Feasibility study

App Building
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Hi ReTool team! We would like to seek answers for our companies feasibility study. Would appreciate any help or leads.

  1. Does the platform support omnichannel and multiexperiences?
  2. Can I scan the code of the apps built with the platform?
  3. Can I measure, identify, and fix technical debt?
  4. How does the platform ensure that the code written is bug free and scalable?
  5. What governance mechanisms does the platform provide to avoid ungoverned citizen development and shadow IT?
  6. Does the platform allow defining granular security and governance controls easily?
  7. How many change requests can my dev team deploy per day?
  8. What percentage of the dev lifecycle is augmented with AI?
  9. Can I integrate the platform with any SDLC tool of my choice, or am I limited to a set of tools?
  10. Does the platform support open standards and deep integration to application lifecycle management (ALM), release, and testing platforms?
  11. How does the platform ensure that all components of an application are deployed correctly and together?
  12. Can my dev team extend what they develop in low-code with their preferred tools?
  13. Number of users and concurrent access can the app/platform take without affecting performance and user experience?
  14. What is the percentage of reused components in the platform’s portfolio?
1 Like
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fine another easy one that is actually a universal answer for any dev tool/ide.

#4, it isn't possible to ensure a user writes bug free and scalable code. It's also impossible to ensure any tool, especially an IDE, to be bug free even if it provides building blocks like components.

in Retool anytime you type any code (js, py, html, whatever) it does run through a linter (I assume, I guess they could compile after every letter I type but that'd suck) as well as providing build and run-time errors, it can be set to notify you in more than one spot for each error also. being provided a linter and an intellisense of sorts is about the best you can get for a low/no code platform as far as ensureing bug free code. scalable, is up to the dev also. do you mean vertically? you can switch from Cloud to Self-Hosted, then you get all the scalability you want. or horizontally? you can move your cloud hosting to a different region.... or move to self-hosted and spin up as many kubernetes servers as you want

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Hi @bobthebear thanks for the reply. Will take note of your answers.

We have actually tackled some of our questions regarding through https://docs.retool.com/ - so the questions in this post are the ones we can't find concrete answers or we are unsure of.

We've also reached out to support@retool.com but the team only redirected us here to the community to post them. My apologies if this may seem cumbersome on your end to answer these questions but we appreciate your input and have noted them down.

And yes would like to have a conversation with a dev regarding our study.

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Ah, I see. Thanks for explaining @dr10. I'll see what I can find throughout the day.

Yes, through the use of Permission Groups and User Attributes you can limit control down to resources (databases, connections, api key, ect) they have access to but do note you need the Business or Enterprise plans to access Permissions:
Permission groups and access rules | Retool Docs

  1. How many change requests can my dev team deploy per day?

yes. the cloud service saves as you type so you can leave and pick it back up on anything w an internet connection. they don't seem to limit how many users you can have in your org, but I'd say the limit is more likely the cost not the feasibility of it.
Manage versions and releases | Retool Docs

Retool pricing
scroll down to the Compare Features section, you're interested in the first 3 rows. note here that the enterprise plan doesn't say specifics for user costs, I haven't done it before, but I guess you work with them in coming up with a price model based on your use case and how far along development you are (or so I've read).

  1. Does the platform support omnichannel and multiexperiences?

I beleive you are looking for Portals and Client Apps
Custom Client Apps and Portals with Retool Embed

Build a customer portal | Retool Docs

  1. Number of users and concurrent access can the app/platform take without affecting
    performance and user experience.

quite a few factors would go into this one, not just the number of users. the number of queries ran per visit/user are going to be the biggest problems. having 100 queries run for 10 concurrent users isn't a big deal but thousands might be, that'd be a question for the engineers

  1. Can I scan the code of the apps built with the platform?

Import and export apps | Retool Docs
Source Control | Retool Docs
you can export as JSON and Toolscript, which could be scanned I suppose. Otherwise, it requires the Enterprise plan to enable 3rd party Source Control in which case you'd have... well control of the source heh.
Source Control | Retool Docs

  1. What percentage of the dev lifecycle is augmented with AI?

Write queries with Ask AI | Retool Docs
AI assissted code is only available when making queries, I haven't seen the option in any other code windows (popup or otherwise).... so, a small percentage?

  1. How does the platform ensure that all components of an application are deployed correctly and together?

webapps are always live (just maybe not in production mode) as is the portal to access them. if you're loading outside libraries, they're pre-loaded, it actually reinitalizes the app when you add one, otherwise the React framework holds it together and ensures endpoints and content are served (well, it's React other than the servers, load balancers and whatnot.... and when no errors are present :wink: )

sorry for answering in a scatter-brain order. If I come across other answers in my notes and whatnot I'll let you know. i think i got all the links in there.

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there seems to be a bug when you copy text from a bulletin point, whenever you paste it the number is always 1. It made copying and pasting those questions annoying once I noticed everything was numbered the same... I'm also not great w formatting (like anything, text, data, my hdd lol)