NetSuite Certification & Training Programs at Novutech - Benefits for NetSuite customers

Novutech provides a wide range of training sessions adapted to each position level. The provided learning paths cover several areas and includes Products training, Technical training, Industry training and Skills training. These enable each consultant to develop its skills and technical knowledge that will help him to grow professionally, add value to our company and support our customer’s success. 

Novutech mainly aligns on NetSuite learning program but also develops a lot of training for new joiners like business analysts, and advanced NetSuite users from Architects to Financial experts. In fact, this program is designed to prepare professionals to showcase, implement and deploy the NetSuite environment into the most complex customer’s environments. 

The aim of this article is to give to readers an overview of training and certifications provided by Novutech, the outcomes of these trainings in the short and in the long term for Novutech itself and its employees, and finally the benefits the customer will obtain from these trainings. 

NetSuite provides several educational resources on its own platform. This enables Novutech to get a basis to develop its own educational resources. Indeed, those resources include various functions like Administrators, Technical consultants, Functional consultants, and Finance/Accounting consultants and these cover several industries as financial services, food & beverage, retail, non-profit, healthcare, and many other industries. 

NetSuite defines a path for partners based on four phases: 

• The Foundation Phase consists of a new joiner completing a training related, on one hand, to implementation (optimizing NetSuite for user’s business needs) and, on the other hand, to administrator tasks and responsibilities (to tailor, maintain, and optimize NetSuite for the users’ business needs). After the first 8 weeks, the training session is complete, the new joiner learning path continues with additional product training topics.
  
• The Establish Phase is built on the previous training. Between the 9th and the 24th week, the new joiner starts a vertical and/or industry-specific training. Indeed, he takes additional responsibilities in terms of implementation and product training. During this phase, the new joiner should take the SuiteFoundation Certification. 

• The Proficient Phase continues the learning path. After one and a half years, the employee should have already taken the SuiteFoundation Certification and prepared for the ERP and/or Administrator Certification. He also starts advanced product training and continues the vertical and/or industry training. 

• The Growth Phase includes additional certifications and ongoing experienced consultant training. After 2 years working in the NetSuite environment, the ERP/Administrator Consultant follows additional training and webinars related to new releases to become experts in their respective areas. 

For this purpose, NetSuite sets up various tools to boost productivity, empower users and maximize the use of NetSuite: on demand courses, online webinars as mentioned previously, lab environments, educational success advising, etc. 

Internally, Novutech developed a specific learning path for new joiners and experienced consultants based on three pillars:  

• Knowledge & Expertise: 

The first pillar is based on Knowledge and Expertise. This includes NetSuite & Industry knowledge and expertise, Business Processes knowledge and Accounting & Finance knowledge. 

During the first three months, the new joiners follow training provided by NetSuite and accessible via the Learning Center, and they also follow training sessions conducted by internal collaborators. Meanwhile, they also develop themselves via fieldwork practices. 

Moreover, to share the knowledge between colleagues, Novutech sets up two elements: first, knowledge sessions. Every two weeks, employees who have learnt new features within NetSuite can share it during these knowledge sessions. Last but not least, Confluence is a platform where employees can document their searches and findings.

• Consulting Skills: 

Knowledge is not everything. Hence, to deliver a qualitative service to our customers, Novutech also emphasizes the consulting skills. 

For this purpose, Novutech helps its employees to develop their communication, presentation, and demonstration of best practices skills, to improve their productivity and time management. Finally, Novutech is investing in helping its employees and giving them access to all the tools they need to achieve their objectives effectively and efficiently. 

• Leadership Skills: 

Furthermore, Novutech enables its employees to develop their leadership skills in two ways. 

First, training provided internally enables Novutech employees to understand NetSuite Project Methodology and at the end of the day apprehend project management. 

Second, employees are quickly and significantly empowered via teams and customer management. Indeed, Novutech pushes them, in good time, to practice on the fieldwork. 

NetSuite Certification Program at Novutech 

At Novutech, we align on the NetSuite certifications. Therefore, we propose two kinds of certifications: administrator certification and user certification.

Firstly, in terms of Administration Certification, Novutech proposes four different certifications: SuiteFoundation Certification, Administrator Certification, ERP Consultant Certification and SuiteCloud Developer Certification. 

• SuiteFoundation certification: new joiners should take the SuiteFoundation Certification exam after 6 months NetSuite experience. During these 6 months, they should have a basic understanding of the product features and concepts. Concretely, knowledge that should be acquired to complete this exam is related to a company's preferences, the uses and functioning of roles and permissions, the customization options, dashboards, searches, etc. 

• Administrator certification: After one year of experience configuring and managing NetSuite implementation, the analysts could consider taking the Administrator Certification Exam. In this case, they should, in addition to the knowledge acquired to complete the SuiteFoundation exam, acquire knowledge related to reports and searches (SuiteAnalytics), to customizations (SuiteBuilder), to workflows, bundles, and scripts (SuiteCloud Platform) and, finally, to general setup and administration. 

• ERP Consultant Certification: To take the ERP Consultant Certification, functional analysts should have at least 2 years’ worth of NetSuite implementation experience. They should, therefore, get a knowledge base related to accounting and business processes (Record to Report, Order to Cash, Design to Build and Procure to Pay) and extensive knowledge related to customization, reports and searches (SuiteAnalytics), workflows fundamentals (SuiteFlow), data strategy and data security. 

• SuiteCloud Developer II Certification: Technical analysts need one to two years of experience working with a range of SuiteCloud Technologies to take the SuiteCloud Developer II Certification. To do so, they need to gain experience in various subjects such as scripts (SuiteScript), customization (SuiteBuilder), workflows (Suiteflow), web services (SuiteTalk), reports and searches (SuiteAnalytics), and general design fundamentals. 

To maintain our certifications at Novutech, each year, our consultants and business analysts retake the exams in the form of a quiz named “New Release Quiz ''. This quiz validates awareness of new NetSuite features released in the previous year. 

Furthermore, in terms of User Certification, Novutech proposes two kinds of certifications to its users: SuiteAnalytics User and Financial User. 

• SuiteAnalytics User: After 6-month experience in searches and reports, this certification would enable users to get a solid understanding of NetSuite data structure by using reports, financial reports, and searches.

• Financial User: After 3-months experience in an accounting or finance role, this certification would enable users to get an extensive understanding of NetSuite accounting and finance functionality. 

Why get NetSuite Certified? 

More and more companies are looking for professionals who have acquired NetSuite certification. Indeed, companies that have certified their employees see more effective deployment and greater return on their investment. But not only. In fact, this represents numerous benefits for NetSuite customers as well. 

First, we could distinguish many benefits at the individual level: 

• Being certified enables individuals to become part of an elite NetSuite professional network and access a closed LinkedIn community of other NetSuite Certified individuals for networking. 
• Certification enables you to distinguish yourself from non-certified peers to accelerate your career and increase your professional opportunities. 

Second, there are also many benefits for NetSuite Customers 

• Working with certified partners means working with the most qualified individuals, the highest skill level individuals with a complete understanding of NetSuite that will help you to obtain greater ROI from your NetSuite investment. 
• It also means an increase of productivity, a high quality of NetSuite implementation and ongoing support. 

In summary… 

Novutech offers a wide and extensive range of training for both junior and senior consultants, equally functional as technical analysts. 

Novutech provides customized and continuous development to its consultants, whether in terms of knowledge and expertise, consulting or leadership skills. 

To maintain its brand awareness and strengths, Novutech requires each of its employees to obtain Netsuite Certification. This has consequent benefits on its own customers like working with experienced partners with strong expertise and delivering highly qualitative implementation and services.