Best Practices for Robotic Process Automation Success

• IT Operations and Cloud Management for Technical Professionals 

RPA extends automation into use cases that usually require humans. RPA simplifies creation of automated workflows, but doesn’t completely democratize an inherently technical system. Infrastructure and operations technical professionals must understand RPA’s capabilities and limitations. 

KEY INSIGHTFULL DOCUMENT 

Overview 

Key Findings 

• RPA is a discrete set of automation tools and technologies that extends and complements existing automation disciplines. 
• While the low- or no-code environment creates opportunities for nontechnical people to integrate through RPA, the entirety of operations, validation, troubleshooting and maintenance will almost certainly require technical professional skill sets. 
• Success with RPA depends more on aligning developer persona with the right processes, rather than the right vendor or technology. 
• RPA recorders are useful in rudimentary scenarios, some process discovery and mapping, but robust automations will almost always require manipulating the automation workflow modules directly. Expectations may need to be reset. 
• A governance framework for selecting and validating RPA use cases, often managed by a COE, is a critical part of any enterprise RPA rollout. 

Recommendations 

Implement these best practices if you’re an infrastructure and operations technical professional managing automation as a component of your efforts to modernize operations: 

• Establish the RPA developer personas, and align the form and level of governance to the entire RPA life cycle to those personas, because seasoned developers and citizen developers won’t make the same kinds of mistakes. 
• Establish a governing body to provide the guidance necessary to ensure that RPA is used only when it is the right tool and that RPA applications comply with all corporate and regulatory requirements. 
• Determine correct application of RPA technology by establishing criteria for identifying and prioritizing the use cases you and your team are prepared to tackle. 

• Manage process selection criteria as a roadmap, ensuring that the criteria evolve to reflect your level of maturity, skill and investment around RPA. 
• Focus on the robot validation framework to ensure robust automation for both seasoned and citizen developers.