We are a relatively new IFS user (14 months). All I want is a simple aging report from IFS. Does this software not accomplish this? How can it not have a canned or easy to create Aging Inventory report? I have run turnover rate analysis, but it gives inaccurate data as compared to Inventory Parts In Stock or transactions history. This is unacceptable. This data for almost any retailer, manufacturer etc is critical. Why is there not even a manual to be able to help intelligent people like myself who is a CPA and went to law school be able to figure things out?
No, unfortunately, there is no canned report for this and there is definitely no manual that would go to this level of detail. The software has a myriad of capabilities, but as you’ll find is not setup to run any business really without some tuning to match the business processes. Some things are minor and can be accomplished with a report, but other things require detailed downloads and separate analysis outside of IFS to achieve whatever business reporting requirements you have. Remember the software is built to run aerospace companies, retail businesses, manufacturing and engineering operations and everything in between. It can’t do all of those things out of the box.
First thing you have to learn is some programming language skills (JSON more so now than just traditional SQL).
Second, you need someone that can support with more complex programming tasks where a function, event or other custom configuration needs created to address more complex business scenarios. The software has all of the tools and hooks to do this, but it isn’t something can be picked up directly by reading a manual.
Third, you’ll just need quite a bit of experience with it but in the presence of others that already have some experience. It is quite difficult and time consuming to just try every scenario for a process but even then you won’t find all the details for it.
The community in the past two years has become a treasure trove of information and is a great starting point to see what solutions other customers have come up with. Posting here is likely to get you pointed in the right direction at least, though not always a provided solution as each business is unique.
We had to create a fairly complex Slow and Obsolescence report to assist with the montly inventory aging and the trick then is to run the report consistently on the same day of the month, typically the last day late in the evening to get a consistent snapshot in period for the inventory picture.
I’ll mention one of my colleagues in hopes he might be able to post the SQL for the quick report we use for this purpose.
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Dear Shawn:
Thank you for the response. We are a manufacturing company. An aged inventory report For Retail and Manufacturing companies is the most basic of reports. My complaint is that why should I have to develop skills as a computer developer when we have put 5 million into a system that should have basic capabilities? I get that systems must be tweaked to each individual company. I get that their might be advanced functions that IFS might not be able to envision. But no Aged Inventory? In addition, we are finding that some functions that we were supplied with by our implementation consultant were not set-up properly, and in fact many of the functions that we should be using are no where close to being able to be implemented. To make things worse, we are very intelligent people at this company. We are growing at a 40% annual rate. Yet there is no manual or any online documentation that remotely explains how to use almost anything in IFS. There are a handful of youtube videos but these are all general in nature. We are having to experiment ourselves with functions on a hit or miss basis and wasting huge hours. Our IT folks dont even understand the basics. I had to figure out the batch job runs just to be able to run the inventory turnover analysis report which I still don’t completely understand. And I am a CPA with years of Big 6 experience. I say all the above assuming you are with IFS. If not, Thank You for the help!
No, I’m not with IFS. That tag by each user’s name identifies them as a customer, partner, or employee, that way you know how to take the information provided.
Yes, you’ll find the consultants are just like most people you meet, some are good at what they do and some are not. Unfortunately when they are not, you don’t recognize it until the damage is done.
I’ve learned IFS the hard way, just like you are having to do, I just choose to spend a significant portion of my personal time trying to lead others to the hard truth a bit quicker than I got there. Hopefully with a bit less frustration.
There are some good partners I can recommend if you are interested, even having someone on retainer for the tough questions can be really useful, especially when you start weighing it against the hours you’ll spend poking and experimenting.
Userlevel 7
+18
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Dear Shawn:
Thank you for the response. We are a manufacturing company. An aged inventory report For Retail and Manufacturing companies is the most basic of reports. My complaint is that why should I have to develop skills as a computer developer when we have put 5 million into a system that should have basic capabilities? I get that systems must be tweaked to each individual company. I get that their might be advanced functions that IFS might not be able to envision. But no Aged Inventory? In addition, we are finding that some functions that we were supplied with by our implementation consultant were not set-up properly, and in fact many of the functions that we should be using are no where close to being able to be implemented. To make things worse, we are very intelligent people at this company. We are growing at a 40% annual rate. Yet there is no manual or any online documentation that remotely explains how to use almost anything in IFS. There are a handful of youtube videos but these are all general in nature. We are having to experiment ourselves with functions on a hit or miss basis and wasting huge hours. Our IT folks dont even understand the basics. I had to figure out the batch job runs just to be able to run the inventory turnover analysis report which I still don’t completely understand. And I am a CPA with years of Big 6 experience. I say all the above assuming you are with IFS. If not, Thank You for the help!
Hello Shawn,
first of all, thank you for all your posts on this forum.
Second, have you had any chance to post the SQL? I am struggling with the same thing - I need a daily stock turn, but as you mentioned before there is no out-of-box solution within IFS.
Thanks,
LN
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