Maximizing Efficiency with NetSuite Solutions

Let’s try something. If you are running operations for an aviation organization or mechanical contracting business, do these challenges ring true:

Sound familiar?

• Very thin margins
• Disgruntled technicians
• Month-end close that goes way beyond month-end

Do you already use NetSuite ERP, but still find that you are regularly copy-and-pasting data across ServiceTrade, Excel, and other niche apps? If so, stop. It doesn’t have to be that way. Availent Systems can customize solutions in the NetSuite ecosystem that illuminate blind spots and remove bottlenecks all without having to start your setup all over from square one. In this article, we are going to explore our approach to doing just that.

Efficiency Can’t Wait

At Availent Systems, we are data driven. To that end, we’ve culled a few statistics that really illustrate the types of losses that inefficient systems can bring.
Disconnected data doesn’t just slow things down; it introduces risk, frustrates your team, and clouds your decision-making at exactly the wrong time. The faster your fleet grows, the more difficult it is to keep up.

• According to an article from Resolve, “70% of companies have Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) that extend beyond 46 days, which can severely disrupt cash flow.” That disruption to cash flow slows growth and limits the availability of working capital.
• Error rates for manual data entry are also a problem, with error rates as high as 4%
• For field-service organizations, the average first-time-fix rate is lower than you might expect, at 71.9%. When technicians have to revisit jobs that were already “complete” it cuts into billable hours that could be spent on new work, eroding margins–and that’s not even including what it does for the customer experience to require multiple visits to fix something they expected to have fixed on the first visit.

With productivity leaks like these, it can seem nearly impossible to hit just about any real growth target. What can help is a 3-step process that involves: surfacing the right data, automating repeatable processes, and integrating with all necessary systems and apps.

Let’s dig deeper into each of these steps to show how Availent Systems’s NetSuite ERP solutions can create new efficiencies that make a real difference to your bottom line.

Step 1: Surfacing the Right Data

How are you currently getting data? If you are like many directors/managers, it likely shows up in your email every week–or perhaps even every month. While that may be the way you’ve always done it, what you are getting is dated information. Sometimes it comes in too late to make actionable changes. The window has closed.

Native to NetSuite are dashboards, KPIs, and SuiteAnalytics that deliver real-time information to key stakeholders, including:

• Director of Operations
  • The labor-margin per work order
  • Technician usage/deployment
  • Parts on truck versus required parts
• CFO/Controller
  • Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) trend
  • Unbilled Work in Progress (WIP)
  • Cash-on-hand forecasting/projecting
• Service Manager
  • First-time-fix rates
  • Number of return visits
  • Open Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) count

  Take Your Dashboards to a New Level with Availent’s Dashboard Service SuiteApp

  Years of development and implementation have allowed Availent Systems to install customized solutions into SuiteApps quickly and efficiently. Our Dashboard Service for NetSuite solution facilitates the streaming of KPIs, charts, and reports on any screen or device from anywhere, including televisions, tablets, and even phones. In the real world, this means you have the ability to manage your service-dispatch crew or a fixed base operator (FBO) line-manager office. At a glance, crews can see a KPI, such as labor margin, slipping into the red and be able to take action immediately. This is a considerably better option than discovering it in a monthly report, when it’s too late to do anything about it.

  Step 2: Automating Repeatable Processes

  A quick audit of processes can unveil opportunities for automation. Here are just a few areas that commonly present themselves as ripe for automation.

  Workflows and Approvals

  • SuiteFlow can use job IDs or even dollar thresholds to instantly route purchase orders to the right person for approval.
  • Period-close checklist eliminates the need to manually track down wayward tasks by automatically prompting accounting to lock subsidiary books as soon as a project reaches the 100% completion mark.

  AP Automation can instantly scan vendor bills, match the bill to the purchase orders, then automatically post them right to your ledger.

  Ingest Data Sans Spreadsheets

  As mentioned above, manual data entry / importing is a key contributor to 4% error rates. Availent’s File Import Tool for NetSuite can monitor a secure folder and import Excel, CSV, or any ASCII format file directly into NetSuite and map the data from those files right to the related NetSuite fields automatically. This is ideal for many applications, including timecard, fuel logs, and service-trade exports just to name a few.

  Getting Correct Item Records

  If you want an accurate cost-of-goods, you need to make sure you are selecting the right NetSuite item types, (e.g., Inventory, Kit/Package, Assembly, or Service). At Availent Systems, our functional CPAs conduct a full catalog audit so that, for instance, “Fuel – Jet A” doesn’t land in the wrong grand ledger bucket and HVAC copper fittings show up on van-stock reorder reports… automatically.

  Step 3: Integrating with Systems and Apps

  If you really want to kick your efficiency into hyperdrive, integration is the key. By integrating automated processes across all systems, you’ll realize tremendous time savings in tasks like dispatch, finance, and inventory management.

  For Field Service

  For field service applications, Availent Systems’s ServiceTrade Connector for NetSuite aligns customers, locations, work orders, and invoices. In a real world environment, for instance, this means a dispatcher can create or update a job, NetSuite will mirror it, and finance can instantly invoice the customer as soon as a technician gets the customer’s signature.

  For Aviation

  For aviation environments, AviationSuccess for NetSuite pipes industry-specific fields right into core ERP records. Fields commonly include: tail number, trip sheet, fuel type. From there, X-1 FBO and eBis road-map connectors send fueling transactions and maintenance tasks directly into NetSuite, putting tail-number profit and loss (P&L) just a mouse click away.

  Integration in 5 Steps

  To close out this section on efficiency, here are 5 steps you can take toward integration.

  1. Define Your KPIs. This could be something like reducing manual job entry to 0, for example.
  2. Map Your Data. This will be a field-by-field process across NetSuite and whatever external apps you are using.
  3. Choose Your Connector. This includes pre-built SuiteApp, SuiteTalk SOAP/REST, or iPaaS.
  4. Test Some Edge Cases. Common edge cases include credits, discounts, split invoices, and time-zone idiosyncrasies.
  5. Secure and Monitor Your Connections.We’re talking about token-based authentication, error-alert dashboards, and regular (e.g., monthly/quarterly) connector health checks.

  Field Service and Aviation Industry Playbooks

  Field-Service Efficiency Checklist

  • Auto-generate work orders as soon as a ServiceTrade dispatch is scheduled.
  • Route optimization connects inventory to every truck, which cuts drive time.
  • Mobile capturing of photos and customer signatures triggers automatic invoicing.
  • Target your metrics: less than 2% repeat visits, greater than 85% first-time-fix, less than 7-day service-to-cash cycle.

  Jet Access Aviation Case Snapshot

  Jet Access was looking at 3 different and disconnected systems and absolutely 0 tail-number visibility. Availent Systems implemented NetSuite ERP solutions, built a prototype connector to X-1 FBO, and deployed a custom dashboard highlighting charter margin by aircraft.

  The result? Month-end close shrank from 10 days to 7 days and flight activity grew by 22% without needing to add finance staff.

  A Roadmap for Continuous Improvement

  The best way to look at a roadmap for continuous improvement is via a phased approach. Let’s break it down.

  • Phase 1 (0-3 months). Core GL, AP/AR, and ServiceTrade Connector. You can expect duplicate data entries to decrease by about 80%.
  • Phase 2 (4-6 months).Deployment of Dashboard Service and automation of period close. The goal = 5-day close.
  • Phase 3 (7-12 months).Being layering in AP Automation and SuiteAnalytics Warehouse. Expect a reduction in manual AP touches of about 60%.
  • Phase 4 (Year 2+). Introduce Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ), predictive-maintenance AI, and new SuiteApps. Target a 15% revenue increase per technician while maintaining the same headcount.

  Availent Systems offers a quarterly system tuneup review to keep your roadmap on track. The above is a plan, your KPIs will ultimately define what comes next. We do not, and never will, believe that one size fits all.

  Choosing the Right NetSuite Solutions Provider for Your Organization

  While we have spent a good amount of time talking about how quick and easy workflows can become with a thoughtful NetSuite solution implementation, actually implementing NetSuite ERP solutions is not a DIY project you can knock out in a weekend.

  To that end some criteria you can use to evaluate potential NetSuite solution partners including the following:

  • Oracle NetSuite Alliance credentials and verified SuiteApp listingsMake sure you are working with a professional and not just a hobbyist.
  • Vertical expertise.Is the vendor fluent in “truck stock” and “tail number”?
  • Full-stack teamof CPAs, functional consultants, and developers under one roof for end-to-end service implementation and post go-live support.
  • Sprint transparency & post-go-live service level agreements (SLA)look beyond glossy sales decks.

  At Availent Systems, we work hard to deliver all of this and we ice that cake with a servant-leader ethos. If you have a NetSuite requirement that we cannot fulfill, we will direct you toward the best alternative. Client satisfaction is our number one KPI.

  In Conclusion

  For too long, profit leaks have been chalked up as part of the business. They don’t have to be. Through real-time visibility, repeatable automations, and rock solid integrations, you can close the books in 5 days, send invoices the same afternoon a job is completed, and scale to new branches or hangars all without adding more names to the payroll.