My cookbook for a successful app — Part 2

Opening

In part 1 I described how we came up with the idea for the “Peer Recognition” app, to help employees express their gratitude to each other, during “Appreciation Week” in our company.

As I wrote in part 1, developing an application on an LC/NC platform is not hard. Anyone can do it, but precisely because of that, non-developers might miss some key factors about the application, such as its look and feel, related flows, and more. There are too many bad applications on the market that you might try once and never come back to. No one wants to create such an application.

In this part I will cover the backend. You need to take care of the activities running behind the scenes, and make sure you have all the tools you need to support your app and any needs related to it (like reports).

Let me take you through my insights on creating a great backend for your application and making it work for you.

Are you ready?

Reports

Content

Your customer will need to know what the usage and state of the app is. Total numbers are not always enough. Think about different aspects of the data, for example:

· Different regions

· Gender

· Departments or Divisions

· Time of the day/Time of the month

· Types

· Etc.

It is recommended to consult with your customer to verify their actual needs and ensure that you have sufficient accessible raw data to comply with their requirements.

Reports automation

Avoid manual reports as they can become a burden over time. Instead, consider automating the process by manipulating the data into tables and charts, and either automatically sending the report to relevant users or making it accessible in a centralized location.

What (not) to present

In many cases, some parts of the data you have may be sensitive and should not be exposed to a large group of users. It is important to arrange your reports on a need-to-know basis, so that each viewer only sees the data they are authorized to access. For example, consider aggregated report for large groups and detailed reports for smaller and limited groups.

My tip: Create a quick mockup of the planned report and share it with the customer. This way you will find quickly what need to be adjusted and how.

My use case: I started with connecting the data from the application (mostly SharePoint data) to Power BI. This connection allowed me to create visual reports and make them updated and accessible to relevant stakeholders.

Having said that, the original report showed what I thought was interesting/important. After a short discussion with HR, we agreed on different set of measures. Eventually the reports shows the following:

· How many praises sent (total)

· How many unique givers

· How many unique receivers

· What is the most populate badge

· How many praises sent by the one who sent the most

· How many praises received by the one who received the most

· What is the average of praises sent by employee

· Count of praises per day (last 30 days)

· Givers — Split by region

· Percentage of praises gave in/out of the region

· Percentage of praises gave in/out of the division

· Count of givers and receivers per division

· Percentage of givers and receivers per division

The tiny stuff that matters

Here is a list of items that are often neglected, which I have compiled after stumbling upon them numerous times.

Time zones

If you work for a global company or target a global population of users for your app, it is important to consider time zone differences. You do not want to send messages to people while they are sleeping, and in some cases, it may even be considered rude to do so. Different regions may have different holidays, habits about coming to work on time, and other variations that you should consider.

Dates and numbers

date, it’s crucial to ensure that the presentation of the date in the system is appropriate, even if a date picker is used. The same goes for numbers with thousands separator, decimal dot, or currency representation. It’s unwise to assume that the system will take care of this. Therefore, it’s important to guarantee that the correct dates and numbers are displayed and calculated on all screens, reports, logs, and notifications.

Objects names

Expanding globally can complicate terminology due to differences between countries. For instance, words like “torch/flashlight” or “lift/elevator” have the same meaning but are used differently in different regions. A prime example is the word “chips,” which may refer to something entirely different in various countries, such as “crisps” or “French fries.”

When requesting that a user select or perform an action, it’s essential to utilize appropriate terminology that the user will comprehend. Neglecting this consideration could create confusion, leading the user to improperly use the application or miss out on its advantages.

Private/Personal information

It’s important to recognize that certain questions that you may find appropriate or reasonable could be perceived as rude or intrusive in other locations. Additionally, data that you collect about users may be considered private in some countries. To avoid overstepping cultural boundaries, it’s important to consult with relevant parties to ensure that you are not inadvertently violating any cultural norms or legal requirements in the countries where you operate.

Micro-Copy

When designing for different countries, regions, and age groups, it’s important to consider micro-copy, which refers to small snippets of text used in user interfaces such as buttons, labels, and error messages. Differences in language and culture must be considered to ensure that micro-copy is understandable and appropriate for the intended audience. Additionally, age can impact tone and style preferences, so adapting micro-copy to these differences is crucial for creating a positive user experience and avoiding misunderstandings or offense.

My tip: To ensure UI cultural appropriateness, use common examples and gather diverse user feedback. Work with HR and legal teams for compliance.

My use case: HR decided the greeting added to the praise is personal and private, therefore we did not expose it to the receiver’s direct manager (in the Teams card). We also asked marketing and HR to go over the text and naming convention in the app, to make sure it is aligned with the company’s message.

Information security and privacy

Ensuring information security and privacy is essential when dealing with people’s data, particularly if it involves sensitive information. It is your responsibility to handle such data with care.

One common and practical way of managing data access is by allowing it on a need-to-know basis. This approach entails granting users access to only the information necessary for their designated tasks. Full access to sensitive data is restricted to a specific group of authorized personnel.

It is essential to consider the following key aspects when evaluating an application’s security and privacy features:

· Do users need to enter login credentials to access the application?

· What data is required to be shared within the app?

· Where is this data being stored?

· Who has access to the data, and when?

· Is there an expiration date for the data?

· Should the data be deleted, and if so, when?

· Can users re-enter the application and modify existing records?

· If the application sends notifications via email or any other media, it is important to consider what data is included in the notification? Who has access to view this notification?

My tip: Answering the questions mentioned above before creating your application is crucial, as it may impact both the frontend and backend design. To ensure you are not crossing any formal security lines, it is recommended to consult with an information security representative.

My use case: We utilized SharePoint to record all the activities within the application. Within SharePoint, we fine-tuned the permissions to meet specific requirements. For instance, we established that a user would only be able to view and modify rows that they had created.

App administration

Fallback

Low code/no code applications are easy to create, but failures can still occur. To identify and address these failures effectively, the following steps are recommended:

· Implement logging to record any errors.

· Create notifications and flags to identify failures as they occur.

· Ensure that all necessary data is captured to enable re-running of the application.

· Develop a robust process for re-running the application, such as the ability to impersonate a user or use a backdoor to manipulate data without using the UI.

Stakeholders

Involving all relevant stakeholders, such as HR, IT, legal, and management, as early as possible is crucial. This enables stakeholders to understand the need and proposed solution and identify any potential blockers before building the application.

Keeping stakeholders informed throughout the process helps to ensure that no lines are crossed and that stakeholders provide full support in activating, publishing, running, and supporting the application once it is ready.

Tests

Running tests is critical for ensuring the quality of the application. It is important to conduct extensive testing as you can never have too many tests. Testing the application by yourself is not sufficient since users may have different permissions and you may be too familiar with the app, causing you to overlook issues that new users may encounter.

Inviting friendly users to test the application can help you ensure that the user experience is smooth, the flow is well designed, and the backend activities are running without any issues.

Summary

Let me write it ones again — developing a successful application is never simple, but Low code/no code platforms make it easier than ever before. In this part, I’ve shared several aspects that I believe are essential to consider creating a solid backend for your app and help it become successful.

Keep in mind that even if you’ve taken care of all these aspects, your app may not be successful due to unforeseen circumstances. Don’t be too discouraged, though — you still have a working app and you’ve gained a lot of knowledge and experience from creating it.

Overall, creating apps on Low code/No code platforms is fast, easy, and fun, and is often done to solve day-to-day problems. Having a successful app that users come back to not because they must, but because it is genuinely useful, is the ultimate reward.

Good luck!