verivo ebook enterprise html5

8/13/2019 Verivo eBook Enterprise Html5

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EB O O K T HE MO B I L E AR C HI T EC T S G U I DE T O PHO N EG A P & HT ML 5 1 /2 1

VER I VO SO F T W AR E | 1 0 0 0 W I N T ER ST R EET W AL T HAM, MA 0 2 4 5 1 | 7 8 1 .7 9 5 .8 2 0 0 | W W W .VER I VO .C O M

PhoneGap & HTML5Enterprise Mobility

The Mobile Architects Guide To

PhoneGap & HTML5 In The Enterprise


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IntroductionAs enterprise mobility continues to mature, interest in investing in the

development of mobile apps is starting to scale significantly. According to VDC

Research, eight in ten organizations today are actively developing enterprisemobile apps. But ultimately, what approach are these organizations taking to

develop their mobile apps, what are their requirements, how satisfied are they

with the tools available and more importantly, what are the main enterprise

mobility challenges they are facing?

In this interactive eBook, we will answer these questions as well discuss the three

primary options for building mobile apps today: native, mobile web, and hybrid.

Each approach offers its own set of strengths and weaknesses. This guide will

focus on the challenges of building hybrid enterprise mobile apps using Adobe

PhoneGap (also known as Apache Cordova). Later, we will also explore the

technical details and requirements for building enterprise PhoneGap apps

including integrating multiple data sources with complex data transactions,

building a sync engine for PhoneGap offline apps and building re-usable mobile

services that all your apps can use.


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CHAPTER 1The Enterprise Mobility Landscape

One thing that became very clear in 2013 was that enterprise mobility development is

fundamentally changing, and the ways that developers are approaching mobile

development are also changing. Here are some of the trends that stood out in 2013:

The Multi-Platform Challenge

Gone are the days when organizations built one app for one device (typically,

BlackBerry) and insisted that employees use no other phone. Today, mobile apps must

be able to run across multiple device types. Surveys show that 80% of companies

allow employees to access enterprise systems with personal mobile devices. And we

see that the vast majority of companies are deploying mobile apps with multiple types

of architectures and development environments. The reality of todays multi-platform

world presents both opportunities and challenges that ultimately impact user

adoption and return on investment. These are key factors driving the growth of

interest in hybrid mobile apps for the enterprise - that allow developers to deliver

native functionality while leveraging the same code base across multiple device types

(thereby reducing development time and cost).

Developers Looking for Greater Options and Freedom to Use Any Toolset

2013 was all about freedom and choice. Dictating a particular mobile development

approach where developers are locked into a single technology or tool is no longer

acceptable. This is being driven by the continuous, rapid evolution of mobile

technology and the challenges in finding enterprise mobile developers with the

required skillsets. Openness, choice and ease of use are now key requirements.

Front-End vs. Back-End Development

The distinction between front-end and back-end mobile development has also come

to the forefront. Thats not to say that the two are disconnected pieces. However its

important to understand that the requirements, the approaches, and skillsets to

develop each one are fundamentally different, and so are the challenges associated

with each.


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Front-end development gets most of the recognition because the user experience is

visually compelling. However, back-end development is the most challenging and

under-appreciated aspect of building enterprise mobile apps. For this e-book, front-

end development refers to UI/UX development. Back-end development includes all

development required to mobilize back-end systems and to deliver enterprise

requirements including data security, authentication, entitlements, offline and sync,and complex business logic.

HTML5 Increasingly Pervasive but Still Has Potential Limitations for the

Enterprise

HTML5 has great potential to address the challenge of building multi-platform

enterprise mobile apps. One of the primary drivers behind the interest in HTML5 in the

enterprise is the potential to leverage the skillsets of web developers in building

mobile apps. But according to enterprise mobile developers, HTML5 still has some verserious limitations. In a recent survey conducted by VDC Research, almost half of the

respondents indicated that managing large data sets is a key challenge. The limited

data storage capacity of a mobile web browser make HTML5 a poor fit for enterprise

requirements. Another key challenge is securing enterprise data in HTML5 mobile

apps. There is no enterprise-grade encryption available in mobile web browsers. In this

eBook, well discuss the key requirements for building enterprise mobile apps and the

challenges of using hybrid and HTML5 technology to meet those requirements.


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Mobile Development Challenges

When looking at mobile development challenges, we split them into two categories: front-

end challenges and back-end challenges. The nature of the requirements for front-end and a

back-end development are significantly different in terms of skillset, toolset and

development requirements.

Front-End Challenges

When it comes to front-end development, freedom of choice is critical. Developers are

embracing the rich, standard tools and SDKs that are available in the market today,

including Xcode, Android Studio, Sencha and PhoneGap. Code reuse is also a

consistent theme as platforms develop so rapidly. Front-end development tools focus

on the UI/UX. However, front-end developers need to interact with back-end systems

through a data access layer (i.e. mobile end-points). Front-end development faces the

same challenges of controlling development costs and re-usability of code when there

isnt a consistent, re-usable way for front-end developers to interact with back-end

systems. The goal of back-end developers should be to build standardized mobile

services that isolate front-end developers from the complexity of the back-end

systems. With consistent, re-usable end-points, front-end developers can focus

building apps that use those end-points without having to worry about the complexity

behind them.

Back-End Challenges

Not surprisingly, in 2013 development costs was the number one challenge for mobile

back-end development. The key back-end challenges are a mixture of technology and

development process needs. The challenges around development costs and reusability

of code reflect the need for solutions to simplify the complexity of back-end

integration and to enable reusable mobile services (i.e. mobile middleware). The

technology challenges, including large datasets, offline/data sync and data security,become even more difficult with the need to deliver cross-platform enterprise mobile

apps.

See diagrams on Page 6 for more detail.


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Source: VDC Research, July 2013

Source: VDC Research, July 2013


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Cordova vs. PhoneGap: What is the diference?

The terms Cordova and PhoneGap are often used interchangeably, and while they

are very similar, they are not quite the same. Cordova is part of the Apache license andis open source. We like to call it the master copy of this wrapping technology.

PhoneGap is an implementation of Cordova which is now owned by Adobe and it is also

open source.

PhoneGap was developed by Nitobi. In October 2011, Adobe acquired Nitobi and at the

same time, the PhoneGap code was contributed to the Apache Software Foundation to

start a new project and to ensure open development of the code standard. The new

project was initially named Apache Callback and then very quickly was renamed Apache

Cordova. Today, Adobe PhoneGap is a distribution of Apache Cordova. Currently,

PhoneGap and Cordova are largely the same code base but in the future, Adobe could

release new versions of PhoneGap that differ.

Adobe offers a service called PhoneGap Build which is a way that you can, in the cloud,

package your web pages into native format without having any local development

environments. This is one example where PhoneGap adds a service that Cordova does

not. In this eBook, well be talking about building PhoneGap apps.


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Challenges of Building Enterprise Mobile Apps

Before we get into building PhoneGap apps, its important to take a step back to consider the

core requirements for enterprise mobile apps and the key challenges in meeting thoserequirements. The good news is that building enterprise mobile apps today is a lot easier

than it was just a couple of years ago. We now have a number of great frameworks and tools

available, either for native development or web development Xcode, Android Studio,

JavaScript frameworks like Sencha and jQuery, plus Accelerator, PhoneGap and others. The

bad news is that most of those tools dont help you solve the back-end infrastructure

challenges that are associated with enterprise apps.

What makes enterprise mobility so difficult? Heres a short list key requirements for

enterprise mobile apps:

Access to back-end enterprise data sources

Organizations will typically mobilize back-end systems that already exist. These

systems could be located behind the firewall or up in the cloud, and there could be

many of them: SAP, Seibel, SharePoint, Salesforce and PeopleSoft to name a few. Some

of these data sources may not offer mobile-friendly APIs. Each back-end system could

have its own authentication as well as require integration with identity managementsystems like Active Directory, LDAP, SiteMinder and others. Ultimately, if youre

building enterprise mobile apps with these kinds of requirements, you dont want to

have to re-invent the back-end system integration for every new app. You dont want

to manage users and entitlements in multiple places for desktop apps vs. mobile apps.

You want to be able to be build mobile infrastructure that allows you to re-use and

scale your back-end systems across all your mobile apps.

Building apps that mobilize multiple back-end data sources

In a recent survey by VDC Research, 78% of enterprise mobile developers reported

building mobile apps utilizing two or more back-end systems. Building apps that

integrate multiple back-end data sources increases the complexity of creating a

consistent, re-usable data access layer (i.e. mobile end-points). In creating mobile


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end-points that return combined data from multiple back-end systems, there are

number of steps required. The end-point must authenticate the user, connect to the

data sources, validate the session, pull the data from the first data source, find and

retrieve the related records from the second data source, merge the data, and pass the

results back to the app. When youre building enterprise mobile apps with these types

of complex end-points, it becomes increasing important to create the end-points witha standards-based, re-usable design that can scale across all your apps.

Implementing business logic

There are two key considerations in building business logic for enterprise mobile apps.

First, its important to design mobile apps to transmit only the required data to the

mobile device to improve app responsiveness and minimize data plan costs. Back-

end developers should look for solutions that enable them to implement business

logic within a mobile services layer or a mobile middleware server. Implementingbusiness logic within a mobile services layer allows the logic to filter data and transmit

only the required data. Second, its important to build business logic in a consistent,

re-usable, and extensible structure that can be leveraged across all your mobile apps.

In addition to the business logic functions, youll also need to create a structure that

makes it easy to sequence the business logic (i.e. routing). This will create an

infrastructure that allows you to plug any sequence of business logic into any mobile

app.

Security

Data security is an important topic for the enterprise. This includes protecting data at

rest on the device and in transit, integrating with your existing authentication

schemes, and building entitlements to ensure that people only have access to the data

that they are allowed to see. Some industries also have specialized requirements for

mobile security policies. For example, when a device is left unattended for a given

period of time, force the user to re-authenticate. Complicating this challenge are the

differences in the security capabilities of each mobile device and operating system.

One device may offer enterprise-grade encryption and another may not. Youll want to

develop a security strategy that overcomes the differences in mobile devices. And

ideally, you want an easy way to centrally manage this infrastructure.


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Oine and data synchonization

With enterprise mobile apps, its important that apps should work the same when

theyre offline and synchronize any data changes when they come back online. The

initial challenge in building a sync engine is in tracking and syncing incremental

changes to your back-end data source. Youll need to enable logic to resolve conflicts

(e.g. define a policy to resolve the conflict when two different users update the same

record). In addition, authentication, entitlements, and encryption must continue to

work when the app is offline. And ideally, you want to build offline/sync infrastructure

that can be scaled across all your mobile apps and back-end systems you dont want

to have to build a new sync engine for every new mobile app.

Management capabilities

The management of the apps is very important. We know through experience that

getting the app in the hands of the users is just the first step. After that, its about

applying updates and changing policy rules and managing all of the apps that are

running across the entire organization. For example, you might want to be to apply

entitlement changes centrally without having to deploy an updated version of the app.

Logging and audit trails are another important management requirement for mobile

apps. Logging and audit trails are important tools for understanding mobile app usage

and optimizing performance. In addition, logging and audit trails are critical tools in

remediating data security breaches.


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What is an Enterprise Mobile App?

Accessing Data from

Multiple Back-End

Systems

- Salesforce and OpenAir in

the cloud

- SharePoint, Conuence

and ZenDesk in-housebehind the rewall

- Custom DBs

Merging, joining and

ltering data across all

these systems

Authentication

against multiple

systems

- Single Sign On

- App to Active

Directory

- Separately to

Salesforce, OpenAir

and Confuence

Secure app and

infrastructure

Permission-ing /

Entitlements

Oine Operations

- Data available when

oine

- Data synchronizes


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Limitations with Mobile Web and HybridDevelopment

Here are some key issues to consider when deciding whether your enterprise should buildhybrid mobile apps.

Storage limitations

By default, storage limits imposed by the mobile browsers in which hybrid apps run,

make it difficult to support real-world enterprise use cases (e.g. CRM, field service,

manufacturing). Even if youre building a hybrid app using PhoneGap, you still will run

into these storage limitations. Mobile web browsers are typically limited to 5-10MB of

data. We see mobile datasets on many enterprise tablet apps in the GB range. Inaddition, the data storage on mobile web browsers behaves like a data cache - making

it difficult for front-end developers to rely on data being present in that cache when

the app needs it.

Security

From a security perspective, if you need to encrypt your data through mobile web or

hybrid, you will face some big challenges. Thats one of the key challenges in building

enterprise mobile apps with PhoneGap. There is no enterprise-grade encryptionavailable in mobile browsers. In addition, the native encryption capabilities of each

device can vary widely. You need a strategy to deliver enterprise-grade encryption for

hybrid mobile apps. There are three primary alternatives. You can build the encryption

infrastructure yourself. You can use a dedicated mobile security solution (e.g. mobile

app management platform). Or you can use an enterprise mobile app platform that

makes it easy to build security throughout your mobile app.

Access to Back-end Systems

Even though you have a mobile website that is packaged natively, that does not mean

mobilizing back-end systems is any easier. A hybrid mobile development strategy does

not change any of the complexity or challenges related to enterprise requirements for

connecting to back-end systems, supporting business logic, and enabling offline/data

sync infrastructure.


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For the most part, the mobile web piece only addresses front-end development. Hybrid and

mobile web apps need additional infrastructure to address the complexities of mobilizing

back-end systems and to deliver a complete set of enterprise capabilities. In addition, its

important to address those challenges with solutions that scale across all your mobile apps

and all your back-end systems to increase re-usability and lower development costs.

Build vs. Buy

Weve established the importance of a re-usable layer of mobile services that simplify the

complexity building hybrid enterprise mobile apps. The next logical question is whether an

enterprise should build it themselves or buy solutions that address these challenges. Here

are some questions that you may want to consider in making this decision:

How many enterprise mobile apps will your company be building in the next 2-3 years?

The more apps that youre planning to build, the more important it becomes to create

a standardized way of mobilizing back-end systems and overcoming the challenges of

building multi-platform mobile apps.

Does your team have the expertise to build, test, and maintain the mobile services

infrastructure? These would be the tools that let you build the mobile services that

your mobile apps use. In addition, as mobile technology continues its rapid evolution,

does your company have the resources to keep updating the infrastructure tools to

support the newest requirements created by the latest mobile operation systemrelease. Platform vendors make the case that its more effective to buy tools so

enterprises can focus their limited resources on activities that drive competitive

advantage for their business.

If youre going to buy tools to enable enterprise mobile services, then all the usual IT

questions should apply. Does the solution have the capabilities to address the

requirements for building enterprise mobile apps? Is the solution based on open

standards to ensure that its easy to integrate and to protect your investment againstthe rapid rate of change in mobile technology? Whats the total cost of ownership

across the complete lifecycle of building, testing, and maintaining enterprise mobile

apps?


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CHAPTER 3Introducing the Verivo Akula Cordova SDKBuilding enterprise mobile apps with Akula and PhoneGap

Verivo Akula is an open, enterprise mobile app platform designed to simplify the

complexities of building, securing, and controlling mobile apps. Akula solves the challenges

of building enterprise PhoneGap apps with re-usable, standards-based mobile infrastructure.

The platform enables enterprise mobile services that scale across all your mobile apps and

back-end systems for native, hybrid and mobile web apps on iOS, Android, and Windows

Phone 8.

Enterprise Data Storage Strategies for Hybrid Mobile Apps

The limited local data storage available through mobile browsers is one of the primary

challenges in building hybrid enterprise mobile apps. Mobile browsers are typically limited to

5-10 MB of data storage. Verivo Akula provides an enterprise client SDK that makes it easy to

implement SQLite across all your native, hybrid, and HTML5 mobile apps. SQLite lets your

mobile apps leverage the full data storage capacity of the device so your apps are not limited

by the browser. Table 1 highlights the major ways data can be stored offline for hybrid mobile

apps.

Table 1 Data Storage Options for Building Enterprise Mobile Apps with PhoneGap


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Enterprise Mobile App Requirements for IT Management

The Akula Cordova SDK also provides value to IT Management. Akula provides the ability to

integrate with your existing enterprise authentication and data sources. For example, Akula

features built-in integration with Active Directory for authentication. With Akula, you can

build RESTful end-points that simplify the complexity of login and authentication to back-

end systems for front-end developers.

In the enterprise world, the ability to apply security settings is critical. The Akula Cordova

SDK not only allows you to apply stringent security policies to PhoneGap apps, but also

across all of your enterprise apps - whether thats a native app on iOS or Android, a hybrid

app running with a Cordova SDK or a web app youve built with the Akula JavaScript library.

Finally, its no surprise that lost or stolen smartphones and tablets is the primary source of

mobile data breaches. Having the ability to remote wipe data thats stored locally on the

device is critical. Akula provides a method to wipe locally stored data when necessary.

Updating app functionality without redeployment is also important. This gives you the

ability to alter how your app behaves on the users device without having to go through the

app approval process or having to ship a new app to the user.

And finally, the Akula Cordova SDK allows you to implement business workflows and

custom business logic to your PhoneGap apps. An example might be merging and filtering

data from multiple back-end systems to ensure that its only sending the data thats

absolutely necessary for the mobile app to function properly.

The Akula server also allows you to centrally manage and control your apps allowing you to

choose how your apps behave as well give you the ability to audit and keep track of your

apps.


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In summary, the Akula Cordova SDK allows ITManagers to:

1. Connect your mobile apps to enterprise auth & data sources

2. Centrally manage and control your apps using Akula Server

3. Apply security policies across native, hybrid and web apps

4. Update app functionality without redeployment

5. Implement workows and custom business logic


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CHAPTER 4Interactive Demo Windows Phone 8, iOS andAndroid

See an enterprise-grade PhoneGap app built using the Akula Cordova SDK

Sync data from the server to a hybrid app and store large quantities of data on the

device

See that app tie into Active Directory (corporate directory)

Learn how to define permissions on the Akula server to affect device behavior Leverage common infrastructure to run apps across a variety of device types from a

centralized code base

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