Forvis Mazars in Germany establishes a No-code foundation, 20+ Citizen Developers, and nine Business Applications

Supported by the Betty Blocks consultancy and services teams, Forvis Mazars have created a bespoke no-code environment and custom-created a roll-out plan to structurally build citizen development into the organization. The custom Forvis Mazars environment is complete with specific templates, components, styling and branding. Meanwhile, the IT department has added specific roles and permissions, enabling fully governed application development.

With the Betty Blocks platform, finished applications can be shared as templates, and made available to all users. As components and individual applications can be reused each application is built faster than the last, and the time-to-market is minimized. Forvis Mazars in Germany is thus launching with a complete and ever-growing application library.

“With each application developed on the platform, the next is created faster and easier. The onboarding process is quick and simple, and users are truly empowered in unlimited application development.” - Yilun Liu, Business Engineer and Product Owner

Meanwhile, together with the Betty Blocks team, Forvis Mazars came up with a personal program and learning path to launch citizen development. Roll-out was done in two phases to inspire participation and boost adoption throughout the organization.

In the first phase, Forvis Mazars ran a three-week workshop program introducing participants to the Betty Blocks platform and supporting them in their first development projects. Betty Blocks supplied Forvis Mazars with the learning tools and hosted bi-weekly Q&A sessions, while the Center of Excellence ran the workshops independently. Through the program, business users learnt how to conceptualize, design, and create applications for their business needs.

For the past two years, Forvis Mazars in Germany has been using a highly successful ‘Accelerator’ concept to bring internal ideas to life. These Accelerators begin with ideas which are collected internally from every Forvis Mazarian, evaluated by a committee, selected, and matured into prototypes within six weeks. Forvis Mazars’ most recent accelerator batch was their first No-Code Hackathon.

For the hackathon, the Digital Solutions team selected the theme ‘Painkillers for Everyday Life’ - ideas and solutions which alleviate everyday frustrations and tasks. With this, Forvis Mazars nailed a key element of no-code development: starting with simple, tangible tools and scaling from there. These internal tools which automate workflows and optimize processes are the perfect starting point for no-code development, as participants are working on what they know.

Throughout their years of running ideas campaigns, the Digital Solution Team has learnt that you must teach employees to identify problems and to conceptualize the solutions in order to inspire ideas. To encourage and train this problem-solving mindset the team organized an Innovation Week. Participants came out of the week with the skills to shape solutions out of their challenges, and with ideas that were used to submit to the hackathon challenge via Forvis Mazars’ Ideation Portal. This is a structural tool used for inspiring innovation and enabling users to pitch ideas, engage, comment, and place votes.

15 ideas were submitted to the portal, and assessed by the Digital Solutions Team in collaboration with Betty Blocks. The team evaluated the urgency and need for the solutions, the platform fit, and the buildability. The Service Lines in which the tools would be implemented were also consulted at this stage, to look at whether implementation would be feasible and successful. Here Forvis Mazars went through a crucial stage in citizen development: properly establishing the platform fit, opportunity, and use of the tool to ensure success.

Out of the 15 submitted ideas, nine were selected to start developing during the six-week Hackathon.

During the Hackathon the participants were organized into nine groups of varying sizes, developing nine applications. In line with the theme ‘Painkillers for Everyday Life’, each of the tools were thus geared towards digitizing internal processes or automating manual workflows. This makes the business faster, more efficient, and less error-prone.

Multiple teams worked on developing a questionnaire application for audits and ESG assessments. These tools enable users to make a quick assessment of their status, compliance, or progress in a given field. Other teams developed knowledge databases, which centralize information and expertise regularly asked about or searched for throughout an organization. This eliminates the time taken to repeatedly search for the same answers or respond to the same questions, as well as the back-and-forth communication.

At the end of the Accelerator, each member of the nine teams continued working on and finished developing their applications with the help of Digital Solutions. Thus, nine solutions were developed both for internal process optimization and for advanced and digital work with the client.

Throughout the Hackathon the Forvis Mazars Digital Solutions Team established a tactical support system to ensure resources and support were provided to participants. The system consisted of:

● Scheduling time for innovation
To prioritize innovation, Forvis Mazars ensured that each team would have 50% of their capacity reserved for the Hackathon. This creates proper time and space for innovation, and signals its importance throughout the organization.

● Organizing Workshops
In the first weeks of the Hackathon the Digital Solutions Team ran workshops covering all the necessary skills for building. Additionally, teams could attend weekly Desk Sessions for co-building and Office Hours for expert guidance

The Hackathon was a great success, producing nine applications and over 20 new citizen developers operating across various core Service Lines.

After the six-week Hackathon had ended each of the teams continued developing their applications - a huge testament to the success of the accelerator. Now, three of the applications are finished and being rolled out in their respective departments. Meanwhile, one of these teams has started developing a second application. Evidently, the structural approach and consistent support successfully inspired innovation and developed the right skills.

The teams continuing with developing their applications have been allocated a project manager to provide high level support and aid with timelining. This is another method through which Forvis Mazars ensures that innovation continues to be encouraged and prioritized even once an Accelerator Batch is finished.

Forvis Mazars has thus taken a true change management approach for launching citizen development in a governed and scalable way. By establishing a full LCNC habitat composed of a bespoke environment and personalized learning program, Forvis Mazars in Germany has laid the foundation for fostering, guiding, and scaling citizen development.

With Betty Blocks, finished applications can be used as templates or reusable components. As a result every solution functions as a building block for the next, and every new generation of citizen developers benefit from the work that was done before. This empowers Forvis Mazars to onboard new developers and build at accelerating rates.

Now development projects run on a smooth trajectory and are categorized into:
● No-code projects
● Collaborative projects
● Low-code projects

With a fully personalized and IT secure no-code environment, all the right training and documentation, and first proven success, Forvis Mazars can now support any type of developer and start scaling their citizen development.

[1] Where permitted under applicable country laws.