Does IFS apps 10 have the out of the box functionality to provide an all encompassing enterprise resource capacity / workforce planning solution, project management solution and reporting solution without the need to use supplementary software tools???
I am currently using MS Project to build work breakdown structures that I can convert into a workforce / resource capacity plan and schedule and this is integrated with a SharePoint tasks application that I can push into PowerBi to create reports and what if scenario planning.
I am aware that it is possible to integrate MS Project with our existing IFS apps9 and we are potentially upgrading to apps10 in the near future but my question is more to the point of if is it possible to eliminate any potential duplication of effort in regard to data processing and potentially use IFS solely as a an all encompassing enterprise resource capacity / workforce planning solution, project management solution and reporting solution as the single source of truth and create valid information that our recruitment team can refer to as their resource recruitment schedule.
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The short answer is yes to all of that, except maybe the PowerBi reporting stuff, but then again, depending on what version you are looking at, the lobby setup for Projects could possibly fill that gap. The Project Module in IFS is very expansive with a multitude of tools to do just about whatever you need, but with the intent to connect it to customer orders and/or the finance module. If you are just looking for a purely standalone system to manage projects, it is far too big and expensive for that. If you are already looking at ERP replacement and wondering if it can do projects, again the simple answer is yes and probably more than you can utilize.
Thanks for this Shawn. The resource plan and recruitment schedule I want to create in IFS would need to derive from a table of data in IFS that includes the ‘who’ ‘what’ ‘when’ for existing projects, tasks and assignments and also have the ability to apply partial FTE values against a resource or task.
As you mentioned, the lobby view should be able to illustrate a summary of project task / resource information with links to integral data tables where I could slice and dice using the various field filters.
I believe I could also create a Gannt chart view in IFS?
I’m assuming it would also be possible to connect this ‘Project’ data table to the integral IFS HCM module and pull financial / payroll data to calculate resource costs relevant to project task allocations, and then capture actual costs from the time and attendance module to illustrate planned versus actual resource costs?
In addition to existing projects and existing resources I also want to know if I can create theoretical plans for future pipeline projects and run scenarios in IFS to consider existing resource FTE and identify the additional resource demand relative to capability criteria?
Probably a big ask but in essence what I am trying to achieve is to utilise an IFS platform for everything without the need to introduce a supplementary enterprise workforce planning tool that we would then need to integrate with IFS and inevitably manage 2 or more sources of truth.
You definitely want to talk to a Projects consultant, but at a high level, I would say yes to all of those questions, though a couple might require a bit of programming if you wanted complete integration. e.g., Salary information in HCM might not be direct to project hourly cost, but then again, that doesn’t always make sense because what you pay an employee is not what their labor rate plus overhead amounts to that you would want to use in the project. The employee project hourly cost takes that into account even if not directly entered. It would easily be setup to transfer with factors if that is how you want.
Gantt is out of the box, this is V9, so the current Cloud version is even beyond this capability.
Data from a months old test environment, but you get the idea at a high level with all projects in a company.
Right mouse button click from any project to these functions
Zoom to the Project Navigator for individual project management
Project Detail
Back to the individual Gantt view for a project but with much more detail, drag and drop adjustment for milestones
I could go on, but you need to get a Test drive or go search the videos on Youtube for the projects or look at some of the presentations in the Knowledge Base.
It will take you days to go through all of the detail that is possible.
