The Appian Associate Developer is the first exam in the series of all the certifications Appian has to offer. It serves as a pre-requisite for the Senior and Lead certification. Passing this exam is crucial to your journey as an Appian Developer as it reviews the fundamental concepts of Appian Development.
Inspired by Kunal’s Blog Post, this post will lay out resources in a structured way to help you pass the exam and earn the Appian Associate Developer Certification.
A quick overview of the exam objectives, which can be found here, we can see the following:
Introduction to the Appian platform (14%)
- Identify commonly used Appian resources (e.g., online docs, Appian Max, knowledge base) – Docs, Community, Max, Knowledge Base, and AppMarket (Know what each is used for)
- Identify and organize an application’s structure (e.g., application object, folder structure, group setup) – Creating Applications
- Describe Appian use cases and capabilities for solving business problems (e.g., process mining, RPA) – What is Appian? (Video)
General Appian principles (9%)
- Differentiate between Appian platform permissions (e.g., role-based security) – Group Management, User Roles, Object Security
- Differentiate between Appian design objects (e.g., process, records, sites, interfaces, expression rules) – Design Objects
- Define the use of each Appian environment – Review Recommended Environments
Data persistence (13%)
- Demonstrate basic knowledge of managing data and relational databases – Database Design Course (I recommend starting here if you are an absolute beginner, it will be helpful long term)
- Employ CDTs and query entities to read and write to the database – CDTs and Query Entity
- Utilize records and query record types to read, write, and aggregate information from the database. – Data Modeling
- Recognize necessary steps in updating the underlying data model – Edit CDT’s, Edit Record Types
Appian development: Process models (17%)
- Recognize common ways to start a process – Ways to Start a Process
- Define the steps to create, debug, and publish a process model – Create, Debug, and Publish
- Configure commonly used Workflow nodes and Smart Services (e.g., start and end, script task, sub-process) – Smart Services
- Describe the flow of data in a process – Process Models Playlist (Videos 1-10)
Appian development: Interface design (19%)
- Construct an interface – Interface Object
- Configure and use local variables and rule inputs – Local Variables, Rule Inputs
- Configure common interface components (e.g., drop-downs, grids, buttons, validations) – Components
- Recognize and implement best practices outlined by Appian for interface design – Appian UX Design Guide
- Perform interface testing and troubleshooting – Interface Performance View
Appian development: Records (13%)
- Configure a basic record by connecting to an existing data source or using codeless data modeling – Data Store, Appian Records
- Design record views and lists – Record Views, Design Record Views, Record Lists, Design Record Lists
- Configure record actions – Record Actions, Design Record Actions
- Configure record relationships – Record Relationships
Appian development: Expression rules (15%)
- Given an expression rule, interpret the purpose and output of the rule – Expression Rules
- Build, implement and use a basic function expression rule – Define the rule
- Leverage test cases to ensure the quality of expression rules – Test the rule
- Recognize and implement best practices outlined by Appian for expression rules – Expression Best Practices
Additional Tips
I personally recommend creating a community account and taking the Appian Developer course by the Appian Academy. This will layout all the information above in a structured order. Also, be sure to take the Associate Developer Practice Exam. Though the questions in this practice exam will be different than the actual exam, it is a great resource to practice the material you have learned.
I found the best way to study for Appian Exams are to take the course and use the documentation listed above as supplemental reading materials for topics that did not click the first time.
Conclusion
Best of luck studying! If you found this guide helpful or have any other resource leave your comments below.
