IFS Applications vs. Microsoft Dynamics SL

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IFS Applications
ScoreĀ 6.0Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
N/A
IFS Applications is presented by the vendor as an agile application suite that offers enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) and enterprise project management, handling 4 core processes: Service & Asset Management Full Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) and Field Service Management (FSM) Manufacturing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with support for process manufacturing, discrete manufacturingā€¦N/A
Microsoft Dynamics SL
ScoreĀ 7.2Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
N/A
Microsoft Dynamics SL is one of the ERP products in the Dynamics family. This product was acquired from Solomon 2000. The product is typically used by SMBs, particularly in project-based businesses (e.g. construction). It has strong accounting and project management capabilities.N/A
Pricing
IFS ApplicationsMicrosoft Dynamics SL
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IFS ApplicationsMicrosoft Dynamics SL
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Detailsā€”ā€”
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IFS ApplicationsMicrosoft Dynamics SL
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
IFS ApplicationsMicrosoft Dynamics SL
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.0
1 Ratings
151% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
8.5
2 Ratings
16% above category average
Pay calculation1.01 Ratings9.62 Ratings
Benefit plan administration1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Direct deposit files1.01 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.0
2 Ratings
152% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.0
6 Ratings
19% below category average
API for custom integration1.02 Ratings6.06 Ratings
Plug-ins1.02 Ratings6.04 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
5.5
2 Ratings
39% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
7.3
9 Ratings
11% below category average
Single sign-on capability5.02 Ratings7.49 Ratings
Role-based user permissions6.02 Ratings7.38 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.3
2 Ratings
137% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.8
9 Ratings
2% below category average
Dashboards2.02 Ratings7.15 Ratings
Standard reports1.02 Ratings7.19 Ratings
Custom reports1.02 Ratings6.19 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
6.4
2 Ratings
17% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
7.4
10 Ratings
3% below category average
Accounts payable8.02 Ratings7.610 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.02 Ratings6.07 Ratings
Global Financial Support6.01 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers6.01 Ratings6.63 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations6.01 Ratings7.43 Ratings
Configurable Accounting3.01 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Standardized Processes3.01 Ratings7.32 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
4.3
2 Ratings
58% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
4.3
5 Ratings
58% below category average
Inventory tracking1.02 Ratings6.05 Ratings
Automatic reordering7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Location management1.02 Ratings1.02 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.0
2 Ratings
154% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.7
3 Ratings
15% below category average
Pricing1.02 Ratings6.02 Ratings
Order entry1.02 Ratings6.03 Ratings
Credit card processing1.02 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Cost of goods sold1.02 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Order Orchestration1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Subledger and Financial Process
Comparison of Subledger and Financial Process features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.0
1 Ratings
152% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
5.8
3 Ratings
24% below category average
Billing Management1.01 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Cash and Asset Management1.01 Ratings7.33 Ratings
Travel & Expense Management1.01 Ratings5.01 Ratings
Budgetary Control & Encumbrance Accounting1.01 Ratings6.32 Ratings
Period Close1.01 Ratings7.43 Ratings
Project Financial Management
Comparison of Project Financial Management features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
2.7
1 Ratings
95% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
4.7
3 Ratings
47% below category average
Budgeting and Forecasting3.01 Ratings7.33 Ratings
Project Costing6.01 Ratings6.33 Ratings
Cost Capture5.01 Ratings2.12 Ratings
Capital Project Management2.01 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Customer Contract Compliance2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Revenue Recognition2.01 Ratings2.01 Ratings
Project Execution Management
Comparison of Project Execution Management features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.0
1 Ratings
149% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
-
Ratings
Project Planning and Scheduling1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Task Insight for Project Managers1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Project Mobile Functionality1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Definable Resource Pools1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Procurement
Comparison of Procurement features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.2
1 Ratings
141% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
-
Ratings
Bids Analyzed and Compared2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract Authoring1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract Repository1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Requisitions-to-Purchase Orders Integrated1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Supplier Management1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Risk Management
Comparison of Risk Management features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.0
1 Ratings
147% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
-
Ratings
Risk Repository1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Control Management1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Control Efficiency Assessments1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Issue Detection1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Remediation and Certification1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Logistics
Comparison of Logistics features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
5.0
1 Ratings
31% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
-
Ratings
Fulfillment Management5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Warehouse Workforce Management5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Manufacturing
Comparison of Manufacturing features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
1.0
1 Ratings
153% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.0
1 Ratings
23% below category average
Production Management1.01 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Configuration Management1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Work Execution1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Manufacturing Costs1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Supply Chain
Comparison of Supply Chain features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
5.0
1 Ratings
37% below category average
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.0
1 Ratings
19% below category average
Forecasting5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory Planning5.01 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Grants Management
Comparison of Grants Management features of Product A and Product B
IFS Applications
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics SL
6.3
1 Ratings
18% below category average
Award Lifecycle Management00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
IFS ApplicationsMicrosoft Dynamics SL
Small Businesses
Acumatica
Acumatica
ScoreĀ 8.7Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
Acumatica
Acumatica
ScoreĀ 8.7Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
Medium-sized Companies
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
ScoreĀ 7.4Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
Infor VISUAL
Infor VISUAL
ScoreĀ 7.4Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
Enterprises
SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign
ScoreĀ 7.5Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
SAP Business ByDesign
SAP Business ByDesign
ScoreĀ 7.5Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IFS ApplicationsMicrosoft Dynamics SL
Likelihood to Recommend
2.0
(2 ratings)
6.6
(17 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
5.4
(8 ratings)
Usability
1.0
(1 ratings)
1.8
(6 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.9
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(1 ratings)
9.5
(4 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(4 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
1.4
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
IFS ApplicationsMicrosoft Dynamics SL
Likelihood to Recommend
IFS
Order to cash processes and scenario are implemented natively in IFS. An HR module exists for career management also (objectives, comportments, training, mobility) but may be improved in terms of workflow validation (e.g. training to validate by a manager) or reporting.
Read full review
Microsoft
For a small to mid-size business, MS Dynamics SL is effective. We are capable of managing our finances with a very low risk of error. We have worked with MS Dynamics for almost 15 years and have more than doubled the size of our business in that time with very few issues from the program. We have exponentially increased our revenue and reporting demands and have found SL to be very dependable and stable. The program does have the occasional glitch and those are sometimes outside of the realm of expertise of our IT department. SL support is excellent, but their timeliness is not as urgent as ours.
Read full review
Pros
IFS
  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Complex Inventory
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Provides flexibility for complex project based cost accounting
  • Strong and flexible allocation processer for cost allocations, markups, and pricing
  • A "Flexible Billing" module under the project controller series that allows for multiple billing formats ranging from fixed price schedule of values, T&M or Cost Plus, and scheduled billing.
  • Flexible reporting with options using Crystal Reports, SSRS, a Quick Query tool, and ability to tie into MS Office tools such as MS Access and MS Excel
  • Tight integration with Financials, but also the ability to integrate with modules such as Sales Order, Inventory, and Field Service
  • Customization abilities ranging from a VBA (visual basic for application) foundation to allow customizing existing forms to the ability to use the SDK (Software Development Kit) to build more complex customizations that integrate with Dynamics SL.
Read full review
Cons
IFS
  • The speed of bug fixes should be improved by the IFS after sales teams. We saw the difference of responsiveness prior to Go Live and after Go Live, with a change of teams. IFS France is working on that point, and strategically wants to innovate by acting now with two other third-party companies in early 2017, to improve the after sales experience for customers.
  • There is no license model between the full licenses, which gives access to all IFS features, and the light licenses, to get access to a specific module like expense sheet. As a consequence, you must acquire a full access license for one team working only with a dedicated module (e.g. general ledger). Maybe an intermediate type license would be welcome to balance the budget. IFS tries to make prices competitive but you have to consider full upgrades of the product too, where requiring full licenses can be hard on the budget.
  • When you have an Active Directory ecosystem with a trust relationship, users from domain B can't natively access IFS, even if AD sync is in place with domain A. It's important to improve that functionality because many companies have a merge and acquisition context, with SOX constraints sometimes, and avoiding maintaining contacts or local accounts simplifies SOX compliance, or to management of accounts within the company.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Reporting in the Project module is lacking functionality. I understand that most companies have specific needs when it comes to tracking project information but the standard reports are not good.
  • I would recommend a product like Management Reporter that is for Projects only. Project Reporter should allow users to pull in all Project related data into reports.
  • Fixing suspended batches. Obviously all of us users have experienced this mess. SL knows what needs to be corrected and there could be some step by step fixes in a separate repair module to do the steps we do in Query Analyzer.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
IFS
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Unfortunately, Dynamics' lack of ability to smoothly integrate with our CRM system is causing us to look at other solutions. The efficiencies that we gain by using Dynamics for our day to day accounting are lost in the constant headaches of getting sales quotes to import properly into the system for invoicing. Another major issue for us has been budgeting and reporting. We currently do all of our budgeting and board reporting in Excel, which is too time consuming and inefficient, especially when a system as robust as Dynamics should easily be able to handle this relatively simple task.
Read full review
Usability
IFS
The system is very difficult to use, overly complex, and difficult to learn. It also has limitations that are hard to overcome.
Read full review
Microsoft
I rate it a 10 because we have removed the fields we don't need so users can really crank the data into the system. The software was designed for the professional services firm in mind but does a tremendous job for construction firms and "blended" companies that are both distribution firms but project centric as well. Perhaps they drop ship inventory to a project where their employees or subs need to work on a project for example.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
IFS
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
We have had only one unplanned outage for 2 hours in the last 30 months. We shut down for 30 min to 1 hour once a month, but that is for Microsoft OS updates to the servers. Being a 24/7 world wide operation, the reliability is really important. We do get an 8 hour window on the weekend that we can be down for a short period to install Microsoft Dynamics SL updates, but we do not have many of those. On our last version upgrade, we shut the users out at 9:30 am and were fully operational in less than 6 hours. The upgrade was New SQL server, New SL server and 2 new Citrix servers.
Read full review
Support Rating
IFS
We have been unable to get answers to our questions, solutions to our problems, and they don't seem interested in working in the construction industry.
Read full review
Microsoft
Support is only used when needed, so unfortunately ,they get all the odd issues. It's a difficult business, but Microsoft and our firm do a great job of meeting customer needs. We get routine feedback that our support services are very good.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
IFS
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Just to let it take its course. The implementation for me once I became a part of my former organization was pretty seamless. Just get to know the basics and call the support team to ask questions if you need help on an issue, should they arise. They are ready, willing, and able to help!
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
IFS
Microsoft AX, QAD (in continuation of our previous ERP), Sage X3 was an out of the box ERP that was part of initial RFP. We have chosen IFS based on the compromise between costs & budget, functionality, technical features, and feedback from similar customers that gave their feedback. The project manager team and qualification level of technical or consultant teams were differentiating factors too. Finally IFS application was named in the Gartnerā€™s mid-market ERP Magic Quadrant, along with SAP, and helped us to finalize our choice
Read full review
Microsoft
Of the comparable mid-range ERP systems, Dynamics SL competes at the lower end based on price, but also above the high-end based on flexibility, data, and reporting. Being able to stay with the same core accounting from a $100 million dollar company to a $3 billion dollar company shows the range of capabilities.
Read full review
Scalability
IFS
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Since the backbone of the database is MS SQLServer, the database can be easily scaled.
Read full review
Return on Investment
IFS
  • Reporting is now centralized and managed. Previously, reports were outside the information systems and there was a risk of incoherence.
  • Accounting controls are now in place on the overall processes, including production, which helped the company to reduce closing periods or to produce more easily official mandatory accounting files yearly.
  • Interfaces between the CRM forecast tool and IFS helped to keep the tools in sync, and to decrease the processing times prior to production launch.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • More time is spent on manipulating reports which can and should be automated.
  • Lack of electronic invoicing process and other green technology features creates more cost on printing and storage costs.
  • The lack of a user friendly interface requires more training and a bigger learning curve for staff.
Read full review
ScreenShots

IFS Applications Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of