IFS Applications Software

I've never recommended any ERP system in my 25 years. I would recommend IFS. It is a solid system with a very powerful functionality and can be tailored to fit to almost any business environment.

Pros

Overall, IFS is a powerful system with a great deal of functionality. It is fairly easy to use, and to customize to specific company and user requirements.

Cons

The English used in the package at times is difficult to follow/understand. Customer support is well... Customer support and finding third party consulting firms is challenging, at least in the US.

As with any ERP, the best way to evaluate is to talk to other companies that use it. Make sure that you talk to the users, not just the IT department or the ERP owner.

Pros

Most of our departments are using it across the company. Financials, Manufacturing, Maintenance, Sales, Logistics, Engineering, etc. Good integration options and nice programming interface. Lots of development resources to continually make improvements. Last major version seemed like the biggest one so far.

Cons

Like many ERPs, the user interface has lots of things that users will ignore or IT has to hide. If you have a weird process that isn't the norm in the industry, it will take more work to implement it. Support has room to improve.

I would certainly recommend IFS to other customers.

Pros

We like the flexibility as well as the stability. IFS support has been great to work with. When we have worked with R&D, it's obvious that they care about the customer.

Cons

While it does not do everything the way we want it to, IFS is interested in making improvements so that it does.

I would definitely recommend IFS!

Pros

IFS Applications software is very intuitive and very easy to use. There is so much functionality available in the software and the great thing is, if a field is missing on a certain screen, it is easy enough to create the field that either references another field in the database, or is a free form field allowing you to enter whatever data you want into it.

Cons

I really cannot think of anything that I do not like about the software. Occasionally, there is some data that I would like to see on a certain screen, but if it is not there, it is easy enough to add it.

I think IFS is a great tool for mass producers but if you custom manufacture anything then this is not the software for you. IFS works best for a standard product list with very little change. There is NO method for archiving information like a product option, customer, supplier, etc. so once something is entered in the system it is there forever and available as a selection. If your business has very little variables then this is probably the right system for you.

Pros

Good training options, support response if fairly quick. Once you learn to 'think like IFS' navigation is pretty easy.

Cons

Inflexible configuration and really only geared towards specific business types. Our custom manufacturing makes it really difficult to use many modules of the software adequately. There are a lot of things our implementation team either didn't adequately consider or configured incorrectly and we've been paying for it for a decade. Nothing is easily updated or changed and options in a drop down (or list of values) cannot ever be archived. No workflows exist in the system and permissions setup is a complete nightmare.

Pros

The ability to track, locate and edit multiple stock sites within our warehouse. The ease of the search feature when searching for specific items, for example: tracking maintenance work orders not only by who the mechanic was who performed, but down to the minute by minute tracking of progress.

Cons

Search queries take long at times, and when they do take too long there's no "cancel" feature. This prompts several people to simply hard-close the program and reopen instead of waiting for the program to load. At times the program also freezes if too many features are accessed at once.

There better options (value for the money) at the market.

Pros

Our company is using one of the IFS modules as HR management SW - storage of emplyoee data across the division (12.000+ employees).
The system is built for larger organizations, allows to keep history data, create multiple business entities and give access to different people for each entity.

Cons

Very low customization options, no employee self service access, no automated approval flows in the system, very user undfriendly interface. If you need a manual to be able to download a report, something is clearly wrong when it comes to UX design.

Pros

IFS was a great software choice if you have multiple countries that you need to consolidate. The reporting module allows you flexibility to create reports.

Cons

There was a longer learning curve with IFS than software I have used in the past. When you are dealing with multiples entities there are many steps that you need to go through.

Pros

Many functionalities that seem to do exactly what we want. IFS looks intuitive and together with the system manual you will be able to make some small steps yourselve.

Cons

Often bad advice is received, where the IFS consultants don't even know how their own system works. This ends up in our company investigating and testing ourselves how some functionalities work. Handling of bugs by IFS is not customer friendly, and even if they admit that there is a design mistake in their software it will be unlikely for them to solve it. Another big disadvantage is the lack of a large online, open community.

Likes Best

Once you are comfortable working in IFS it is very easy to navigate.

Likes Least

I don't know if IFS was the right choice when we selected an ERP, but after the time and money invested it is what we're 'stuck' with. Our product and processes are so specialized and IFS doesn't really work well outside the box.

Recommendations

Do a ton of research before implementation. IFS has a lot more power and uses than what we currently use it for - it isn't an easy fix. We would need to fully reimplement in order to take advantage of these other sections of IFS.

Likes Best

Once it is setup, it runs pretty smooth! I like that is a web base application

Likes Least

If I had one wish, I wish IFS could be either a SQL base or Oracle base product.

Recommendations

Make sure you have experts that know the process of there departments.

Likes Best

its ability to capture data and have historical records. I

Likes Least

the most trouble I had is searching for past data. once I got more experience it is easier.

Recommendations

get training for your precise job. IFS can do so much and without someone teaching you it is hard to be able to be as efficient as you could be.

Likes Best

Includes everything from opportunity to product delivery. When implemented properly, there is no need for outside programs to encompass all aspects of your business.

Likes Least

Not always user friendly, too many times if you don't have real good knowledge of the areas you are working with, you don't know how to solve problems because you don't know where the missing/invalid data resides.

Recommendations

Choose core team members that are willing to do their homework on how each functional area ties to one another

Likes Best

User Friendly, When help is needed they are available

Likes Least

There is nothing I do not like about the product. Easy to use.

Recommendations

Get the training, IFS does a lot! There are a lot of shortcuts.

Likes Best

The vendor relationship is very good. I really enjoy the various user group meetings that are held. The product is fairly straight forward.

Likes Least

Our original implementation was rough. I don't feel like the consultants really understood our needs in order to help us move to our first ERP.

Recommendations

Make sure that you a realistic about changing current business processes to fit the software. Without change ERP will not suit you well in most situations.

Likes Best

The application is fairly easy to navigate through.

Likes Least

Too many windows and screens to use for one application.

Recommendations

Make sure the software can handle the business application you want.

Likes Best

The product is very user-friendly, and having loads of feature for power sectors. The most important thing is that it is easy to customize and easy to learn for users.

Likes Least

They take too much time for resolving issues and doing customization.

Recommendations

The main thing to look at is the cost of the product, which is very good, provided with the features in this ERP.

Our company has used IFS Applications for four years now. The user interface is unintuitive, arduous to use and navigate.

When our company first switched to IFS we quickly realized as users the software was not even on par with an alpha release and it has not become better over time. The IFS company will not repair shortcomings of the software unless be pay them a hansom sum.