ServiceNow launched the App Engine Management Center for its cloud-based, low-code application platform, allowing users to automate the development pipeline.
The ServiceNow platform has undergone a series of changes since it was launched in 2004 as a cloud-based workflow system. App Engine Studio, introduced in March 2021, is a database for spreadsheets that allows low-code developers to build apps. The App Engine Management Center (AEMC) adds streamlined automation to the product and eliminates the need for certification, making it easier-and potentially cheaper-for coders of all skill levels to build apps.
The entire so -called citizen DevOps process is now automated, Marcus Torres, general manager and vice president of App Engine at ServiceNow, said in an interview with SearchSoftwareQuality. The new addition gives low-cost code developers the ability to automatically move code from development to production and beyond, Torres said.
“Now that it is in production, who is using it [the app]? How do we optimize it? How do we maintain it over time? App Engine management does all that, ”he said.
The automation engine simplifies the dev process
Analysts welcome the step towards automation.
AEMC is a simplification layer, says Will McKeon-White, an analyst at Forrester. Developers who want to work at AEMC will no longer require certification, making it easier to access by knowledgeable workers such as business analysts, he said, adding that the platform is likely to be cheaper because companies are no need to pay for certification.
Using AEMC’s “automation engine” simplifies the process of developing apps in ServiceNow, said analyst Stephen Elliot, group vice president at IDC. Companies with hundreds of separate pieces in their data puzzle can now combine blocks in a more automated way and make patterns easier to identify, he said.
“It’s almost going to be like a Lego set where customers are saying, ‘Oh wait a minute, that piece of data, I need that for my review. Let me take that. Boom! I’ll take it. , ‘”said Elliot.
Opening the platform
Although the platform automates the development process, that doesn’t mean AEMC will work out of the box.
“There are solutions,” Elliot said, “but companies have to consider what data they collect, what the company culture is and who their citizen developers are.”
Where AEMC shows promise, he said, is with vertical jobs, such as workforce productivity, employee onboarding or customer experience management.
Although AEMC allows hundreds of employees of all skill levels to use the platform simultaneously, it does not create a problem for control.
“There are all different, interesting use cases that come from business or come from citizen developers like the line of business managers,” Elliot said. In AEMC, these use cases are assigned a security management level.
An example is the management of various tasks within a city government. Joseph Cevetello, CIO for the City of Santa Monica, plans to use AEMC for hundreds of city staff who manage various departments, including staff who organize the city’s farmers markets. The smooth running of the market has many moving parts, including checking vendors for the three market locations. Once he hands the AEMC shell to the staff, “we still have a lot of flowers blooming,” he said.
When you have hundreds of citizen developers, control becomes critical to maintain a level of stability regarding security and compliance, says Elliot of IDC.
AEMC is adding guard rails on top of the existing platform, he said. “And that’s the secret sauce here.”