What is RPA Development Process? An Ultimate Guide

RPA, or Robotic Process Automation, automates repeated, high-volume tasks that imitate human interaction with software applications. Like humans perform routine manual tasks during workflows, RPA technology generates bots to accomplish the same process. According to Nanonets, RPA is estimated to grow by over 12.5 times its adoption rate over the next 2-3 years.  

RPA is renowned because of its capacity to streamline workflows, cut costs and improve user experiences. More importantly, RPA development can only be implemented with business units learning new tools or depending on IT support for help. According to Flobiotics, about 80% of financial frontrunners have implemented RPA processes. The need for any modification to the underlying IT architecture is also eliminated.

Table of Contents

1) Understanding what is RPA Development Process

2) The working mechanism of the RPA Development Process

3) The benefits of RPA Development Process

4) Developing RPA for your business

5) Conclusion

Understanding what is RPA Development Process 

With the integration of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), RPA bots can extract context from the content being processed through extensive reading merged with Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Furthermore, Natural Language Processing (NLP) is used to extract elements like names, addresses or invoices along with an increased frame of reference from images. All in all, Robotic Process Automation is the practice of delegating bots to perform scheduled business tasks.  

Furthermore, the RPA developer is responsible for programming the RPA bots or designing the automation tool ecosystem. The level of management necessary and the architectural responsibilities involved will largely depend on the client company's priorities and the size of the RPA team.

The responsibilities of the RPA developer can be generally split into the RPA Development phases:

First phase: This involves the analysis of the problem's business aspect and the automation solution design.

Second phase: This phase involves the activities of programming, maintenance and testing of both the RPA bots and the complete ecosystem.
 

The activities involved in Business Analysis generally involve the following: 

Identification of the problem

The RPA developer is held responsible for seeing the possibilities available for automation. They have to introduce business processes which are entirely automated with the use of software to eliminate the burden of manual workload. This involves the analysis of the client company's business domain, discovering critical business points and learning which parts of the flow can be automated.

Gathering Requirements

During the learning process for the prospective automation case, the RPA developer proceeds to gather the end users’ requirements. This is generally accomplished through employee interviews, the pain points and task completion steps.

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The working mechanism of the RPA Development Process
 

The two most typical use cases for RPA Automation are transaction approval and Data Transmission. An RPA bot can be applied to a process where the order of actions has a straightforward flow, and the bot program remembers the steps in the process and reproduces them repeatedly. These RPA bots are generally built for business users, so they do not need any programming language to function.  

RPA bots are designed to assist with regularly permanent tasks such as document collection, copy-paste and so on because this option will save employee hours and quicken the entire process. RPA bots exist to take over regular manual jobs, creating more time for employees to do more specific tasks. More importantly, human involvement in manual jobs introduces mistakes due to the human factor, which the bots can eliminate for good.

Here is a list of the process steps which a company can expect from a collaboration with an RPA development partner:

Introduction call

The client and the potential RPA agency converse to understand their business requirements and vision. The outcome of which will be an automation brief.   

An introduction call is necessary because every collaboration begins with a conversation. During this call, the client company interacts with either an RPA consultant or a business advisor, where they are briefed on the company, their challenges and their processes. The agency aims to understand the client's requirements and vision.  

Further into the call, the RPA agency will clarify with the client if they already have a specific automation process in mind. After this, the client will be asked if they need a process discovery workshop or dive into analysing the process they want to automate. 

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Process discovery and audit

Performing an analysis and mapping of the existing processes followed by calculating a possible Return on Investment (ROI) and Expected Business Value (EBV) from every automation. The result is a map of the organisation's processes with the calculation of their automation potential.   

Furthermore, the RPA agency aims to help clients identify possible congestions and sub-par workflows while mapping the client's tools and stakeholders. It is also the agency's responsibility to consider all legal implications and automation facets to guarantee compliance with associated judicial systems in the US.   

Furthermore, two experts, the Technical Architect and the Process Architect collaborate to generate a Process Definition Document (PDD). This document has information about every single process in-depth.   

Process selection for the automation Proof-of-Concept (POC) 

Selection of the first process to be automated based on the expected ROI and feasibility, of which the outcome will be a processing backlog and an automation roadmap. An important step in the Proof-of-Concept flow is the automation of one key process. After the Proof-of-Concept has been validated successfully, the remaining processes will be transferred to the backlog for future automation.   

Technology selection and RPA environment setup

The RPA technology that suits the company's requirements for purchasing licences and automation environment setup is chosen. The outcome here is an RPA environment setup. Moreover, the technological tool chosen by the RPA team can be one of the countless numbers of tools available in the market. To substantiate with examples, the top three tools in the market are Blue Prism, UiPath and Automation Anywhere.   

Once the automation tool has been selected, the RPA team will move ahead to selecting the appropriate licenses and setting up the RPA environment

RPA Development

RPA bots are written by a dedicated team of RPA developers in a technology of choice. The outcome here is the completion of written RPA bots. The bots are written alongside the reference of the Process Definition Document. There may or may not be any extra programming necessary, depending on the kind of automation required. Although in some cases, the development may have to be sped up by using pre-existing bots.

User acceptance testing and review

The automation is tested in an environment safe for testing purposes. If the automation testing turns out successful, the bots are then set for being deployed. The outcome here is that the RPA bots are tested by either the development team or the dedicated testing team.

This procedure is carried out in a completely safe environment built for pre-production to check how the end users can use the bot to automate any specific task. If and once the testing is successful, the RPA bots are then set up to be deployed. If there are any problems during diagnosis, the bot is sent back to the development team for resolution.

Deployment of RPA bots

This is when the automation is launched. At this point, the RPA bots are all live and completing the tasks.

RPA Scaling and Automation of following processes

Referring to the automation backlog and choosing the upcoming processes to be automated. The developers will then proceed to the backlog and choose the next process for automation, keeping in perspective the prospective Return on Investment (ROI) the client company can achieve.   

The client company will be involved in the selection of the next process, and a single individual is responsible for taking in any further questions about the process and in case of any technical support.   

At this point, all the automation has been successfully delivered, so the company can go ahead with one of two options:

Ongoing maintenance 

The dedicated RPA agency continuously maintains and updates the company's RPA bots and system. The outcome of this process is that the RPA bots are taken care of in the long term. This option is valuable because the bots need regular updates and maintenance. The bots' performance can be affected by updated systems and changing CRMs.   

Even though the RPA bots are doing all the work, the client company needs to put in their efforts through continuous active support and maintenance procedures or bring in their maintenance team to take over the responsibility.

Knowledge and training transfer 

Here, the company team is trained by the dedicated RPA agency in RPA System management by introducing the know-how to the company.

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The benefits of the RPA Development Process

 

Organisations turn out more profitable and adaptable owing to the results of Robotic Process Automation. The RPA process also boosts employees' satisfaction, performance and participation by eliminating hectic tasks from their regular routines. Robotic Process Automation runs as a non-intrusive process and can be implemented to accelerate digital transformation.   

It can also be useful for automating workflows and processes on legacy systems which do not contain APIs, database access or any Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDIs).   

Here is a list of RPA Development benefits for a business:

Improved efficiency

Regarding productivity, the emphasis is on reasons other than preventing humans from spending unnecessary hours on repetitive jobs. Additionally, budget savings are a rewarding result of the human employees and RPA tools combined.

Data for key analytics 

Until the point where granular data collection begins, the worker on the task is humbled as this brings to light the minute details about the process efficiency of the new RPA bots. This means that the RPA Development Process puts the magnifying glass on process loopholes and locations where changes are necessary. More importantly, these loopholes reveal software and human resources shortfall and the necessity for advancements beyond RPA technologies.

Consistent accuracy

The beauty of involving RPA technologies in your company's most critical workflow is the complete absence of human error, which ensures 100% data accuracy. Automation helps massively reduce human mistakes, possibly costing the company double payments due to team accidents.

Better opportunities  

It is not always guaranteed that workflows will be of regular volumes, so the RPAs bring a distinct advantage in case of irregularities. RPA bots' biggest upper hand is the ability to scale up or down to manage any work volume.

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Developing RPA for your business

Assessment of RPA Opportunities: The potential candidates for process automation can be assessed, followed by the documentation of efficiencies and cost cuts to confirm if the RPA is a suitable fit.   

Vendor Selection: The RPA provider is chosen, and the agreement containing the technical requirements and evaluation criteria is drafted.   

Capture process and implement: The preparation and execution activities are carried out for the selected RPA provider. The human capital is ensured, and the IT environment is tested.   

Manage RPA Lifecycle: The RPA solution is launched at this point, followed by the proactive maintenance of the RPA software.

Conclusion

In essence, Robotic Process Automation aids organisations in transferring their tedious and repetitive tasks from the human workforce to tireless RPA bots. This consequentially boosts the bandwidth for the human team and eliminates human errors. More importantly, RPA processes assess if businesses can be automated, and experts then help to understand the automation scope and its benefits. This blog focused on explaining What is RPA Development and how it can be beneficial for businesses.

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