Writing Web Applications that Work – 12 Factor Compliance

When writing any kind of applications to be used over the web, there are a large number of options when it comes to how you want to organize your projects. With the advent of cloud technology there has been a radical updating of systems architecture that provides efficient, highly scalable organization of web applications.

What are the 12 factors?

The 12 factors are a way of organizing an application to create the most amount of flexibility, as well as scalability, and works by presenting web applications as services. The 12 factors themselves are the basic schemata for how to organize an application, from initial development, to full usage.

Let’s take a look at the primary advantages of 12 factor compliance.

             Framework One of the main advantages of creating applications using 12 factor compliance is that it provides a framework through which multiple developers, working in various environments, can all collaborate as seamlessly as possible. This is done by storing the project on a non-localized cloud server, which is accessible from any machine, and which will also track and backup previous version of the project. This also allows for greater seamlessness between development, staging, and production, and makes collaboration between teams and individuals much easier.

            Scalability is another huge factor in 12 factor applications, meaning you can run the application on as many, or as few, servers as necessary. Because of this flexibility you can respond in real time to the needs of your application, whether you have high or low traffic. This can save a company tons of money by preventing the need to run every server, whether or not it is in use.

            Maintenance of 12 factor applications is also much easier than traditional development methods. Because the application is stored separately from dependencies, it’s very easy to build a new version and redistribute without any headaches. This can save massive amounts of time and energy when needing to maintain or update your application. The application and dependencies can also be maintained and updated separately from one another.

12 factor compliance also provides a large amount of information security. If you have followed the 12 factors correctly, then none of your confidential information should be stored within the code. By storing credentials and confidential information within the environments that will use them, the potential for leakage of said information is greatly reduced.

Efficiency. Businesses everywhere are always looking for a better methodology of doing things that will allow for greater ease of communication between employees, and efficiency of work. In the realm of web application development, 12 factor compliance has arisen as perhaps the most sturdy and reliable of all system architectures. Any company looking to streamline their development process, and take advantage of the numerous benefits of 12 factor would do well to adopt the system, as so many companies have already done.

Contact us today at BenarmIT to find out more about 12 Factor Compliance.  Click here to go to our contact page.