Oracle is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) member of the AppConfig Community. The AppConfig Community provides tools and best practices to secure, configure, deploy, and manage mobile enterprise apps. Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps are built using Oracle Mobile Application Framework (MAF). Oracle MAF applications are compatible with AppConfig-based Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) integration, using native frameworks that are made available through operating systems (iOS and Android).
This chapter provides guidance on integrating Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps with EMM solutions based on AppConfig standard. It also includes some setup tasks that administrators can manage Oracle E-Business Suite mobile app configuration when the apps are deployed with an EMM solution.
Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Apps with Enterprise Mobility Management Solutions
Setup Tasks for Deploying Mobile Apps with Enterprise Mobility Management Solutions
Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps are built using Oracle Mobile Application Framework (MAF). Mobile apps built with MAF work with AppConfig Enterprise Mobile Management solutions. The MAF integration with EMM following AppConfig standards helps building EMM-compatible applications. MAF applications support AppConfig capabilities such as Per-App VPN app tunnelling, application configuration, and implementations of security policies and access control.
For more information, refer to Integrating MAF Applications with EMM Solutions, Developing Mobile Applications with Oracle Mobile Application Framework.
Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps are expected to work with any EMM provider that supports common AppConfig standards provided by operating system vendors. Oracle does not explicitly certify permutations of Oracle E-Business Suite mobile app releases with given EMM providers and their releases. Oracle may test selected Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps with selected AppConfig-compliant products, including VMware AirWatch. Oracle does not conduct comprehensive tests between all available Oracle E-Business Suite mobile app releases and all AppConfig-compliant products.
Oracle Support does not have access to third-party EMM AppConfig products and is unable to reproduce or investigate AppConfig compatibility issues directly. Oracle Support will ask customers to validate if the reported issue reproduces without third-party EMM integration in order to determine if the issue is specific to the third-party EMM solution. Issues with AppConfig-based configurations should be first reported to the affected EMM provider. The EMM provider may engage Oracle for interoperability issues between Oracle MAF and the third-party EMM solution as needed.
Users can install Oracle E-Business Suite mobile apps from an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solution's app catalog. To connect to Oracle E-Business Suite, users need to enter the Oracle E-Business Suite server URL after the initial launch of an app from an EMM console that the app is deployed. To simplify the deployment process for the app users, starting from Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Foundation 8.0, administrators can preconfigure the server URL in an EMM console. App users no longer need to enter this URL manually after launching an app installed from an EMM's app catalog.
These apps include:
Standard apps installed from the Apple App Store or Google Play
Apps provided to users through enterprise distribution
Custom apps developed based on Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Foundation
Important: For custom apps built with Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Foundation, if these apps are deployed with EMM solutions, mobile applications developers need to enable the server URL related properties required for use by EMM solutions in maf-application.xml. For more information on defining these properties in Oracle JDeveloper, see Step 9: Setting Up Default Server URL (Optional), Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Apps Developer's Guide, Release 12.1 and 12.2.
To preconfigure the server URL, administrators need to configure the following String type properties in an EMM console to simplify the app deployment for users:
Note: This feature has been tested on iOS devices. To leverage this feature on Android devices, it is required to register your EMM provider with Google Play.
Server_URL
This is the Oracle E-Business Suite server URL that an app should connect to by default. If a valid Oracle E-Business Suite server URL is entered in this property, the app users will not be prompted to enter the server URL when the app is launched for the first time.
Ensure that the mobile app is already "Enabled" in the Mobile Applications Manager UI pages. For information on enabling an app, see Enabling a Mobile App Individually and Specifying the Configuration Through the UI Pages.
Server_URL_Allow_Change
If a default Oracle E-Business Suite server URL is entered in the Server_URL property, you need to explicitly indicate whether the app users can change the URL in the app. By default, users are not allowed to change. However, set it to "Y" only if you want to allow the app users to change the default URL.
For enterprise-distributed apps and custom apps developed based on Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Foundation, if these apps will not be deployed using EMM solutions, mobile applications developers can preconfigure the server URL during the app development. See: Configuring Default Server URL (Optional), Oracle E-Business Suite Mobile Apps Developer's Guide, Release 12.1 and 12.2.