Product Information
Mobile Device Management and SAP Business ByDesign
Enrolling the SAP Business ByDesign mobile apps into a Mobile Device Management (MDM) application and rolling it out to users in an enterprise has been possible for quite some time now. Many SAP Business ByDesign customers already use this approach as MDM applications ensure a secure way of distributing enterprise-approved apps and help to stay in control of aspects like data protection. They also play a crucial role in shielding enterprises against modern-day security threats.
SAP Business ByDesign Mobile App Onboarding Configurations
Let me introduce to you the feature in SAP Business ByDesign’s 2111 release that improves the experience of user onboarding to ByDesign mobile apps via MDM applications.
It is now possible to default the values for the following two fields in prominent ByDesign mobile apps.
- System URL
- User ID
Pic.1 – System URL and User ID
Using any modern MDM application, one has to simply maintain values for the following two configuration keys for a specific ByDesign mobile app, to have them defaulted into the app’s respective fields during runtime.
- serverURL
- userName
serverURL is the SAP Business ByDesign’s system URL, which is a mandatory information the users are required to provide in all of the ByDesign mobile apps. It is used to connect the mobile app to their company’s ByDesign system. Customer feedback has shown that this is often a tedious process as in many cases the users are not aware of this information and need to be informed about this while trying to onboard them on to the ByDesign Mobile apps.
userName is the User ID, used in the Basic Authentication login scheme. This configuration can be set to individual users.
Sample Configuration
Pic.2 – Configuration for SAP Business ByDesign Mobile app in Microsoft Intune
SAP Business ByDesign Mobile Apps that Support this Feature
- SAP Business ByDesign Mobile – iOS and Android
- SAP Time Recording – iOS and Android
- SAP Manager Approvals – iOS (only serverURL is supported) and Android
Benefits
- A smoother SAP Business ByDesign mobile app onboarding experience for business users. They now have to neither remember nor manually take over crucial login information into the ByDesign mobile apps.
- Key users can now enable easy onboarding to business users by maintaining only a few configuration keys
Summary
We believe the above feature would significantly simplify the onboarding step for business users.
Do you use an MDM application to roll out SAP Business ByDesign mobile apps? Let us know your experience of adopting this feature in your enterprise. We would love to hear your feedback.
Hi Pramod,
thanks for this blog post. It seems like Intune only supports setting the config strings for Line of Business Apps. That means it is required to upload an IPA or APK of the ByDesign mobile apps to Intune.
Does SAP provide the IPA files somewhere or do we need to extra them from App Store / existing devices every time SAP updates the apps in the app stores?
Thanks
Dear Christian,
Thanks a lot for reaching out to us.
SAP does not distribute individual IPA or APK files. You need to access the apps directly from the respective app stores. You can use the following documentation available for iOS and Android to configure in MS Intune.
We hope this helps.
Best regards,
Pramod
Thanks Pramod. Aware of those steps for App Store / Playstore apps but that doesn't seem to allow configuring the configuration keys you are mentioning in your blog post. The option to maintain those keys in Intone is only available for non-App Store / Non-Play Store apps.
Dear Christian,
Could you please create a ByDesign support ticket and share the details? We will investigate your case.
Best regards, Pramod
Dear Pramod
Thank you for the post, very informative.
I need some help here, after downloading the APP on my iPhone and logging in, I find that the Marketing Work center is not visible and therefore I am not able to enter new Leads from Mobile App. Is there a configuration setting in the APP or what I am missing while installing the APP ?
Rgds.
Chander SINGH
Hello Chander SINGH,
Looking at your comment, it doesn't seem to be a case that can be solved by changing configuration parameters in an MDM application.
To see the Marketing Work center in the mobile app, your user needs to have the work center assigned to you on the desktop application. If you don't have it, you would have to ask your ByDesign administrator to add it to your user.
If you do not see the work center in the mobile app even after having it assigned, I would request you to create a ByDesign support ticket.
Best regards,
Pramod
Dear Pramod
Thank you for your quick response. I am myself the ByD Admin, and have the Marketing WC assigned to me. But still I dont get to see this on the MDM App. Will raise an incident now.
Thanks again.
Rgds...
Screen shot of Desktop WC