ERP Cost of Ownership Model

Infor M3 pricing and 5-year cost of ownership model

Infor does not publish M3 prices, so this model works from your own quote: a multi-tenant cloud subscription on AWS, or the license, maintenance and IBM i or Windows infrastructure you pay for to keep M3 13.4 (or Movex) on-premises. Implementation effort is built from M3 functional areas, the number of companies, divisions, facilities and warehouses, integrations through ION or the M3 API, M3 Adaption Kit modifications and data migration objects. The result is a year-by-year table, a cloud versus on-premises comparison and the lines that drive the total.

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Infor multi-tenant cloud (AWS)On-premises (M3 13.4 or Movex), perpetual license(verify with vendor)Private cloud or hosted single-tenant(verify with vendor)

Users by type

How many people and connections you license, by the user types that matter in Infor M3.

People who enter and maintain orders, items, planning and financial data in M3 programs all day through the H5 client (or Smart Office on older releases).

Approvers, managers and inquiry users who use workspaces, reports or a few programs. Confirm with Infor which user category on your order form covers them.

Service accounts used by ION, the M3 API (MI programs) through ION API, Infor Enterprise Collaborator and third-party connectors.

Starting counts are a sample company size so the effort model shows hours straight away. Replace them with yours.

5-year total cost

Implementation
1,988 h
Per user per year
$0

No amounts entered yet

The effort model already shows 1,988 hours. Add a quote in step 2, a blended rate in step 4 or staff cost in step 5 and the totals fill in as you type.

Vendor SaaS: year by year

All amounts in USD. Implementation and contingency are placed in year 1.

CategoryYear 1Year 2Year 3Year 4Year 55-year
License or subscription-----$0
Vendor maintenance-----$0
Infrastructure and hosting-----$0
Database-----$0
Implementation-----$0
Internal staff-----$0
Support (AMS)-----$0
Total$0$0$0$0$0$0
Cumulative$0$0$0$0$0

Cost drivers

Share of the vendor saas 5-year total.

Drivers appear once amounts are entered.

What to check in a Infor M3 quote

  • Organizational structure: each M3 company, division, facility and warehouse needs its own configuration and test cycle. Count every unit beyond the first as a site in this model.
  • Modifications: M3 Adaption Kit (MAK) changes to Business Engine code usually need retrofitting at each on-premises upgrade. For the multi-tenant cloud, ask your partner how each one will be rebuilt (H5 scripts, ION workflows, external apps) and price it as customization hours.
  • Platform: on-premises M3 on IBM i means IBM Power hardware, IBM i licensing and Db2 for i skills; on Windows it means server and database licensing. Enter the platform you actually run.
  • M3 Core servers: LifeCycle Manager, ION Grid, H5, Event Hub and Infor Enterprise Collaborator are separate components to host, patch and monitor on-premises. Include them in server and staff costs.
  • Client migration: M3 13.4 lists Infor Smart Office as a required component; Smart Office scripts and customizations need conversion when users move to H5. Count them as customization items.
  • Industry functions (fashion, food and beverage, chemical, equipment) and add-ons such as Document Management may be separate quote lines. Check which ones your subscription includes.
  • Movex: sites still on Movex need a version migration or a reimplementation before cloud. Price data migration objects and retraining, not only license.

Sensitivity

Move a driver and every number above updates. 100% is what you entered.

100%
100%
100%
100%

Effect of +/- 20% on the 5-year total

Enter amounts to see which driver moves the total most.

Infor M3 licensing explained

In words, from vendor documentation. Follow the source links before you rely on a point in a negotiation.

Multi-tenant cloud subscription

Infor presents M3 as multi-tenant cloud-native on AWS, with updates delivered centrally. In this model you pay a recurring subscription and Infor runs the infrastructure, database and upgrades. The subscription metric and what each user category includes come from your Infor quote.

Source
On-premises: M3 Business Engine licensed per system

Infor's M3 Business Engine release notes state that M3 Business Engine is licensed uniquely to each system through M3 Core Infrastructure and Technology, and refer to the M3 Core Installation Planning Guide for details. Each separate system (for example production and a second production instance) is a licensing question to raise with Infor.

Source
What M3 Core covers

M3 Core is the set of components shared by every M3 installation: M3 Business Engine and M3 Financial Business Messages, M3 Core Infrastructure and Technology (LifeCycle Manager, ION Grid) and M3 Core Technology (Event Hub, Event Analytics, M3 UI Adapter, H5, M3 Foundation, Infor Enterprise Collaborator, BOD Processor, M3 Adaption Kit, M3 Metadata Publisher). On-premises, these are servers you size, run and patch.

Source
M3 13.4 on-premises and maintenance

In 2022 Infor put the containerized on-premises M3 project (CM3) on hold and said it would keep investing in M3 13.4 on-premises, including certification on IBM i 7.5 and Windows Server 2022. Customers staying on-premises pay annual maintenance on their existing license; whether new on-premises licenses are sold is a question for Infor.

Source
User license metric: check your order form

Public Infor documentation found for this page does not define M3 user categories or say whether a contract counts named or concurrent users. Read the user lines on your order form or renewal quote and enter each one as a user type here.

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Using this for a budget, a renewal or a cloud decision? An engineer can check the license metric, user mix and effort assumptions against how you run Infor M3.

How to use the Infor M3 cost model

  1. 1

    Count users by how they work in M3

    Split users into full transactional users in H5, occasional users (approvals, inquiries, workspaces) and integration sessions. Map each group to the user line on your Infor order form, because M3 user categories are defined there, not in public documentation.

  2. 2

    Enter the quotes you have

    Type the subscription per user per month for M3 in the multi-tenant cloud. If you are keeping M3 13.4 or Movex on-premises, enter the license value and annual maintenance percent from your support agreement. Leave a deployment empty if you have no figure for it.

  3. 3

    Add infrastructure for on-premises

    For on-premises or hosted M3, enter IBM Power hardware and IBM i, or Windows servers and database licensing, plus hosting, backup and the servers that run M3 Core components such as LifeCycle Manager and ION Grid.

  4. 4

    Scope the implementation

    Pick the M3 areas and industry functions in scope, then count organizational units, integrations, MAK modifications and migration objects. Adjust hours per unit and the blended rate to match your partner's estimate.

  5. 5

    Read the drivers and test the range

    Use the sensitivity sliders to see how far the 5-year total moves with license, effort and rate, then export the model or save it to your account.

Infor M3 pricing and licensing questions

How much does Infor M3 cost?

Infor does not publish M3 list prices. The price depends on the user categories and counts on your order form, the industry functions and add-ons you buy, cloud subscription or on-premises license plus maintenance, the term and your negotiation. This model does not guess a price: enter the figures from your quote and it builds the 5-year total around them.

How is Infor M3 licensed?

M3 in the multi-tenant cloud is sold as a subscription quoted by Infor. On-premises, Infor's M3 Business Engine release notes state that Business Engine is licensed uniquely to each system through M3 Core Infrastructure and Technology. How users are counted (user categories, named or concurrent) is set in your contract; public documentation does not define it, so check your order form.

Is Infor M3 still available on-premises?

Infor presents M3 today as multi-tenant cloud on AWS. In 2022 it put the containerized on-premises project (CM3) on hold and said it would keep investing in M3 13.4 on-premises, including certification on IBM i 7.5 and Windows Server 2022. Existing on-premises customers continue on maintenance; ask Infor whether new on-premises licenses are available for your situation.

What database does M3 use on-premises?

M3 and Movex have traditionally run with the database on IBM i (Db2 for i) on a Power server, and Infor certified M3 13.4 on both IBM i 7.5 and Windows Server 2022. For Windows installations, verify the supported database product and versions with Infor for your release before pricing it.

We are still on Movex. What should the model include?

Movex is the original name of M3, developed by Intentia; it became Lawson M3 after the Lawson and Intentia merger, and Infor acquired Lawson in 2011. Moving from Movex to M3 cloud usually means a reimplementation or a multi-step migration, so include data migration objects, retraining, rework of modifications and integrations, and parallel running of the old system.

Do integrations and Infor OS users need M3 licenses?

Public documentation does not answer this, and the question comes up on the Infor community. Treat integration service accounts (ION, M3 API through ION API, Enterprise Collaborator) and Infor OS portal users as separate lines and confirm with Infor which of them count against M3 user licenses.

What is included in M3 total cost of ownership beyond licenses?

Implementation (configuration across companies, divisions, facilities and warehouses, data migration, integrations, testing, training, project management), IBM i or Windows infrastructure and M3 Core servers for self-managed installs, retrofitting of MAK modifications at upgrades, internal staff, outside application support (AMS) and upgrades. Implementation and staff can be larger than the license line, so the model shows each separately.

How accurate is this model?

The arithmetic is exact for the numbers you enter. The default effort hours are planning assumptions, not benchmarks, so replace them with your partner's estimate when you have one. Ask an engineer to review the result if you are using it for a budget or a cloud versus on-premises decision.

Sources

Netray is an independent ERP consultancy. Product and licensing names belong to their owners; confirm terms against your own contract.