Setting Up the Mobile Apps

Overview

This chapter describes the setup tasks that administrators must perform first to ensure that the 10.x apps are ready to use.

Depending on your app requirements, administrators may perform different tasks to set up your app before communicating the information to the app users. These setup tasks are described as follows:

Setup Tasks for Oracle Approvals for EBS, Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS, and Oracle Timecards for EBS

Oracle Approvals for EBS, Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS, and Oracle Timecards for EBS are developed using a similar approach with the same Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit (JET) 14.0 Framework. Therefore, the setup tasks of these apps are described in the same section.

Note: These three apps are available through web page URLs, not through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Users can access the apps using the URLs provided by their administrators.

  1. Applying Server-Side Patches for Oracle Approvals for EBS, Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS, and Oracle Timecards for EBS

  2. Setting Up MIME Type Mappings

  3. Setting Up Mobile App Access to Responsibilities (for Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS and Oracle Timecards for EBS)

  4. Performing Additional App-Specific Setup

  5. Communicating Mobile App Information to Users

  6. Performing Advanced Configurations

  7. Enabling the Server Logging and REST Service Auditing Features

Task 1: Applying Server-Side Patches for Oracle Approvals for EBS, Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS, and Oracle Timecards for EBS

Apply the corresponding consolidated product family patch and conditionally required patches if needed for your apps.

Note: In Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2, when you apply patches using the adop (AD Online Patching) utility, adop runs AutoConfig by default.

Perform the required tasks to apply prerequisite patches in the following sequence:

  1. Applying Product Family Level Patches

  2. Applying Conditional Post-Install Patches

Step 1: Applying the Product Family Level Patches for Oracle Release 10.x Apps

Apply the server-side patches for Release 12.2 using either the Oracle E-Business Suite level consolidated patch or the individual product family patches, depending on your needs.

Step 2: Applying Conditional Post-Install Patches

Apply any additional conditionally required post-install patches from the following list for your apps:

Conditional Post-Install Patches for Oracle Approvals for EBS, Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS, and Oracle Timecards for EBS Release 10.x
Oracle E-Business Suite Release or Mobile App Name Requirement Patch Information
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2

  • Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Release 10.0 Online Help

 Required for Oracle E-Business Suite 10 mobile apps, leveraging Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Foundation Release 9.1, connected to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2

  • Release 12.2: Patch 35622500
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 Required only if your Oracle E-Business Suite environment has the following patches applied:

  • Release 12.2 - Patch 27761509:12.2.0 (Oracle Applications Release 12.2 : Consolidated Patch for Data Removal Tool)

Note: If your environment has the following Data Removal Tool consolidated patches applied instead, then the post-install tasks specified in the next column are not required:

  • Release 12.2 - Patch 29206195:12.2.0 (Oracle Applications Release 12.2 Data Removal Tool - One-off Consolidation - January 2020)

 Perform the following steps in the specified order:

  • Release 12.2:

    1. Apply Patch 28295762:R12.PER.C.

    2. Apply Patch 28303904:R12.FND.C.

    3. Recompile the data removal metadata by running the concurrent program "Recompile Metadata for Data Removal Tool", with the "Entity Type" parameter set to "ALL".
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2

  • Oracle Approvals for EBS

  • Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS

  • Oracle Timecards for EBS

 Required for Oracle Approvals for EBS, Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS, and Oracle Timecards for EBS after applying NLS language patches. Patch 35742307:12.2.0

Task 2: Setting Up MIME Type Mappings

After applying required server-side patches, you need to set up MIME type mappings for web application manifest file using the following steps:

  1. Add the following entry in the $EBS_DOMAIN_HOME/config/mimemappings.properties file:

    webmanifest=application/manifest+json

  2. Restart all services on the application tier.

Task 3: Setting Up Mobile App Access to Responsibilities (for Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS and Oracle Timecards for EBS)

Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS and Oracle Timecards for EBS use role-based access control to protect the mobile app data from unauthorized access.

Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS and Oracle Timecards for EBS have app-specific access roles. Only users who are assigned those app-specific roles can access the corresponding mobile apps. In order for those users to be able to access Oracle E-Business Suite data in a mobile app that invokes REST services, all REST services that the mobile app uses are grouped into a permission set that is then granted to an app-specific access role. To provide the mobile app access capability to existing Oracle E-Business Suite users, you must assign each access role to the responsibilities that you want to associate with the corresponding mobile app. Users who have the predefined mobile app access roles through those responsibilities will have access to the corresponding mobile apps.

Note: Oracle Approvals for EBS is available through global grant to all Oracle E-Business Suite users.

For Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps, responsibility selection is based on the combination of user role and mobile app. If the mobile app access role is assigned to a single responsibility, then the responsibility is automatically set and selected for a user using that mobile app. If a user has more than one responsibility to which the mobile app access role is assigned, then those responsibilities will be displayed for selection.

Note that it is not required to create or assign any new responsibility to users to use mobile apps. For information on the app-specific access roles, see Mobile App Access Roles.

Assigning Mobile App Access Roles to Responsibilities

To secure mobile app data, perform the following steps to assign predefined app-specific mobile app access roles to responsibilities:

  1. Log in to Oracle E-Business Suite as a user who has the User Management responsibility. For example, log in as SYSADMIN.

    Note: The User Management responsibility is assigned to the Security Administrator role. This seeded role is assigned to the SYSADMIN user by default.

  2. Select the User Management responsibility and navigate to the Roles and Role Inheritance page.

  3. Search for the responsibility you want.

  4. In the search results table, click the "View In Hierarchy" icon for your responsibility. Note that the codes for responsibilities start with FND_RESP, while the codes for roles start with UMX.

  5. In the Role Inheritance Hierarchy, click the Add Node icon for your responsibility.

    Oracle User Management displays the next role hierarchy page with a message informing you that the role you select will be inherited. In this page, either search or expand nodes until you find the app-specific access role that you want to add to the responsibility. Use the Quick Select icon to choose that role.

  6. Oracle User Management then displays the initial page again, with a confirmation message at the top. On this page, verify that the custom UMX role appears underneath the responsibility. You may need to expand one or more nodes to display the UMX role under the responsibility. Any other inherited roles appear as well.

  7. When you add the role to the responsibility, you must also update the associated grant for the app-specific access roles to reference the specific responsibility as the security context. You need a separate grant for each responsibility to which you are adding the role, so in some cases you should duplicate the shipped grant rather than updating it.

    In the row of the role that you just added, click the Update icon for your role to navigate to the Update Role page.

  8. In the Grants Table at the end of the page, if this is the first responsibility to which you are adding to the role, click the Update icon for the grant you want to update. If this is the second responsibility or more to which you are adding the role, click the Duplicate icon for the grant instead of the Update icon. In the duplicate grant, you must provide a unique name for the grant.

  9. Apply your changes.

If you want to use the app-specific access role with more than one responsibility, you must have a separate grant with a security context corresponding to each responsibility. You can also add grants for a given role as a separate process, rather than while you are adding the role to the responsibility. To do so, perform the following steps:

  1. In the User Management responsibility, navigate to the Roles and Role Inheritance page.

  2. Search for the app-specific access role you want.

  3. Click the Update icon for your role to navigate to the Update Role page.

  4. In the Grants Table at the end of the page, click the Duplicate icon for the grant you want to duplicate.

  5. Modify the grant name of the new grant to make it unique.

  6. In the Security Context region, enter the name of the additional responsibility to which you are adding the app-specific access role. Enter the name of a shipped responsibility from the table above, or, if you are using a custom responsibility, enter the name of that custom responsibility.

  7. Click Next, Next, Finish, and OK to complete your grant.

For more information, see the Oracle E-Business Suite Security Guide.

Task 4: Performing Additional App-Specific Setup

Perform any appropriate app-specific implementation steps described in each release note of the following mobile apps:

For the list of Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps mentioned here, see the Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Apps, Release 12.1 and 12.2 Documentation Index, My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1641772.1.

Task 5: Communicating Mobile App Information to Users

After you have completed the setup tasks for your app, provide the following information to the users who access the app through a web page URL:

Task 6: Performing Advanced Configurations

This section describes the following advanced configuration tasks for Oracle Approvals for EBS, Oracle Timecards for EBS, and Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS:

Task 7: Enabling the Server Logging and REST Service Auditing Features

This section describes the following logging and auditing features that is applicable for Oracle Approvals for EBS, Oracle Self-Service HR for EBS, and Oracle Timecards for EBS.

Note: Client logging and troubleshooting tips described later in the Diagnostics and Troubleshooting chapter of this guide are not applicable for these three apps.

For more information about logging and how to troubleshoot issues, see Diagnostics and Troubleshooting.

Setup Tasks for Oracle Maintenance for EBS

This section includes the following setup tasks for Oracle Maintenance for EBS:

  1. Applying Server-Side Patches for Oracle Maintenance for EBS

  2. Configuring the Mobile Apps on the Oracle E-Business Suite Server

  3. Setting Up Mobile App Access to Responsibilities

  4. Performing Additional Setup for Device Integration

  5. Performing Additional App-Specific Setup

  6. Communicating Mobile App Information to Users

  7. Performing Advanced Configurations

  8. Enabling the Logging and Diagnostics Features

Additionally, administrators can track the app usage and user installation through the Mobile Applications Manager UI page. See: Managing Usage Metrics for Oracle Maintenance for EBS.

Task 1: Applying Server-Side Patches for Oracle Maintenance for EBS

Perform the required tasks to apply prerequisite patches in the following sequence:

  1. Performing Conditional Pre-Install Tasks

  2. Applying Product Family Level Patches

  3. Applying Conditional Post-Install Patches

Step 1: Performing Conditional Pre-Install Tasks

For Oracle Maintenance for EBS Only

Apply the corresponding consolidated product family patch and conditionally required patches if needed.

Note: In Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2, when you apply patches using the adop (AD Online Patching) utility, adop runs AutoConfig by default.

To support the "Apps SSO Login" authentication in Mobile Release 10.x, you must also apply required patches and perform additional setup tasks to enable the feature. See: Setup Tasks to Enable the Apps SSO Login Authentication Security.

Perform any additional conditionally required pre-install tasks from the following list for Oracle Maintenance for EBS only:

Conditional Pre-Install Tasks for Oracle Maintenance for EBS 10.x App
Oracle E-Business Suite Release or Mobile App Name Requirement Pre-Install Task
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2

  • Oracle Maintenance for EBS

 Required only if you plan to implement Oracle Maintenance for EBS Oracle Mobile Maintenance "Disconnected" feature uses the Oracle Mobile Field Service Multiplatform framework, which does not require Oracle Lite and consequently Oracle Lite should be uninstalled.
If the "mobileadmin" schema exists, refer to My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1564644.1, Oracle Mobile Field Service Store and Forward Multiple Platforms Support.

Step 2: Applying the Product Family Level Patches for Oracle Release 10.x Apps

Apply the server-side patches for Release 12.2 using either the Oracle E-Business Suite level consolidated patch or the individual product family patches, depending on your needs.

Step 3: Applying Conditional Post-Install Patches

Apply additional conditionally required post-install patches from the following list for Oracle Maintenance for EBS:

Conditional Post-Install Patches for Oracle Maintenance for EBS Release 10.x
Oracle E-Business Suite Release or Mobile App Name Requirement Patch Information
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2

  • Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Release 10.0 Online Help

 Required for Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps, leveraging Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Foundation Release 9.1, connected to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2

  • Release 12.2: Patch 35622500
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 Required only if your Oracle E-Business Suite environment has the following patches applied:

  • Release 12.2 - Patch 27761509:12.2.0 (Oracle Applications Release 12.2 : Consolidated Patch for Data Removal Tool)

Note: If your environment has the following Data Removal Tool consolidated patches applied instead, then the post-install tasks specified in the next column are not required:

  • Release 12.2 - Patch 29206195:12.2.0 (Oracle Applications Release 12.2 Data Removal Tool - One-off Consolidation - January 2020)

 Perform the following steps in the specified order:

  • Release 12.2:

    1. Apply Patch 28295762:R12.PER.C.

    2. Apply Patch 28303904:R12.FND.C.

    3. Recompile the data removal metadata by running the concurrent program "Recompile Metadata for Data Removal Tool", with the "Entity Type" parameter set to "ALL".
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2

  • Oracle Maintenance for EBS

 Required if you connect to an Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 instance with Oracle Maintenance for EBS

  1. Apply the Mobile Maintenance Release 10 Consolidated Patch 34116139:R12.EAM.C.

  2. If your instance is Release 12.2.10 or later, apply an additional Patch 34439382:R12.EAM.C.

Task 2: Configuring the Mobile Apps on the Oracle E-Business Suite Server

Note: Information described in this section applies to Oracle Maintenance for EBS only. It does not apply to all other Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Release 10.x apps.

Before letting the mobile users download and use the app, you must first enable the mobile app that you want to configure, and then specify configuration parameter values for the app. Oracle E-Business Suite provides default values for the configuration parameters, which you can optionally override as needed.

Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps use the configuration service to download the configuration file from the server to the mobile apps. The apps then use the parameters specified in the configuration files to connect securely from the mobile client to the Oracle E-Business Suite instance. You must validate the configuration service URL to ensure the mobile app is ready for the users.

This section includes the following topics:

Note: This setup is a one-time process for each app. You can enable and set up each app individually through the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages or set up multiple apps simultaneously using a script.

After the initial setup, you can update the configuration parameters if necessary. If the configuration is changed after the initial setup is complete and loaded to a user's app, the updated parameters will be automatically downloaded to the app every five logins. See Directing Users to Obtain Connection Details and Download Updates from the Server.

Enabling a Mobile App Individually and Specifying the Configuration Through the UI Pages

To access Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Applications Manager UI pages, log in to Oracle E-Business Suite as a user who has the Mobile Applications Manager responsibility.

Note: The Mobile Applications Manager responsibility is assigned to the Mobile Applications Administrator role (UMX|FND_MBL_ROLE_ADMIN) and the Mobile Applications Developer role (UMX|FND_MBL_ROLE_DEV). A system administrator assigns these roles to users through Oracle User Management. See: Assigning Roles to or Revoking Roles from Users, Oracle E-Business Suite Security Guide.

Users granted different roles can perform various tasks as described in the following table:

Privileges Mobile Applications Administrator Mobile Applications Developer
Search enterprise apps Yes Yes
Register enterprise apps Yes Yes
Configure enterprise apps Yes Yes
Update application definitions Yes Yes
Delete application definitions Yes Yes
View configuration files Yes Yes
View mobile app installation details Yes No
View mobile app usage metrics Yes No

To configure mobile apps, users can obtain the responsibility through the Mobile Applications Administrator role. The SYSADMIN user is granted the Mobile Applications Administrator role by default.

Select the Mobile Applications Manager responsibility and choose the Applications link from the navigator. The Search Mobile Applications page appears.

The Search Mobile Applications Page

the picture is described in the document text

This Search Mobile Applications page is the entry point to access the application definition details for each Oracle E-Business Suite mobile app. After performing a search, a user who has the Mobile Applications Administrator role can perform the following tasks from the search result table:

Important: For Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Release 10.x, push notifications is currently not available, although Push Configuration is present in the Search Mobile Applications page.

Enabling and Configuring a Mobile App Individually

Perform the following steps to configure your mobile app on the Oracle E-Business Suite server:

  1. Log in to Oracle E-Business Suite as a user who has the Mobile Applications Administrator role. For example, log in as SYSADMIN.

  2. Select the Mobile Applications Manager responsibility and choose the Applications link from the navigator.

  3. In the Search Mobile Applications page, enter desired search criteria and click the Search button. The page displays the mobile apps that match the search criteria in the search result table.

    For metadata information that you can enter in the search criteria to locate your desired app, see Appendix C: Application Definition Metadata.

  4. Click the Configure icon for the mobile app that you want to configure from the search result table.

  5. Review the app details in the Configure Mobile Applications page. If the selected app is not configured, change the status to "Enabled".

    • Enabled: This allows you to configure the app against Oracle E-Business Suite.

    • Disabled: The app was configured previously but is currently disabled. This prevents any further configuration on the app against Oracle E-Business Suite. If an app was configured successfully prior to setting its status to "Disabled", the app will continue to work.

    • Not Configured (default): The app's definition was just installed on the server and it is not configured yet.

      Note that after an app is configured, although it is possible to change its status to "Not Configured", it is recommended that you change it to "Disabled" only.

    Configure Mobile Applications Page to Enable a Mobile App

    the picture is described in the document text

  6. In the Configuration Categories region, optionally choose the Show link next to the "Connection Settings" category to display the parameters corresponding to the selected authentication type.

    You can modify these parameter values for the configuration. See: Configurations for Local and SSO Login Types.

    If you want to proceed with the default parameter values, skip the next step 7, and go to step 8.

  7. Update the configuration parameter values in the Configuration Parameters region to appropriate values for your Oracle E-Business Suite instance, if the configuration parameter settings for your instance are different from the default settings. For example, for the authentication type, if the location of a web entry point specific to a mobile app is stored in a custom profile option, then update the Service Endpoint (APPS_MOBILE_AGENT) parameter with the custom profile option name. For information on configuring parameters in the Configuration Parameters region, see:

    Configuration parameters to be included in the configuration file depends on the selected authentication type in the Sub Category field. For example, if "Apps SSO Login" is selected for an app, the corresponding parameters of the "Apps SSO Login" authentication type are included in the configuration file.

    When the configuration file is loaded to a mobile app, the app uses these parameters to connect to the intended instance.

    Note: The service version for the app is also included as a parameter in the configuration file in Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Foundation Release 2.1 and onwards, but the parameter value is set by Oracle and it cannot be modified. Therefore, it is not listed in the Configuration Parameters region.

  8. Click the Apply button. This action saves the selected authentication type and relevant configuration parameters you specified to the database to be used to generate the configuration file ebs-mobile-config.xml during the initial launch of the app. When an app is launched for the first time, the selected authentication type along with the configuration parameters will be loaded to the app to connect to an Oracle E-Business Suite instance, invoke configuration service to download configuration data, and invoke Oracle E-Business Suite services with the selected authentication type.

To validate the configuration, click the Configuration File icon from the search result table. See: Viewing and Validating Your Mobile App Configuration.

On the client side, once the configuration file is downloaded from the server to the mobile app during the initial login, it will be parsed to retrieve the configuration parameters. The app user can view the downloaded parameters and connection details from the mobile app in the device.

Mobile apps may have configuration updates after the initial launch. For example, an administrator changes the timeout values or the service endpoint for an app, or an app's server-side patch provides additional features that require the user to check for updates as described in the patch readme. In the Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Release 10.x, app users can manually check if any new updates from the server are required in the app if necessary. See Directing Users to Obtain Connection Details and Initiate Server Updates.

Configurations for Local and SSO Login Types

Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps support "Apps Local Login" and "Apps SSO Login" authentication types that are displayed under the "Connection Settings" category in the Configuration Categories region.

Authentication type is preselected or defined for an app during the app registration. Each authentication type is associated with a set of configuration parameters required to set for an app. When you enable or configure an app, the preselected type (either "Apps Local Login" or "Apps SSO Login") is displayed in the Sub Category field in the Configuration Categories region. You can override the selected type if needed by selecting a different value from the Sub Category drop-down list. After the change, the parameters corresponding to the selected authentication type will be loaded and displayed in the Configuration Parameters region.

Important: Make sure Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps work with "Apps Local Login" before you change it to the "Apps SSO Login" authentication type. If an app initially connects to Oracle E-Business Suite through "Apps Local Login", and later its authentication type is changed to "Apps SSO Login", the app users should initiate the manual update to refresh the configuration. This is performed by tapping Settings from the mobile app navigation menu, then tapping Connection Details, and then tapping the Sync icon.

Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps support the following authentication scenarios:

Configuring Parameters for the Apps Local Login Authentication Type

If the default "Apps Local Login" type is used as the authentication type to authenticate users locally, update the following parameter values:

Configuration Categories Region with the "Apps Local Login" Parameters

the picture is described in the document text

Configuring Parameters for the Apps SSO Login Authentication Type

Important: Before configuring apps with "Apps SSO Login", make sure your apps work with "Apps Local Login" first. If an app initially connects to Oracle E-Business Suite through "Apps Local Login", and later its authentication type is changed to "Apps SSO Login", the app users should initiate the manual update to refresh the configuration. This is performed by tapping Settings from the mobile app navigation menu, then tapping Connection Details, and then tapping the Sync icon.

Configuration Categories Region with the "Apps SSO Login" Parameters

the picture is described in the document text

If "Apps SSO Login" is selected as the authentication type to authenticate users remotely, update the following parameter values:

Viewing and Validating Your Mobile App Configuration

After configuring a mobile app and applying the changes, you can view and validate the updated configuration file ebs-mobile-config.xml for the app.

To validate the configuration, click the Configuration File icon from the search result table in the Search Mobile Applications page. This displays the content of the configuration file in the Configuration Service Response pop-up window.

Configuration Service Response Pop-up Window with Configuration File Content

the picture is described in the document text

Additionally, you can validate the configuration by accessing the configuration service URL through a web browser. See Validating the Configuration.

Reviewing Your Mobile App Details

You can review existing application definition metadata and configuration details for your app if needed before or after configuring your app.

To view the app details, click a desired mobile app's Application Name link from the search result table. The Application Details page displays the existing definition information in read-only mode for your selected app.

For example, click the "Maintenance" link to view the Application, Distributions, and Configuration regions in the Application Details page for Oracle Maintenance for EBS.

To update the selected mobile app details, click the Update button.

Enabling and Setting Up Multiple Mobile Apps Using a Script

Instead of enabling and specifying the configuration information for each app one at a time through the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages, you can complete the setup tasks for multiple apps simultaneously by using an ant script called EBSMblConfigApps.xml. For example, use the script to easily copy the configuration details for your apps on different Oracle E-Business Suite instances, or use the script to reconfigure the mobile apps on the target environment after cloning.

Perform the following steps to configure multiple apps at the same time by using the script:

  1. Copy the template file Applications.xml and the script EBSMblConfigApps.xml from the $JAVA_TOP/oracle/apps/fnd/mobile/ant/ directory to a temporary directory in the Oracle E-Business Suite instance. Working with a copy helps you avoid changes to the seeded template file Applications.xml.

    The template file Applications.xml contains metadata for all the Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps. The following example shows a sample template Applications.xml file:

    Note: The script supports the selection of the Sub Category (<sub-category>) attribute that indicates either of the following authentication types to be used by a mobile app.

    • HTTP_BASIC: The type corresponds to "Apps Local Login" (display name) from the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages.

    • WEB_SSO: The type corresponds to "Apps SSO Login" (display name) from the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages.

    <applications configureAll="N">
        <application configure="N">
                        <app-info>
                                <name>Maintenance</name>
                                <app-short-name>EAM_MAINTENANCE</app-short-name>
                                <bundle-id>com.oracle.ebs.scm.eam.Maintenance</bundle-id>
                                <status>NOT_CONFIGURED</status>
                        </app-info>
                        <connection-settings>
                                <sub-category name="HTTP_BASIC" select="Y">
                                        <param name="APPS_MOBILE_IDLE_TIMEOUT" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                        <param name="APPS_MOBILE_SESSION_TIMEOUT" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                        <param name="APPS_MOBILE_AGENT" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                </sub-category>
                                <sub-category name="WEB_SSO" select="N">
                                        <param name="APPS_MOBILE_AGENT" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                        <param name="APPS_SESSION_SERVICE" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                        <param name="LoginFailureURL" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                        <param name="LoginSuccessURL" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                        <param name="LoginURL" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                        <param name="LogoutURL" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                        <param name="SessionTimeOutValue" type="SERVER_DEFAULT"/>
                                </sub-category>
                        </connection-settings>
    </application>
                ...
        </applications>

  2. To configure all the Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps at the same time, set the attribute ConfigureAll in the Applications.xml file to Y at the root element (applications) level. Otherwise, leave the ConfigureAll attribute to N and set the Configure attribute to Y at the applications level for each particular app that you want to configure.

    • If you set the ConfigureAll attribute to Y, and set the "Configure" attribute to N for an app at the application level, the ConfigureAll attribute set to Y at the root element will override the value set at the Configure attribute and will configure all the Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps.

      Note that the ConfigureAll attribute with its value set to Y at the root element level only configures all the apps whose definitions exist in the instance. If the definition of an app, (for example, the Timecards app) does not exist in that instance, even thought you set the ConfigureAll attribute to Y, only those apps that are defined in the instance will be configured, and the Timecards app will not be configured. An appropriate message would be shown as the output of the script indicating the result.

    • If the ConfigureAll attribute is set to N, then the attribute of each individual app determines if the app will be configured or not depending on whether you set the Configure attribute to Y or N for each app at the application level. In this situation, only the specified apps will be configured.

  3. For each app you want to configure, change the status from the default "NOT_CONFIGURED" to "ENABLED".

  4. For each app you want to configure, set the select attribute for the desired authentication type. By default, the select attribute for the "HTTP_BASIC" type (Apps Local Login) is set to Y.

    Note: If the select attribute for the "WEB_SSO" type (Apps SSO Login) is set to Y, you must set the select attribute for the "HTTP_BASIC" type to N. If both types are set to Y, then the following errors may occur:

    [java] There are two Authentication types selected for the Application, <name> (such as Maintenance). 
[java] There can be only one type of authentication selected while configuring <name>.

  5. Set each parameter type attribute to one of the following values only.

    • SERVER_DEFAULT: The default value of the parameter is used to configure the app. For example, 28800 is the server default for Session Timeout parameter.

    • CONSTANT: A constant override value is used to replace the default value for the parameter. In this situation, provide a value for that parameter, such as a constant URL for your Oracle E-Business Suite instance as a constant value for the APPS_MOBILE_AGENT parameter.

    • PROFILE_OPTION: A profile option is used to override the default value for the parameter. For example, provide the internal name of a profile option for the APPS_MOBILE_AGENT parameter.

    The options listed above are the same as those are shown in the Configuration Parameters region if you configure the app from the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages.

    Configuration Categories Region with the "Apps Local Login" Parameters

    the picture is described in the document text

    The following example shows a sample custom template Applications.xml file after setting the parameters with the Apps Local Login (HTTP Basic) authentication type:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>   
<applications configureAll="N">
        <application configure="Y">
                        <app-info>
                                <name>Maintenance</name>
                                <app-short-name>EAM_MAINTENANCE</app-short-name>
                                <bundle-id>com.oracle.ebs.scm.eam.Maintenance</bundle-id>
                                <status>ENABLED</status>
                        </app-info>
                        <connection-settings>
                                <sub-category name="HTTP_BASIC" select="Y">
                                        <param type="SERVER_DEFAULT" name="APPS_MOBILE_IDLE_TIMEOUT"/>
                                        <param type="CONSTANT" name="APPS_MOBILE_SESSION_TIMEOUT">28800</param>
                                        <param type="PROFILE_OPTION" name="APPS_MOBILE_AGENT">APPS_FRAMEWORK_AGENT</param>
                                </sub-category>
                        </connection-settings>
    </application>

  6. After completing the changes in the template file Applications.xml, run the following command from the folder where the template file is placed to initiate the configuration process.

    ant -f EBSMblConfigApps.xml

    If any validation error occurs during the configuration process, the error information will be reported in the command line. Additionally, an error log file EBSMblConfigError.log is created in the same directory to capture other types of errors. You can use the generated log file to trace and troubleshoot the errors if needed.

    When the process is completed successfully, you can verify the configuration details as described in Validating the Configuration or validate the configuration from the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages.

Validating the Configuration

Once the app-specific configuration parameters are specified, these values are stored on the server and the associated configuration file of the app is not generated at this time. When a user logs in to the app for the first time, the configuration file ebs-mobile-config.xml is then generated when requested and downloaded to the mobile app using the configuration service.

To validate the configuration for your app, construct the configuration service URL and verify if the URL is accessible through a web browser.

Note: You can also validate the configuration through the Search Mobile Applications UI pages by clicking the Configuration File icon from the search result table, as described in Enabling a Mobile App Individually and Specifying the Configuration through the UI.

  1. Verify if the configuration service URL is accessible through a web browser by performing the following steps:

    1. Construct the configuration service URL in the following format: http(s)://<hostname>:<port>/OA_HTML/RF.jsp?function_id=mConfig&bundleId=<application bundle id>&file=ebs-mobile-config.xml

      Please note that this step is only for you to validate the configuration service URL for the app, and you should not provide this URL information to the mobile app users.

      For the Application Bundle Id for each app, see Appendix C: Application Definition Metadata.

    2. Copy the configuration service URL you just constructed and paste it into a browser window. The configuration file is uploaded and displayed in the browser window.

      The following example shows a sample ebs-mobile-config.xml file returned as the response payload for the configuration service:

      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>   
<ebs-mobile-config>
                <app-info>
                                <name>Maintenance</name>
                                <bundle-id>com.oracle.ebs.scm.eam.Maintenance</bundle-id>
                                <status>ENABLED</status>
                        <distributions>
                                        <distribution version="1.1.0" platform="IOS"/>
                                </distributions>
                </app-info>
                <connection-settings>
                                <param name="APPS_MOBILE_IDLE_TIMEOUT">7200</param>
                                <param name="APPS_MOBILE_SESSION_TIMEOUT">28800</param>
                                <param name="APPS_MOBILE_AGENT">example.com:1234</param>
                </connection-settings>
  </ebs-mobile-config>

      Please note that a version value used to identify a given app's server level is retrieved from the app's definition metadata and is included in the ebs-mobile-config.xml file (as shown above), along with the configuration parameters specified either through the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages or through the script.

    3. Verify the content to ensure that the configuration file for your mobile app is valid, well-formed XML, and validate that the configuration parameter values are the same values as configured from the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages or using the script.

  2. Install an app on a mobile device and verify if the server URL is accessible through the configuration screen in the mobile app by performing the following configuration steps:

    1. Enter the server URL in the following format: http(s)://<hostname>:<port>

    2. Check whether the configuration on the device was successful by logging into the app and verifying that you can access the app content.

    Please note the difference between the full configuration service URL used for validation in step 1 in this section and the server URL shared with the app users.

  3. Make sure the setup is valid at this point and ensure that your app works with the "Apps Local Login" authentication type before proceeding to any advanced configurations.

    1. In the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages, configure the mobile app with authentication type as "Apps Local Login".

      See: Configuring Parameters for the Apps Local Login Authentication Type.

    2. Log in to the mobile app as a user whose password is stored in Oracle E-Business Suite, such as sysadmin.

      You should be able to successfully log in and view the mobile app pages.

Task 3: Setting Up Mobile App Access to Responsibilities

Oracle Maintenance for EBS uses role-based access control to protect mobile app data from unauthorized access.

Most mobile apps have app-specific access roles. Only users who are assigned those app-specific roles can access the corresponding mobile apps. In order for those users to be able to access Oracle E-Business Suite data in a mobile app that invokes REST services, all REST services that the mobile app uses are grouped into a permission set that is then granted to an app-specific access role. To provide the mobile app access capability to existing Oracle E-Business Suite users, you must assign each access role to the responsibilities that you want to associate with the corresponding mobile app. Users who have the predefined mobile app access roles through those responsibilities will have access to the corresponding mobile apps.

For Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps, responsibility selection is based on the combination of user role and mobile app. If the mobile app access role is assigned to a single responsibility, then the responsibility is automatically set and selected for a user using that mobile app. If a user has more than one responsibility to which the mobile app access role is assigned, then those responsibilities will be displayed for selection.

Note that it is not required to create or assign any new responsibility to users to use mobile apps. For information on the app-specific access roles, see Mobile App Access Roles.

Assigning Mobile App Access Roles to Responsibilities

To secure mobile app data, perform the following steps to assign predefined app-specific mobile app access roles to responsibilities:

  1. Log in to Oracle E-Business Suite as a user who has the User Management responsibility. For example, log in as SYSADMIN.

    Note: The User Management responsibility is assigned to the Security Administrator role. This seeded role is assigned to the SYSADMIN user by default.

  2. Select the User Management responsibility and navigate to the Roles and Role Inheritance page.

  3. Search for the responsibility you want.

  4. In the search results table, click the "View In Hierarchy" icon for your responsibility. Note that the codes for responsibilities start with FND_RESP, while the codes for roles start with UMX.

  5. In the Role Inheritance Hierarchy, click the Add Node icon for your responsibility.

    Oracle User Management displays the next role hierarchy page with a message informing you that the role you select will be inherited. In this page, either search or expand nodes until you find the app-specific access role that you want to add to the responsibility. Use the Quick Select icon to choose that role.

  6. Oracle User Management then displays the initial page again, with a confirmation message at the top. On this page, verify that the custom UMX role appears underneath the responsibility. You may need to expand one or more nodes to display the UMX role under the responsibility. Any other inherited roles appear as well.

  7. When you add the role to the responsibility, you must also update the associated grant for the app-specific access roles to reference the specific responsibility as the security context. You need a separate grant for each responsibility to which you are adding the role, so in some cases you should duplicate the shipped grant rather than updating it.

    In the row of the role that you just added, click the Update icon for your role to navigate to the Update Role page.

  8. In the Grants Table at the end of the page, if this is the first responsibility to which you are adding to the role, click the Update icon for the grant you want to update. If this is the second responsibility or more to which you are adding the role, click the Duplicate icon for the grant instead of the Update icon. In the duplicate grant, you must provide a unique name for the grant.

  9. Apply your changes.

If you want to use the app-specific access role with more than one responsibility, you must have a separate grant with a security context corresponding to each responsibility. You can also add grants for a given role as a separate process, rather than while you are adding the role to the responsibility. To do so, perform the following steps:

  1. In the User Management responsibility, navigate to the Roles and Role Inheritance page.

  2. Search for the app-specific access role you want.

  3. Click the Update icon for your role to navigate to the Update Role page.

  4. In the Grants Table at the end of the page, click the Duplicate icon for the grant you want to duplicate.

  5. Modify the grant name of the new grant to make it unique.

  6. In the Security Context region, enter the name of the additional responsibility to which you are adding the app-specific access role. Enter the name of a shipped responsibility from the table above, or, if you are using a custom responsibility, enter the name of that custom responsibility.

  7. Click Next, Next, Finish, and OK to complete your grant.

For more information, see the Oracle E-Business Suite Security Guide.

Task 4: Performing Additional Setup for Device Integration

This section describes additional setup steps for Oracle Maintenance for EBS when it integrates with maps on the mobile devices and barcodes. It includes the following topics:

  1. Setting Up Maps

  2. Support for Barcodes

Setting Up Maps

Oracle Maintenance for EBS integrates with maps through Oracle Maps.

Note: The Oracle Maps feature is enabled by default; therefore, there is no additional setup required for integrating with Oracle Maps.

For example, Oracle Maintenance for EBS presents the asset information and its geographical location in an Oracle map.

Support for Barcodes

Some Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps provide support through the Cordova plug-in for scanning barcodes to capture data or scanning an item or work order.

Note: There is no additional setup task required to integrate Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps with barcodes.

For example, Oracle Maintenance for EBS uses barcode scanning to capture data for assets, work orders, and work requests.

Data Captured and Shown in the Mobile Page Using Barcode Scanning

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Supported Barcode Types

For mobile apps that include barcode scanning, the following barcode types are supported:

Task 5: Performing Additional App-Specific Setup

Perform the additional app-specific implementation steps described in the My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1923702.1, Oracle Mobile Maintenance for Oracle E-Business Suite Release Notes.

Task 6: Communicating Mobile App Information to Users

After you have completed the setup tasks for your app, provide the following information to the users who will install the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store:

Task 7: Performing Advanced Configurations

This section describes the following advanced configuration tasks for Oracle Maintenance for EBS:

Task 8: Enabling the Logging and Diagnostics Features

Oracle Maintenance for EBS uses the logging and diagnostics features described later in the Diagnostics and Troubleshooting chapter. Specifically, it includes the following logging and diagnostics features for Oracle Maintenance for EBS.

For more information about logging and diagnostics, see Diagnostics and Troubleshooting.

Managing Usage Metrics for Oracle Maintenance for EBS

Administrators of the Oracle Maintenance for EBS app can track the app usage and user installation through the Mobile Applications Manager UI page. This section describes how to perform various administrative tasks to understand how Oracle Maintenance for EBS is installed and used.

Viewing Mobile App Installation and Usage Metrics

Once users start using the Oracle Maintenance for EBS app, it is highly beneficial for administrators to gather statistics on the app. These statistics include platform-specific user installations and usage frequencies over a period of time for this app. Users who have the Mobile Applications Administrator role can obtain this essential information through the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages and provide needed support for their users more efficiently.

Note: These features are available only for users who have the Mobile Applications Administrator role. Users who have the Mobile Applications Developer role cannot find the Users and App Usage columns from the search result table.

To view user installations and usage metrics for Oracle Maintenance for EBS app, select the Mobile Applications Manager responsibility and choose the Applications link from the navigator. The Search Mobile Applications page appears.

Search Mobile Applications Page with Mobile App Installation and Usage Information Highlighted

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Perform the following tasks to view user installation and app usage information:

Viewing Your Mobile App Installation Details

To view user installation information for a specific app (such as "Maintenance), after locating the app in the Search Mobile Applications page, click the number of users link for iOS or Android in the Users column from the search result table. The Mobile App Installations page appears with the installation details for your selected app, such as "Maintenance".

Mobile App Installations Page

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The installation details include the name of the users who have installed the app (such as "Maintenance"), last login date and time, app version, device or platform information (either iOS or Android, depending on your selection from the Users column in the search result table), device OS version, and device model information (such as iPhone, iPad, or Android).

In the Filter Criteria region, you can further refine the result by modifying the following fields for the same app or obtain the information for a different app.

You can click Export to export all the data to an Excel spreadsheet if desired.

Click the Return to Application Search link to return back to the Search Mobile Applications page.

For information on viewing app usage information, see Viewing Your Mobile App Usage.

Viewing Your Mobile App Usage

To view the usage pattern for an app in terms of number of logins in the last few days or hours, click the App Usage icon from the search result table in the Search Mobile Applications page. The Mobile App Usage page appears for your desired app.

Mobile App Usage Page

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In the Filter Criteria region, enter the following information to view the app usage information:

After you modify the filter criteria and click Go, the app usage information is displayed in a table with the app login date and login count.

To export the data to an Excel spreadsheet, click Export.

Click the Return to Application Search link to return back to the Search Mobile Applications page.

You can purge the app usage data if needed, see Purging Mobile App Usage Information.

For information on viewing user installations for an app, see Viewing Your Mobile App Installation Details.

Purging Mobile App Usage Information

You can purge app usage data stored in the database that has been collected for a period of time by running a concurrent program called "Mobile Metrics Purge Program".

Important: The "Mobile Metrics Purge Program" only purges the mobile app usage data. The data for user installations will not be purged.

To access this concurrent program, log in to Oracle E-Business Suite as a user who has the System Administrator responsibility. Select Concurrent, and then Requests from the navigation menu.

In the Submit Request window, select "Mobile Metrics Purge Program" as the Name from the drop-down list.

Submit Request Window with "Mobile Metrics Purge Program" Concurrent Program Selected

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After you select "Mobile Metrics Purge Program" as the concurrent program name, the Parameters window appears. Specify a number of days in the Retention Age in Days field to indicate the desired days that you intend to retain the data. All the app usage data that is older than the specified days will be purged.

Parameters Window

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For example, if you desire to keep the data within the last 30 days, then enter "30" in the Retention Age in Days field. The app usage data stored in the database older than the last 30 days will be removed, but the data for user installations remains intact and will not be purged.

After you specify the information in the Parameters window and click OK, the specified number of days, such as "30", is automatically displayed in the Parameters field.

Submit Request Window with Required Parameters

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Click Submit to submit your concurrent request and start the process of purging the app usage data based on the specified parameter.

Setup Tasks for Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA)

This section includes the following setup tasks for Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA):

  1. Applying Server-Side Patches for Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA)

  2. Support for Barcodes

  3. Performing Additional App-Specific Setup

  4. Communicating Mobile App Information to Users

  5. Performing Advanced Configurations

Task 1: Applying Server-Side Patches for Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA)

Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA) are the only Release 10.x apps available for both Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 and Release 12.2. If your Oracle E-Business Suite instance is on Release 12.1.3, apply the patches relevant to Release 12.1.3.

For Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA) Release 10.x

Note: Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS do not require any product family patches.

Apply any additional conditionally required patches from the following list for the Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS apps:

Conditional Patches for Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA) Release 10.x
Oracle E-Business Suite Release or Mobile App Name Requirement Patch Information
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 and 12.1.3 Required only if your Oracle E-Business Suite environment has the following patches applied:

  • Release 12.2 - Patch 27761509:12.2.0 (Oracle Applications Release 12.2 : Consolidated Patch for Data Removal Tool)

  • Release 12.1.3 - Patch 27822242:12.1.0 (Oracle Applications Release 12.1 : Consolidated Patch for Data Removal Tool)

Note: If your environment has the following Data Removal Tool consolidated patches applied instead, then the post-install tasks specified in the next column are not required:

  • Release 12.2 - Patch 29206195:12.2.0 (Oracle Applications Release 12.2 Data Removal Tool - One-off Consolidation - January 2020)

  • Release 12.1.3 - Patch 29206188:12.1.0 (Oracle Applications Release 12.1 Data Removal Tool - One-off Consolidation - January 2020)

 Perform the following steps in the specified order:

  • Release 12.2:

    1. Apply Patch 28295762:R12.PER.C.

    2. Apply Patch 28303904:R12.FND.C.

    3. Recompile the data removal metadata by running the concurrent program "Recompile Metadata for Data Removal Tool", with the "Entity Type" parameter set to "ALL".

  • Release 12.1.3:

    1. Apply Patch 28295762:R12.PER.B.

    2. Apply Patch 28303904:R12.FND.B.

    3. Recompile the data removal metadata by running the concurrent program "Recompile Metadata for Data Removal Tool", with the "Entity Type" parameter set to "ALL".
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 and Release 12.1.3

  • Oracle Field Service for EBS

 Required if you connect to an Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 or 12.1.3 instance with Oracle Field Service for EBS

  • Release 12.2: Patch 34985819:R12.CSM.C

  • Release 12.1.3: Patch 34985819:R12.CSM.B
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 and Release 12.1.3

  • Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA)

 Required if you connect to an Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 or 12.1.3 instance with Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA)

  • Release 12.2: Patch 34986700:R12.MWA.C

  • Release 12.1.3: Patch 35042131:R12.MWA.B

Task 2: Support for Barcodes

Some Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps provide support through the Cordova plug-in for scanning barcodes to capture data or scanning an item or work order.

Note: There is no additional setup task required to integrate Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps with barcodes.

Supported Barcode Types

Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA) supports the following barcode types:

Task 3: Performing Additional App-Specific Setup

Perform any appropriate app-specific implementation steps described in each release note of the following mobile apps:

For the list of Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps mentioned here, see the Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Apps, Release 12.1 and 12.2 Documentation Index, My Oracle Support Knowledge Document 1641772.1.

Task 4: Communicating Mobile App Information to Users

After you have completed the setup tasks for your app, provide the following information to the users who will install the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, or access the app through a web page URL:

Task 5: Performing Advanced Configurations

This section describes the following advanced configuration tasks for Oracle Field Service for EBS and Oracle Mobile SCM for EBS (MSCA):