Building an application on Salesforce's Force.com platform used to require coding in HTML, JavaScript and Flash. Now it's as easy as placing a few boxes, setting some fields and drawing connections. eCRM Guide gets the details.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) today introduced Visual Process Manager for Force.com, a new rapid application development tool for Force.com users to build applications visually, entering just basic information like the data fields, and generating all of the code behind the scenes.

The Visual Process Manager toolset allows non-programmers to create complex business process applications by drawing boxes with interconnects. It's reminiscent of the ability to sketch out application flow design in Microsoft Visio or modeling languages like UML. The Process Wizard then handles building the app, simulation testing, and generating UI screens.

"Customers want to solve the problem of business processes. Our conversations with CIOs are increasingly going in that area. It used to be line-of-business executives would say 'build me this app.' Now it's more of a collaborative discussion on how to automate these business processes," Ariel Kelman, vice president of Force.com marketing, told InternetNews.com.

Visual Process Manager will support the development of applications across the enterprise, from HR automation for adding new employees, to maintaining government regulation compliance, to call centers that want to script the process of answering calls. "These companies are trying to document best practices for how an employee should work and this helps them do it," Kelman said.

Read the full story at eCRM Guide:
Salesforce Introduces Visual App Modeling