Technology

SunGard Public Sector’s IFAS application is built for the Web. IFAS makes use of advanced XML messaging that enables you to rapidly develop unique views into the application and offer access to those views via a standard Web browser. The IFAS dashboard interface is an example of this. Users have the ability to view data specific to their job function and have that data served to them on a personalized dashboard. Because of the open nature of this interface, users can also populate the dashboard with data that is not specific to IFAS, but is still a critical part of their daily activities. In addition, the dashboard interface is fully integrated with the IFAS Workflow engine. A Workflow task list is generated from the database with real time approval information, and is easily accessible via the dashboard.

Desktop access is provided via a fully “thin” Web browser. For most users, a browser is the only application required on the desktop. Edge applications, like Employee Online and Timecard Online, are not browser-dependent and can run on Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc. Citrix is required to access the application via a Macintosh computer.

All web-based development and PC products are deployed with the assistance of a Windows 2003 advanced application server farm. Most clients use network load balancing, so all of the servers in the Server Farm appear as one virtual server with basic fail-over support. All new development of IFAS is written in C++, XML and HTML.