Power BI has become one of the most popular tools for data visualization and analysis. It’s no surprise that many NetSuite users want to leverage Power BI to create meaningful reports from their ERP data.
NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Connect (ODBC) provides a way to connect external tools like Power BI to your NetSuite data. However, using SuiteAnalytics Connect often creates more challenges than solutions.
Why NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Connect (ODBC) Struggles with Power BI
What is NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Connect
SuiteAnalytics is the portemanteau name for everything reporting and analytics within NetSuite. Out of the box, within the NetSuite user interface, Saved Searches, the Report Builder and SuiteAnalytics Workbooks are all part of the SuiteAnalytics family.
SuiteAnalytics Connect however, is an add-on module of NetSuite allowing for external connections to the Data Model using either the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface, the Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) Interface or Microsoft's ADO.NET interface.
While SuiteAnalytics Connect allows you to connect Power BI to your NetSuite data, the process is far from user-friendly. Here are five key reasons why it’s not the best option for most businesses.
5 Reasons SuiteAnalytics Connect Struggles with Power BI
1. No Built-In User Interface
SuiteAnalytics Connect doesn’t come with a user-friendly interface. It acts purely as a connection endpoint, so you’ll need an external ODBC client to explore your data.
For Power BI users, this means starting from scratch with no pre-defined reports or tools to guide data exploration. Without prior experience in NetSuite’s data structure, building reports can feel overwhelming.
2. Complex Data Model
SuiteAnalytics Connect (ODBC) has a complex data model that can be hard to use. The netsuite2.com endpoint follows the same structure as SuiteAnalytics Workbooks. Users can refer to NetSuite’s Record Catalog (under Setup -> Record Catalog) for help.
The data model is record-based, matching NetSuite’s interface, but it doesn’t have built-in relationships between records. This makes it harder to create reports or make quick decisions.
You need a solid understanding of NetSuite to use this model effectively. It’s similar to Saved Searches, so it may feel familiar to users of SuiteAnalytics Datasets, Workbooks, or SuiteQL.
Here are some examples of challenges users face when working with the data:
- When pulling a record, metadata for joined records isn’t included. For instance, from the Transaction table, you’ll get internal IDs for customers, items, and subsidiaries but not their names or details.
- To add this information, you’ll need to download related tables and use Power BI’s semantic modeling or Power Query to merge the data.
- The Transaction table only provides header details for transactions. To access line-level details, like items or quantities, you must join it with the TransactionLine table.
- However, this table only includes metadata and limited financial data, such as the original currency amount and exchange rate. To get full financial details, you need another join with TransactionAccountingLine.
- This requires extra effort since there’s no unique key for transaction lines, making a triple join (Transaction -> TransactionLine -> TransactionAccountingLine) more complex.
- Statistical journal entries aren’t stored in the Transaction table. Instead, they’re found in separate StatisticalJournalEntry and StatisticalJournalEntryLines tables, requiring additional data modeling to combine them with other transactions.
3. Data Volume Challenges
Data volume is a key consideration when using SuiteAnalytics Connect. A major limitation of its ODBC driver is that it doesn’t support DirectQuery in Power BI.
This means all data must be fully imported into Power BI before it can be viewed or modeled. This may not be an issue for new NetSuite users or companies with low transaction volumes.
For industries like retail, where transactional and inventory data volumes are high, this can become a challenge. A common workaround is pre-filtering data with SQL when setting up the ODBC connection, assuming you know what you need before building the report.
It’s also crucial to understand Power BI’s size limits, which differ between Power BI Desktop and Power BI Cloud. Planning for these limits is essential to ensure smooth data handling and reporting.
4. Performance Limitations
Many believe SuiteAnalytics Connect provides direct access to NetSuite's database, but this is incorrect. Instead, it’s an API built on top of the NetSuite application.
To protect application performance, SuiteAnalytics Connect is throttled. This ensures it doesn’t slow down daily operations but affects data retrieval speeds.
Downloading data can take minutes or even hours, with a risk of timeouts if the data volume is too large. As your company grows and accumulates more data, downloads become slower, and Power BI calculations become more complex and costly.
This makes SuiteAnalytics Connect a poor choice for scaling businesses. Its performance is similar to SuiteAnalytics Workbooks and the REST API since they share the same data model.
5. No Pre-Built Reports
SuiteAnalytics Connect provides no ready-to-use reports, queries, or templates. Everything must be built from scratch using Oracle’s documentation and the NetSuite Record Catalog.
For businesses without specialized knowledge in both NetSuite and BI tools, this creates a steep learning curve. It delays the ability to generate meaningful insights from your data.
Key Advantages of BI for NetSuite by GURUS
Simplified Data Model
GURUS BI provides a streamlined data model designed with business users in mind. Pre-joined views eliminate the need for complex joins, so you can start building reports immediately.
Support for Large Data Volumes
Built on Google BigQuery, BI for NetSuite supports Power BI’s DirectQuery, enabling dynamic filtering without importing massive datasets. This allows real-time analysis at scale.
Faster Performance
BigQuery retrieves data in seconds and operates outside NetSuite, ensuring your ERP system remains unaffected. This approach scales with your business needs, no matter how large your data grows.
Pre-Built Reports
GURUS’ Business Intelligence includes 25 customizable report templates, including financial reports. You can start analyzing key metrics from day one without building reports from scratch.
Training and Support
Every BI for NetSuite implementation includes six hours of training on the data model and Power BI. This ensures your team is equipped to make the most of the tool immediately.
Ready to Make the Move?
Contact GURUS Solutions today to learn more about our NetSuite migration services.