Architecture

Most mobile applications for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central or NAV work similarly. We developed our application a bit differently to provide you with many stunning features. See how we did it below.

Network Topology

In a typical infrastructure, there is a protected company domain that contains the computers. The domain is protected by a firewall or proxy. The mobile devices are usually outside of this domain network and communicate with the company domain using HTML, SSL, and NTLM protocols. In other cases, the mobile devices can be inside the firewall, for example, in a warehouse installation. This is the most common scenario, but MobileNAV can be installed in many other topologies like hosted or cloud environments.

Mobile NAV Architecture infographic
Shot of Server system internet datacenter room.

MS Dynamics NAV/BC Server

You usually have a Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2, 2013, 2013 R2, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, or even Business Central on-premise or SaaS Server on the server side. These versions come with a component, which is the Business Web Service. That provides web service access to the published pages and codeunits of the NAV system.

MobileNAV Client

We have built a MobileNAV Client Application that can be installed on all mobile devices. MobileNAV Client Application is a real app. We have created separate applications for each supported mobile platform. That makes it possible to exploit most of the device’s features.

MobileNAV is the PERFECT mobile solution for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly known as Navision) enterprise management system. MobileNAV Mobile management system - providing online and offline work for typically field activities such as sales, service and project management
Shot of a developer who is coding software on his laptop.

MobileNAV Configuration

The configuration is stored centrally inside the NAV database. This MobileNAV Configuration is containing metadata about the published pages and codeunits for the MobileNAV client. The idea is that this configuration will describe all the MobileNAV-related configurations or customizations, and on the first login of the client, she/he will download the configuration from the server, and once the configuration has been downloaded to the client side, then MobileNAV will build up the user interface regarding this configuration. So in that case, you can easily customize the solution and roll out all customization to the client’s devices.

MobileNAV Add-On

To make the customization and configuration more accessible, we have created the MobileNAV Add-on component. It should be added to your NAV/BC system, so it will give you the user interface and all the technical background to make the datatransfer happen.

A smiley young women show her digital mobile phone with the MobileNAV app.
Magnified image of a telephone and the city behind it, symbolizing the flow of communication.

Communication Flow

The MobileNAV client is first communicating with the MobileNAV Add-on to download the MobileNAV configuration. Once the client has downloaded the configuration, the client can consume and exchange data directly with the page web services of the NAV/BC. MobileNAV client uses HTTP as a protocol, so the firewalls and proxies will support the communication. The authentication is NTLM, so you need to have Windows logins for your mobile users. MobileNAV also supports NAVUserPassword users from NAV version 2013 or above. You can protect the communication channel with SSL encryption. This is recommended for production environments.