APPIAN SENIOR DEVELOPER EXAM QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS.

Successful first projects deliver results that are: - Quick, with a short time-to-impact reducing the likelihood of losing momentum - Measurable, giving leaders the confidence to approve further projects - Contagious, with a compelling solution triggering rapid user adoption Prioritize Project Opportunities dummy slide Project Factors- Project complications 1. Extensive Data ETL 2. Complex Data Visualization Across Systems 3. Complex Data Manipulation 4. Backend Process Management Project Factors- Success factors 1. Automate complex business processes 2. Access data from or send data to legacy systems 3. Create unified user experience across systems 4. Deliver functionality rapidly 5. Support business processes across the organization 6. Enable target users to access multiple systems 7. Integrate pre-built or custom-built AI systems 8. Engage or inform multiple stakeholders across workflows 9. Perform mobile data entry (inclusive of review and approval) Project Factors - First step to selecting a successful project Finding oppertunities to address business processes If your project has large scsope, what is a best practice you can use that will lead to a successfull project? Break up large scope into smaller projects Intergrations - HTTP Status code types 100 - Informational 200 - Success 300 - Redirect 400 - Client Side Error 500 - Server Side Error Integrations - HTTP Status code 401 Unauthorised Access Integrations - HTTP STatus Code 404 Not found Integrations - Authendication - Two ways to configure authendication 1. Connected Systems 2. Secure credentials Store Integrations-Authendication - Where can Secure Credentials Store configured Appian Admin Console Integrations-Authendication - Expression function - Access Secure Credentials Store a!scsField Integrations - Node used to call integrations from process model Call Integration Integration - Using in Expression Using an expression only works for querying data in an integration. Integration - Query Data Only works with Expression Integration - Modifies Data 1. Works with "Call Integration" smart service in process model 2. Submit from Interface Integration - Modifies data - Additional parameters added to integration by default 1. OnSuccess 2. OnError Integration - Common methods of performing integration over HTTP 1. REST - "Call Integration" 2. SOAP(WSDL) - "Call Webservice" Three Anti Patterns to avoid 1. Custom Task Management 2. Custom User Interfaces (Third party UX) 3. Avoid Data only applications (Extracting, Transforming and Loading) Appian Task Plugins 1. Task Reassignments Allow users to reassign multiple active tasks 2. Task Functions Allow developers to retrieve most task details and attributes by using a set of functions with Task ID as input. 3. Task Management Smart Services Contains smart services to manipulating tasks in-process and custom functions for getting task metadata. Data-only processes can slow the system. Particularly if they are running during business hours when most users are acitve Yes, True. Mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of data-only processes on performance for other active users. 1. Data management (Delete the process instance immediately after the process completed) 2. Make process variables "hidden" to limit data replication for reports 3. Avoid load bulk data to system during business hours 4. Do not store the data to process variables Record Centric Design - Benefits 1. Faster to build 2. Easier to maintain 3. Incorporate simpler and short-lived processes 4. Make better use of system resources Record Centric Design - Steps - Start with key building blocks of data in a relational database - Use an entity-backed record type that allows users to list, search, filter, and drill down into data in that entity. - Attach an action to allow users to create new records - Use related actions to enable record update and status changes - Repeat this process for each key resource that needs to be managed. Query Anti Patterns to avoid 1. Should not keep "batchSize" as -1. (This will try to fetch all data) 2. unsorted query results (Keep primary key as the sort id) 3. "ends with" filtering conditions. 4. using 50 or more operators using "in" operations, will result very slow query. When Query will break with error Query breaks if the data returned is 1MB or takes 10 Seconds DB Design practices to follow 1. Implement locking mechanism for DB updated to avoid race conditions 2. Load test your applications with roughly three times the anticipated first year's worth of data. 3. Avoid designing queries that are unbounded or slow In addition to entity locks table to resist concurrent table update aatempts, "Optimistic locking" can be used to prevent the writing of stale data. using the following annotations @version and @column What are process related information stored in memory 1. Process Variables 2. Task Properties 3. Process Properties 4. Process History Process Data management best practices 1. Processes with task data : 3 Days 2. Processes that are automated/utility : delete after completion Running the sub processes as "sub process" node will always run in the same process execution engine true Running the sub processes as "Start Process" node will always run in different process execution engine true Process Management Best Practices 1. Build record-centric processes that are short lived and set to archive after three days 2. Use sub-processes to break up larger workflows into segments that can be archived or deleted, Which use the "Start Process" smart service where practical 3. Look to repeatable design patterns into multi purpose workflows. Plug-in guidelines 1. Use OOTB if requirements are nearly met 2. Build off existing plug ins 3. Try to use an existing plugin before building your own 4. Throughly test every plug-in, before each release Plug-in Risks 1. Higher chance of support incients 3rd Party plug-ins must be watched for 1. Thread safety 2. Performance at scale 3. Extra resource consumption Which time scale refers to the term "Short Lived Process" Milliseconds, Seconds and Minutes Valid reason to consider using a plug in (Such as Execute stored procedure) Your performance test a process that does not meet your response time requirements. Benifits of using sub-process 1. Collaborative developement 2. Reusablity 3. Reduced process duration 4. Reduced memory usage Appian Health Check purpose 1. Examines an Appian Instance 2. Generates a report 3. Identifies the risks Appian Health Check availablity From 19.4 health included with Appian by default. No need to deploy separately. Appian Health Check can be 1. Configured 2. Run Manually 3. Regularly Scheduled Appian Health Check run schedule - non prod * Run Health Check as part of your sprints * Every two weeks * Also should be part of pre-deployment check list Appian Health Check run schedule - prod 1. Run health check once a month 2. Before deployment of applications Appian Health Check - Report sheets 1. Summary 2. Details 3. Dashboard 4. Process Sizing Appian Health Check - Dashboard long running charts 1. Slow Queries 2. Record Summary viewes 3. Record Lists Appian Health Check - Process Sizing Tab 1. Record process instance memory usage 2. Helps estimate future memory usage 3. Shows if process engine servers are properly sized Appian Health Check - What is the maximum threshold of high risks that should be allowd in production environments? Zero Appian Health Check - Application risk categories identified by health check report 1. User Experience 2. Configuration 3. Design 4. Infrastructure Appian Health Check - Scheduling recommendation NOT recommended that heath Check be run during business hours in a prodcution environment or active environment as it may increase system load and degrade performance Appian Health Check - To configure health check you must need "Automatic upload service account" credentials Appian Health Check - For the first time a health check performed, The raw results must be reviewed True Appian Health Check - The name of the group will receive health check report notifications 1. Group name is "Health Check viewers" 2. can be "System Administrators" exculded from the list Appian Health Check - System account required to automatically receive the analysis resutls of health check report True Appian Data Design - Each Data Store can connect to one DB True Appian Data Design - benefits of normalization 1. Better scalability 2. Lower memory usage 3. Better usability Appian Data Design - Two primary ways to integrate a relational database into your appian applications 1. Top Down 2. Bottom Up Appian Data Design - Top Down * Create your Data Structures directly using Appian Custom Data Types (CDT) * Use Appian's Data Store to generate SQL Scripts (Also known as DDL Scripts) to create your database tables Appian Data Design - Bottom Up * Create your tables first, Then generate CDT's to reflect the table architecture * Appian automatically generates annotations to reflect the database design characteristics of the existing table. Such as specific table naming conventions, required columns, and non-default data types. Appian Data Design - Top Down - Advantages 1. No coding is required when you create a database table directly from a CDT built-in Appian * Appian development doesn't require any SQL script * This can greatly simplify and speed up your development process Appian Data Design - Top Down - Disadvantages 1. Direct editing of XSD file is required to support advanced DB features 2. Tables and columns are lowercased by default. Difficult to read. 3. Lond column names (more than 27 characters) are renames by dropping vowels. Can became difficlut to read. Appian Data Design - Top Down - Other considerations * Most columns are nullable (not required) by default. - Best practice to make columns required by default - forcing more field validation. * Database constraints (Setting column as required ) are limited to primary and foreign keys. Appian Data Design - Bottom Up - Advantages * Allows using database design tools to define tables and columns directly * Makes it easier to support design requirements - Standardized table and column names - New columns are not nullable by default - Column checks and foreign key constraints - Indexes added to foreign key columns used in filters and joins - Wider range of datatype choices - Field lengths available for all data types * Appian reads table attributes and generates annotated CDTs that support advanced table configurations - Primary and Foreign keys are automatically identified - Tables and Columns are annotated with exact names - Required fiedls are automatically set to nullables equals false in CDT Appian Data Design - Bottom Up - Disadvantages * Knowledge of third party tool required - Database utility phpMyAdmin provided with every Appian cloud instance * Updates to CDT generated from table must be made by editing XML schema document for the CDT - Called an XML schema definition or XSD file - Need to upload new version each time CDT is modified Appian Data Design - Appian recommended approach - Bottom Up Bottom up design make it easier to - Annotate your CDTs with conventional table and column names. - Select non-default data types - Annotate null constraints