🧩 Custom Record Dashboards & Portlets (Visual Analytics in NetSuite)

Introduction

Your data is only as powerful as your ability to visualize it.
Whether you’re tracking integration logs, approvals, or audit trails, NetSuite allows you to build real-time dashboards that summarize critical metrics using Custom Records, SuiteAnalytics, and Portlets.

This guide will walk you through creating interactive dashboards for custom data — no external BI tools required.

💡 Why Custom Dashboards Matter

🧱 Step 1: Identify Your Data Source

The first step is defining what you want to visualize.

💡 Each record should have fields like status, timestamp, owner, and duration — perfect for visual dashboards.

⚙️ Step 2: Create a SuiteAnalytics Dataset

Example: Integration Log Dataset

1. Navigate to Analytics → Workbooks → New Dataset.
2. Choose Record Type = Custom Record → Integration Log.
3. Add key fields:
   • custrecord_integration_source
   • custrecord_status
   • custrecord_duration
   • custrecord_timestamp
4. Save dataset as Integration Performance Dataset.

🧠 Step 3: Create a SuiteAnalytics Workbook

Now create visual charts & summaries:

1. Open the dataset → Click Create Workbook.
2. Add Pivot Table:
   • Rows → Integration Source
   • Columns → Status
   • Values → Count of Records
3. Add Chart View:
   • Type: Bar or Line
   • X-Axis: Integration Source
   • Y-Axis: Average Duration (ms)
   • Color by Status
4. Add Filter: Date = This Week

✅ Save as Integration Dashboard Workbook.

🧩 Step 4: Publish to Home Dashboard

1. Go to your Home Dashboard.
2. Click Personalize → Analytics Portlet.
3. Choose your Workbook under “Saved Workbooks”.
4. Adjust size and layout — add next to KPIs or reminders.

💡 You can have multiple portlets:

• Integration Performance (Workbook)
• Error Log Summary (Saved Search)
• Approval Pending List (Reminders)

🧰 Step 5: Build a Custom SuiteScript Portlet (Optional Advanced Method)

You can create a fully dynamic, styled dashboard portlet using SuiteScript 2.1.

/**
 * @NApiVersion 2.1
 * @NScriptType Portlet
 */
define(['N/search'], (search) => {
  const render = (params) => {
    const portlet = params.portlet;
    portlet.title = 'Integration Summary (Live)';

    const results = search.create({
      type: 'customrecord_integration_log',
      filters: [['custrecord_timestamp', 'within', 'thisweek']],
      columns: ['custrecord_integration_source', 'custrecord_status']
    }).run().getRange({ start: 0, end: 100 });

    let success = 0, failed = 0;
    results.forEach(r => {
      if (r.getValue('custrecord_status') === 'Success') success++;
      else failed++;
    });

    portlet.html = `
      <div style="font-family:Arial; text-align:center;">
        <h3>Weekly Integration Status</h3>
        <p>✅ Success: <b>${success}</b></p>
        <p>❌ Failed: <b>${failed}</b></p>
      </div>`;
  };

  return { render };
});

✅ Adds a real-time visual summary of your integration results right on the dashboard.

📊 Step 6: Combine Dashboards for Multiple Departments

💡 Each role’s dashboard can be customized with saved searches, workbooks, and custom portlets.

🧮 Step 7: Add KPIs and KPI Scorecards

For quick metrics:

1. Navigate to Customization → Centers and Tabs → KPI Scorecards
2. Create new Scorecard:
   • Metric: Failed Integrations (count)
   • Metric: Average Response Time (ms)
   • Metric: Total Approvals Pending
3. Add Formula: Failed Integrations / Total Integrations * 100 → Failure Rate %

✅ Great for management dashboards.

⚡ Step 8: Refresh & Auto-Update

Use SuiteAnalytics refresh scheduling:

• Go to Workbook → Schedule Refresh → Daily or Hourly
• Optionally, send the Workbook snapshot via Email

✅ Ensures your visual dashboards are always up-to-date.

🧠 Step 9: Combine Logs into One Dashboard

Create a master portlet combining multiple data sources (Integration Log + Error Log + Audit Records).

Use SuiteScript or HTML tables:

<table style="width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;">
<tr><th>Source</th><th>Success</th><th>Failed</th><th>Last Updated</th></tr>
<tr><td>Boomi</td><td>120</td><td>3</td><td>Today</td></tr>
<tr><td>Shopify</td><td>250</td><td>1</td><td>Today</td></tr>
</table>

✅ Displays live integration KPIs directly on your NetSuite homepage.

🧰 Step 10: Real-World Example — Integration Health Dashboard

Goal: Show daily integration status for multiple sources (Boomi, Salesforce, 3PL).

Components:

• Workbook → Chart of Success vs Failure
• Saved Search → Failed Integrations (List)
• Custom Portlet → Average Duration (ms)
• KPI Scorecard → Failure Rate %

Result:
Managers and Admins can instantly identify integration issues — no more log diving or email reports.

🧩 Best Practices

📚 Related Tutorials

• 👉 Integration Logging & Monitoring Dashboard
• 👉 Dynamic SuiteScript Configuration Framework
• 👉 Performance Optimization for Map/Reduce Scripts

❓ FAQ

Q1. Can I share dashboards across roles?
Yes — use Publish Workbook to All Roles or assign via Center Tab Customization.

Q2. Can portlets pull data from external APIs?
Yes — use N/https in Portlet scripts to fetch live data.

Q3. Can I filter dashboards by user?
Yes — filter by current user ID or role in Saved Search / SuiteAnalytics.

Q4. What’s the difference between SuiteAnalytics and Portlets?
Workbooks are visual reports; Portlets allow custom HTML or live script-based UI widgets.

🧭 Summary

Custom Record Dashboards transform NetSuite from a data system into a real-time intelligence hub.
By combining SuiteAnalytics Workbooks, Saved Searches, and Portlets, you can visualize KPIs, monitor system performance, and empower every department with actionable insights — all inside your NetSuite dashboard.

This approach turns your ERP into a centralized, data-driven command center for integration, finance, and operations visibility.