How-toIFS CloudWorkflow / Configuration / Data

IFS Cloud Workflow Example, External File Templates, Update Analyzer and PO Status

Question
ifs cloud workflow example

Also searched as

  • external file template ifs cloud
  • ifs cloud update analyzer
  • ifs cloud view entities
  • ifs cloud solution po status

Short answer

Treat IFS Cloud configuration as a set of building blocks: workflows or business events to react to changes, external file templates to load or send flat files, an update analysis step to check what a release will touch in your customizations, and the supported database views for reading data such as purchase order status. This page shows how each fits together with a worked approval example.

Applies to: IFS Cloud 21R1 and later. Feature names and menus change by release and by edition, so confirm each item against your release documentation.

A workflow example: notify when a purchase order is released

  1. 1Define the goal: when a purchase order moves to Released above an agreed value, notify the approving manager and log the event.
  2. 2Find the trigger: use a business event on the purchase order state change or a workflow trigger if your release offers one.
  3. 3Add the condition: compare the order total with the threshold and the supplier with an allow list if needed.
  4. 4Add the action: send an e-mail or task to the approver with the order number and a link to the record.
  5. 5Test in a non-production environment with orders on either side of the threshold.
  6. 6Move the configuration to production through your normal configuration transfer process, not by retyping it.

Workflow and business events

IFS uses business events and actions to react to things that happen in the data, and workflow style tooling to chain steps with conditions and human tasks. Use an event when something should happen automatically on a change, and a workflow when several steps or approvals are involved. Our dedicated page on business events and actions covers the event mechanics.

Keep workflows small and named for the business outcome. Deep nested logic is hard to review at upgrade time, and anything with side effects such as writing to other records deserves a code review as if it were custom code.

External file templates

External file templates describe the layout of a flat file: file type, record types, fields, positions or delimiters. They are used to load files such as bank statements, price lists or legacy data and to produce outbound files. Build the template from a real sample file, run a small test load and check the rejected lines before loading the full file.

Always load into a test company first. A wrong field position in a template silently shifts data and the error only appears downstream.

Update analysis, views and PO status

Before a service update or release, use the update analysis tooling your release provides (often described as an update analyzer) to find which of your customizations touch changed objects. Run it in a copy of production, review each item and schedule regression tests around those items, not the whole system.

For reporting, read the supported views, not the underlying tables. IFS views typically show the translated state and also keep the internal database state value, which is the one to filter on. A purchase order status question then becomes a query against the purchase order view with the internal state, joined to lines if needed. Confirm state names for your release, since they are part of the lifecycle definition.

-- Illustrative: orders by internal state (names vary; verify view and column names in your release)
SELECT order_no, objstate, state
  FROM purchase_order
 WHERE objstate <> 'Closed'
 ORDER BY order_no

Try it here, free

IFS Shop Order Status and Lifecycle Reference

Open full tool

A searchable table of the IFS shop order lifecycle: the main statuses, the events that move an order between them and what to check at each step.

Common pitfalls

  • !Building a workflow in production first and having no record of it in the configuration transfer.
  • !Reading base tables with a _TAB suffix and bypassing the view logic and security.
  • !Loading a flat file straight into production without testing the template.
  • !Skipping update analysis and finding broken customizations after go-live.
  • !Filtering reports on the translated state text, which changes with language.

How an ERP-grounded AI assistant handles this

A grounded assistant is useful for the reading part of this work: asking which open purchase orders have been Released but not confirmed, or which customizations touch objects in an upcoming update. Run on-prem with read-only access to a copy of your IFS data, it can show the query it used and leave all configuration changes, which should stay reviewed and approved, to your team.

See ERPray

Frequently asked questions

Is a business event the same as a workflow in IFS Cloud?

No. A business event reports that something happened and can trigger an action. A workflow chains several steps, conditions and tasks. Use events for simple reactions and workflows for multi-step approvals.

Why should I use views instead of tables?

Views apply the application logic and, where configured, security and translation. Reading tables directly can return rows a user should not see and breaks when internal structures change in an update.

Where do I check which purchase order states exist?

In the lifecycle or state definition for the purchase order logical unit in your release. Common states include Planned, Released, Confirmed, Received and Closed, but verify them for your version.

What is Align Buddy for IFS Cloud?

We cannot document it as a standard IFS Cloud component. It looks like a partner or third-party tool, so ask the vendor that supplied it or your IFS partner for its documentation.

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