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

What Can Robots Do?

Robots can log into applications, move files and folders, copy and paste data, fill in forms, extract data from documents, scrape websites, do calculations and more.

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.

• Approach potential digital workforce business units to discover business challenges  
• Solicit automation candidates to generate RPA demand
• Identify processes across business units

• Generate ideas by browsing submitted opportunities

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

Determine high level RPA candidate feasibility and detailed assessment consideration.

• Catalogue processes within tool to include for assessment
• Identify the commonalities of processes across business units
• Determine if the request is a duplication

• Identify impact on planned initiatives and assess risks
• Review high level feasibility score determined by input type, input quality, rules, documentation and process stability)  
• Approve items to be considered for detailed assessment

Automation Assessment: RPA Champion, Lead BA

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

• Perform detailed assessment to generate automation score based on candidate complexity, frequency, stability and input types

• Review existing process information  
• Establish automation scorecard and ROI

Automation Qualification: RPA Champion, Lead BA

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

• Perform cost benefit analysis
• Compare automation scorecard and cost benefit analysis

• Approve items to be added to automation backlog
• Determine prioritization  

Resources Assigned: Project Manager

Items are added to backlog repository and resources are assigned.

• Resources assigned to start implementation process
• Add items to Jira

Build, Test and Implement

The following table shows the process of building, testing and implementing RPA.

	Deliverables
Prepare RPA One-time setup activities Set up infrastructure Design server architecture Install & configure product and applicable applications Gain access to all needed applications and systems   Develop solution & test environments Select process based on pipeline management	Automation Pipeline updates Infrastructure Diagrams   Security Assessment/ATO
Solution Analysis and Design   Document and re-engineer processes Complete Process Definition Document (PDD) Understand As-Is and document To-Be Develop high level timeline Create test scenarios and start test plan Conduct infrastructure and security review Create the Solution Design Document (SDD)	Process Definition Document User Acceptance Testing Plan Solution Design Document
Build RPA Solution Develop automation for in-scope processes Build the robot core structure Make process specific changes Build and integrate needed Queues Develop reusable component library Test existing custom Libraries Build new custom Libraries Unit testing for new custom Libraries Develop workflows with application integration Build GUI interaction actions Application state validation (start and end of workflows) Develop validation workflows Integrate all workflows into final robot process Check in and out arguments Add any required notifications and logging Conduct unit and technical testing for queue processing, exception handling and workflows Create the Development Specifications Document (DSD) Prepare Test Data Execute code review using development best practices	Development Specifications Document Reusable Component Architecture Development Best Practices Standard Naming Conventions JIRA logs / Change Requests
Test RPA Solution Provide test plan Conduct User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Fix issues identified during UAT Report test results Signoff on production and Make Go/ No Go decision	User Acceptance Testing Plan Exception Management   Production Release Document JIRA logs / Change Requests
Stabilize RPA Go Live   Submit ATWS request for migration/deployment approval Perform Read Only testing in production Run robot in READ ONLY mode to test selectors Update any selector changes Document & build any new exceptions Volume end to end testing (READ ONLY) Set up Schedule, Assets and Queues Move robot to production Set Config Run Mode to PROD Increment code versioning   Save final code in control repository Publish production code in PROD Orchestrator Monitor execution Finalize DSD Documentation Monitor robots in production Track and report on metrics and SLAs Document lessons learned	JIRA logs / Change Requests
Hypercare RPA Conduct regular reviews and assessments Make changes to workflow and /or code based on Improvement opportunities   Track benefit realization Enable Service model	Report on pre-defined metrics Operational Reports JIRA logs / Change Requests

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