IFS industry and consumption metrics are the licence units IFS uses where counting users does not reflect how the software is used. Examples are maintenance software sized by assets, field service sized by resources, and industry editions sized by operational scale. The units are defined in the License Metrics glossaries at the end of the IFS Product Terms, one for IFS Cloud and one for IFS Energy & Resources. Usage rules are in the terms for each product.[1] Which metric applies to which module is set on the Order Form, so the glossary explains what a unit means, not how much of it a customer owns.
Editions
The IFS Cloud glossary groups its metrics roughly as follows. The grouping is editorial; the definitions are IFS’s.[1]
| Area | Metrics in the glossary |
|---|---|
| Asset management | Asset, Asset Group, Aircraft, Vessel, Vehicle, Rolling Stock, Infrastructure Assets, Public Assets, Number of Production Assets, Component, Serialized Unit |
| Maintenance and service | Work Order (and its Maintenance & Inspection, Facilities Maintenance, Project and Public Service variants), Inspection Record, Service Request, Service Jobs, Customer Service Cases, Contract or Service Agreement |
| Field service and scheduling | Resource, Field Service Resources, Field Service Work Assignments, Work Assignments, Tasks |
| Manufacturing and projects | Production Order or Shop Order, Batch Runs, Batch or Lot, Parts Manufactured, Production Line Count, Engineering Projects, Number of Active Projects, Units Delivered |
| Scale proxies | Facility, Number of Managed Facilities, Production Mills, Infrastructure Length and Size, Rail Infrastructure Length, Tonnage Processed, Tonnage Produced, Employee |
| Platform | Country, Fixed, Processor Core, Concurrent User, Named User, Full User, Limited Task User |
Metrics
Operational record metrics
- Asset: “a uniquely identifiable physical or logical object recorded in the Software for lifecycle management, maintenance, or operational tracking purposes, including where applicable parent and child assets”. Asset Group counts the grouping record, “not the Assets themselves”.[1]
- Resource: an individual person, tool, vehicle, machinery or other thing, “including without limitation digital agents”, that may have activities assigned to it.[1] A software agent that receives assigned work counts like a technician.
- Work Order: a discrete unit of maintenance, inspection or service activity recorded as a Work Order, “irrespective of its completion status”, so open work orders count as well as completed ones.[1]
- Country: the countries in which the customer activates the Software to define companies and sites. The base country, where the customer is located, is assigned automatically; other countries are additional.[1]
- Processor Core: “a functional unit on a processor chip used to interpret and execute computer instructions required to deliver the service”.[1]
Scale proxies
Several metrics classify the size of the customer rather than measure use. Tonnage Processed and Tonnage Produced are annual quantities “used solely as a proxy to classify the industrial scale and operational complexity” of minerals, building materials, wood, pulp and paper businesses, “and not as a consumption-based or per-unit pricing metric”. Infrastructure Size is likewise “used solely for classification purposes”.[1]
IFS Energy & Resources metrics
The Energy & Resources glossary defines a User as “any human or non-human (i.e. automated system or similar)” permitted to access the IFS Materials, and “any instance of logging into the IFS Materials”. A User Limit is the maximum number of Named Users or Concurrent Users.[1] Product-specific units include:
- Net User for iLandMan: Full Use/User Admin users count as 1 Net User and View Only/Timesheet Only users as 0.5. Qbyte products use Prime, Casual and Info users with their own weights.
- Active Well Count for Merrick and Operational Intelligence: “the number of completions processed by the Software or are subject to processing in any month”.
- Agreement Count for P2 Land (leases, contracts, deeds, wells and broker tracts).
- Tobin Data Enterprise: the customer’s own internal use in one production Certified Operating Environment, “excluding any Affiliates, without regard to the number of Users”.[1]
Counting / floors
Tier increases and annual true-ups
For iLandMan, if the Net User count rises into a higher pricing tier, the customer is invoiced the difference at IFS’s then-current standard fees for the new tier.[1] For Merrick, the customer must certify its Active Well Count for the last fiscal year each contract year. The certificate must be “signed by a duly authorized officer of Customer and delivered to IFS no later than sixty (60) days prior to the end of the then current contract year”. IFS may also run a script on the customer’s system to verify it. P2 Land has the same annual certification for Agreement Count.[1] These sit alongside IFS’s general right to verify use once a year and bill excess use without discounts.[2] Catalog proof: IFS iLandMan Net User increases are billed at the higher tier; IFS Merrick Active Well Count is certified annually.
Softeon: platform fee plus consumption
Softeon SaaS is priced in two tiers: a fee for core platform access (for example Fixed or Named User pricing) plus “Consumption-Based Fees” for Transactions above the Baseline Transactions on the Order Form. Both parts are required. IFS’s own usage tracking is the definitive record, and the customer has ten days to dispute a monthly usage report or invoice. Subscription quantities “cannot be decreased” during the term, and additions are prorated to the next anniversary.[1] After each anniversary IFS reconciles the past 12 months. If consumption fees are more than 15 percent over the baseline, the next year’s baseline is raised.[1] Softeon Named Users include robots: a Named User is an account for a specific employee, contractor or agent “(including robots)”.[1] Catalog proof: IFS Softeon SaaS subscriptions cannot be reduced and consumption is trued up annually.
Self-Service Portals Transactions
Where the Use Type is Transactions, the annual volume is “per year on a use it or lose it basis”, and Transactions are consumed each time a user acts in the portal. More volume must be bought. Top Up Transactions are valid only for the contract year in which they are bought.[1] Catalog proof: IFS Self-Service Portals Transactions are use it or lose it each year.
IFS.ai Tokens
IFS.ai is sold as two packages. Each gives access to all available AI Use Cases, subject to a fair usage limit based on Token consumption. The IFS.ai Activation Pass includes 2 million Tokens per year “on a use it or lose it basis” and 10 GB of storage. The IFS.ai Enterprise Scale Pass has limits set in the Order Form. Top Up Tokens expire 12 months after purchase unless the Order Form says otherwise, and IFS.ai requires IFS Cloud 24R1 or later with active IFS Cloud licences.[1] Catalog proof: IFS.ai packages carry annual Token limits.
IFS Zero bands
IFS Zero, the emissions SaaS, is sold in four bands by weighted operational footprint. Band 1 covers up to 50 weighted sites, 1,250 emission sources, 5,000 tracked suppliers and 100 GB of storage; Band 4 covers up to 1,000 weighted sites. All entitlements are annual on a use it or lose it basis. Customers who exceed their band are expected to buy more or move up a band, and access may stop until they do.[1]
In-product measurement
IFS Cloud’s License Management function also reports usage-type metrics, such as geocoding transactions and expense machine-learning usage over the last 30 days, and active users of mobile apps such as Scan It and Notify Me.[3]
Virtualization & partitioning
The Processor Core metric is defined, but the Product Terms give no rule for virtual machines, hyper-threading or partitioning.[1] Tobin Data Enterprise is tied to one production Certified Operating Environment.[1]
Cloud / BYOL
Most consumption products here are SaaS (Softeon, Self-Service Portals, IFS.ai, IFS Zero), so there is no bring-your-own-licence option. iLandMan is delivered as a hosted service, with 100 GB of storage included and extra storage charged per year.[1]
Programs
No programs are tied to these metrics. Support is covered in IFS support and Oracle ASFU licensing.
Out of scope
This article does not cover Copperleaf, EmpowerMX, IFS Customer Engagement, Nexus Black, IFS Loops or IFS assyst metrics beyond those named above, or the prices and tier boundaries on individual Order Forms.