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Appian Records

Modernize App Design with Records

Learn how to leverage the latest low-code data features to build new applications and improve your existing ones.

Today, businesses are challenged to build applications focused on specific business requirements and user experiences using data that is spread across the enterprise.

As a result of siloed systems and data architectures, enterprises can have difficulty integrating disparate data sources while maintaining data security. Even once connected to the data sources, queries to the source data may be slow and require database expertise for costly, on-going maintenance. This can lead to even seemingly small app changes taking longer to complete since you need to consider performance impacts in addition to the logistics of re-architecting your app.

Appian Records provide a solution to this siloed and costly data management experience. Using Appian Records, you can converge your system data into a single point of management within your application. With your data in a central location, you can easily adjust your data model, define how users view your data, and integrate enterprise processes so users can take informed action when viewing the data. Not only does this speed up development, it makes maintaining your objects easier since you can use record data seamlessly throughout your application.

How to use Appian Records

To leverage Appian Record functionality, it all starts with a record type object.

The record type is the design object you'll use to answer questions like:

  • What data defines my records?
  • Who can see the records?
  • What perspectives will users want to see when they view the records?
  • What do users want to do from the records?

To configure the record type object, you'll define the record data, configure record views and related actions, and a create a record list. Each of these elements builds on the other.

Record data

Appian's vision is to unite people, process, and data in a seamless platform for low-code automation across the enterprise. That's why Appian Records capture more than just fields and values, because we understand that data is more than just rows in a table; it represents that intersection of people and process.

To create this more comprehensive view of your enterprise, it all starts with building the record data for your records. Simply choose a data source and we'll create a set of record fields for your record data. You can adjust your record fields, and even extend your data set by creating custom record fields that calculate and transform your data to fit your business needs.

After setting up your record data, set yourself up for faster app development and smarter data by establishing record type relationships. These relationships allow you to easily reference related record data from other record types without building extensive queries or database views.

Not only is record data a better version of your data, these low-code data modeling capabilities make it easy for any Appian developer to build advanced data structures.

Once you've configured your record data, each row of data will be displayed as a record.

To provide a more comprehensive view of your data, you can configure record views to surface different insights about each record depending on a user's interests and needs. For example, in a support case record, you could create one record view for a support engineer that details the case issue and type, and another record view for a case manager that contains the customer's satisfaction score and case history.

From the context of these views, you can add related actions so users start enterprise processes to update, add, or remove information about the record. Using record views and related actions, you can unite people, process, and data in one place.

Record list

Now that you've configured record views and related actions to display information about each record, you want to consider how users will view and navigate a set of records. For example, in a Support Case record type, users may want to see all support cases that are currently open and overdue so they can help close those cases.

To easily display multiple records, you can create a record list. The record list is a single, drillable list that users can search and filter to find records. You can configure the record list to choose which record fields you want the user to see, provide filters so users can control how they view the records, and add record actions so they can add new information or update information in the record type.

Not only is the record list a navigational tool, you can also reuse the record list as a display element throughout your application by referencing it as a site page, or in a read-only grid or a chart within an interface.

How to get started

To get started using Appian Records, create a record type. Once you create the design object, learn how to configure the record type by:

For a guided experience creating a record type, see the Record Tutorial.

Open in Github Built: Fri, Nov 10, 2023 (03:42:48 PM)

Appian Records

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