Every business knows the importance of key performance indicators (or KPIs). Your KPIs act as a sort of checkup for your business, telling you where things are going well and where things need to improve. NetSuite makes the abstract data that goes into KPIs tangible and visible by displaying the data right on your dashboard. Let’s take a look at how you can create your own custom NetSuite KPIs and start benefitting from them right away by putting them on your dashboard.
The Core of NetSuite KPIs
How does NetSuite pull data for your KPIs? At their core, KPIs are just based on saved searches. You decide what data you want in one of your KPIs, create a saved search to get that data, and then connect that saved search to a portlet on your dashboard. So when you decide you need to track data for a specific KPI, the first thing you need to do is determine what your base record is so you can create a saved search on that record.
NetSuite KPIs Case Study
Let’s take a look at a case study. We’ll walk through the whole process, and by the end of the blog you’ll have a good idea of how to implement this same process for any custom NetSuite KPIs you may need. Let’s dive in!
Creating the Saved Search
For our case study, we want to have a KPI that shows your total invoice payments on a monthly basis. To pull this information, we’ll need to create a saved search based on the Invoice record. To do that, navigate to Lists > Search > Saved Searches > New, and choose Transaction from the list. After naming the new search and providing an optional ID, you’re ready to set the criteria for the search. Under the Criteria subtab, set the Type to Invoice and the Main Line to True.
After setting the Criteria, head on over to the Results tab. Under the Columns subtab, click the “Remove All” button. This will remove the the preconfigured fields that would have been used to display your results if you had been planning to use this as a normal saved search. Then, add to the Columns subtab the single field Applying Link Amount.
The final step in creating this saved search is to set a single filter for the search. This will allow users to filter the results that they can view for the KPI. Under the Available Filters page, choose “Applying Transaction fields…” from the list. When the window pops up, prompting you to choose a filter, select Date.
And that’s it! Your saved search is complete. If you want this KPI to be widely available to your employees, select the Public checkbox. Then, save and run the search.
Adding the Search to a KPI Portlet
Now that you have the saved search in place, adding it to a KPI portlet is pretty simple. First, navigate to your dashboard, select the Personalize link, and choose Key Performance Indicators from the group of portlet tiles. Then, hover over the upper righthand corner of the portlet and choose the Setup link.
This will open a pop up window. In this window, select Add Custom KPIs and choose the search you just created from the list. Notice also that you can select the range of the data that the portlet will pull from the saved search. Because we want to see a tracker of the monthly payments, we’ll set the range to This Month. Then, click Save. You’ll notice that your Key Performance Indicators portlet now displays the results of your search.
You may want to be able to visualize the data in a simpler format, however. To do that, you could add a KPI Meter portlet to your dashboard. Then, check to make sure that the meter is displaying the results of your saved search. Any other KPIs on your account will appear in the dropdown for the KPI Meter portlet, and you can easily switch between them right on your dashboard.
Conclusion
Now you’re all set to create your own custom NetSuite KPIs! At SuiteRep, we focus on all things NetSuite so you can focus on better business results. Contact us today to learn how we can partner with you.