IFS customisation and modifications that survive upgrades

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Every IFS estate is tailored to the business that runs it. The question is how. In IFS Cloud's evergreen model, with two releases a year and service updates in between, the way a change is built decides whether it is carried forward automatically or has to be reworked every time you update. We design customisations with that cost in mind.

Configuration and extensibility first

IFS Cloud can be extended a long way without touching code, and those configurations are carried forward through updates. We use them wherever they fit:

• Custom fields, custom entities and custom pages built with the page designer
• Lobbies, navigator changes and personalised layouts
• Custom events and event actions that react to business changes
• IFS Workflows to automate and validate processes
• Reports in IFS Report Studio, including free conversion of Crystal Reports

Modifications, where configuration is not enough

Some requirements genuinely need code. When they do, we build modifications as layered changes in your customer solution (business logic, projections and client changes) using IFS's development tools, managed in your IFS Cloud Build Place and delivered through the normal build and delivery process. We keep modifications small, documented and isolated from core IFS code, so each service update means a rebuild and a retest, not a redesign.

CRIMs: Configurations, Reports, Integrations, Modifications

CRIM is the IFS term for everything you have added to the standard product. Before an upgrade, and especially before a move from IFS Applications to IFS Cloud, it pays to know exactly what you have. A CRIM review gives you:

• An inventory of every configuration, report, integration and modification, and who still relies on it
• A recommendation for each: keep as is, replace with standard IFS Cloud functionality, rebuild with extensibility, or retire
• An estimate of the effort, so the upgrade plan is based on your real estate rather than a guess

Retiring CRIMs nobody needs is often the cheapest part of any upgrade.

Customisations on older IFS Applications

Not every estate is on IFS Cloud yet. We support and extend customisations on IFS Applications 7, 8, 9 and 10, and plan how each one will move when you are ready to upgrade.

Frequently asked questions

What is a CRIM in IFS?

CRIM stands for Configurations, Reports, Integrations and Modifications: everything added to standard IFS for a particular organisation. Reviewing CRIMs is the first step in planning any IFS upgrade.

Will our customisations break when we take an IFS Cloud service update?

Configurations built with IFS Cloud extensibility are carried forward. Code modifications have to be rebuilt and retested against each service update, which is why we keep them small and isolated, and why we retest them as part of every update we take.

Should we modify IFS or use configuration?

Configuration wherever it meets the requirement, because it is cheaper to own through future releases. A modification is the right answer when the requirement cannot be met any other way, and then it should be built to be easy to carry forward.

Related services

• IFS consultancy from people who do the technical work
• IFS Cloud Build Place administration
• IFS Cloud service updates and release upgrades, done routinely
• IFS data migration, planned and reconciled
• IFS integration with the rest of your estate