Introduction to Digitise Apps

Digitise Apps provides a simple, secure and robust environment in which to develop, deploy and run your own in-house business apps for smartphones, tablets and laptops running Android, iOS and Windows. You can create apps designed to store and manipulate data locally on the device only, or apps which can integrate with back-office systems, allowing users with mobile devices to read and update data from the back office whilst in the field.

Business mobile apps created with Digitise Apps (Digitise apps) can be deployed to your mobile devices using mechanisms internal to your organisation, e.g. sideloading, Mobile Device Management (MDM) software or via an internal company web site, or via the public app stores: Microsoft's Store, Apple's App Store and/or Google's Play Store.

Digitise apps are created using the Digitise Apps App Studio development environment. Easy to use, App Studio gives you the ability to quickly and simply create form-based apps with a comprehensive set of data controls (edit, list, check box, static, image, video etc.) for data entry and display. The built-in Scripting language adds power and flexibility allowing you to download, upload, display, manipulate and modify data within your apps, tailored to your specific business requirements. You can also take advantage of a device's built-in resources, such as GPS, camera and inking facilities. App Studio allows you to develop your apps for any supported Platform, create apps which will run on multiple different mobile Platforms and/or screen resolutions within a single project and, if your device choices change at any point, you can easily convert an existing project to run on your new Platform(s). And all without requiring specialist developers familiar with the different development environments required for each Platform.

Digitise apps can be totally self-contained, designed solely to store and manipulate data locally on a device, or they can integrate with your back-office systems, allowing users to download and upload data in the field.

A local encrypted database is created on the device providing data storage facilities for your apps on the device. Where an app is used only for local data, this database is used to store this data. More commonly, an app will connect to one or more back-office systems allowing the user to download data from the back office, view, edit and add to that data and then upload the new or updated records back to the back office. In this situation the local database will hold the data downloaded from the back-office system(s) and store locally-entered data until it is synchronised with the back office. In areas where a device is readily able to obtain a connection to the back office, data can be downloaded and uploaded as required, preventing the need to store large quantities of data on the device itself. Where signal strengths are less reliable, or if simply preferred, data can be downloaded and stored on the device to be worked with until the user is ready or able to synchronise with the back office - giving you reliable offline working when required.

Digitise apps are downloaded to mobile devices in the form of a set of data files, known as a ‘Model’. These files are interpreted on the device by the Digitise Apps runtime component, the Digitise Apps Client. In effect, the Client converts the Model data into a functioning app on the mobile device. The Client itself is a mobile app which means users can continue working even when there is no mobile signal available, unlike HTML-based mobile solutions which can suffer from browser inconsistencies and require a constant connection.

The standard version of the Client can be run explicitly on devices, and allows you to download your Digitise apps' Models, and subsequent updates, from within the Client, useful during development for ease of testing. For deployment, the Standalone App format bundles a Client with one or more Models into an independent installable package. In this case, the app is installed directly to a device and runs from the device’s Home screen, Start Menu or Desktop. The Client runs in background, hiding it, for the most part, from the user, providing a more familiar user experience. Standalone Apps have to be built, which is done by the remote Digitise Apps Build System. This system is hosted by NDL and requires you to submit the relevant Models to the Build System from within App Studio using a secure SSL internet connection.

Mobile devices running the Digitise Apps Client connect to a server hosting the Digitise Apps App Server component. The App Server sits between your mobile devices and back-office systems, so that your mobile devices don’t connect directly with the back office. The App Server manages connections to your devices, allowing you to restrict access to your Digitise apps by user or device, and communicates with your back-office systems to process data transfers between the back office and devices. Optional background synchronisation of data allows users to continue using the app whilst data transfers are in operation. Remote data can be downloaded and uploaded from/to databases and/or web services with optional encryption and compression during transit.

Further security can be added to your apps by requiring user logins using private Digital Apps credentials, Windows Authentication or Google OAuth Authentication and access to apps can also be restricted based on the user login or by device. Users, devices and access restrictions are managed using the App Manager component.

The App Manager also manages and allows viewing of the audit and diagnostics logs, providing a general history of your sessions and more in-depth information in the event that you experience problems using your Digitise apps.