What is "mapics"

MAPICS is commercial ERP software used to control the operations of manufacturing companies. Its name is an acronym for Manufacturing, Accounting and Production Information Control Systems. MAPICS was created by IBM, International Business Machines, but the product is now owned by Infor Global Solutions and branded 'Infor ERP XA'.

Originally all MAPICS code ran only on IBM midrange systems like the IBM System 34, 36, and the AS/400, via succeeding versions of the platform - the IBM iSeries, System i and now Power Systems. Early versions were written in IBM RPG, augmented with AS/400 Control Language programs. IBM's version of SQL is also utilized. Recent development efforts have added object oriented components written in the Java programming language, which extends a portion of the XA product to servers running Java.

However, the XA product still requires the midrange IBM iOS platform. The Java components provide an application runtime which allow user customizations, a rich user interface, an optional web-based interface as well as support for XML interfaces.