When is a Process Suited for RPA: Get Up to Speed on Automation

RPA, Analysis
19 September 2019
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When we sit down for an initial customer workshop, one of our main goals is to classify the process for automation. The challenge we face is that whilst we are experts in process automation and know which processes to look for, we often do not have the required knowledge about our customer’s operations. Thus, we are not always able to point them out straight away.
Typically, our workshops involve bringing specialists or managers up to speed on the subject of automation. We show examples and identify the characteristics that are typical of the processes. During the workshops, many proposals are spontaneously brought forward and often fail. Questions that come up regularly are:
  • Is this process suitable?
  • Which process is suitable?
  • Which process is not suitable?
In general, we evaluate processes in regard to these four aspects:

Electronic

Is the process carried out entirely electronically? Do elements require physical processing for documentation? Printing a document is not necessarily a problem, but placing it in the right binder and rewriting the variable may be the issue. The more of an electronic process there is, the more receptive it is to automation.

Structure

The process must be structurally possible to depict in a format similar to the Unified Modelling Language (UML) chart. Without this, developers are not able to create an efficient robot. Most business processes meet this condition. It is also important to find out whether at some stage there is no complex decision point at which the specialist makes a decision based on subjective factors.

Recurrence

The process should be repeatable and it should not change significantly over time. The more repeatable the process is over time, the lower the cost of maintaining robots.

Volume (optional)

The process volume is proportional to savings potential and is an optional element for many companies as savings are not the most important benefit of automation. In our experience, process automation can be profitable when the processes get enacted regularly.

A reliable analysis carried out in terms of the criteria above can be implemented internally by specialists or managers without expert knowledge in process automation. Actions taken this way will not only save time and money, it will also enable RPA experts to make a quicker decision about choosing optimal processes and starting work. We at BRAINHINT also recommend this exercise to organisations that have not yet analysed the possibility of implementing RPA.

The potential benefit from implementing RPA may be much greater than you think!

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