ACD300 Appian Certified Lead Developer Questions and Answers

To meet the application requirement of allowing users to view summary and detailed information about report data, you should implement a drilldown report pattern to show detailed information about report data. A drilldown report pattern is a user interface component that displays data in a hierarchical structure, and allows users to expand or collapse different levels of data. For example, if the user is viewing a sales report by region, the drilldown report pattern could show something like “North America > USA > California > Los Angeles”. The user can click on any level of data to see more or less details. This way, the user can see both summary and detailed information about report data, and explore different aspects of the data.

The other options are not as effective. Option A, using Tiles as Cards pattern on the home page to prominently display application choices, would provide a way for users to access different parts of the application from the home page, but it would not show summary or detailed information about report data. Option B, implementing an Activity History pattern to track an organization’s activity measures, would provide a way for users to see the recent actions performed by themselves or others in the application, but it would not show summary or detailed information about report data. Option D, including a breadcrumbs pattern on applicable interfaces to show the organizational hierarchy, would provide a way for users to see where they are in the application, and easily go back to any previous level by clicking on the corresponding link, but it would not show summary or detailed information about report data.

To meet the application requirement of allowing users to navigate throughout the application while maintaining complete visibility in the application structure, and easily navigate to previous locations, you should include a breadcrumbs pattern on applicable interfaces to show the organizational hierarchy. A breadcrumbs pattern is a user interface component that displays the current location of the user within the application, and provides links to the previous levels of the hierarchy. For example, if the user is viewing a product details page, the breadcrumbs pattern could show something like “Home > Products > Product Details”. This way, the user can see where they are in the application, and easily go back to any previous level by clicking on the corresponding link.

The other options are not as effective. Option A, using Tiles as Cards pattern on the home page to prominently display application choices, would provide a way for users to access different parts of the application from the home page, but it would not show the organizational hierarchy or allow users to navigate to previous locations. Option B, implementing an Activity History pattern to track an organization’s activity measures, would provide a way for users to see the recent actions performed by themselves or others in the application, but it would not show the organizational hierarchy or allow users to navigate to previous locations. Option C, implementing a drilldown report pattern to show detailed information about report data, would provide a way for users to explore different levels of data in a report, but it would not show the organizational hierarchy or allow users to navigate to previous locations.

The two formats that are available for data generation using an out-of-the-box Appian smart service are:

• A. CSV. This is a comma-separated values format that can be used to export data in a tabular form, such as records, reports, or grids. CSV files can be easily opened and manipulated by spreadsheet applications such as Excel or Google Sheets.
• C. Excel. This is a format that can be used to export data in a spreadsheet form, with multiple worksheets, formatting, formulas, charts, and other features. Excel files can be opened by Excel or other compatible applications.

The other options are incorrect for the following reasons:

• B. XML. This is a format that can be used to export data in a hierarchical form, using tags and attributes to define the structure and content of the data. XML files can be opened by text editors or XML parsers, but they are not supported by the out-of-the-box Appian smart service for data generation.
• D. JSON. This is a format that can be used to export data in a structured form, using objects and arrays to represent the data. JSON files can be opened by text editors or JSON parsers, but they are not supported by the out-of-the-box Appian smart service for data generation. Verified References: Appian Documentation, section “Write to Data Store Entity” and “Write to Multiple Data Store Entities”.

Functional acceptance criteria are the conditions that a user story must satisfy to be accepted by the user or stakeholder. They should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and testable. In this case, two functional acceptance criteria that would be considered ‘good’ are:

• The user will receive an email notification when their order is completed. This is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and testable criterion that describes a feature that the user needs to be informed of their order status.
• The user cannot submit the form without filling out all required fields. This is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and testable criterion that describes afeature that the user needs to provide valid and complete information for their order.

The other options are not as good. Option A, the user will click Save, and the order information will be saved in the ORDER table and have audit history, is not a functional acceptance criterion, but rather a technical implementation detail that is not relevant or visible to the user. Option C, the system must handle up to 500 unique orders per day, is not a functional acceptance criterion, but rather a non-functional requirement that describes a performance or quality attribute of the system.

This is the best risk mitigation effort that both teams can employ to ensure that Team A’s capital project is only minorly interrupted, and Team B’s critical fix can be completed and deployed quickly to end users. By communicating with Team A, Team B can identify which component is causing the critical error in PROD, and check if there is any overlap of changes with Team A’s enhancements. If there is an overlap, Team B can version the component to its PROD state, which is the last stable version, before making any changes to fix the error. Then, Team B can deploy the fixed component to PROD, and version it back to its latest development state, which includes Team A’s enhancements. This way, Team B can avoid overwriting or losing any of Team A’s work, and ensure that the component is consistent across all environments. If there is no overlap, Team B can simply make the changes to the component and deploy it to PROD, without affecting Team A’s work.

The other options are not as effective. Option B, having Team A analyze their current codebase in DEV to merge the hotfix changes into their latest enhancements, would delay the deployment of the critical fix, as Team B would have to wait for Team A to finish their analysis and merge. Option C, having Team B address the changes in TEST, would interrupt Team A’s UAT process, and could cause conflicts or errors in TEST or PROD. Option D, having Team B address the changes directly in PROD, would be risky and not recommended, as it could introduce new errors or inconsistencies in PROD.

Verified References: [Appian Deployment Guide], [Appian Best Practices]

Requirement: Read barcode values from images containing barcodes and QR codes. Correct approach: C. Smart Service plug-in Exact explanation of correct approach taken from Appian Documentation: A smart service plug-in is a type of plug-in that allows you to create custom smart services that can be used in process models. A smart service can perform complex logic, interact with external systems, or manipulate data in Appian. A smart service plug-in can also leverage Java code to implement the functionality of the smart service. A smart service plug-in would be suitable for reading barcode values from images, as it can use Java libraries or APIs that can scan and decode barcodes and QR codes from image files. A smart service plug-in can also return the barcode values as outputs that can be used by other nodes or processes in Appian. A smart service plug-in can also be configured with input parameters, such as the image file, the barcode type, or the output format, that can customize the behavior of the smart service. A smart service plug-in can also have error handling and logging features that can handle any exceptions or failures that might occur during the barcode reading process.

Requirement: Display an externally hosted geolocation mapping applications interface within Appian to allow users of Appian to see where a customer (stored within Appian)is located. Correct approach: A. Web-content field Exact explanation of correct approach taken from Appian Documentation: A web-content field is a type of user interface component that allows you to display web content from an external source in a SAIL interface. A web-content field would be suitable for displaying an externally hosted geolocation mapping applications interface, as it can embed the web content in an iframe and render it within the Appian interface. You can also pass parameters to the web content, such as the customer’s location, using the url parameter of the web-content field. A web-content field can also interact with other components in the Appian interface, such as buttons, grids, or forms, using the postMessage API. This way, you can create a seamless user experience that integrates the external geolocation mapping applications interface with the Appian functionality.

Requirement: Display an externally hosted geolocation mapping applications interface within Appian to allow users of Appian to select where a customer is located and store the selected address in Appian. Correct approach: A. Web-content field and C. Smart Service plug-in Exact explanation of correct approach taken from Appian Documentation: A web-content field and a smart service plug-in would be suitable for displaying an externally hosted geolocation mapping applications interface within Appian to allow users of Appian to select where a customer is located and store the selected address in Appian. A web-content field would be suitable for displaying the external geolocation mapping applications interface, as explained above. A smart service plug-in would be suitable for storing the selected address in Appian, as it can use Java code to receive the address data from the web content, validate it, and write it to a data store entity or a process variable.

Requirement: Generate a barcode image file based on values entered by users. Correct approach: B. Component plug-in Exact explanation of correct approach taken from Appian Documentation: A component plug-in is a type of plug-in that allows you to create custom user interface components that can be used in SAIL interfaces. A component plug-in can also leverage Java code to implement the functionality of the component. A component plug-in would be suitable for generating a barcode image file, as it can use Java libraries or APIs that can encode values into barcode formats and generate image files. A component plug-in can also display the barcode image file in the Appian interface and allow users to download or print it. A component plug-in can also interact with other components in the Appian interface, such as text fields, buttons, or forms, using the a!refreshVariable() function. This way, you can create a dynamic user experience that updates the barcode image file based on the values entered by users.

Indexing columns can improve the performance of queries that use those columns in filters, joins, or order by clauses. In this case, the columns that should be indexed are site_id, status, and priority, because they are used for filtering or joining the tables. Site_id is used to join the case and site tables, so indexing it will speed up the join operation. Status and priority are used to filter the cases by the user’s input, so indexing them will reduce the number of rows that need to be scanned. Name, modified_date, and case_id do not need to be indexed, because they are not used for filtering or joining. Name and modified_date are only used for displaying information in the record grid, and case_id is only used as a unique identifier for each record. Verified References: Appian Records Tutorial, Appian Best Practices