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We want to make it as easy as possible for you to automate your processes. And with automating processes comes the need to support the work habits of different users. Imagine you can create apps that let you interact with your business process without writing a single line of code. Imagine you can distribute those apps without going through the (sometimes) lengthy process of distributing them via a mobile device management (MDM) platform.

 

Enter Nintex Mobile Enterprise and it's newest feature, App Deploy.

 

I can hear some people ask, what's App Deploy? It's most commonly known as over the air deployment/programming. I won't get into much detail but if you are interested in the topic, you can read up here. In a nutshell, partners and customers don't have to have an MDM anymore. All you need is love...and Nintex Mobile Enterprise...App distribution works via a link that you send to your end users. App Deploy currently supports iOS and Android, with Windows to follow soon.

 

Let's take a tour and review the new capabilities. For this scenario we want to build a corporate Twitter app, using a form on Office 365. Note that Office 365 Workflow Tasks are not yet supported, hence we won't focus on the workflow or task filters when building the app. The app itself will allow users to submit a tweet suggestion, which can then be approved and automatically published.

 

First things first, let's log on to Nintex Mobile Enterprise. Once logged in you will notice a little change in the top right corner.

 

PortalLogIn.png

 

Under your account drop down, you will notice a new entry, Manage iOS certificates and profiles. iOS requires apps to be signed before they are being distributed. Clicking on the screen will take you to the management screen for certificates and profiles.

 

Certificates.png

 

Here you can upload all your enterprise distribution certificates and profiles. To create a certificate follow the steps documented here. For the creation of a provisioning profile, follow this document.

 

Upload your certificates and profiles and you are ready to go. Let's start building the app. I've already exported the form for inclusion in our app. Navigate back to the main portal page by clicking on the Nintex Mobile logo on the top left.

 

  1. Provide all details for your app settings, such as name, company, URL, etc. I've used a fictitious company for this example. At any point in time you can save your work using the Save button on the right to then come back later and finish what you have started.
    AppSettings.png
  2. Then select the platforms you would like the app to be available for. I will choose all of the ones supported at the moment, which is iOS and Android.
    Platforms.png
  3. Next, we will upload the forms definition file and set the app to show only the listed form. You might have noticed a little addition to the screen, the Show forms? section. Sometimes it makes sense to only show tasks but no forms, so you can set this to No if you don't want to see forms in your app. Also, you can now change the name of the forms tab to something more meaningful. Maybe you want to build an app that only shows surveys and instead of calling the tab "Forms", you can rename it to "Surveys".
    FormsFilter.png
  4. If you are building an app for on-premise, you can now do the same for tasks. I've build my app for Office 365 and will skip this step. The last step for me is to upload my artwork
    Artwork.png
  5. Once done, click on Queue to build on the right hand side. Alternatively you can refine your artwork in the Refine section before sending it off to create your app(s)
  6. Wait a few minutes and you will receive an email with the links to the downloads. You can either forward this email to your end users or you simply copy the link into a custom email you can send out.
    MobileEmail.png
  7. The last step for the user itself is to click on the link and install the app on their device.
    MobileEmailInstall.png

    InstallScreen1.png         InstallScreen.png

    newLoading.png          installed.png

    up and running.png

 

Done! That's it. You have successfully built and deployed an app using the new Nintex Mobile App Deploy feature. No code, no MDM and most importantly less time. Now go grab that well deserved coffee/tea/hot chocolate and brag at work about your amazing skills happy.png Tell everyone about App Deploy and the rest of the Nintex Workflow Automation platform and how easy and quick it is to create your own mobile process apps. Have fun!

This is great. Do you know what kind of licensing required for using Nintex mobile enterprise feture ?

you can get in touch with your territory manager or sales@nintex.com to get an indication on number of licenses and cost involved. Essentially you need to buy a license for Nintex Mobile Enterprise. The price varies depending on the number of apps you want to build. Note that one app means one app for as many platforms as you want. One app does not mean just one app for iOS or Android or Windows.

In addition to Pat's answer, you also get access to Nintex Mobile Enterprise with via Nintex Forms Enterprise. If you have Nintex Forms Enterprise you get 1 complimentary App (All platforms)

hello,

i keep getting this error when i try to upload the provisioning profile.

even though i successfully exported and uploaded the distribution certificate

 

Upload failed: The provisioning profile’s certificate is not found.
Please upload the certificate before uploading your provisioning profile.

Hi Ibrahim,

In the iOS world, each provisions profile is linked to one distribution certificate.

I believe the provisioning profile you are uploading must have been generated using a different certificate.

So to fix it, generate a new provisioning profile using the same certificate you have uploaded and then upload your new provisioning profile.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

finally!! it worked

thank you very much

Very cool stuff.

hello


how can i know how many downloads the app has?

apple enterprise account doesn't have access to iTunes, so i cannot access app analytics,

since the app is distributed through Nintex, is there a way to know how many users downloaded my app?

thank you

Hi ‌,

I do not know this but (just thinking) there is a way to get an idea who uses the app. This is not what you asked but perhaps still useful.

The solution is by adding a workflow or expanding one already present with an action which save the initiator in a separate log list. With the data in this list, you can get an impressions who uses the app (and when).

Cheers,

Rick

Hello Rick,

thank you for your reply,

we kind of use a similar way to your idea, but not for reporting.

we have some forms that uses web request, and since the web request control is not yet implemented in the mobile app, i made a column acting like a flag to know if this item is submitted through web or mobile.

and i use this flag to call the web request action inside the workflow and update the list column instead of the web form.

in some complicated forms, that uses a lot of web request controls, i created a separate list for the mobile version only, and after submission, i call all the needed data then copy the item to the main list.

your idea is very nice, it can provide date, time and the user who submitted it, but in my opinion, it will be difficult to implement and maintain it, specially if you have large amounts of forms on the mobile.

thank you again

Ibrahim

Hi Ibrahim,

Do you should be able to get this information from the App Deploy reporting section.

Hello Vahid,

thank you for your reply.

i posted my comment before Nintex created the app download report.

and basically my question now is how to know if the users are using the app or not, like a usage report.

Oh, I see. We unfortunately don't have a way for you to do get this information.

Can you please add this to our user voice so that we can prioritize it should people vote for it.

Cheers,

Vahid

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