How to Fix NetSuite Performance Issues Slowing Down Your Business?

Asenqua Tech is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

NetSuite is a powerful cloud ERP platform used by thousands of fast-growing companies. However, as your business scales in NetSuite, you may eventually run into performance problems that slow down the system. Fixing these issues is crucial for restoring peak efficiency.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explain the most common NetSuite performance problems and how to resolve them. Follow these best practices and you’ll keep NetSuite running fast as your business grows.

Common NetSuite Performance Issues

Before diving into solutions, let’s quickly summarize the typical performance problems faced by NetSuite users:

• Slow page loads – Single page loads taking longer than 5 seconds harm productivity and frustrate users. This is often tied to over-customization, integrations, or data volume.
• Batch processing lags – Batch jobs like CSV imports bogging down and taking too long. This delays key processes like order management.
• Reporting delays – Reports, searches and saved searches failing to run or return timely results, making it hard to access business data.
• Platform freezes/timeouts – NetSuite frequently freezing entirely for some users, forcing them to restart sessions and lose work.

These problems have a range of causes, but usually indicate that current hardware resources are overwhelmed. The platform is still functioning – just not optimally.

You’ll first need to investigate precisely which areas of NetSuite are lagging and how severely, using analytics tools to quantify the slowdowns. This will help you target solutions effectively.

Taming Customization and Script Usage

One widespread contributor to poor NetSuite performance is overdoing customization and scripts. Every adjustment you make moves further away from the optimized out-of-the-box configurations.

Here are some best practices related to managing NetSuite customization:

Audit and Remove Redundant Scripts

Carefully review all active scripts and remove those no longer needed. If a script is never triggered, it still consumes background resources.

Set Script Execution Limits

Capping how long certain custom scripts can run curbs their impact. Set ‘Maximum Execution Time’ to a conservative threshold that still allows completion.

Refactor Intense Scripts

If a script exceed time limits or strains the system, review it. Often, logic can be split out into smaller chunks that execute faster.

Use Custom Fields Judiciously

Limit custom fields to those that serve a specific business purpose. Avoid “just-in-case” fields to minimize database footprint.

Clean Up Inactive Records

Setting your custom forms to make inactive records invisible still keeps backend data bulky over time. Do periodic cleanup sweeps.

Every bit of streamlining counts when trying to optimize NetSuite! Follow the 80/20 rule by reworking scripts and processes to remove inefficiencies. This prevents “code bloat”.

Managing Limits, Governors and Platform Resources

In addition to monitoring customization and scripts, it’s vital to keep tabs on various built-in NetSuite limits and governors. These are automatic safeguards that ensure balanced platform usage, preventing individual processes from excessively consuming shared resources.

Here are key steps to avoid hitting limits:

Check Usage Against Limits Regularly

This should be part of any optimization effort. As business usage patterns change, you may suddenly bump into limits that weren’t previously an issue.

Adjust Governors Strategically

Tweaking governors lets you ration resources differently across accounts or users. However, govern responsibly based on genuine priority to avoid problems.

Vertically Scale Hardware When Needed

If you consistently bump into built-in limits across multiple resources, your subscription plan’s infrastructure may not support business growth. Carefully evaluate if vertically scaling up servers could be worthwhile, based on cost/benefit analysis.

Throttle Problematic Integrations

Third-party application integrations often create overhead. Check that sync behavior aligns with actual business requirements. Add delays if continuous rapid-fire calls are unnecessary.

Remember that limits and governors exist to prevent runaway processes from starving other users and degrading overall NetSuite performance. Respect these boundaries, and scale up infrastructure if needed.

Optimizing NetSuite Data Storage

Ever-increasing data is one of the top causes of declining NetSuite Speed as businesses grow. Searching, filtering and reporting within bloated datasets naturally gets slower over time.

Here are smart data management tactics to keep performance crisp:

Regularly Archive Stale Records

Use native archiving to move old completed sales orders, invoices etc. into secondary storage. This keeps ‘active’ datasets lean for better search and reporting.

Avoid Attachment Data Duplication

Check for redundant copies of the same file attached to multiple records. Streamline references to a single attached copy wherever possible.

Employ Record Segmentation

Segment large transaction Volume across multiple subsidiary nexus to avoid giant single tables. Then filter search by target subsidiaries.

Utilize Production Tier Partitions

Partition immense item catalogs, price books or customer lists by segments like categories or geographies. Search only relevant partitions.

Customize Search Indexing

Ensure search indexes exist for frequently filtered or joined fields, especially across custom records. Control index refresh frequency.

Don’t overlook the exponential data sprawl over time that contributes to NetSuite performance degradation. Proactively manage storage for lean and mean datasets!

Caching for Faster NetSuite Page Loads

Caching frequently accessed data is a fantastic way to accelerate page loads because results serve from a temporary ‘speed layer’ instead of requiring full database lookups each time.

Here are smart caching tactics:

Enable Standard System Caching

NetSuite automatically caches certain system data like exchange rates each day. You can adjust durations or force refreshes via script.

Cache Very Large Searches

Searches that return over 2,500 rows are great candidates for caching. Trigger the cache refresh on schedules aligned with underlying data changes.

Customize Inline Caching Rules

Set caching parameters for custom dashboards, forms and platform pages that feel slow. Balance freshness against speed.

Review Infrastructure Cache Limits

Make sure your NetSuite infrastructure tier and allocated Redis cache capacity aren’t constraining effective caching capabilities.

Consider Edge Cache Add-Ons

External edge caches from SDN partners can further accelerate performance for geographically disparate user bases by caching locally.

Caching is a superb way to optimize NetSuite system performance and user productivity. Determine your best opportunities to cache intelligently without sacrificing data accuracy.

Why Choose Anchor Group for NetSuite Implementation?

At Anchor Group, we specialize in helping fast-scaling companies get the most from their NetSuite investment through expert implementation and NetSuite managed services. Over 8+ years, we’ve fixed and optimized NetSuite for over 500 complex organizations.

If NetSuite performance is currently holding your business back, our Infrastructure Solutions team can quickly get to the bottom of the issues based on data-driven assessments and proven resolution frameworks perfected across past client engagements.

We offer the following services tailored to permanently eliminating NetSuite slowdowns:

• Infrastructure Audit – We benchmark your Stone Cobra environment against best practices to identify improvement areas
• Optimization Consulting – Our experts advise the best approaches to resolve identified infrastructure performance gaps
• Remediation Delivery – We handle technically executing improvement measures from caching changes to custom script refactoring
• Managed Services – Proactive monitoring and ongoing performance management ensures an end to firefights

We also offer managed infrastructure and day-to-day NetSuite administration so you can focus on core business priorities without platform reliability or speed concerns.

Get in touch for a free consultation on rectifying your NetSuite performance bottlenecks!