How do you set reorder points in NetSuite?

In NetSuite, turn on Advanced Inventory Management, then on each inventory item record enter a Reorder Point and a Preferred Stock Level, or check Auto-Calculate so NetSuite works them out from demand, lead time and safety stock. Items below their reorder point then appear on the Order Items page, which creates one purchase order per vendor.

What do you need before setting reorder points in NetSuite?

You need the Advanced Inventory Management feature. Oracle's help says the Reorder Point and Preferred Stock Level fields belong to Advanced Inventory Management and are not used for items planned through Demand Planning.

An administrator turns it on at Setup > Company > Enable Features, on the Items & Inventory subtab, by checking Advanced Inventory Management and saving. Oracle notes that enabling it also switches on several related features, such as Lot Tracking, Serialized Inventory, Matrix Items and Multiple Units of Measure, so check with whoever owns your account setup first.

These steps follow the current Oracle NetSuite Help Center (docs.oracle.com). Field placement depends on your features: with Multi-Location Inventory, several stock-level fields move to the item's Locations subtab instead of the Purchasing/Inventory subtab.

How do you set a reorder point by hand?

Open the inventory item record, clear the Auto-Calculate box next to Reorder Point, and type the quantity at which you want to reorder. Do the same for Preferred Stock Level, which is the level NetSuite orders back up to.

1. Open the inventory item record and click Edit.
2. Go to the Purchasing/Inventory subtab, or the Locations subtab if you use Multi-Location Inventory.
3. Next to Reorder Point, clear Auto-Calculate and enter the quantity in units.
4. Next to Preferred Stock Level, clear Auto-Calculate and enter the quantity in units.
5. Optionally set Safety Stock Level (as a quantity or in days), Lead Time in days and a Reorder Multiple, then click Save.

Reorder Multiple makes NetSuite suggest quantities in fixed steps. Oracle's example: with a multiple of 1,000, NetSuite suggests 1,000 or 2,000, never 1,500.

How does Auto-Calculate work?

When you check Auto-Calculate, NetSuite recalculates the field from the item's demand on a schedule, by default weekly on Sunday at midnight Pacific time. Oracle's help gives these formulas.

Demand comes from sales history. In Inventory Management Preferences (the Set Up Inventory Management page), the Order Analysis Interval sets how many months of history to average (6 by default), and Transactions to Consider chooses between orders (sales and work orders) and actual sales (cash sales, invoices and assembly builds). Blank item fields fall back to the defaults there: a 14-day lead time, 7 safety stock days and a 30-day preferred stock level.

Two item-level fields change how demand is read. Seasonal Demand, when checked, calculates demand from how sales change through the year instead of a flat average, using the Seasonal Analysis Interval preference. Expected Demand Change raises or lowers projected demand by a percentage you enter.

How do you order items that hit their reorder point?

Use the Order Items page at Transactions > Inventory > Order Items. Its Reorder Point Items subtab lists items whose available quantity is below their reorder point, with a suggested quantity, and submitting it creates the purchase orders.

1. Go to Transactions > Inventory > Order Items.
2. Filter if needed by Location, Vendor, Department or Minimum Quantity, and choose whether to include items with no preferred vendor.
3. Open the Reorder Point Items subtab, check the items to order and adjust quantities.
4. Choose whether the orders should be printed, emailed or faxed to vendors.
5. Click Submit.

NetSuite suggests (Preferred Stock Level + quantity needed) minus (quantity available + quantity on order). It creates one purchase order per vendor, or one per vendor per location unless Centralize Purchasing in a Single Location is turned on. Your role needs access to the Standard Purchase Order form.

What does a worked example look like?

Here is how the numbers play out with example data. Brightline Supply stocks a 3/8-inch drive ratchet from Ironwell Tools that sells 5 units a day.

• Lead Time: 10 days. Safety stock: 3 days.
• Reorder Point = (10 + 3) x 5 = 65 units.
• Preferred Stock Level set to 30 days = 30 x 5 = 150 units.
• Reorder Multiple: 25.

Stock falls to 60 available with nothing on order and no backorders. The ratchet shows on Order Items, and NetSuite suggests 150 - 60 = 90 units, adjusted to a multiple of 25. The buyer submits, and NetSuite creates a purchase order to Ironwell Tools.

What mistakes should you avoid?

Most problems come from leaving defaults in place or mixing planning methods on the same item.

• Trusting default lead times. A 14-day default on a vendor that takes 45 days gives reorder points far too low. Set Lead Time per item, or let it auto-calculate once you have purchase history.
• Short history on new items. A six-month average says little about a product launched last month. Oracle offers an Alternate Source Item field to borrow history from a similar item.
• Flat averages on seasonal items. Without Seasonal Demand, a winter product's reorder point reflects the whole year's average.
• Forgetting the Locations subtab. With Multi-Location Inventory, a reorder point on the wrong tab or location will not drive Order Items for the warehouse you meant.
• Mixing methods. Items on a Demand Planning replenishment method do not use reorder points, so they show on a different subtab.

Is there a faster way to get reorder recommendations?

ReorderOwl reads your NetSuite sales history, stock, open purchase orders, vendors and lead times and recommends what to order, with each item's forecast method explained, in ChatGPT. The NetSuite connection is built, and we test it against your NetSuite sandbox with you before go-live.

It works alongside your reorder points rather than replacing them. See ReorderOwl for NetSuite.