A Practical Guide to Ongoing Administrative Tasks in NetSuite
Analytics Warehouse
When clients are new to NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (NSAW), one
of the first questions they ask is:
“What exactly do I need to do as the administrator?”
While NSAW doesn’t require daily babysitting, there are a few
recurring administrative tasks that will keep your environment
healthy and running smoothly. Here’s our breakdown of the
essentials.
1. Monitor and Manage Release Updates
Oracle periodically rolls out release updates to NSAW. Some are
optional, but many have a date when they will be automatically
applied.
If you don’t pay attention to those dates, you might find an
update installing in the middle of a workday. This could happen
during month end close or another critical process, and it could
slow down your team.
Best practice:
Check for release updates regularly (weekly is a good
rhythm).
Reschedule updates to run during off-hours or weekends.
Avoid scheduling updates during busy operational periods,
like month-end accounting.
2. Clean Up Your User List Regularly
Right now, NSAW doesn’t automatically stop you from adding more
users than your license allows. But Oracle does audit licenses,
and many clients have been contacted when their usage appears
over the limit.
In many cases, the overages aren’t real. They’re often the
result of inactive accounts for employees who have left or no
longer log in.
Best practice:
Audit your user list monthly.
Remove accounts for employees who have left the company.
Identify users who haven’t been active for a set period
(e.g., 90 days). Create a custom dashboard to show last
login or last dashboard run, and deactivate/delete users
past your inactivity threshold.
3. Keep OAX User Passwords Up to Date
If you build custom SQL objects on top of the NSAW data
warehouse, you’re likely using your OAX user account. This
password expires every 180 days.
If it expires unexpectedly, your connections will break, which
can cause downstream reporting issues.
Best practice:
Set a calendar reminder for every 24 weeks to proactively
check your password.
When you change your password, update all related
connections.
If you’ve set up other system user accounts, remember those
passwords expire every 6 months too, and consider updating
them all at the same time to simplify management.
