App Capabilities

The appsFreedom Platform generates full-featured, enterprise level mobile & web apps, called Freedom Apps for all major mobile operating systems and form factors. These apps can be used both for online as well as offline usage. They efficiently and intelligently interact with the backend source applications enabling field personnel to be productive for hours & days without connectivity and the app performance is never compromised.

Offline

The Platform offers the world’s most advanced & sophisticated offline capability that enables end-user to process data and execute business rules for hours & days in a complete offline mode.

In this mode, all the business data is packaged and kept in the device (securely encrypted) which interacts with the backend business application as and when connectivity is available, hence no loss of productivity.

It facilitates this by advanced features like –

  • Offline Authentication
  • Business rules engine
  • Encrypted database
  • Data sync and orchestration engine
  • Process continuity engine
  • Data consistency engine
  • Message queue
  • Conflict resolution
  • Error handling engine
  • Data cleanup engine
  • Guaranteed Delivery

Composite Apps

The appsFreedom Platform can generate composite apps, i.e. one single app, with a single user-interface can integrate to multiple backend business applications. This allows users to navigate across multiple backend business applications without having to switch apps or even know that they are actually working on multiple backend business applications. For example, a single app to go across Salesforce CRM for Customer information and SAP ERP for relevant Order Information and putting them together in one app screen, giving a consistent, simple user-interface to the end user.

Barcode Scanning

The Freedom Apps generated by the platform support barcode scanning using the camera of the smartphones or tablets. The platform apps supports all major barcode types such as UPC, EAN, Code 128, Code 39, ITF, QR, etc.

Signature Capture

This advanced feature allows signatures to be captured from within the app by user’s finger or a stylus on the device. The app generates a PDF and/or an image of the captured signature, which can be used as an input for multiple functions and processes.

Print

Platform generated Apps allow users to print documents from the mobile device directly. The documents can be printed through Wi-Fi enabled printers remotely or locally.

Bluetooth / IoT Adapters

Platform generated apps come with a unique capability of pre-built Bluetooth & IoT adapters. This allows seamless connectivity with smart devices. This is typically useful when the users and smart devices are in remote locations with no Internet connectivity. In such cases, Freedom Apps act as a bridge to collect and store real time data.

Platform generated Apps facilitate easy and effective two-way communication that allows many function like triggering an activity or gathering data from smart devices. The data/tags can be easily passed on to backend applications as & when required.

Multi-Language Support

Freedom Apps support 60+ languages as part of the standard offering. Apps can be enabled for multiple languages during app rollout. The Apps support double-byte character set including automatic field label translations that work in both online and offline modes.

Notifications

The Platform built Apps provide real-time Mobile & Email notifications which can be triggered by specific, customizable events from these apps. This feature will send a mobile and/or email notification to a relevant user based on the process logic. The platform supports native mobile notifications for iOS, Android and Windows 10.

Accelerated Development


The appsFreedom Platform provides a codeless, model-driven approach to app development. The development platform is designed for non-professional programmers & developers to quickly build and deploy apps to solve real-world, complex business challenges.

UX Driven App Development

To ensure higher user adoption and a better user experience for app users, all apps built via the Platform start with modelling the app process first followed by UI design. The developer then works backwards to integrate with backend applications and data around the app process. This UX First methodology ensures that the app is always designed and built around the end-user resulting in a better user experience and higher user adoption.

Drag-n-Drop Process Modeling

The platform offers a drag-n-drop App Process Modeler that enables app developers to build apps in no time. Through this module they can graphically mirror a business process flow including interconnectivity across apps/processes. Once they have digitized the process, then it’s just a push of the button and the App is ready.

The Process Modeler supports all the typical process flow components (like Microsoft Visio) and is further enhanced with mobile specific components like “Take a Picture”, “Capture GPS”, etc to create a complete mobile-specific process.

Customization

Although the appsFreedom Platform provides a drag-n-drop WYSIWYG modeling environment, it still provides for adequate customization features for developers to change the look-n-feel of  each apps. Any level of customization can be reached through use of –

  • Custom CSS
  • 3rd party U/X libraries
  • Multiple javaScripts
  • Customized graphical assets such as images, logos, etc.
  • Custom themes

Collaboration

appsFreedom’s Collaborator Tool enables perfect communication between the app developer, designer and the business stakeholder. Using this tool, the business stakeholder can use, test and give feedback for any App in real-time. The changes being made by the developer/designer basis this feedback can again be viewed by him in real-time. As the business user can view, navigate and enter sample data, it shortens improves user adoption and usage.

App Simulation

The Platform provides a browser based device simulator to test apps during the development process. All aspects of the app, including navigation, data and UI elements, can be tested. The device simulators can simulate – iOS devices, Android device and Windows devices. The simulator creates environments for all popular browsers- Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Rapid Integration


The Platform provides a comprehensive, fast & reliable Integration capability through its Integration Builder tool. This simple, drag-n-drop, browser based tool allows the developer to build business logics as well as integrate to backend cloud and on-premise business applications without any IDE’s to be installed in computers or browsers.

Distributed Business Rules Execution

For faster and parallel execution of business rules engine to execute business rules on-premise, on-cloud and on-device simultaneously. This speeds up the execution, distributes the system load, allows execution in parallel and ultimately allows for better end-user performance.

Business & Integration Logic

The Integration Builder provides several out-of-the-box business logic components called “actions” and “action groups” that can be combined to build and execute any business logic. For example, Logical actions such as ASSIGN, IF-ELSE, LOOP, REPEAT, TERMINATE etc. as well as Utility actions such as LOOKUP, SORT, FILE PARSE, etc.

SAAS Adapters

The Integration Builder provides many 3rd party SAAS application adapters like Salesforce Adapters, Web-Service Adapters, REST-Service Adapters, Database Adapters, FTP Adapters etc. These provide ready-to-use integrations that can simply be dragged and dropped while building the integration logic. The adapter actions are self-contained to be used anywhere when building the integration logic and it provides the relevant meta-data that can be visually mapped to the resultant Freedom Apps.

On-Premise Adapters

The Platform enables integrations to many on-premise business applications via its Freedom Plugin module like SAP, Oracle, JDA, Microsoft Dynamics, Databases, Web-Services, etc. These adapters are native adapters that provide a deep integration to the on-premise business applications to discover the meta-data and map them to the resultant Freedom Apps.

Wearables & IoT Adapters

The Integration Builder also provides adapters for Bluetooth , IOT and wearables. These adapters are enabled as actions in the Integration Builder and can be used to capture information from any Bluetooth enabled device.

Platform Extensions

The appsFreedom Platform provides an SDK that can be used to extend the platform, as appropriate, for any capability that is not available out-of-the-box from the platform. These platform extensions are built once and are reusable across apps. They are secure and available available as a graphical component (actions and action blocks) that can be dragged and dropped easily.

BAAS (Backend-as-a-Service)

Everything built and generated using the appsFreedom Platform’s Integration Builder (called the BOS or Business Object Service) can be enabled as BaaS with a simple one-click process for both Native & 3rd Party Applications. This capability allows the native apps to leverage all the integration, authentication, notification, deployment and other governance capabilities of the platform into the native apps available as REST services.

Data Storage

The appsFreedom Platform comes with data storage capabilities that can be used for app development. Data storage capabilities are available as part of the platform but optional to use depending on app requirements. The Platform supports both structured (Freedom Database) and un-structured (Freedom Drive) data storage.

The Freedom Database is secure, segregated and isolated by tenant and typically used to store any business data required by the app. The Freedom Drive stores all documents and files with enterprise features like version management, access management,user and role management,etc. It’s a pre-built module that is available but optional to use based on app requirements.

Lifecycle Management


The appsFreedom Platform supports full app lifecycle management activities – app design, app development, testing and QA cycles, deployment and rollout, post-rollout metrics, app enhancements and app retirement.

Multi‐Tier Cloud Landscape

The Platform provides a multi-tier cloud landscape including Sandbox Cloud, Development Cloud, Quality Cloud and Production Cloud.

Project Management

The Platform provides project management capabilities to encapsulate all components of an app, with version management to move across environments.

Transport Management

The Platform provides one-click transport management capabilities to move all relevant app components from one cloud environment to another (i.e. moving the app from appsFreedom Development Cloud to Quality Cloud for testing and so on).

Role And User Management

The Platform provides role and access management covering capabilities such as user preferences, app access permissions, platform access permissions, etc.

Identity Management

The appsFreedom Platform can be integrated with a company’s identity management solutions such as Microsoft Active Directory/LDAP, etc. for Single Sign-On.

App Generation

The appsFreedom Platform provides container app generation capabilities. Multiple Container (native) apps can be generated per company with capabilities such as form-factor splash screens, Freedom Apps assignment, over-the-air deployments, etc.

App Library

The Platform provides a corporate app library for app deployment and rollout. It provides controls and user access permissions at the app level, the ability to receive and approve app requests, a BOS catalog, etc.

App Metrics

The Platform provides post deployment app metrics and app usage analytics to measure adoption. It provides out-of-the box reports such as an app usage, user access, customer compliance etc.

Enterprise Grade Security


The appsFreedom Platform offers multiple layers of security with secure & encrypted communication.

Secure And Isolated Tenant

The appsFreedom Platform provides a secure and isolated tenant that includes:

  • Data at rest and data in motion
  • Independent integrations to SaaS and on-premise business applications
  • Independent business rules, integrations and app generation
  • Isolated UI components, business and integration logic, adapters, data, etc.

Transient Cloud

For online apps, the platform uses a transient cloud model where data is never stored or cached anywhere in the platform, neither at rest nor in motion.

Secure Communications

All communications in the platform utilize secure communications such as –

  • HTTPS (SSL/TLS) protocol communications
  • 256 bit encryption to prevent eavesdropping
  • Secure server identification
  • Prevention of active and passive network attacks
  • Prevention of data tampering of data content during transmissions

Secure Storage

Secure data storage is embedded into the platform. Both Freedom Database and Freedom Drive deploy isolated and secure data storage techniques.

Multiple Password Authentications

The Platform provides multiple authentication mechanisms including a secure user management engine for password authentication. In the authentication mechanisms, the platform provides a challenge of a minimum of 2 passwords from 2 different systems. This model eliminates adverse effects of device sharing or password sharing among users.

Single Sign On (SSO)

The appsFreedom Platform provides SSO authentication mechanisms using logon tickets, SAML 2.0 or OAuth mechanisms.

Controlled IP Access

The Platform provides restricted IP access options to connections to the appsFreedom Platform.

Audit Logs

The Platform captures all activities into audit logs that can be used for reporting purposes.

MDM Software

The appsFreedom Platform can be integrated with major MDM software for app rollout and deployments.

Scalable Infrastructure


The appsFreedom Platform is cloud-native and is designed ground-up for the cloud. It ensures unlimited scalability on demand, extreme reliability and improved manageability.

Multi-Tenancy

The Platform is a multi-tenant platform that leverages all the capabilities of a modern cloud. It is architected with multi-tenancy to manage multiple but secure and independent tenants supporting different versions across tenants.

Distributed Architecture

The Platform is singular with the following three distinct components –

  • An On-Demand component called the Freedom Manager
  • An On-Premise component called the Freedom Plugin (Optional)
  • An On-Device component called the Freedom Apps

The three components work in tandem and supports distributed processing. This allows for expandability, better concurrency, scalability, fault tolerance and openness.

N+1 High Availability

The Platform’s public cloud model is deployed on a scalable N+1 high availability server infrastructure from Amazon Web Services and CenturyLink cloud.

Elastic Infrastructure

The appsFreedom Platform is architected with elasticity to infinitely add capacity on-demand to provide unlimited scalability.

Deployment Options

The appsFreedom Platform provides flexibility and supports multiple deployment options like Public Cloud, Private Cloud or On-Premise Deployment. A customer can transition from one deployment model to another as required.