What does Knack do? (and is it any good?)
Knack is a Database
Database Confusion
Knack is a Database management system - and it’s offered as a tool to build data driven web applications quickly and easily. Knack helps users to build out data tables and user interface pages to use the tables online.
Databases got a 'bad press' from the start of desktop computing. DBase, FoxPro, Oracle, Q&A1, Filemaker and ESPECIALLY Microsoft Access were/are all hard to use, and harder to share across teams.
In the early days, Data was hard to structure and store. Once you’d built your database - it was hard or at least time consuming to get reports and when it came to sharing access across a small or medium sized team - it got slow and complicated to administer.
Some observers (and users) have been a bit little cynical....
“Database: A complex set of inter-relational data structures allowing data to be lost in many convenient sequences while retaining a complete record of the logical relations between the missing items. ”
Is it any wonder most companies used tactical spreadsheets instead?
I’m Chris Bampton - a partner here at Isoblue. I've worked as a business analyst and consultant with desktop computing and databases for over 30 years (I started young!!) - my experience as a database consultant and trainer for over 700 client companies, puts me in an unusual position to comment and observe on Knack.
What is a Database?
There is considerable confusion about what a database actually is: It’s a language thing rather than a philosophical crisis though!
Consider this statement:
A Database Management System (DBMS) is used to create databases, which in turn hold data that is referred to a database…. !! so a ‘Database’ Can be the software platform for Example Filemaker Pro 17, is a Database Application. With it you can build databases which may or may not contain any data but are files ready to collect data… and then you could enter data to create…. a database of yellow cars…… (Sorry it was the first thing that can to mind) .
Confusing? - it's a mess. A Database can be the software, the files, or the data… the term is used interchangeably (and indiscriminately.). Mix in the Terms ‘Application’ and ‘Solution’ and you’ve got everything you need as motivation to use a spreadsheet! (don't!)
Some helpful Knack terminology….
A database is a set of tables of related data that can be added to, edited, deleted and searched in a structured way - often via a user interface that makes the whole process as easy and intuitive for the users. An application is used to manage these tables and for the user to interact with the stored data.
The distinction between ‘Database’ and ‘Application’ has become a bit blurred with the increasing sophistication of the look and feel, the ‘workflow’ and the integration with the internet and mobile devices.
Knack is an online application that enables databases to be designed, build and deployed online via the internet to any number of Database managers (Those who manage the structure or the content).
The Databases created with Knack are small self contained entities that appear to the end user, to be totally self contained. These self contained solutions are known as ‘Applications’
Knack does many seperate jobs:
Knack allows owner/managers to create tables of data, with different types of data - for example Date, Number, Address, Name and so on. These tables can be set up to link to each other to create relationships. For example, a company may have one head office address, but many store locations, in this case there would be two tables, one for admin office, and another for store addresses. The Stores would be related to the head office.
Knack allows the Database manager to create layouts with different parts on them to help people interact with the database without knowing they are: These layouts may display tables, or lists, or maps or combinations of all of these, as well as forms to add new data or edit existing data. In Knack these layouts are called pages and these pages can be embedded on a website.
Knack embodies the notion of ‘users’ and users may belong to groups. Knack allows the manager to restrict access to pages by user or by group. Pages (or collections of pages) can then be protected and embedded on web pages behind passwords which determine what the user can do.
Pages can be created for different user groups: A junior soccer league might use the app to create team records, parents or team managers may then add players to the team each season, update the age group and change the team name. Knack provides a sophisticated way of adding groups of users, and deciding on what different groups can see.
Knack has the notion of tasks which are a sort of timed instruction based on rules…. eg when something happens - do something else. For example, when the year changes, update all the age groups and send each age group manager a confirmation email.
So Knack is a Database table creator and publishing engine, that helps the manager to create Applications for particular functions. These applications might be very simple, or extremely complex - depending on the required task, and the skill of the person developing the application.
Traditionally, a lot of what Knack does, would be done by a team of people with different skills, database programmers with SQL skills, user interface designers, workflow engineers, business logic programmers. Many different programming languages would be needed by people working in code. Not to mention a complex project management environment, testing regime and meetings!
Knack is a No-Code database building and deploying application, where these tasks have been automated into a pleasant user interface that can be driven by none technical users, with a business rather than technical focus.
Is knack the best tool for me?
In short a good database is one that does what you need it to do! A good database in your context will be a combination of Technical Essentials that are common to every user, and a mixture of 'nice to haves'.
We created a separate article about how to select a good online Database here:
Knack is Secure (128 bit Encryption at rest and in transit), Fast, Flexible, Clever and is the product of decades of skill and experience. It’s hard to overstate quite how clever it is and how powerful is can be for any organisation.
Isoblue currently use Knack because it most closely fulfils our criteria for the best there is! We find it is the most appropriate solution for our clients and it is currently in a very small field of alternatives….. Depending on where you place your emphasis and what’s most important to you, you might decide on something different: There is no absolute right or wrong - and it’s a great time to be choosing Databases - it’s never been easier to work with great tools to get the job done.