Linking Contacts to Vendors via CSV Import in NetSuite: A Guide

NetSuite Help documentation describes a process for importing vendor primary and alternate contact data:

"Importing Vendors Primary and Alternate Contact Data"

"If you plan to import a Vendors CSV file that includes data for Primary Contact or Alternate Contact, the Contacts data must first exist in NetSuite. If this data is not yet in NetSuite, you need to complete a CSV import of Contacts data before you import the Vendors CSV file. Leave the Company field blank in the Contacts CSV file that you import. Once the Contacts data exists in your account, you can import the Vendors data. Make sure the CSV file includes contact names in the Primary Contact column. When the vendors data is imported with the Primary Contact field completed, the system links the Contact record with the vendor record."

However, it has been observed that the 'Primary Contact' field mentioned in this documentation cannot be mapped during the CSV import process. Attempts to include a 'Primary Contact' column in the CSV without mapping it to any field also do not establish the Vendor-to-Contact relationship.

To successfully associate contacts with vendors, consider the following approaches:

1. Manual Association

   If the number of records is manageable, contacts can be manually linked to vendors within NetSuite after the vendor import is completed.

2. Scripting Approach

   For larger datasets, a custom scripting solution is recommended. This involves:

   • Creating a custom record to temporarily store the necessary linking information between vendors and contacts.
   • Developing a script that processes the data in this custom record to programmatically establish the relationship between the respective vendor and contact records.