Why transaction results may not meet criteria on saved searches in NetSuite

One of the most important factors to consider when building NetSuite saved searches is where the data that you are looking for is located. For example, a transaction is divided into two parts – the header (main line) and the body (line items). When searching for fields, such as customer, date, or transaction number, they might reside in the header information of the transaction. If the topic of the search is a field on the item grid, such as quantity ordered or tax code, that line item is part of the body. Separating these two concepts helps narrow down search results.

A quick way to look at this is:

Main line = T is only header information.

Main line = F are transaction lines.

Main line = Either is both. When you are looking at results for saved searches in NetSuite with both, the main line will have an (*) next to it.

Exploring an instance where transaction results do not meet criteria

An example of a task where this knowledge may be helpful is finding all invoice line items missing department, class, and location. In this environment, you can find department, class, and location on the lines.

The criteria was:

Main line = False, Type = Invoice, Department = Unassigned, Class = Unassigned, Location = Unassigned

Using this criteria, the saved search results showed several transactions. However, after drilling through to the underlying data and reviewing the transaction, nothing appeared to be missing. All of the lines present in the line-item grid had a department, class, and location. Building the search over again in case the results were erroneous was unsuccessful – the results remained the same.

This inaccuracy appears because saved searches in NetSuite store shipping, tax, and costs of goods sold (COGS) as separate line items. Each of these transactions did have shipping and tax as well as an expense. The criteria for the new search was:

Main line = False, Type = Invoice, Department = Unassigned, Class = Unassigned, Location = Unassigned, COGS line = No, Shipping line = No, Tax line = No

With this fix, the results came out properly. The lesson here is to remember that in NetSuite stores, shipping, tax, and COGS as separate line items. Therefore, you need to account for this when you build your saved searches in NetSuite. Otherwise, you may get incorrect results.

Citrin Cooperman’s NetSuite Practice is skilled at helping companies utilize NetSuite effectively to achieve their strategic objectives. To learn more about NetSuite and for support in avoiding common mistakes while using the platform, reach out to your Citrin Cooperman advisor or sales@citrincooperman.com.