From our perspective the Item Catalog is one of the most interesting parts of any business model. What a business sells differs so widely from company to company; it really gives you the full flavor of our incredibly rich and varied economy. What belongs in the Item Catalog? Anything that could appear on a line of the sales order. From widgets in a million variations to services and even discounts, or markups, they are all items. Setting them up in NetSuite is largely an exercise in organization. Companies with large and varied catalogs really need to spend some time putting together the catalog. Organizing the catalog is a project unto itself. NetSuite has a lot of functionality around Items. You can create Items for Services, Inventory, Non-Inventory, Lots, Discounts and Markups, and Assemblies, Kits and Groups. And for some types you can also create Matrix Items. One thing that makes the process easier is that NetSuite has a slightly different form for each item type. This is a great guide to what you can expect when you buy and sell items. For example an Inventory Item enables you to enter the Inventory, Revenue and Cost of Goods Sold Account. When you buy and sell these Items these are the accounts that will be charged. Apart from the Accounting setup there are also other fields that you need to be aware of. For example, for assemblies you will need to setup the members first and then add these to the assembly item. Matrix items require you to setup the matrix. Inventory Items require you to setup the on-hand, the preferred stock level and the reorder point. Tomorrow we'll cover the setup of different item types with accompanying screen shots. | 
