Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is an effective tool in automating manual steps and rule-based processes by replicating human action, based on software robots or digital workers. Robots mimicking human actions across multiple software platforms. It is becoming a widely used tool due to it’s scalability and efficiencies at streamlining work that mimics high volume, repetitive business processes and it’s effectiveness at reducing error rates, assuring greater accuracy, reducing turnaround times and providing more timely information. It is non-invasive and can be integrated without changing the existing IT landscape.  It transforms end to end business processes and realizes the best qualities of humans and computers working in tandem.

Capability and Expectations

Expected Outputs

• Cost-Effective
  • Robots can operate 24/7 and take no vacation. Depending on the volume of work processed,  automation can recover its costs within a short time span.

• Precision & Quality
  • Robots are reliable and consistent, and they do not falter or lose concentration with heavy workloads. They follow all rules to the dot, thereby producing 100% precision in the process results, greatly reducing re-works and manual entry errors.

• Non-Invasive
  • Robotics is a safe technology that doesn’t interfere with the inherent systems, and it will only mimic those actions capable by a human on the same console.

• Improved Analytics and Decision Making
  • Having access to error-free, accurate data from various sources improves the quality of analytics possible for a given the process. This leads to better decision making and overall, to the betterment of the process execution.

• Increased Employee Productivity
  • RPA ultimately facilitates humans and robots to do just what they excel at. As RPA frees the employees from their mundane tasks, they can focus more on client and customer interaction, relationship management and other such activities where humans naturally excel.

• Faster
  • As bots are handling the execution here, a larger amount of work can be done in a relatively much shorter period. A faster delivery, coupled with accuracy becomes the norm with automation.

Development

Intake

Process Discovery: Business Unit Process Owners, Lead BA, End-Users, RPA Champion

Conduct interviews to discover business challenges and solicit automation candidates to aid with RPA demand.

Process Analysis: Business Unit Process Owners, RPA Champion, Lead BA  

Determine high level RPA candidate feasibility and detailed assessment consideration.

Automation Assessment: RPA Champion, Lead BA

Perform detailed assessment to review complexity, frequency, stability and input types.

Automation Qualification: RPA Champion, Lead BA

Further qualify RPA candidate with cost benefit analysis and compare against assessment scorecard.

Resources Assigned: Project Manager

Items are added to backlog repository and resources are assigned.

Work to Date

• Two 2 successful pilots with RPA software were conducted by ROEB:
  • Medical Device Establishment Licensing (UiPath)
  • Annual License Renewal Invoice processing (Blue Prism)

• ROEB presented the RPA pilot findings and intent to move forward with an RPA solution at Architectural Review Board (ARB) on Q1 FY2021-22.

• ROEB returned to ARB Q3 FY2021-22 and received endorsement to:
  1. run a Request for Proposal (RFP) procurement process to procure an enterprise RPA software solution that program areas can leverage.
  2. establish a separate professional services procurement vehicle (e.g.: TBIPS) for development
  3. create a HC/PHAC RPA Center of Expertise (CoE)

Next Steps

•Engaging IT resources to implement and support RPA software implementation:

•Cloud intake

•Security for RPA licenses

•Accessibility verification

•Governance and approvals

•Establish a Center of Expertise, starting with ROEB and expanding to other programs areas :

•Intake process (e.g. use cases) / RPA guidelines and guardrails - Done

•Governance and prioritization

•Security for each RPA architecture pattern

•Change management

•Training

•Release management

•Resourcing

•Terms of Reference - Done

•

•Implement RPA technology within selected business use cases

•Will require support and engagement from program SMEs and process owners

•Intake form was the first step that will lead the discovery phase, and subsequent planning

•First process to automate will be ALR