This document provides best practices for implementing NetSuite's cloud ERP solution based on the experience of Demand Solutions Group (DSG), the 2013 NetSuite Worldwide Solution Provider Partner of the Year. It outlines five things to implement, five pitfalls to avoid, and five things to consider. The key lessons are that an implementation requires both NetSuite's software and an experienced partner like DSG that takes a business-first approach, has proven methodologies, and can build an effective project team. The goal is to select the right functionality and processes, avoid simply copying existing systems, and optimize the solution over time to meet evolving business needs.

1. It’s Not Just About The Software
DSG Best Practice Guide for NetSuite Implementation Success
eBOOK
Copyright © 2014. All Rights Reserved. Demand Solutions Group. dsgcloud.com

2. Who is the eBook for?
This book is for anyone who is thinking about
implementing, or re-implementing, NetSuite’s
market leading cloud ERP solution. It contains
best practices and practical advice that can
help organizations of all sizes and complexities
reduce the risk and time taken to implement
NetSuite successfully.

3. Contents
Executive
Summary
03
Agility Matters
04
Five Things to
Implement
05
Five Pitfalls to
Avoid
06
Five Things to
Think About
07
Summary
08

4. Executive Summary
03
Cloud ERP – NetSuite is the Market Leader
The cloud has revolutionized the ERP, CRM and business solutions
world. SAP and Oracle may still be slugging it out in the enter-
prise but the reality is that for most forward-thinking companies,
the cloud is now the de facto application platform and NetSuite is
the de facto market leader for ERP.
It’s Not Just About The Software
DSG was named NetSuite’s Worldwide Solution Provider Partner
of the Year for 2013, an award that reflected eight years of our
market leadership in the NetSuite community and hundreds of
successful NetSuite projects of all levels of complexity.
From this experience DSG has learned that, while you need
NetSuite’s functionally rich, stable software as the platform, a
successful business solution is not just about the software – you
need an implementation partner with:
"They're extremely adept at evalu-
ating and understanding business
processes in order to identify areas
for improvement. That's not always
the case with IT vendors."
Zendesk
Business Focus
If you don’t have a
business-first focus,
your solution will not
meet its fundamental
objectives of improv-
ing business efficiency
and performance.
Experience
Practice really does
make perfect and this
is one of the key
benefits of working
with DSG and our
knowledge of hun-
dreds of successful
NetSuite projects.
Proven Approach
One of the ways that
experience manifests
itself is in the avail-
ability and maturity of
an implementation
methodology such as
DSG’s Realize meth-
odology.
Teamwork
All successful proj-
ects are the result of
teamwork and DSG
can build and lead a
team through knowl-
edge, commitment,
referential behavior
and mentoring.
Straight-Talk
There are often
tough decisions that
need to be made and
DSG is never afraid
to tell you what you
need to hear, not
necessarily what you
want to hear.

5. Agility Matters in Business and
Implementation
04
“This was one of the smoothest
projects we’ve experienced. We
really felt that the DSG team cared
about the success of the project.”
Director of Product Management, Open Table
The DSG Realize, Optimize and Revitalize methodologies capture
the essence of the cloud business model — agility, flexibility,
time-to-value — and bakes these attributes into how we implement
NetSuite solutions.
These methodologies are followed systematically by DSG
specialists who know your business needs inside and out, and are
backed by DSG’s rich ecosystem of professionals who provide
deep expertise on business, product and technical issues, and best
practices whenever needed.
DSG Realize is a robust consulting methodology based
on an agile, iterative and team-based approach to solution imple-
mentations that uses a workshop model to involve customers’
domain experts in design and decision-making.
DSG Revitalize restores
NetSuite solutions to their full potential in
cases where either changes in business
needs or poor initial implementation has
meant that NetSuite has not
delivered its expected value.
DSG Optimize acknowledges
that business needs change and that user
expectations grow over the life of using a
solution, and that a solution has to be
continuously optimized to remain effec-
tive and to keep pace with your business
needs.

6. DSG brings a wealth of product, technical
and business operations experience to
the NetSuite implementation process and
in the next three pages we’ve summa-
rized our learning from this experience.
Do’s
Dont’s
Think Abouts
NetSuite Implementation Best
Practices

7. NetSuite Implementation Best
Practices – Five Do’s
05
Do…
1. Establish Executive Sponsorship to ensure resource availability
and key design leadership.
2. Assign a Core Project Team consisting of power users in each
functional area. They should be present and participatory through-
out the iterative configuration of the solution. Additionally these
people need to be respected and empowered to make decisions.
3. Keep functionality simple where possible and expect to evolve
the solution in production as enhancements are illuminated by the
end-users.
4. Expect anxiety and stress particularly nearing and immediately
after deployment. Remain positive and take comfort that DSG’s
Realize methodology ensures we will be there to support you in
this critical “hypercare” period.
5. Expect to train the end-user community. There is no better way
to ensure you can take the reins of your new solution than to train
others on its use.

8. NetSuite Implementation Best
Practices – Five Dont’s
06
Do NOT…
1. Underestimate the effort to extract and scrub conversion data
sets. DSG’s Realize methodology ensures this process begins early
in the project to mitigate unforeseen challenges.
2. “Lift and shift” business processes and / or data architecture. A
new ERP solution provides a natural point of inflection to ‘get it
right.’
3. Ignore DSG’s prescription to exercise key functional areas of
the solution during the iterative configuration phase. This is an
essential part of the process that breeds familiarity and provides a
critical feedback loop to DSG.
4. Let open action items and key design decisions (larger critical
path items) remain open. Foster a culture of urgency and timely
closure.
5. Fear customizations While deference should be given to native
functionality where appropriate, scripted solutions are common
and often invaluable in filling functional gaps and driving user
adoption.

9. NetSuite Implementation Best
Practices – Five Things to Consider
07
Think About...
1. End-user training and supporting material creation; DSG is
there to support you but the Core Project Team should be ready to
embrace their new roles as trusted internal advisors and power
users in their respective functional area.
2. Implementation Partner Independence Don’t put too much
emphasis on sustained on-site presence of your implementation
partner. it’s costly and with modern collaboration tools, not neces-
sary.
3. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) of all business processes,
including related integration(s) and/or customization(s), should be
thoughtfully and proactively approached with detailed test cases
and with a rigorous and detailed feedback loop for any issues
encountered.
4. A sandbox should be strongly considered to have in place at
deployment; this ensures that changes can be made and tested
after go-live as enhancements are identified, and then surgically
migrated into production.
5. Deployment date, scope and cost Determine proactively which
one of these CANNOT yield and communicate this clearly to the
project team. More than any other specific guidance, this will drive
behaviors and clearer decision making throughout the project.

10. Summary - Go but Don’t Go Alone
Over the years, DSG has developed a couple of mantras, one is “It’s Not Just About
The Software”, the other is “Go But Don’t Go Alone”. The combination of these two
mantras, in our opinion, is the key to long-term success with cloud solutions like
NetSuite. Your business is running your business not implementing cloud application
software – that’s what DSG is here to do.
For more information, please
visit www.dsgcloud.com or give
us a call at 866.486.4064.
08
Copyright © 2014. All Rights Reserved. Demand Solutions Group. dsgcloud.com