Preparing to launch your First Mendix App with Compass

Introduction

The Compass tool is available to teams who want to plan and streamline the implementation of their first Mendix app. It is part of an initiative to bring Mendix Digital Execution to the Platform, and enables non-developer team members to help plan the milestones and goals of their Mendix implementation process. Program Owners (that is, the team members leading the implementation) can then monitor the progress through an intuitive visual interface, with the goal of successfully launching their first Mendix application.

With the Compass tool, you can define your own vision of low-code and the apps that you want to build with Mendix, and then simplify their implementation by following a number of predefined best-practice milestones. Each of those milestones consists of action points which you can assign to members of your team for easy tracking. If required, you can also define additional tasks for each milestone.

Getting Started with Compass

To enable Compass for your organization, contact your Mendix Customer Service Manager.

After Compass has been enabled for your organization, a user with the Program Owner role can define the launch date of your first app on the Compass home page, and invite team members to participate.

Inviting Team Members

The Compass team involved in your Mendix implementation should include everyone that will help get Mendix implemented in your organization. This team is not the same as the app project team which will build the app itself, although for example a lead developer might be present in both. You can find out more about the team scope and responsibilities by perusing the action points in Compass.

You can give members of the team access to Compass by performing the following steps:

1. Log in to Compass as a user with the Program Owner role.
2. In the left navigation menu, click Access Management.
3. In the Invite Members window, enter the email address of the user that you want to invite, and specify their role in the project.

You can invite users who are already a part of your organization, but also external users, for example, from partner organizations. Their invitations are displayed in the Pending Invitations tab until accepted.

Tracking Milestones and Action Points

Milestones are key points in the implementation process that must be completed in order for the implementation to be successful. Each milestone consists of one or more action points which can be assigned to members of your team. For example, the Introduction to Digital Execution with Mendix milestone consists of action points such as exploring the Mendix Platform, or assigning the administrator of your Mendix app.

The milestones are defined for you by Mendix, based on our Digital Execution framework. They do not keep track of development milestones - their role is to walk you through the steps which you must complete before development can start.

You can view and manage milestones by performing the following steps:

1. In the Program section of the left navigation menu, click Milestones.
2. Click on the milestone which you want to view.
3. Click on an action point to view the details or assign an owner and deadline.
4. If you are the owner of an action point, follow the on-screen instructions to complete it.
5. To view all action points assigned to you, click Program > My Action Points.

Adding Tasks

Milestones and action points are predefined by Mendix, but you can also add your own custom tasks associated with each milestone.

You can view and manage tasks by performing the following steps:

1. In the Program section of the left navigation menu, click Tasks.

2. To add a new task, click Add Task, and then provide the following information:

   • Name - Required. An identifying name for the task.
   • Status - By default, new tasks are created with the status To do, but you can also mark them as already done.
   • Description - As a best practice, provide a detailed description, so that the person working on the task has sufficient information to complete it.
   • Deadline - The deadline of the task.
   • Assigned to - The team member who must complete the task.
   • Milestone - The milestone with which the task is associated.

3. Click Save.

The new task is displayed on the Tasks page, as well as on the milestone with which it is associated.

Defining your Vision and Goals

As you work on the initial tasks of your implementation, you and your team should develop a shared vision of what low-code with Mendix means for your organization. Compass helps you define and support that vision on the Vision and Goals page.

Low-Code Vision

The Low-Code Vision is your overall guiding principle for the implementation. Use it to briefly describe what low-code means for your organization, and what goal you are working towards. Keep the description brief, and use the Area of Focus section to define the specifics.

Area of Focus

The Area of Focus section lists the following topics to plan for and consider as part of your goal-setting.

• People - Goals associated with your team. For example, you may decide that you need to train five Mendix developers within the next three months.
• Platform - Goals to integrate Mendix into your software development lifecycle.
• Portfolio - The offerings where low-code can bring high value to your organization.
• Process - Goals associated with your business processes. For example, you may decide to implement scrum.
• Promotion - Goals to help you celebrate your successes and motivate your team to build with Mendix.

These focus areas are based on the 5 Ps of digital transformation. You can define your own measurable key results for each of those areas.

Managing your Key Results

To give your team transparency into the progress of your Mendix implementation, make sure to track the progress of your key results. You can do this by editing the value in the Progress field of a key result.

Read More

• Portfolio Management - Another Digital Execution tool, geared towards pre-implementation strategic planning