Standardize compliance, mitigate legal risk, and automate supplier communication in IFS Cloud.
Leaving terms and conditions to "freestyle text" notes on a Purchase Order is a compliance nightmare. Procurement Clause Phrases allow you to centralize, version-control, and automate the specific legal and technical instructions printed on your purchasing documents.
In many organizations, buyers manually type instructions like "Goods must be delivered on EUR-pallets" or "Certificate of Analysis required" into the internal notes of a PO Line. This approach fails because:
Different buyers use different wording for the same requirement.
Manual notes rarely handle multi-language outputs automatically.
Old regulations persist because notes are copied from previous orders.
IFS Cloud solves this with a structured Procurement Clause Library. Instead of typing text, you configure "Phrases" that can be linked to parts, suppliers, or projects.
Clauses are time-bound. You can define a "Mercury Content" clause that sets the limit to 8% for 2025 and automatically switches to 5% for 2026. The system selects the correct text based on the PO's Promised Delivery Date.
Stop relying on buyer memory. You can connect a clause to a specific Part Group (e.g., "Chemicals") or Supplier. When a buyer adds that part to a PO, the relevant safety or compliance text is attached automatically.
Define the clause once in English, German, and Polish. If the Supplier's language code is set to "German," IFS Cloud prints the German version of the clause on the PDF, ensuring clear communication.
Don't clutter your library. Use Procurement Clause Types to categorize your phrases (e.g., "Logistics," "Quality," "Legal"). This makes it easier for buyers to find the right clause during manual entry.
Why invisible inventory kills working capital and how to resolve it in IFS Cloud.
Every warehouse manager knows it. It sits in the darkest aisle, typically on the top rack, gathering dust. The shrink wrap is yellowing. The label is faded. It is the "Pallet in the Corner."
See Remediation StrategiesIn the physical world, that pallet is just taking up space. In the financial reality of your ERP, it is an active asset inflating your balance sheet. This discrepancy is dangerous. It masks the true health of your supply chain and creates a false sense of security regarding your inventory levels.
The "Pallet in the Corner" typically represents one of three things:
To remove the pallet in the corner, you must move from passive monitoring to active disposition. IFS Cloud offers specific tools to automate this process.
Do not rely solely on stock aging. Configure the Slow Moving Part analysis to flag items where the Turnover Rate is close to zero. Set an event to trigger a "Block for Procurement" on these parts to stop the buying robot from adding to the pile.
Finance often fears the hit to the P&L. However, taking the hit is necessary. Use Inventory Value logic to automatically provision 100% of the value for stock aged over 360 days. This aligns the financial ledger with operational reality.
Physically move the pallet. If it is not moving out the door, it should not be in the "Golden Zone" (waist-to-shoulder height near the docks). Move it to the upper racks or an off-site overflow location to free up premium space for high-velocity SKUs.
When you ignore the pallet in the corner, you pay for it three times:
Run the Inventory Part In Stock report filtering for "Last Activity Date" < (Today - 365). You might be surprised by how many pallets are hiding in plain sight.
Consolidate demand, decentralize delivery, and eliminate redundant inventory transactions in IFS Cloud.
True centralized purchasing goes beyond just negotiating group discounts. It fundamentally separates the transactional flow (who orders) from the physical flow (where it arrives), allowing a central entity to buy on behalf of distributed sites without creating logistical nightmares.
In a standard setup, Site A buys and receives, then ships to Site B. In an optimized IFS Cloud Centralized model, this changes drastically:
Local requisitions are consolidated into a single Purchase Order by the Central Purchasing Site. One vendor faces one buyer.
The supplier delivers goods directly to the Demand Site. Receipt occurs locally. No internal transit inventory is needed.
This model fails without strict data governance. Before flipping the switch in IFS Cloud, ensure the following prerequisites are met across all participating sites:
If Site A and Site B order the same bolt, they must use identical Part Numbers and Units of Measure (UoM). The central catalog must align perfectly with local demand demands. Divergence here breaks the automation chain.
Configure site-level rules to define validity periods for default purchasing sites. Strategically, determine if pricing is fetched from the Purchasing Site (PO Header) or the Demand Site (PO Line). Using "Demand Site" pricing often simplifies administration.
Zero Internal Friction
By having the supplier deliver directly to the demand site, you eliminate internal transport tasks, reduce handling damage risks, and remove the need for complex multi-leg inventory tracking.
If part numbers or UoMs do not match between central and local sites, centralized orders will fail or create errors. Mitigation Strategy: Implement a Data Mesh architecture to ensure real-time synchronization of master data across decentralized locations.
Secure, compliant, and efficient transition from legacy systems to the Evergreen cloud.
Data migration is frequently the highest-risk workstream in any ERP project. Moving to IFS Cloud is not merely a technical "lift and shift" of files; it is a complex surgical operation requiring precise mapping, rigorous cleansing, and strict adherence to regulatory standards. A successful migration is the foundation of a stable go-live.
The primary cause of migration failure isn't technical connectivity; it's data quality. Legacy systems, often running for decades, contain duplicates, obsolete SKUs, and incomplete customer records. Migrating this "noise" into IFS Cloud cripples the new system's efficiency and corrupts AI/ML forecasting models from day one.
We never migrate everything at once. We utilize a phased Extraction, Transformation, and Loading (ETL) strategy:
Migration is a compliance event. For businesses operating in the EEA, handling Personally Identifiable Information (PII) during transition requires strict adherence to GDPR. We ensure that data staging areas respect regional data residency laws and that obsolete personal data is purged, not migrated.
Do not recreate legacy mistakes in a modern tool. Use migration as the catalyst to standardize Units of Measure, rationalize the Chart of Accounts, and clean up your supplier vendor master. This proves higher ROI than simply moving existing chaos faster.
The "Go-Live" window is finite. If the dynamic data load (Layer 2) takes 48 hours but the business only has a 24-hour weekend window, the project fails. We conduct multiple "mock migrations" to accurately time the loading process and optimize scripts for speed.
Leveraging AI and embedded sustainability to transition from transactional buying to strategic sourcing.
The 25R2 release represents a pivotal shift in the "Evergreen" lifecycle. For procurement leaders, this update is not just about UI tweaks; it introduces native support for autonomous sourcing and regulatory ESG compliance (CSRD), directly addressing the growing complexity of global supply chains.
The ultimate goal of IFS Cloud 25R2 is to facilitate "Dark Purchasing"—where routine, low-value procurement activities are handled entirely by system logic, freeing human experts to manage exceptions and supplier relationships.
Moving beyond simple Min/Max planning, 25R2 introduces AI-driven demand sensing. The system now analyzes historical consumption velocity against lead-time volatility to propose purchase orders before stockouts occur, automatically flagging potential "Line Stoppage" risks on the lobby dashboard.
With the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in full effect, 25R2 embeds carbon tracking into the PO line. You can now enforce "Green Procurement" by blocking suppliers who lack valid certifications (e.g., ISO 14001) directly from the supplier master, ensuring audit-proof compliance.
25R2 is API-first. This is the best time to decouple your legacy modifications. Instead of modifying the `Purchase_Order_API`, utilize the new "Command Extensions" in the Page Designer to trigger external validations without breaking the "Evergreen" update path.
The update window is shrinking. Critical checks:
