This article is relevant if you want to get more out of your day-to-day use of NetSuite when working with Global Search.
Background
When conversations with my team center around our clients‘ exacting requirements, the guiding principle is “Always be Learning.” Even with 15+ years in the NetSuite game, I continue to discover that elevating my NetSuite competency enhances my efficiency and capability.
Global Search within NetSuite is a simple example. A no-brainer for those of us deeply ingrained in NetSuite, its utility wasn’t as obvious to other communities outside of NetSuite. I collaborated with a close friend who leads a Microsoft Dynamics GP product development practice, aiming to transplant this Global Search functionality to that community. Despite his exhaustive efforts in building and packaging the necessary framework, the Dynamics GP crowd simply did not grasp its value. I attribute NetSuite’s ease with Global Search to the confluence of Google Search ingraining itself in our collective psyche and the adoption of web-based cloud applications. The old GP client-server crowd was simply blind.
However, most people’s interaction with NetSuite Global Search stops at generating a list and navigating to the desired record. NetSuite generally delivers with little thought or input. Yet, as I became more curious, I began to see that I could refine the way I search to get an even better and more productive experience. A bit of learning and experimentation would yield a more productive future.
To that end, I have summarized some of my most useful NetSuite Global Search search tactics for this article.
NetSuite’s Tips for Effective Global Searches
I believe NetSuite has done a great job setting and achieving a good standard for its Help documentation. I suspect it is highly underutilized. For this topic, spending a few minutes with NetSuite’s Help system will help you see options to shape your global search impressions and practices.
Search in NetSuite’s Help Global Search Bar: “Tips for Effective Global Searches”
Click on the image to see how to find this page.
Note that the use of the User’s preferences will shape the Global Search behavior. Be sure to review the options under the Analytics subtab of Home > Set Preferences.
Shaping NetSuite’s Global Search Experience
Here are my personal most important uses of NetSuite Global Search that I have found have helped me become productive. Click related images to get a better understanding.
- Use of % Wildcard: the percent symbol in NetSuite is my GoTo command for lookup. I use it to prefix or suffix keywords where I want “any match”. Try to use the percent symbol in almost all you do, and you will begin to see that it is indeed very handy. Over time, it has become so automatic that it is now just a strong habit to be used when I am searching — and in Global Search, it is no different.
- Use of Prefixes: the key to obtaining the right results quickly is to use a (three-character) prefix with a colon to separate the record type and the lookup value. So I use “cus:” for customer and “pro:” for project. The quick way to find the three-letter prefix is to use the global search without the prefix to learn how NetSuite sees it. Look for the record type prefix in the result. Then, just take the first three letters to serve as your prefix. Thus, if I want the PDF of an invoice with the document number of INV20120238, I can enter “pdf:INV20120238”.
- Shaping Global List Results: this one is handy when I don’t want to produce a saved search, but I need a quick list. My common sense tells me that the Global Search list is generally meaningless for extra data as the values in “Additional Info 1” and “Additional Info 2” yield little actionable information. The real power comes in when you use the prefix to target a record type. By spending some time shaping your “preferred search results” in a saved search definition, you can use this as the result list. Furthermore, you can activate Inline Edit (xEdit) and modify fields in place.
- Using Custom Fields to Search Alternative Lookups: in my 2022 article, NetSuite Practice to Account for Unknown Customer Cash Receipts, I suggested the use of a custom field to look up the values for identifying customers during cash receipt operations. Thus, carefully thinking about repetitive operations may be optimized through the selection of the “Available for Global Search box” on a custom field definition.
- Finding Inactive Records: Sometimes, we search for records we know are in the database, and we can’t find them. Pause for a moment — the records may be inactive. Add a “+” to the suffix to include those in scope.
Always be Learning with NetSuite
The NetSuite platform is very rich. By being curious, and challenging the mental models that naturally develop in one’s mind when working in the system over time, we can develop a more nuanced and predictive result when using the system to achieve outcomes. I must thank Elie C., a senior analyst on the team, for being playful about our “Always be Learning” culture.
If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you have a special NetSuite search challenge, let’s have a conversation.
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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