This article is relevant if you would like to use NetSuite to support a vendor onboarding process to gather banking and address information to allow for electronic payment accounts payable processing.
Background
NetSuite is a very capable accounts payable system. Yet, out-of-the-box, the application does not offer certain enrollment features that other payment platforms, such as Bill.com, offers. However, some of the key features offered by these other payment platforms can be had in NetSuite.
With 1,000s of vendors under its management, a recent client decided it was time to migrate away from a third-party accounts payable platform so that they could enjoy fully integrated payment processing and no transactional costs. While they valued the centralized and fixed cost nature of NetSuite’s model, they enjoyed the benefits of the vendor sign-up process afforded by the other platforms. They asked our firm to help them implement a full NetSuite accounts payable solution to include an enhanced vendor portal.
Enhancing NetSuite for More Complete Accounts Payable Processing
NetSuite’s built-in accounts payable features will get the job done. However, there are some key add-ons and features that make the application better meet today’s enhanced standard for electronic record processing:
- Electronic Payments: NetSuite’s electronics payment module produces the batch environment that will generate files to be transmitted to the bank. See my 2021 article, Automating NetSuite Bank File Transmissions. Depending on the implementation, this add-on may be free of license charge.
- Bill and Payment Approval Flows: enterprise-level customers demand a capable purchase order, vendor bill, and payment approval process. See my 2021 article, Solve for Multi-Signature NetSuite Purchase Order and Vendor Bill Approvals. This is a license-free capacity — as is all of Prolecto Resources’s algorithms.
- OCR Processing: another vendor in the NetSuite ecosystem offers a paid Optical Character Recognition add-on capacity that helps with vendor bill data entry and coding.
A quality accounts payable implementation is shaped carefully to meet specific business requirements. The more care put into the planning process, the more predictable the outcome.
Vendor Onboarding and Bank Account Payment Information Capture
NetSuite offers a license-free model for an unlimited number of vendors to interact with a customer’s NetSuite account. NetSuite’s built-in vendor portal is basic. However, with the power of the NetSuite SuiteCloud platform, the vendor portal can be enhanced to produce a user experience that meets or exceeds today’s standard for cloud-based accounts payable processing.
Vendor Portal Welcome Email
NetSuite’s standard email notification to welcome vendors to log into the portal can be enhanced for specific branded messaging. Depending on your ambition, the message and approach for communications can be tailored to drive specific actions.
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Secure Vendor Portal Environment
NetSuite’s vendor portal is enhanced with Suitelet technologies to drive forms and other information capture requirements. The portal is secure and uses native NetSuite authentication to drive login and user access management. Naturally, no third-party hosting is required.
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Capture Banking Information
The key to payment processing is to capture banking information. This information is used to populate NetSuite’s electronic payment profiles. Information coming into the portal can drive vendor approval workflows to allow for segregation of duties and other tailored control structures.
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Updated Vendor Contact and Address Information
Like bank payment information, the ability to update the vendor contact and address helps keep records current. Each time a vendor updates NetSuite held information, logic can be applied to trigger the accounts payable department’s internal review and approval confirmation. Consider my 2017 article, Learn how to Manage any NetSuite Record by Exception, where I discuss the pattern for record states and rule management.
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Vendor Information Updates Email Confirmation
A best practice is to send an email confirmation for electronic record updates between parties. We expect these emails when we shop online. No different for other information updates. These messages help build and reinforce trust between parties. NetSuite can easily produce crafted communications. We have a license-free framework to Supercharge NetSuite Advanced PDF/HTML Templates.
Tailor your NetSuite Accounts Payable Practices
My firm is well known in the NetSuite community for producing innovations and leadership to deliver on the promise offered by the platform. Because all of our previous algorithms, many of which are packaged here, are license-free, we add substantial value to our service relationship. We think of these algorithms as illustrations of our superior capacity to listen to client concerns and to act competently to drive the NetSuite platform to meet customer-specific requirements.
If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you would like to enhance your NetSuite accounts payable practices to include NetSuite-driven vendor portals, let’s have a conversation.
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Marty Zigman
Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.
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