Pega Platform™, with its innovative Constellation UI, marks a significant shift in the paradigm of application development. This article goes into detail about the characteristics of the Constellation architecture, its flexible yet prescriptive UI, and the myriad benefits it offers. We also explore how the implementation team can work with business representatives to extract outcome-based business use cases to make the most of this versatile architecture.
Focus on the outcome
The Constellation architecture introduces a revolutionary way of building applications by emphasizing configuration over customization. The components, UI elements, screens, and widgets are preconfigured in a way that allows users to apply them in diverse ways depending on the context and underlying data. This way, application creators can focus on creating the processes and workflow automation, and the design system can display the content to the user in a consistent way that follows UX best practices. It seems like a big leap because it might look and feel restrictive to someone who is used to having total control over every inch of the interface.
This paradigm shift is a major change in how we must design and structure our Pega applications. This article goes into detail by showing you the consequences of the new paradigm and providing you examples of thinking processes that have to occur when analyzing the requirements to implement in Constellation.
Let's clarify one thing: you can achieve the same things in Constellation as you did in the Traditional architecture. That said, it is good to acknowledge that there is no feature parity between those two architectures. They are completely different, so comparing them doesn't make sense. You can achieve the same thing, but sometimes, the way you achieve it is very different.
Focus on the outcome. The outcome really matters for business, so let's not lose sight of it. If you remember any of this, just remember one word because this is what counts: outcome. Outcome is at the heart of the prescriptive paradigm.
Focus on the outcome. The outcome really matters for business, so let's not lose sight of it. If you remember any of this, just remember one word because this is what counts: outcome. Outcome is at the heart of the prescriptive paradigm.
Why, oh why?
Switching to Constellation requires you to change how you engage with end users and business stakeholders. Instead of focusing on feature comparison, you must now start thinking in terms of business outcomes. If you think feature to feature, Constellation will lose because it was not designed to replicate the traditional UI but to outdo it. Constellation is a big change and is very different from what we've always done. It might even require some readjustment. However, what can help is a strong focus on outcomes.
One technique that you can use to get to the bottom of things and find a business requirement that is outcome-centric (and not UI-focused) is the 5 whys method.
The 5 Whys rule is a problem-solving technique that you can use to explore the root cause of any issue. It consists of asking "Why?" five times in succession, with each answer forming the basis of the next question. This powerful method will allow you to transition from UI-centric requirements, which often is an implementation suggestion itself, to business and outcome-centric requirements. Let's see examples and analyze a hypothetical dialogue between the implementation team and business representatives. Here's how the implementing team can work with end-users to uncover valuable business use cases.
Scenario 1: Paragraph Rules
Client asks for a Paragraph Rule. Constellation doesn't have those. Is this a bug?
If you treat it as a yes or no question ("Do you have Paragraph Rules in Constellation?"), the simple answer is "No." To everyone concerned, the UI has a gap, and everybody loses.
Let's try again.
Business representative (BR): Can I use the Paragraph Rule?
Implementation team (IT): Thanks for the question. Can we step back for a moment? Tell me how you used the paragraph rule in the past.
BR: To put text on a form or a Section Rule.
IT: I see. Why does the user need the text? What is the purpose of having this text on the screen?
BR: It provides instructions for the user.
IT: Ah, instructions. In Constellation, you can easily configure instruction text with App Studio. You can configure instruction text at the form level or for a group of fields. And, you can specify additional contextual help text at the field level. The advantages of this approach are that it has built-in accessibility, it looks good on every device size, it's a consistent experience across the app portfolio, and it's less rule maintenance.
The point is that you can achieve outcome parity plus some great benefits.
Let's see another one, my favorite, as it pops up in every discussion about Constellation.
Scenario 2: Missing Action sets
The client wants Action Sets. They want them now.
BR: I can't do anything in Constellation without Action sets.
IT: Tell me more.
BR: I need to configure the Action sets button to trigger an action.
IT: What is the action that you want to trigger?
BR: My requirement is to click a button and launch a modal dialog box.
IT: Oh, I hear you. Why do you need this dialog box, and what do you want to do inside of it?
BR: I would like to see the details of my object and edit it.
IT: Great, now I get it. In Constellation, we have a couple of features that will enable you to achieve this outcome. For example, you can configure the field to render as a link. After you click a link, it will open a new browser tab and display details of the data object, which allows you to edit it. You can also use a feature called Preview to see the most important information about your object in a Preview panel without the need to open a new tab. These features make your UX consistent, with built-in accessibility. It looks good on any device and takes minutes to configure.
Again, what matters is the outcome, and what Constellation can get you is the outcome.
Scenario 3: Table formatting
This time, the problem is slightly more nuanced.
BR: I want to change the background color of rows in a table.
IT: Could you tell me what the meaning of the colors is?
BR: I want to change the background color for rows because I want the resolved Cases to be displayed in green.
IT: OK, so you would like to have a visual representation of Cases presented in tabular form based on Work Status. Here is how you do it in Constellation. When you add the Work Status field to the table, you can select Format for this field and set it to Work Status. Thanks to this configuration, Constellation will render a badge instead of rendering a text value. You can see an example in the documentation of the Constellation Design system here: https://design.pega.com/design/table/. Users can visually recognize completed Cases.
Here, the user asked about changing the background color, and Constellation came up with a different pattern: the status badge. In terms of UI, it is not a one-to-one solution, but it fits the bill and is accessible. The users can now recognize completed Cases by visuals alone, which was the requirement and the business outcome, which is what matters the most.
Related Resources
- Constellation on Support Center
- Pega Community Constellation Page
- Constellation Adoption on Pega Academy
- Constellation Documentation
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