Overview
A client approached me one day asking why the Purchase Order from which they created a vendor bill was missing on the “Related Records” tab of the bill. This was happening on all of the bills they were creating and re-classing to a deferred expense account. After some sleuthing and testing, the answer was achieved.
Normal Vendor Bill Behavior
Normally we click the “Bill” button from an Item Receipt record or from the Purchase Order directly, and we click save. This of course retains the PO link on the “Related Records” tab of the Vendor Bill record.
Changing the Expense Account “Breaks” the Link
It turns out that the client in this case was clicking the “Bill” button and then changing the Expense Account from “Advertising” to “Deferred Expense” and then saving the record. It turns out that this behavior breaks “Related Records” link to the Purchase Order.
Save the Record First
As it turns out, if the user saves the Vendor Bill record BEFORE changing the expense account on the Bill, this retains the link. We have verified with NetSuite that this is expected behavior and that there is an enhancement request for “Back-linking” related transactions when the link is broken.
Creative Solutions
This is just another example of day-to-day NetSuite usage that we encounter in supporting our clients. We were happy to be able to solve this particular issue with experimentation. Limebox is a team of solid NetSuite experts who have all been on the front lines as end users. If you are experiencing difficulties in your usage of NetSuite and would like to “phone-a-friend,” please contact us so we can help! We have many flexible options for ongoing support and project resources.