Best Use of Higher Education No-Code Application Development Platforms
No-code app development platforms are gaining traction, especially in this time of rapid transition. COVID-19 has introduced many complications into our daily lives, including the need to modify processes that rely on in-person interaction. Has your IT department spent serious time considering using no-code development platforms?
If not, maybe now is the time to consider them. Here’s why.
IT Approved Solutions
No-code app development platforms allow IT to focus their efforts on more important or pressing priorities. Instead of creating a custom solution for a department with an obscure process, you can send over information to the no-code platform and kindly say, “You can build it yourself!”
There are complicated application development platforms, simple ones, and others in the middle. Simple platforms include no-code solutions like Google Forms or Adobe Sign, for example. The complicated platforms, also known as Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools, typically require some level of coding expertise, both in development and management of the application. An example of this type of platform is Mendix.
Simple solutions can help you manage standalone, single-approver processes without writing code. Complex solutions allow you to create enterprise-grade applications with some coding expertise.
In the sweet spot between simple and complex are no-code application development platforms that have the power of a complex system, but are easy enough to use for the average business user.
Kuali Build sits in this space. Kuali Build meets your technical requirements for a secure, compliant, and scalable tool, while also meeting the usability needs of departments to stand up an application in less than a day, sometimes even less than an hour. (We’re not bluffing, the University of Hawaii built an app in less than 30 minutes!)
Here are a few notes on Kuali Build’s security, compliance, and scalability. If you’re interested in digging a little deeper, you can jump to our website here.
Security
- Data is encrypted in-transit and at rest
- Granular permissions give the right access to the right people
Compliance
- WCAG 2.0 accessibility
- Mobile-friendly, no mobile app download needed
- Audit trail tracking all activities in Kuali Build that can be referenced at any time
Scalability
- Cloud-native, hosted on industry-leading Amazon Web Services
- Redundant data back-ups
- SLA backed 99.9% uptime
- Multi-tenant
- Open APIs allow as many integrations as needed
A no-code app development platform like Kuali Build meets your needs and gives departments what they want. From creating to deploying to managing an application, your office may not need to be involved at all. The biggest plus? No-code platforms discourage shadow IT. What more could you want?
Best Use Cases of No-Code App Development Platforms
We’ve discussed why no-code platforms are great. What about when to use them? Here are a few popular use cases we’ve seen among our customers.
Promote Digital Transformation
Davidson College has a relatively new Digital Transformation Team. It was important for this team to see wins early and often as they worked to gain the trust of departments. This team used Kuali Build to integrate forms with campus systems, which in turn decreased manual entry and the chance for human error as well as providing the opportunity to collect more data.
Empower Departments
Another customer, a medium-sized institution based in Utah, uses Kuali Build in their Registrar’s Office. Build is used to provide forms and collect information on proposals for new courses, programs, certifications, campus centers, etc. Using a method like Kuali Build, all proposals come through the same automated process and reach the correct person. Without a technology like Build, proposals can get lost in email or hung up in the review process.
Mandatory Processes
A no-code app development platform can help streamline mandatory processes like those impacted by COVID-19. For example, at the University of Hawaii System, CIO and VP of IT Garret Yoshimi created a Kuali Build form to track approvals.
With tightening budgets, Yoshimi had more purchase approvals to sort through and a bottleneck was formed. Using Build, he created a central place to approve forms and effectively dissolved the bottleneck. Approvals that once took weeks now take under 24 hours.
On another campus, Kuali Build is used to request a flexible work schedule. It is easy see how usage of a process like this could skyrocket with COVID-19 complications.
Another institution uses Kuali Build to request permission to return to campus. Another, to track data on out-of-state learners participating in rotations, clinical work, or research.
Perhaps the biggest benefit of a no-code platform is the agility it provides. From an initiative like digital transformation to a global pandemic like COVID-19, give your institution the agility it needs to respond accordingly. Ready to learn more about how Kuali Build could lend some momentum to your institution’s digital transformation? Read about how Davidson College uses the software.
