This article is relevant if you’re seeking to create a tailored, secure NetSuite-hosted portal solution without incurring ongoing costs or relying on additional modules.
Background
A unique customer portal offering was critical for a client in the transportation industry, a company we’ve supported for over five years. Their business involves matching customers requiring shipment services with truckers who handle the transport. To streamline operations, they required a portal allowing customers to:
- View all committed shipments.
- Track the status of ongoing deliveries.
- Easily create cases when issues invariably arise with shipments.
While NetSuite’s native Portals (Customer Center and Vendor Center) offer some functionality, they are too rigid, presenting irrelevant information that is nearly impossible to hide and get control over. Similarly, the answer to that challenge, the NetSuite SuiteCommerce My Account Portal, incurs recurring costs, begins with a template mimicking the Customer Center, and fails to address specific business needs. Our client required a tailored, intuitive portal application to minimize customer confusion and improve usability.
Our client was inspired by our work with NetSuite’s Vendor portal in 2021. See my related article, Enhance NetSuite’s Vendor Portal to Drive Electronic Banking.
NetSuite Portal Limitations and Client-Specific Needs
When designing a customer portal, it’s essential to tailor functionality to meet specific business requirements. For our transportation client, the native NetSuite portal offerings (customer, vendor or others) posed several limitations:
- Cluttered and Inflexible Interface: the standard portal experience was cluttered with irrelevant information, detracting from usability. It was a non-starter. Our client needed a clean, focused interface tailored to their operational workflows.
- Integration with Existing Reports: Operations staff, under our leadership, had already built custom reports within NetSuite, but the native portal made it difficult for these to be directly leveraged.
- Precise Data Presentation: the system needed to present information in formats consistent with the client’s existing data views, avoiding discrepancies and simplifying workflows.
- Streamlined Issue Reporting: customers required an intuitive way to submit shipment-related claims. This involved asking targeted questions to capture the necessary details for internal teams to act effectively.
- Limited User Management Features: the native portal lacked a straightforward way for users to reset their passwords. Additionally, there was no built-in functionality to designate a user as an admin for their company, enabling them to manage additional users independently. Our client worried they would be in the “IT Administration” business to take care of this portal.
These gaps underscored the need for a highly customized portal application aligned with our client’s unique requirements without introducing unnecessary complexity or cost.
Leveraging NetSuite Suitelet Technology for a Customized Portal Solution
To address the limitations of NetSuite’s native portal options, we designed a comprehensive, tailored solution using NetSuite’s Suitelet technologies. This approach provided full control over the user experience while maintaining the efficiency and extensibility of the NetSuite platform. Key elements of our approach include:
- Purposeful Contact Roles and Secure Authentication: we extended NetSuite’s Contact record to include purposeful roles, ensuring granular access control and a secure authentication system. This design allowed the creation of company-specific admins who could independently manage users. For details on the pattern, see my article, Unlocking NetSuite’s Potential with the Purposeful Contact Model.
- Branded Communication for Login Management: using NetSuite’s native email system and our proprietary license-free tools, we created branded, professional email templates to assist users with account setup and password recovery. This ensured seamless communication while maintaining the client’s branding standards. For more background, see my article, Get License Free Tools to Link NetSuite Saved Search / SQL to Extend Data Reach.
- Reusing Query Renderer Reports: The client already used our license-free Query Renderer Report writer tool for internal operations. It was then a cinch to seamlessly adapt these reports to be accessible to customers through the portal, ensuring consistency and efficiency. For details on these tools, see my article, Render NetSuite SQL Queries Like Saved Searches.
- Streamlined Complaint Capture via Case Records: a simple, intuitive process was designed to allow users to click on a shipment and provide complaint details. This streamlined workflow automatically generated a NetSuite Case for internal action. Communications then could be triggered, and the clients’ operations staff could be off to work.
- Complete UI Control for a Clean Experience: We leveraged NetSuite’s built-in user interface for its speed-to-market, but we can achieve a full customization of the experience. Thus, when NetSuite presents a UI limitation, we can provide a clean, intuitive design tailored to the client’s needs. For insights on the approach, see my article, Unleash NetSuite’s User Interface by Innovating via the Platform.
Click the images above to see some of the capabilities in full-size mode.
Quick Video Demonstration of the NetSuite Portal Offering
Watch the video (6:05) demonstration below. Alternatively, click the link to watch the Comprehensive NetSuite Portal Solution for a detailed walkthrough of the simple yet highly effective customer portal in action. It showcases how the tailored portal delivers a streamlined and effective user experience.
Implementation Steps for the NetSuite Portal Solution
Our approach to implementing the fitted portal application emphasized efficiency, clarity, and collaboration. The steps included:
- Requirement Gathering and Scope Definition: we began by thoroughly listening to the client’s needs, focusing on keeping the project scope small to ensure a rapid development cycle while addressing their core requirements.
- Conceptual Design with Diagrams and Outlines: using visual diagrams and concept outlines, we presented our vision for the portal. This step allowed us to align with the client and ensure all stakeholders had a clear understanding of the NetSuite platform-driven architecture.
- Effort Estimation and Alignment: after refining the concept, we provided detailed effort estimates, ensuring transparency and alignment with the client’s expectations.
- Sandbox Development: development work began in the NetSuite sandbox environment, where we built the solution leveraging Suitelet technology, our Query Renderer Report writer, and UI customization techniques.
- Client Testing and Refinement: our client tested the portal in the sandbox environment and provided feedback to us. We incorporated their requested refinements, enhancing usability and functionality.
- Production Launch and Mass Communication: once approved, the solution was deployed to the live NetSuite environment. We assisted the client in producing a mass communication campaign using our content renderer engine to inform their customers about the new portal.
- Post-Launch Support and Reliability Assurance: after going live, we remained on standby to address any client or customer concerns. Our proactive support ensured the portal’s reliability and optimal performance.
The outline above represents the standard method we use to solve our clients’ challenges when native NetSuite solutions and third-party add-ons do not look like the best way to go. One can easily contemplate leveraging our web-pay payment technologies to collect ACH/Credit Cards to pay invoices and statements.
Delivering Value with Prolecto Labs Tools and Expertise
Our client was highly satisfied with the results of their tailored NetSuite portal solution. The project’s success was grounded in the strategic use of our Prolecto Labs license-free tools, which allowed us to focus entirely on delivering value without introducing additional costs or sales-driven distractions. Our people are all aligned toward earning value by producing accomplishments, not by meeting sales quotas.
By leveraging our patterns, algorithms, and tools, we could rapidly design and implement a solution that met the client’s needs while maintaining flexibility for future growth. Our small, dedicated team’s ability to listen, collaborate, and execute effectively builds on an established working relationship to deliver the project from start to finish.
If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you are ready to create a tailored, cost-effective NetSuite portal solution, 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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Nothing malicious, I just want to warn you that:
You may want to remove the video or redeploy the suitelet, as you have exposed the URL of the external suitelet.
I can access the suitelet and can also see the customer logo where you previously had a placeholder.
You may want to re-deploy that Suitelet as in the video there is enough information to find that link.
Really neat idea. I read the related article on contacts but I’m still a bit unclear on how you can ensure contacts accessing the custom suitelet are authenticated?
Hello Vernita,
In this case, we are producing authentication via the extended records. We are not relying on NetSuite’s built in authentication. The passwords are stored using NetSuite’s ecrypted field types.
Marty
Thank you Tom. That helped. I reworked the video to mask the actual URL.
Marty
Thank you George, like my reply to Tom, I reworked the video to mask the actual URL. Appreciate that. We want to keep private matters private.
Marty