Introduction

Have you ever needed to send mass communication out to your VIP customers, or perhaps to a specific category of vendors? Have you ever needed to lock down the access to files in the File Cabinet to a subset of employees? In each of these cases, leveraging NetSuite Groups is a great way to segment those entity records (customers, vendors, employees, etc.) in your environment.

In this blog post we are going to explore the two types of NetSuite Group - static groups and dynamic groups and why you should be using them if you are not already. We will also review some practical examples so you can think about how this functionality can add value to your business processes.

What are dynamic and static groups?

NetSuite groups are a native feature that allows for the “grouping” of specific record types, specifically entity records. This includes customers, vendors, employees, partners, contacts and projects. Groups can either be set manually (static) or based upon the results of a saved search (dynamic), which allows for flexibility depending upon your business requirements. Grouping these records allows for targeted communications in addition to targeted user access to NetSuite functionality, such as file cabinet access and script deployment execution. Let’s take a closer look at the different types of groups.

Static Groups

As the name suggests, the group members are a fixed list that are manually populated (either in the UI or via CSV import). The list of members does not change until those with access to do so modify the list of members. Think about use cases where a predefined list of group members does not change very often and/or needs to be managed carefully.

Dynamic Groups

Dynamic groups on the other hand allow for great flexibility in that the group members are directly associated with the results of a saved search. In other words, the population is updated real time as and when the results of the saved search would be updated to include new members or remove existing members. Think about use cases where you need to maintain a list of group members based upon preset criteria and have that list update automatically.

How to create them in NetSuite?

Static Groups

To create a static group, navigate:

Lists -> Relationships -> Groups -> New

Screenshot showing navigation path to create a new group

Next select “Static” from the two radio button options, then select the type of entity record (member type) you want to create this group for. Then click on “Continue”.

Screenshot showing how to create a static group with corresponding member type

Now you need to configure the static group. The field values are important, so we will review them one by one:

• Name - Give the group a name that can be easily recognized and understood by all users
• Type - The type of entity record you selected on the previous screen
• Owner - Defaults to the user creating the group, but can be modified if someone else should own the maintenance of the group.
• Email - Capture a group email alias, if required.
• Comments - Important to add notes that can be referenced in future e.g. what is the purpose of this group?
• Private - When checked, restricts access to the group listing to those within the group itself
• Restrict To - You can restrict the use of this group to other specific employee and partner groups. Yes, you can use groups to restrict access to other groups.
• Restrict Group Editing to Owner - As the name suggests, restricts the ability to modify the group (including its members) to the “Owner”. If unchecked, anyone with access to the group can make changes.
• Inactive - Standard NetSuite field to confirm if the group should be available for future use or not.
• Group Members - You can add the list of members one by one, add multiple or add in bulk by creating a custom saved search in a pop-up menu.

Screenshot showing the static group configuration page

Finally click on “Save” and you can now leverage your new static group. Keep reading for use cases where this static group can be helpful.

Dynamic Groups

Dynamic groups follow the same menu path, but this time select the “Dynamic” radio button option.

The key difference between static groups and dynamic groups is that dynamic group members are sourced directly from a saved search, that is referenced in the dynamic group configuration. You cannot modify the group members manually. Instead, you would need to modify the saved search criteria in order to update the group members.

Salto Tip: The user creating the group must have access to the saved search, otherwise it will not be available for selection in the drop down menu.

Screenshot showing the dynamic group configuration page

Click on “Save”. Now let’s explore why you should be using dynamic groups in your NetSuite environment.

Why should you be using them?

NetSuite groups allow for better control over specific functionality (think SuiteScript) and access to system records (in the file cabinet). For a given script, you can set the script deployment audience to execute only for a specific group. For a given file cabinet folder, you can restrict access to the contents of that folder to a specific group.

In addition, you are able to manage mass communications to groups directly through NetSuite. For customers, you may want to leverage the “Campaign” functionality to send targeted messaging to a specific customer group. Alternatively you can make use of the “Bulk Merge” capabilities to send an email to the entire group population.

Static Group Benefits

Static groups are a great way to track a subset of entity records that requires little maintenance, but at the same time requires the capability to see when changes to the group were made. If you need to lock down a particular group and have a clear audit trail of changes made to the group, then static groups are the way to go.

Dynamic Group Benefits

Dynamic groups provide the real value add for this NetSuite functionality. As the group members are driven by saved search criteria, the logic for including records in the group can be as simple or as complex as your business requires.

Not only can dynamic groups handle complex logic, they allow for system scalability as group members are updated automatically without the need for an Administrator to make manual changes to the group. This avoids the risk of an Admin forgetting to update a group when needed.

Another key benefit of dynamic grouping is that group communication can reach members who were added to the group as recently as a few seconds prior. Imagine you have a targeted email campaign for customers that purchased a particular product, you would not want to exclude customers who recently purchased that product because you did not have time to update the group member list in NetSuite. In fact, those customers might be even better targets for the email campaign. Let’s explore some more examples where NetSuite groups can be used for effective communication and controls.

Example 1 - Targeted Marketing Campaigns

By leveraging dynamic groups, you can create a list of customers that have purchased a certain category of product(s) or perhaps complimentary products from your business. With that list, you can create a campaign that promotes a new, related product to those customers. Taking that one step further, you could create a dynamic group for customers outside of this list and offer a promotional discount for the new product, as they might be less likely to purchase without a discount.

Leveraging dynamic groups for targeted upsells and cross sells to your existing customer base is a great way to make use of this functionality.

Marketing campaigns (customers) - specific campaigns for VIP customers, customers > X sales closed

Example 2 - VIP Customer Service

In this example you could leverage a static group to create a list of VIP customers that needs to be closely monitored and maintained, typically with executive input.

By grouping your VIP customer base together, you will be able to provide enhanced services to this group. This could include more frequent touch points, faster response times to support cases, excluding them from generic collections workflows, etc.

Example 3 - Broad Communication

In some cases, you may want to engage a broader population of entity records. Perhaps your business has recently switched banks and needs to inform customers of the new bank details to remit payment to. You could make use of the “Bulk Merge - Email” feature to send a broad communication to all customers in a specific region with the new details, including an attachment from the new bank that confirms the bank details.

The same applies to other entity records. Perhaps you are tracking outdated W-9’s and need to reach out to all US vendors with a W-9 that was signed more than X years ago. You do that by using the same functionality and also attach a copy of the W-9 form to the email communication.

Example 4 - File Cabinet Access

When creating a new file cabinet folder have you noticed an option to “Restrict by Group”? By creating a static or dynamic group, you can lock down access to specific file cabinet folders (and their contents) to a custom group. Perhaps you have confidential documentation that should only be accessible to the legal team - create a dynamic employee group that references a list of employees in the legal department and assign that group to the file cabinet folder.

A common scenario to consider is when leveraging NetSuite for vendor payment automation. NetSuite will be used to generate a file that will then be passed, typically via integration, to a 3rd party banking institution. The file will be automatically stored in the file cabinet. Given the contents of these files must not be manipulated in any way, the file cabinet folder must be locked down accordingly.

Salto Tip: Consider creating a dynamic group for employees with the Administrator role. It is always helpful to have this available when working with NetSuite functionality that does not allow for restriction via role (such as the file cabinet).

Screenshot showing file cabinet folder with ability to restrict by group

Example 5 - Script Deployment Access

Some NetSuite customization options allow the ability to restrict the execution of that customization to specific groups. SuiteScript (script deployments) is no exception.

In many cases you will want to restrict the ability to execute a script deployment based upon user roles, subsidiaries, etc. but in some cases it is helpful to restrict to a custom population of employees. This can be achieved with the NetSuite group functionality.

Perhaps you have a custom Suitelet that provides actionable insights for the executive team and should not be shared with other NetSuite users. You could create a static group that captures the C-Suite employees and then restrict access to execute the Suitelet to the newly created C-Suite static employee group.

Screenshot showing script deployment with ability to restrict by group

Useful references for dynamic and static groups

In order to make better use of NetSuite groups, here are some useful references:

• NetSuite documentation for creating a dynamic group
• NetSuite documentation for creating a static group

For more information on NetSuite features you should be using, check out Salto’s blog posts that explore some of the things that NetSuite Developers and NetSuite Administrators should be leveraging within the NetSuite ecosystem.

Final thoughts

When used effectively, NetSuite groups can be very powerful in their ability to dynamically update the system for email communication and system access. NetSuite helps to minimize the administrative burden of maintaining long lists of records (such as customer lists) outside the system. By leveraging the power of saved searches, you can track and maintain these lists directly within the system. When you need these lists locked down and managed by the respective owners, or perhaps an audit trail of the changes made to a group over time, NetSuite allows you to do this and more right out of the box.

If you’re not using NetSuite dynamic and custom groups today - it’s time to start!