Working with Mobile Applications

This chapter provides overviews of mobile device initialization and synchronization options and discusses how to:

Click to jump to parent topicUnderstanding Mobile Device Initialization

Mobile device initialization is the process by which you install application metadata and business data to the mobile device for the first time. Although an administrator may install PeopleSoft Mobile Agent to the device, only the Mobile Agent user (defined by user ID and user role) can synchronize application metadata and business instance data from the server to the device.

Before you can initialize and begin using Mobile Time and Expense, you must install PeopleSoft Mobile Agent on the mobile device. We describe the installation process in the Enterprise PeopleTools 8.46 PeopleBook: PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.

Note. Instance data is synonymous with business data, and metadata is synonymous with application metadata.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools 8.46 PeopleBook: PeopleSoft Mobile Agent

Click to jump to parent topicUnderstanding Synchronization Options

After device initialization (bootstrap synchronization), there are three synchronization options:

Perform synchronization with the mobile device connected and logged onto the internet or local network. You can be connected directly to your local area network, through dialup, or through the internet.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools 8.46 PeopleBook: PeopleSoft Mobile Agent

Click to jump to parent topicInitializing Mobile Devices

Initializing a mobile device requires a bootstrap synchronization.

This section discusses how to:

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPerforming Bootstrap Synchronizations

To initialize a mobile device:

  1. Install the PeopleSoft Mobile Agent software on the device.

  2. Perform a bootstrap synchronization.

    This requires that you sign in, which identifies the appropriate application metadata (the application definitions) and instance data (business data) to be downloaded to the device.

Generally, subsequent synchronizations do not require a complete synchronization of both metadata and instance data, but will upload changes only from the device to the server and reconcile changes between the device and server. You can, however, choose to update applications as well as data.

To initialize a mobile device (bootstrap synchronization):

  1. If PeopleSoft Mobile Agent is not installed to start automatically, from the computer's Start menu, select Programs, PeopleSoft Mobile Agent, Start PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.

  2. From the computer's Start menu, select Programs, PeopleSoft Mobile Agent, PS Mobile Application.

    If you haven't initialized the device previously, the PeopleSoft Mobile Device Bootstrap page appears.

  3. Enter your user ID and password.

  4. Click Synchronize.

    The PeopleSoft Mobile Synchronization Results page appears, showing the bootstrap synchronization progress.

  5. When the bootstrap synchronization is complete, check for alerts or notifications.

Click to jump to top of pageClick to jump to parent topicPerforming PDA Initializations

If PeopleSoft Mobile Agent is installed to a PDA, you use the processing power of the connected computer to perform initialization.

To perform PDA initialization from your desktop or laptop:

  1. If PeopleSoft Mobile Agent is not installed to start automatically, from the Start menu of the computer that is connected to the PDA, select Programs, PeopleSoft Mobile Agent, Start PeopleSoft Mobile Agent.

  2. From the same Start menu, select Programs, PeopleSoft Mobile Agent, PS Sync PDA.

    The PeopleSoft Mobile Device Bootstrap page appears.

  3. Enter your user ID and password.

  4. Click Synchronize and view the bootstrap synchronization progress.

  5. After Update PDA Applications completes successfully, open the PDA PeopleSoft program folder to use the application.

Click to jump to parent topicNavigating Within Mobile Transactions

PeopleSoft mobile applications use familiar navigation methods, including a menu, tabbed pages, links, and buttons. However, data that is available on the mobile device may be limited to a subset of the data that you expect when connected to the server.

On some PDA devices, the familiar menu structure cannot appear on every page due to space limitations; click Menu to return to the menu.

Note. The Menu link applies only to the PDA device, not to a laptop computer.