Enterprise mobility projects come in a variety of sizes using many different methodologies. An agreement should have been reached in the earlier phases of the project on strategically how the blueprint and design phase is to be undertaken. Now is the opportunity to move past the strategy and into the reality, at least for the process and application design. 

The blueprint phase can vary in length, duration and complexity depending on the type of mobile enterprise application being deployed and how closely (or otherwise) it aligns to a template application. For example, implementation of a Purchase Requisition/Order project may require very little or no formal blueprint phase while a Field Service application may require a comprehensive blueprint design phase. 

Some key areas of focus during blueprint should be:

Workshops:

• Requirements gathering & business process mapping
• ‘As-is’ processes and changes
• Existing (back-office) ability to support the ‘to-be’

The ‘to-be’ should include:

• Business Process
• Application / Screens (User Interface specialist can also be involved here)
• Conceptual Data Model
• Conceptual Interfaces

Device/hardware selection & device management:

• Business requirements
• IT requirements
• Procurement requirements
• Shortlist (hardware and MDM software)
• Prototype and/or Test
• Procure

Key Deliverables:

• Blueprint design document: Outlining all key aspects of the mobile solution, this will form the basis of the technical documents during realization and be used as a baseline to define/confirm project scope.  
• Project Plan for Realization: Now that the specifics of the solution are known, a detailed project plan can be set down and used by the project team as they move into the next phase.

In my experience, mobilizing an existing process (e.g., replacing a paper-based system with a mobile solution) can be a lot easier/quicker to produce than a new process that no one is familiar with. Trying to mobilize a business process that doesn't exist is more complex and introduces other challenges. Likewise, if the back-end system is not currently setup to perform the future process, this can add complexity.