The Ultimate Guide to NetSuite Sandbox by Certified NetSuite Consultants

Ever made a mistake that ends up taking hours or even days to fix? Unfortunately, with NetSuite, this can happen. 

Imagine thinking of a new integration that would improve efficiency, only to receive a message from your staff accountant shortly after the "go-live" saying the financial reports have changed drastically overnight. It turns out the new customization made an error, though realistic looking but false transactions into your books. 

Now, your accounting team is frustrated because they must spend hours going through records to identify and correct the fake transactions. Meanwhile, C-Suite is disturbed because they’re looking at potentially inaccurate financial reports. This error could result in days of stressful and tedious work just to get things back to normal, turning what was supposed to be an opportunity for enhanced efficiency into a significant setback—not the best outcome for your reputation within the company.

But, how can this be avoided? The answer is a NetSuite Sandbox. It is a test environment that mirrors your NetSuite production account, including data, customizations, & configurations. As the name implies, it’s a safe space to experiment & test ideas without risking real data in your production account.  

With a Sandbox account, you could have tested the integration before it went live & caught the tiny error that led to a massive waste of company time & resources. 

Benefits of a NetSuite Sandbox  

The advantages of a sandbox environment extend beyond just testing integrations. There are several reasons why a sandbox could be important for your NetSuite account: 

• Test customizations early in development to avoid costly rewrites later. 

• Troubleshoots problematic customizations in a safe environment before moving them to production. 

• Evaluate third-party bundles, especially those not explicitly designed for NetSuite, before they can interfere with production data. 

• Train new employees in existing business processes or on new procedures. 

• Test custom transactions before they impact the general ledger & reports. 

Share a copy of your environment with Certified NetSuite Consultants or a NetSuite Developer so they can make suggestions and test improvements without affecting production.The sandbox is a copy of your NetSuite environment where you can experiment easily without impacting production data. Not every business will use the sandbox in the same way.

Types of NetSuite Sandbox Accounts 

There are 3 types of NetSuite Sandbox accounts available to users, each serving a different purpose: 

• Standard Sandbox Account : A single environment with a copy of your customizations, configurations, & data, designed for testing, training, and optimization without hindering production. 

• Premium NetSuite Sandbox Account: Like the standard Sandbox, but optimized for larger businesses with higher volumes. 

• Development Account: Like the standard Sandbox, but without the data from your production account. It's used primarily for testing customizations, integrations, and new Suiteflows that don't require customer data. You can also share your development account with external NetSuite Developers to provide a staging area while keeping sensitive data secure. 

How to Determine if You Need a NetSuite Sandbox 

Deciding whether to invest in a NetSuite Sandbox comes down to risk management &  tolerance. Some businesses are more comfortable with risk than others. However, some scenarios indicate a higher risk of not having a sandbox: 

• Reliance on third-party applications or customizations to address key functionality gaps. 

• A significant number of real-time integrations. 

• Sharing NetSuite account with external NetSuite Consultants or NetSuite Developers. 

• High employee turnover or training new employees in batches. 

• Limited NetSuite development or administrative experience on your team to fix issues that could have been caught with proper testing.

NetSuite Sandbox Pricing 

To decide if a NetSuite Sandbox is right for you, weigh the risks against the cost. Consider the daily impact on your business if the back office were to shut down and compare that to the price of a sandbox. 

NetSuite Sandboxes are priced as annual licenses, costing a fraction of your NetSuite configuration list price. A standard sandbox is around 10%, while the premium version is about 20%, and these prices can be negotiated. 

How to Get a NetSuite Sandbox? 

You can obtain a NetSuite Sandbox from the same source where you obtained NetSuite, whether that's a Value-Added Reseller (VAR) or directly from NetSuite. 

It's ideal to purchase a sandbox during your initial NetSuite acquisition; however, if you realize later that you need one, you can still get it.  

Wrapping Up 

A NetSuite Sandbox can be an effective way to protect your company from accidental errors. Ultimately, it comes down to how much risk you want to take. 

If your business is currently using a NetSuite Sandbox, do share your experience in the comments to help others who might be considering it ! And if you have any other queries about NetSuite Consultation or NetSuite Consulting Services, the experts at OpenTeQ are always here to help.

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