Low Code Does Not Imply Low Business Analysis

From No Code to Low Code

“No-code” software development tools have come and gone since the 1980s, most promising far more than they could deliver. Salesforce committed to “clicks, not code” when it offered customization of its CRM solution. For example, a Salesforce administrator can create custom objects and fields by filling in forms instead of writing data definition code.

No-code development enables administrators and other “citizen developers” to build simple solutions and prototypes without the effort and expense of building code. For instance, creating a custom object in Salesforce also creates a page to create, display, edit, and delete records without coding.

In low-code cases, professional developers build custom functions beyond the no-code scope. In some cases, the solution demands more flexibility than what an administrator can specify on the platform. In other cases, citizen developers could spend a lot of effort to make a no-code solution work when it’s not worth it.

Making a Good Point

An administrator can create a “point” solution without using code, assuming it can maintain its data and doesn’t require processing beyond the capabilities of the no-code platform. Before starting development, the administrator should discover and understand:

• The problem to solve, preferably in the context of a business objective 

• The kind of information to capture (the metadata)

• Who or what will provide the information

• What processing should happen to the information, if any

• What users need to see on reports

A Salesforce administrator should discuss terminology with stakeholders to give custom objects and fields meaningful names. If the data requires processing, they will need to break down and understand the process steps. They should collaborate on what reports will contain and how they present the information.

Even a simple solution requires business analysis.

Reducing Code and Meetings

Large-scale projects can benefit from no-code and low-code development to build prototypes, providing stakeholders a high-fidelity solution preview. The design firm IDEO says:

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand meetings.”

No-code or low-code development enables prototype development by reducing time and effort. A prototype review replaces longer meetings where stakeholders strive to understand data models and wireframes.

A prototype should confirm business analysis, showing how a solution meets well-understood requirements within the prototype’s scope.

If the prototype has a good user experience, it could give business stakeholders the illusion of a solution. They may think the solution is nearly complete because it looks that way. The business analyst or architect should emphasize that a prototype is like a house on a movie set. Both intend to look real. However, a house on a movie set doesn’t have what people need to live there.

A prototype intends to demonstrate how a solution looks and behaves on the “happy path,” omitting exceptions. Also, it excludes security constraints, where the solution behaves differently for those with restricted access. Finally, if the solution requires integration with other systems, its prototype would probably forgo that.

Minimize Code, not Business Analysis

No-code and low-code development enable fast delivery of a software deliverable. Business analysis ensures the deliverable is a solution. 

Creating a solution with no-code or low-code can make business analysis seem unnecessary.  For example, a Salesforce administrator builds a solution with Flow and Lightning pages to relieve users from a time-consuming menial task - an expensive pain point. 

Everyone’s happy until the business changes and users require more from the solution. In that case, the administrator could deal with the changes by applying quick fixes or meet with users and management to define the problem beyond the scope of initial pain relief. Understanding what’s needed saves the administrator’s time guessing and assuming business needs. In addition, it makes no-code and low-code development go even faster, saving reworks from incorrect assumptions.

No-code and low-code development combined with business analysis can quickly deliver valuable point solutions and prototypes.