ANS-1543 · PROJECT MANAGEMENT
How to Manage Projects with Multiple or Changing Customers in NetSuite
Understand best practices for associating projects with customers in NetSuite to maintain accurate financial reporting and historical data.
Short answer
Assigning multiple customers to a single NetSuite project is generally not advised due to complexities in reporting and revenue allocation. For projects with a single customer that may change, it is recommended to create a new customer and a new project to preserve historical data. These can then be linked via a custom record for unified reporting.
Scenario
A user seeks to assign multiple customers to a single project record in NetSuite. The primary concern is how to manage projects that may involve more than one customer or where the associated customer changes over the project's lifecycle, while ensuring accurate financial reporting and data integrity.
Solution
Assigning multiple customers to a single project record in NetSuite is generally not recommended. This approach can significantly complicate reporting, revenue, and profitability allocation, making it difficult to determine who is responsible for project invoices.If the requirement is for a project to have only one customer at a time, but that customer may change during the project's lifecycle, the recommended practice is to:
Create a new customer record.
Create a new project record associated with the new customer.This method ensures the preservation of historical data for both the original and subsequent project phases. To link these old and new projects for a unified report on profitability across the entire lifecycle, a custom record can be created to establish the necessary connections.
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