Overview
We recommend the following naming conventions for Appian design objects and certain Appian object properties. Adapt these standards to your environment as needed.
For many design objects, we recommend starting object names with a short, unique prefix specific to the related application. Initialisms, such as HRO for an HR Onboarding application, work well as application prefixes. You can specify the prefix you want to use when you create an application from scratch, and the prefix will pre-populate name fields for certain objects.
Application
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Application |
- Published applications contain navigation items that are visible to end users. For example, Appian uses the application name to group together Actions in Tempo. If you intend to publish your application to users, do not use the application prefix in the name. Instead, use a short, descriptive name that is meaningful to end users.
- Unpublished applications are commonly used to promote artifacts between environments. If you don't intend to publish your application to end users, start the name with the application prefix. In addition, the name should include the following:
- The type of the application, for example,
CDTs and Data Stores or All Contents .
- A version number as a suffix, such as
v1.0 .
- For both published and unpublished applications, the name can be the same as another object's name in the same environment.
|
- unpublished:
HRO HR Onboarding All Contents v1.0
- published:
HR Onboarding
|
Data objects
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Data Store |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- Use title case with spaces.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO Employee Data
|
Custom Data Type |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- Use title case with underscores.
- Names must start with a letter or an underscore, and may contain only letters, numbers, hyphens, periods, and underscores.
- The name be unique in the Appian environment.
- Use a custom namespace for your CDTs to group them and associate them with a specific application.
|
- name:
HRO_Employee_Data
- namespace:
urn:appian:hro
|
Record Type |
- Do not start the name with the application prefix, because record types are designed to be used by multiple applications in your environment.
- Use a short, descriptive name that is meaningful to the end users.
- For record type views, use a short name that best describes the subset of the record data that is represented in the view.
- The name can be the same as another object's name in the same environment.
|
Employee
|
Process objects
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Process Model |
- For most process models, process model folders, and running process instances, start the name with the application prefix. However, if you've configured a related action to use the process model name for the action's display name, don't use the prefix in the process model name.
- Use title case with spaces.
- For running process instances, include key data points in the name to help identify the process instances in a process report.
- The name can be the same as another object's name in the same environment.
|
- main process model:
HRO Onboard New Employee
- running instance:
HRO Onboard John Doe - 2014 01 01
|
Process Report |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- Use title case with spaces.
- The name can be the same as another object's name in the same environment.
|
HRO Process Report
|
Robotic Processes |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- If the robotic process isn't associated with an Appian application, use a prefix that can be used for all related object names.
- The name must be less than 100 characters.
- Use letters, numbers, underscores, periods, and dashes only.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO-I9-retrieval
|
For additional information about Appian RPA, see the Appian RPA documentation.
User objects
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Interface |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- Use Pascal case.
- Do not use special characters or spaces.
- Use an underscore between the application prefix and the rest of the name.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO_AddNewEmployee
|
Report |
- Do not start the name with the application prefix, because the name is intended to be seen directly by end users.
- Use a short, descriptive name that is meaningful to the end users.
- Because a report is composed of several graphical elements (grids and charts) as well as editable fields used to filter and sort the report data, the report name should not be narrowed down to a specific timeframe or subset of the data.
- Do not suffix the report name with
Report .
- The name can be the same as another object's name in the same environment.
|
HR Onboarding Department
|
Site Name |
- Start the name with the application prefix; the site name is internal and won't be seen directly by end users.
- For the site display name, don't start the site display name with the application prefix, because end users will see it directly in the site navigation menu and browser tab.
- Use a short site display name that is meaningful to end users.
- Use title case for site display names.
- When you create a site, Appian uses the site display name to construct a web address identifier for the site by default. To define the site URL, edit the default web address identifier. The web address identifier must be unique.
- After you've created a site, the web address identifier (URL) won't automatically update if you edit the site display name or define it using an expression.
|
- Site Name:
HRO Onboarding
- Site Display Name:
Onboarding
|
Rule objects
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Constant |
- Start the name with the application prefix. Optionally, use an additional prefix to group related constants.
- Use uppercase for all letters.
- Do not use special characters or spaces.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO_IMG_CAREER_HISTORY_ICON
|
Decision |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- Use Pascal case.
- Do not use special characters or spaces.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO_DetermineEligibilityStatus
|
Expression Rule |
- Start the name with the application prefix. Optionally, use an additional prefix to group related rules.
- Use Pascal case.
- Do not use special characters or spaces.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO_ComputeBaseSalary
HRO_GetEmployeeOnboardingTasksStatus
|
Integration objects
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Connected System |
- If the connected system will be used by a single application, start the name with the application prefix. Otherwise, do not use an application prefix.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
- single application:
HRO Google Drive
- multiple applications:
Google Drive
|
Integration |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- Use Pascal case.
- Do not use special characters or spaces.
- Use an underscore between the application prefix and the rest of the name.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO_getApplicationInformation
|
Web API |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- The name can use special characters and spaces.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO Get LinkedIn Profile
|
Group objects
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Group |
- Start the name with the application prefix, except when the group is intended to be seen directly by end users. For example, you would not use the prefix for a Tempo audience group.
- Use a short, descriptive name for each group.
- Create a parent group named for each application.
- Name child groups according to their security role.
- Each application should include the following child groups at a minimum:
- Application Administrators
- Application Users
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
- parent group:
HRO HR Onboarding
- child groups:
HRO Administrators , HRO All Users , HRO Human Resources
|
Group Type |
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- Use a short, descriptive name that clearly indicates the business purpose that connects the groups in the group type.
- The name must be unique in the Appian environment.
|
HRO Corporate
HRO Finance
HRO Sales
|
Content-management objects
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Document |
- Start the name with the application prefix, except when the document is intended to be seen directly by end users.
- The name must be at least four characters long (including the three character file extension, such as
.doc ).
- If you use any of the following characters in the name, Appian replaces the character with an underscore:
\ / ; : | ? ' < > *
- If you include the file extension in the name, make sure it matches the file type by which the file was saved. If the extension in the name does not match with the uploaded file, it may not display properly.
- The name can be the same as another object's name in the same environment.
|
HRO_ProfilePhoto_Employee223
|
Folder |
- These recommendations apply to all folder types, including knowledge centers and document folders.
- Start the name with the application prefix.
- Use title case with spaces.
- Use standard names across applications for folders that serve the same purpose. For example, you would use
HRO Process Models to store process models in the HRO application.
- For rule folders, the name must be unique in the Appian environment. For any other type of folder, the name can duplicate another name.
|
HRO Constants
HRO Expression Rules
HRO Interfaces
HRO Integrations
HRO Knowledge Center
HRO Employee Name Documents
|
Notification objects
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Feed |
- Do not start the name with the application prefix, because the name is intended to be seen directly by end users.
- Use a short, descriptive name that is meaningful to end users.
- The name can be the same as another object's name in the same environment.
|
New Hire Feed
|
Object properties
Object |
Naming Standard |
Example |
Action |
- These recommendations apply to application actions (visible in the Actions tab in Tempo) and record actions (visible in record views).
- Do not start the name with the application prefix, because the name is intended to be seen directly by end users. For example, in Tempo, application actions are grouped by application names using filters, and in record views, record action names appear in buttons and links.
- Use a short, descriptive name that is meaningful to the end users.
|
- application action:
Start New Employee Onboarding
- record action:
Update Employee
|
Variable / Rule Input |
- Do not start the name with the application prefix.
- Use camel case to differentiate words without adding clumsy underscores.
- Use the suffix
List to indicate that the variable is a multiple.
|
firstName
salaryAdvanceAmount
generalExpenseList
|