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Navigating Vendor Approvals in NetSuite With No Native Approval

Dan Cooper

Dec 2 2024

3 min read

Any delay in vendor payments due to unapproved or inaccessible records can halt production lines or disrupt distribution schedules. For organizations using NetSuite to handle vendor payments, a significant challenge arises—NetSuite has no built-in vendor approval.

The lack of a streamlined vendor approval process means businesses often encounter operational and control issues, leading to bottlenecks and increased risk. Fortunately, Sikich has a custom solution that fills these gaps.

Understanding the Vendor Approval Gap in NetSuite

At its core, NetSuite is structured to handle extensive financial transactions but lacks a built-in mechanism for native vendor approvals.

The most widely used approach is deactivating vendor records until approval. However, this tactic has limitations:

Vendor accessibility: An inactive vendor is hard to find and impossible to transact with, which creates operational slowdowns.
Duplication risk: Employees unable to locate inactive vendors might create duplicate records, leading to database clutter and payment errors.

The current setup is counterproductive to efficient vendor management, especially for companies managing high volumes of transactions. Sikich, as a NetSuite partner, developed a solution to enable better controls around vendor payments without requiring vendors to be fully deactivated.

Sikich’s Solution: Enhancing Vendor Approval Control

To mitigate these issues, Sikich designed a workflow that overcomes NetSuite’s native limitations around vendor approval processes. The solution places transactions on a payment hold when vendor approvals are pending. The customization works as follows:

Payment holds for new or unapproved vendors: When a vendor is created or in the approval stage, all eligible transactions automatically go on hold. This approach effectively controls vendor payments without classifying the vendor record as inactive.
Automated release upon approval: Once the vendor receives approval, all held transactions are automatically released. This process ensures that payments can proceed smoothly without manual intervention to lift payment holds.

This approach maintains the accessibility and visibility of vendor records in the system. Teams can continue transactional activities—such as generating purchase orders and processing incoming invoices—during the vendor approval process.

Benefits of Sikich’s Custom Vendor Approval Solution

Benefits include:

Streamlined workflow and enhanced control: This solution avoids the hassle of manually inactivating and reactivating vendors. It allows organizations to control payments while ensuring vendor records remain visible. Ultimately, payment control centralizes without disrupting other transaction types or limiting database accessibility.
Efficient approval process: Delays are minimized when payment holds lift automatically, allowing financial processes to stay on track. There’s no need to re-enter or manually reactivate vendor records, reducing administrative work, and errors.
Reduced risk of duplicate vendors: Employees can quickly find existing vendors without creating a duplicate entry because the record remains visible even during the approval phase. It keeps the vendor database clean and minimizes payment errors.
Operational continuity: Unlike an inactive vendor status, where interactions halt until reactivation, the Sikich solution allows continued engagement with the vendor. Businesses can generate purchase orders, process invoices, and maintain activities without interruptions.
Custom fit for NetSuite users: The Sikich overlay works seamlessly within the NetSuite environment, bridging a functional gap in the software.

Elevating Vendor Approval Processes in NetSuite

Sikich helps organizations get the most from their NetSuite investments, ensuring vendor management aligns with best practices and business needs. Contact us to learn more.

This publication contains general information only and Sikich is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or any other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should you use it as a basis for any decision, action or omission that may affect you or your business. Before making any decision, taking any action or omitting an action that may affect you or your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. In addition, this publication may contain certain content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) language model. You acknowledge that Sikich shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by you or any person who relies on this publication.

About the Author

Dan Cooper

Daniel Cooper is a pre-sales solution architect on Sikich’s NetSuite team with experience in pre-sales engagements and delivering high-impact software demonstrations. Daniel specializes in uncovering client needs, translating complex business requirements, and designing tailored NetSuite solutions that drive operational efficiency and growth. Daniel’s area of expertise includes ERP system design and integration, with a strong focus on financial and manufacturing processes. Daniel excels at showcasing the value of NetSuite’s functionality, such as inventory management and advanced financials, to a variety of industry verticals.