OnBase Mobile - Upgrade Decision Guide

[Robby_Paterson]

The landscape for mobile access has become much more complex since the updated version of OnBase Mobile was released back in OnBase Foundation EP4. Since then, a few changes have taken place that you may want to take into consideration during your next upgrade. If you are using the legacy Mobile Access apps (Mobile Access for iPhone, Mobile Access for iPad, Mobile Access for Android) and are upgrading to OnBase Foundation EP5 or later, there are limitations and important details you should be aware of. This article explains the details and serves as a guide to help you make proficient upgrade decisions. It also provides important information for those who are considering the addition of mobile capabilities to their current OnBase solution.

Many customers are upgrading to the latest long-term release foundation version, which is currently 22.1. What we have found is that customers who are using the legacy OnBase Mobile apps with the Mobile Broker are describing a loss of functionality around authentication. In short, the Mobile Broker does not support Hyland IdP and due to this limitation, our customers are forced to decide to use an older authentication method or upgrade to the new OnBase Mobile apps and accept a loss in functionality in other areas which are documented below. Customers are also requesting that Cloud Platform Engineering deploy version 18 of the Mobile Broker and OnBase IdP as this has all the functionality they are after. However, the OnBase 18 IdP is 4 years old with known issues. Going down this mixed version route is a short-term solution that increases the complexity and cost and will decrease satisfaction in the long-term.

Definitions and additional detail:

• OnBase Mobile customer or prospect
  • Any customer (existing or net new) that is considering using OnBase Mobile as a part of their solution

• What it means to wait for OnBase version 23.1
  • Hold off on upgrading OnBase until the missing capabilities are added.
    • E-Form Support
    • Workflow tasks that display a Unity or E-Form
    • HTML Custom Queries
    • OEM theming support
    • Institutional database support

• What it means to upgrade OnBase to EP5+ and use the NEW OnBase Mobile product
  • Requires the following:
    • The Hyland API Server and Hyland IdP
    • The customer to stop using:
      • E-Forms
      • Workflow tasks that display a Unity or E-Form
      • HTML Custom Queries
      • OEM theming
      • Institutional databases

• What it means to upgrade OnBase to EP5+ and use the LEGACY OnBase Mobile product
  • Requires the following:
    • The EP5 or later version of the Mobile Broker
    • The use of standard OnBase authentication, Active Directory authentication, or the Active Directory Federation Services integration for the Mobile Broker
      
      • OnBase IdP from OnBase 17 and 18 is no longer supported and the Mobile Broker does not support Hyland IdP
        • AD authentication is not supported in the Hyland Cloud, only the legacy ADFS integration is supported
        • AD FS integration requires significant work on the customer’s side to implement.
          • The customer would have to have an AD FS server somewhere (likely on premise)
          • The AD FS server would need to federate to their AD environment using the connector
          • The Cloud hosted OnBase Mobile Broker for EP5 would point to the hosted OnBase Application Server which would point to the on-premise AD FS server
        • The rest of OnBase (Unity Client, Web Client) can still use the Hyland IdP for authentication if desired

• What it means to use the Web Client in the mobile browser
  • Upgrade to OnBase Foundation EP5 build 21.1.13.1000 or later
  • Use OnBase Web Client in the mobile browser on the device
    • Known functionality not supported:
      • Biometric authentication
      • Right click menus
      • Web client hasn’t been fully tested, other unknown issues may arise
    • All workflow tasks are supported
    • Hyland IdP is supported

Background on how we got here:

Hyland began the shift from the Legacy OnBase Mobile apps to the New OnBase Mobile apps over the past few years because the Legacy apps were dated from an architecture and UX perspective. There were a large number of legacy apps (13+) that Hyland was supporting and reducing this maintenance cost would free up development resources. The UX was inconsistent between iOS and Android as well. The New OnBase Mobile apps are not yet at feature parity with the legacy apps and because of this, there are some gaps in capabilities between the two.

FAQs:

• Q: Have we communicated anything to customers about the feature gaps to date?
• A: Yes, we have published two blog posts that talk about the feature gaps but have not put together a comprehensive communication until now.
  • Legacy Mobile Access Features NOT Supported in the OnBase Mobile app in OnBase Foundation EP4
  • Legacy Mobile Access Features NOT Supported in the OnBase Mobile app in OnBase Foundation EP5

• Q: What is the main difference between the Legacy OnBase Mobile Product and the New OnBase Product?
• A: The Legacy OnBase Mobile is a more full-featured mobile client but relies on the old Mobile Broker. The New OnBase Mobile Product does not yet support E-Forms, HTML Custom Queries and Workflow tasks that display a form. It does support the Hyland IdP and is the mobile client that Hyland is investing in.

• Q: Does the New OnBase Mobile support Hyland IdP?
• A: Yes, it does. This enables customers to leverage Multi-Factor authentication for mobile application access which is often desired due to the portable nature of mobile devices.

• Q: How many customers have moved to the New OnBase Mobile Product?
• A: There are an average of ~1000 user sessions per month. This indicates that usage has been light, likely due to the missing capabilities noted above.

• Q: What difference is there between EP5 and 22.1 as it relates to the OnBase Mobile Product?
• A: Additional language support and some security fixes.

• Q: If the customer prefers to wait, are they guaranteed that these feature gaps will be addressed in the next release?
• A: The full set of feature gaps is not likely to be addressed by the 23.1 release due to competing priorities for OnBase HTML Web Client UI improvements including Native PDF handling. We are focused on prioritizing a portion of the most used features including HTML E-Forms and Workflow Tasks.