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Internationalization Updates in NetSuite 2020.2

2020.2 Internationalization |
  • Intercompany Framework
  • System-Generated Representing Entities
  • Transaction Pairing
  • Subsidiary Limit Increased
  • Introducing Worldwide Support for Phone Number Formatting
  • Manage Translations (Beta) Enhancements in NetSuite 2020.2
  • Record Localization Context API Available for Use in SuiteScript 2.0
  • Expanding Record Localization Context Support with New Record Types
  • New Translatable Fields Supported by SDF
  • Localization Context Now Available in Workflows

This release note was updated September 2, 2020.

Intercompany Framework

NetSuite 2020.2 introduces the Intercompany Framework feature. This feature includes new functionality to help you manage cross-subsidiary business workflows. The following links provide information on updated or new functionality associated with the Intercompany

Framework feature:

  • Intercompany Preferences
  • Intercompany Framework Subsidiary Configuration
  • Cross Charge Automation
  • Intercompany Netting and Netting Settlement

Intercompany Preferences

When an administrator enables the Intercompany Framework feature or the Automated Intercompany

Management feature, NetSuite provides access to the Intercompany Preferences page. If you have

the Setup Accounting permission, you can define intercompany preferences at Setup > Accounting > Preferences > Intercompany Preferences. Note: The Intercompany Framework feature requires the Automated Intercompany Management feature. If you use only the Automated Intercompany Management feature, the Intercompany Preferences page includes fewer preferences. When you enable the Intercompany Framework feature, you can define default intercompany accounting preferences and markup rates for cross-subsidiary transactions. If you use the Multi-Subsidiary Customer feature, you can let NetSuite create and maintain representing entities for all non-elimination subsidiaries. For more information, see System-Generated Representing Entities and Intercompany Preferences.

Intercompany Framework Subsidiary Configuration

In 2020.2, you can define default cross charge classification preferences for one or multiple subsidiaries through the Subsidiary Settings Manager page. The Intercompany Framework feature uses these preferences during cross charge automation. For information, see the following help topics:

  • Subsidiary Settings Manager
  • Defining Default Cross Charge Classification Preferences for a Specific Subsidiary
  • Defining Default Cross Charge Classification Preferences for Multiple Subsidiaries Cross Charge Automation View the New Feature Training for Cross Charge Automation. When you enable the Intercompany Framework feature, NetSuite adds the Generate Intercompany Cross

Charges task to the Period Close Checklist. This task generates cross charges between subsidiaries that

provided business services to each other. For example, when one subsidiary creates a sales order and another subsidiary fulfills the order.

During period end close, NetSuite generates a pair of automatically approved cross charges as read-

only intercompany transactions. NetSuite generates one transaction for the initiator subsidiary, and one for the receiver subsidiary. These cross charges create open intercompany payable and receivable balances, and appear in the trading currency specified on the Intercompany Preferences page. You can settle mutual open intercompany balances with intercompany netting. For more information, see the help topics Generating Intercompany Cross Charges and Intercompany Netting.

Intercompany Netting and Netting Settlement

View the New Feature Training for Intercompany AP/AR Netting. Intercompany AP/AR Netting is the second training session in the video. The Intercompany Framework feature includes the intercompany netting functionality. Intercompany netting enables you to settle mutual intercompany open balances across subsidiaries, and then automatically generate intercompany settlements. When you use this functionality throughout the accounting period, you reduce the number of open intercompany transactions and receive the following benefits:

  • Less manual effort spent in reconciling, revaluing, and eliminating open intercompany balances
  • Decreased time spent on payment processing and bank reconciliation
  • Simplified period close process
  • Less time spent in the netting process if you let NetSuite select the nettable open intercompany balances
  • Generate netting settlement statements for your subsidiaries For more information, see the help topic Intercompany Netting. System-Generated Representing Entities View the New Feature Training for System-Generated Representing Entities. NetSuite 2020.2 enables users of the Automated Intercompany Management feature to let NetSuite generate and maintain intercompany entities for all non-elemination subsidiaries. If you set a prefix for these entities, you can quickly identify them from any existing, manually-created intercompany entities.

NetSuite creates representing entities each time you add a new subsidiary. When you modify an existing

subsidiary, NetSuite automatically updates the representing entities. When you deleted a subsidiary, NetSuite deletes the related representing entities. For more information, see the help topic Representing Entities.

Transaction Pairing

View the New Feature Training for Transaction Pairing. Transaction Pairing is the first training session in the video. NetSuite 2020.2 enables you to manually pair intercompany bills with intercompany invoices. If you use the Intercompany Framework feature, you can use the netting functionality to net paired intercompany invoices and bills of the same amount. To begin using transaction pairing, customize the invoice and bill forms to include the new Paired

Intercompany Transaction field. When you record an intercompany invoice for a subsidiary, NetSuite

provides a list of relevant transactions in the Paired Intercompany Transaction list. NetSuite lists transactions based on subsidiary, entity, currency, and document status. You select the appropriate transaction by clicking its document number in the Paired Intercompany Transaction list. After you pair intercompany transactions, you can alter the pairing if there is a mismatch, or edit and delete any incorrect intercompany transaction. If you review paired transactions throughout the accounting period, you can decrease the manual effort in intercompany transaction reconciliation prior to period end close.

During the accounting period, you can also create SuiteAnalytic datasets to view paired transactions. To

view this data, include the Paired Intercompany Transaction field in your dataset. For more information, see the help topic Pairing Intercompany Transactions.

Subsidiary Limit Increased

NetSuite 2020.2 increases the subsidiary limit from 125 to 250 for all customers. Introducing Worldwide Support for Phone Number

Formatting

As of NetSuite 20.2, worldwide phone number formatting is supported for all countries in both the user interface and SuiteScript. For the list of supported countries and their country codes, see the help topic List of Supported Countries. This feature can only be enabled or disabled by administrators. To enable worldwide support for phone number formatting, navigate to Setup > Company > Enable Features. In the International section, check the Worldwide Support for Phone Number Formatting box. When you enter a phone number in NetSuite, the phone number is formatted according to the following rules:

  • If the number you entered is the same country as your subsidiary, the system omits the country code and formats the number according to valid national standards.
  • If the number you entered is a different country than your subsidiary, the system keeps the number in the international format and formats the number according to the standards of the given country on the basis of the used country code. Note: This feature only formats valid telephone numbers. If you enter an invalid number, such as all zeroes, the number will not be formatted. The Worldwide Support for Phone Number Formatting feature introduces two new SuiteScript formatting objects: format.PhoneNumberFormatter and format.PhoneNumberParser. For more information about these formatting methods, see Phone Number Objects Added to the N/ format/i18n Module. This feature supports the following formats:
  • Local phone numbers
  • Area phone numbers
  • National phone numbers
  • International phone numbers
  • Special phone numbers
  • Emergency service phone numbers
  • Alphanumeric phone numbers This applies to any phone number entered on records, entry forms, and other forms or places in the NetSuite application. The phone number formatting is only applied after you open the record containing the respective phone number and access or edit the given phone number field. The maximum length of the field is 32 characters. This feature does not automatically affect the existing phone numbers already saved in the NetSuite application. The saved phone numbers are not reformatted unless you open the record containing the number and access or edit the given field. Manage Translations (Beta) Enhancements in NetSuite 2020.2 In NetSuite 20.2, the following changes have been introduced to Manage Translations (Beta) to improve the consistency of translations, user experience, and distribution of translation strings:
  • Introduction of String Hierarchy and Linking of Translation Strings
  • Improvements in the Manage Translations (Beta) UI
  • Management of Translation Strings Distributed Through SDF Introduction of String Hierarchy and Linking of Translation

Strings

This feature allows you to create links between custom translation strings and a hierarchy between them. When a linked translation string or its translation is edited, the strings linked to it are updated automatically, so you do not need to search for them and update them manually. In the Manage Translations (Beta) UI, the linked translation strings are marked with a link icon. This hierarchy has been introduced to support consistency of translations across the NetSuite application and SuiteApps. As of NetSuite 20.2, in connection to the introduction of the string hierarchy, you can now define the following groups of strings with varying properties:

  • Parent Strings
  • Child Strings
  • Stand-Alone Strings For more information about parent, child, and stand-alone strings, see the help topic Manage Translations (Beta) or Globalization Glossary.

Parent Strings

A parent string passes its description and translations to its child string. You can create a parent string in either the UI or in SDF as part of a Translation Collection. A parent string is included in a collection and its contents, such as description and translations, can be edited.

Child Strings

You can create a child string in the UI by linking a stand-alone string to a parent string. The child string inherits all parent string data including translations and references to the Translation Collection. You can unlink a child string from its parent string and make it a stand-alone string. When you do so, the child string retains the translations from the parent string, but the child string is not updated when the former parent string is changed.

Stand-Alone Strings

A stand-alone string is created when you create a custom object or record. When you delete the custom object or record, the corresponding stand-alone string is also deleted. You cannot create or delete stand- alone strings in the Manage Translations (Beta) UI. You can link stand-alone strings to parent strings and create child strings in the Manage Translations (Beta) UI. To link a stand-alone string to a parent string:

  1. Navigate to Customization > Translations > Manage Translations (Beta).
  2. On the Strings tab, next to the stand-alone string that you want to link to a parent string, click the ellipsis (…) and select Link to.
  3. Next to the parent string that you want to link the stand-alone string to, click Select. See the image below for a view of the three types of translation strings:
  4. Stand-Alone String
  5. Parent String
  6. Child String

Improvements in the Manage Translations (Beta) UI

In the Manage Translations (Beta) user interface, you can see the hierarchical structure of translation strings. To open a tree view of the linked strings, click the arrow symbol next to a translation string. NetSuite 2020.2 introduces the Used In and Used As fields in the UI. These fields were added to provide useful context for customers, partners, or translators. The Used As field represents the category of the translation string and the Used In field represents the location of the translation string in NetSuite. See the image below for more information:

  1. Stand-alone string. Note that stand-alone strings cannot be included in a collection.
  2. Parent string. To display the child strings, click the arrow symbol.
  3. Child string. The link icon signifies that the child string is linked to the parent string above.
  4. Used In field. This field provides information about the location of the string in NetSuite.
  5. Used As field. This field provides information about the category of the string in NetSuite.

Management of Translation Strings Distributed Through SDF

As of NetSuite 2020.2, you can use SDF to distribute translation strings for supported translatable fields. You can manage these distributed translation strings in the Manage Translations (Beta) UI. You can also create links to collections and parent strings. For more information, see the help topic Translatable Fields on Custom Objects. For more information about the Manage Translations (Beta) application, see the help topic Manage Translations (Beta). Record Localization Context API Available for Use in

SuiteScript 2.0

As of NetSuite 2020.2, the Record Localization Context is available in SuiteScript 2.0. In this release, the new N/recordContext module is being introduced and you can use it to get the record localization context for supported record types. For more information, see New N/recordContext Module. For more information about supported record types, see the help topic Records Supporting the Localization Context. For more information about Record Localization Context, see the help topic Localization Context. Expanding Record Localization Context Support with New

Record Types

As of NetSuite 2020.2, you can use record localization context with tax code and tax type record types in the NetSuite application. For more information about supported record types, see the help topic Records Supporting the Localization Context. For more information about record localization context, see the help topic Localization Context.

New Translatable Fields Supported by SDF

As of NetSuite 20.2, SDF supports new translatable fields. For more information, see Additional Translatable Fields Support for Translation Collection Customizations. For a list of supported translatable fields, see the help topic Translatable Fields Supported in Custom Objects.

Localization Context Now Available in Workflows

As of NetSuite 2020.2, you can filter records on which workflows can be run by record localization context. For more information, see Filter Workflow Executions by Localization Context Support. For more information, see Localization Context Available for Workflows. For more information about Record Localization Context, see the help topic Localization Context.