Scenario
A user wanted to associate a Department with Vendor records in NetSuite to support Vendor Bill Approval routing.
The business approval process required Vendor Bills to be routed to Department Heads based on the Department assigned to the bill. Although the Vendor Bill transaction includes a Department field, the Vendor record itself does not contain a standard Department field.
The user wanted the Department value to automatically populate on Vendor Bills when transactions are created for specific vendors and needed to determine whether this functionality was available in NetSuite.
Solution
The ability to add Department, Class, Location, or Employee fields directly to Vendor records for automatic sourcing into Accounts Payable transactions is currently tracked under Enhancement Request 84731.
Enhancement Request
- 84731 Vendors Please add Department Class Location Employee fields on Vendor records to default into Accounts Payable transactions and support role restrictions.
Until this enhancement becomes available, NetSuite recommends using a custom field workaround.
Workaround Configuration
1. Create a Custom Department Field on the Vendor Record
Navigate to: Setup > Customization > Entity Fields > New
Configure the field with the following settings:
- Label = Department
- Type = List or Record
- List or Record = Department
- Applies To = Vendor
- Display Subtab = General
Save the field.
2. Assign a Department to the Vendor
Edit the Vendor record and populate the custom Department field created in the previous step.
3. Create a Transaction Body Field to Source the Vendor Department
Navigate to: Setup > Customization > Transaction Body Fields > New
Configure the field with the following settings:
- Label = Source Department
- Type = List or Record
- List or Record = Department
- Store Value = Unchecked
- Applies To = Purchase
- Display Subtab = Main
- Display Type = Disabled
Under Sourcing and Filtering:
- Source List = Entity
- Source From = Department
Save the field.
4. Use the Sourced Department in Approval Workflows
The sourced Department field can then be referenced within Vendor Bill approval workflows to route approvals to the appropriate Department Head automatically.
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