Resolving A Broken Customization
The Problem
An industry leading platform provider for prescription dispensing had been established on NetSuite for several years. Since implementation they had worked with a number of partners and consultants but had never settled on the right one. After attempting to solve a critical business need that was never completed their current consultant became unresponsive and they were left looking for help again.
They decided to engage HKS Technology to slowly work through some small issues so that they could get comfortable with this new working relationship. As they became happy with our level of service, the time was right to revisit the broken business process.
The Process
The process involved loading data from their dispensing platform into NetSuite to create outbound payments to suppliers. The volume of data per payment was extensive and included payments and reversals that all needed to be recorded in a single transaction. In addition, the data needed to be manipulated before loading and that was proving time-consuming which was creating delays in the recording of the payments. This was having a knock-on effect to the accounting department resulting in delays in reconciliations and their ability to close the month.
After reviewing the work that had already been completed and listening to the challenges that this process still posed, rather than trying to resolve the known issues, we decided to take a different, more simplified, approach to the problem.
We started by creating a custom record that the sub-system data would be loaded into. This allowed the upload of the data to be streamlined and reduced the amount of manual manipulation required prior to loading. This resulted in a shortened timeframe between the export and import of the data as well as eliminating errors. Once the data was loaded into NetSuite, we were able to access it programmatically to build the transactions on a schedule outside of normal business hours. Utilizing a custom transaction and SuiteScript we were able to create transactions that presented in the system as outbound payments but that contained 1,000’s of lines of data all balanced to the correct payment amount.
The Result
We were able to achieve the client’s desired result with the correct accounting outcome and reduced data manipulation for less than the cost of the original broken solution and in a much shorter timeframe. The final process freed up employee resources, provided a more reliable method of importing the data, and significantly shortened the timeframe for processing the data. The accounting department was pleased as it significantly reduced delays in their monthly closing process.
