New Lead Designer Credential Format

Question

Hi All, 
 As per new guidelines, if anyone wants to become a certified lead designer, following needs to be presented apart from the multiple choice questions stage: 
 
 A live interview with an Appian Architect to review your Appian project experience. The interview will be structured like a design review and we will look for the following materials for the selected project at least a week before the scheduled interview date: 
 
 Business Case - describe the customer situation/problem, project goals and solution that was delivered
 
 Business Impact &ndash; how many people were impacted by application (should be more than one, preferably LOB users)

Project Responsibilities - provide an overview of your role and responsibilities as it relates to the project 
 User Experience - provide an overview of the user experience &ndash; how does the user interact with the system. Submit any diagrams and/or screenshots that will illustrate how the user interacts with the system 
 Design Artifacts (that can be provided with customer consent) that provide a sufficient overview of the solution. This may include, but not limited to:
 
 Diagrams/screenshots of the solutio 
 Design document of the solution 
 Process model documentation (if available) or screenshots

Integration to other systems
 
 provide name of system/integration design

Data Model 
 
 ERD and any accompanying materials, explanations

Health Check Results - If Health Check (HC) was not used, please provide other metrics and explain why HC was not executed.

I have few queries regarding the above format: 
 1) How do we need to present the above information to the Appian architect who will be reviewing the design. Is there any specific format? 
 2) As majority of the applications are controlled by client environments which may not allow to take any screenshots or share documents as per privacy policy, how do one collects the information requested above to maintain integrity. 
 3) Has anyone already attended a live interview? If yes, can you please share any pointers which need to be taken care of. I am not very clear on how this stage is structured and expected from Appian point of view. 
 4) How health check results from an environment where multiple applications are running would help in the above case? 
 5) As people move from one project to another, he/she may not have any further access to previous project artifacts. Not sure how this info is expected from interview point of view. 
 
 Any suggestions or links which could be helpful here? 
 
 Thanks. 
 Hitesh

Mike Cichy · Accepted Answer

These are pretty complete. Just to add some additional color: 
 1) How do we need to present the above information to the Appian architect who will be reviewing the design. Is there any specific format? No specific format - you would just email related artifacts to the architect and they will respond indicating if there's anything additional they need. [mc] Correct, as long as everything is there and labeled so that I can easily find it, I am ok with format. We usually review the package right away and respond back if there is anything else missing. 
 2) As majority of the applications are controlled by client environments which may not allow to take any screenshots or share documents as per privacy policy, how do one collects the information requested above to maintain integrity. I would work specifically with the architects in this case. [mc] I need to confirm with our legal, but I believe we have an NDA signed with every customer as part of the license agreement. Obviously don't attach anything with real data in it. 
 3) Has anyone already attended a live interview? If yes, can you please share any pointers which need to be taken care of. I am not very clear on how this stage is structured and expected from Appian point of view. Few points: 1) Make sure that you understand the application design (i.e. Why was a task based model used instead of a database queue? Why are certain queries not highly performant in the environment?). 2) Make sure that you have walked through an Appian Healthcheck and can explain reasons for which certain criteria showed up as risks/warnings. 3) Be able to talk through decisions you made while designing the application that may not have been to Appian Best Practices - why did you do things differently, and what did you do to mitigate risks. [mc] Yes! The format is similar to a design review, and mostly for the candidate to prove that they were the Lead Designer on the project and can be on a future one. The Credential shows that Appian has confidence in you in delivering a good application. 
 I look at the UI, the models, the ERD and ask questions about the different design decisions you made (why?). I know there are compromises everyone has to make but if you can justify them and demonstrate the thought process, that is what I am looking for. 
 4) How health check results from an environment where multiple applications are running would help in the above case? The architect will look specifically for your app within the Healthcheck results. There is an application column on the resulting excel sheet that the architect will review. [mc] Exactly. Please make sure to indicate which app we are supposed to review. 
 5) As people move from one project to another, he/she may not have any further access to previous project artifacts. Not sure how this info is expected from interview point of view. I would work specifically with the architects in this case. [mc] I understand that you may not have access to all the materials but do your best to supply everything you can. If you know you will be applying for the Credential, start gathering these materials as you work on the project in preparation for the interview.

Ashvin Kapur · Answer

I agree that you should email training@appian.com for any specific inquiries. I have gone through the process, so I'll do my best to answer some below: 
 1) How do we need to present the above information to the Appian architect who will be reviewing the design. Is there any specific format? No specific format - you would just email related artifacts to the architect and they will respond indicating if there's anything additional they need. 
 2) As majority of the applications are controlled by client environments which may not allow to take any screenshots or share documents as per privacy policy, how do one collects the information requested above to maintain integrity. I would work specifically with the architects in this case. 
 3) Has anyone already attended a live interview? If yes, can you please share any pointers which need to be taken care of. I am not very clear on how this stage is structured and expected from Appian point of view. Few points: 1) Make sure that you understand the application design (i.e. Why was a task based model used instead of a database queue? Why are certain queries not highly performant in the environment?). 2) Make sure that you have walked through an Appian Healthcheck and can explain reasons for which certain criteria showed up as risks/warnings. 3) Be able to talk through decisions you made while designing the application that may not have been to Appian Best Practices - why did you do things differently, and what did you do to mitigate risks. 
 4) How health check results from an environment where multiple applications are running would help in the above case? The architect will look specifically for your app within the Healthcheck results. There is an application column on the resulting excel sheet that the architect will review. 
 5) As people move from one project to another, he/she may not have any further access to previous project artifacts. Not sure how this info is expected from interview point of view. I would work specifically with the architects in this case.