The best way to Match Vendor Merchandise Codes to Stock in NetSuite

It is a frequent AP problem that you’ve got in all probability seen earlier than – in relation to shopping for items and companies, no two folks (or corporations) will use the identical language.

Whilst you can create uniform merchandise codes and UPCs (Common Product Codes) in your NetSuite atmosphere, your distributors all have a thoughts of their very own – and can not often (if ever) comply with the identical terminology.

If the identical stock gadgets are procured from a number of suppliers, or in case your buying division is sourcing from a number of areas – it provides to the complexity.

Fortunately, there may be multiple manner out.

On this information, we’ll stroll by other ways you’ll be able to map vendor-specific merchandise codes to your NetSuite gadgets. We’ll particularly take a look at:

1. Mapping A number of Vendor Codes to One Merchandise Code
2. Mapping a Single Vendor Code to an Merchandise Code
3. Utilizing CSV Imports for Bulk Mapping
4. Storing SKU Mappings Exterior NetSuite (for eg. while you’re utilizing OCR)
5. Utilizing Workflow Automation to mix one of the best elements of options 1 – 4

These options will differ a bit – some are extra handbook whereas some options are extremely automated and good for scale. You possibly can decide what’s finest for your small business relying in your scale of operations.

Mapping A number of Vendor Codes to One Merchandise Code

If you happen to work with a number of distributors for a similar merchandise, the easiest way to retailer vendor SKU codes is within the ItemVendor Desk. This lets you hyperlink every merchandise to a number of distributors together with their particular merchandise codes.

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That is the most typical state of affairs – many frequent stock gadgets will fall into this class. For instance, for those who’re buying standardized elements/equipment as a part of a small manufacturing setup, you may in all probability must supply from a number of distributors to get one of the best worth.

This is how one can set this up and fetch the information by a Saved Search or SuiteQL question.

Steps:

1. Allow A number of Distributors for an Merchandise:
   • Go to Setup > Firm > Allow Options.
   • Beneath the “Gadgets & Stock” tab, allow A number of Distributors for gadgets.
2. Enter Vendor Codes:
   • Open the merchandise document and navigate to the Buying/Stock tab.
   • Within the Distributors subtab, you’ll discover a area so as to add vendor-specific merchandise codes. Enter the seller SKU code for every vendor supplying the merchandise.
3. Create a Saved Search to Show Vendor Codes:
   • Go to Stories > Saved Searches > New.
   • Choose Merchandise as the sort.
   • Within the Outcomes tab, choose the next fields:
     • Merchandise > Identify
     • Vendor > Identify
     • Vendor > Vendor Code
   • Run the search to get a listing of things and their vendor-specific codes.
4. Utilizing SuiteQL to Fetch Vendor SKU Codes: SuiteQL is a strong question language that enables extra superior retrieval of knowledge. You need to use SuiteQL to extract vendor SKUs for gadgets immediately. This methodology can be utilized for those who’re utilizing the NetSuite API.

SELECT 
   Vendor.CompanyName,
   ItemVendor.vendorCode,
   ItemVendor.purchasePrice
FROM 
   ItemVendor
INNER JOIN 
   Vendor ON ItemVendor.vendor = Vendor.Id
WHERE 
   ItemVendor.Merchandise = 'YOUR_ITEM_NUMBER';

On this question, we’re utilizing the itemVendor desk to get the record of all distributors which have that merchandise listed, and their respective codes for that particular merchandise.

Mapping a single Vendor Code to an Merchandise Code

If you happen to solely work with one vendor per merchandise, utilizing a customized area or an Merchandise Alias is a less complicated methodology. This lets you retailer the seller’s SKU code immediately within the merchandise document.

This is learn how to implement this mapping:

Steps:

1. Create a Customized Subject:
   • Navigate to Customization > Lists, Data, & Fields > Merchandise Fields > New.
   • Create a customized area referred to as Vendor SKU Code (Textual content area kind).
   • Add this area to your merchandise data.
2. Enter Vendor SKU Code:
   • Go to every merchandise document and populate the Vendor SKU Code area with the respective vendor’s SKU.
3. Use the Vendor SKU in Transactions:
   • As soon as added, this tradition area can be utilized in transactions like buy orders and payments to point out the seller SKU subsequent to your inside merchandise code.
4. Show the Vendor SKU on Varieties:
   • In order for you the seller SKU to point out up on printed buy orders or vendor payments, you’ll be able to customise the transaction kinds to incorporate this tradition area.

Utilizing CSV Imports for Bulk Mapping

You probably have a lot of gadgets and distributors, manually getting into every SKU code might be time-consuming. On this case, you need to use NetSuite’s CSV Import characteristic to bulk replace vendor SKU codes on your gadgets.

Steps:

1. Put together the CSV File:
   • Create a CSV file with columns for Merchandise Identify/ID, Vendor Identify, and Vendor SKU Code.
2. Go to CSV Import Instrument:
   • Navigate to Setup > Import/Export > Import CSV Data.
   • Select Merchandise because the document kind and comply with the prompts to add your CSV file.
3. Map the Fields:
   • Through the import course of, be certain that the CSV columns are appropriately mapped to the suitable fields in NetSuite (Merchandise, Vendor, and Vendor SKU Code).
4. Run the Import:
   • After mapping, run the import to replace all of your merchandise data with the seller SKU codes in a single go.

Storing SKU Mappings Externally

If you happen to’re utilizing an exterior software to course of invoices — equivalent to OCR (Optical Character Recognition) or AP Automation software program — you may favor to retailer the SKU mappings in an exterior system or CSV file moderately than in NetSuite.

This methodology is helpful while you use an OCR/AP answer and wish to map vendor codes to your inside merchandise codes on the time of coding an bill, BEFORE it’s imported into NetSuite.

The best way to Implement:

1. Retailer Mappings in an Exterior CSV or Database:
   • Keep a CSV or database with the next columns: Vendor SKU, Inside SKU, Vendor Identify.
   • This may be saved in your native system or in a cloud-based storage like Google Sheets.
2. OCR/AP Integration:
   • When an bill is available in, use your OCR software to extract the seller’s SKU from the bill.
   • Write a script or use an integration software (most OCR or AP instruments permit customized integrations with Python) to lookup the seller SKU in your exterior file and retrieve the corresponding inside SKU.
   • When importing the information into NetSuite to create the Vendor Invoice, use the inner SKU code that you just simply fetched from the lookup in step #2.

Right here’s a easy Python script to match the seller SKU from a CSV file:

import csv

def get_internal_sku(vendor_sku, csv_file):
    with open(csv_file, mode="r") as file:
        reader = csv.DictReader(file)
        for row in reader:
            if row['Vendor SKU'] == vendor_sku:
                return row['Internal SKU']
    return None

# Instance Utilization
vendor_sku = 'ABC123'
internal_sku = get_internal_sku(vendor_sku, 'vendor_mapping.csv')
print(f'Inside SKU: {internal_sku}')

When processing vendor payments in NetSuite, now you can use the inner SKU returned by your script or integration to make sure the right merchandise is used.

• Keep in mind that you will in all probability nonetheless must do knowledge validation when getting into the seller payments into NetSuite (until your OCR/AP software already does this). Not doing this will imply damaged knowledge going into NetSuite.

Utilizing AI-Based mostly Workflow Automation

There’s one other manner to do that that’s each faster + extra scaleable.

It entails utilizing an AI workflow builder like Nanonets, which lets you arrange the precise workflow wanted to match vendor merchandise codes along with your NetSuite merchandise codes, earlier than syncing it with NetSuite.

That is what a typical workflow will appear to be:

1. Use a Nanonets AI mannequin to extract knowledge from invoices and payments – this mannequin will extract vendor merchandise codes from every vendor invoice
2. Arrange a NetSuite integration on this mannequin and create lookups to get the inner merchandise codes
3. Nanonets then does the under for each vendor invoice that you just course of:
   1. Learn the seller merchandise code on the invoice
   2. Discover a matching inside merchandise code utilizing a mixture of AI studying from reinforcement + SuiteQL + pure language understanding
   3. If no match is discovered, then the mannequin will ask the consumer to pick an inside merchandise code, and be taught from that call

However why even do that?

Utilizing AI automation like Nanonets has vital benefits:

• You will find yourself saving greater than 80% of the time it takes to lookup vendor codes.
• Nanonets has in-built knowledge validation – for each bill that you just export into NetSuite, every area is validated and formatted to make sure consistency with object knowledge fashions in NetSuite.
• You get the benefit of the NetSuite API and SuiteQL within the backend, whereas additionally getting high-accuracy OCR and AI studying capabilities that enhance your workflow based mostly in your suggestions.

Inquisitive about studying extra? A brief 15-minute intro name with an automation skilled is the easiest way to get began.

Conclusion

Mapping vendor SKU codes to your inside merchandise codes in NetSuite might be dealt with in a number of methods, relying on your small business setup. You possibly can go for one thing that’s extra handbook and offers you extra management, or you’ll be able to absolutely automate it utilizing the API (with considerably greater effort and a few coding concerned).

By combining one of the best of each worlds utilizing a no-code answer like Nanonets, you’ll be able to confidently handle vendor merchandise codes, streamline knowledge entry, and cut back handbook errors, saving priceless time on your procurement and finance groups.

API/SuiteQL References: