Rapid App Development
Nolan Ramsey
Outdated Technology: When to Build New vs ...

All IT leaders face challenges of outdated technology. Sometimes it’s time to build or buy a new application. But nowadays, it might make more sense to refresh the new old one. I explore those challenges and provide real client examples where I’ve used low code to help in both cases.

Outdated Technology: When to Build New vs Refresh the Old
Rapid App Development
Nolan Ramsey
Does SAP's acquisition of No-Code Developer ...

I share my thoughts on the recent acquisition of AppGyver by SAP and how that does or doesn’t relate to their SOLEX partner, Mendix.

Does SAP's acquisition of No-Code Developer AppGyver hurt their SOLEX partner Siemens Mendix?
Rapid App Development
Nolan Ramsey
Is Rapid App Development essential in the ...

The world is battling a war on two fronts: our health is threatened by COVID-19 and our economies have slowed and even stopped in certain sectors. As an App Developer, does my work really matter in such times?

Is Rapid App Development essential in the current climate?
Rapid App Development
Nolan Ramsey
What makes a Great Rapid App Developer?

After years of delivering, leading, and coaching leaders in Rapid App Development, I give you my perspective on what skills and profile it takes to be a ‘Great’ RAD Maker.

What makes a Great Rapid App Developer?
Mendix
Nolan Ramsey
Extending SAP: Fiori or Mendix Revisited

It’s been 1 year since I first wrote the post, “Extending SAP: Fiori or Mendix?” and a lot has changed. Because of the changes, this older post has gotten a lot of renewed interest so I thought I would take a look at my opinions from a year ago and see if they differ. If you haven’t already, please refer to the original article to have context for this one.

IT should be an expert “SWAT” team with precise skills to tackle the toughest app challenges, not a bottleneck to solving business problems.

Extending SAP: Fiori or Mendix Revisited

Mendix

Extending SAP: Fiori or Mendix?

Extending SAP: Fiori or Mendix?

“With SAP tools like Fiori and UI5, why would I need Mendix?”

As a practitioner who directs our architecture and development of Mendix applications alongside SAP developers, I get asked this question a lot. Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools like Mendix are on the rise because as businesses begin their journey into digital transformation, they realize that the agility necessary to respond to rapidly changing competition and value perceptions require focused teams that combine business leadership and IT to design and deploy solutions just as rapidly. Waiting for a waterfall, stack-developed project to get scoped and developed will typically miss the mark, come out behind the curve of the transformation, and be dead in the water by the time it hits the market or the business.

EPI-USE CAB and Mendix Hackathon

EPI-USE CAB and Mendix Hackathon

This past week I had the pleasure of sponsoring some of our Mendix clients at our annual Client Advisory Board (CAB) in Scottsdale, AZ. We bring key members of our client teams to this event as a “Thank You” for the opportunity to service them over the previous year, allow them a chance to relax and unwind a bit in the beautiful venue at Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, and attend some general and breakout sessions geared at equipping them with information we have gathered that we think might benefit them. This was the first year where we really explained how we use the Mendix platform to help solve business problems as well as how we have learned to establish and equip our teams for success, as well as a Hackathon competition between two small groups made up of our US Mendix practice.

How To Build a Mendix Module Security Plan

How To Build a Mendix Module Security Plan

Let’s face it: Application Security Modeling is a difficult topic. I’ve seen (and built) numerous attempts and security models using the Mendix framework, and they are rarely consistent and often misunderstood. I’m going to attempt to document my processes and procedures that I have determined to be best practices to hopefully help some developers out there struggling to find a “best practice security Mendix” search on Google. There are many ways to approach it so by no means is my approach the only way to do this, but I do know it works to ensure each element is considered in the modeling

Pattern Recognition and Optimization in Mendix

Pattern Recognition and Optimization in Mendix

I recently received a few requirements for a project related to security of passwords.

  1. If a user attempts to change their password and reuse three of the same characters in sequence, the password change should be rejected.

    1. Example: ‘!abc1abc4’ is rejected because ‘abc’ is repeated somewhere in the string

  2. If a user attempts to change their password and has in common a 6-character sequence with their user name, the password change should be rejected

    1. Example: User name = ‘pgriffin’ and the new password is ‘!3riffin#$’, it is rejected because ‘riffin’ is consistant in both

In this post I will detail how I solved it with one microflow and then how I optimized it. If you like to dive into the weeds, read along!

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Bimodal IT Mode 2 Do's and Do Not's

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Bimodal IT Mode 2 Do's and Do Not's

As IT shops are adopting bimodal operations, they encounter a multitude of issues. They want to build new applications rapidly using tools like Mendix and leveraging the AGILE principles, but they need tight controls on their deployments for many reasons such as regulatory and audit controls. Enterprises have been trying to make Mode 2 “fit” into Mode 1, and attempt to control risk the same way as they do on traditional Waterfall projects. Here are a few issues I’ve encountered over the years and my thoughts.