How to import vendors from QuickBooks Online to NetSuite

Introduction

A vendor is an entity with whom you purchase goods and services. Vendor records track contact information, past transactions, and communications with them. Vendors are one of the first master record types you will need to migrate from QuickBooks Online (QBO) as part of the implementation process.

In this post, I will discuss:

• How to export the vendor contact list from QBO
• Six key vendor record differences between QBO and NetSuite
• How OptimalData can assist with completing this task

How to export the vendor contact list from QuickBooks Online

The below steps discuss how to set up the vendor contact list from QBO:

1. Navigate to the Reports page
2. Scroll down to the Expenses and vendors section and click the Vendor Contact List option
3. Click the Options wheel and select the appropriate fields.
4. Exclude the ‘Address’ field. Instead, select each address component (i.e., Street, City, State, Zip, Country).
5. Save the report if you need to pull the data multiple times during the import process.

Six vendor record differences between QuickBooks Online and NetSuite

Once you’ve exported the vendor list from QBO, you will need to clean the vendor data. The below six tips & tricks will assist you with completing this task.

Individual vs. Company

All vendors must be designated as an individual or a company in NetSuite. I understand this is a classification designation and only impacts how the vendor is displayed. There is no functional difference between the two designations.

Individuals require a first and last name, and companies need a company name in NetSuite. QBO only requires a display name, which can be populated based on the company name or first and last name.

Countries

In QBO, the country address field is not required and is a free-form text field. In NetSuite, the country address field is required and must match a value on NetSuite’s country list. Users can find the complete NetSuite country list by searching “Set Up Countries” in the global search bar.

Contacts

In QBO, the vendor and its primary contact are saved in a single record. NetSuite allows users to associate multiple contacts with a single vendor. To save several emails or phone numbers to a single vendor, you must create a contact and associate the contact with the vendor.

Emails

In QBO, users can enter multiple email addresses in the Email field. NetSuite only allows a single email address in the Email field. To associate multiple email addresses to a single NetSuite vendor, you must create each email as a contact record.

Currencies

In QBO, a vendor can only have a single currency. NetSuite allows you to associate multiple currencies with a single vendor. If you create vendors via CSV upload, you can use the currency’s internal ID and separate multiple currencies with the assigned delimiter. The default delimiter is the pipe (|) symbol. Be sure only to import a single instance of the QBO vendor. For example, you don’t want to import the USD and EUR vendors from QBO.

Subsidiaries

In QBO, there is no formal concept of multiple subsidiaries in a single file. However, in NetSuite, users can create several legal entities and associate each vendor record with the appropriate subsidiary.

How OptimalData can automate cleaning vendor records

OptimalData has built a tool to export, clean, and format vendor records from QBO into NetSuite. A few benefits of our service include:

• Ensuring vendor address information is loaded correctly.
• Maintaining multiple emails and phone numbers by loading these as contacts and assigning them to the appropriate vendor.
• Identifying employees created as vendors and flagging these records as potential employees.

Our tool also automatically creates the CSV upload templates, so you and your team avoid the need to prepare these files manually.

Closing

OptimalData Consulting has automated the process of exporting, cleaning, formatting, and uploading vendor (and customer) records from QBO to NetSuite. Contact us today or learn about our data migration solution if you want to offload this tedious task to an expert!