Connecting ERP to the real world

Talk to any warehouse manager running Infor M3 and you’ll hear a version of the same story: the system is right, but it’s the last one to know. A pick gets confirmed on the floor, but it doesn’t hit inventory until someone keys it in from a desk-bound terminal twenty minutes later. A putaway location shows “available” on screen because the physical move hasn’t been logged yet. M3 isn’t wrong — it just hasn’t been told yet. That lag between physical execution and digital record is where operational resilience breaks down, and closing it means rethinking how execution data reaches the ERP in the first place, not rethinking the ERP. What Supply Chain Execution Truly Means Supply Chain Execution (SCE) is not merely about moving inventory from point A to point B; it is the real-time synchronization of physical material movement with your digital record. It represents the precise moment a purchase order becomes a physical item on a shelf, or a sales order changes into a packed container ready for dispatch. For logistics and manufacturing managers, SCE is measured by rigid KPIs: order accuracy, dock-to-stock lead times, cycle-count accuracy, and total throughput velocity. How Infor M3 Manages Execution Infor M3 is an incredibly robust ERP engine designed to handle complex multi-site planning, financial allocations, and deep transactional logic. Infor also offers native mobile options like Factory Track for warehouse transactions — but these are built around fixed, out-of-the-box workflows that rarely match a facility’s exact SOPs without heavy configuration effort. The real problem is data lag. When those native workflows don’t fit and operators fall back on paper pick-lists, manual logs, or desk-bound terminals to input stock updates, a disconnect forms. The physical floor reality moves faster than the ERP data entry, creating downstream discrepancies, misallocated stock, and artificial production bottlenecks. Why Use the Supply Chain Execution App Package? To close this operational gap, Novacura developed a dedicated Supply Chain Execution application package for Infor M3. This pre-built suite covers inbound, inhouse, and outbound warehouse operations with mobile-friendly applications built specifically for M3’s logistics processes. Rather than attempting to replace or heavily customize Infor M3, this package acts as a process-optimizing low-code layer. It translates complex M3 programs into sequential, conditional steps tailored specifically for an operator holding a mobile device or industrial scanner on the floor. Visit Marketplace How Novacura Apps Interact with Infor M3 The architecture is built for direct connectivity and security. The execution suite connects natively to your ERP through the secure Infor M3 REST API. When an operator scans a barcode or confirms a movement, the transaction is processed via the M3 bulk API in real time. There’s no middleware layer and no third-party database replicating your data — M3 remains the single, definitive source of truth, updated instantly at the point of performance. Furthermore, if standard features fall short, these templates can be easily modified inside the Novacura Flow low-code platform to match your exact standard operating procedures (SOPs). End-to-End Warehouse Mastery The application package covers the full warehouse journey, split cleanly across three fundamental operational phases. Phase I: Receiving […]

Don’t lose the reports your business runs on. Novacura Flow Connect gives you two ways forward – keep what works, or upgrade to more. Novacura Flow bridges the gap between ERP and operations — with AI-powered workflows, ready-to-deploy industry solutions, and seamless no-touch integrations that connect IFS Cloud to the way your teams actually work. Reporting is just one part of that picture, which is why we’re well placed to help with the change coming to Crystal Reports.   What’s Changing? With the release of IFS Cloud 26R2, IFS will no longer support Crystal Reports as its built-in reporting tool. It’s a narrow change — the embedded Crystal Reports plug-in is being retired — not a move away from connected reporting. IFS still exposes report data through its third-party application gateway, which is exactly where solutions like Novacura Flow connect. For most organizations, that’s more than a technical footnote. Crystal Reports sits behind everyday operational documents — invoices, order printouts, delivery schedules — and the ad-hoc reports your teams rely on across finance, operations, and logistics. Those reports need to keep flowing, without disrupting daily business. The good news: you don’t have to start over. Who This Affects? If you’re implementing IFS Cloud now, upgrading from IFS Applications 10, or planning a future move to the Cloud, this change lands on your desk. Teams that have already invested in building Crystal Reports layouts face the prospect of recreating that work — and everyone needs a plan for their existing reports before Crystal Reports is no longer available. Whatever your starting point, the decision comes down to a familiar trade-off: keep what already works, or use the moment to modernise. It’s worth understanding both paths and the trade-offs before you commit. Novacura Flow Connect supports either one. Two Ways Forward Both options run on the same foundation — Novacura Flow Connect, sitting between IFS Cloud and your reports. From there you can go one of two ways. Option 1 — Keep your Crystal Reports Run all your existing Crystal Reports — standard and custom — fully integrated with IFS Cloud through Novacura Flow Connect. Your business data stays in IFS Cloud, Flow Connect initiates and runs the report, Crystal Reports continues to manage the report definitions, and the finished document is returned to IFS Cloud for archiving and printing — or distributed straight from Flow. In practice, it works much like what you have today. Your report layouts don’t need to be rebuilt, so the transition stays low-risk. Reports can be triggered two ways: Manually, from a Flow app — users run any report on demand, on desktop or mobile, or from inside IFS. Automatically, from IFS — an IFS event triggers a Flow Automation that generates the report with live IFS data. On demand for your users, or fully automated in the background. Option 2 — Gradually move to Flow reporting If you’d rather take this moment to modernise, you can gradually replace Crystal Reports with the full reporting toolbox built into Novacura Flow — connected natively to […]

Talk to any production manager running Infor M3 and you’ll hear a version of the same story: the ERP logic is right, but it’s always the last one to know. An operation finishes on the line, but the run time isn’t logged until the operator walks back to a desk-bound terminal an hour later. Material is physically consumed at the workstation, but the digital balance stays untouched because the standard M3 screens are too rigid for one-handed, glove-on entry in a noisy plant. M3 isn’t wrong — it just hasn’t been told yet. That lag between physical execution and digital record is where production efficiency KPIs quietly erode, and closing it means rethinking how shop-floor data reaches the ERP in the first place, not rethinking the ERP. What Manufacturing Execution Truly Means Manufacturing Execution is not merely about producing goods; it is the real-time synchronization of what physically happens at the workstation with what your ERP believes is happening. It is the precise moment a component is issued to a manufacturing order, an operation is reported complete, or a finished pallet becomes available stock ready for the next process. For production and plant managers, it is measured by unforgiving KPIs: operation-time accuracy, material consumption variance, first-pass yield, order confirmation lead time, and overall shop-floor throughput. Every one of those numbers depends on a single condition — that the reporting happens at the point of work, not at the end of the shift. How Infor M3 Handles Shop-Floor Execution Infor M3 is a robust ERP engine, designed for complex multi-site planning, deep manufacturing order logic, costing, and traceability. The transactional foundation is genuinely strong. The friction appears at the interface. The standard M3 client was built for a desk, a mouse, and a full keyboard — not for a scanner in a gloved hand next to a running machine. Infor’s native mobile options exist, but they are built around fixed, out-of-the-box workflows that rarely match a plant’s exact SOPs without heavy configuration effort. When those workflows don’t fit, operators fall back on the oldest tools in the building: paper travelers, tally sheets, and a shared terminal at the end of the aisle. The floor moves faster than the data entry, and the result is a familiar set of downstream symptoms — material planning driven by stale balances, operation times that arrive too late to act on, and rework discovered long after the batch has moved on. Why Use the Manufacturing Execution App Package? To close this operational gap, Novacura developed a dedicated Manufacturing Execution application package for Infor M3. This pre-built suite covers the manufacturing order lifecycle with mobile-friendly applications built specifically for M3’s production processes — spanning inhouse and shop order-related workflows across most of the crucial steps on the production floor. Rather than attempting to replace or heavily customize Infor M3 — which risks system stability and complicates future upgrades — the package acts as a mobile, offline-capable workflow execution layer. It translates complex M3 programs into sequential, conditional steps tailored specifically for an operator holding an industrial scanner or a phone at the line, guiding them task by […]

Every software vendor has an AI story right now – most of them built on the same idea: let AI generate an app from a prompt and see what happens. The problem is well-documented. Research from Veracode found that 45% of AI-generated development tasks produced code with critical security flaws. In enterprise ERP environments, where security, compliance, audit traceability, and reliable ERP connectivity are non-negotiable, that is not a viable foundation. Novacura Flow is also an AI application builder — but built on a different premise. AI is placed within a well-controlled enterprise framework: governed ERP connectors, role-based access, workflow transparency, version control, and consistent deployment. Novacura calls this AI on Rails. The AI accelerates development and drives user interactions; the framework ensures it behaves correctly in production. The practical result is visible in three categories of AI capability in Flow, demonstrated recently in a live session by Novacura’s Petter Larsson and Greg Warner — including working demos against IFS.  Watch: How to build AI-powered apps on top of your ERP. A 20-minute walkthrough by Novacura Product Manager Petter Larsson and Solutions Engineer Greg Warner, covering three categories of AI in Flow with live examples. When AI actually makes sense in an ERP workflow The core challenge with AI adoption in industrial enterprises is not access to models – it is access to the right data, at the right moment, in the right context. Novacura Flow solves this because it already sits between frontline workers and the ERP. It collects operational data at the exact location where transactions happen, at a level of granularity most ERP interfaces cannot match. From that position, Flow can feed AI services with clean, structured, real-time data – and return the results directly into the workflow. This is the difference between an AI chatbot that summarizes information and an AI layer that acts on it. The practical applications fall into three categories: Making sense of large ERP datasets ERP systems accumulate data over years — and that data degrades. Parts masters drift. Duplicates accumulate. Naming conventions diverge across sites or business units. Manual cleanup is slow and expensive. AI handles it well. Novacura Flow addresses this natively, bringing data intelligence directly into the workflow layer. Users can normalize, harmonize, and deduplicate master data, as well as query and analyze data on the fly — across any connected ERP, database, or system. These capabilities are designed to slot into Flow as native workflow steps — not REST calls to an external API — keeping data processing inside the governed framework, and putting real data quality and insight directly in the hands of end users. The example: parts data quality and deduplication The Data Assistant first normalizes parts descriptions — consistent format, standardized naming — and then Data Analysis identifies probable duplicates across the catalogue. The result surfaces as a list of suggested actions for an operator to review and confirm. AI does the pattern recognition. A person makes the final call. The workflow logic, the ERP write-back, and the audit trail are all handled […]

This year’s IFS UK&I User Group Annual Conference carried the theme ENIGMA — “breaking the code and solving complex business challenges together.” Over three days (1–3 June 2026) at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Milton Keynes Stadium, the IFS community gathered for customer stories, industry strategy sessions, peer-to-peer discussion, and a packed programme of partner presentations. Novacura was proud to take part as a sponsor, with Aksel Jarlbäck and Robin Huizer on site throughout the event — at our stand and on the main stage. As always, our focus was practical: not technology for its own sake, but how IFS customers close the gap between a well-designed process and what actually happens on the floor, in the field, and on the front line. The “last mile” of field service The ENIGMA programme made one thing clear: for most organisations, the hard part isn’t the ERP — it’s execution. IFS is a powerful system of record, but value is won or lost in the last mile: the moment a technician arrives on site, runs a safety check, uses a part, captures a reading, and signs off the job. Even with modern field service management software, the biggest challenges tend to appear during execution: Complex, changing environments — unpredictable site conditions and equipment variability. Rising compliance demands — safety, quality, and regulatory requirements that keep increasing. Knowledge and experience gaps — different skill levels and tribal knowledge undermining consistency. Data quality — accurate information still depends on manual capture in the field. Planning versus execution — plans look great in the system, but execution is hard to control. Mobile adoption — complex apps and poor user experience quietly limit uptake. When those gaps go unaddressed, the cost is familiar: rework, slower billing, compliance risk, and customers left waiting. Novacura FLow as the execution layer Our answer isn’t to replace or heavily customise IFS — it’s to add a layer on top of it. Novacura Flow acts as an execution layer that sits between the technician and the systems behind them: IFS FSM / IFS Cloud, CRM, ERP, and document systems. It shapes the system around the user’s natural workflow, rather than forcing people to adapt to rigid transaction screens — while IFS remains the single source of truth. Build once, deploy to anything: phone, tablet, rugged scanner, or desktop. Combined with ready-to-use template apps from the Novacura Marketplace and AI-assisted building, that means minimal time to value. On stage: Supercharging ifs field service Our main-stage session, “Supercharging IFS Field Service: A Smarter Execution Layer for Technicians,” presented by Aksel Jarlbäck, showed exactly how this works in practice — walking through a guided, end-to-end field service journey on a technician’s mobile device: Select and review the job from a clear job list, with fully configurable job information, maps, and contacts on hand. Start travel with automatic travel-time tracking. Arrive and run a compliance & safety checklist — arrival triggers the checklist, so safety steps are completed before work begins. Use van stock or order parts — issue from van stock, scan parts, and instantly see which warehouse has […]

The modern manufacturing and logistics landscape requires absolute harmony between core enterprise resource planning and rapid, physical floor execution. For enterprises running Infor M3 or transitioning to Infor CloudSuite, evaluating how well software supports actual day-to-day work remains a continuous priority. To address these critical realities, the 2026 M3 User Association (M3UA) UK Conference took place over two days at the Hilton St. George’s Park in Burton Upon Trent, UK. As an event designed to foster heavy participation through workshops, roundtables, and technical presentations, it serves as a premier venue for exchange between M3 users, suppliers, and Infor experts. Novacura is proud to support this community as a Golden Sponsor, welcoming attendees to Booth 4 to discuss practical process improvement rather than theoretical technology hype. The High Cost of the “Last Mile” of Data In asset-intensive sectors like manufacturing and distribution, a recurring operational vulnerability exists: the gap between desired business processes and the exact functionality currently supported within the central ERP. While core systems handle broad financial data and massive material requirements planning excellently, they frequently lose traction at the edge of operations. This disconnect represents the “last mile” of data, and it is often the most expensive square foot of a facility. When warehouse management, shop-floor production reporting, or field maintenance operations are left outside the direct reach of the ERP, organizations face immediate inefficiencies. Workers are forced to rely on manual spreadsheets, paper-based tracking, or analog workarounds. This absence of direct connectivity introduces data-logging delays, spikes inventory error rates, and severely degrades overall supply chain visibility. Organizations cannot afford blind spots on the factory floor; to optimize lead times, the operational execution layer must align perfectly with the central digital record. Extending the Core Without Custom Modification The solution to this execution gap is not to abandon or heavily customize the central system. Custom modifications introduce high long-term costs and jeopardize future upgrade paths to Infor CloudSuite. Instead, Novacura provides a technical bridge through Novacura Flow. By acting as a flexible, process-optimizing workflow layer, Novacura Flow extends Infor M3 beyond its traditional core. It links complex enterprise data structures directly to real operational execution via intuitive mobile and web applications. Instead of forcing technicians and operators to adapt to rigid ERP transaction codes, Novacura Flow shapes the system to the user’s natural physical workflow. This targeted extension eliminates analog bottlenecks, enforces automated data validation at the point of origin, and turns standard ERP constraints into distinct operational advantages. Mobile Workflows, Process Efficiency, and Embedded AI Services A central highlight of our participation at the M3UA UK Conference was a dedicated strategy session designed to show exactly how this architecture operates in practice. Date & Time: May 12 at 15:00 Presentation Title: “Novacura: Extending Infor M3 with Modern Mobile Apps, Workflows, and AI Services” This session moved past theoretical technology concepts to present a practical, technical deep dive into extending your current M3 ecosystem. We demonstrated how practical AI services can be embedded directly into standard mobile processes to reduce human error. Specifically, we showcased an AI-assisted […]