Configuring MicroStrategy Mobile for Android

Before a user can view reports and documents in MicroStrategy Mobile for iPhone/iPad, the application must be configured to communicate with Mobile Server and Intelligence Server. Manually configuring each device can be time-consuming and difficult. Instead, you can create a configuration.

A mobile device configuration is a list of settings for a MicroStrategy Mobile application that are stored in a file on Mobile Server. A configuration for MicroStrategy Mobile for Android contains information about the memory limit, network timeout, caching, and error logging, as well as what projects can be accessed from the application and what buttons are available on the home screen. For details on configuring push notification alerts, see Configuring MicroStrategy Mobile for Android to Receive Push Notifications.

A single configuration can configure devices to connect to multiple Mobile Servers. Users can manually connect to any available Mobile Server, if the configuration allows them to configure the application from the mobile device. For instructions on how to configure the application from the mobile device, see Configuring the Application from the Device.

You can create and save multiple configurations. Each configuration can have its own login credentials, list of projects, and Home screen design. For example, you can create one configuration for regional sales managers, providing access to only those projects that report on sales data. You can then create another configuration for executives, which gives them access to all projects currently in production and also provides a Home screen with buttons for several high-level dashboards.

User logins and passwords included with a configuration should be used only for demonstration purposes, as the configuration is not transmitted or stored securely.

For information on the requirements to support the Map widget on Android devices, refer to the MicroStrategy Readme.

Once you have created a configuration, you can generate a URL for that configuration, and then post that URL to an HTML page. Mobile users can use their mobile devices to browse to the HTML site and click on the URL. When a user opens the URL on their mobile device, the application is automatically configured using the settings in the configuration. For steps, see Configuring Mobile Devices Using a Generated URL.

To Create an Android Phone or Android Tablet Configuration

Access the Mobile Server Administrator page:

In Windows: From the Start menu, point to Programs, then MicroStrategy Tools, and select Mobile Administrator. The Mobile Server Administrator web page opens.
In UNIX/Linux: After you deploy MicroStrategy Mobile Server Universal and log on to the mstrMobileAdmin servlet using proper credentials, the Mobile Server Administrator web page opens. The default location of the Administrator servlet varies depending on the platform that you are using.

From the pane on the left, select Mobile Configuration.
Click Define New Configuration.
From the Device drop-down list, select either Android Phone or Android Tablet to create a configuration for the device.
Click OK.
In the Configuration Name field, type the name of the configuration. This is the name that is displayed in the configuration list.

Configure the Android Phone or Android Tablet Settings

Select either the Phone Settings or Tablet Settings tab.
In the Network Timeout field, specify how long, in seconds, the application should wait for the network to respond before reporting a timeout. The default value is 60 seconds.
In the Maximum Columns in Grid field, specify the maximum number of columns displayed at one time in a grid report. The default value is 10 columns for Android phones and 50 columns for Android tablets.
In the Refresh data and submit pending transactions every field, type how often, in seconds, the application should validate the report and document caches on the device with Intelligence Server and upload any pending transactions. The default value is every 600 seconds.
This check only invalidates a cache on the device if the corresponding cache on Intelligence Server is invalid or expired; it does not check whether any changes have been made to the original report or document.
If your report/document has the pre-caching feature enabled but does not use server side catching, select the Cache real-time data for check box to use the local caches for a specified amount of time. Enter the number of seconds that a local cache remains valid.

For instructions on configuring reports, documents, or the contents of a folder to be pre-cached, see Configuring the Home Screen for iPhone and Android Phone or Configuring the Home Screen for iPad or Android Tablet.

If caching for a specific report or document has been disabled, you can still force it to use the pre-cache feature on a mobile device. To do this, open the report or document in Developer, open the corresponding Report Caching Options or Document Properties dialog box, and click the Allow mobile devices to cache data temporarily to optimize performance check box.
To check for and download subscription updates in the background, select the Enable background syncing check box. When this option is selected, the mobile device checks for updates and downloads subscriptions at the specified interval, even if the MicroStrategy Mobile application is not running on the device. To specify the subscription update interval, do one of the following.

To update subscriptions on the device every 1, 2, 4, 10, or 24 hours, select the interval from the Update subscriptions every drop-down list.
To update subscriptions on the device at the same time each day, select 24 hours from the Update subscriptions every drop-down list, and then select the desired time from the Time of the day for update drop-down list.

By default, the Mobile Server network response quality is measured and displayed as a green, yellow, or red image on the mobile client. To disable this feature, clear the Monitor Network Status check box.
To prevent users from changing the configuration settings for the application, clear the Allow users to access settings check box.
To allow access to reports and documents even when the connection to the network is intermittent, select the Automatically pre-load subscriptions check box. If this check box is selected, caches are loaded for all subscribed reports and documents when the application is launched.
To disable folder caching and to refresh folders every time that the user opens them, clear the Cache folders check box.
Clearing this option may cause Mobile to open folders more slowly, as it must retrieve information about the folders from Intelligence Server every time they are opened.
By default, reports and documents are cached on the device until either the memory limit is reached or a newer version of the report or document is available. This allows access to reports and documents even when the connection to the network is intermittent. To clear the caches when the application is closed, select the Clear caches when the application closes check box.
To prevent users from modifying caching settings, clear the Allow users to modify caching settings check box.
To prevent users from sharing images of documents from the MicroStrategy Mobile application, clear the Allow users to share document screenshots check box. When this option is disabled, Mobile users cannot access the Share and Annotate features.
By default, the MicroStrategy Mobile application displays a Learn More link. When this link is tapped by a Mobile user, the mobile version of the MicroStrategy website opens in the default web browser. You can modify the Learn More link in the following ways.

To change the Learn More link, enter the desired URL in the Custom URL field.
To remove the Learn More link, clear the Show "Learn More" link check box.

By default, the configuration used on the device is not updated automatically. To enable the mobile device to check the Mobile Server for updates to the configuration at a specified time interval:

In the Check and update configuration settings, select Every.
From the drop-down list, select whether to specify the time interval in Days or Hours.
In the field, enter the number of days or hours that must pass between each check for updates.
The MicroStrategy Mobile application checks for an update to the Mobile configuration at this specified interval. If an update is found, the user is prompted to apply the new configuration to the mobile device. The user can then choose to apply the new configuration or wait for a later time. If the user selects the latter option, the prompt reappears five minutes later.

To set up client authentication for Mobile Server, select the Use Certificate Server check box. With this option selected, you can set up a client certificate server responsible for creating certificates for mobile clients. These certificates are required from mobile clients attempting to access the Mobile Server.

To specify the certificate server, enter the certificate server's URL in the Use Certificate Server text field. This field must begin with https:// and requires the use of the fully qualified name of the certificate server in the URL, as in the following examples.

ASP:

https://fully_qualified_domain_name:port/ CertificateServer/asp/certificate.aspx

JSP:

https://fully_qualified_domain_name:port/ CertificateServer

https://fully_qualified_domain_name:port/ CertificateServer/servlet/certificate

where:

• fully_qualified_domain_name:port is the location and port of your certificate server. For example, machine_name.domain.com:8443.

For detailed instructions on configuring a certificate server, see Client Authentication with a Certificate Server.

Configuring Passcode and Encryption Options

To require users to enter a password to access the application, and to enable the encryption of caches on their mobile devices, select the Requires passcode (required for Data Encryption) check box. When this option is selected, a Mobile user must create a password the first time that they open the Mobile application. The user is then prompted for the password each time that they attempt to open the application.

Mobile device caches are encrypted only if the Requires Passcode check box is selected.
To require Mobile users to type a password to open the application after the mobile device is unlocked, select the Require password after locking the device check box.
To specify requirements for the passwords that Mobile users enter to gain access to the Mobile application, use the following settings under Encryption options:

To require at least one numeric character in the password, select the Requires at least one numeric character check box.
To require at least one special character in the password, select the Requires at least one special character ($, @, %...) check box.
To require at least one capital letter in the password, select the Requires at least one capital letter check box.
To specify a minimum number of characters for the password, type the number, in characters, in the Minimum passcode length text box. The default value is 4 characters.
To specify a maximum number of failed login attempts before a user is locked out of the Mobile application, type the maximum number in the Maximum number of failed logon attempts text box. If the maximum is met, all data is wiped, including caches and the mobile app configuration. The default value is 10 attempts.
To specify how long a user has to wait to try again after they enter an incorrect passcode, type the amount of time, in seconds, in the Lockout duration text box. The default value is 0 seconds.
To specify the amount of inactive time that must elapse before a password request appears on the mobile device, type the number of seconds in the Require password on resuming application after text box. The user is required to re-enter valid credentials when the MicroStrategy Mobile application is resumed after being inactive for the specified period of time.
The MicroStrategy Mobile application is considered inactive if it is running in the background, if other applications are running in the foreground, or if the mobile device is locked.

To continue the mobile configuration, click the Connectivity Settings tab.
For detailed instructions on configuring connectivity settings, see Configuring Connectivity Settings for iOS and Android Devices.