Using searches and views to find information

Nine times out of 10, when a client asks a question such as, How can I find all the X that have Y?, we point them to Searches in the UI. Keep in mind that searches are very powerful and it's only occasionally necessary to use any other more involved features. We create searches for ad hoc needs, such as when we need to find an example of an item that has been set up for drop shipments for a demo, and we create them when we have a recurring business process that needs a specific list of things. An example of the latter is when a company wants to find all of the sales orders they ended up losing money on. (This should never happen, of course, but by the same thinking, you want to know if it ever does.)

The simplest search that users can perform uses the Global Search field, right at the top of every screen in NetSuite. This simple-looking field is more powerful than many realize:

Figure 17.1 – The humble...