In our previous two blog posts on the new 6.0 release, we already gave you a small foretaste of the exciting new functions. Our CTO Christian Kleinschroth now presents three highlights in more detail and shows in advance what they will look like in the Simplifier update on January 31, 2021.
According to a recent study by the digital association Bitkom, there are currently around 86,000 vacancies for IT specialists, which means that most IT departments in companies are extremely overloaded with the emerging digitization requirements. In order to drive forward the digital transformation in companies, it is therefore becoming increasingly important to involve employees from specialist departments, where the process expertise lies, in the digitalization process and to enable them to support the creation of digital solutions with the help of low-code development tools. Both Forrester and Gartner market analysts predict that these so-called citizen developers have enormous potential in helping to shape the digital transformation. This is because the use of a low-code platform can at least partially counteract the usually limited resources available within corporate IT, provided that citizen development teams can be successfully empowered to use such a platform.
In order to support this development and to make application development even easier for low- and no-coders, Simplifier has been working intensively on the new release over the last six months. CTO Christian Kleinschroth presents the most important power features of Release 6.0 in this blog post.
“The new look and feel offers beginners easier access to the Simplifier, supported by the new wizards, Citizen Developers can create a completely finished app in under 5 minutes and the loading times in the Process Designer have been significantly reduced, increasing performance by a whopping 80 percent.”
Christian Kleinschroth
CTO
What highlights can we expect?
The fresh, new design, intelligent wizards and the Simplifier Marketplace are particularly noteworthy. According to Christian Kleinschroth, the focus of Release 6.0 was on optimizing the user-friendliness of the platform in every respect. With the new power features, Simplifier provides companies with an optimal tool for setting up strategic citizen development and supporting its implementation.
New look and feel for greater user-friendliness
To speed up the process from app idea to finished implementation for existing users and beginners, the look and feel of the Simplifier platform has changed significantly in Release 6.0:
In the new dashboard, all essential functions can be found at a glance and the overall appearance is clearer and tidier. All central functions are listed in the menu on the side so that new applications, connectors or business objects can be created quickly. The dashboard also has new community elements, such as the marketplace, release notes and the community forum. The division of applications into “projects”, to which specific content can be assigned, also ensures greater clarity.
The focus on user-friendliness is also evident in the revised widget groups view. The
The Process Designer also has a new, fresh look, making the processes even easier to read. However, it is not just the look and feel that has improved, but also the performance: the loading times of the processes have been significantly reduced, increasing performance by a whopping 80 percent with the new release.
As test data is also required for an app design, we have added a DB editor to the database (DB) designer. Once a user has created or imported a database, it is now possible to create new test data or change existing data.
Intelligent support from app assistants
In future, artificial intelligence (AI) will be used to create applications largely automatically – without the need for developers to intervene or program. The first approaches to AI can also be found in Simplifier Release 6.0 in the form of the new wizards. These guide the user step by step through the individual app development processes. According to Christian Kleinschroth, citizen developers or Simplifier beginners can create a
Synergy effects in the new Marketplace
Release 6.0 also has a completely new menu item: the Simplifier Marketplace. Numerous app templates and ‘ready-to-use’ connectors will soon be available here – for the time being, the Marketplace offers access to SAP connectors as well as connectors to the Microsoft and Google world. These can be imported and used in Simplifier via download. At present, the majority of applications based on low-code are still developed and provided by the IT department. By having access to ready-made modules, the pro coders save a lot of time, which benefits agile software development. Citizen developers can also use synergy effects to make application development even easier. In addition, detailed documentation is available on the Simplifier community page for many Marketplace contents. The Marketplace is a power feature in Release 6.0, which will be expanded step by step with new templates with the help of the Simplifier partners and community.
But that is by no means all
In addition to the features mentioned, a few more functions have been integrated and existing ones expanded in Release 6.0. You will find more details in our release notes from January 31, 2021.
Just wait a few more days and the new release will go live. We will inform you officially as soon as you can work on the new version.
The Simplifier Team
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