No-Code Prototyping: IT development without technical barriers

Developing an application not only costs money, but also time. But especially the latter is often lacking for companies in our fast-paced business. With innovative no-code prototyping, you will not only save precious months of development in the future. You will also gain a valuable competitive advantage when your software reaches the market faster than the competition. Learn more about rapid prototyping on a no-code basis and discover the numerous benefits for your company.

Topic Overview

What do we mean by no-code prototyping?

The Appollo No-Code Prototyping in detail

Combination of no-code prototyping and low-code development

Appollo’s low-code platform: how does it differ from other prototyping tools?

Unique worldwide: No-Code Prototyping from Appollo

What do we mean by no-code prototyping?

The development of prototypes is standard in software development. It is ideal for delivering quick results and is used in particular for critical application functions, for analyzing the user experience, but also for verifying performance aspects. The approach of the method is that feedback at a very early stage can help to realistically estimate the time and cost required to implement the application. After all, resulting changes can be implemented more quickly than a complete revision after the software has been completed. In addition, you reduce the risk of extremely postponing the delivery date.

With conventional programming methods, this still means a programming effort for more complex prototypes that should not be underestimated. Alternatively, in the UX area, you settle for a graphical layout of the user interface or a so-called click dummy, i.e. a dialog without functionality.

Not so with the no-code prototyping possibilities of the Appollo Low Code Platform. The models and elements are very powerful. With them, you create prototypes in a few days and hours or even within minutes during a workshop and adjust them directly during a discussion.

The Appollo No-Code Prototyping in detail

No-code database access

• Create your graphical database model (Entity Relationship Model = ERM) and use it to generate or update the database (DB) at the push of a button.
• With a few clicks you can create any view objects on the DB with a selective choice of any DB data.
• You can use these view objects in the app for any DB accesses (Create, Read, Update, Delete) without programming a single line.

No-code user dialogs – fully functional

• The platform offers over 50 user interface (UI) elements, ranging from text fields or combo boxes to extremely rich no-code configurable tables, charts, file handling or Google Maps.
• Use flexible UI panels based on additional configurable properties of your data (Label, Placeholder, Tooltip, Format, Validation, Mandatory Field and Default Values).
• Create fully functional dialogs in no time at all simply by drag and drop: with a variety of configuration parameters for your individual design and, of course, with automatic layout adaptation to any device.

Diagrams for No-Code User Page Flow

• Specify special events for buttons or UI elements (e.g. OnClick, OnDoubleClick, OnBlur, OnChange) with corresponding UI page flows and use them to link the user pages together. This allows you to implement any number of complex dialog flows.
• Use sub-models to modularize complex flows or to reuse already created sub-models.
• You can use the preview for testing or switch the model live within seconds and test it online. For this purpose, for example, the Appollo User Portal is available via the browser or on your smartphone.

No-code connectors

Integrate no-code connectors:

• for sending and reading e-mails

• for accessing external systems via REST API

• for reading and saving files in a document management system via CMIS

• for accessing your enterprise service bus to access your core systems

All without writing a single line of code!

No-code process flows, dynamic case handling and business rules

With Appollo’s no-code prototyping, you model your:

• process flows based on the BPMN standard (Business Process Modeling Notation)
• dynamic case processing based on the CMMN standard (Case Management Modeling Notation)
• business rules based on the DMN standard (Decision Modeling Notation)

For this, too, you create prototypes without writing a single line of code.

Combination of no-code prototyping and low-code development

At Appollo, we not only enable you to develop prototypes using no-code, but also to create an MVP (minimum viable product) quickly using no-code. Even for complex applications, you only need a small number of lines of code. Thanks to our low-code platform, you not only need less time and budget per application: the need for a professional IT developer is also eliminated! As the name suggests, Low-Code is based on the principle that you can do without complex programming. In this way, even laypersons without IT knowledge can design highly complex applications, regardless of whether they are employees from the specialist department, business analysts or Citizen Developer. This is done very simply by drag-and-drop and a graphical modeling that is understandable for everyone.

Appollo’s low-code platform: how does it differ from other prototyping tools?

The idea of a prototyping tool is not new. Our variant of no-code prototyping is. Learn more about what makes us and our applications tick.

• Faster development
  Even traditional third-party prototyping tools have an enormously slow development process compared to Appollo’s low-code solution. This is not only due to limited interaction possibilities, but also due to transfer problems and programming in a complex development environment.
• Holistic approach to application development
  Our no-code prototyping excels in holistic application development It even goes beyond that to enable business analysis and requirements engineering, as well as the development of automated tests, including operations in the cloud. Together with integrated issue management – with Kanban board for agile project management – it covers the entire application life cycle.
• Many model types
  All companies are different and have different requirements for software to be programmed. With Appollo, you choose from over 20 model types and have access to pre-built modules that you customize with just a few clicks. Start with an overview of your entire value chain and detail your process and data models through creating diagrams for user page flow, to system integration and system architecture.
• Low-code app development as a whole
  From the very first second, you’re not only working on a potential new prototype, but also on finishing the final application software. After all, with our platform, you can implement any feedback and all your ideas directly and do not keep designing new sub-functions. This means that the final solution is created in an evolutionary way, without having to develop redundant functions for the prototype. This allows you to implement all the application functions you can imagine.
• Integrated test environment
  Your application is ready for a test run? Send it directly to potential end users or your stakeholders and get useful feedback via the collaboration feature, which you can then directly incorporate and go live: at the push of a button and completely without IT support! With Appollo low-code app development, this is done on-the-fly, without any system shutdown. This again saves you time and money.

Unique worldwide: No-Code Prototyping from Appollo

Appollo offers you no-code prototyping, which does not require any professional IT developer. Below you will find a summary of the most important advantages of our no-code prototyping:

1. You save significantly on implementation time and costs thanks to clear graphical modeling via drag-and-drop.
2. You counteract the shortage of skilled workers by using Citizen Developers.
3. You improve the cooperation of all participants, since they all work together in one tool and thus avoid misunderstandings, faulty developments and expensive change requests.
4. All in all, you shorten the time-to-market enormously. This gives your company or that of your customers – regardless of the business sector – a major competitive advantage.

Are you interested and would like to learn more about no-code prototyping or low-code app development? Contact us and let us advise you comprehensively on your options.