Skyward ERP vs IFS

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared Skyward ERP vs IFS based on data from our 400+ point analysis of ERP Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Skyward ERP Software Tool
IFS Software Tool

Product Basics

Skyward ERP is a comprehensive software solution designed to streamline and manage various administrative and operational tasks within educational institutions. It is particularly well-suited for K-12 schools and districts, offering tools for financial management, human resources, payroll, and student information systems. This software helps schools enhance efficiency, reduce manual errors, and improve data accuracy.

Key benefits include centralized data management, real-time reporting, and user-friendly interfaces that facilitate easy navigation and task completion. Popular features encompass budget tracking, employee records management, and automated payroll processing. Users often appreciate its integration capabilities and the ability to customize modules to fit specific needs.

Compared to similar products, Skyward ERP is praised for its intuitive design and robust support services. Pricing typically varies based on the size of the institution and the specific modules required, with options for annual or multi-year payment plans. This flexibility makes it accessible for a range of educational organizations.

read more...
IFS offers is a suite of connected workflows such as accounting, warehouse management, distribution, sales and HCM. By integrating a range of front- and back-office workflows, the program aims to alleviate internal snags and streamline operations.

The software contains real-time insights and can be accessed either through the cloud or via on-premise installation. It’s intended for use by medium and large companies. The program is highly integrative and contains various online support and training options for users.

To learn more about their primary ERP offering, visit our IFS Cloud page.
read more...
$30,000 Annually, Quote-Based
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$8,000 Monthly
Free Trial is unavailable →
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
we're gathering data
Cheerpack
Chief Industries
CleaverBrooks
Heaven Hill
Hexagon
Hexpol
KLN
Lou-Rich
Valmost
Vigor Industrial

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Improved Efficiency: Skyward ERP streamlines administrative tasks, reducing the time spent on manual data entry and allowing staff to focus on more strategic activities.
  • Enhanced Data Accuracy: By centralizing data entry, Skyward ERP minimizes errors and inconsistencies, ensuring that all departments work with the same accurate information.
  • Real-Time Reporting: The software provides up-to-date reports and analytics, enabling informed decision-making based on the latest data.
  • Cost Savings: Automating routine processes reduces the need for additional staff and lowers operational costs, leading to significant financial savings over time.
  • Scalability: Skyward ERP can grow with your organization, easily accommodating new users, departments, and functionalities as needed.
  • Improved Compliance: The system helps ensure that your organization adheres to regulatory requirements by maintaining accurate records and providing audit trails.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: By providing a single source of truth, Skyward ERP fosters better communication and collaboration across departments.
  • Customizable Workflows: The software allows for the customization of workflows to match your organization's specific processes, improving overall efficiency.
  • Better Resource Management: Skyward ERP helps in tracking and managing resources effectively, ensuring optimal utilization and reducing waste.
  • Increased Transparency: With centralized data and comprehensive reporting, stakeholders have greater visibility into operations, enhancing accountability.
  • Enhanced Security: The system includes robust security features to protect sensitive data, ensuring that only authorized personnel have access.
  • Improved Customer Service: By providing quick access to accurate information, Skyward ERP enables staff to respond to customer inquiries more efficiently.
  • Streamlined Financial Management: The software integrates financial data across departments, simplifying budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting.
  • Reduced Redundancy: By eliminating duplicate data entry and redundant processes, Skyward ERP ensures that efforts are not wasted on repetitive tasks.
  • Enhanced Decision-Making: With comprehensive data analytics and reporting tools, leaders can make more informed decisions that drive organizational success.
read more...
  • Accessibility: IFS solutions can be deployed through different avenues: SaaS, cloud service models, IFS Managed Cloud or on-premise. With cloud deployment, the program can be accessed at any time and any location as long as there is an internet connection available. 
  • Real-Time Data: The program includes real-time data and visualizations. For example, engineering changes, bottlenecks in the production system and any material shortages can be analyzed as they occur. Barcode scanning is also included to track the movement of products and materials throughout the supply chain. 
  • Revenue Boost: By identifying and reducing bottlenecks, forecasting demand and honing the sales process, revenue can be increased. IFS includes a range of features that can maximize revenue through elements such as reduction in spoilage and increased efficiency. 
  • Increase Productivity: IFS helps streamline and automate facets of workflows such as sales, manufacturing and distribution. By reducing the amount of time that employees spend on tasks such as supplier invoicing, which can be automated through this tool, more time is freed up for staff to work on other important tasks. 
  • Legal Compliance: This program helps to ensure company compliance with a range of industry or governmental standards and regulations. For example, IFS Human Capital Management can keep track of and manage employee health and safety measures in accordance with legal requirements. A dedicated maintenance tool is also available to help ensure that the company adheres to rules. 
read more...
  • Human Resource Management: Make the hiring process smarter with a data-driven applicant tracking system. Manage job openings and position requests with ease. 
    • Position Management: Leverage the position management module to track employees’ professional growth, degrees and certifications and credits. Identify useful development milestones to trigger updates in payroll. Review hire dates and staff vacancies to fill up open positions. 
    • Position Budgeting: Categorize employees into batches to automate salary calculations and boost transparency with what-if scenarios. View hourly rate, FTE counts and assignment details and more from a single interface.
    • Substitute Tracking: Use custom rate tables to formulate robust pay rates. Automate pay hikes based on sub frequency, and auto calculate half-day, full-day or hourly pay rates. 
  • Financial Management: Eliminate budgeting guesswork and implement robust financial controls to eliminate fraud and deception. Automate manual workflows to save time and effort. 
    • Accounts Receivable: Receive and process payments faster with the accounts receivable module. Clone and import invoices and apply discounts to them with ease. Make use of graphical indicators to assimilate complicated information within seconds. 
    • Accounts Payable: Clone invoices for monthly bill payments, generate fixed asset records from invoices and automate encumbrance adjustments with the accounts payable module. Auto-populate invoices with the purchase order information. 
    • Budgeting: Access real-time information and printable budget worksheets to create budget forecasts. Use built-in state reports or e-files to create or customize reports based on local requirements. 
  • Employee Portal: Empower employees to access and manage personal information, including work experience, educational qualifications, skills, payslips and more to boost transparency and accountability. 
    • Employee Access: Provide real-time access to payroll history, time-off balances, time-off days, expense reimbursements and more to employees to boost communication with team members. Employees can access W2s and other important forms electronically via a dedicated customer portal. 
    • Expense Reimbursement: Set up default accounts based on expense reimbursement types. Attach notes, receipts and screenshots and empower managers to review details and approve requests from any device. It facilitates transparency in the review and approval process. 
    • Custom Forms: Personalize forms, roll out surveys or event sign-ups and set up virtual signatures for acknowledgment to boost the onboarding experience. 
  • Asset Management: Manage supplies and track the value of assets in real time. 
    • Fixed Assets: Evaluate existing assets and gauge their status to reduce the possibility of shortages and overstocks. Simulate depreciation, log additions and disposals for review by auditors. 
    • Warehouse Management: Get real-time stock updates to see if items are below a certain level. Set alerts and notifications to inform the users if items are under certain thresholds. Leverage built-in reporting capabilities to make informed decisions 
read more...
  • IFS Financials: IFS includes basic accounting tools such as general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable and fixed assets. It also contains business planning functionality that uses customer-defined planning models to enable demand-driven planning. The eInvoice tool automates supplier invoicing and enables electronic invoicing. Consolidation can also be conducted across multiple companies and with multiple reporting currencies. 
  • IFS Human Capital Management: This system allows employees to manage their own data as well as perform tasks such as applying for leave and updating time and expense reports. HR personnel can also manage payroll procedures, maintain health and safety information in accordance with government regulations and develop internal training programs through the tool. Recruitment can be done through the program’s connectivity with third-party applicant tracking systems (ATS). 
  • IFS Engineering: This feature includes the ability for continuously updated data related to factors such as design elements, products and facilities to be accessed throughout an organization. Change management capabilities allow users to view, approve and check changes before going ahead with change orders. The commissioning tool also ensures that facility components are designed, tested, etc. in accordance with operational requirements through the use of punch lists and mechanical completion packages. 
  • IFS Projects: IFS includes project management, risk management, project reporting and project budgeting features. Specific functionality consists of the ability to process project cost transactions, create projects using WBS, develop project schedules and develop forecasts using multiple versions of project estimates, reviews, budgets, etc. Estimate to Complete (ETC) and Estimate at Complete (EAC) principles are supported and spreading rules are available. 
  • IFS Manufacturing: This tool can calculate capacity requirements, conduct Master Scheduling for finished goods, manage the production to order process and enable employees to report production information quickly. Project-based, discrete, repetitive and batch process manufacturing are also supported through the system. Visualization of the production plan is included and enables users to identify bottlenecks and material shortages. 
  • IFS Supply Chain: IFS offers demand forecasting, supply chain planning, inventory replenishment, sales order management, procurement, rental management, warehouse management and shipment management features. The inventory function is connected to the demand forecasting tool and includes different planning strategies such as economic order quantity and service level-driven safety stocks. Item traceability is also supported through barcode functionality, which provides real-time stock information. 
  • IFS Sales & Service: This feature controls the customer lifecycle from the time a lead comes in to the time that a product reaches its final destination. It assists with transportation by allowing users to visualize driving routes. It also supports service quote and contract management. Sales efforts can be streamlined through the sales configurator, which includes a product advisor that uses a series of questions to define requirements and recommend products. 
  • IFS Maintenance: IFS enables users to evaluate potential improvements in equipment performance, communicate with subcontractors through a collaboration portal, develop leaner MRO operations and manage preventive maintenance schedules. It also makes regulatory compliance for vehicle fleets easier and manages tasks such as fault reporting, preparation, execution and final reporting for maintenance-related matters. 
  • IFS Business Enablers: This solution includes role-based portals and personalized access to ensure that employees, customers and suppliers view the most relevant information and that no one has access to privileged information that they should not be able to review. The solution contains real-time data and allows for the connection of internal and external programs through web services. Add-ins and add-ons can be implemented to customize the solution through RESTful oData APIs from IFS. 
read more...

Product Ranking

#97

among all
ERP Software

#147

among all
ERP Software

Find out who the leaders are

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 283 reviews
Great User Sentiment 121 reviews
88%
of users recommend this product

Skyward ERP has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 283 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

80%
of users recommend this product

IFS has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 80% when considering 121 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.7 (9)
n/a
n/a
3.6 (20)
4.4 (137)
n/a
4.4 (137)
3.7 (22)
n/a
4.2 (65)
n/a
4.1 (14)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

User-Friendly Interface: Users praise Skyward for its intuitive design and ease of navigation, making it simple to find the information they need without extensive training.
Streamlined Communication: Skyward facilitates seamless communication between teachers, administrators, and parents through features like messaging and notifications, keeping everyone informed and connected.
Comprehensive Reporting: The platform offers robust reporting capabilities, allowing administrators to generate detailed reports on student performance, attendance, and other key metrics, enabling data-driven decision-making.
Show more
Intuitive interface: Users consistently praise IFS for its user-friendly design and easy-to-navigate interface, which reduces training time and improves adoption rates.
Flexibility and customization: The system's modular architecture allows for a high degree of customization, enabling businesses to tailor it to their unique processes and requirements without extensive coding.
Strong industry focus: IFS is particularly well-suited for industries such as aerospace, manufacturing, and energy, offering deep functionality and expertise in these areas.
Mobile accessibility: Users can access the system from any device, including smartphones and tablets, enabling them to stay connected and productive while on the go.
Robust project management: IFS provides comprehensive project management capabilities, from planning and scheduling to resource allocation and cost tracking, helping businesses deliver projects on time and within budget.
Show more
Clunky Interface: Users frequently express frustration with the user interface, finding it cumbersome and outdated compared to modern software.
Limited Customization: Adjusting the system to fit specific workflows or unique business needs can be challenging due to limited customization options.
Reporting Complexities: Generating reports and extracting meaningful data from the system is often perceived as a difficult and time-consuming process.
Show more
High upfront investment: IFS can require a significant initial investment for implementation and customization, potentially exceeding budgets for smaller businesses.
Steep learning curve: The system's complexity can lead to a steeper learning curve for users, requiring extensive training and support to achieve full proficiency.
Limited out-of-the-box functionality: While configurable, IFS may not offer pre-built features for specific industry needs, necessitating additional development or workarounds.
Integration complexities: Integrating IFS with existing systems can be challenging, requiring specialized expertise and potentially leading to data silos.
Performance bottlenecks: Large or complex implementations may experience performance issues, requiring careful optimization and infrastructure considerations.
Show more

Skyward ERP is a cloud-based ERP solution that has received positive reviews from users. They praise its user-friendly interface, which makes it easy to learn and use, even for employees who are not familiar with ERP software. Users also appreciate the wide range of functionality that Skyward ERP offers, which allows businesses to manage all of their core operations in one place. However, Skyward ERP is not without its drawbacks. Some users have reported that the software can be slow and buggy at times. Others have complained that the customer support is not as responsive as they would like. Despite these weaknesses, Skyward ERP is a solid ERP solution that is well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses. Its user-friendly interface and wide range of functionality make it a good choice for businesses that are looking for an ERP solution that is easy to use and can grow with their business.

Show more

User reviews for IFS paint a picture of a powerful and flexible ERP system, but one that demands investment and expertise. Fans praise its intuitive interface and industry-specific depth, especially in sectors like aerospace and manufacturing. "The power of IFS is amazing and overwhelming," one user gushes, noting its ability to handle 95% of their business processes. The modular architecture allows for significant customization, a major draw for many. "It can be tailored to fit almost any business environment," says another reviewer, contrasting it with the "rigid" feel of competing products like SAP. However, IFS isn't for everyone. The initial investment and customization needs can be daunting, particularly for smaller companies. "The cost can be high," admits a user, comparing it to the "more affordable" options like Microsoft Dynamics 365. Additionally, the complexity can lead to a steep learning curve. "It's not as user-friendly as NetSuite," says another reviewer, highlighting the need for extensive training. Integration challenges and potential performance bottlenecks are also mentioned as drawbacks. Ultimately, IFS seems best suited for companies with specific industry needs and the resources to invest in its extensive capabilities. "If you're looking for a deep dive into your industry, IFS is amazing," one user concludes. "But if you need something quick and easy, there are other options."

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in ERP Software


Acumatica

Cetec ERP

DELMIAworks

Dynamics 365 ERP

Epicor Kinetic

IFS Cloud

Infor M3

NetSuite

Odoo

Oracle Fusion Cloud

Priority ERP

Rootstock

S2K Enterprise

Sage 300 Cloud

SAP Business ByDesign

SAP Business One

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

SYSPRO

SyteLine

Visibility ERP

Related Categories

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings