NetSuite is bringing new and exciting features in its latest release. If you’re new to NetSuite and have never been through the new release process before, then you’d want to learn how these releases work and how the new features are delivered to users. To work that out, here’s a little refresher for you!

To start with, it’s important to understand that NetSuite does two update releases a year, usually in Q1 and Q3. These releases bring new features and enhancements to NetSuite’s entire install base, which means all 36,000+ customers receive these updates.

This way, all the customers are on the same release and they’re using the latest and greatest of the software, which helps the NetSuite team to maximise development and get benefits of scale.

Obviously, NetSuite 2021.1 is the first release for this year. This update (and any update for that matter) is rolled out in about four phases. NetSuite 2021 Release 1 was scheduled to be released between the middle of February going all the way through the middle of April. Each customer is assigned to a release phase.

On the day of the update, customers don’t need to do anything as the update is installed automatically. During the new release installation (when the upgrade is happening), your account will go offline. Upgrades are scheduled for about a 2-hour period but will happen usually within 30 minutes or less (which is very quick for a major upgrade like this).

NetSuite provides new release portlets on every customers’ dashboard. (FYI: a portlet is a visual plug-in within the NetSuite interface that highlights specific information such as news updates, technical support, and so on.)

The new release portlet displays the information you need to know about your release phase, such as the time of your assigned phase and when your release preview environment is available.

This release preview environment comes with all the updates and code changes and gives you a type of test account with which you can use your own data, workflows, integrations, and customisations to do a couple of test scripts to validate that everything is working well before going live with the new release.

If this new release preview environment is not provisioned just yet, you can request a release preview account right within your NetSuite dashboard. Simply go to Setup > Company and then under Release Preview, you’ll see a link to request release preview. Click on that link, fill out the information, and your test account will be made available.

For further assistance with the new NetSuite release, don’t hesitate to contact us as a certified NetSuite Solution Provider.