Beyond Boundaries: Leveraging No-Code Solutions for Industry Innovation

Hiring and retaining software development talent is next to impossible for AEC firms and other industries alike.

Join us and guest speakers from HOK, a leader in the AEC industry, as they share their success in navigating the tight talent market through the use of no-code solutions and FME.

Discover how HOK approached the process of building a custom tool to automate the creation of projects and user management for Trimble Connect and ProjectSight.

Using a mix of traditional and no-code in FME, our guest speakers will reveal how the team bridged the resource gap and used the available talent pool, producing the mission-critical web app “Trajectory”.

They will also dive into details, illustrating first-hand how JSON data was used as a “glue” between two development groups.

Learn how embracing FME as a no-code solution can unlock potential within your teams, foster collaboration, and drive efficiency.

1. Beyond Boundaries:
Leveraging No-Code
Solutions for Industry
Innovation

2. David
Baldacchino

Firmwide Design Technology
Manager
HOK

Dave
Campanas

Senior Strategic Technical
Support Specialist
Safe Software

3. Welcome to Livestorm.
A few ways to engage with us during the webinar:


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troubleshooting steps.

4. Agenda
1.Introduction
2.Traditional vs. Low/No-Code
3.Managing SaaS Offerings
4.Resources & Next Steps
5.Q&A
Agenda

5. 1
Introduction

6. Explore how embracing no-code solutions
unlock the innovation & efficiency you've
been seeking, transforming challenges into
opportunities in the ever-tight talent market.
Introduction

7. No-code solutions can help to:
●Automate Tasks: Streamline project & user
management.
●Fill Skill Gaps: Without coding knowledge.
●Boost Collaboration: Simplify teamwork across
disciplines.
●Enhance Efficiency: Reduce project timelines
with custom solutions.
Empowering Innovation
with No-Code
Introduction

8. Poll:
What are your biggest challenges to
implementing no-code solutions in
your organization? (select top 1-2).awa

9. With FME, you can bypass these
common hurdles
unlocking a streamlined, inclusive, and
efficient path to innovation without the
traditional barriers.











Introduction

10. One platform, two technologies
FME Form FME Flow
Build and run data workflows Automate data workflows

FME Flow Hosted
Safe Software managed instance
fme.safe.com/platform
FME Enterprise Integration Platform
Safe & FME

12. Image credits
Unless it is clearly a screenshot related to the
topic of this presentation or a credited image,
most of the illustrative images were generated
by Image Creator from Microsoft Bing about 8
months ago. Prompts used for generation are
included as image captions.


!
“A coder working in the style of The Matrix movie, digital art”

13. The Resource problem

Hiring and retaining software development
talent is next to impossible for AEC firms.


“Trying to stop a computer programmer from leaving their desk”

14. Why does it happen?
●AE(C) don’t sell commercial software
●Inability to match financial incentives at
commercial software companies
●Lower “intellectual excitement” for devs
compared to startups & software orgs
●They are not subject matter experts on
tools and processes in AE(C)
●Higher perceived growth opportunities
outside walls of AE(C)

“Someone holding on to a rope, trying to stop software developers from
running away”

15. Now what?
Work still has to be done! How do we close the gap?
●Hire external contractors via Fiverr, Upwork or
other services.
●Leverage other tools that subject-matter
experts in your organization can master quickly
such as FME.

Redefine dev team by recognizing critical skills!
●Divide work between traditional devs and SMEs
using Low/No-Code.
●Focus on the interface between them.
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmannix/552103944
From Wikipedia, The uncompleted Foreshore Freeway Bridge in Cape Town ca. 2007

16. 2
Traditional vs
Low/No-Code

17. “Angry mob holding
pitchforks and weapons,
chasing down a group of
evangelists, digital art”
Not inclusive
No-Code
discussions
on Twitter

18. No-Code
discussions
on Twitter
“Angry mob holding
pitchforks and torches,
chasing down a few
people in an ancient city“

19. There is a place for both
“Mob lays down their pitchforks and hug each other.”

20. Poll:
Which benefit from implementing
no-code solutions is most
appealing to you? (select top 1-2)

21. 3
Managing
SaaS
Offerings

22. “Worker sitting in front of a computer, holding his head in frustration”
The Burden of
Administration
Each system/service comes with its own
unique setup:
●Multiple Admin URLs to track
●Unique structures per service, steeper
learning curves (ex: “Portfolio” system -
ProjectSight vs. per project – Connect)
●Duplication of data entry (ex: user lists)

23. “Worker with 6 hands and arms talking to a colleague, typing on a keyboard, flipping a book and
holding an old phone to his ear”
●Add limbs to do more?
REJECTED!!
Approved!!
“Employee nodding in approval, seemingly very excited”
Solutions?
If we need to manage 4 or more services per
project, how do we improve the workflow for
our support staff and in the future, the end
users?


●A central management platform?

24. Building
“Trajectory”
Tools, technologies and scheduleB
Communication, delegating tasks and
follow-through
C
Documentation and testingD
Release candidate (scope creep!)E
Building the Team: core skills
(coding/visual programming, logic,
UI/UX…)
A

25. 1 dev on REST APIs for all
external services – FME
Workbench & Server
Divide & Conquer! – Dev Team Setup
1 product
manager/designer
(part-time)
3 “traditional” devs for all
front & back-end coding –
C# and Blazor, SQL
databases

26. Architecture
Separate instances and deployment pipelines for Production, Test & Dev servers
REST Services
HOK Network Firewall External
Blazor server application with a SQL back-end

27. REST Services
HOK Network Firewall External

29. Version 1 UI – One task at a time (You MUST release something!)
Call workspace on FME Server and pass parameters
REST Services
HOK Network Firewall External
Version 1 UI – One task at a time (You MUST release something!)
Call workspace on FME Server and pass parameters

30. Version 2 UI – Batching, with some limits (You MUST release
something, again!)
FME Server Automation triggered via webhook, runs “batching”
workspace
Read “batch” table and create separate FME Server tasks –
Dynamic Engines!
REST Services
HOK Network Firewall External
Version 2 UI – Batching, with some limits (You MUST release something, again!)
FME Server Automation triggered via webhook, runs “batching” workspace
Read “batch” table and create separate FME Server tasks – Dynamic Engines!

31. For batch processing, a webhook triggers a
“batching” workspace
REST Services
HOK Network Firewall External
SQL Server

32. REST Services
Firewall
Reads the SQL batching table to determine unclaimed
jobs
Generates FME Server URLs and makes datastreaming
calls, complete with parameter values, token and tag to
trigger dynamic engines
Generates JSON response strings from these calls and
writes them back to the batching table
Makes a single API call to Trajectory at the end to parse
the JSON, clean the batching table and archive the data
to a separate table

33. Typical “web service” workspace for a single service
create project, add/remove/edit user, etc. (datastreaming to return json response)

34. JSON strings are parsed by Trajectory and become field values to be re-used with subsequent
API calls such as Project IDs, User IDs, log details, etc. JSON was the ideal medium to pass
data from FME back to the more traditional Trajectory computer code.
REST Services
Firewall External

35. Demo Time!

36. Did you say “Communication”?
“Image with dark blue background of
workers happily communicating with each
other, like they're having a great time”

37. Diagrams & Documentation
Whiteboarding, before and after COVID hit
UI mockups and interaction ideas
Implementation details for each service
Interface decisions between front-end code and FME “web services”

38. Say something about the size of this number

39. “Document the process as
if you’ll be gone tomorrow.
It’s the only way!”


- David Baldacchino,
Firmwide Design Technoloy Manager

40. Say something about the size of this number

41. Key Takeaways
Assess core skills, tools, technologies and
schedule.
Prioritize communication, task delegation and
follow-through.
Implement through documentation, testing
and releases.


1
2
3
4AI can be fun!
“When people have a great idea, a light bulb shows up above their head”
“Key takeaways”

42. Bonus slides!
“Sand clock exploding, blue background”
And in case there’s still some
time left…

43. Syncing data from
Trimble ProjectSight
to another SaaS
Writes summary
in HTML format,
viewable in MS
Teams
Data from 3
ProjectSight
lists
Data from
another SaaS
Lots of filtering
and data logic
going on…

45. 4
Resources &
Next Steps

46. Get our Ebook
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Enterprise

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49. 5
Q&A

50. Thank You
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