Innovation arises when scientific research and entrepreneurial practice are closely intertwined. This is precisely what the successful cooperation between RheinMain University of Applied Sciences and boTec GmbH demonstrates. Together, they supervised a bachelor’s thesis dedicated to a highly topical subject: the development of a flow-based low/no-code backend for the integration of UI and business logic components.
For boTec, cooperation with universities is an integral part of promoting young talent. Students are given the opportunity to work on real-world projects with practical relevance, while boTec gains fresh impetus from research. Similar initiatives, such as the elective project ‘Geo-data in service management’, show how education, innovation and regional responsibility go hand in hand at boTec.
Topic of the bachelor’s thesis
Maurice Falk’s bachelor’s thesis focused on the design and development of a backend for a low/no-code editor that can be used to model and execute workflows. A particular challenge was the simultaneous integration of UI and business logic components in a flexible system.
The technical implementation was based on JavaScript/TypeScript and RxJS for asynchronous event processing. The system was structured using a concept of nodes, ports, links and pipelines.
Project framework
The bachelor’s thesis was approved on 14 December 2020 by the examination board of the Department of Design, Computer Science and Media. The processing period ran from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021. The supervisor was Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ludger Martin, and the work was carried out in close cooperation with boTec.
Technical implementation in detail
- Flow Manager: central control unit for initialising, connecting and persisting workflows.
- Node logic: mapping via a process function, validation and transformation of data through type mapping and validation rules.
- RxJS-based pipelines: efficient, asynchronous processing of events, e.g. via combineLatest.
- Flexible use: can be used on both the server side and the client side, with or without a UI connection.
Relevance for practical application
Low-code/no-code approaches enable citizen developers to digitise business processes without in-depth programming knowledge. This increases the digital speed of organisations, helps to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers and opens up new avenues for agile process design.
This work is particularly valuable for boTec, which supports companies in the process and production industry with data integration, automation and efficiency solutions.