IFS, the global enterprise applications company, has announced a number of updates to its ERP enterprise software suite IFS Applications 9. New features include  in-memory capabilities,  enhanced visualisation of manufacturing processes, extended support for rental management and improved group consolidation functionality.

Part of the in-memory solution is IFS In-Memory Advisor, which helps customers apply in-memory technology to the areas of IFS Applications where it will yield maximum effect, or if so desired, run the entire application in-memory. By using in-memory, users can run analytical queries hundreds or even thousands of times faster than before. With compression ratios of three to ten times, even terabyte-sized databases are possible to run in-memory.

The release also includes significant updates to the manufacturing component, such as enhancements that let users action production issues directly from the IFS Manufacturing Visualizer. In addition, the visualiser has been equipped with new charts to optimise production planning. The IFS Quality Management module also includes several improvements such as acceptance sampling.

IFS’s rental management capability contains numerous new and improved features as well as major usability enhancements. The solution now allows users to associate specific work orders with external or internal equipment rentals.

The IFS Financials component has been updated with extended support for group consolidation, including advanced analysis of consolidated balances using IFS Business Analytics.

IFS is also launching a new support model based on quarterly updates of IFS Applications. Thanks to the new layered application architecture of IFS Applications 9, updates can be implemented quicker and easier than in previous versions. The result is that customers can benefit from the very latest product enhancements faster and at a lower cost.

“Following the successful launch of IFS Applications 9 earlier this year, we are very excited to release this first update, which includes both new and enhanced features,” IFS CTO Dan Matthews said. “Along with the feature updates, we are also happy to reveal a new update delivery system. This takes us a major step closer to our vision of providing our customers with ‘evergreen’ business applications, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of our latest and greatest software at a significantly lower cost.”

Be social and share this news