Department API

Manage departments for organizational segmentation. Departments are used to track revenue and expenses by organizational unit or business segment.

Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/record/v1/department	List all departments
GET	/record/v1/department/{id}	Get a specific department by ID
POST	/record/v1/department	Create a new department
PATCH	/record/v1/department/{id}	Update an existing department
DELETE	/record/v1/department/{id}	Delete a department

Key Fields

Required Fields

Field	Type	Description	Required
name	String	Department name	Yes

Optional Fields

Field	Type	Description	Required
subsidiary	Object/Array	Subsidiary or subsidiaries where this department is available	No
parent	Object	Parent department (for department hierarchy)	No
includeChildren	Boolean	Include child departments in reports	No
isInactive	Boolean	Whether the department is inactive	No

Example: Create Department

Request

POST /record/v1/department
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "Sales",
  "subsidiary": [
    {"id": "1"},
    {"id": "2"}
  ],
  "parent": {
    "id": "10"
  },
  "includeChildren": true,
  "isInactive": false
}

Response

{
  "id": "25",
  "name": "Sales",
  "subsidiary": [
    {
      "id": "1",
      "refName": "Parent Company"
    },
    {
      "id": "2",
      "refName": "US Subsidiary"
    }
  ],
  "parent": {
    "id": "10",
    "refName": "Revenue Departments"
  },
  "includeChildren": true,
  "isInactive": false,
  "links": [
    {
      "rel": "self",
      "href": "https://{accountId}.suitetalk.api.netsuite.com/services/rest/record/v1/department/25"
    }
  ]
}

Example: Update Department

Request

PATCH /record/v1/department/25
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "Sales & Marketing",
  "includeChildren": false
}

Response

{
  "id": "25",
  "name": "Sales & Marketing",
  "includeChildren": false,
  "links": [
    {
      "rel": "self",
      "href": "https://{accountId}.suitetalk.api.netsuite.com/services/rest/record/v1/department/25"
    }
  ]
}

Query Filters

You can filter departments using query parameters:

Filter by Subsidiary

GET /record/v1/department?q=subsidiary.id ANYOF 1,2

Filter by Active Status

GET /record/v1/department?q=isInactive IS false

Filter by Parent Department

GET /record/v1/department?q=parent.id IS 10

Search by Name

GET /record/v1/department?q=name CONTAINS Sales

Get Top-Level Departments

GET /record/v1/department?q=parent.id IS EMPTY

Complex Filter Example

GET /record/v1/department?q=subsidiary.id ANYOF 1 AND isInactive IS false AND parent.id IS NOTEMPTY

Pagination and Sorting

GET /record/v1/department?limit=50&offset=0&orderby=name ASC

Important Notes

1. Classification Feature: Departments are part of NetSuite's classification feature. This must be enabled in Setup > Company > Enable Features > Classification.

2. Subsidiary Association: In OneWorld accounts, assign departments to specific subsidiaries to control where they can be used.

3. Department Hierarchy: Use parent departments to create organizational hierarchies for better reporting and analysis.

4. Include Children: When includeChildren is true, reports will aggregate child department data into the parent.

5. Transaction Tagging: Departments can be assigned to transactions, journal entries, and items to track financial data by organizational unit.

6. Required on Transactions: Administrators can make department selection mandatory on transactions via Setup > Accounting > Accounting Preferences.

7. Deletion Restrictions: Departments used in transactions or assigned to records cannot be deleted. Mark them as inactive instead.

8. Permissions: Requires "Lists > Departments" permission in NetSuite.

9. Reporting: Departments are commonly used in financial reports, saved searches, and analytics to segment performance by business unit.

10. Multiple Classifications: NetSuite supports multiple classification dimensions (Department, Class, Location) for multi-dimensional reporting.