NetSuite Dunning Configuration Overview

Automating collections with NetSuite’s Dunning Letters SuiteApp brings three immediate, measurable wins: a shorter gap between invoice and cash, fewer hours spent chasing payments, and clearer visibility into accounts that are drifting toward bad-debt territory. The core module’s scheduled evaluation, multi-level letter templates, and email-ready workflows typically shave several days off Days Sales Outstanding while freeing the A/R team from manual PDF merges and reminder spreadsheets. Most businesses can realize those baseline gains straight out of the box. 

But collections cultures, customer mixes, and compliance thresholds vary widely. That’s why the most effective NetSuite dunning roll-outs treat the SuiteApp as a foundation rather than a finished product. Targeted refinements—whether aligning evaluation runs to regional business hours, adding guard-rails for dispute-related re-sends, or embedding extra audit metadata—can push the same five value levers even further: 

• Cash-flow: reminders timed and worded for your customers’ context bring cash in a little sooner. 

• Cost savings: eliminating ad-hoc work-arounds keeps labor and IT tickets down. 

• Risk reduction: tighter controls mean fewer skipped notices and cleaner audit trails. 

• Asset utilization: faster turns on receivables free credit lines for new revenue. 

• Revenue protection: a smoother, more accurate collections experience helps preserve goodwill and renewals. 

In practice, a light layer of customization—added only where the business case is clear—lets finance teams harvest those incremental benefits without over-engineering the solution. The takeaway: implement the core Dunning module to secure immediate improvements, and plan for selective tweaks that tune the process to the way your organization—and your customers—actually work. 

Key Components of Dunning Configuration 

1. Dunning Levels: 

• Definition: Stages representing different overdue periods. 

• Settings: 

• Days Overdue: Threshold for triggering the level. 

• Action Type: Email or letter generation. 

• Reminder Text: Customizable content with dynamic fields. 

2. Dunning Procedures: 

• Definition: Collection of dunning levels applied to customer records. 

• Configuration Options: 

• Grace Periods: Initial delay before sending reminders. 

• Escalation Rules: Progression through dunning levels. 

• Maximum Levels: Limit on dunning levels reached. 

3. Dunning Templates: 

• Definition: Customizable templates for reminder communications. 

• Design Elements: 

• Email Subject and Body: Supports merge fields for personalization. 

• PDF Layout: Designed for print or email attachments. 

4. Customer and Invoice Eligibility: 

• Criteria: 

• Invoice Status: Open and overdue. 

• Customer Records: Linked dunning procedures. 

• Credit Terms and Balance: Must meet minimum thresholds. 

5. Dunning Execution: 

• Automation: Scheduled processes or manual triggers. 

• Tracking: History of letters sent and customer responses. 

6. Communication Channels: 

• Methods: 

• Email: Directly from NetSuite. 

• Print: For mailing physical letters. 

• PDF Records: Saved for audit purposes. 

Detailed Configuration Steps 

Step 1: Install the SuiteApp 

• Navigate to: SuiteApp Marketplace. 

• Search for: "Dunning Letters." 

• Install: Follow prompts. 

Step 2: Enable Required Features 

• Go to: Setup > Company > Enable Features. 

• Enable: 

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM). 

• Email Communications. 

• SuiteScript (if customization is needed). 

Step 3: Set Up Dunning Procedures and Levels 

• Navigate to: Setup > Accounting > Dunning Procedures (New). 

• Define: 

• Procedure Name and Description. 

• Create Dunning Levels with thresholds, actions, and reminders. 

• Set escalation rules and maximum levels. 

Step 4: Create Dunning Templates 

• Go to: Documents > Templates > Dunning Templates (New). 

• Design: 

• Email subject, body, and merge fields. 

• PDF layout for printed reminders. 

Step 5: Assign Dunning Procedures 

• Navigate to: Lists > Relationships > Customers. 

• Edit Customer Records: Assign appropriate dunning procedures. 

Step 6: Schedule or Run Dunning Process 

• Go to: Transactions > Customer > Generate Dunning Letters. 

• Choose Options: 

• Select customer records. 

• Set date ranges and run the process manually or schedule it. 

Step 7: Review and Adjust 

• Check Logs: Review generated dunning letters. 

• Audit Responses: Adjust procedures, levels, and templates based on customer feedback. 

Challenges and Limitations 

1. Installation Restrictions: 

   • Only available for specific NetSuite editions and licenses. 

2. Customization Complexity: 

   • Requires SuiteScript for advanced customization. 

3. Limited Automation Flexibility: 

   • Standard scheduling might not fit complex business rules. 

4. Data Accuracy: 

   • Outdated customer information can impact effectiveness. 

5. Customer Experience Impact: 

   • Aggressive dunning procedures may damage customer relationships. 

6. Reporting Limitations: 

• Limited out-of-the-box reporting; custom reports may be required. 

By following these steps and being aware of common challenges, businesses can streamline their dunning processes in NetSuite and enhance their accounts receivable management. 

Customizing NetSuite’s Dunning Module Features 

A. Dunning Evaluation Schedule 

In NetSuite’s Dunning Module, the evaluation process that’s ran by the module’s scripts and workflows follow the Pacific Standard Time (PST) which can introduce problems to organizations that run on a different time zone. What this means is if the Dunning Workflow Scheduler is set by a user to execute at 12/1/2024 12:00 AM EST (GMT+5), the process will actually run on 11/30/2024 9:00 PM PST (GMT+8). With this execution date and without compensating for the time zone difference, transactions that are expected to have been picked up by 12/1/2024 will be skipped. 

To work around this gap, it is ideal for companies outside the PST to schedule their workflows accordingly. The steps below can be done by the NetSuite System Administrator to implement this change: 

1. Locate the Dunning WF Scheduler from the Dunning bundle according to what needs to be rescheduled (Customer, Invoice, or Invoice Group) 

2. Open the required Dunning Scheduler in View mode 

3. Run the “Make Copy” action in the Workflow to set up the new schedule 

4. In the copied workflow, update the necessary fields (Name, ID, Saved Search) to properly identify the purpose of the copy 

5. Update the “Execution Time” field under the “Schedule” section to compensate for the difference with PST. Note that the difference should be based on the current user’s Time Zone preference (Dashboard > Set Preferences > Time Zone) 

   • For users with EST selected, set the Execution time to 3:00 AM, 

   • For users with CST selected, set the Execution time to 2:00 AM and so on 

With this change, the module should use the correct evaluation date as expected by the company. 

Aligning the Dunning scheduler to each subsidiary’s local time ensures emails land in customers’ inboxes at the start of their business day, which materially improves open rates and same-day payments. Copying the native NetSuite workflows and applying precise offset tables also prevents duplicate or missed runs when the company expands into new regions—avoiding data-integrity issues that create downstream reconciliation work. This single control point scales effortlessly, supports contractual service-level agreements, and demonstrates a proactive collections posture across the global customer base. 

B. Dunning Emails and the Dunning Procedure configuration 

When generating NetSuite Dunning Emails, the company must be mindful of the configurations that the evaluation process takes into account. As an example, the Minimum Dunning Interval value within the Dunning Procedure record dictates when the next evaluation for a customer should be generated. As NetSuite defines the field: 

• Select the minimum interval for sending two consecutive letters for the same customer. This applies to both manual and automatic sending. 

With this configuration, there could be challenges when a correction should be applied to the Dunning Statements and corrected, follow up emails should be sent. For example, Dunning Evaluations might have been processed at 12/1/2024 but corrections must be sent en masse the day after. If the Minimum Dunning Interval field is set to 7, it won’t be until the following week when the team will be able to send the corrected emails. 

Although not ideal, it is still an unavoidable scenario and should be considered as a use case.  

To work around this configuration, it is essential to understand how NetSuite’s Dunning Evaluation process runs to know which fields to adjust for the customers that needs to be re-evaluated. 

During the evaluation process, the module does two things: 

1. It picks up the customers set on the Saved Search filter within the Dunning WF Scheduler 

2. For each Customer: 

   • The Last Email Sent field is calculated against the current date, and 

   • The Customer’s Dunning Level is evaluated to see if it needs to be changed 

For the second step, an evaluation will only be generated for the customer if the difference between the Last Email Sent field and the current date is equal to or more than the set Minimum Dunning Interval field and if the Customer’s current Dunning Level should be updated. As sort of a hacky way to get around these conditions is to: 

1. Edit the Customer record 

2. Clear the Last Email Sent field 

3. To clear the Dunning Level: 

   • Remove the Dunning Procedure field value 

   • Place the removed value back into the field 

   • Notice the Dunning Level field value disappear 

By doing this, the team should be able to run the Dunning Scheduler WF again and have the customers evaluated as if they did not have an email generated already. 

For other cases, a company may also require Dunning Emails to be sent weekly regardless of the changes in the customer’s Dunning Level. Easy enough, the schedule could be configured within the Dunning Procedures by setting the Scheduler WF to run as such and the Minimum Dunning Interval field to 7. However, for a company that has varying overdue dates per Dunning level (e.g. Due Date, 7 Days, 30 Days), having a fixed schedule might not be ideal. 

With this requirement, the company can implement a script to automate the steps of clearing Customer Dunning Levels as stated above. Through a Map/Reduce script in NetSuite, the team could set up a saved search to list the customers that need to have their Dunning Levels reset and follow the sequence of setting the fields above. Within the script, it should be noted that the Customer records to be updated will need to be loaded in “Dynamic Mode” for the UI behavior to be mimicked. 

When billing disputes or credit memos arise, Finance needs the ability to resend clean statements immediately, so cash isn’t delayed by a rigid “minimum interval.” The reset customization lets A/R clear the last dunning timestamp—with full audit logging—so corrected invoices can go out the same day, preserving customer goodwill and shortening the dispute-to-cash cycle. Empowering Finance to perform this reset without IT tickets keeps the team lean while still providing the CFO with visibility into every manual intervention for governance purposes.