Quickbase

Anyone can create a Quick Base application and get it to work - its as simple as uploading a spreadsheet. However, I believe some programming experience, or Quick Base training, is helpful in creating applications that are more efficiently and effectively designed. Experienced programmers have developed the thought processes necessary to think through some of the pitfalls you could come across as you develop the applications. I think the same thought process can be developed as application developers create more and more applications.

My experience is that anyone with a rudimentary understanding of relational databases can hack together something that will work, but it is often very messy, and they eventually hit a point where they can no longer manage it. At that point, a technical expert has to come in and refactor it, which can take longer than building it properly to begin with. If a technical person with the training to properly plan and organize an app builds it to start with, then it is generally possible for a non-technical person to make tweaks as needed, perhaps with occasional consultation with a technical expert.

I would guess that 90% of our development is by technical experts, not non-technical "citizen developers".

The level of difficulty for citizen developers depends on the complexity of the application you want built. With some understanding of relational databases and how your data connects across tables, you can build applications. QB provides support as needed. With more complex applications, I have needed assistance from IT for maintenance and some of the more complex triggers/back end processes.

I'm not a technical personal and have never built an application, so I cannot comment on that.

If you know how to create an Excel sheet that fits your needs, you'll be able to create a QuickBase application. If you understand data relationships you'll be able to build more complex applications. If you know how to code, you can pretty much do anything you need. We have several non-technical employees that have built their own successful applications that are used to manage projects or for interacting with customers.

If you start building an app without any real experience I would say it's going to be challenging. The interface and controls they have in place make it really easy for an experience builder, but I am not sure if a non-technical user would be able to just hop in and build an app. I would recommend using the training programs they offer or hiring a consultant build your app.

This is my biggest pet peeve with QB: it is not as easy to develop as QB thinks, writing formulas is completely backwards and not at all user friendly. I can write formulas in Excel, but in QB the formulas have to have type conversions and many other QB specific things that are not intuitive at all. Formulas for Excel can be Googled, but formulas for QB cannot. It takes a long time to find out how to write even fairly simple formulas. Becoming a citizen developer takes years of searching and trial and error.

If the goal is to replace basic spreadsheets the level of difficulty is very low. If you are tying together multiple departments and several processes per departments the level of difficulty goes up substantially. It doesn't require an IT person but a person with IT abilities and a drive to do the work. If processes are not diagrammed the build will take more time and integration's will cost substantially more. Having a clear plan and the right people is key to cost savings

The level of difficultly is very low honestly. I am not a coder or in IT, I took one college couse in C++ which has not helped me at all, but am the main admin for QuickBase and am fully able to do most setup of applications. Most applications I have built in 2 hours or less and do no maintenance other than user support for access levels. On the off chance I need something more advanced QuickBase hasa whole bunch of support providers. We use The Data Collaborative, who are great.

I think it really depends on how customized you want your app to be. The more complex requirements, the better understanding of relational databases is needed. I have a base knowledge and even then I get stuck wondering why I can't just choose a field from another table or why it's taking me to the other one and not the one I want. See, my terminology is even off, and if that's not well defined, you can have a bit of difficulty, but the nice thing is that the support is excellent, so even if you are stuck, there's usually some there to get you un-stuck.

As I have mentioned earlier, the language of Quickbase is relatively simple and similar to that of Excel. Simple applications could be created by people with limited developing experience, but to create more complex and robust applications it will require time and experience. Application creation can range from a simple application being created within an hour to very complex application requiring days or even weeks. Application creation time is, obviously, dependent upon the individual's experience and ability.

Absolutely no help required from IT, unless of course, you are not allowed to upload or download information. (Uploading spreadsheets is a great way to get data entered in the first place.) It is all web-based, so really all you need is a browser on a computer. A desktop/laptop works better; I personally wouldn't want to try developing an app on a tablet or phone.

A basic knowledge of relational databases is useful, but it can also be picked up on the fly. And there are a multitude of how-to posts and videos available to walk you through just about anything you can't figure out.

A rather sophisticated application can be built in about five clicks if you download one of the many amazing pre-built apps in the Quick Base library. They can also be customized with great ease, renaming fields, removing fields, and adding relationships.
Maintaining an app is almost not a task - Quick Base does a fantastic job of updating the back end on a monthly basis. The only maintenance necessary would be of the internal "why do we even need this field" sort of thing.

I think this area is very over-hyped by QuickBase marketing. I have 40 years of custom application development experience for small businesses. It takes a fair amount of knowledge, experience and aptitude to do custom application architecting and development where the app is done right the first time, and will work well in the long-term as future application additions and changes are thrown into the mix. Anyone can get anything working in a Google Sheet, but that doesn't mean it will be a good app that is able to be supported and extended going forward. Same thing with QuickBase. There is a little bit of investment of time that is required to be a good administrator, system architect and developer, even on QuickBase. Even with the depth of my experience, I still used a 3rd party QuickBase development partner for 3 to 6 months to learn the ropes quickly and get up to speed so that I wasn't creating a crap application. It really helps to understand how to think and develop in QuickBase before you start. It's different from Access, Excel, Salesforce, etc. Once you know how to think in QuickBase and some of the good tricks, everything flows very nicely. But there is a learning curve for anything as complex and sophisticated as the QuickBase platform.

I will say that it is more difficult to build a quality app than a standard database. But the University tools are extremely helpful, the community board is full of knowledgeable people, and the IT group is FAST. I started building the app as if it was a database, but in reality I must have made and destroyed apps that weren't right. Be open to the concept that A to Z is not a straight path, I did and it's a great lesson to learn fast.

You do not need to know coding, HTML or javascript to start, but you should be ready and willing to learn basic elements through examples and help from the Community Forum which is an excellent source of help and has over 10 years of information most of which is still relevant today.

I took an HTML class in college when Al Gore was just inventing the internet. Since then, I have no coding experience. However, after a short lesson or two, I was able to build and customize my own app and make it useful for my customers.

It's fairly easy but cross table connection could be easier

A person with no "coding" knowledge can easily create applications and make adjustments to them. The workflow is very intuitive and the tutorials are very helpful.

I have a J.D. and MPA degrees along with a bachelors in history. I have managed to become deeply involved in creating processes and improving my company's workflows.

QB all builders should be able to create a spreadsheet and perform basic formulas. More importantly, staff should understand work processes and office workflow.

Most citizen developers do not necessarily understand database structure or table to table relationships. I myself am not a programmer by trade but have worked with databases so this was not a huge struggle for me once I got into the meat of Quick Base and started developing apps.

With minimal training, several users were able to quickly grow as builders. It has been easier for those who are already comfortable using digital applications or who have had some minimal HTML experience. As a team, we've learned how to find our own answers so that we don't have to wait for a technical developer to assist.

With a basic knowledge of Excel and Access, a user is equipped to make good use of Quick Base, especially if they have knowledge of macros and VBA.

I would say it's not difficult at all unless needs are more complex than the norm that would require formulas creation, webhooks, etc. There are times when connected apps are necessary and formula is almost always a need.