General System Requirements MCS Apps Document status Document owner LIVE Thomas Verdyck Goals Get insight on the minimal hardware & software requirements needed for running an app of the MCS Software suite. Help the support team to easily tackle performance related service tickets. Help Sales staff, Project engineers and MCS customers to define requirements during (pre) project scoping. Recommended devices MCS does not recommend any specific device for using MCS apps. The scope of test devices MCS uses to develop high qualitative apps changes dynamically every month based on worldwide benchmarks of typical and popular devices. This way we makes sure our apps are always fully tested on a wide range of devices. Tips for buying a good device Performance As with so many electronic items, the rule of thumb is: more expensive devices have better "specs" (more memory, etc.) and will therefore provide a faster and more pleasant user experience. This is probably the most important consideration you will have to make when obtaining a new device. If the top 5 productivity apps available on the official stores can be ran without issues; the MCS apps will also run smoothly. User expierence Invest in a device with a screen of sufficient size (at least 5 for a mobile phone and 10" for a tablet). The buttons, plans, drawings and texts will be big enough for most of your users; all this will increase the ease of use. Continuity Choose for devices with a certain continuity, do not choose device models which are end of life. If a device breaks down, it is interesting to be able to replace it with a similar device. It is always easier if your entire workforce can (continue to) work on the same (type of) device. Buy a device with a recent version of the subject operating system. Currently this means you need at least a device running Android version 6.0 or higher and an Apple device running ios 10 or higher. In this way, MCS can continue to supply apps that are compatible with your selected device in the coming years. Until which day in the future a certain Android or ios version will be supported is impossible to say, but when you buy an device with a modern OS version today you still have a support lifetime of at least 3 years. When opting for a low-end device (a device which is close to the minimal system requirements), you should keep in mind this device might be falling under the system requirements next time the requirements are being reviewed by MCS (see next chapter for more info). MCS advises to buy mid-range devices for a good equilibrium between price, performance and lifetime. Other considerations Most mobile devices are not ruggedized. This means that they are often not resistant to falling, are not waterproof and start showing malfunctions faster in dusty environments. If you think ruggedized devices are desirable, you should specifically look for them. There are also companies that focus on this type of equipment. If you want to use NFC, your device needs to support it. So you have to check the specifications carefully. If you are not sure WiFi is available in all zones where you wish to use the MCS apps, it's best to look for devices with a 4G SIM slot (sometimes referred to as "cellular"). Don't forget you will also have to pay for a data subscription. Test before buying large quantities
Test devices in small quantities before ordering larger amounts. All apps which comply to the rules described below are theoretically ready for use. MCS however does recommend running a small scale proof of concept before acquiring large numbers of devices, especially when opting for Android devices. Android vendors are free to implement their own version of the operating system without being bound to any common standards. In practice this means obscure Android vendors phones and special phone editions of common vendors should be tested thoroughly. Common market Android devices are generally compliant to these rules. System requirements update policy System requirements are a dynamic fact, they need to be updated on yearly basis in order to allow our apps to keep on evolving based on the latest trends and evolution. The market of mobile devices is still evolving at fast pace (new operating system versions are released on yearly basis and performance of devices doubles every 2 years), this means devices will become outdated faster compared to the more and more stabilizing world of PC's. MCS releases new system requirements every year; to give customers insight on the evolution of system requirements MCS also publishes the system requirements of the past year and the upcoming year. Devices which are no longer compatible with the system requirements might no longer function as desired. In most cases working on an outdated device will lead to serious performance issues. Software Requirements (OS version) Operating system Version Comments Android 4.4.X and up 5.0 and up 5.0 and up (Less than 15% of devices still uses Android version 4.4 or lower: https://de veloper.android.com/about/dashboards/) ios 9.X and up 10.X and up 11.X and up (Less than 5% of devices still uses ios version 9 or lower: https://developer.apple.com/support/app-store/) Windows - Phone Windows Phone 8.1.X (*) Windows Phone 8.1.X (*) N/A (**) (*) mymcs 15.0 is the last version which will support apps. As of mymcs 16.0, only Windows 10 is supported. Windows 10 mobile Windows 10 mobile (**) Windows Phone is being discontinued by Microsoft. Windows Phone apps will no longer be supported as from 2019. Windows - PC & Tablet (*) mymcs 15.0 is the last version which will support apps. As of mymcs 16.0, only Windows 10 is supported. Software Requirements for side-loaded apps Side-loaded apps are apps which are not installed via the official stores (Android Play Store and Apple App Store). Apps which are installed via the MCS appstore are considered as side-loaded apps. Operating system Android ios Windows - Phone Comments Users must allow installation of apps from unknown sources. (Allow installation of non-market apps.) Users must specifically trust "MCS NV" as a trusted app developer in order to launch apps. MCS must be trusted as app developer by adding a workplace account for MCS. Specific for MWM on mymcs 15.0 (and prior): The mymcs Dashboard app must be installed prior to the installation of any other app. The mymcs Dashboard app manages tasks in the background for all future Windows Phone mymcs apps.
Enterprise - PC & Tablet Windows 10 - PC & Tablet The user's tablet/desktop must be added to the company s Active Directory domain in order to run mymcs apps. The AD user must at least have local admin rights in order to complete the installation. Alternatively, the apps can be installed via distributed deployment systems like: Active Directory Group Policies, Device Management tools etc. The user must at least have local admin rights in order to complete the installation. Alternatively, the apps can be installed via distributed deployment systems like: Active Directory Group Policies, Device Management tools etc. More information about the app installation process can be found in the app installation manuals. Hardware Requirements Android Benchmarking (AnTuTu Benchmarking app) General Score 24.000 31.000 31.000 Hardware requirements CPU Model CPU cores: 4 CPU cores: 4 CPU cores: 4 RAM 1,5 GB 1,5 GB 1,5 GB (free) Internal System Storage Resolution (phone) Resolution (tablet) 250 MB 350 MB 350 MB More offline storage capacity might be required based on app usage. 720 X 1028 (5") 720 X 1028 (5") 720 X 1028 (5") 768 x 1280 (7") 768 x 1280 (7") 768 x 1280 (7") Display type Touchscreen Touchscreen Touchscreen Display multitouch Mobile Connection Supported Supported Supported Multitouch is required for 3G 3G 4G 3G connection (or higher) is highly recommended. WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wifi connection is highly recommended. GPS Supported Supported Supported GPS support is required for Camera VGA VGA VGA Camera support is required for ios Benchmarking (AnTuTu Benchmarking app)
General Score 10.000 13.000 61.000 Supported phones Oldest generation of devices supported iphone 4S iphone 5 iphone 5S ipod touch iphone 5C ipad Air ipad 2 ipad Mini 2 ipad Mini ipad Mini 3 Data usage MCS Room Display Operation Data usage Real life example for a day for 5 meetings Refresh calendar (assuming 5 meetings in a day) 6KB For a refresh interval of 5 minutes, the app will refresh the screen (60*24)/5 = 288 times in a day. Book meeting using MRD End meeting manually Extend meeting 100KB + 6KB 20KB + 6KB 30KB + 6KB Total usage= 6KB*288 = 1.8 MB per day Assuming 5 meetings are booked per device per day, the total usage will be around 50 0 KB per day Assuming 3 meetings were explicitly ended via the device ended before the scheduled end time, total data used will be 100KB per day Assuming 2 meetings per day are extended via the device, total data usage will be 100 KB per day Conclusion Taking the above example of daily usage as an approximate, the monthly data usage will be 2.5 MB * 30 days = 75 MB per month. If we take into account that the usage varies considerably per device, and accounting for data usage during initial setup, a 150-200 MB per month data plan will be more than sufficient. If the planned usage for the customer is differs much from the above example, data usage can be calculated based on the data usage volumes mentioned above. Work Assistant Operation Data usage Real life example (per day) Login 20 KB An auto re-login happens after a session idle time of 30 minutes. A working day is on average 8 hours long. Hence, the app will perform an auto re-login approximately (8 * 2) 16 times per working day: 320 KB Refresh floorplan (or change floors) 100 800 KB (average: 450 KB) (The size of the floorplan depends on the size of the drawing.) The floorplan reloads on every login event, the app performs an auto re-login around 16 times per day. So: 16 * 450 KB = 7,2 MB
Open work order Details: 40 80 KB per WO (average 60 KB) Icons: 5 KB per icon Pictures: 300 KB per picture Pictures & WO details are cached, so in case the same WO is opened multiple times; this will not influence the data consumption. On average a worker opens a work order every 10 minutes (6 times an hour). On average a work order contains a single icon and 2 pictures: (60 KB + 5 KB + 600 KB) * 6 * 8 = 31,92 MB Conclusion An average user will consume around 40 MB per day. During a normal working month (21 working days) this results in a data consumption of around 850 MB per month. These numbers are based on a user which uses the app during the complete working day (example: when the app is installed on a tablet which is mounted on a cleaning trolley). When users only use the app to check the progress of the work sporadically this will reduce the data consumption proportionally. Depending on the number of apps installed on the device and the frequency of updates pushed by the individual app distributors data consumption can be heavily influenced. For example: the Chrome browser app is around 30 MB in size and is updated by Google at least once per month. This form of data consumption could be avoided by disabling these kind of updates over data connections (and only allowing it via WIFI connections). Server & Network Requirements General The MCS Mobile apps require a direct connection to the MCS Web Portal. The apps handle authentication and other communication via web service hosted as part of the MCS Web Portal installation. It is important to take the following into account: 1) Intermediate (3rd party) login methods implemented for additional security and/or SSO purpose ( e.g. Windows Authentication through NTLM or any others) are not supported. In case such an intermediate step in authentication is required, MCS can create a custom app which specifically supports the required 3rd party authentication. Please contact your account manager for more information. 2) The app needs to be able to communicate with the MCS Web Portal. When the MCS Web Portal is deployed on an internal network which is not accessible from outside the network, the app will only be able to connect successfully when residing in the same network. ios 9.0 App Transport Security (ATS) From ios 9 and above Apple is pushing for more security in all apps, and will no longer allow the use of http. When a user attempts to make a connection using http, the system will automatically use https instead. If the https version is using security that Apple considers weak, or the server just doesn t support https at all, the request will fail. Apple's expectations for secure connections: Transport Layer Security (TLS) must be at least version 1.2 Connection ciphers are limited are limited to those that provide forward secrecy Certificates must use at least an SHA256 fingerprint with either a 2048 bit or greater RSA key, or a 256 bit or greater Elliptic-Curve (ECC) key. Read more here: https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/technotes/app-transport-security-technote/index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/tp40016240