Enterprise Mobility and Mobile Application Usage Scenarios

Extending your enterprise business processes, data, and information away from the office entails many technical challenges. To successfully mobilize your enterprise using Sybase® Unwired Platform, determine which mobile application categories fit your enterprise mobility use case and balance device user requirements with enterprise requirements.

Mobility solutions present complexity to the IT organization. These complexities may include, but not be limited to, lack of integrated solutions, heavy upfront costs for large-scale customization requirements, and the lack of repeatable development and deployment models. Sybase Unwired Platform addresses these complexities by providing a platform-based solution that allows you to leverage existing mobile development tools and expertise to develop applications to meet your users' data needs, implement to complement areas of your existing infrastructure and security, and access data from a variety of enterprise information systems and deploy to a variety of mobile platforms.

Sybase Unwired Platform supports development and deployment of several categories of mobile applications. Each category identifies the specific application archetype for development.

Offline mobile applications – With offline mobile applications, information availability is mission critical regardless of connectivity. Application requirements typically involve:
- Need for some sets of data available on the device for use if the application is used offline.
- More complex task orientation, data input, and screen navigation
Offline applications are developed using the Sybase Mobile SDK Object API. Object API applications leverage Unwired Platforms synchronization services, developers create applications that allow users to work offline (create, update data). Data is synchronized between the EIS and the device when connectivity is available.
Hybrid Container applications – Hybrid mobile applications offer an option that is a hybrid of HTML5 and container development approaches. Hybrid apps provide a feature-rich web based user interface and the simplicity of container-based deployment. The typical use case for hybrid web container applications includes mobile workflows and lightweight applications. Human resource management applications for vacation or travel approval are examples of this occasionally connected application. Application requirements typically involve:
- Low data volume
- Simple user experience, involving notifications, lookup, and action-decision forms
- No long-lasting offline stateful transactions
Hybrid Container applications leverage Unwired Platforms services from within an standards based HTML(5)/JavaScript environment, developers create applications using Sybase Mobile Workflow Designer or using third party web tools. With this approach, a container is developed natively for the target mobile operating system and deployed to the device, then one or more workflows are deployed to the container.
OData SDK mobile applications – With OData mobile applications, information access is adhoc in nature and access to data is not available in areas without network access. Application requirements typically involve:
- Request/reply directly with the EIS
- Light-weight editing of form-based information
- Few screens and simple entries
Online applications are developed using the Sybase Mobile OData SDK. OData SDK applications leverage Unwired Platforms Online Data Proxy services. Developers create applications that allow users to work (create, update data), connecting the application to SAP® NetWeaver Gateway exposed data.

Mobile applications developed and deployed with Sybase Unwired Platform address common services, covering the following areas:

Device, data, and transport security
Error reporting and troubleshooting support
Remote device management support

Sybase Unwired Platform, by providing the development tools to support these mobile application types and by providing the runtime platform that deploys and manages mobile applications, meets enterprise mobility requirements and device user expectations requiring development skills found in most organizations.