Skip to main content


         This documentation site is for previous versions. Visit our new documentation site for current releases.      
 

Getting started with low-code application development

Updated on January 3, 2022

Plan, design, and build efficient applications by applying the principles of low-code application development. With the low-code tools that Pega Platform provides, you can create software to deliver satisfactory results.

By implementing the solutions that Pega Platform offers, you can create goal-oriented applications that are easy to build, maintain, and update. Low-code application development takes advantage of the following key principles:

Focus on customer goals

The main purpose of business applications is to help customers achieve their goals. When you create purpose-built applications, you can focus on one goal at a time. For example, to facilitate the work of an HR department in your organization, you can deliver multiple applications, each focusing on a different goal, such as hiring a new candidate or providing employee feedback. As a result, you build granular software that you can adjust to business goals, and conveniently modify when those goals change.

Out-of-the-box functionalities

Pega Platform offers a wide variety of out-of-the-box functionalities that help you jump-start application development, whether you are a professional or a citizen developer. Using default solutions instead of creating your customized features saves resources, accelerates application delivery, and facilitates a smooth update process. For example, Pega Platform automatically creates user interfaces based on low-code configurations that you provide.

IT and business collaboration

Low-code tools help IT and business cooperate, to define business goals and create digital solutions to reach those goals. Pega Platform offers visualization tools that you can use to create graphic representations of business processes, so that the design and development phases include all stakeholders. Additionally, creating granular applications in Pega Platform is suited to citizen developers without highly technical knowledge, as low-code tools are based on a user-friendly and intuitive interface. As a result, even users whose background is more business-oriented than technical can successfully deliver software that meets their needs.

You can enhance business and IT collaboration by using out-of-the-box App Factory functionality. App Factory is an application platform that you can use to capture shared objectives with stakeholders, accelerate application development, and scale quickly and seamlessly within your organization. For more information, see Manage enterprise apps with App Factory and the Pega Low-Code App Factory learning module on Pega Academy.

Reuse

Most of the objects that you create in Pega Platform are reusable, and if your business scenarios vary, you can conveniently edit the elements required for different situations, without creating entirely new objects. For example, you can create a process of collecting personal information from customers, and then reuse this process in multiple scenarios, such as a credit card dispute and a loan request, as shown in the following figure:

Reusing resources
A Venn diagram that shows the overlap between two business processes.

As a result, your application development is efficient, and you can save resources such as time and money.

Agile development

The low-code Pega Platform environment promotes agility and iterative progress so that you can flexibly adjust your software to dynamically changing business circumstances. Start your application development by identifying a small amount of scope that you can deliver into production quickly but yielding high value. Pega Platform refers to a minimum scope that is required for production as minimum lovable product (MLP). Then edit and expand your software with features that best suit your current business requirements. By implementing this approach, you can deliver the first MLP relatively quickly, and then continuously develop and improve your application.

To learn more about low-code application development and to start building applications, explore the following articles:

  • Low-code application development and the Pega Express delivery approach

    Start delivering granular applications that precisely meet your business requirements by applying low-code application development. After you familiarize yourself with low-code tools and processes, you can quickly start creating software, and as a result, achieve your business objectives.

  • Building an application

    Create scalable and flexible applications by employing low-code tools that Pega Platform offers. You can create your first application in just a few clicks, giving you a starting point to develop your application.

  • Creating a Microjourney for customer success

    Help your customers reach a successful resolution in their business processes by applying the Pega Express delivery approach while working on implementation projects through journeys and Microjourneys. When you focus on one journey at a time, you not only improve how you address the specific needs of your customers, but also reach results more rapidly.

  • Designing and tracking Microjourneys development

    Application development often requires the cooperation of multiple participants, such as the members of a development team and business stakeholders. A development road map and tracking system that all involved parties can understand help you deliver software that meets business requirements in the most efficient and suitable way.

  • Defining application behavior

    When you define how your application behaves at run time, you provide an experience that optimally meets the needs of end users and customers. You can also define how design-time actions correlate to run-time behavior, and how actions that users perform affect processing in your application.

  • Next topic Low-code application development and the Pega Express delivery approach

Have a question? Get answers now.

Visit the Support Center to ask questions, engage in discussions, share ideas, and help others.

Did you find this content helpful?

Want to help us improve this content?

We'd prefer it if you saw us at our best.

Pega.com is not optimized for Internet Explorer. For the optimal experience, please use:

Close Deprecation Notice
Contact us