iPad Apps for the Enterprise

iPad Apps for the Enterprise:
More Than Just a Clever UI

Table of contents
Another Paradigm Shift in Technology is in Process 03

UI Complexities 05

Choosing the Right Architecture: 06

Mobile Platform Specific Concerns 08

Testing 10

Development Platform and Tools 12

Resource Availability 12

Security 13

Casestudy 14

Summary 15

About Us 15

Another Paradigm Shift in Technology is in Process
We are in the early stages of yet another fundamental transformation of IT technology, as we see
the quick ramp up of mobile computing across the enterprise. Much like the move from
mainframes to client/server back in the '80s, or the move from client/server to the web in the 90s,
this transformation is forcing IT managers to rethink everything they do from security, bandwidth,
backup and recovery, and provisioning. Most prominently, applications built for mobile devices
need to be completely reconsidered in light of the capabilities and limitations of these new devices.
Nowhere is this more significant than for iOS devices such as the iPad and iPhone.

App designs for the iPad/iPhone platform require a fundamentally new computing model that
recognizes the unique capabilities of the device, the mobility demands of their users, and the
special restrictions for provisioning apps properly and cost effectively. All of this requires the
development and management of more sophisticated and broad based mobile strategies that seek
to deliver functionally complex and rich applications. In order to build these mobile strategies,
some considerations may include:

Which device platforms to use?
?
What development architecture is needed?
?
? be restricted to the device or will a BYOD policy be adopted?
Will users
? you determine what software goes to your users, and how will you get it there?
How will
? happen if the device is lost, stolen, or the person leaves?
What will

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© 2012 Object-Frontier Inc.
03 E-mail: sales@objectfrontier.com | www.objectfrontier.com

Most customers approach iOS development as simply providing mobile access to their existing
systems and data and do not recognize the fundamentally different user experience and
capabilities provided by this platform, such as:
Touch Screen/Multi-Touch
?
GPS/Location Awareness
?
Compass
?
Accelerometer
?
Microphone
?
Voice Recognition
?
Camera
?
Video Display
?

While none of these capacities are new, what is new is that these have all been combined very well
into an easy to use, sleek device. These features can be leveraged to greatly enhance the user
experience, whether for customers or employees on the go. IT shops typically have built up years of
experience in developing desktop/web applications, but most of these assume the use of a desktop
browser and do not have access to the iOS features above. Consequently, these shops may
overlook the potential and possibilities that these new capabilities bring to application
development. These shops need help to think differently when they envision applications for the
iOS platform. For example, using the platform features of GPS and camera or video can greatly
enhance the functionality of an app. Using the GPS, location can be confirmed; any scene can be
recorded visually; if a report is needed, it can be written and sent to be processed without having to
go back to the office. A collaborative effort by in-house developers and skilled iOS specialists is
often needed to meet the challenges of defining application features and use cases that fully
exploit these abilities. This white paper describes some of those challenges and provides insight on
how to deal with them.


UI Complexities
Mobile application adoption within the enterprise is being driven by the user experience that
employees are having when using their mobile devices as consumers. In fact, this is part of a larger
trend known as the “consumerization of IT,” whereby employees are bringing their consumer
expectations of software into the workplace and demanding that their office IT provide the same
kind of flexibility, cleverness, and ease of use that they have come to expect. These mobile
employees with handheld devices require a completely different user experience than previously
offered on desktops.

Desktop PCs and notebooks using wireless networks access data, present information, and gather
user input in the same, well-understood way—by using large screens, QWERTY keyboards, and
pointing devices. Typically, this is done in a comfortable environment where the user can interact
with the application using both of his or her hands in a convenient manner while seated. In the case
of mobile applications, users are often standing, walking, and sometimes even driving while
interacting with the apps using a small touch screen and seeking to execute a context specific task
such as accessing directions.

This calls for a completely different approach to designing iOS User Interfaces in order to take
advantage of the iOS specific interaction mechanisms like multi-touch gestures, voice commands,
and location awareness; plus they should adhere to the recommended User Experience Guidelines.
Finalizing UI components is a time consuming and a very involved process, often involving many
trial and error iterations to get it right. Visual design considerations for an iOS application are
distinctly different from designing for browser/desktop applications. IT shops that try to design a UI
experience on their own (icons, logos, visual themes) often come up with solutions that are not
appropriate for a mobile application. Knowledge and training is required to adopt a design
approach that has been specifically developed for iOS applications.


Choosing the Right Architecture
The architectural approach is based on what features are needed. In turn, these features must be
based on the iOS platform. If there is only one approach that meets these requirements, the
decision making process is fairly simple. Typically, however, there are multiple architectural
approaches that could satisfy the requirements, and choosing the most appropriate design means
evaluating several factors, some of which are unique to mobile development. Some of the most
commonly considered factors are the deployment platforms being targeted, the specific devices
and user profiles, the contexts in which the application is most likely to be used, and any off-line
usability and connectivity profiles that the application must support. The complexity of the
workflow and the richness of the user experience that is required is probably one of the most
important factors that determine this choice. The choice of architecture will undoubtedly have
long term ramifications, and mobile app architects need to understand a customer's vision and
road map for the application.

Web-Based?
Native?
Hybrid?

Target Platform

Usability

Connectivity

Rich UI

Workflow


iOS application architectural approaches can be broadly classified into a:
Native application
Pros: ? best user experience; possible to build complex, rich, and responsive
Offers the
applications that offer the best performance.
? to all the native features provided by the platform.
Has access
Fine grained control over local data caching makes it possible to implement
?
applications that can function offline.
? ensure transactional integrity in synchronizing offline data.
Ability to

Cons: ? installation, up-grading, and uninstallation.
Requires
? very device and platform specific.
Is typically
Distribution of the application is more cumbersome and is often dependent on the
?
App Store.
? to App Store approval policy which is time consuming and might require
Subject
several iterations.

Web based application
Pros: ?existing web applications.
Reuses
Minor tweaks to CSS and JavaScript are enough to make them mobile friendly.
?
No installation, upgrade, and uninstallation are necessary.
?
?can take advantage of some native features like geolocation, local storage,
HTML5
etc.
Can support multiple iOS devices and versions.
?
? to create visually compelling UI.
Possible

Cons: ?of improved browser support, performance and usability is not as good as
In spite
native applications.
? HTML5, access to native functionality is very limited.
Even with
? to implement applications that can work in a disconnected state.
Difficult

Hybrid application
Hybrid applications are built by combining native components and web components. Web
components are built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and wrapped by a native container (internal
browser) that not only displays them but also gives them access to native functionality through
JavaScript.

Pros: ? web assets can be used.
Existing
? all native features.
Access to
Can provide a rich user experience by using native components intelligently.
?

Cons: ? be installed, upgraded, and uninstalled.
Has to
Accessing native functionality using JavaScript comes with a certain overhead and
?
is not as efficient as a native app.


Mobile Platform Specific Concerns
A mobile application, unlike a desktop/server application, executes on a very constrained platform
and has to grapple with several resource restrictions. A well-developed mobile application, while
delivering a gratifying user experience and fulfilling its business functionality, has to successfully
address the following limitations:

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Is it secure?

Security

Limited memory: A maximum of 512 mb of memory is available; iOS applications have to be
designed from the ground up to be as memory efficient as possible. Memory management is
critical to an application's implementation.

Performance management: iOS applications have to execute on a platform with a limited
battery life as well as limited processing power. Applications have to balance between
performance and power consumption. iOS applications in particular have to be architected to
deliver maximum performance with minimum power consumption and several iterations of
performance tuning are often required to achieve the right balance.


Data access, storage, and security: Given the limited storage space on the device and the
relatively restricted network bandwidth that most devices have access to, applications have to
be very selective about the data that they download and cache locally. In addition, since the
devices are by definition mobile and can “walk away,” the right encryption policy, security
mechanisms, and data wiping tools must be used to secure data that is stored locally by these
applications.

Connectivity: Applications have to be designed to recover gracefully from connectivity failures
and should be able to perform optimally even on a low bandwidth connection. Connection
stability as well as coverage can be unpredictable. Much time and effort is required to test and
fine tune applications on different connectivity profiles and with different carriers.

Challenging usage environments: iOS applications, unlike traditional applications, are typically
used outside of normal office environments where they face extremes in ambient lighting,
noise, and temperature, all of which affect the user's ability to interact with the application.
Applications must be designed to be extremely responsive and sensitive to the user's needs
and provide a gratifying user experience in a wide range of user contexts, most of which are
while the user is on the go. Therefore, apps must be designed in a way that is easily usable with
just one hand or completely usable using just voice commands. Mobile applications are kept
extremely sensitive and responsive to the user's needs by designing workflow and UI
navigation with these contexts in mind. The responsiveness is achieved by carefully
architecting processes and service calls that are triggered by user actions such as clicking on a
button or flipping a page; all long running processes should be implemented as asynchronous
calls and when possible data could be cached.

Once all the use cases are implemented, and a fully functional application is demonstrated to the
customer, there is a tendency to assume that the application is ready for deployment. The
significance of fine tuning the application to address the above mentioned concerns, however,
requires extra time and effort in development and may have to be explained to business owners.


Testing
Testing iOS applications comprehensively is an inherently difficult and involved process for several
reasons:
?tool support: The tools available to help test iOS applications are very limited and
Testing
not yet mature. Most of the tools currently available typically require a high degree of
manual participation and offer minimal support for automated testing.

? speed/carrier: The iPhone is currently being offered by multiple carriers, so
Network
testing the application on a single network/carrier is no longer an option. Application
performance and the user experience it offers tend to vary depending on network speed
and stability; it therefore becomes imperative to test the application on all popular carrier
networks.

IOS versions: The iOS version on which the application runs could have an impact on its
?
relative performance and stability, and testing must be done on all the targeted versions.

?size: Screen size is the most important aspect that is considered during UI design.
Screen
This significantly impacts user experience (e.g., scrolling is required). If the application
targets the iPhone and the iPad, all tests have to be run on both of these devices since
screen size varies significantly between them.

Interruptions: The application's ability to handle interruptions gracefully must be
?
thoroughly tested. It is very common for interruptions to disrupt the normal functioning of
an iOS application. The application, therefore, must save the state and remain suspended
during these interruptions. . Once the interruptions are over, the application needs to be
able to continue normally without any loss of the state. . Some examples of interruptions
that must be considered are:
? voice calls.
Incoming
? SMS and MMS messages.
Incoming
Low memory notifications.
?
Low battery notifications.
?
? of battery.
Removal
? outage and recovery.
Network
Cable insertion and removal.
?


Testing (continued )
Installation: There are several ways to distribute and deploy iOS applications. All options
?
that are available for download and installation of the application must be tested, and every
step that is part of the installation process has to be tested. The successful adoption of an
iOS application by its intended audience is greatly influenced by the ease with which it can
be downloaded, installed, upgraded, and uninstalled. This is, therefore, a very important
part of the iOS testing process. The growing acceptance of company-specific, private App
Stores is bringing some order to this but adds the complexity of creating and managing
these stores by the enterprises themselves.

Data security testing: iPhones and iPads are more vulnerable to theft and loss as compared
?
to desktops; the data cached locally by applications has to be completely safe and secure
from unauthorized access. It becomes critical to identify risks and vulnerabilities in
mechanisms and strategies employed by an application to secure data and to mitigate
them. Data security testing is a vital component in the testing process.

Static code analysis/dynamic analysis: iOS applications are vulnerable to buffer overflows
?
and memory leaks if Objective-C APIs are used. Static analysis tools and techniques should
be used to detect such issues. There are several dynamic analysis tools available to perform
the run-time monitoring of file activity, memory usage, process flow, and network
utilization.


Testing (continued )
Beta testing: Besides testing iOS applications in the development/simulator environment,
?
it is critical to test on as many devices as possible. Beta testing applications on multiple
devices by many testers is vital to understanding how the application performs in a real
world environment. Applications should also be tested on connections with various
bandwidth and stability profiles. Enrolling devices for testing involves creating and
installing provisioning profiles on each of these devices and is a cumbersome process.
Distributing and installing applications on testing devices and later de-provisioning these
devices is also time consuming and must be budgeted for in the test plan.

Development Platform and Tools
iOS applications are developed using Objective-C which is a powerful but difficult language to
learn. Besides learning Objective-C, iOS developers have to learn a very large set of APIs to
successfully leverage the platform. This makes for a steep learning curve, and substantial time and
effort has to be invested in training developers.

Resource Availability
iOS application development is a recent phenomenon and as of now there is not a large pool of
talented developers. Finding competent and experienced developers remains very challenging at
this point and often the decision is made to use a third-party firm who specializes in enterprise iOS
development.


Security
iOS devices often operate in environments and ecosystems with diverse security arrangements. .
Employees sometimes integrate their devices with the enterprise, access enterprise data, save it to
local storage, and then move into a completely non secure environment and continue to operate
their devices with all this sensitive corporate data. Having the ability to sync devices to third party
clouds further complicates matters. Even while these devices are operated in an enterprise
environment, they might not be controlled by the administrator since many corporations adopt a
BYOD (bring your own device) policy. These devices might not then be subject to the enterprise's
existing compliance, security, and data loss policies.

The security concerns of iOS applications are very different from those of traditional applications.
The iOS platform was designed to be inherently secure, and many security features are provided at
the operating system level. This does not sufficiently protect enterprise assets that are stored on
the device. iOS app developers must thoroughly understand the iOS security model and employ the
appropriate security mechanisms and encryption model to protect application data. They must
also have knowledge of the application's data access and storage needs to ensure proper security.
Development planning should also focus considerable effort and time in defining a strategy to
securely provision, update, and de-certify applications.

Media Games

Banking
Enterprise Data
Social Server
Network


Case Study : iPad app for a “Customer Performance Utility”
Client:
The client is a leading automobile spare parts company, who was looking for a comprehensive
mobile solution for their sales force to effectively manage customer data on an iPad.
Requirements:
? Find a customer based on various search criteria
? Add favorites on customer list
? View recent list of viewed customers
? View, update and modify different customer data
? Purchase history of the customer
Sales and

OFS Solution:
OFS understood the task at hand and defined a paradigm to use the intuitive features and controls
available with iPad and proposed the solution.

? UI with a style manager which was developed to manage the UI styling or graphical
Intuitive
design.
Additional mobile based features were defined wherever applicable and included in the
?
application.
? and filtering based on multiple criteria, such as: alphabets, date, location etc.,
Indexing
Developed custom graph-based components using Multi Touch accessibility.
?
? styles can be applied without quitting the application, controlled from the
Different
application settings. (Font color/ background color etc.,).
? identification of nearby customers using the Map Kit.
GPS based
? based navigation and multi perspective approach for different areas of the
Gesture
application.
Dashboard displaying critical metrics of all information.
?
Comparative analysis of KPI using multi touch interfaces.
?
? made grid view control for listing several items on various iPad device orientations,
Custom
this control also managed the animation effects (Paging/ Flipping and Scrolling).

Customers List Customer Dashboard GPS based identification


Summary
Building iOS mobile applications that deliver on their business requirements can seem deceptively
easy, but the unique challenges mentioned in this paper must be first understood and then
addressed in order to achieve success. Since developing for the iOS platform is relatively new, most
development shops are not familiar with these challenges and assume that developing an iOS
application should be faster and require less effort then developing for the web or desktop.
Overcoming these perceptions involves changing the mindset and educating developers and
business users in order to embrace this transformation in technology. A wise choice in these early
days of this new paradigm is to seek the counsel and help of a trusted enterprise mobile app
development company.

About US
ObjectFrontier (OFS) helps software companies and
software-enabled businesses to design, develop, test,
and maintain their software products and applications,
whether they are hosted, licensed, or mobile.

OFS is based in Atlanta and has offices in New York,
Washington DC, Philadelphia, and offshore in India and
the Philippines. Our clients are Independent Software
Vendors (ISVs) and F1000 companies whose revenues
are driven primarily by customer-facing software
products. We have earned the trust of clients in such
industries as healthcare, financial services, publishing,
and hospitality, and have partnered with them for years.
For more details, contact:
Susana Caparros,
We have a large and growing mobile apps division that is Director of US Marketing Communications
building mobile software for medium and large 267.757.8768 office
corporations looking to empower their workforce with 917.847.6767 cell
the latest technology in iPad, Android, and other mobile susana.caparros@objectfrontier.com
platforms to help them interact with customers and
systems in new and innovative ways while on the move.
Object-Frontier Inc
Atlanta-US Headquarters
OFS takes on the entire life-cycle of software product 1000 Windward Concourse
development, maintenance, quality assurance testing, Alpharetta, GA 30005
and support, all while keeping the costs low. (678) 218-5210


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