5.1 Roles, Centers, and Navigation Tools
Key Takeaways
A role sets permissions and selects the center; the center supplies the top-level tabs, and permissions can still hide individual links inside that center.
The October 2024 sample keys the default role on the Choose Role page by marking Default beside the assigned role. Help also documents Make Default on the My Roles page, with one default role per account.
Global Search, in the header, finds records by keywords and prefixes such as cu: or it:. Quick Search on a list page filters that list.
Recent Records returns to records you viewed or edited. The menu opens on demand, and All Recent Records lists up to 100 records.
A salesperson logged in with an accounting role cannot see the Sales tab because that role opens the Accounting Center. A Sales Center role changes the tabs.
Roles Decide the Center, and the Center Decides the Tabs
A role is the access configuration NetSuite assigns to a user. Its permissions decide which records that person can view, create, edit, or approve. The same role selects the center, the set of tabbed pages built for a group of similar roles. Those tabs sit on the navigation bar. If an expected tab is missing, check the role and its center before treating the menu as broken.
Oracle Help states the relationship directly. For each user, NetSuite displays a center based on the assigned role. Each standard center is arranged around the links those roles use most. The Accounting Center's tabs carry pages for accountants, bookkeepers, payroll managers, and clerks. The Sales Center is shared by the Sales Rep, Sales Manager, and Sales Administrator roles and includes tabs such as Leads, Opportunities, and Forecast. Sharing a center does not mean sharing every link. The Sales Rep and the Sales Administrator both use the Sales Center, but permissions can hide Forecast links from the rep.
Standard centers also include Classic, E-Commerce Management, Engineering, Executive, Marketing, Project, Shipping, Support, and System Administrator. Specialized centers include Customer Center, Employee Center, Partner Center, Advanced Partner Center, and Vendor Center. A different tab set requires a custom center, which depends on the Custom Records feature, and a new role that uses that center. Menu items from a feature enabled later are not added to a custom center on their own.
At login, NetSuite opens the last role used in that account, or the saved default role when one exists, and shows that role's center. The name and current role sit in the upper-right corner. Hovering that area opens the Change Roles list. Clicking it opens the My Roles page. Choosing another role reloads the interface. If the new role belongs to a different center, the tabs change with it.
Some pages are common across centers, including Home, Activities, Documents, and Setup. Those shared pages do not explain a missing Sales tab. The Sales tab belongs to the Sales Center. It does not follow the user into the Accounting Center.
Saving a Default Role
The October 2024 sample treats one action as correct: on the Choose Role page, the user marks Default beside the assigned role that should open next time. That is the place the sample keys.
Current Oracle Help documents another supported place for the same login preference. On the My Roles page, find the role's row, click More, and select Make Default. Help is specific about the limits. You can save only one default role in an account, and you can save a different default in each account you can access, including production, sandbox, and Release Preview. To set the default in another account, select that account first so its roles are listed, then choose Make Default. If you never save a default, and browser history is available, Help says login uses the last role from the previous session. The default only chooses which assigned role opens. It does not add permissions, and it does not move a role into a different center.
Six Ways to Move After the Center Opens
With the center on screen, six tools cover the navigation this objective expects. Shortcuts are introduced here only as a jump list. The next chapter is where shortcut setup belongs.
| Tool | Where you use it | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|
| Centers | The top-level tabs for the current role | You need the tab set for a function, such as accounting work versus sales work |
| Portlets | The windows on a center's dashboard | A list, reminder, or search already on the page is the fastest path to a record |
| Global Search | The keyword field in the header | You know a name, number, or record-type prefix, and the record may sit anywhere in the account |
| Quick Search | The list page you already have open | You want to narrow that list rather than search every record type |
| Recent Records | The Recent Records icon on the navigation bar | You need a record you viewed or edited recently |
| Shortcuts | The Shortcuts icon on the navigation bar | You need a record, transaction, list, or report pinned for frequent use |
Global Search sits in the header on every page. Press Alt+G to move the cursor there. Keywords can include letters, numbers, dashes, underscores, and the % wildcard. Any other character counts as a space, and you can separate keywords with OR. A prefix limits the record type. It is some or all of the record-type name, plus a colon or a caret. cu:max and cu^max look for customers whose records contain those letters. it: looks for items. Prefixes follow the record names and the language in the account, so a renamed record, or a language chosen under Home > Set Preferences, can change which letters work. A very short prefix such as p: can match several types at once, including a phone call, a partner, or a promotion code.
A single match opens in view mode. Capitalize the prefix to open that one record in edit mode, as in In:115. An extra colon, as in in::115, opens the result in a new window. Global search returns the best matches quickly, not every match, and a generic keyword can return nothing. Use a simple or advanced search when the list must be complete. A very wide search is also a practical reason a page feels slow.
Quick Search is the list tool. On a list page it filters that list. Help's Quick Searches topic describes two related same-type tools that are still not a whole-account search. Quick Find is the icon on many list and transaction pages that searches other records of the same type. The Quick Search portlet, added on a dashboard, searches one selected record type with a filter field and keywords. Use those tools when the type is already known. Use Global Search when the record could be any type, or when you are not already standing on its list.
Recent Records remembers what you opened. Hover or click the icon for records you recently viewed or edited. A link opens the record in view mode, and Edit opens it in edit mode when you have permission. All Recent Records lists up to 100 records, with type and the last date you opened each one. A Recent Records portlet can show the last 12 on a dashboard. The menu appears only when you open it. The portlet stays on the page. Portlet types themselves belong to a later chapter.
Shortcuts are links to records, transactions, lists, and reports you use often. The Shortcuts icon opens that menu, and the same links can appear in the Shortcuts portlet. An administrator often publishes them. Creating and reordering shortcuts is the next chapter.
Portlets are the dashboard windows on a tab. A list or search portlet can open a record without walking the menus. Real-time portlets also slow the dashboard when too many stay expanded, which is the performance topic in the next section.
The Salesperson Who Cannot See the Sales Tab
A salesperson logs in and the Sales tab is gone. The header shows an accounting role, so NetSuite opened the Accounting Center. That center serves accounting work. It does not include the Leads, Opportunities, and Forecast tabs of the Sales Center. Global Search can still find a customer, and Recent Records can reopen a quote, but neither tool adds the Sales tab. A shortcut only jumps to a page the current role may already open.
The fix is a role switch to a Sales Center role, such as Sales Rep, Sales Manager, or Sales Administrator. The interface reloads and the sales tabs can appear. Permissions still apply, so a Sales Rep may not see every Forecast link a Sales Administrator sees. If no sales role is assigned, the user cannot invent one from the accounting login. An administrator assigns it. The user can then mark that role Default on the Choose Role page, the action the sample keys, or save it with Make Default on My Roles.
A bookkeeper uses both an Accountant role and a Sales Rep role and wants the Accountant role to open at the next login. Which action matches the October 2024 sample?
On the Choose Role page, mark Default beside the Accountant role
On the employee record, open the Access tab and add the Accountant role a second time
On the Role record, open the Users tab and flag the bookkeeper as the primary user
Under the header logo, star the Accountant role so it becomes the login role
A salesperson's header shows an Accountant role, and the Sales tab is missing. What puts sales tabs such as Leads, Opportunities, and Forecast on the navigation bar?
Run Global Search for sales orders, which adds the Sales tab to the current center
Switch to a role that uses the Sales Center, such as Sales Rep
Open Recent Records and choose any customer, which changes the center
Add a shortcut named Sales, which inserts a Sales tab into the Accounting Center
You are viewing the customer list and want only names containing the letters max. From any other page, you also need invoice 115. Which pair of tools fits those two jobs?
Recent Records filters the customer list, and a shortcut creates invoice 115
The Accounting Center filters the customer list, and the Sales Center finds the invoice
Quick Search filters the open customer list, and Global Search with a prefix such as invo:115 finds the invoice from any page
A dashboard portlet is required for both the list filter and the invoice lookup
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.