Cyan Mobile Platform

The Cyan Mobile Platform is a state of the art cloud-based platform for enterprise mobile field service line of business solutions.

Overview
Architected exclusively through Blue Dot innovation and experience, The Cyan Mobile Platform supports cross-platform mobile field service solutions with a secure store and forward communications infrastructure specifically designed to support off-line capabilities and fast and efficient data transport that is fully automated and seamless to the mobile field worker.

The Cyan Mobile Platform utilizes a ‘hybrid app’ approach that combines the rich user experience and cross-platform capabilities of HTML5 with the superior performance and features of native code applications.  Most of our Cyan-based mobile field service solutions support full off-line use: assigned transactions and supporting data are sent to and stored on the appropriate devices, allowing the user to review work and capture data without having access to a network.  When a network is available, Cyan mobile solutions automatically synchronize data behind the scenes; eliminating interruptions to the user while ensuring the timeliest transmission of data to backend systems.

The Platform also provides a flexible integration framework that supports multiple Cyan-based solutions and enables mobile applications to interact with one or more back-end systems, whether those systems are hosted or running in a customer’s on-premise environment.  A variety of integration approaches are supported, ensuring that your data can be effectively mobilized regardless of where it resides.

Detailed
The Cyan Mobile Platform consists of two primary components and several ancillary components and services.  These components have been developed using state of the art tools and technologies as well as with well-established and proven enterprise patterns and practices.  In every case, decisions were made to ensure the security, reliability, manageability, and supportability of the platform for our customers and business partners.  Additionally, we strived to enable the rich tailor-ability that enterprise software customers require yet is uncommon and difficult to achieve in high performance, mission critical mobile solutions.

The Cyan Cloud Infrastructure

The Cyan Cloud Infrastructure is a cloud-based middleware component that orchestrates and optimizes the transfer of data from one or more business systems to one or more recipients as well as provides rich administration, troubleshooting and support capabilities via the Cyan Web Portal.

Blue Dot has found the use of such middleware to be a key component of successful enterprise mobile field service implementations.  Very few, if any, modern enterprise business systems are designed to accommodate occasionally connected clients, rather they are designed to support always connected, real-time web browser (aka ‘thin’ clients) or smart clients.  In order to reliably and efficiently provide all of the data required by a robust, offline capable, occasionally connected mobile application, such data must be collected and prepared in advance.

Imagine the difference between requesting a cart full of pre-loaded books and running back and forth between many different book shelves.  Most business systems provide data as one book (e.g. one type of data, perhaps many rows) at a time.  An application interacting directly with such systems would need to ask for (and wait for) many different books (e.g. Assets, Work Orders, Activities, Comments, Planned Parts, Document Attachments, etc.).  The providing business system would fetch the appropriate book, then go back and find the next book, and so on until every request has been fulfilled.  Now imagine the increased complexity (and time) involved when some of the books required are dependent upon information found in other books (e.g. I only want Comments associated to the Work Orders that I have retrieved; or I want historical Activities for each of the Assets that I have Work Orders for).  This explains the poor data transfer performance seen in most systems that advertise themselves as ‘middleware free’.

Another important function of the Cyan Cloud Infrastructure is the orchestration of data (aka messages) through a variety of business processes to ensure that they make it to the appropriate destinations.

Customers often have unique needs or requirements’ regarding what data goes where.  Field technicians at one company may be expected to receive only work that is specifically assigned to them whereas similar technicians at a different company may be expected to review and select tasks from a pool of communal (e.g. unassigned) but available work.  Supervisors may require access to all work assigned to any of their crew members or reports or all work that is available within their department or organization.  Labor bookings or time entries coming from the field may need to go into the Asset Management system as well as the Payroll system and the financial system.  The Cyan Cloud Infrastructure was designed to support all of these routing scenarios ranging from the simple to the complex.

Finally, the Cyan Cloud Infrastructure includes the Cyan Web Portal which provides secure, role-based access to a variety of administration and support tools and capabilities required to properly configure, monitor, manage, and support enterprise mobile users, applications, and devices.  A wide assortment of administration functionality is provided, including but not limited to: Tenants, Users, Applications, Devices, Integration Adapters, and Messages.

While most of the Cyan Web Portal functionality is infrastructure specific, domain (aka business application) specific tools and functionality can also be supported.  For instance, the Cyan Proof of Delivery solutions include Portal pages that support the assignment of pending Deliveries and the review of completed Delivery data including signatures and photos.

The Cyan App Engine

The Cyan App Engine is a mobile device-based client component that interacts with the Cyan Cloud Infrastructure and hosts highly configurable hybrid/HTLM5 mobile field service applications.

Blue Dot understands that its customers and business partners want to take advantage of the broadest possible selection of mobile devices and platforms.  Furthermore, we understand that the options are manifold (consumer vs. rugged; smartphone vs. tablet vs. phablet; Android vs. iOS vs. Windows 8) and constantly changing, and that buyers want some assurance that the choices and investments that they make today won’t become obsolete tomorrow.

In order to accommodate the dynamic nature of today’s mobile trends and technologies, Blue Dot has elected to utilize a ‘hybrid application’ strategy: we have developed the Cyan App Engine as a native application for each of the industry leading mobile platforms that, in turn, host intuitive, offline enabled, cross-platform capable HTML5 apps.

The Cyan App Engine incorporates the core lessons, best practices, and intellectual property that Blue Dot has developed over more than two decades of providing enterprise mobile products and services, including but not limited to: secure, reliable and highly optimized data transfer; device authentication and licensing; fast and secure offline persistence; and enterprise mobile device management.

The mobile field service applications that run within the Cyan App Engines are developed using modern, standard web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript, and Cascading Style Sheets (aka CSS).  We chose these technologies for the rich user experience (e.g. blends, transitions, animations) that they provide as well as the inherent cross-platform nature that they embody.  Though Cyan mobile field service applications may be optimized for each platform that they are deployed to, the vast majority of User Interface, Business Logic, and technical infrastructure code that they contain is truly cross-platform and does not require modification.  This enables Blue Dot and/or its customers and business partners to create mobile field service applications that can be quickly and easily deployed on multiple mobile platforms as well as to quickly and inexpensively ‘tailor’ apps to meet unique customer needs or requirements.

Blue Dot has long been a highly regarded leader in successfully delivering mobile field service Line of Business solutions.   Our latest Cyan Mobile Platform is the result of over two decades of experience and mobile enterprise expertise combined with practical innovation and the thoughtful embrace of rapid – and sometimes radical – change in mobile devices, platforms and technology.  Through it and our wide array of solutions and services, we hope to become your trusted advisor for enterprise mobility.

Cyan Simplicity

A combination of component and service, Cyan Simplicity brings integrated Mobile Device Management (MDM) to Blue Dot’s Customers and Business Partners.   As a fully managed offering, you can be hands on or hands off in managing, maintaining, and supporting your mobile device communities – Blue Dot Support professionals are there to assist on your behalf.  Critical MDM features such as Remote Control / Viewing, Device Lockdown, centralized Application and Configuration Provisioning, Device Location and Tracking, and remote Device Wipe are supported for all major mobile platforms such as Android, iOS, Windows, Windows Mobile, Blackberry.  Additional features such as wireless data usage monitoring and management, specialized security configurations and permissions, and private App Stores enable effective management of BYOD.

Business Benefits

A Cloud-based Infrastructure

  • No on premise hardware to procure, provision, maintain or support
  • Cloud-grade security, reliability, and scalability
  • High performance, international reach through globally deployed data centers
  • Elastic Scalability – infrastructure resources are dynamically allocated based upon need rather than anticipated demand spikes.
  • Flexible, de-coupled integration approach can support on premise and other hosted systems.
  • No upgrades or patches to deploy – immediate access to infrastructure enhancements and improvements

Software as a Service

  • Lower barrier to entry than traditional enterprise software licensing
  • Convert capital costs into operating expenses
  • Pay as you go – terminate when/if desired

Thoughtful Innovation – a pragmatic yet optimistic approach to real world mobile constraints

  • Utilizes the latest in mobile devices, operating systems, and wireless technologies but does so in a way to accommodate many of the biggest constraints that contribute to failed mobile deployments:
    • Easy, intuitive “consumer-style” mobile apps require little or no training.
    • Mobile apps can utilize device sensors such as cameras, GPS receivers, microphones, etc…
    • Robust off line capabilities with automated, right-time data transfer and synchronization – all optimized for mobile devices and wireless networks
    • Designed for high tailor-ability: meet unique needs and/or incorporate ‘special sauce’ quickly, safely, and affordably.  Mobile apps, integration adapters, and administration screens can all be tailored.

Future Proof with Investment Protection

  • “Hybrid App” approach provides cross-platform capabilities and accommodates all current major mobile platforms (Android, iOS, Windows 8).
  • Responsive design enables a single app to run on all sizes and form factors while making intelligent use of screen real-estate.
  •  New mobile platforms can be supported quickly via an appropriate Cyan App Engine.
  • De-coupled integration approach allows back-end systems to be upgraded or replaced with minimal changes to mobile solutions. 
  • Architected exclusively  through Blue Dot innovation and experience, The Cyan Mobile Platform supports cross-platform mobile field service solutions with a secure store and forward communications infrastructure specifically designed to support off-line capabilities and fast and efficient data transport that is fully automated and seamless to the mobile field worker