Expanding Service Firm Projects Using NetSuite 2023 Release 1

While inflation may not affect service organizations as much as it impacts product companies, it is still an important component in 2023 planning. Interest rates and wages are putting pressure on the economy, while staffing shortages may raise demand for outside aid. Professional services firms pondering to capitalize must enhance both operational efficiency and cash flow, whether to free up funds for employment, taking on new work, or other purposes. End-to-end visibility, accounting and invoicing flexibility, and fine-grained project control also help.  

That is precisely what NetSuite Release 2023.1 provides.

Percentage Based on Cost Complete Revenue Recognition Method

When jobs prolong over months or years Finance must be able to appropriately record revenues and expenditures over accounting periods as the project proceeds. Project cost-to-cost percentage in NetSuite Complete Suite App, in conjunction with Advanced Revenue Management, gives these insights regardless of project stage.  

You'll get a thorough audit trail, remove the manual work involved in extracting and computing percentages, have precise and timely income figures at your fingertips, and be able to recognize revenue based on where you are in the project.  

More Flexible Billing to Meet Requirements of Customers

Although standardization is the goal for service firms, the reality is that projects still have multiple negotiated hourly rates and milestones. As well as a range of fixed charges for, say, overhead or recurring expenses. Nonetheless, timely and correct invoicing is crucial for cash flow.  

NetSuite's charge-based billing is a simple solution that provides finance teams with the tools they need to establish customer-specific billing rules that correspond with your company's accounts receivable operations. 

You can use charge-based billing in NetSuite 2023 Release 1 to:

• Create charges using project records or directly against a client record 

• Calculate billable rates for a wide range of services, expenses, or milestone achievements, then generate correct bills promptly 

• Update immediate records during the charge-based billing run in night hours 

When a job is declared closed, a 'fully billed' notation shows on the project form's top. Finance can initiate a reconciliation procedure that automatically examines invoices and revenue recognition amounts and generates journal entries.  

Do you require even greater adaptability and transparency? Users can view a computed percentage of completion and conduct manual overrides as needed to confirm the status and income for a specific time are right. 

Dashboard for Project 360: Greater Visibility

The Project 360 Dashboard gives project managers a single, 360-degree view of critical data, reports, project status, and resources from across Suite Projects. 

Enhancements in 2023 Release 1 now take a more comprehensive look at a user’s position, allowing them to rapidly discover and show project specifics that require their attention to complete them on time and within the budget, in a view that works for them. For instance: Toggle all focus pages on the dashboard on and off with a single click to see only the projects for which you are accountable.   

Client satisfaction and project profitability are not only the responsibility of project managers. As a result, the dashboard is now available to a broader spectrum of NetSuite customers, such as department heads interested in initiatives affecting their divisions or supervisors who wish to see what their team members are working on.  

Leaders can determine what a given NetSuite user or role can see in the dashboard by selecting one of five access levels:  

My assignments: This access level is intended for project managers who need access to portfolio and job-specific information.  

Only in my department: Only projects for the user's division or department are displayed.

My department structure: This access level displays projects associated with the user’s department as well as any subgroups.  

Display all projects: This provides a snapshot or a detailed view with KPIs and other project information to executives who require insights into all ongoing jobs.  

Display my subordinates' projects: Insights into ongoing initiatives involving the user's reports.  

The portfolio view now has increased granularity, with users able to filter by project, customer, project manager, and due date.  

Updates on OpenAir 

Expect increased flexibility in customizing the Project center view for OpenAir customers.  

The next OpenAir Mobile (4.4) app has home-screen shortcuts for creating a new timesheet or expenditure report, up-to-date information, and faster task selection.  

OpenAir NetSuite Connector integrates with NetSuite more closely and quickly, and it can establish bespoke export workflows. Companies using the new NetSuite Connector UI, for example, can create and update records in OpenAir before running the integration to export or update the associated information in NetSuite. 

NetSuite 2023 Release 1 contains several exciting new features.  Its implementations are smart, phased, start with sales, span the whole client lifetime, and ensure continuity from sales and services to support. To learn more about the capabilities of NetSuite 2023 Release 1, contact Jobin & Jismi.