The NetSuite sales order lies at the heart of the order-to-cash process in NetSuite. And as is common in NetSuite, the sales order is strongly interconnected with other features. Let’s break down some of the highlights of working with Sales Orders in NetSuite. We’ll cover everything from an overview of the NetSuite sales order process, how you would create and fulfill sales orders in NetSuite, and how to manage them. And that’s all just scratching the surface! Let’s dive in.
The NetSuite Sales Order Process
First, what is the NetSuite sales order process? Once you have enabled this feature under the Basic Features section of the Transactions tab in Enable Features, the sales order process in NetSuite officially begins with creating a new sales order. If you need to get approvals for the SO, the sales order approval workflow gives you an easy way to ensure that the right approvers are notified of SOs needing approval. Sales order statuses give you an easy way to see exactly where the SO is in the process—whether it is open, pending approval, or pending fulfillment.
How to Create a Sales Order in NetSuite
What does creating a sales order in NetSuite look like? To create a sales order, navigate to Transactions > Sales > Enter Sales Orders.
You’ll need to fill out any necessary sales order fields. On the header level of a sales order, you’ll include the customer this order is for and (optionally) connect the order to a specific job, department, or location. In the Sales Information section, you can also record relevant information about where this lead came from. Then, on the Items subtab, add all the items that will be on the order.
How to Approve a Sales Order in NetSuite
There are two main ways to approve a sales order in NetSuite. One way is to approve an individual SO right on the record. On an SO record that has the status of Pending Approval, anyone who has permissions to approve SOs will be able to do do so using the Approve button at the top of the record.
Individuals with the appropriate permissions can also approve sales orders in bulk from the Approve Sales Orders page. To access this page, navigate to Transactions > Sales > Approve Sales Orders. Select any sales orders from the list that you want to approve and select the Submit button.
How to Fulfill a Sales Order in NetSuite
Let’s take a quick look at how to mark a sales order as fulfilled in NetSuite. Order fulfillment looks a lot like approving sales orders. As with approving orders, you can either fulfill SOs individually on the SO record using the Fulfill button or in bulk. To fulfill multiple orders at once, navigate to Transactions > Order Management > Fulfill Orders, select the orders you wish to fulfill, and select the Submit button.
NetSuite Sales Order Management
NetSuite provides a variety of tools for managing sales orders. Knowing what these tools are and how you can work with them gives you greater control and flexibility with sales orders.
How to search for a sales order in NetSuite
First, let’s look at how you would search for a sales order in NetSuite. One option is to use the filters on the list of sales orders, which you can access from Transactions > Sales > Enter Sales Orders > List. For a more detailed search, however, you can use the Transaction Search feature. To access the Transaction Search page, navigate to Transactions > Management > Search Transactions and under the Criteria be sure to filter by Type: is Sales Order.
Alternatively, you can access this page directly from the list of sales orders. On that list, select the Search link in the upper righthand corner. When you access this page from the list of SOs, the Type is already filtered to sales orders. You can further define your search in the Criteria tab and then use the Results tab to determine how search results are displayed.
The NetSuite sales order status
NetSuite sales order statuses are a management tool that allow you to quickly see where a sales order is in the entire SO process. Some of the types of statuses that sales orders have include things like Pending Approval, Pending Fulfillment, and Billed. You’ll see the status of each sales order in a status banner displayed at the top of the SO record. You can also filter by status on the list of sales orders if you need to see all the sales orders that have a particular status.
How to close a sales order in NetSuite
If an order, or part of an order, is canceled, you may choose to close the sales order instead of deleting it entirely. Any sales orders that are in the Pending Fulfillment, Partially Fulfilled, Pending Billing stages are eligible to be closed. On SOs that fall into one of those three statuses, there will be a Close Order button at the top of the record.
How to reopen a closed sales order in NetSuite
Of course, you may find yourself also needing to reopen a sales order in NetSuite that had previously been closed. To do that, go into Edit mode on a sales order that has the Closed status. Scroll down to the list of items on the sales order, and find the Closed column. Be sure that, for each item in the list that you still want to be included in the sales order, the Closed checkbox has been unchecked. Then, save the sales order.
Conclusion
NetSuite sales orders enable companies to manage their entire order-to-cash process well. 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.