Shared Device Overview (Multiple User Mode)¶
Multiple user mode is designed for the enterprise scenario where, for example, an employee gets a shared device in the morning, goes out to the field (and may be offline during that time), and then returns the device when the shift ends. The next morning, the employee may get a different device and the device that they used yesterday may be assigned to another user (thus, “multiple user mode”). What multiple user mode provides in the offline scenario is the means whereby the initial user’s data, contained in the offline data store, is synced to the server prior to the second user’s log in, thus preserving the previous user’s changes to the data. In the online scenario, each user’s data changes are made to their own secure data store. Challenges raised by this scenario include:
- How to safely manage different users' credential stores on a single device so that one user cannot compromise another user's data.
- How to allow users to easily onboard and re-onboard without impacting other users.
- How to allow users to easily choose their username and passcode to log in to the app.
- If the offline store is used, how to prevent users from losing their work if they forget to upload their work at the end of the shift and the device is picked up by another colleague the next day.
- How to prevent the scenario where one user registers the push token during the day and the next day messages for that user are incorrectly delivered to the device they used yesterday.
SAP Mobile Services, SAP BTP SDK for Android, SAP BTP SDK for iOS, and Mobile Development Kit work together to solve these problems.
Procedure¶
Enabling the Option on Mobile Services¶
- In SAP mobile service cockpit, select Mobile Applications > Native/
MDK - Select an application, navigate to the Settings tab, and select Client Settings.
- On the Client Configuration tab, under Shared Devices section, select
Allow Upload of Pending Changes from Previous User.
When you enable this feature, you also enable multiple user mode for the client via the QR code.
Note
- For the Device Policy Profiles to take effect when Multiple User Mode is enabled, you must ensure that the Passcode Policy is also enabled as it is a part of Device Policy Profiles. For more information, see Defining Device Policy Profiles.
- If you enable Shared Devices, it disables the properties: No Passcode Required and Biometric Authentication Allowed in the existing status of the checkbox.
- This policy can be modified through an API.
- To view the message, choose Information icon. The message states: Biometric authentication can be used only on single-user devices. This option is disabled on shared devices.
Device Application Development¶
Refer to Creating Shared Device Apps With The Wizard for details on implementing multi-user mode, including best practices. For detail API usage, please refer to sub-section.
For a summary of best practice for shared devices running offline applications, refer to Setting Up an Application - SAP Mobile Services Documentation -> Multiuser Considerations