a Workbook, navigate:

Analytics -> Workbooks -> New Workbook

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After clicking on “New Workbook” you will be prompted to select a dataset to connect to. Once selected you will be taken to a brand new Workbook with one tab created. You can now create a table, a pivot or a chart. Note, you can only have one visualization type per tab, so you cannot display a pivot and a chart on the same tab. However, like an Excel workbook, you are able to add multiple tabs to facilitate different visualizations.

The great thing about Workbooks is that you can connect to multiple datasets and have different tabs reference different datasets. Think about all the Excel workbooks you manage today that need to be manually updated, with data from different saved searches/reports and now imagine building these Workbooks in NetSuite and have them automatically update for you.

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Now that you know how to create them, let’s explore why they are so useful and share some practical examples, so that you can apply them to your own business.

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Why should you be using them?

Hopefully by now you are already starting to see the applicability for SuiteAnalytics Workbooks in your business and their superiority to traditional saved searches. For one, you are able to access field values that are not natively available in saved searches (see Example 3 below). In addition, saved searches are known to run slow and even time out when producing a large volume of results. A direct impact to system performance. SuiteAnalytics will process the queries more efficiently, reducing the amount of time spent waiting for the data to load.

Not only should you be waiting less time, but you see a live preview of the dataset results as you go about adding criteria to the dataset. In a saved search you need to save and preview in order to validate the results as you go. This is not required in a dataset.

We have already touched on other benefits, including the ability to validate formulas before adding them to your dataset criteria and/or results. With a saved search, the results may fail to process due to a problematic formula or the results may successfully load, but the data for a formula column may produce an error in the results themselves. Either way, it would be helpful to validate the formulas prior to running the saved search and that is where the formula functionality in datasets is far superior.

Here are some practical examples to consider when thinking about how you can leverage SuiteAnalytics Workbooks to support your business.

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Example 1 - Live results on dashboard

You are able to leverage the various NetSuite dashboard portlets to create actionable insights for your NetSuite end users, however little offer the flexibility of a SuiteAnalytics Workbook. Users can add up to 10 “Analytics” dashboard portlets. These can reference any Workbook a user has access to and can display each of the visualization types.

If management needed to see live (real time) sales by sales rep and by sales manager, you could simply create a SuiteAnalytics workbook that summarizes the data in a pivot table and have them add the pivot table to their NetSuite dashboard. Should they need more details, they can open the Workbook directly from the portlet and from there drill down on the dataset.

This could apply to any reporting request that management needs to see live on their dashboard.

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Example 2 - Reporting package for management

Are you creating a consistent reporting package for management today? Even if you’re not, think about all of the manual reports created/updated outside of NetSuite today that leverage NetSuite data. This is where Workbooks can add a lot of value.

Workbooks can reference multiple datasets and present data across multiple tabs, each in a different format. As such, in a single Workbook you can present analysis on sales, purchases, billable hours, expenses, top customers, top vendors, etc. The possibilities are (almost) endless.

Not only can you present multiple datasets in a meaningful way, but you can do so in real time. Management need only refresh the Workbook to get the latest insights vs waiting for an email copy of an Excel report.

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Example 3 - Accessing all required fields

Have you ever noticed that not all fields on the “Account” object are available to be reported on in an Account saved search? If you needed to produce a list of Accounts that were subject to revaluation or intercompany elimination, could you do that? The short answer is not with a saved search, but you can by creating an Account dataset.

This is but one example where field values are reportable in a dataset, but not in a saved search. The next time you are creating a saved search and cannot access a particular field, especially when you know it exists on the record, try creating a dataset instead to see if the field value is available. There is a good chance it will be!

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Useful references for SuiteAnalytics

• SuiteAnalytics Workbook Overview
• Enabling SuiteAnalytics Workbook in Your NetSuite Account
• Known Limitations in SuiteAnalytics Workbook

For more information on NetSuite features you should be using, check out Salto’s blog posts that explore some of the things that NetSuite Developers and NetSuite Administrators should be leveraging within the NetSuite ecosystem.

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Final thoughts

The SuiteAnalytics Workbook is a game changer for NetSuite users still relying upon saved searches and exporting to Excel for further analysis. Whether you’re looking to build a dynamic reporting package for your executive team or looking to report on data points not available with saved search functionality, SuiteAnalytics has something to offer all NetSuite users.

This is just one area of the SuiteAnalytics solution NetSuite offers. If you are looking to connect your NetSuite environment with other applications be sure to check out SuiteAnalytics Connect. Also, if you’re looking to set up a separate data warehouse for more holistic data and analytics across your business’ applications, NetSuite has a solution for that too - NetSuite Analytics Warehouse.

If you’re not using SuiteAnalytics Workbooks today - it’s time to start!