11 Key Capability Dimensions to Measure the Quality of Low Code Development Platform

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The advent of the digital era has forced enterprises to jump out of their comfort zone and embark on the digital transformation journey. The rising user demand and the significant shortage of professional developers have forced us to admit that the application development methods in the past few decades are no longer sufficient to meet the demand. The low code revolution has quietly begun and continues to permeate all industries.

Digital transformation involves all aspects of enterprises, and seeking breakthroughs in technology and means of implementation is one of the main issues that decision-makers need to consider. Following this trend, as a powerful means to solve the digital transformation of enterprises and enhance their resilience of enterprises, the "low code technology" developed in recent years has attracted more and more attention.

Image Source: JumpModel

The low code platform supports rapid application development (RAD), which uses declarative high-level programming abstractions (such as model-driven and metadata-based programming) for deployment and execution. Low code platforms have the following common technical elements:

• For a model/metadata-centered UI layer designer, programmers only need to write little code or even no code;
• Low code platform supports basic data structure definition and general data storage (such as RDBMS, NoSQL, flat file) of built-in database to access;
• Simplifying access to external services through REST, SOAP, or other API;
• Packaging their underlying process logic and data through API;
• The low code platform supports the coding method for the development of business rules and conventional business logic;
• The enterprise low code platform has good enough performance and low enough operation delay.
• The enterprise low code platform should also include other functions, such as:
• User dense page view, data storage capacity, and high transaction rate;
• High availability and disaster recovery capability;
• Security of application access API and data storage;
• Service quality agreement (SLA) in the operation phase;
• Resource usage tracking ability;
• Technical support ability for developers and operators.

Image Source: Accetal

Based on the above technical elements, Gartner lists 11 key capability dimensions of low code platforms, as shown in the illustration below.

1. Usability

Usability refers to the number of functions that can be accomplished without writing code. This is a key indicator of low code development platform productivity.

2. User Experience

This indicator can determine the end user's evaluation of developers. Generally speaking, the user experience requirements of projects developed by independent software development teams for enterprise customers will be significantly higher than those independently developed by enterprise customers. And the user experience requirements of projects opened to enterprise customers or suppliers will be higher than those used by internal users.

3. The convenience of Data Modeling and Management

This indicator is commonly referred to as “ model-driven,” model-driven can provide data model design and management capabilities that meet the database design paradigm. The higher the application complexity of development, the higher the requirements of system integration and the more critical this ability is.

4. Process and Business Logic Development Capability and Efficiency

This ability has two aspects: First, It means whether the complex workflow and business processing logic can be developed using this low code development platform. Secondly, how convenient and usability is it to develop these functions？ Generally speaking, the first aspect determines whether the project can be successfully delivered, while the second determines the project's development cost. In any case, users should pay attention to the first aspect. If the project gives first place to workflow, the second aspect should also be taken as an essential evaluation indicator.

5. The Ecosystem of the Development Platform

The essence of a low code development platform is development tools. When the built-in out-of-the-box function cannot cover more application scenarios, at this time, we need a complete ecosystem based on the platform to provide more profound and more comprehensive development ability. Many development platforms are establishing their plug-in mechanisms, a typical embodiment of the platform ecosystem.

6. Programming Interface and System Integration Capability

Enterprise applications usually need to be integrated with other systems to achieve synergy to avoid the "isolated data Island phenomenon." At this point, the built-in integration capabilities and programming interfaces become critical. Unless it is confirmed that the project does not involve system integration and extension development in the foreseeable future, developers should pay attention to this ability.

It is worth mentioning that Forrester, another authoritative industry organization, identified the programming interface as an essential symbol of enterprise low code platform in its report Forrester Wave: Low Code Platform for Application Development and Delivery Professionals (Q1 2019), and the "low code" without programming interface was classified as "no code" and then transferred to the platform report that only applies to limited use cases.

7. The support of more advanced system architecture and technology

Does the system support more advanced architecture and transparent layering based on new technologies such as IoT, RPA, and machine learning? A deeper understanding of the architecture of low-code platform products becomes especially important If developers want their applications to have a longer life cycle.

8. The Quality of Service

Like the previous point, service quality is also an indicator to measure the low code platform running in the public cloud model. The quality of service here, in addition to the commonly so-called "trouble-free service time," we also need to consider whether resources support exclusive mode to avoid the high load of one application, resulting in the unavailability or performance degradation of other applications.

9. User Model and Software Development Lifecycle Support

In the software development lifecycle, in addition to development and delivery, there are many links such as design, feedback, testing, operation, and maintenance. For example, the user model establishment and verification process in the early stage of system development usually requires rapid simulation and iteration. The development investment is not even less than that of formal development. If a low-code platform has all the functionality needed for the entire lifecycle, it will significantly simplify the developer's technology stack and improve development efficiency. The larger the scale of the system developed by the developer, the more important this ability is.

10. Development Management

The project scale of enterprise software is usually large, and its business is more critical, which puts forward higher requirements for development team management. Whether agile development, mainly promoted in modern software development, can be implemented in low code is an important indicator of the development management ability. This usually includes a series of functions such as code base permission management, version permission management, release permission management, etc. These functions help the head of the development team reduce various anthropogenic risks in software development and management. The larger the development team, the more developers should pay attention to this indicator.

11. Security and Compliance

The low-code platform should empower developers to build secure enterprise applications that comply with enterprise rules. This capability supports local deployment, complete SSL data transmission, password strength policy, cross-domain access control, fine-grained user permission control, etc. Large enterprises and enterprises in specific industries (such as the military industry, finance, etc.) usually pay more attention to this indicator.