This step-by-step guide lays out key phases to ensure your NetSuite roll-out positions your teams to maximize value from this powerful platform while minimizing disruption. Follow these step-by-step guidelines for a productive and smooth journey to the cloud.
Build an Implementation Team & Set Goals
Kick things off on the right foot by assembling an implementation team combining IT experts, department power users and executive sponsors. Define clear categories of implementation goals including:
- Business objectives – How will NetSuite improve business performance in measurable KPIs?
- Technical must-haves – What capabilities or integrations are non-negotiable from both user and data architecture perspectives?
- Desired timeline – What is the expected go-live date? How aggressive or phased should the rollout be?
Getting alignment early on business drivers, success metrics, key requirements and rollout timing sets the stage for priorities and decisions made down the road.
Gather Data & Map Processes
With goals defined, take a deep look at your organization’s current state people, processes and supporting systems. Key activities should include:
- Conducting 1:1 interviews with heads of each department to gather info on pain points, reporting needs and feature wishes
- Mapping all major workflows & business processes at a granular level
- Compiling supplemental data like chart of accounts, item master list, sales records etc. to aid configuration
This “as-is system analysis” illuminates priorities for process improvements, customization requirements and change impacts – integral for intelligently mapping data and functionality into your new NetSuite instance.
Make Build vs. Buy Customization Decisions
Armed with a clear understanding of your teams’ needs, compare required capabilities against out-of-the-box NetSuite functionality to determine what should be built new versus bought as add-on solutions.
As you weigh build vs buy, consider trade-offs like:
- Ongoing IT effort maintaining customized features
- Risk of breaking capabilities from future NetSuite updates
- Learning curve for users to adopt new processes
- Total cost of ownership long term
Resist over customizing NetSuite’s native functionality which increases maintenance effort and TCO over time. Target customizations only for truly unique processes delivering strategic competitive advantage.
Configure & Prototype the NetSuite Instance
Now the fun part begins – rolling up your sleeves to configure your NetSuite instance guided by the assessment requirements. Prioritize setting up:
- Chart of Accounts, currencies & accounting calendar
- Users, roles & permissions
- Core workflows like quote-to-cash
- Dashboards, KPIs & reports
As you build out functionality, iteratively review prototypes with user groups to gather feedback informing continued configuration. This agile iterative approach surfaces disconnects early on for course correction ensuring teams’ needs get translated accurately into the system.
Perform Data Migration & Integration Testing
The capabilities may be configured perfectly, but if data can’t flow seamlessly you’ll struggle getting up and running. Critical project activities in this phase include:
- Extracting legacy data & transforming into NetSuite
- Performing multiple test migrations to validate accuracy & completeness
- Building & testing any connections to essential external systems
Don’t underestimate the effort involved in data migration and NetSuite integration testing. Allocating sufficient time here is invaluable to troubleshooting issues before go-live when it’s do or die.
Train Employees & Rollout Usage
The moment of truth arrives as you transition users onto the new system. Set them up for adoption success by:
- Conducting training sessions to equip employees with needed skills
- Providing job aids & quick reference materials for ongoing reference
- Identifying department power users as “go-to” experts providing guidance to peers
Consider rolling out departmentally in a phased approach. For example, start with finance and operations teams who need to keep business running. Then focus on people-intensive areas like Sales before extending across the entire employee base.
Following this step-by-step guide throughout your implementation journey greatly smooths the predictable bumps in transforming business processes through new technology. Keep your teams aligned on goals, requirements and progress and you’ll realize the benefits of your NetSuite investment rapidly.
Why Choose SuiteRep for NetSuite Implementation?
SuiteRep offers more than just technical know-how; we impart lessons learned from our team’s decades of experience transitioning global companies onto NetSuite so you avoid common pitfalls. Our 5-Star rankings and consistent growth prove no partner knows NetSuite better.
Some unique advantages SuiteRep provides:
- Proven methodology compressing time-to-value
- Agile iterative approach adapting to meet your changing needs
- Staff augmentation options scaling project capacity as needed
- OCM and change management expertise smoothing business disruption
SuiteRep also offers tailored industry solutions for CPG, manufacturing, software, wholesale distribution and more with built-in leading practices breaking NetSuite implementation templates ensuring rapid rollout.
Discover what sets SuiteRep’s 5-Star service apart. Contact our team today for a free assessment or personalized demo showcasing our accelerated NetSuite implementation expertise.
