Setting Sourcing Criteria

Values in custom fields can be sourced from information from another record in your account. The information populated in the custom field is then dependent on fields associated with a record selected on another field within that form. Sourcing enhances your NetSuite forms by reducing data-entry errors and ensuring that your customers and employees always have the most current information.

Sourcing can be done from both standard and custom fields.

For example, two custom fields, Sales Rep and Sales Rep Email, are placed on a custom case form. When a customer record is selected in the Customer field, the sales representative already defined in the selected customer record is sourced to the Sales Rep field on the case form. The Sales Rep Email field defaults to the email address defined for the sourced Sales Rep.

The following diagram shows the custom field sourcing and filtering setup required to populate the Sales Rep and Sales Rep Email fields on a custom case form with data from the customer record:

Note:

The information is sourced in the custom field only when the record is created or if the specific fields involved are altered when editing the record. In the preceding example, if you change the sales representative selected on the customer, the sourced field will change to show the email address of the new sales representative.

When setting up sourcing, you can choose to store the sourced value in the custom field. If you choose not to store the value, the information is not saved in the custom field. By not saving the value in the custom field, the field information is instead dynamically populated with data that is store elsewhere.

You can store a sourced value so that it will not be overwritten if the content in the source field changes. To use a store value, the custom field must define the Source List and Source From fields on the Sourcing & Filtering subtab. The sourcing automatically fills the custom field with a value when the primary field, defined in the Source List field, is changed. If Store Value is checked, then the value populated in the field is stored on the record. You can optionally change the value on the custom field to have that value stored instead of the populated value. If the value in the source field changes, the stored value will not be overwritten.

For more information about storing values, see Setting the Store Value Field.

For information about custom transaction line field sourcing prior to 2021.2, see Note about Custom Transaction Line Field Sourcing.

To set sourcing and filtering criteria:

Edit the custom field you want to add sourcing and filtering criteria to.
If you do not want to store the value, clear the Store Value box. In most cases, you do not want to store the value. For an example of a situation where it could make sense to store a value, see Example of Storing a Value.
On the Display subtab, review the Display Type field. If the Display Type field is set to Hidden, sourcing does not occur. To have sourcing occur, select a Display Type other than Hidden.
Click the Sourcing & Filtering subtab.
From the Source List list, select the field that references the record you want to source information from.

For example, you are creating a custom field to appear on the customer record to show the email address of the sales representative assigned to the customer. In the Source List field, select Sales Rep.

When entering sourcing information for transaction body or transaction line fields, the Entity field varies depending on the transaction type. For example, on an expense report, entity means employee, but on a purchase order, the entity field is vendor. For a purchase order, select Vendor in the Source List field instead of Entity to obtain the required results.

When working with entity fields, you can also define the field to source from a field on the parent record by selecting Parent from the Source List list.

Note:
Information for a Multiple Select field type cannot be sourced.
From the Source From list, select the field you want to source from. The Source From field is found on the record you selected from the Source List list.

In the Source From list, you can select any fields available on the record you select in the Source List field.

In the preceding example, select Email from the Source From list.

When the record is selected, the field is populated with the value stored in the field selected here. The field selected here must be consistent with the type selected for the custom field. For example, if you select E-mail as the field type and then select an address field from the Source From list, you receive an error.

Note:
If your field is a List/Record field, the field selected for the Source From field must be in the record type selected as the List/Record.
If your field is a List/Record field, you can filter the choices that can be selected.

When defining a List/Record Type field, you can choose to populate the custom field with values that meet specific parameters in the sourced list or record. First, select the required item to filter by from the Source Filter by list. Then select an item from the Source List and, optionally, from the Source From list. When you select an element from the source list, it fills the option-sourced custom field with all elements where the source filter by field matches the source list (or the source from field of the source list).

The record you are sourcing from must be associated with the type of record you want to appear in your custom field.

Note:
The field selected from the Source Filter by list must be in the record type selected as the List/Record.

For more information, see Sourcing and Filtering Examples.
After you have set the sourcing criteria, you should set any filtering criteria. See Setting Filtering Criteria.

Note:

A custom field with a sourcing relationship is not available for mass updates or inline editing. See Mass Changes or Updates.

Watch the following help video for information about using sourcing and the store value feature with a custom field.

Watch the following help video for information about setting sourcing and filtering criteria for a custom field.

Example of Storing a Value

The following example describes a situation where it could make sense to store a value.

John Wolfe is the sales representative for a specific region. He makes some sales on sales order SO-123. John Wolfe’s name is automatically sourced to the sales order as the sales representative for the region. You always want John Wolfe to be associated as the sales representative on sales order SO-123. In the future, Mary Brown replaces John Wolfe as the region’s sales representative. You don’t want Mary’s name to replace John’s name on sales order SO-123. In this situation, it makes sense to store the sales rep value on the sales order.

To set sourcing and filtering criteria:

Example of Storing a Value

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