What is the Rapid Application Development (RAD) Methodology?

Throughout the digital era, application development trends have defined the way most IT giants deliver their services. Digital solutions are the forerunners of operational and delivery efficiency in any product cycle. Considering the importance of software applications, the development phase becomes exceptionally crucial for any organization. That’s when smart application development methodologies come into the picture.

Rapid Application Development or RAD is one such software development approach that follows the idea of prototyping and iterative improvement in the life cycle of product development. There’s no in-depth planning involved behind this methodology which makes it more focused on requirements gathering, and thus, updating the prototype on the same standards.

What is RAD Used For?

The RAD methodology proves to be useful for companies that require the creation of custom business apps. Due to the growing need for customization and business agility, applications have to be very precise and business-focused. The fact that the RAD methodology welcomes the scope of iterative feedback and then improvements on the prototype, make it a perfect fit for projects like this.

Many organizations are moving towards digital transformation in the 21st century. In such cases, most of them wish to reinvent their existing IT infrastructure with modular applications and create applications online. The RAD approach can be useful for such projects. Existing applications can be modularized incrementally through a suitable application development platform.

Pros

The RAD approach has multiple advantages for a customer willing to build apps for business:

• The customer doesn’t have to be pressurized about signing the requirements before the building starts. They can quickly provide feedback on later stages.
• Existing prototypes can be reused, thus ensuring continuous integration and rapid delivery.
• Unlike the traditional methodologies, significant changes can be brought into effect even after the coding has begun.
• The business app creator delivers working modules of the product to the customer in an incremental manner. This ensures complete customer involvement in the process of rapid delivery.
• Since the requirements can be shared iteratively, the product conforms with the user requirements at all stages of development.

Cons

While RAD brings considerable potential in place, it also has certain limitations:

• The RAD approach is best-suited for projects that can be broken into modules because it delivers the product in an incremental manner. For others, the methodology might fail to solve its purpose.
• Usage of RAD is highly advisable for projects wherein we have business experts who are well-equipped with the business requirements to be solved by the application.
• Simultaneously, the RAD model is dependent on high-skilled engineers who can deliver their technical expertise.

Open-Source Rapid Application Development Platform

The leading open-source Rapid Application Development Platform is the Corteza open-source low-code platform. This platform allows you to build any record-based business application you need, without the need for any technical programming background. All it takes is 3 steps:

1. Define the data you want to store in modules
2. Create the pages with the drop-and-drag editor
3. Create charts and rich dashboards

So, get a free trial of the Corteza low-code platform today!