Access Information Sources

Hi @Phan479,

Welcome to the IFS Community!

You can integrate IFS Application with external business processes, application and devices using IFS Connect. IFS Connect is an integration broker, designed for XML and web services. You can read all about it in the Foundation1 Documentation by pressing F1 on any screen of the IFS Application.

Hope this is what you’re looking for!

Hi @Phan479 ,

You can use Information access layer(IAL) objects for this purpose. As documented in the IAL

Every application contains a lot of useful data. However it is typically hard for user, report developers, and decision-makers to extract useful information directly from this application data. Typically the main problem is that the application data contains to many objects or with to fine-grained detail, forcing the information seeker to find and combine lots of data sources in order to get any useful information.

The purpose of the Information Access Layer (IAL) is to make the information in the application easier to find and use by defining a number of IAL objects that expose information (not application data) in the application in a neat and tidy way.

I have attached the documentation regarding IAL for your convenience. 

Thanks,

Kasun

Hi @Phan479,

IF you have purchased IFS BI solution, you can use IFS Business Reporter Excel Add-on to generate reports which uses the underlying information sources provided by IFS and has the capability of creating quick information sources as per your requirements.

Once you install and configure SQL Server to run the ETL process, you can use SQL Server Reporting Services to generate reports and use those MS reports as quick reports in IFS applications. Moreover, it is also possible to generate reports through direct connection to SQL Server cubes using other tools like Excel, Power BI.

Just let us know if you need further information.

Best Regards,

Nisansala

Hi Nisansala,

Thank you for your response.

We did purchase the BI solution and have access to Business Reporter. However the question that has been asked me is to combine the IFS data into existing data warehouses, cubes and reports. These existing data sources combine multiple ERP systems (and other data).

I do not think IFS Excel Add-on can be of any use in this regard, do you?

Kind regards,

Jeroen

Hi Jeroen,

Yes, Business Reporter cannot be used for the said purpose.

In IFS BI solution, the ETL process is executed against ‘Access Views’ which are listed in ‘Access Views’ window in IEE client and these access views can be generated using ‘Generate Access Views for Selected’ option in ‘Information Sources’ window in IEE client. You may also use the same access views to access IFS data.

Access Views:

How to Generate Views:

Is this what you wanted to know?

Best Regards,

Nisansala

I think so, but I think I need direct database access to be able to query them, right?

We also have requested advice from our IFS implementation partner regarding the (im)possibileties and best practises. 

I think Access Views might be the solution to our question yes. 

KR, Jeroen