IFS support and Oracle ASFU licensing covers two parts of an IFS contract that affect cost and compliance long after the first purchase. The first is the Support Plan, which also decides access to new releases. The second is the Oracle database licence that IFS supplies with its software. Under the Master Agreement each subscription licence includes Support Services unless the Order Form says otherwise, and the customer needs a valid Support Services contract to receive error correction.[5] The Oracle terms in the Product Terms carry the status “Embedded”, meaning IFS licenses Oracle under IFS’s own terms.[4]
Editions
IFS offers three Support Plans for IFS Application Software:[1]
| Plan | Scope | Deployments |
|---|---|---|
| Gold Support | Keeps the software in substantial conformity with the Software Documentation | Remote Deployments only |
| Platinum Support | Gold plus priority queueing, extended hours, progress updates and service levels for critical and high-priority cases | Remote Deployments only |
| Cloud Support | Platinum-level support for IFS Cloud Services | IFS Cloud Services only, and the only plan available there |
A Remote Deployment is any deployment IFS does not host: on premises, other hosting or public cloud.[2] The plans cover IFS Cloud, IFS Applications, FSM, PSO and Customer Engagement.[2]
Metrics
Support fees are not tied to a published metric; they follow the Order Form. The Oracle licence uses the Oracle User: “all users (physical persons and devices) accessing the Oracle database”. All Oracle Users must be licensed, “regardless whether the individual is actively using the database at any given time”.[4]
Counting / floors
What support covers
For Remote Deployments, support covers “one Code Line in one production Instance” with its associated Test Environment. The customer may copy the Instance, but IFS supports only the initial one. For IFS Cloud Services, extra Instances and Code Lines need written agreement and extra fees.[2] Support covers only unmodified code of a Current Release. Customisations, non-standard releases and unlisted localisations need a separate paid agreement.[2] Customers in Remote Deployments must keep their own Test Environment and allow IFS remote access. An alternative connection method may raise support fees.[1] Catalog proof: IFS support covers one Code Line and one production Instance.
Release currency for IFS Cloud
IFS Cloud has two Releases a year, named YYR1 (usually spring) and YYR2 (usually autumn), plus Service Updates, usually monthly, for 24 months after each Release reaches general availability. No separate patches are issued. Fixes arrive only in Service Updates.[2] To stay current, a customer must run one of the four latest Releases and be no more than three Service Updates behind.[2] A customer in a Non-Current State gets reduced support. In IFS Cloud Services, any incident in that state is an Excluded Incident and service levels no longer apply. If the customer does not return to currency, IFS may start offboarding it from IFS Cloud Services at the customer’s cost.[2] Catalog proof: IFS Cloud customers must stay on one of the four latest releases.
Lifecycle for IFS Applications, FSM and PSO
Older products follow a Standard, Extended and Restricted Support model. When a Release’s Standard Support Period ends, the customer must buy Extended Support, where offered, to keep receiving support. Extended Support lasts at most three years. It is limited to priority 1 and 2 fixes at a reduced cadence and excludes new legal, statutory and localisation functionality. It does not apply to IFS Cloud or CE. Declining it ends support at once, and in IFS Cloud Services it starts offboarding. Restricted Support follows, with no new Updates and no service levels, until the Release is retired.[2]
The Extended Support Terms add special windows for customers who have bought IFS Cloud and are upgrading. For IFS Applications 10, Extended Support runs at most two years from its start (28 March 2025), or until go-live on IFS Cloud or the end of maintenance if earlier. A customer that has not finished by 27 March 2027 but has an active upgrade plan may keep it until 27 March 2028. Similar windows apply to FSM 6 (from 1 February 2026) and IFS Alliance 15.4 (from 1 October 2026).[3] If a customer goes live on a supported release before the paid end date, IFS refunds the unused Extended Support fees pro rata.[3] Catalog proof: IFS Applications 10 Extended Support is time-limited during upgrades to IFS Cloud.
Oracle ASFU licence
The Oracle terms set out two kinds of Oracle licence. ASFU licensing (Premium EE or Classic EE) “is based on number of IFS Users”. Full use licensing (SE 2 or EE) is based on users combined with hardware configuration and processor licences.[4] The ASFU licence:
- may be used only “in conjunction with and within the scope of the IFS Application Software”, by the customer and its majority-owned subsidiaries;
- may not be used for rental, timesharing, subscription service, hosting or outsourcing, or made available to third parties for their own business;
- may not be assigned or transferred, and ends with the IFS licence, after which all copies must be destroyed or returned;
- gives IFS the right to audit its use and report the results to Oracle Corporation.[4]
Oracle’s standard global terms do not apply to the ASFU licence. If a local Oracle affiliate asks the customer for an audit of ASFU use, or gives contrary licensing advice, the customer must refer it immediately to IFS, which deals with Oracle directly.[4] The Master Agreement applies the same routing to audit requests from any third-party software vendor.[5] A customer that does not license Oracle through IFS must, when asked, confirm in writing that it holds a valid Oracle-approved licence for use with IFS software.[4] Catalog proof: Oracle ASFU may only be used with IFS Application Software, and every Oracle User needs a licence; Third-party audit requests must be routed to IFS.
Portals add a further requirement. Where an IFS Self-Service Portals operation reaches Oracle-backed IFS Cloud data, Oracle ASFU licensing applies in addition to the portal subscription.[4]
Virtualization & partitioning
ASFU licences are counted by IFS Users, not processors. Full use Oracle licences depend on hardware configuration and processor licences. The IFS Product Terms do not restate Oracle’s partitioning rules for those.[4] Using the ASFU database for non-IFS applications is outside the licence.
Cloud / BYOL
In IFS Cloud Services, IFS manages the Platform, installs Resolutions and runs the agreed Environments. The customer administers users, permissions and integrations and must keep to the release requirements.[4] Because the ASFU licence bars hosting and outsourcing, a customer that runs IFS through a third-party host should confirm with IFS how its Oracle licensing applies.[4]
Programs
- Gold Support, Platinum Support and Cloud Support.[1]
- Extended Support.[3]
- Oracle ASFU License (IFS).[4]
Out of scope
This article does not cover service levels and service credits for IFS Cloud Services, the Softeon and Copperleaf support terms, the IFS Middleware Server licence, or the Support Lifecycle Dates table for individual releases in the Support Policy.