This is the third NoCode column and the next in the design and implementation of a lightweight task tracking and management system based on Amazon Honeycode.
- NoCode Warm-up Series: Are you Ready?
- NoCode Warm-up Series: Implementing a Task Tracking and Management System (Part 1)
Keywords: Amazon HoneyCode, NoCode, NoCode Warm-up series, Low code, HoneyCode, Builder, Hello World
These reviews
In the previous installment, we completed the following parts of the task tracking and management system:
- Introduction to Honeycode
- Functional goal Settings for task tracking applications
- Definition of data model
- Data table creation
- Establishment of a table link
According to Amazon Honeycode’s five-step iterative application construction method,
- Define the application to build
- Define the data model in Tables
- Build the user experience in App Builder
- Add Automations workflows
- Apply testing, share with the team, iterate
The rest of this article shows you how to use App Builder to create mobile and Web apps for task tracking systems.
App Function Definition
It also needs to use Amazon Honeycode service to build mobile and Web apps without programming and supporting iOS and Android platforms. In the previous part, we mentioned the functional objectives of the task tracking and management system:
- Used by team members to track their respective tasks in a project
- Used by supervisors to track and manage team tasks on projects
- Send automatic alerts and alarms to team members
Among them, App is related to the first two points, that is, using App Builder to build interactive user physical examination from two different perspectives of team members and supervisors. Further analyze the function points of App from two different perspectives of team members and supervisors:
- Team member perspective:
- Can view the description of each task in the project
- Ability to adjust certain fields of the respective tasks in the project, such as: deadline, status, doer, etc
- From a supervisor’s perspective:
- Can view all task item information of team members
- Can view all project information of the team
- Can view the team’s employee information
- You can browse the corresponding project information through the link of the task item
- You can browse the corresponding task item information through the link of the project
- Can browse the corresponding task item information through the personnel link
- Ability to adjust certain fields of a task item, such as deadline, status, priority, performer, etc
- Can adjust certain fields of a project, such as start date, end date, person in charge, etc
- Ability to adjust certain fields of employee information, such as seat, telephone, department, etc
- Ability to add and delete items, task items, and employee information
Therefore, we need to use Amazon Honeycode App Builder to make two apps from different angles:
- Task Tracker (Employee version) App
- Mission Tracker (Executive version) App
Amazon Honeycode’s App Builder is a dynamic, flexible and easily customizable app-making tool that transforms table data into powerful interactive mobile and Web apps without programming and supports iOS and Android platforms. App Builder provides two ways to create an App, one from scratch, and the other through the App Wizard.
To give readers a clearer picture of the differences, we decided to take a zero-based approach for the Employee version of the Task-tracking and Management System App, while the Executive version uses the setup wizard.
Create employee Edition App
The design method of App from scratch, interface design, element form, data object and attribute setting, etc., have to be defined by oneself.
The following is the process of making the employee version App of task tracking and Management system:
- Click Builder > App+> Build Your own
- Click “App1” at the top and rename it “Task Tracking (Employee Edition)”
- Double-click “Screen Name” and rename it “Task Tracking (Employee Edition)”
- Click +Add Objects > Column List
- In the “Insert Column List” pop-up window, select List Source: Tasks, and click “Create”.
- Click the Done text under the Status column, which opens a DATA CELL PROPERTIES panel on the right. Select the Editable check box
- Repeat Step 6 for the cells under the Due date and Executor columns
View staff Edition App
Click “View App” in the upper right corner.
Web App:
Mobile App:
Create a master App
The production of the executive version of THE App is quite different from that of the employee version, mainly in the interface design, that is, the “Screen” defined in the App Builder of Amazon Honeycode will have three types, including project information, task information and team information. Take task information as an example:
- Click Builder > App+> Select App Wizard
- Select “Source:” as Tasks, rename “List Screen Name:” to “Task Information”, and click “X” to delete unwanted columns. Click and drag to reorder the columns
- Click Next to view “Task: Detail Screen”, rename “detail Screen Name” to “Task Item Description”, and make the “due Date”, “status”, “Priority”, and “Executor” lines editable by clicking the pencil buttons Next to each line
- Click Next, view the Tasks: Form Screen, rename it New Task Item, and then click Done.
- Rename “App Name:” to “Quest Tracker (Master Version)”
- Then click “+Add Screens” and so on to Add two “screens” for project information and team information.
- Click the “Done”.
The main App shelves are all set up here, but there are still a few areas that need to be tweaked:
- The link produces three screens that need to be described:
- Task detail under project information, renamed “Task Item Description”
- Rename project detail under task information to “Project Description”
- Task detail under team information, renamed “Task Item Description”
- Clear the link for “Person name” in the employee information
At this point, the master App is finished.
Check out the Executive App
Click “View App” in the upper right corner, take mobile APP as an example:
Then we added a task of “Jiuhuashan Function Development” for the project “Gaoting”, and the task status was “not started yet”. Then we clicked the interface of “Project Information”, and the progress of “Gaoting” project changed from 25% to 12.5%, as expected.
Add alarms and reminders
In the previous part, we mentioned the functional objectives of the task tracking and management system:
- For team members to track their respective tasks in the project (Employee version App)
- For supervisor to track and manage team tasks in the project (Supervisor App)
- Send automatic alerts and alarms to team members
The remaining functions of automatic reminders and alarms need to be realized, which can be easily realized by Using Automations of Amazon Honeycode. Trigger conditions supported include scheduled task expiration, column change, cell change, etc. For example, set “one day in advance” to remind team members of the deadline of a task.
As a final step, the task tracking and management system is ready for application testing, sharing with the team, and continuous iteration.
conclusion
It is a lightweight task tracking and management system, but the reality is that it has all the elements in it. The traditional approach involves hiring full-stack engineers for time-consuming custom development or purchasing expensive commercial products with limited fit. Now with the help of NoCode platform like Amazon Honeycode, such task tracking and management system can be made in a short time. Moreover, it is operated on THE UI interface, which is intuitive and easy to use. The first and second part introduces how to design and implement a NoCode application using Amazon Honeycode, taking a lightweight task tracking and management system as an example. It is recommended that you try a similar approach to revolutionizing tools and systems that have been difficult to use and inefficient in the past.
This author
Huang Shuai
Architecture modernization consultant of Amazon Cloud Technology Professional Service Department. Responsible for design and optimization of cloud modernization architecture for enterprise customers, XOps organization and transformation consulting and implementation of operation and maintenance modernization. He has more than ten years of experience in architecture design, operation and maintenance and team management in the field of software research and development, and has in-depth research and case experience in XOps, micro-service governance framework, cloud native platform operation and maintenance modernization, observability construction of large-scale distributed system and chaos engineering practice.