MAPICS and Infor XA AI Assistant Sizing and Value Calculator
This free calculator sizes a private AI assistant for MAPICS and Infor XA on IBM i: GPU count for the off-box model, token volume, index size, hours saved and payback. Use the chart to see cost against value as users grow.
Your numbers
Licensed or named MAPICS and Infor XA users who could use the assistant.
Percent of named users who ask at least one question per day.
Include retrieved context. Typical range 1000 to 3000.
Measure in a pilot; this is the most uncertain input.
Amortised purchase plus power, space and support, or a private cloud rate.
Assumption: depends on model, quantisation and batching. Measure on your hardware.
Integration, indexing, testing and rollout effort.
Your results
Planning estimate. Throughput, minutes saved and token counts vary widely; measure them in a pilot before committing budget.
Monthly value vs GPU cost by named users
Sweeps Named users from 10 to 1000, holding your other inputs fixed.
Optional XA pilot scoping
We can help translate these estimates into a scoped pilot on your IBM i data.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use the calculator
Enter the XA named users and the share active on a normal day, then questions per active user, tokens per question and answer, and the documents you will index. Add minutes saved, loaded hourly cost, GPU monthly cost and a one-time setup cost. The default assumes a larger model that needs two GPUs just to hold it, because XA sites often have a few hundred users.
Formulas and assumptions
Active users are named users times the active share and questions per day follow from that. Peak concurrency assumes 25 percent of questions in the busiest hour at 20 seconds each. Load is the larger of concurrency times 40 tokens per second and busy-hour tokens per second. GPUs are the larger of the model memory requirement and load divided by throughput per GPU, and the standby adds one model replica. Index size uses 2 chunks per page at about 6 KB. The IBM i is not sized here because inference runs off-box. A month is 21 working days.
Reading the result
Expect the GPU count to be set by the model footprint. The larger driver of project cost is the integration effort to build a replica and a glossary of XA fields, which you capture in the setup cost. If payback is zero, value does not cover running cost under your inputs, so test a smaller model or a narrower user group.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does this not size the IBM i?
Because inference runs on separate x86 GPU servers. The IBM i only serves data reads or journal entries, which are a small load compared with normal batch and interactive work.
Should I include replica hardware?
Include it in the setup cost or add it to the GPU monthly cost field if you prefer a monthly figure. The calculator treats GPU cost and setup as separate inputs you control.
How many documents should I index?
Start with the sets users search most, such as drawings, POs and quality records. Index size is small for modest counts, but ingestion effort scales with document variety.
Can I model a smaller pilot?
Yes. Lower named users and active share, and the chart shows how cost and value change with scale.
If you want these numbers checked against your XA environment, Netray can help scope a pilot. The calculator is free either way.
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Keep exploring
Free tools
- Infor XA AI Assistant Sizing and Value CalculatorSize the GPUs and estimate the monthly value and payback of an on-prem AI assistant for Infor XA users.
- MAPICS and Infor XA Private AI Layer Blueprint GeneratorGenerate a shareable architecture plan for adding a private, on-prem AI assistant to MAPICS and Infor XA, with components, security controls and a three-phase rollout.
- Infor XA (MAPICS) Migration Readiness AssessmentTen questions that score how ready you are to move off Infor XA (MAPICS), covering customizations, IBM i dependencies, data quality and ownership.
ERP fixes and how-tos
- How to Add AI to MAPICS and Infor XA on IBM i Without Leaving Your NetworkHow to give MAPICS and Infor XA on IBM i a private AI assistant: DB2 for i access, journal-based change capture, local GPU model, authority mapping and rollout.
- Infor XA costing: cost types, roll-up and standard cost setupHow product costing works in Infor XA (MAPICS): standard versus current cost, how roll-up builds cost from BOM and routing, setup order, and common pitfalls.
- Infor XA REST API: expose XA through IBM i Integrated Web Services or IONHow to expose Infor XA (MAPICS) data and functions as REST on IBM i using Integrated Web Services or ION, with an example call and the safety rules for writes.
Integrations
- How to add an AI chatbot to Infor XAHow to add an AI chatbot to Infor XA on IBM i: grounded answers from Db2 for i, internal and customer portals, role-based access, and a fully on-prem option.
- How to add AI agents to Infor XA on IBM iHow to add AI agents to Infor XA on IBM i: a tool layer over Db2 for i and RPG programs, approval gates, on-prem models, and realistic expedite and exception flows.