Let’s move past “drag-and-drop” and start talking about low-code application development more holistically. Low code features such as drag and drop is great, but to truly build and deploy enterprise-ready applications quickly, low-code becomes as much about instant playback functionality, automated testing, debugging, compiling, and deployment, as it does about the ability to quickly make forms and workflows.
Appian’s Low Code Features
- The Interface Designer: The interface designer is an interactive drag and drop design tool that lets designers create, display, and immediately playback user interfaces in a live preview, while at the same time automatically detecting errors as they appear in real time.
- The Report Builder: The report builder allows you to create collections of grids or charts to display data from a variety of sources in intuitive interface.
- Drag-and-Drop Smart Services: Appian smart services are flow activities that integrate specialized business services without requiring custom software development.
- Instant Mobility: With the click of a button, Appian’s philosophy of design once, deploy across multiple devices, makes your solution mobile-ready with no additional “coding”.
These favorite low code features are just the tip of the Appian low-code iceberg. Now, let’s steer around that iceberg and onto my favorite low-code mindsets.
The Low Code Mindset
- Minimal Viable Product (MVP): When we develop custom BPM applications, we attempt to strike a balance with an offering that delivers on the minimum viable product (MVP) promise but is also supported by a sustainable application architecture that can support the weight of many future releases. Designing an MVP that can be quickly delivered upon allows users to get hands on, and provide valuable feedback that will fuel the next rapid release.
- Agile Methodology: Applying Agile Methodology is the perfect companion for all low code features. The ability to deliver iterations of progress quickly allows for a much more natural and organic growth of user requirements. Constantly adapting to changing ideas, business needs, and ultimately leading to a product that has been shaped by the users who will it will benefit.
- Proof of Concept (PoC) to Enterprise Solution: With a low-code development set you are able to free your business from the fear of choosing to develop more ideas. You can quickly build Proof of Concepts applications to explore new concepts, or possibilities. Many of PoC opportunities will eventually turn into Enterprise Solutions that might never had had the change to be built in a more traditional IT department.
- Modular Design/Re-Use: One of the real hidden values in low-code, is that the more you build, the faster you can become. Each module built, each form constructed, becomes a piggy bank for the next project to raid and reuse. With such consistent object design with low-code, everything is inherently modular, and the resources for future applications are grown overtime. More importantly, new low code features can augment apps over time.
- Integrated Teams: Getting end user time is always going to be an issue for development teams, but with low-code projects, you can maximize that time by integrating business users in the development process. User Interfaces, and workflows, can be constructed side-by-side using low code features such as visual tools that are easily understood by business users. This not only removes any requirement translation noise or misunderstanding, but builds natural partnership between business and IT.
Read more about low code features in our eBook: What is low code?
Princeton Blue’s Low Code Appian Solution:
Look no further than our officially Appian certified product offering, “the Advanced Rules Management (ARM)” solution, which gives business users the ability to define, test, modify and analyze decision table rules through a simple, intuitive and mobile-enabled user Interface, with very granular access control levels.
Let’s Take the Next Step
Partner with Princeton Blue. Let us showcase low code features through the Advanced Rules Management (ARM) solution. Contact us or reach out to us directly at (908)369-0961.
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