Anatomy of a Modern Low-Code Platform

In the context of rapid changes in the IT market, the evolution of corporate information systems has affected the sector where the use of low-code platforms for automation and management of companies' business processes is gaining particular popularity.

A certain number of industry leaders in low-code set development vectors for the entire industry. Meanwhile, some of the solutions are not created with low-code in mind. Most often, the source of inspiration is the modification of niche solutions created for specific subject areas, for example, for project management, document flow, services, customers, finances, etc. Increased adaptability is achieved by attaching low-code tools to Out-of-the-Box Solution. Such origin may impose certain limitations:

• Incomplete coverage of the application development cycle — platforms may not provide all the necessary tools for creating comprehensive solutions that take into account all user needs;
• Excessive user actions — due to the focus on specific processes, users sometimes have to perform extra steps that could be skipped or simplified;
• Limited flexibility — customizing user scenarios may be more difficult, as such a platform is oriented towards a certain type of tasks and scenarios;
• Difficulties with interface adaptation — the possibilities for customizing the user interface may be limited by the platform's original specialization.

These features can affect the efficiency and usability of the platform in tasks that go beyond its original purpose.

At the same time, when using a functional low-code solution that was initially created as an adaptive platform, a company can gain certain benefits:

• The development cycle is fully covered — original low-code platforms provide all the necessary tools for creating comprehensive solutions, unlike platforms that have grown from niche products;
• High flexibility in customization for various business processes, no limitations due to the platform's original specialization;
• Improved user experience — interfaces and interaction with the system are more intuitive and efficient, as the platform was initially developed with diverse user needs in mind;
• Extensive system customization capabilities, including interfaces, logic, and processes;
• The platform can be applied to various digitalization and automation tasks;
• The platform scales as business needs grow and change;
• Resources are optimized — using a universal low-code platform can be more cost-effective than maintaining several specialized systems.

A functional low-code platform that can benefit business should have the following characteristics:

• High development speed (Time-to-Market);
• Extensive customization and development capabilities;
• Scalability and performance;
• Modern integration capabilities;
• Security;
• Flexible access rights management;
• Quality documentation and support.

These characteristics, in the long run, determine the success of platform implementation and its ability to evolve along with the customer's business without creating barriers to growth.

Key Characteristics of a Modern Low-Code Platform

Using SimpleOne as an example, let's examine what makes the platform stand out and why it can be called one of the most technologically advanced solutions.

Development Speed (Time-to-Market)

Implementation speed is crucial for the continuity of business processes.

High implementation speed is essential for ensuring the continuity of business processes. Modern low-code platforms accelerate application development and customization with the help of visual programming and pre-built templates. This approach enables faster product launches and helps businesses quickly adapt to changing market demands.

The short time-to-market of the SimpleOne low-code platform is due to the following characteristics:

Low entry threshold for developers

The SimpleOne low-code platform significantly reduces the requirements for initial knowledge, allowing quick start in creating and modifying business applications even without deep technical skills.

Support for development staging

The platform provides automatic packaging of all changes and their automatic transfer between development, testing, and production environments (dev-test-prod). Thanks to automatic packaging, the process of developing and implementing new functions becomes simpler and faster.

Safe rollback of changes

The system supports a mechanism for quick and safe rollback of changes, minimizing risks when implementing new functions. Full control over versions of all changes in the system is provided, down to the properties of individual control elements that are configured in the visual editor.

Parallel development

Simultaneous work of several developers is supported with tools for merging modifications and automated conflict resolution. The ability to integrate with third-party version control systems (VCS) and organize continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) are key components of the modern software development process.

Extensive Customization and Development Capabilities

The SimpleOne low-code platform offers three levels of development:

• No-code automation for quick settings;
• Low-code capabilities in every element of the system;
• Pro-code mode for implementing complex custom functionalityю

The Pro-code mode in JavaScript allows creating custom components and widgets, as well as deeply customizing existing system elements, while saving on expensive developers. It is used in advanced business rule modes, client scripts, notification scripts, and other elements.

Convenient Development Environment

The well-thought-out interface organization in SimpleOne accelerates development and helps prevent possible errors. If questions arise, the developer can quickly find answers right in the development environment, without switching between various documentation and support systems.

The platform provides a unified working environment for all levels — from no-code constructors to professional programming tools, allowing smooth transitions between them depending on the task at hand. This approach is especially effective in large projects where specialists with different levels of technical training work on different components.

Drag-and-drop Configuration Interfaces

Most of the platform's tools support an intuitive configuration method through drag-and-drop. The interface constructor with support for customizable widgets allows you to quickly create and customize user interfaces by simply dragging and dropping elements. This approach applies to various aspects of the system, including forms, lists, dashboards, and other components, ensuring convenience and speed of configuration.

Visual Business Process Modeling Capabilities

The platform provides a visual workflow editor that allows you to visually build application logic and create complex business processes without programming. Users can visually model processes by dragging and connecting elements on the workspace. At any stage of creating an application or functional system, you can manage each element and determine how it will work, providing full control over process logic.

Tools for Creating User Interfaces

You can use both standardized user interfaces, such as forms and lists. Combined with the ability to develop custom widgets and design styles, this provides complete freedom in creating user interfaces:

• Ccustomization of forms and views;
• Creation of custom dashboards;
• Ability to add custom interface elements;
• Adaptive interface for various devices.

Simplified Modular Application Architecture

The SimpleOne platform uses an innovative modular application architecture that breaks down the information system into small, easily manageable components. This approach provides flexibility and efficiency in system development and configuration.

Key features of the architecture include:

• Clear separation of client and server logic, which allows optimizing performance and simplifying development;
• Deep decomposition into small components, providing maximum flexibility when configuring the system;
• Ability to make local changes to each component (widget, button, business rule, etc.) without affecting the rest of the system;
• Democratization of complex architectural concepts, making them accessible to business users.

This architecture allows creating full-fledged applications from scratch, unlike other systems that limit users to the framework of a pre-installed Out-of-the-Box Solution.

Live Customization Approach

The live customization approach revolutionizes the process of system configuration and adaptation. This feature allows:

• Modifying application elements directly in the user interface, without the need to switch between different development tools;
• Configuring forms, fields, and other elements «on the fly», providing instant visualization of changes;
• Getting quick access to settings of any system element right from the user interface;
• Applying changes instantly, without the need to rebuild the application or reload the system.

This architecture not only significantly speeds up the process of developing and implementing changes but also helps to focus on creating the most convenient, responsive, and intuitive solution that adapts to the real needs of users.

Development Efficiency Analysis Tools

Profiling tools allow you to check and compare the effectiveness of different ways to solve a problem. Almost any task can be implemented in several ways, and it's important to be able to choose the most optimal option in terms of performance.

Scalability and Performance

In enterprise-level companies, the system load constantly changes: the number of users can fluctuate significantly, the volume of processed data grows, and new complex calculations appear. The platform should not only cope with current tasks but also have a performance reserve for future growth.

Microservice Architecture

SimpleOne is built on a microservice architecture, providing high elasticity of horizontal scaling and stable performance under high loads. This allows efficiently handling large volumes of data and requests.

Horizontal Scaling

The platform supports horizontal scaling, easily adapting to growing data volumes and increasing number of users. This provides flexibility and the ability to grow along with the client's business.

Stable Performance with Customization

Performance does not decrease with deep customization of the boxed solution, allowing the creation of complex, individualized solutions without compromising speed.

Distributed, Fault-Tolerant Architecture

The use of a distributed, fault-tolerant architecture ensures continuous system operation, minimizing the risks of downtime and data loss, which is extremely important for critical business processes.

Integration Capabilities

In a large organization, a new system needs to be connected to many already operating automated solutions. Each system may have its own integration interface, so the low-code platform must be able to work with this diversity.

Support for Popular Integration Technologies

SimpleOne supports a wide range of integration technologies, which simplifies the integration of the platform into the existing corporate landscape. In addition to basic web protocols (REST, SOAP), support for more complex solutions, including gRPC, is implemented. The platform pays special attention to working with message brokers — RabbitMQ, Kafka, and the AMQP protocol are supported. This set of integration capabilities covers about 90% of typical scenarios for interaction with corporate systems (ERP, EDI, BI, RPA), allowing you to choose the optimal integration method for specific requirements and tasks.

Ready-made Connectors to Popular Services

Connectors provide already implemented typical scenarios of interaction between systems, which significantly speeds up the integration process and reduces the likelihood of errors when setting up interaction. The SimpleOne solution implements:

• Full REST API support for flexible integration;
• Ready-made integration solutions for Active Directory, KCLO, ADFS, and monitoring systems (ITSM);
• Development of custom endpoints for unique solutions;
• Seamless integration with SimpleOne products;
• Support for MQP protocols for integration with third-party request brokers.

Public and Extensible API

SimpleOne provides authorized APIs that enable integration with both custom components and complex external systems. The platform's API architecture allows expanding existing interfaces for new tasks while maintaining the functionality of already implemented integrations.

AI Integration to Expand Capabilities

SimpleOne offers access to a package of intelligent widgets and mechanics that will help automate processes using artificial intelligence technologies.

Security

For a platform that is used to automate complex corporate processes and works with sensitive information (trade secrets and personal data), security requirements must be as high as possible. The vendor must provide protection at all levels of platform functioning — from the infrastructure to the logical level of applications.

Built-in Security Mechanisms

SimpleOne provides comprehensive protection at all levels of platform functioning — from the infrastructure to the logical level of applications. The platform provides a dynamic access control system, where rights are determined not only based on static roles but can also be calculated at the moment of data access based on various parameters and conditions. This allows implementing complex access logic that takes into account both user characteristics and properties of protected objects.

Compliance with Industry Standards

Security requirements are regulated by numerous regulatory documents. SimpleOne provides the ability to configure in accordance with the requirements of all major regulators. The platform constantly adapts to new legislative requirements, allowing customers to be confident in the compliance of their systems with current security standards.

Audit and Logging Capabilities

SimpleOne records all instances of user interaction with information: requests, creation, reading, modification, and deletion of data. Special attention is paid to working with sensitive information — the system logs in detail who, when, and what specific actions were performed with the data. Advanced audit tools allow not only to track the fact of an operation but also to restore the context of its execution, which is critically important for investigating security incidents. This comprehensive approach to logging ensures full transparency of all actions in the system and helps prevent the loss of important information.

Flexible Access Rights Management

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)

The platform provides the ability to configure access rights for each individual field. This allows precise control over what information different users can view and edit.

Extensive Access Rights Logic

The system supports complex access rights logic that can be configured using low-code tools depending on object properties and context. This allows implementing various access control scenarios, for example, restricting the visibility of certain fields when the deal value is above a specified threshold. This approach provides flexible and dynamic access rights management, taking into account various business requirements.

Automated Rights Delegation

The SimpleOne platform offers the possibility of automated delegation of rights to a deputy during an employee's absence. This feature ensures continuity of work processes and effective access management in various situations.

Impersonation

The SimpleOne platform includes an impersonation feature that significantly optimizes the process of managing access rights in the system. An administrator can view the system as any employee without the need to use their credentials, which ensures:

• Increased speed of access rights configuration due to the ability to instantly check the visibility of records and rights without interacting with the employee;
• Improved quality of access management by reducing the number of errors, such as:

1. situations where a user did not receive the necessary rights on the first attempt;
2. cases where a user sees data they are not supposed to see;
3. users having rights that were not intended to be granted to them.

This is especially critical for systems that process sensitive data — in such cases, it is necessary to ensure precise access control with a minimum number of errors when assigning rights.

Inheritance of Rights Between Groups and Role Composition

The inheritance of access rights in the system significantly simplifies the administration process and reduces the costs of managing rights for groups of employees. When rights are changed in the parent group, these changes are automatically applied to all child, more specialized access rights groups.

This approach not only accelerates the process of implementing changes but also makes the rights management system more efficient and less prone to errors during large-scale changes in access rights.

Operation and Support

When choosing a low-code platform, it's important to evaluate not only its technical characteristics but also the maturity of the ecosystem around the product. Quality support, regular updates, and an active developer community significantly reduce risks during implementation and subsequent operation of the platform.

Documentation and Training Materials

• Up-to-date and comprehensive documentation for system developers and administrators;
• Detailed guides on all aspects of the platform;
• Practical examples and usage scenarios;
• Regularly updated knowledge base.

Active Developer Community

The developer community helps to find answers to emerging questions faster and exchange implementation experiences.

Marketplace for Partner Solutions

The SimpleOne marketplace offers ready-made connectors and product extensions — you can share your own developments or purchase partner solutions.

Progressive Platform Development

SimpleOne solutions are dynamically evolving in line with modern development trends: the platform is regularly updated, new functionality appears, and advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence are integrated. Special attention is paid to feedback from users and partners, which allows for quick adaptation of the solution to current market challenges.

Summary

The characteristics of modern low-code platforms listed above provide a number of key business advantages. First and foremost, they significantly reduce development time, allowing quick responses to market changes and customer needs, as well as substantially lowering development costs.

It is particularly important to note the wide range of applications for low-code platforms in solving digital transformation challenges — they allow not only customization of ready-made business applications, for example in SimpleOne ITSM, ITAM, SDLC, HRMS, B2B CRM, flexibly integrating them into existing IT infrastructure, but also create a solid foundation for developing unique proprietary solutions. This provides companies with greater independence from vendors and the ability to create systems that best meet their specific business needs.