Appian is a low-code development and business process management platform. It features drag-and-drop design for app building, automated work processes, unified data management, and cloud-based deployment.
$0
SAP Build
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
SAP Build is a business application development and automation solution with a comprehensive suite of low-code, pro-code, and generative AI tools. SAP Build is for developers, IT professionals, and business users/citizen developers who want to create and customize business applications.
$1.82
per month per user
VisualCron
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
VisualCron is an automation, Integration and Task Scheduler tool. VisualCron combines many features into one product. VisualCron was founded in 2004. Through scheduling users can set Jobs to run on a specific time or event with the help of Triggers. The Tasks in each Job automate scripts to eliminate human errors. Through various Tasks users can integrate different systems through file transfer, encryption, compression and…
N/A
Pricing
Appian
SAP Build
VisualCron
Editions & Modules
Appian Community Edition
$0
Application - Input-Only
$2
per month per user
Application - Infrequent
$9
per month per user
Application - Standard
$75
per month per user
Platform
Custom Quote Priced per user with unlimited apps.
minimum 100 users, no maximum
Unlimited
Custom Quote Priced per development with unlimited apps.
unlimited
Platform
Custom Quote Priced per user with unlimited apps.
Minimum 100, no maximum
Unlimited
Custom Quote Priced per development with unlimited apps.
Unlimited
SAP Build Process Automation - Standard User
$1.82
per month per user
SAP Build Process Automation - Advanced User
$15
per month per user
SAP Build Process Automation - Attended Automation
$534
per month
SAP Build Process Automation - Unattended Automation
Appian works great for automating manual processes and integrating multiple systems through its toolset. It gives great flexibility for establishing rules for approvals, routings, escalations, and the like. Because of the low code toolset, it's very easy to deploy and make changes as needed as processes evolve and as the organization learns to utilize the system better. Minimal maintenance is required to support the applications build on the platform. Some of the automated testing integration with tools like Jenkins is limited so that may be an issue for some.
SAP Build is a strong and reliable partner with a rich FAQ and consulting power. New features make sense and are easy to distribute within the team and to end users. The community is nice, and there are many discussions on product development, shared solutions, and productivity improvements. UI is also one of the strongest points.
VisualCron does accommodate continuous file processing. Like packing and unpacking compressed files, splitting or merging files, sending E-mail's and executing queries on databases. VisualCron in less suitable for performing very complex operations on files like, arithmetic with numbers, dates or amounts. Very complex job scripts become cluttered. Debugging Job scripts is not easy.
Allows at a glance workflow documentation which assists in the need we have for information readiation.
Drag and drop interface for workflow development greatly speeds our apps time to market.
Using the advanced features of Appian, we are able to create working sites in a fraction of the time it would take to do so using "traditional" development.
SAP Build Workzone is a cloud ready service that it can provide access to users over cloud. It really liked it because for Non-SAP users they don't need to have seperate logins to access SAP systems
SAP Build LCNC helps to create an app either from scratch or take reference from existing apps and develop on top of it
SAP Build Code is pro-developer tool helps for creating enterprise ready web apps
Search issues when type ahead and database search are used in the same field.
Buttons implementation where user is require[d] to click on the button description - if clicks on the button outside that text - button will not work.
Problems with using certain off-the-shelf performance tools like WebLoad or Neoload. That is because of different dynamic variables being used internally in Appian - which these tools are unable to correlate. We are still investigating using other tools like Jmeter to overcome dynamic correlation problem for performance testing.
Comparing to other RPA Tools, SAP Build automation lacks enough user guidance.
Licensing is a little bit confusing.
From a technical perspective, older versions of the automation part are not always stable, but the other services (workflow, business rules, apps, etc.) are much more stable.
VisualCron should more specifically indicate the root cause of an error.
If copying a file goes wrong, VisualCron reports 'can't copy file'. I expect 'no read permissions from original' or 'no write permissions from destination'.
VisualCron offers no way to execute a Job script line by line
We recently renewed our license with Appian. We are convinced that its flexibility, relative ease of use, the support they provide, there mobile advancements and their general willingness and desire to see us succeed all contributed to our reason to renew our agreement with Appian
SAP Build that enables rapid creation of enterprise-grade applications, automations, and business sites. It empowers both business users and developers to collaborate effectively while leveraging SAP-grade security, identity, and integration capabilities. SAP Build integrates seamlessly with SAP systems, supports governance and lifecycle management, and accelerates digital transformation by reducing development time and effort.
Appian is a low code environment, because of this, a very good visual interface is required. Appian is providing a feature-rich dashboard [that] we can use for building the dashboards and other interfaces. Appian also provides patches and releases to enhance these features. A developer can start off development just by going through a basic course from the Appian learning community.
The overall re-usability is very good for SAP Build app. Rating 9 shows that it is very effectively uses the No code or low code functionality. Drag and drop of UI components is very effective in this SAP Build app. No prior coding experience is needed but to develop some logic flow you need to be very logical and optimistic thinker
Appian is one of the leading low code business automation platforms that support RPA, decision rules, case management, workflow automation, and machine learning all in a single bundle. But it is also harder to implement and replace the traditional business process.
There are, for example, great blog writings about automation cases and examples. The studio version is updated often. There are also useful OpenSAP online courses.
Questions and problems can be addressed to VisualCron 's support department via E-mail. I usually get a good answer from them fairly quickly. There is also a VisualCron forum where you can ask questions that will be answered by other VisualCron users.
As analyst I participated in a developer boot camp. At times it was hard to keep up but most of the time it made sense. Trainer took the time to explain and slowed pace down to answer questions etc.
Online training helped to understand the drag and drop processes, building UI. Creating a workflow and process automation. Developing workflow and deploying WF. Helped to reduce the errors. It helped to understand the training easily. And online training gave good insights for low code no code solutions and create actions, forms.
Appian has enormously transformed and keeps on updating the product every quarter to meet the latest needs of the world with new innovations & technologies being integrated within the platform. What gives more pleasure than a product that keeps on continuous[ly] improv[ing]?
Seamlessly connected to SAP S4 Hana systems and development and deployment is easy as compared to Microsoft Visual Studio. Low code no code facility is awesome in SAP Build app where as in Visual Studio drag and drop of components is provided but still needs to write bulky code for functionality. Performance is better for SAP Build app.
For simple processes, VisualCron is easier to use and maintain. For complicated processes, Quadient Inspire offers more options. The graphical representations of waiting, running or completed jobs is adequate for both products. The logging of job actions is better in Quadient Inpire as in VisualCron.
I believe it has negatively impacted our release dates. There may have been a misunderstanding as to the learning curve, even though it is "low code."
The look and feel of the applications created using Appian have uniformity and it's easier to have "reuse" between applications.
There is less developer control when it comes to features. I think this mainly has to do with the amount of plugins available. I would think there should be many more available plugins. But again, our use case is probably different than most others.
