IFS has announced the first of its two releases in 2023 for IFS Cloud. This does not include details of the latest IFS Ultimo release due soon. The features included in the update target three themes: Optimising people, assets and services, connecting global operations and achieving ESG goals profitably.
Christian Pedersen, Chief Product Officer, IFS, commented: “Since launching IFS Cloud, we have continuously improved our product in response to customer’s needs. Through each release, we have emphasized the importance of digital capabilities and connectivity in boosting productivity, business agility, and achieving operational excellence. It is that focus and consistency that allows our customers to deliver exceptional Moments of Service.
“Over the last few years many organizations have battled disruption; in this latest release to IFS Cloud, we have not deviated from our strategic priorities and ensured that our technology equips companies to build a composable enterprise. Our expertise lies in empowering organizations with the latest technology because we are clear on the ongoing value it delivers when embedded into their business.”
What is in IFS Cloud 2023 R1
The update provides innovation and updates across the portfolio of solutions within the IFS Cloud platform. This is a brief overview of the improvements.
Enterprise Asset Management
EAM updates include improvements to compliance and maintenance insights. There are improvements specific to the Oil and Gas industry for compliance reporting. Global organisations will find it easier to track assets between locations using serial numbers. Reporting on the comparative health of critical assets will enable data-driven investment decisions.
Enterprise Resource Planning
The update includes several new features and improvements to Manufacturing, Supply chain, Procurement, HCM and Projects.
There is new scheduling scenario functionality in Manufacturing Scheduling & Optimization to create more realistic schedules and better meet customer demand. Improved integration with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) with automated production reporting in production schedules and improvements to quality control. An Eco footprint capability now supports new regulatory reporting requirements, though IFS did not say which framework it supports.
Service Management
Service management improvements include updates to service delivery, service warranties and first-time fix administration. There are updates to the customer portal that will enable the clients of IFS customers to view, track, and amend their appointment details. If the clients change appointments, engineers can be routed, saving time and money and reducing emissions.
Remote Assistance
Remote Assistance now supports one-time calls to customers to help resolve the issue during the initial engagement, helping to deliver a moment of service.
Aviation Maintenance
Better visibility of metrics within lobbies (dashboard) screens to enable better analysis. There are improvements to aircraft maintenance operations and the Fleet Planner module.
IFS Cloud Experience Platform
The integration to Microsoft Teams is now available across all of IFS Cloud. IFS has also delivered improvements to the underlying platform. There is additional personalisation with users able to tag pages of interest to their navigation bar. Improvements to workflows enable citizen developers to get more value faster.
Onboarding and managing change are easier with integration to Microsoft Azure AD to improve the administration of user permissions from a single place. IFS has introduced entity service APIs for greater granularity, and the improvements to the Data Migration Manager will support larger data volumes.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
This is a huge update from IFS and one that customers will need to review the release notes to see which elements they wish to apply. A better overview of the new functionality is here. Without a doubt, IFS has moved its product forward significantly. The IFS development has been working hard and produced a significant update that includes far more than listed above.
Three areas that seem omitted from the updates provided were around finance and localisation of the product and industry-specific updates (except for the Oil and Gas industry). These updates are no doubt included in the full release notes that Enterprise Times requested but did not have access to in time for writing this article.
