SuiteAnalytics describes the ways that NetSuite users can break down and analyze data. Over the next several blogs, we’re going to explore SuiteAnalytics in more detail. But let’s start with a broad overview of SuiteAnalytics in NetSuite.
What is SuiteAnalytics?
First, what exactly is SuiteAnalytics? When you open NetSuite, you’ll see an Analytics tab in your group of center tabs. While the contents of the Analytics tab are part of SuiteAnalytics, the term “SuiteAnalytics” includes more than just the contents of this tab. NetSuite is a massive database, and SuiteAnalytics covers all the ways that users can sort, manage, analyze, and interpret that data.
The Tools of SuiteAnalytics
So, what are the key ways that NetSuite provides to interpret data? Here are the four most common tools. (And note that access to these tools and their full capabilities will vary by role.)
Workbooks
Workbooks may be the most obvious tool of SuiteAnalytics in NetSuite, simply because you can access them by going directly to the Analytics tab. On this page, you’ll see a Workbooks tab and a Datasets tab. The Workbooks tab houses a collection of prebuilt workbook templates which you can customize according to your needs. You can also create a new workbook from this page. Similarly, under the Datasets tab you’ll see the existing datasets in your NetSuite account and have the opportunity to create a new dataset. Datasets are crucial to the success of workbooks because workbooks pull their information from specific datasets. Workbooks take that information and enable you to arrange and present it in a helpful way.
Reports
Reports are another common tool of SuiteAnalytics, and these can be accessed via the Reports tab in your NetSuite center. This tool provides real-time results on specific areas of your business. For example, you can get reports on sales, purchases, forecasts, and inventory, to name a few of the many options available to you. NetSuite provides prebuilt reports, but you can always tweak and customize these according to your needs.
Searches
Searches are a third SuiteAnalytics tool. The ability to run searches in NetSuite (and especially to save a search for future use) adds incredible value to the entire NetSuite package. One way to access searches is to navigate to Reports > New Search or, for saved searches, Reports > Saved Searches > All Saved Searches > New. When crafting a search, you will be prompted to select a specific record to run the search on. Then, you’ll be able to set the criteria for the search. Searches allow you to quickly access the exact information you need from any record.
Dashboards
And finally, dashboards. When users think about SuiteAnalytics, dashboards may not come to mind. But dashboards are a key player in SuiteAnalytics, simply because they make the information gathered and sorted by workbooks, searches, and reports easily accessible and actionable via certain portlets. For example, there’s the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) portlet, the KPI Scorecard portlet, and the KPI Meter portlet. The Analytics portlet, which you can place on your dashboard up to ten times, allows you to view the content of a workbook on your dashboard as a chart, pivot, or table. And the Reports Snapshot, as the name suggests, allows you to choose a report that you can easily view data on within adjustable date ranges. You can even take advantage of NetSuite’s search capabilities from your dashboard using portlets like Custom Search, Search Form, and Quick Search. Dashboards bring SuiteAnalytics directly to the user.
Conclusion
Hopefully this has been a helpful overview of some of the key players in the SuiteAnalytics world. Over the next several weeks, we’ll be drilling down to the details on exactly how each of these tools work. To keep up with this series, join the SuiteRep newsletter below!