IFS maintenance and support: application management and updates with a named team

IFS maintenance and support keeps your IFS environment stable and current after go-live. IFS supports the unmodified standard software. First-line support, managing your configuration and custom code, and planning updates are yours to organise, in-house or with a partner. Eqeep does this with a named team that knows your environment: service desk, application management, monitoring and updates.

Who does what: IFS, your partner or your own team?

IFS supports the unmodified standard software of a current release. The IFS Unified Support policy (version 2026-02, February 2026) places the work around it with the customer, including:

• First-line and end-user support by trained staff, including training, user accounts and application configuration.
• One named key user as the contact for IFS, with deputies if you wish.
• Triage first: isolating the problem and checking that it can be reproduced in your test environment.
• Testing: you test every resolution and every release before you use it.
• Outside IFS’s own cloud, operational tasks too, such as database monitoring, back-ups and deploying delivered code.

Custom code falls outside standard IFS support and needs a separate agreement. If a case turns out to sit in your configuration or data, IFS closes it as a false alarm. IFS may charge for that work.

Application management covers that work. Eqeep maps out with your team who carries which responsibility, also when another partner implemented your environment.

At SPIE Nederland, Eqeep became the central IFS contact for the service desk and Application Management Service. Arvato Systems provided the Microsoft Azure infrastructure and technical application management. SPIE retained control over its operational direction. Read the SPIE story.

What does a named support team do for your IFS environment?

Our approach combines day-to-day management with forward thinking. You get fast help when you need it, and a team that’s already thinking about what comes next for your application.

• Your team can work without interruption

  Our service team actively monitors your environment and does not wait for a ticket. Users log issues through our service desk and get help fast. Simple problems are fixed straight away; complex ones go to a specialist. The goal throughout is keeping disruption to your business as low as possible.

• You stay current and secure

  We check your agreement and plan release updates and service updates with you, within the IFS support policy.

• You get advice tailored to your situation

  Because we know your processes and configuration inside out, every IFS update comes with clear advice on which new features are worth your attention. We flag the relevant ones and bring concrete suggestions for what to do next. Development and optimisation explains how you choose.

What should an SLA for IFS support contain?

In the service-level agreement (SLA), set out for each type of case who picks it up, how fast, and where your partner’s responsibility ends. Only IFS can fix a fault in the standard software. So agree what your partner does with such a fault: respond, reproduce, find a workaround and prepare the case for IFS.

• Your IFS support plan: Gold, Platinum or Cloud Support, the last being the plan for IFS Cloud Services. Only Platinum and Cloud Support have service levels for cases, for priority 1 and 2. For priority 1, IFS’s target is a first response within half an hour and a resolution or action plan within four hours. Check which plan you have, because under Gold no IFS service level stands behind your partner’s response times.
• Priorities that follow IFS’s fixed matrix, in which impact and urgency (three levels each) together set priority 1 to 5. A priority then means the same at your partner as at IFS.
• Response times per priority, and what ‘resolved’ means: a solution, a workaround or an action plan.
• Names: the key user and deputies for IFS, and your named contact at the partner.
• The update rhythm: when updates are tested and installed, and who signs off the results.
• Reporting: a monthly overview of tickets and recurring patterns, discussed in a regular meeting.

People decide: you set the priority of a case and which improvement comes first.

How far behind can you fall on IFS Cloud updates?

Under the IFS support policy, page 8, a current release is the latest release or one of the three before it. Within that release, you may be at most three service updates behind the latest one.

IFS usually ships a service update every month. At that pace you fall outside the limit after about four months without updating, sooner if IFS issues an exceptional service update. The four months are our arithmetic, not an IFS term.

Each release gets service updates for 24 months after general availability. After that, IFS no longer supports it. IFS announces that end at least twelve months ahead on the IFS Community.

Fall more than three service updates behind and your support shrinks. Under Platinum and Cloud Support, service levels no longer apply to your cases. IFS does not investigate a fault it cannot reproduce on the latest service update, and closes the case. You may also not be able to apply security fixes.

IFS Cloud has no stand-alone patches either. A fix arrives in a service update or, for priority 3 to 5, only in a later release. Eqeep tests upgrades in a shadow environment, and your key users review the results.

If you still run IFS Applications 10, different support terms apply. See how Eqeep plans technical upgrades and the move to IFS Cloud.

Which form of Managed Services fits you?

With Managed Services, you agree a clear scope with us, at predictable costs. Together we work out which support fits your situation. See what Eqeep’s application management covers.

• Reactive support for standard issues, with an agreed response time.
• Proactive monitoring and planned update management, with timely and thoroughly tested technical upgrades.
• Dedicated account management with a personal point of contact, release analysis with process and fit-gap analyses, and regular business reviews.
• Full application management with priority response and a named consultant who knows your environment.
• Hypercare after go-live, and a smooth handover when you switch from another partner.

Do you have to outsource all of your IFS management?

No. How much you outsource depends on the knowledge in your own team, and that knowledge can grow.

A 2024 article on application management at SPIE describes how SPIE relied entirely on Eqeep in the first two years. Over time, Eqeep transferred its knowledge to SPIE employees, who took on much more themselves. Eqeep handled the complicated issues and brought the software up to date monthly, in consultation with SPIE.

At the other end of the scale is Optronica Service, with 1 to 10 employees. Its customer story lists continuous optimisations and on-demand support as the services. Eqeep colleagues supported Optronica during the IFS Field Service Management implementation and after go-live. Read the Optronica story.

If your team already has the knowledge, a smaller scope often fits better, with Eqeep taking the complex questions. Our account manager checks in regularly, not to sell you something, but to understand what is changing and what is causing friction. We review usage reports with you so your contract stays right-sized and you pay for no more than you need.

Questions about IFS maintenance and support

What falls under IFS support and what under application management?

IFS supports the unmodified standard software of a current release. The IFS support policy places first-line support, triage and testing with the customer, and custom code falls outside standard support. You can assign that work to an application management partner such as Eqeep.

How far behind can you fall on IFS Cloud updates?

Under the IFS support policy (version 2026-02), you must run the latest release or one of the three before it. You may be at most three service updates behind, and IFS no longer supports older releases. If you fall further behind, service levels for your cases lapse under Platinum and Cloud Support. IFS then does not investigate faults it cannot reproduce on the latest service update.

What can Eqeep’s Managed Services include?

Eqeep’s Managed Services can include reactive support, proactive monitoring and planned updates, and dedicated account management with release analysis and business reviews. Full application management with a named consultant is also possible. Together we agree the scope that fits your organisation.

How does Eqeep handle IFS updates under Managed Services?

IFS ships two release updates a year and monthly service updates. Eqeep schedules updates with you, assesses the impact in advance and handles the transition in a controlled way. That keeps you within the releases IFS supports, with as little disruption as possible.

This article describes one of the five phases in our approach.

Tell us where you stand with IFS. You get one conversation and a clear next step. Bring your current SLA and we will check it against the IFS support policy. Discuss your IFS question.

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