ADP Improves Employee Experience with Low-code Applications
In today’s maker profile, we’re featuring Nicolas Delord, Creative Technologist with the ADP Product Incubator. Born out of the NYC ADP Innovation Lab and inspired by the Lean Startup ethos, the Incubator’s goal is to design, build and validate new product concepts rapidly in the work-related Enterprise and Consumer space.
Hear how Nicolas used Mendix to rapidly deliver a low-code application in just one week that was deployed org-wide and improved employee experience.
Learning Mendix
I studied physics and then switched to computer science for my Master’s degree. My first job was as a JavaScript developer 15 years ago. After five years, I moved on and was a Business Analyst and later became a Product Owner.
At some point, I became less interested in programming and more interested in the functional aspects of software development. As a BA and product owner, I was designing and writing specifications using UML models.
Last June, I got involved in starting ADP’s Product Incubator team. I had been working for ADP in Paris as a Product Owner of two small products. I then moved to the US and brought the applications with me, but was unable to bring my team. When I got to the US, I started to look into PaaS.
The goal was to find a platform that would enable me to put products in front of users as quickly as possible in order to learn and iterate rapidly. I was introduced to the Mendix platform by a colleague at ADP and I began trying to reproduce one of the apps I was responsible for.
At the time, I was looking for mobile and cloud deployment capabilities. My first reaction was that it was easy to deploy; it just takes one click. I realized I didn’t need a team and could do it all myself. The initial plan was just to test ideas with a few users. I had no idea that I would be able to deploy an app to the entire company.
Mendix, for me, was quite easy to use at first because of my combined Java development and UML modeling experience.
I’m not just creating specifications; I can immediately use and share apps with users.
I used the web resources and invested time to do the tutorials. I really wanted to use the platform the way it was meant to be used. I then went to the intro training course in Boston, and a few months later completed the advanced class. With my Java and UML background, it wasn’t too hard.
Project Pride
I have built a dozen apps already. One of these, Leader Compass, was launched in February to 50,000 employees. It is an application to support a management Leadership Assessment program that happens twice a year at ADP. It is a new process that gives the opportunity for managers to receive anonymous feedback from their team members.
Everyone gets an email with the link to take the survey. After two weeks, it collects all the responses and then we build reports for the managers. The application:
- Collects all the responses and builds reports for the managers
- Focuses on 12 behaviors/dimensions of leadership, delivering coaching emails each week based on the manager’s lowest scores
There are 5,000 managers total who receive these reports and tips.
I was concerned about launching an app to 50,000 employees because I built it by myself. I was really glad that it worked with no major issues. The process was fast and I could build a product that would be deployed to the entire company.
The Developer Experience
Just build. Use it and don’t give up if it’s not natural at first. It will come. Invest enough time to understand the product. I would encourage people who like to build to use the Mendix Platform.
For me, Mendix is really about visually developing applications, and with a click of a button, they’re live. I can iterate much faster. With traditional development tools, you typically have to wait a week or more to see some new developments, and then if they miss the mark, wait another week. With Mendix, I can iterate 5-10 times on a specific case in one day.
With Mendix, you use the modeler to explain what you want, design your screens and business rules. Once it’s designed, you can click and instantly see the results. If you’re not happy, you can iterate fast. If you’re happy, you can deploy to it to users. It’s all about rapid development.