How to get started with RPA?

In this post, we will guide you on How to get started with RPA in a step-by-step way.

If you have some confusion about RPA, we would suggest you get started with our very first blog post on What is Robotic Process Automation? and then continue with this blog post.

How to get started with RPA – Intro

RPA is a journey not just a project. Good preparation is always key to a successful journey. RPA Journey requires a great Business & IT collaboration, must be in sync with the organization’s Strategic Positioning, must have a joint plan of action to win cultural acceptance.

Implementation

Implementing RPA technology requires an enterprise basis commitment.

Readiness->POC->Pilot-> Transformation

Readiness:

Choose key RPA Leaders & RPA Expert.

RPA leader is the senior level champion within the organization and connects internal business departments to align and determine the right business process for automation.

RPA Expert is one who is having a detailed understanding of the Process identification, RPA Life cycle, and Solution designing.

Identify the business processes to Automate.

The best process to begin with for RPA is to carry high business value and high repetitive tasks. A business case should be strong enough to produce significant gains.

Define success criteria.

• Increased business process accuracy
• Higher productivity
• Increased compliance
• Cost savings
• Competitiveness, agility

POC:

POC (Proof Of Concept) is to check whether RPA can solve your business context and needs? It will put your business case assumptions to test and validate your implementation model.

The POC process should touch on as many major technology systems and applications as possible.

In POC scope we define high-level developing frameworks – deployment, governance, and building an automation team.

Pilot:

A pilot is a stage where the solution will go into production (everyday operation), It follows the organization-specific implementation models like Requirement gathering, Design, Test, Deploy, Handover plans, etc.

Evaluate the performance of the RPA Pilot against predefined success criteria and specific pilot exit requirements. In addition, all internal and external stakeholders are surveyed for feedback.

This phase is to adopt the learnings faced in the POC phase and adjust the implementation methodology if required in the Transformation stage.

Transformation:

Transformation is a team sport, RPA is not the only way of making business processes more digital, setting the stage for more complex and intelligent automation and transformation of business.

It is a stage that includes a governance board to manage the automation pipeline based on criticality and risk parameters. Managing digital workers, best practices, development, and deployment models continuous improvement at the organization level.

Some key factors for success

RPA Centre of Excellence (CoE):

CoE is pivotal to scaling and acts as the hub for RPA implementation. RPA is a joint effort with IT & Business collaboration. The CoE will set success parameters and goals for RPA implementation, optimize the digital workforce, and identify and qualify the best business processes for automation.

The CoE is the governance model to lead and direct the RPA initiative to maximize the Return On Investment.

Sample COE Setup:

COE Responsibilities:

RPA Project Life Cycle

Following a proper project, lifecycle plays a vital role in RPA and identifying the proper business use case is also crucial.

RPA automation life cycle should include the below steps:

• Process Identification
• Solution Design
• Process Evaluation/Feasibility Analysis
• Process Mapping
• Flow design (Confirmation)
• Automation Development
• Unit Testing
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
• Deployment and Go Live
• Hyper care
• Support

To manage the RPA Project more efficiently, we need below RPA Project documents and Checklists.

• Project Plan
• Requirement Gathering
• Process design document
• Feasibility Analysis
• Solution design
• Test Case document
• Code Review
• Deployment document
• Bot Handover document

Summary

So, to sum up, we would like you to take away these points from this post.

• RPA is a journey, not just a project.
• Implementing RPA technology is 4 step process: Readiness->POC->Pilot-> Transformation.
• Readiness is about choosing the RPA leader and expert and identifying the business processes to automate.
• POC is a small-level implementation and process to test and validate your implementation model.
• A pilot is a stage where the solution will go into production.
• Transformation is a stage that includes a governance board to manage the automation pipeline based on criticality and risk parameters.

Concluding with the hope that we were able to help you with How to get started with RPA? Please leave your comments below.

Happy Automating!