Thanks to infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) architectures, the utility of and business case for model-driven, no-code and low-code platforms have become more compelling than ever. More and more enterprises are entrusting their digital transformation, regulatory compliance, and business process management objectives to model-driven, no-code or low-code business application platforms.
These model driven platforms also raise the bar for the business process modeling skills of the business analysts, systems analysts and process owners who use them.
No/Low Code Platforms are Gaining Momentum
As implied by the name, no-code or low-code platforms can deliver solutions at reduced cost, complexity, and cycle time with less programming. The work of business analysts, business subject matter experts, and process owners can significantly displace the need for programmers.
No-code and low-code Platforms have always been very good at what they are designed to do: UI development, process automation, and reusable data, and third-party service integrations. Many of these platforms also have the tools that will improve the overall control and management of software and business processes.
Thanks to the cloud’s IaaS and SaaS architectures, no/low-code platforms and their applications are now much more robust and sustainable than they used to be. Many no/low-code generation platforms are themselves Software as a Service (SaaS). Their compatibilities with their surrounding infrastructures and other digital services in the cloud are secured, managed, and maintained by their vendors, outside of the concern of their client enterprise’s premises.
Process Modeling Becomes a Crucial Skill
A business process or workflow model is typically integral and its quality is crucial in no-code or low-code platforms. The process model is a configuration model, used by the platform to generate application software.
Here are some examples of no-code and low-code platforms that have built-in process/workflow modeling tools:
- Appian (Appian Process Modeler)
Establish or Improve Your Process Modeling Competency
Any business process model’s quality can be measured by its syntactical quality and its contextual quality factors. Syntactical quality means modeling the business process right. Contextual quality means modeling the right business process.
To achieve syntactical quality in a no-code or low-code environment, you must adhere to and use the graphical notation and configuration item types required by that no-code or low-code platform’s process modeling tool. That’s easy enough to do. You just need to supplement your existing analysis skills by taking the tutorials or training from the no-code or low-code platform’s vendor and adhering to that platform’s chosen syntax for things like events, tasks, sequence flow, etc.
To achieve contextual quality, you must accurately enough reflect the real business and have enough key stakeholder buy-in. No process modeling tool can do that for you. Achieving contextual quality relies upon the analyst’s process modeling competence. It means having a proven process modeling approach for process elicitation and modeling, asking the right questions, being able to clearly perceive, normalize and define processes and activities, sufficiently engaging key stakeholders at the right times, and sufficiently validating your process model, by the time the model is finished and before the code is generated.
Contextually high-quality process/workflow models will in-turn generate high-quality no-code or low-code workflow applications for your business. A poor-quality process model will lead directly to business process/workflow configuration errors.
You should bring a business process modeling competence as your table stakes. In a fast paced, model-driven environment, relying on an ad-hoc process modeling approach will be insufficient. You will not have the time, and the business may not have the patience, to figure how to produce a high-quality business process model as you are pursuing one. If you don’t already have sufficient, confident business process modeling skills, you can establish or improve them before jumping on-board a model-driven no-code or low-code platform.
One way that you can establish or improve your business process modeling competence is by adopting the Universal Process Modeling Procedure. The Universal Process Modeling Procedure, is a defined, and widely used approach for producing high-quality business process models. It is a 6-step business process modeling procedure. It provides a razor-sharp elicitation agenda at each step. Its event-driven, outcome-oriented Universal Process Definition empowers business analysts, process analysts and process owners to elicit, perceive, normalize and define any business process or activity. It guides you in validating your completed business process model’s quality using standardized syntactical and contextual quality criteria, before you finish and implement your process model.
Learn more …
Read related Modern Analyst articles:
Top 6 Business Process Modeling Mistakes and,
Business Process Modeling Tips for Digital Transformation.
Get IIBA-endorsed business process modeling training for yourself or your project team through www.ProcessModelingAdvisor.com.
Get and follow the step-by-step Universal Process Modeling Procedure – The Practical Guide to High-Quality Business Process Models Using BPMN, available from Amazon Books.
Copyright 2021, Edmund Metera
Author: Edmund Metera, Process Modeling Advisor
Edmund Metera has taught and mentored project managers and business analysts in best practices for professional organizations such as PMI, IIBA and CMMI. Ed teaches IIBA-endorsed business analysis courses and is an advisor to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology's Corporate and International Training department’s Business Analyst, Process Analyst, and other certificate programs. He is the author of the book: Universal Process Modeling Procedure: The Practical Guide to High-Quality Business Process Models Using BPMN (Amazon) and the founder of www.ProcessModelingAdvisor.com.