David Tillotson, Director of Solution Engineering at Caravel, delved into the core of DCAA compliance.
In this webinar, he reviewed:
Data is quite possibly the most valuable business asset. Information from various business departments accumulates over the years and tells the story of an organization. It can provide invaluable insights into the future of that business and requires the utmost care in storage and management. In many cases, the various data from each entity is stored separately and in different formats, making it cumbersome, unmanageable, and overwhelming.
The rate of data among enterprises is growing at a rate of 40-60% each year. This rapid expansion makes the storage, management, and utilization of that data more and more challenging and can greatly affect growth. Hindrances to the effective use of data include siloed data sources, a shortage of experts who can analyze big data, extracting meaningful insights that lead to actionable intelligence, as well as the security of data.
“Data-driven companies are those with a certain data maturity and literacy across the organization, where employees value the power of data,” explains Ashish Tamboli, EPM Senior Consultant at Caravel. Tracking, reviewing, and analyzing data and trends over time can greatly help organizations to better understand which processes need to be fixed and which are performing well. Data helps leadership create strategy based on evidence and to better understand customers—where they come from, what propels them to buy, and perhaps why certain items have high return rates. Simply put, having organized data helps businesses make more informed decisions, improves customer relationships, and increases revenue.
NSAW, or NetSuite Data Warehouse, is a cloud-based data storage and analytics solution for NetSuite ERP users that marries data and analytics along with AI and Machine Learning (ML). This allows users to speed up their decision-making processes and convert them into actionable results. NSAW employs the power of the Oracle Analytics Cloud, which is backed by the Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse. This allows users to build and run analyses and visualizations quicker and without the need for their IT department.
Effectively solving data management challenges, NSAW brings together ALL data sources, including NetSuite Finance and Operations data, and other sources a business may use such as Shopify data, Salesforce data, Google Analytics, and many more that allow a business to turn off legacy systems that no longer serve it. NSAW also reduces the heavy task of migrating data and offers self-service analytics and automated reporting from multiple sources.
NSAW allows its users not to look at data in isolation, but rather from an entire workflow perspective to more easily identify patterns, understand what the data is revealing, and make true, data-driven decisions.
NSAW propels businesses to make faster, more cost-effective decisions by:
The power of artificial intelligence drives NSAW to validate, centralize, and connect sources of data from unrelated operational systems, thereby granting access to the most up-to-date data that is consistent and whole. This reduces human error, as well. Always on the job and running in the background, it allows for speedier insights and produces a clear look into financials and operations by utilizing pattern recognition, outlier detection, automatic forecasting, and predictive modeling. AI makes analyzing trends and creating reports based on the most current and historical data. By processing large data sets from multiple sources, NSAW reveals the value that would otherwise be buried by legacy systems.
Historical data is classified as past (pre-NetSuite migration) ERP transactional information on sales, products or services, customers, and suppliers. Businesses are required to retain this information for financial and legal purposes, and it’s typically stored in siloed, legacy in-house systems with restricted access to preserve its integrity. This data is rich with information and lessons from historical operational performance as well as the customer and explains a lot about current facts and figures. It also plays a large role in forecasting, which allows businesses to plan for change.
Money is spent to safeguard, monitor, update, and patch this data – and this requires expertise to guard it against security threats. Over a seven-year period, these costs add up. This is where a centralized, cloud-based system can eliminate all the issues that segregated and costly historical data causes.
Benefits include:
One of the biggest challenges that businesses face is having their data in silos as well as in many different formats. Getting access to their data is yet another issue they face, while the struggle with manual fatigue is next on the list. The cost implications of managing legacy data are an additional problem, but all these issues can be easily solved.
Many NetSuite users have other systems and data sources within their organization that could offer tremendous benefits by adding additional context and a more thorough understanding of the past, present, and future. This diverse data can help detect early signs of change, allowing businesses to be more agile and adaptable.
Sources of internal data include:
Sources of external data include:
All this highly valuable data isn’t being shared across the business, and as it accumulates, it gets stale if unused.
There are many ways that data silos waste resources and reduce employee efficiency. According to Stitch Data, it can reduce the speed at which a company uses data to make decisions, permit poor collaboration among departments, incur unnecessary IT costs, and reduce the quality of data, thereby leading to poor analytics.
Centralizing data will unlock tremendous value and allow the business to safely retain the data and allow for access across departments, retire legacy systems that no longer serve a purpose, be rid of costly data migration projects, and allow for analysis of operations, trends, and performance over time.
Data storage scales according to a business’s needs and NSAW offers over 40 pre-built connections to sources such as Google Analytics, Shopify, payroll data, inventory data, HR data, Salesforce, and more. The challenges of integrating and managing data are minimized so users can focus on unveiling valuable insights that lead to more informed business decisions.
The visualizations and dashboards are comprehensive and easy to understand, while using the built-in ML models allows for predictive analysis.
Manual reporting is an effort of the past. With NSAW, self-serve reporting is easy, with drag-and-drop features and a collection of visually appealing dashboards that offer key metrics from all over. Sales, inventory, financials, procurement, and more—these dashboards are easily customizable and offered in everyday language, making it simple. Meanwhile, AI runs in the background and offers features such as auto recommendations on the optimal visualization styles, helping to interpret results more quickly. Reports refresh themselves automatically, so the user is not constantly rebuilding them. No-code forecasting allows users to better plan and predict for the future. All this is presented on one screen, avoiding users jumping around to uncover inefficiencies and discover revenue opportunities.
NSAW offers KPIs and metrics for many different job roles, putting them in the proper context for each employee. This role-based analytical capability makes it simpler for users to view what is relevant to them. It also allows users to drill down from KPIs and charts and investigate elements at the transaction level. Its reporting capabilities reduce time spent on creating presentations by offering visuals that can directly export to various formats such as PDF, PNG, and XLS.
One of the driving values of NSAW is cost savings. As a data migration solution, being able to store and access historical data without having to pay for other licenses is tremendous on the bottom line. NSAW, compared to other solutions on the market, allows current NetSuite users to save tens of thousands of dollars a year by consolidating their data in the warehouse.
“NSAW is a strategic investment for data-driven companies to gain valuable, immediate, and accurate insights, Ashish states. “Since many employees lack IT knowledge, NSAW acts as a self-serve tool that can be used with little to no IT support by leveraging pre-built datasets and reports.” This is where significant cost savings come in and eliminate the need for complete IT support, making users more autonomous and able to gain insights and delve into trends without relying on IT.
Once data has been effortlessly merged into NSAW and is centrally packaged with easy access, users can easily solve business problems and make more informed decisions. Running autonomously in the cloud, a prebuilt data pipeline automates the flow of NetSuite ERP data into the Warehouse (daily or at other frequencies); automations organize the data so it’s usable and accessible—thereby eliminating the need for an IT team to run it. As Ashish points out, “NetSuite ERP is not enough of a system to give you insights into your data. Users need to have the capability to slice and dice data to get more meaningful outputs and compare trends. This is where NSAW comes in and allows users to compare trends over time.”
NSAW consolidates information and centralizes assets, giving relevant data to end users—anytime, anywhere.
Caravel can help accelerate the implementation of NetSuite’s Analytics Warehouse so that your teams can all be on the same page when it comes to data and insights.
Watch the on-demand webinar, Harnessing the Power of Your Analytics With NSAW, and learn more about this extraordinary program that will propel your organization to the next level.
Caravel has officially launched its Construction SuiteBundle! Our built-for-NetSuite, native application includes functionality for customers to manage their construction projects and includes project financial management, cost code and job cost management, AIA and retention billing, change order management and flexible budgeting.
The SuiteBundle comes with no recurring fee and implementation is included with the core ERP implementation. Reach out to learn more and/or to schedule a demonstration!
Access our Datasheet below!
Author: Luke Pirtle, Director of IP Development
Performance inside NetSuite is usually done incorrectly due to misunderstandings on where to optimize, what to optimize, how to optimize it, and what NOT to optimize.
There are numerous statements and definitions of good code all over the internet written by various people with varying credentials. Most definitions bear a resemblance to the following.
The code must be:
• Readable
• Scalable
• Testable
• Fail Gracefully
• Easily Extendable
• Reusable
The biggest takeaway from this list is that performance is toward the end of the list. A few will even mention avoiding premature optimization, stating it’s harmful. It cannot be overstated that quality code is not the fastest-running code; rather, quality code follows the tenets above. If a solution is 10x faster but has intermittent errors and doesn’t indicate when it fails, you’ll end up with a client who is upset because their integration has been turned off for a month without any notice.
Performance should be considered but only after the other tenets are addressed. Typically, it’s also an afterthought and should only be done if requested. Rarely is there an issue with a solution being “too slow,” so there is no reason to risk the possibility of a bug or client escalation due to an unsolicited update. Before optimizing, always write good quality code.
What needs to be optimized is commonly misunderstood. The first step in optimization is breakout and benchmarking to identify what needs to be prioritized. Developers typically want to create cool, clever solutions and use this as an excuse to theorize what needs an upgrade instead of investigating further. It can lead to severely overcomplicated data structures and algorithms because it’s fun, versus doing the legwork that will produce tangible results.
For example, I once had a solution that took mere seconds to commit a line on a sales order but was a painful UX experience. I optimized it with bulk searches and async calls and made it as streamlined as possible. Then, I discovered that my solution had never taken more than 0.1 – 0.2 seconds to run on average. The slowdown was due to the absurd number (over 250) of custom fields that were on the transaction line with over 25% being list / record fields. The system needed to work with those extra columns and references and that was taking 95% of the time needed to commit.
I had only shaved off tenths of a second at most and spent a week or two in the weeds. Testing the same pre-optimized code base on a standard form without these fields resulted in instantaneous performance. Without my investigation, the solution could never have taken less than the 2 seconds I started with. I was fighting an unwinnable battle. I only did this analysis at the end when I ran out of ideas on how to increase performance further. You need to start with the low hanging fruit and work your way up the tree. There are times you’ll need to climb all the way up to the top, but typically you can make quick and easy changes to optimize solutions to an acceptable range.
Computers are fast and have been for a while. For a frame of reference—CPUs are rated in GHz which is measured as instructions/seconds. This means a 1 gigahertz (GHz) computer completes a billion clock cycles per second. However, HTTPS have an actual physical distance to travel and when you make a request it drastically slows things down.
Numerous strategies and caches are used by ISPs and data engineers to mitigate the number of calls and distance required for calls, but there is always a physical distance slowdown. HTTPS calls usually take 1.5 seconds on average and lines of code execute in less than a millisecond. HTTPS calls should be consolidated and minimized. It is far “cheaper” and more efficient to do client-side computations rather than multiple HTTPS calls. Bulk operations should be performed as well. For a simple analogue, consider going to the grocery store several times throughout the day for each ingredient versus going with a list and getting it all at once.
Optimization Tips:
• Try to consolidate multiple calls to external resources.
• Use Async calls, when possible, to unblock the CPU while these are working.
• Avoid unnecessary calls by removing any relics from your code.
• Use caching methodology and keep local copies of values and files when possible and only look them up when necessary.
Most API calls in NetSuite initiate a request to the server, perform a database operation, or utilize some internal resource on their network. These requests are optimized and travel shorter distances but have the same detriments as the HTTPS calls mentioned above. Every search, query, record load, file saved, etc. makes a call to a server or database and should be minimized or consolidated in bulk.
Optimization Tips:
• Don’t use database operations unless you need them. Record.load should only be used if you are going to write to the record or get something only available by loading a record. Use the search module instead.
• Prioritize bulk searches. If you have to look up a value for each line on a transaction, identify all elements up front and run a search to get them all at once.
• Remove debugging logs from scripts once you have a working solution. Rather than removing all logs, keep the logs informative and useful by removing the “Got here” and spot check variable logs.
• Modify log levels when not debugging. Turn a script from “debug” to “audit” or “error” to prevent log noise and increase performance.
CSV import is a robust, simple, and very performant operation for updating and creating records in NetSuite. You can multithread imports, have them run on multiple queues, and disable scripts and workflows if you don’t need them. They can be manually used by non-functional resources but also triggered from server-side scripts for complex automations. You don’t have as much control over the logic as you do with a script, but it’s usually not required for bulk operations or can be done beforehand.
Optimization Tips:
The Map/Reduce design pattern is powerful. However, developers usually just need a multithreading option and skip the map or reduce stage. Typically, the biggest slowdown / process intensive tasks are running a search, saving records, and network requests. Multithreading these elements scales down the highest latency code in your script, saving you precious time.
Optimization Tips:
• SuiteCloud + Licenses are key. If you have 0 licenses, you have 2 SuiteCloud Processors for the entire account. If you have 1 license, you have 5 threads with 5 time the speed. SuiteCloud + licenses can be prohibitively costly so design after you take this into consideration.
• Prefetch static values (meta data for queues)
• Break out searches if they are large and complicated. If possible, chunk out search pages to the map stage and run them there to multithread your search. This also prevents timeouts for large or complex searches.
Anything at the JavaScript level, you do not need to optimize. You should not be trying to augment NetSuite code like Google or Apple. I can imagine the developers who use binary trees and layers of typescript screaming right now, but if you use binary trees in JavaScript and with NetSuite you are doing it wrong. There is no room for preference or subjectivity. This is the truth specifically for the NetSuite ecosystem due to its size and typical use cases. NetSuite’s core demographic is small to medium sized businesses and an enterprise level client here and there. This business model and demographic does NOT benefit from micro optimizations that can save milliseconds over millions of computations by leveraging advanced data structures and algorithms. If you are struggling that much you are on the wrong system or need to simplify your process.
Typically, the overhead from advanced data structures and algorithms isn’t even realized until you get to large datasets that exceed the usual 10,000 elements. In JavaScript, sometimes this never happens. It’s actually harmful in the NetSuite ecosystem by adding extra overhead, test cases, and complexity, and it provides no benefit. Take a look at the example below using a benchmarking tool I created:
I wanted to know which array operation was faster in NetSuite. I had a Suitelet run both examples 100,000 times each and received the following results: 255ms vs 117ms.
I was able to run an entire benchmark of 100,000 iterations for both unit tests in significantly less time than a single average HTTPS request (1500ms).
Now, watch when I add a single log into this operation:
Twelve whole seconds versus the 0.152 seconds because I added a single log to each iteration.
Javascript code is fast, network request and API calls are not—use this information as best you can. Don’t overcomplicate your JavaScript; if you want to optimize performance, you can have much more impact by removing unnecessary logs first.
The strategy should not be how to implement a hashmap or binary search into your code to make things lightning fast, it should be how to implement these things to make better quality code. These features aren’t taboo, but rather their misuse is. I do not have a pet peeve against complex code—I write a lot of crazy Map / Reduce scripts and have even used classes on more than one occasion. The difference is I used a class because the data structures were polymorphic and benefited from the approach. Code can be basic and complicated as long as the complexity is not driven from a misguided attempt at optimization.
Whether securing their first government contract or acquiring larger opportunities, companies of all sizes need a DCAA compliance solution that’s built into NetSuite Cloud ERP to create a complete business management solution. Here are five reasons why:
1. A requirement for any organization that wants to do business with the DoD, DCAA compliance ensures that all of its trading partners are using proper financial management techniques in the course of business. Responsible for performing all audits for the U.S. DoD and for providing accounting and financial advisory services to DoD components responsible for procurement and contract administration, the DCAA also provides contract audit services for other government agencies.
2. Where the Lockheed Martins and Raytheons of the world may have complex systems in place to ensure DCAA compliance, small to midsized businesses (SMBs) don’t always have these resources at their avail. A smaller organization that relies on older, on-premises software systems and Excel spreadsheets to run its operations, for example, may be caught off guard upon being awarded its first government contract. An excellent opportunity to expand its horizons, the company may quickly find itself mired in the idiosyncrasies of maintaining DCAA compliance.
3. If you’re awarded a government contract, the government agency will request detailed information regarding contract-related transactions such as procurement, revenue, and time entry postings. DCAA also mandates how you structure and report against your financials. These requirements directly impact how a company sets up its chart of accounts, reports on that chart of accounts, and then manages financial allocations. Handling these responsibilities manually or using disconnected, on-premises software systems is both time- and labor-intensive, not to mention error-prone. By automating these processes on a unified cloud ERP platform that includes pre-built DCAA compliance capabilities, companies of all sizes can easily gather, retain, and generate everything they need to win a contract and maintain compliance.
4. Without a centralized system to refer to, companies also grapple with poor operational visibility for their government contracts. When sales, procurement, and fulfillment managers can’t collaborate on a single system, they must resort to emailing spreadsheets and documents back and forth every time a company has to produce a report or a specific document to the DCAA.
5. Once in place, the DCAA SuiteBundle automates time entry, labor costing, accounting, billing, and reporting in a way that disparate solutions and spreadsheets can’t match. The SuiteBundle also makes the DCAA’s strict payroll and time-keeping requirements much easier for SMBs to manage. And while some solutions on the market tackle just the time-keeping task, Caravel Partners enhanced the NetSuite Cloud ERP time entry module to be able to handle all of DCAA’s time-related specific requirements.
Caravel’s DCAA Compliance SuiteBundle is built directly into NetSuite and supplements the functionality that companies need to comply with DCAA rules and regulations. The DCAA SuiteBundle can be implemented either during or post a base ERP implementation, with the typical time frame spanning four to five months (for both the ERP and the SuiteBundle).
By automating processes and tasks that were previously handled manually, the DCAA SuiteBundle frees up employees to focus on more important projects. It also provides an excellent audit trail for DCAA and its third-party audit agencies.
Whether your company is on the verge of winning a large government contract and in need of its first DCAA compliance software or already using one and unable to handle the complexities of larger contracts, NetSuite ERP plus the pre-built DCAA SuiteBundle can accommodate organizations of all sizes and across all industries.
Whether securing their first government contract or acquiring larger opportunities, companies of all sizes need a DCAA compliance solution that’s built into NetSuite Cloud ERP to create a complete business management solution.
Every year, the U.S. federal government spends trillions of dollars procuring the goods and services that it needs to keep its many different departments running. In 2020 alone, it spent $6.55 trillion, [bm1] a portion of which involved deals with government contractors, the largest of which includes well-known organizations like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Raytheon.
Download our WhitePaper to learn more.
The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), is responsible for monitoring and auditing such government contracts to ensure that taxpayer money is spent properly and ethically.
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