Solutions for E-Business Success: IFS eVolve and IFS Applications 2001

By Joshua Greenbaum Principal Enterprise Applications Consulting

E AC
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Table of Contents

Introduction: Meeting the Needs of an Evolving E-Business Market

. page 1 3 3 3 5 6 6 6

E-Business Success: Criteria for Excellence ... page Solid ERP Functionality ....page Solid E-Business Functionality ... page Support for Heterogeneity ... page Support for System Modification ... page Support for Analysis and Reporting ... page Applications Hosting Support ... page eVolve and IFS Applications 2001: E-Business Highlights

... page 7

IFS 2001 Component Architecture ......... page 8 IFS Foundation1 E-Business Architecture ... page 12

Key E-Business Functionality in IFS 2001 ... page 15 Enterprise Storefront ... page 16 Contact Center ... page 16 eProcurement ... page 16 eMarkets ... page 17 The IFS Portal Environment ... page 17 Open Portal Framework ... page 18 Analytical Applications Support ... page 19 Applications Hosting: @IFS ... page 19 IFS 2001: Meeting the Needs of the E-Business Market ... page 20

IFS 2001 E-Business Report

Introduction: Meeting the Needs of An Evolving E-Business Market

The on-going e-business revolution is truly a work in progress for both customers and vendors. The evolutionary nature of e-business means that customer requirements constitute a continuum of business models that span both e-business and click-and-mortar functionality. On one end of the e-business continuum lie the pure-play .COMs, companies that need to start from scratch with a comprehensive, well-integrated solution that leads with an e-store or procurement site linked to modern CRM, ERP, logistics, and other back-office functionality. On the other end of the continuum lie the hybrid clickand-mortar companies that are often only interested in acquiring a relatively simple set of functions, such as e-store or integration to an external e-procurement system, while preserving a large investment in existing ERP or legacy systems.

This continuum of requirements not only defines companies e-business requirements vis vis one another, but can also be used to describe the reality of e-business within an individual company. Some companies need a full complement of e-business functionality while others need to grow their e-business incrementally; and some companies want a fully integrated system from as few vendors as possible, while others require best-ofbreed solutions. An e-business vendors offering needs to service all of these extremes. Most importantly, e-business customers of all stripes need a tremendous amount of infrastructure technology that includes support for heterogeneity in all its forms. The applications, data and business logic that form the core of emerging e-business functionality can and should come from a myriad of sources in a myriad of formats and protocols. A companys e-business infrastructure must support this kind of hybrid environment mixing new and old functionality even as it offers complete support for a pure-play e-business system.

These demands are complex and difficult for vendors to fulfill, particularly for vendors that started with monolithic ERP systems that had to be adapted to service the flexibility required of an e-business implementation. For competitive reasons, many of these
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vendors hesitate to fully embrace heterogeneity, preferring a more limited offering that still emphasizes a single-vendor solution. The result has been a slew of e-business offerings that still dont truly meet the demands of a vast majority of e-business prospects today. These companies are looking for an open, flexible infrastructure that is easy to configure and can readily support the widest possible range of business scenarios regardless of the software actually in use.

IFS, an enterprise applications and e-business vendor based in Tucson AZ, will be releasing the latest version of its software suite, IFS Applications 2001, beginning this Fall, continuing an e-business focus that began in 1999 with the release of IFS eVolve initiative. That initiative, which to date has resulted in 50 e-business implementations, continues with IFS 2001 as its technology base. Enterprise Applications Consulting (EAC) has taken an early look at the e-business functionality offered by IFS 2001 and found it to be a well-designed offering that can meet the needs of most companies on the e-business continuum. IFS does this with a combination of applications and infrastructure technology that reflect an excellent understanding of the real-world requirements of ebusiness customers. EAC believes that IFS track record in Europe and its growing presence in the U.S. market will make IFS 2001 a serious contender in the race to provide e-business technology for the nascent new economy.

This report will highlight the key features of IFS 2001s e-business offering by providing an overview of the key technology, infrastructure and applications available in IFS latest release. The report starts with a discussion of the key selection criteria for an e-business suite, and continues with an overview of the IFS offering and its relevance to a new ebusiness customer. While IFS 2001 has only recently been released to customers as a beta product, EAC believes that the companys track record as well as its already successful IFS 2000 offering will make IFS 2001 a strong contender for companies looking for a lower-cost and arguably more flexible e-business solution than is currently available on the market.

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IFS 2001 E-Business Report

E-Business Success: Criteria for Excellence

As befits an industry that itself is a work in progress, the criteria for success as an ebusiness vendor has evolved significantly over the last two years. EAC has identified six key elements that are an essential part of any e-business offering today: solid ERP functionality, solid e-business functionality, support for heterogeneity, support for modifications of the e-business environment, support for analytics, and a hosted applications model. A discussion of each of these elements follows.

Solid ERP Functionality Long-term e-business success begins and ends with a broad-based ERP offering. While many e-business customers begin by implementing specific e-business functionality, long-term viability, and competitiveness, rest on an e-business ability to drive efficiencies and functionality through the entire supply chain. An e-procurement site that is not directly connected to an order management and fulfillment system will be more costly and less efficient than one that can move an order automatically.

An e-business-ready ERP application suite also needs two other major capabilities. One is obviously Web-enablement, without which e-business must be implemented in a client/server model. The second is a component architecture: the importance of mixing and matching ERP and e-business functionality in a single implementation cannot be over-emphasized. Moreover, without a component ERP architecture, the customer will be forced to implement more functionality than is required and carry the burden of an overly complex ERP system that hinders rather than helps support an efficient e-business system.

Solid E-Business Functionality E-business functionality comes in two flavors: the ability to web-enable ERP functions, and the ability to provide e-business specific applications. Web-enabled ERP functionality allows the Web to be a deployment vehicle for ERP applications. This capability is extremely important for start-ups and pure-play .COMs that can start from scratch with a new environment. It is less important, however, for companies that want to
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add e-business functionality to an existing IT infrastructure that supports client/server or mainframe applications. The presence of a legacy environment means that older deployment models can be supported by the customer if a particular function is not Webenabled. The critical factor in this case is that the elements required for e-business functionality are Web-enabled: the remaining functions are more likely to continue, at least in the short term, to be deployed in their original client/server or mainframe architecture.

Regardless of the degree of Web-enabled ERP functionality required, a vendor offering must have a requisite set of specific e-business functionality as well. While customers may also choose best-of-breed solutions for specific e-business functions, the promise of tight integration with the rest of the e-business and ERP environment can and should be a major consideration. To this end, an ideal e-business offering needs to cover the major requirements of the market. These include: Enterprise Portal. End-user personalization begins and ends at the portal level, and every e-business offering must include support for a portal environment that is highly configurable and supports data, applications, and unstructured content from the widest possible number of sources. Portals should be configurable to meet the needs of a large number of different user roles within an e-business organization. E-Storefront. Supporting a B2B or B2C sales effort is one of the most common reasons to embark on an e-business initiative. This storefront should ideally be linked to the business logic in the enterprise system in order to support personalization of the user experience as well as help drive efficiencies from the e-business environment into the back office. E-Procurement. Procurement, particularly non-strategic procurement, has been an early success factor for e-business. This requirement has more recently been extended to include strategic procurement of mission-critical goods and services. As with the estorefront requirement, while the customer may prefer a best of breed solution, the ability to offer a fully integrated e-procurement solution is a must-have for e-business vendors.
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CRM: Customer relationship management (CRM) is a broad term that includes a wide range of functionality that spans sales force automation, marketing automation, personalization support and call center support. Regardless of the particulars, a CRM function must include support for the customer experience regardless of whether that customer experience is initiated in a brick and mortar environment, on the Web, by telephone, or all three.

Support for Heterogeneity The requirement for strong ERP and e-business functionality must be balanced by the requirement for customer choice in the design and implementation of the e-business environment. This choice includes not only the requirement to support best of breed applications, but legacy applications, third party data and content, and other forms of heterogeneity are also part of the package.

This requirement means that a well-designed, open architecture must be a key part of any e-business offering. The issue of customer choice is paramount: most customers want to use as much of their existing functionality as possible to both offset the cost and complexity of an e-business implementation. This means supporting a highly heterogeneous environment, even if that means supporting competing products for other vendors.

The heterogeneity issue isnt just about pure choice; its also about efficiency. The nature of e-business requires tremendous interoperability among different applications: a Webbased available-to-promise system cannot function effectively without connectivity to the back office. Similarly an e-store cannot quickly qualify customer credit without access to a credit reference system. The greater the support for heterogeneity, the more an ebusiness system can support success.

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Support for System Modification The ability to modify the e-business environment without dramatic and costly change is an often overlooked requirement, but one that is critical nonetheless. The changing nature of e-business and the relationships it fosters means that business rules, customer interactions, and even applications functionality must all be highly adaptable. Rigid, monolithic systems that are hard to change become impediments to e-business growth. An ideal e-business environment should be able to be modifiable without starting from scratch.

Support for Analysis and Reporting E-business decision making is as important as building an e-business infrastructure. The fact that transactions can move between e-business customers, suppliers, and partners is useless unless they are the right transactions. Getting the right transactions to take place requires significant support for strategic and tactical decision-making, and that can only be done by a close analysis of the e-business environment. This is not just a question of capturing data from a single vendors environment: analysis and reporting must take into account the heterogeneity of the e-business environment and support analysis of all applications and data. Ideally, this is done using real-time as well as historical data: the real-time nature of e-business requires real-time responsiveness, and that means real-time analysis is of utmost importance. This is particularly important in an available-to-promise (ATP) or build-to-order Web sales system, for example. Not only must an ATP order be based on a real-time capacity analysis, but any problems in manufacturing, fulfillment or logistics that would put ATP orders in jeopardy must be flagged by a real-time alert system, or the vendor will risk delays that could seriously erode customer satisfaction.

Applications Hosting Support The complexity of new e-business technology, coupled with the scarcity of technical resources, has made it imperative that e-business vendors offer applications hosting support, either through their own hosting business or through hosting partners. The Webbased nature of e-business lends itself to hosting, and customer demand will require that a majority of e-business functionality be available in a hosted model.
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As we shall see below, IFS 2001 goes a long way towards meeting these criteria, and affords IFS bragging rights as one of the best designed e-business offerings in the market. In particular, IFS support for heterogeneity is immensely important for its target customers: these companies either want to avoid the high cost of starting fresh with an entirely new implementation or they are looking to make their e-business implementation part of a larger corporate or collaborative environment. That support for heterogeneity helps set IFS 2001 apart from the rest of the market.

eVolve and IFS Applications 2001: E-Business Highlights

IFS e-business efforts were inaugurated last year, when the company launched its eVolve initiative, which used the IFS 2000 release as its technology base. The eVolve initiative has been highly successful in propelling IFS into the ranks of the vendors offering a comprehensive, integrated e-business offering. Using IFS 2000, the company has been instrumental in launching a number of key e-business. Among them are Modus Media and ESL Technologies in the U.S. and Textile Solutions in Europe.

The eVolve initiative continues with the advent of IFS 2001, which is coming out in a phased release. IFS 2001 is due to be released in September 2000, with key enhancements, such as Call Center, due in March of 2001.

IFS 2001 has three major assets that make this a highly competitive e-business offering: a solid component architecture, a well-designed infrastructure that supports a heterogeneous environment, and a highly-scaleable set of enterprise and e-business applications that can meet the majority of e-business customer requirements. Each of these features is discussed more completely below.

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IFS 2001 Component Architecture

The component nature of IFS 2001 has profound implications for the e-business capabilities of IFS offering and continues the companys leadership position in component-based ERP technology. The component architecture is evident at both large grain and small grain levels. The IFS 2001 Applications are made of 70 large-grain components such as Distribution, Inventory & Warehousing, Purchasing, etc. (See Figure 1.) Each of these components is itself made up of smaller individual functional components such as Purchase Order, Purchase Order Receipt, Purchase Requisition, etc. (See Figure 2.) These can be further componentized into portal-based objects such as portlets (see below).

IFS e-business functionality is also componentized. New functions such as Enterprise Storefront, Contact Center, and eProcurement were designed as components and can function independently of the rest of the IFS 2001 Applications. (See Figure 3.)

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Figure 1: IFS 2001 Applications Stack

DEMAND PLANNING

E-Business
CONSTRAINT BASED SCHEDULING

ENTERPRISE STOREFRONT

COSTING

WEB STORE

FINANCIAL LEDGER

SHOP FLOOR REPORTING

PAYROLL ADMINISTRATION

VEHICLE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

ePROCURMENT

REPORT GENERATOR

SUPPLIER SCHEDULING

CRP / MRP

EXPENSE REPORTING

SCHEDULING

PROCESS DESIGN

eMARKETS

CONSOLIDATED FIELD SERVICE & ACCOUNTS OPERATIONS

CUSTOMER SCHEDULING

SHOP ORDER

TIME & ATTENDANCE

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE

INSTRUMENTATION DESIGN

CONTACT CENTER

FIXED ASSETS

PROPOSAL GENERATION

CUSTOMER ORDERS

MAKE TO ORDER

PROJECT REPORTING

WORK ORDER

ELECTRICAL DESIGN

COLLABORATION PORTALS

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

SALES CONFIGURATOR

INVOICING

ASSEMBLE TO ORDER

RECRUITMENT

EQUIPMENT

PLANT LAYOUT & PIPING DESIGN

EMPLOYEE PORTALS

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

SALES & MARKETING

PURCHASING

REPETITIVE PRODUCTION

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT

EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE

PROJECT DELIVERY

WIRELESS SERVICES

GENERAL LEDGER

MARKETING ENCYCLOPEDIA

INVENTORY

MASTER SCHEDULING

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS

EQUIPMENT MONITORING

PDM CONFIGURATION

IFS eBUSINESS

IFS FINANCIALS

IFS FRONT OFFICE

IFS DISTRIBUTION

IFS MANUFACTURING

IFS HUMAN RESOURCES

IFS MAINTENANCE

IFS ENGINEERING

PERSONAL PORTAL MANAGEMENT

PROJECT

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

ACCOUNTING RULES

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

IFS Foundation1 V5
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Figure 2: Sample Functional Components in an Application Component

Application Component: Purchasing Functional Components: Purchase Order Purchase Order Receipt Purchase Requisition PO Confirmation Purchase Part

Figure 3: Key IFS 2001 E-business Components

Enterprise Storefront Contact Center Portal eProcurement eMarkets Wireless Services

The value of IFS component architecture can be found in both the initial implementation and the actual deployment of an e-business system. The IFS component architecture allows for a highly customized implementation of both standard and e-business applications on a strictly as-needed basis. Importantly, this includes non-IFS components, provided they adhere to the Foundation1 architecture (see below.) The customers ability to pick and choose the exact functionality required is a major advantage of the IFS offering and the key reason why component technology is such a major asset in the ebusiness market.

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The IFS component architecture is also an asset in deployment. Components can be added as needed without a major re-architecting of the environment. This allows customers to scale up their operations at a relatively low cost, and help meet the system modification criteria noted above.

Another key advantage to the IFS component architecture can be seen in its Web support. Each large-grain component such as Sales & Delivery is itself made up of individual components that an IFS customer can chose to implement in a portal. This gives the portals access to the full range of IFS Applications functionality in a Web-specific way: Both large and small-grain components can be expressed in a portal according to the business needs of an individual user. (Portal functionality is further discussed in the IFS Portal Environment section below.)

IFS fine-grain components can be used in a portal in one of three ways, depending on their functional role in the e-business environment. Importantly, e-business components can support either a transactional or analytical function, depending on their properties, with some capable of supporting both. This is particularly significant in supporting the analytical requirements of the e-business environment.

The three deployment options of the IFS components are: Business to Employee (B2E) components. These are used by company employees to perform internal or self-service functions and can be displayed in a portal as a sub-set of the components total functionality. B2E components can exist either as entire applications or as single-function frames in a Web browser. Business to Business (B2B) components. These are used by external partners, suppliers, or customers to access information or data relevant to a B2B collaboration. Internal users may also monitor these components for specific tasks. Portlets. IFS Portlets are a key element in IFS Web support. Portlets allow an IFS portal to display customized views of data and transactions from the ERP or
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e-business environment for analytical and interaction purposes. Portlets can offer standard functionality such as a Balanced Scorecard or can be custom-built using information from multiple data sources. Portlets are an important building block for IFS portals and are developed using the Open Portal Framework, described below.

The modular nature of IFS 2001 easily meets the requirements for componentization outlined in the E-business Success: Criteria for Excellence section. This high level of support for components becomes extremely powerful when it is used in conjunction with IFS 2001 new e-business architecture.

IFS Foundation1 E-Business Architecture

IFS has infused its component technology into the design of its e-business architecture, Foundation1, which has a new release, Foundation1 5.0, coming out with IFS 2001. At the heart of Foundation1 is a Corba-based XML messaging system that supports an open environment that allows virtually any Foundation1-compliant application or service to be plugged into an IFS e-business implementation. Importantly, this Corba environment also support Suns Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), which will greatly assist in the integration of third party EJB-based applications in the IFS 2001 environment. In addition, IFS provides a Corba run-time environment, greatly reducing the overall deployment cost of a Foundation1 implementation. The result is a powerful infrastructure for meeting realworld customer requirements: a Foundation1 implementation can have as much or as little IFS-specific functionality applications, data, and servers as a specific e-business model requires. Provided that applications and services meet Foundation1 connectivity requirements, Foundation1 serves to guarantee a high degree of interoperability in as heterogeneous an environment as the customer would like.

While IFS clearly intends that the lions share of a Foundation1 implementation be based on IFS software, the fact that this is not a requirement makes IFS unique in the ERP/ebusiness market. EAC believes this flexibility of design will give IFS a strong offering
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for companies that want to support a mix of best of breed or legacy systems in their ebusiness environment. This requirement is representative of the majority of prospects in the e-business market today, and this capability on the part of IFS will prove to be a major asset in a market that is looking for heterogeneous e-business solutions.

Foundation1s message architecture provides a staging ground for the technical functionality of a distributed e-business framework. The different components that interact in an e-business framework applications, data, unstructured content, business logic, events, agents, and workflows are all accessible in Foundation1. As long as semantic integration is maintained, Foundation1 provides the data or object level integration required to support heterogeneity across the entire environment. (The semantic integration is maintained by the IFS Applications Server, as described below.)

A Foundation1 implementation is made up of five elements, all but one of which, the IFS Application Server, can be supported by non-IFS software or services as well. (See Figure 4.) The five parts of a Foundation1 implementation are:

IFS Application Server. This is the heart of the Foundation1 architecture. The Application Server is the integration point for internal and external data and applications. It manages and stores the business logic and other personalization data that allow the Personal Portals to function (see The IFS Portal Framework below). The Application Server also provides security and dynamic caching of applications and data. This servers role in the overall Foundation1 architecture makes it the only required element in a Foundation1 implementation: all the other applications and servers can be non-IFS products, provided they support one of the Foundation1 connectivity protocols.

Database Server(s). IFS 2001 separates business logic and business data into two different servers. Business logic is developed using a UML-based process modeler that is deliberately database-independent. This allows the business logic layer to be database agnostic, which in turn allows e-business applications in Foundation1 to make use of non-IFS data.
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IFS Applications. The full complement of IFS 2001 applications (see Figure 1) is accessible via Foundation1 either in its entirety, or more likely, in a customer-specific implementation of select components. IFS applications can interact with non-IFS applications via the Application Server.

Content Servers. Foundation1 supports a number of content servers, as termed by IFS. These include IFS Web, multi-media and WAP servers as well as third party servers such as Apache, Netscape and Microsoft IIS. Additional servers can be supported by developing a custom interface to Foundation1.

Connectivity Support. Connectivity can come through the Foundation1 services, as well as via Java and COM+. This also allows third party applications and services like Intershop 4 and Intershop enfinity as well as BEAs Weblogic server to be plugged into Foundation1. Foundation1 also has a Java-based toolkit for building custom integration to the environment. IFS still needs to announce a partner, however, that can provide a comprehensive enterprise and Internet integration toolkit to simplify and standardize connectivity support. The component nature of the Foundation1 environment has gone a long way towards simplifying connectivity, but its not enough: EAC expects IFS to announce a partnership shortly before the release of 2001a in order to solidify its connectivity position.

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Figure 4: Foundation1 5.0 Architecture

Source: IFS

Key E-Business Functionality in IFS 2001

With Foundation1 as its technology base, IFS is in the position to offer a wide range of ebusiness functionality as well as support a highly personalized Web user experience. IFS 2001 will round out the companys e-business offering with new e-business applications and a new portal environment that are built on the interoperability of Foundation1. The ability to provide e-business components that can be used in conjunction with the IFS ERP components, a portal environment for customers, partners and employees, and development tools used to customize the portal experience mean that IFS 2001 will be a well-designed, competitive offering. IFS customers will be able to take advantage of the high degree of interoperability afforded by IFS 2001 to build a solution that plays off the strengths of a well-integrated e-business-to-back-office implementation.
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There are four key e-business applications supported in IFS 2001: Internet Sales, Contact Center, Internet Procurement, and Internet Marketplace. In addition, two key technologies support the IFS 2001 e-business applications: portals, and a portal-building tool, the Open Portal Framework. In addition, IFS is in the process of importing its hosting solution, @IFS, to the U.S. market. Following is a description of these e-business applications, technologies and services.

Enterprise Storefront This is new with 2001 and joins Web Store, which was OEM'ed from Intershop as part of the IFS 2000 release. The initial goal of Web Store was to provide a low-cost storefront that could support a limited number of transactions. Enterprise Storefront, on the other hand, offers the full-complement of e-store capabilities, including shopping cart, product catalog, and customer tracking. Importantly, the business logic stored and managed in Foundation1 can be used to support the sales process. This allows business rules to be able to act on individual customer or supplier information in order to personalize the Internet Sales experience.

Contact Center The addition of a Contact Center to manage Web, telephone and other customer interaction models is an important addition to IFS 2001 that will be available in the 2001b release. Contact Center uses the Corba objects in Foundation1 to support the different interactions, and can provide support for the services component of an ebusiness implementation. This allows companies to offer comprehensive sales and support services to their customers.

eProcurement This application was part of the IFS 2000 release and provides standard maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) functionality. Strategic procurement functionality is offered through the eMarkets.

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eMarkets Support for marketplace or exchange functionality is a feature that helps IFS broaden the scope of its offering, although EAC believes that most of the mid-sized companies that make up IFS prospects will be implementing a simple Enterprise Storefront model than a more complex eMarkets model. Nonetheless, IFS has had early success developing marketplaces, particularly the Textilesolutions.com, which currently has over 250 buyers and suppliers conducting transactions using IFS eMarkets.

The IFS Portal Environment The power of these e-business applications, as well as the IFS ERP applications and the Foundation1 architecture, is expressed in the IFS Portal Framework, the portal architecture that delivers IFS e-business functionality to a browser, WAP device, or other user interface. The Portal Framework can be used to deliver two types of portal a Personal Portal for use by internal employees, and a Collaboration Portal to support customer and partner interactions. Both portals make use of components and portlets that are specific to a given user profile and reflect the different information and transaction requirements of the different user types.

The main difference between the two types of IFS portals other than content and applications can be found in the security model. The Collaboration Portals include an extra level of security that restricts the display of sensitive data so that partners, suppliers and customers are unable to view data that is inappropriate to their user role.

As expected, the IFS 2001 component architecture plays a critical role in the support of the IFS Portal. IFS, like the other leading e-business vendors, supports a role-based view of the e-business experience that requires considerable personalization at the user level. In the Personal Portal environment, the user log-on allows access to a personalized portal that contains the applications, content, components, and portlets that best fit the individual users work requirements. The tools for building an IFS Portal, including the connectivity required to access non-IFS data, applications and content, are found in the Open Portal Framework.
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It is important to note that, as with the majority of the IFS 2001 environment, use of the Personal Portal is optional. A customer could readily use a third party portal in the Foundation1 environment. This will be particularly useful for subsidiary operations that use IFS applications locally but need to be part of a larger, corporate-standard environment.

Open Portal Framework The Open Portal Framework (OPF) is a key part of the IFS 2001 release. OPF is a set of applications that support the personalization and role-based functionality of the Personal Portal. The OPF tool allows the Portal to access internal and external applications, data, and content, as well as design and implement portlets. In essence, a Personal or Collaboration Portal is an instantiation of the Open Portal Framework.

OPF makes heavy use of the Application Server, where the connectivity, integration, business logic and workflow relevant to each Portal are stored. This means that non-IFS applications and data are as readily available to an IFS Portal as IFS own applications and data. This allows personalization to cross application boundaries, which means that IFS portals can mix and match functionality from as wide a set of applications, data, and Web sources as possible.

EAC believes that these features will turn OPF into a major weapon in IFS competitive arsenal. While much of the actual integration essential to an e-business environment takes place in Foundation1, OPF plays a key role in enabling the construction and use of highly personalized and highly functional portals. In essence, OPF is where the promise of IFS 2001 and Foundaton1 become realized. The flexibility of Foundation1 and the IFS 2001 component architecture turn OPF from a mere portal-builder into a powerful personalization tool. The ease-of-use offered by OPF will make portal personalization an important differentiator for IFS 2001.

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Analytical Applications Support While not a separate e-business application per se, IFS/Business Performance bears mentioning. Business Performance (BP) is similar to the Portal Framework noted above: BP provides a framework for placing analytical data into a portal by accessing or extracting data and publishing it in one of two ways as a portlet or in an application window. BP uses the portlets to display Key Performance Indicators or other such scorecard data. These relatively discrete information displays are ideally suited to the portlet technology. BP can also push multi-dimensional data cubes based on Microsoft Plato to an OLAP reporting tool that, by virtue of its size and complexity, need to reside in portal window.

Analytics are key to e-business success, and, more importantly, the presence of analytics that derive data from the entire enterprise system a key capability of BP can make the difference between success and failure in an e-business venture. This makes the role of Foundation1 particularly significant: as a comprehensive e-business architecture, Foundation1 can effectively serve as the collection point for enterprise-wide data analysis. This extension of the heterogeneous transaction environment to support a heterogeneous analytical environment makes IFS 2001s analytical support an important competitive strength.

Applications Hosting: @IFS IFS approach to applications hosting began last year with its @IFS initiative, which offers a standard complement of hosting services. The @IFS offering has garnered considerable momentum in the European market in recent months, with new partnerships announced this spring between IFS, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Exodus, and European integrator Softlab. IFS has recently moved this offering into the U.S. market and already has three customers and a pending agreement with a major hosting company. These efforts should reap considerable benefits for IFS in the U.S. market this year.

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josh@eaconsult.com

19

IFS 2001 E-Business Report

IFS 2001: Meeting the Needs of the E-Business Market

When matched against the criteria discussed in the E-Business Success: Criteria for Excellence section of this report, the IFS 2001 offering looks compelling. The component technology and infrastructure of Foundation1 provide an exceptional level of support for heterogeneity, one of the major criteria for e-business success. The e-business applications supported by IFS 2001 also meet EACs criteria for excellence: these are highly functional applications that can compete well against best-of-breed solutions, particularly as part of a tightly integrated e-business implementation. While the IFS ebusiness applications may lack specific functionality that a best-of-breed application may have, the overall integration to the IFS 2001 platform, particularly Foundation1, provides a strong competitive edge for IFS.

This competitive position is particularly important in IFS key markets in the U.S., where the company is focusing on opportunities among mid-market manufacturing companies. EACs research has shown that this target customer base wants to implement e-business slowly while making the greatest use of existing software. These manufacturers also have a keen need to be able to connect to and make use of multiple marketplaces and their technologies: to this end they require strong connectivity and support for heterogeneity. Finally, mid-market manufacturers are looking for highly scaleable solutions that can be modified or updated as e-business requirements grow: the component nature of IFS 2001, combined with the Foundation1 architecture, clearly provides the scalability and configurability these companies require.

The ERP functionality in IFS 2001 also meets EACs e-business criteria: IFS longstanding track record in the ERP market has made IFS 2001 one of the most comprehensive ERP suites on the market today. The ERP applications function well as the back-office component of an e-business implementation. Finally, IFS 2001 provides a highly scaleable environment: while the target in the U.S. market is mid-sized manufacturing companies, IFS global customers include multinationals and other large corporate entities. The mid-market manufacturer or .COM with its eye on the Fortune

2000 EAC

729 Heinz Ave., Suite 7, Berkeley, CA 94710

josh@eaconsult.com

20

IFS 2001 E-Business Report

1000 could easily start out with an IFS 2001 implementation and scale up that implementation to meet growing IT needs.

IFS hosting solution seems to be gaining momentum, and none too soon. The applications hosting side of e-business has been growing at rates exceeding 60 percent per quarter during the first half of 2000, and EAC expects these rates to continue for the next 12 months at least. IFS will need to continue to put resources into its hosting solution in order to meet market demand.

The bottom line is that IFS 2001 is a highly competitive package of technology, applications and services that can readily serve the needs of a mid-market manufacturer in the U.S. and pretty much any sized company worldwide. IFS track record of delivering highly functional ERP solutions and its already impressive track record in ebusiness should make IFS 2001 an important offering in the e-business market. Companies looking for a highly functional e-business offering that combines support for internal e-business functionality with support for a highly heterogeneous implementation will do well to consider IFS 2001.

2000 EAC

729 Heinz Ave., Suite 7, Berkeley, CA 94710

josh@eaconsult.com

21