NetSuite Document Management: The Ultimate Guide

Accounts payable runs on documents. 

Every transaction involves at least three types of documents: purchase orders, shipping receipts, and vendor invoices. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The entire procure-to-pay process requires a huge variety of documents, including vendor contracts, emails, proposals, certificates, insurance policies, and letters. 

Keeping track of AP documents can be a nightmare. First of all, there’s the sheer volume of paperwork because each transaction generates at least three documents. For a business that processes 12,000 transactions per year, that’s 3,000 documents that need to be verified, recorded, and stored every month (36,000 annually). 

Second, documents are rarely all in the same place. They could be attached to an email, stored on a device, or in the case of paper documents, sitting on a desk, stuck in the wrong file folder, or – worst case scenario – lost. Without a central system to track and record AP documents and link those documents to transactions and communications, businesses have limited visibility and control over their accounts payable.

Oracle NetSuite customers can use NetSuite’s enterprise-grade document management system, File Cabinet, to centralize and manage their AP documents. File Cabinet is a solid alternative to solutions such as Sharepoint or Box.com.  However, like those solutions, it may not be ideal for businesses with complex or growing accounts payable needs. 

In this article, we’ll look at document management within NetSuite and how an AP automation solution with AP-specific document management functionality can be a better alternative for your business.

Why You Need Document Management for Accounts Payable

Handling documents is a major challenge for finance teams. AP departments can easily become overwhelmed by the need to track, enter, verify, and record documentation. But the problem doesn’t stop there. Any time there is a need to review documentation, it can kick off a wild goose chase as employees search emails, physical files, hard drives, cloud storage, and even desktops to track down lost documents.

The documentation challenge hasn’t escaped the notice of CFOs and controllers. In Stampli’s 2021 survey of finance leaders, over one-third (35%) of leaders said they mainly invested in AP automation because their teams were handling too much paper. Workflow bottlenecks were the second biggest reason (33%), followed by reducing the time employees spend on low-value tasks (29%). 

The problem isn’t going away either – in a 2023 survey by Stampli and Treasury Webinars, 80% of finance leaders said they expected an increase in the volume of invoices their teams would need to process, and 53% said the complexity of those invoices would increase as well.

In other words, more documents to manage.

Benefits of an AP Document Management System

There are several reasons why business document management is important, and the primary reason is security. Accounts payable documents like invoices and purchase orders contain sensitive business information. A formal document management system ensures that these businesses can track and secure documents from unauthorized access. For paper files, this meant locking them in file cabinets. Today, businesses can use optical character recognition (OCR) technology to scan, digitize, and store documents electronically.

Another reason is preserving a complete audit trail. Having a formal document tracking system makes it much easier for auditors to locate crucial documents when needed.

Most AP teams have a system to manage documents, but without automation, even the best-designed document management process will bog down, or documents will slip through the cracks. For example, suppose a company doesn’t have a central address for all vendor communications or clear routing rules. In that case, documents can quickly end up in an inbox and never make it to accounts payable. Or in the case of paper documents, if a document isn’t scanned and captured, it could get lost or destroyed – leaving AP with the task of contacting the vendor for a new copy.

To help businesses manage their documents, many ERP providers, including NetSuite, include document management functionality in their solutions.

NetSuite Document Management

NetSuite provides a system that businesses can use to add reference documents to any record to facilitate tracking, indexing, and keeping documents organized. The documents themselves are stored in the NetSuite File Cabinet, a cloud-based storage and content management system bundled with the NetSuite platform. You can use the system to store and manage documents and attach them to almost any record type for many project management and business workflows, including accounts payable.

NetSuite Document Management has several business benefits:

• Documents are automatically attached to the record
• A centralized interface where teams can manage content
• Support for document templates, PDFs, image files, and Microsoft Office files
• Secure document management managed by NetSuite’s authentication system
• Users can drag and drop documents into File Cabinet on their desktop
• Support for electronic signatures

The File Cabinet works as a virtual drive in NetSuite to organize and store files. NetSuite users can upload documents to the File Cabinet, where they are accessible to other NetSuite modules. The documents can then be attached to records within NetSuite, making the documents accessible from within the ERP. There is an additional fee for File Cabinet storage based on the amount of storage the customer needs. 

NetSuite document management is a powerful system and can assist AP teams in managing their documents. However, the underlying problem still exists – if your documents and data are in different systems and can’t be automatically integrated into NetSuite, you’re stuck with manually tracking down, scanning (for paper documents), and entering the documents into File Cabinet. The best solution is to invest in an accounts payable automation platform incorporating AP-specific document management and ERP integration.

AP Automation Document Management is the Better Way

AP workflow automation platforms are designed with AP document processing in mind. Most platforms incorporate some form of optical character recognition (OCR) to scan and digitize paper documents alongside functionality to capture and record digital documents such as PDFs, images, and Office documents.

AP platforms also associate documents with the transaction and communications, making all the transaction information available in a central location using automation. That way, approvers can easily review all the information before approving a purchase, and auditors can access all relevant documents and communications when reviewing a transaction.

Here’s how AP automation makes document management more efficient:

Streamline Data Entry and Digitizing Records

The AP platform automatically captures, digitizes, GL codes, and stores all documents in a central location. The system will automatically link the documents and associated communications to a specific transaction.

Three-Way Matching

AP platforms can automatically perform three-way verification of invoices, purchase orders, and receipts to identify errors and duplicate invoices and prevent fraud. The matching occurs in real time, and the system will immediately flag any discrepancies for AP staff.

Centralized and Accessible Storage

All transactions are securely stored and searchable in a central location, simplifying reconciliation, providing a complete AP audit trail, and substantially reducing the amount of paper a business must store.

Control User Permissions and Access

The platform protects sensitive documents and data by controlling access and keeping records of who accessed or downloaded documents.

Seamless Integration with NetSuite ERP

AP platforms can automatically sync data with NetSuite to ensure a single source of truth for transaction information.

AP automation platforms offer a high level of document management tailored to the unique challenges facing AP teams. Advanced platforms, like Stampli, feature AI and machine-learning capabilities that can process complex documents by learning your company’s procedures. These platforms go beyond simple OCR to automate functions like GL coding and three-way matching and are worth considering if your business needs a flexible, scalable document management solution.

Empower AP Document Management with Stampli 

Stampli’s industry-leading end-to-end P2P solution is designed to manage accounts payable documents. Documents are captured, tracked, and stored from the moment they arrive and are made available to AP staff and approvers in a centralized dashboard. By placing all the relevant documents at employees’ fingertips, Stampli helps your business create and maintain a seamless, efficient, and secure AP workflow with NetSuite.

Invoice Processing with Advanced Machine Learning and AI

Stampli’s advanced OCR technology uses machine learning and AI (Billy the Bot) to simplify invoice processing. Billy the Bot learns your processes and policies to scan and digitize invoices and auto-populate fields based on your specific GL codes – including custom fields.

Centralized Document Tracking and Management

Stampli automatically attaches all transaction documents like POs and receipts to the invoice so employees and approvals can confirm information at a glance. No more chasing down paper documents and delayed approvals.

Streamlined Vendor Onboarding and Document Capture

Stampli’s Advanced Vendor Management solution automates the onboarding process by capturing and storing critical vendor documents such as contracts, insurance certificates, and professional certifications. Procurement and AP teams can easily check these documents to confirm if a vendor complies with supply chain requirements before sending orders.

Built for NetSuite Certified

Stampli is a Built for NetSuite certified SuiteApp that meets all of NetSuite’s security, data privacy, and overall quality standards.

Document Lifecycle Management

Never have to deal with another expired contract or insurance policy. Advanced Vendor Management tracks the expiry and renewal dates for every document and notifies vendors and stakeholders when a new or updated version of the document is needed.

Contact Stampli today to set up a free trial and take control of your AP document management.