An associate developer at financial services leader TIAA, Shivangi Pathak has been an Unqork Creator since 2020. She has earned her Associate Configurator certificate, was a finalist in the 2022 Unqork Hackathon, and has been named a subject matter expert (SME) as one of Unqork Community’s most knowledgeable and active members.
Q: Tell us about some of the exciting use cases you have built using Unqork.
Shivangi: Some of the most impactful use cases I worked on using Unqork were in the healthcare sector and financial sector, specifically in the investment management side of the house.
For the healthcare sector, I worked on a patient management system that could streamline appointment scheduling, patient records management, and billing processes. These tasks were largely manual and prone to errors, leading to inefficiencies and delays in patient care where we had zero tolerance. Unqork came to the rescue with quick turnaround times for configurators. We developed complex journeys for patient care and hospital administration, worked on Twilio and SendGrid integrations, and more.
For the financial sector, I helped develop automated processes for managing reports and report requests related to investments and trading for investment management and the valuation of liquid assets, along with automated workflow to manage logs and keep track of business processes that have multiple, interdepartmental touchpoints. I integrated secure data handling and customizable workflows for different processes. During implementation, one challenge we faced was integrating with existing legacy systems, but we successfully navigated this by leveraging Unqork’s flexible APIs.
I also built a book review application for my first Unqork hackathon. The problem statement was to create an application that captures user reviews and uses an algorithm to provide stack ranking. This experience taught me valuable lessons in agile development and the power of codeless development in transforming complex workflows into streamlined digital solutions.
What do you like about creating apps in Unqork?
With traditional coding, you would need many lines of code to see even a small amount of output. I really like the fact that with Unqork, you can see right away whether something is working. This gives you the motivation to keep going.
Maintenance also becomes much easier with Unqork. For example, you can quickly check the version history and service logs. You can do promotions and perform release management. And if you have promoted something and you want to roll back, Unqork also makes that much easier. You have full control of your application.
What is it like to create in Unqork versus low-code/no-code platforms?
Before working on Unqork, I built applications using ServiceNow and OutSystems. Compared to ServiceNow, configuration in Unqork is easier—and also more engaging. Unqork can be a little more challenging at the beginning of your development journey. However, Unqork makes it much easier to handle more complex requirements and customizations than the low-code platforms I have used.
In addition, Unqork makes promoting your application much simpler, as well as debugging and troubleshooting. You can easily see where your app is failing, identify the issue, and make any necessary changes.
Does Unqork make it easier to update, iterate, and optimize the apps you create?
Yes, definitely—especially in terms of changing the architecture or if you have to do some heavy integrations. You can really mold the architecture according to your needs with Unqork. It gives you that flexibility.
Also, Unqork’s approach to security helps. You can easily access and integrate role-based architecture throughout your application. And if there is ever a problem, you can always roll back to an earlier version quickly.
How has Unqork improved collaboration with the non-technical teams you serve?
Collaboration with the business unit is much better with Unqork. First of all, you can deliver applications much more quickly to the business team than with traditional web or mobile applications. And if the business team wants changes or wants to add requirements, you can also do that very quickly with Unqork. They don’t have to wait for six months or a year. You can complete the whole process in a few months, even just one month.
“I really like the fact that with Unqork, you can see right away whether something is working. This gives you the motivation to keep going. Maintenance also becomes much easier with Unqork.”
—Shivangi Pathak, Associate Developer, TIAA
And what benefits are end users seeing from the applications you create with Unqork?
The main objective of all the applications I work on is to give users access to information and services in a user-friendly way. The workflow functionality in Unqork makes it easy for us to create engaging, easy-to-use experiences for the end user. And because you can build apps and add requirements quickly, it is not a problem to automate even small things.
What are some of your favorite specific Unqork features and functionalities?
On my last two projects, I worked a lot with data transforms. I really enjoy how you can manipulate your data through transforms and data workflow in Unqork. I also like all the snippets that are available in the Unqork Marketplace. Instead of creating each and every element from scratch, we can just use a snippet. And there are more and more snippets available, which significantly increases modularity and reusability.
Do you have any best practices for using Unqork that you’d like to share with other Unqork creators?
First of all, I would say that when building any application, you want to make sure that you think through the very base level of your architecture. That will make your job easier later. If you are using model-based workflow architecture, keep that flow as simple as possible.
I also recommend focus on optimizing performance from the very start of building an Unqork application. For example, watch out for too many parallel plugin calls. Avoid making the same plugin calls again and again. This will improve the performance of your application.
Third, remember that there are many best practices available in the Unqork Document Hub, Unqork Academy, and Unqork Community. They help you avoid using more components than you actually need.
Finally, pay attention to error handling and exception handling. Then, if you’re not seeing output or your API is failing, you can quickly find out what the main issues are.
If you do these four things, you will have a good architecture in place. You will improve performance, and you will have a good flow of your application, which will make it easier for you and anyone else who works on the application in the future.
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