STAFF TIME-SAVER OF THE MONTH

Want faster, more efficient processes? Nik Rawlinson explains how to empower your staff to build their own apps and automate time-consuming tasks

Do your employees find themselves repeating the same tasks again and again? We explain how they can automate them, leaving time to concentrate on the important stuff.

Not so long ago, it would have been inconceivable for anyone in upper management to type their own letters and memos. Now, everyone does. The same will soon be true of coding; arguably, it’s already the case. Whether it’s creating email inbox rules or defining formulae on a spreadsheet, most of your staff have probably been programming for years – they just haven’t realised it because their tools have taken care of the technical underpinnings, allowing them to customise their workflows without getting bogged down in complex code.

These are the principles behind “low-code” development – an idea so powerful that it’s now being applied across a growing range of business functions. There’s a generous selection of general-purpose lowcode development platforms to choose from, including Appian ( appian.com),

Microsoft Power Apps ( powerapps.

microsoft.com) and OutSystems

( outsystems.com). All of these allow staff to create complex procedures without requiring any formal training in programming, typically by linking process blocks together such that the output of one becomes the input of its successor. At each stage, the data is progressively refined until it emerges in the desired form.

To be clear, we’re not talking about building entire open-ended apps, such as word processors or graphics editors, here. It may be possible to realise this sort of project in a low-code environment, but the model is best suited to automating specific, self-contained functions such as analysing data, populating dashboards or processing input gathered using mobile devices.

The highs and lows of low-code

One big benefit of the low-code approach is that it allows data-processing functions to be created by the people who actually deal with the data. Staff no longer need to waste time writing up extensive specs and waiting for dedicated developers to generate the code. Instead, by developing and testing their own workflows, they can be certain of getting the results they want, quickly implement changes and tweaks, retain ownership of their own processes and keep any costs under control.

Low-code development has its limitations, however. Users are reliant on the capabilities of the underlying development environment, and if

“Staff no longer need to waste time writing up extensive specifications and waiting for developers to generate the code”

they lack general programming experience, they might end up approaching problems in inefficient or ineffective ways. Apps created in one low-code environment aren’t designed to be directly portable to another, so there’s a potential element of lock-in. And, in most cases, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee for your chosen low-code platform, not just to develop your creations but to continue using them – which erodes the cost savings gained by not needing a dedicated development team.

Developing a low-code application

You’re free to develop low-code apps from scratch, but most publishers give you a head start by providing libraries of prebuilt templates for you to flesh out with custom code. This isn’t coding in the traditional sense; users sketch out forms and drag in existing processes that can analyse and process the input as needed.

The data itself, meanwhile, can come from almost anywhere, as the APIs provided make it easy to interrogate data from both internal and external sources. Consequently, HR might develop a holiday-tracking app; accounts could deliver an expenses submission system; and sales can put together a performance dashboard, all drawing on in-house data sources. You could even, for example, cross-reference in-house sales data against external weather records, if you wanted to analyse how weather conditions affected footfall in each of a chain of stores. And all of these applications can be made easily accessible from Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices, as well as over the web.

Low-code in the real world

Low-code isn’t a new idea. Way back in 2016, the University of South Florida chose Appian’s platform to streamline its enrolment process ( pcpro.link/315florida). Previously, students had been required to fill out multiple forms, duplicate them, sign, scan and email them; the new app allowed the entire process to be moved online, and completed from a tablet or phone.

Perhaps most impressively, the app was developed and deployed in a single month – and once it had been successfully rolled out, the university continued development, expanding it into a complete resource portal that students could use to keep track of their records and schedule

“Most publishers give you a head start by providing libraries of prebuilt templates for you to flesh out with custom code”