Lankan IT professionals develop 75% of Application 07

by Gamini Warushamana

The demand for application 07, the latest version of IFS's ERP solution is increasing all over the world. Application 07 is the seventh version of the renowned IFS ERP solution, now being upgraded every year, and scheduled to be upgraded more frequently from this year.

The Application 07, developed 75% by IFS Sri Lanka, the largest research and development centre of the IFS, showcases the talent of Sri Lankan knowledge workers as well as the potential of the software industry of Sri Lanka, said Manager, Consulting Service, Poorna Bandara. It took 600,000 man hours and 700 Sri Lankan software engineers were employed to develop the system, he said.

New version

Almost every year the IFS releases a new version of our ERP solution in keeping with the fast changing business environment. The businesses are very dynamic and business models change very fast and there may be marked changes within one year.

To cater to the fast changing business world, the ERP solutions too should change with the same speed or even faster. Application 07 is our latest solution and it caters to all requirements of today's business world, Bandara said.

In this business world it is, not the big one,it is the fastest one who wins. We are changing fast to facilitate our clients to win. The secret of rapid transformation of IFS ERP is its simple component based model, the IFS Service Oriented Component Architecture.

IFS is one of the first IT companies who took to component based technology and we adopted this technology in 1996. IFS Applications combines the benefits of service-oriented architecture and components to give our clients the agility they need to stay one step ahead of the competition, he said.

Faster payback

The advantage of the component based application is that companies need not purchase the total ERP system and they can deploy only the functionality that they need right away. As the business expands or changes, they can easily add components. It gives faster payback and one of the lowest total costs of ownership in the market. Therefore Application 07 is ideal for emerging markets.

Application 07 caters to the needs of global companies and the operations are complex as the production is done in China, services are handled by call centres in India and the products are marketed in the US. New modules such as Call Centre and Supply Chain Management facilitate these aspects.

With the simplicity of Application 07 you need not have a huge IT department or IT specialists. IFS trains the users and thereafter the HR module of the Application 07 can be run by the HR manager, Financial module by the accountant and the marketing module by the Marketing Manager and so on. Samson Industries (DSI) recently implemented Application 07 and the company runs the system in this manner, Bandara said.

Higher demand

Upgrading the system is easy and faster. For instance the DSI's recent upgrade, jumped three versions from IFS ERP solution 2001 to Application 07 and it took only three days to complete the upgrade. In Pakistan Millat Tractors, the upgrade took only half a day. In upgrading to a new version, existing IFS customers need not pay for the software.

Therefore IFS clients are up to date. Application 07 has already passed the target for this year and the demand for the product is higher than the target.

Technical Service Manager of IFS Colombo Saminda Ratnayake said that 50% of ERP implementations in the world fail. However, the component based architecture is less risky.

As IFS Service-Oriented Component Architecture is an open design based on industry standards, other applications and point solutions can easily access information and trigger functionality in IFS Applications.

This makes it much easier to integrate IFS Applications with other enterprise software packages, such as SAP or Oracle eBusiness Suite, he said.

Safety first

IFS puts safety first which makes it easier to keep intruders at bay. Security is built into the very framework of Application 07. It uses established technologies with proven security features, giving maximum protection from unauthorised access, tampering, destruction and other malicious behaviour. The most secure configuration options are always the default.

IFS application development in 2007 focuses on three aspects. Firstly to stay relevant in the industry. Secondly to make the application simpler and easy to use and thirdly, to make the application future proof.

The business world is fast changing and IFS is on alert with all these changes. Developing the ERP solution is a non stop process and there are hundreds of Sri Lankan professionals working throughout the day to add value to it. Tomorrow they may come up with a new version perhaps with all the business needs of tomorrow.