Low Code enables quick and simple application development. This best practice explains how using low code authoring tools like App Studio can accelerate your implementations. 

What is Low Code?

Forrester defines low code as "products and/or cloud services for application development that employ visual, declarative techniques instead of programming."

Low-code tools make application development accessible to business users and non-programmers. Anyone, regardless of technical ability, can build applications to automate workflows – with drag-and-drop functionality, intuitive process flow capabilities, and visual guidance. The visually-driven, end-to-end application development tools of Pega Platform™ make everyone more productive — citizen developers (In Gartner’s view, “A citizen developer is an employee who creates application capabilities for consumption by themselves or others, using tools that are not actively forbidden by IT or business units") and professional developers alike (dedicated full time).

The figure below shows the App Studio Case Designer interface.  Using App Studio citizen developers and professional developers alike can quickly configure a business processes stages and steps.

What is the value of Low Code?

Creating powerful software is vital to organizations as the need for rapid transformation outpaces the traditional one-size-fits-all approach, where large teams of developers build proprietary solutions. Low-code application development platforms help bridge the gap between business stakeholders and skilled developers, creating a common visual language to collaborate more effectively.  ​

Teams that work with low-code tools are more agile, deliver value more rapidly, and work with stakeholders more effectively. Collaborating with stakeholders in a common visual language allows you to focus on explaining the business logic rather than the code. With shortened feedback loops, teams become more productive, freeing limited resources to tackle the ever-expanding backlog of projects. ​An efficient workflow empowers many people beyond the walls of IT to take ownership, streamline everyday development tasks, increase productivity, and ultimately free up development resources. 

Pega enables low code configuration through it's easy to use authoring tools. Pega’s low-code factory approach allows business users to increase their productivity – by empowering them to quickly and easily build and automate workflows in a way that relieves IT backlogs and limits risk

When does Low Code take place?

Low-code application development with Pega Platform occurs throughout the project. You use low code in the earliest stages when the business outcomes and the problem statement creation occur before the delivery project starts. Our product capabilities give you an initial prototype of the prioritized Microjourneys® to include in the first minimum lovable product (MLP) that your team captures directly in App Studio. Use the low-code power of Pega Platform to improve your more detailed scoping and preparations. In this planning, you finalize the baseline architecture, establish the initial backlog of user stories, and expedite your build sprints, which brings speed and agility to the configuration and ultimately delivery of the first MLP.