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RPA suitable tasks#

See also: automation

Syed, R., Suriadi, S., Adams, M., Bandara, W., Leemans, S. J. J., Ouyang, C., ter Hofstede, A. H. M., van de Weerd, I., Wynn, M. T., & Reijers, H. A. (2020). Robotic Process Automation: Contemporary themes and challenges. Computers in Industry, 115, 103162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2019.103162

From pp 5-6

  • Highly rule-based: the decision logic needs to be expressed in terms of business rules. RPA requires a prescribed rule for every eventuality, which needs to be unambiguous.
  • High volume: sufficient transaction volumes help to maximise benefits from the implementation of software bots in an organisation. They are generally routine and repetitive tasks where automation becomes an ideal choice.
  • Mature: mature tasks are those that have been in place for a while, are stable and people understand what is going on.
  • Easy to achieve and show impact: tasks performed within processes with the best return (a meaningful impact) and simplest delivery (quick and inexpensive to deploy RPA). Areas where a clear understanding of current manual costs can be calculated will make it easier to identify and highlight the business value for RPA.
  • Has digitised structured data input: all input data must be digital and in a structured format.
  • Highly manual: “Swivel chair”-like processes/tasks, which do not require much human intervention, but are able to be automated.
  • Transactional: RPA is well suited for tasks at the bottom of the pyramid dealing with transactional work, as it reduces the risk of transactional errors (e.g. incorrect data) and can perform many transactional activities at once, replacing nearly all the transactional work that humans do.
  • Standardised: processes with a higher degree of standardisation (how consistently process execution follows a predefined path) are generally better candidates for selection, especially in the initial RPA implementation phases.
  • Low-levels of exception handling: processes targeted for RPA should not have to deal with exceptional behaviours; the more exceptional the cases that bots need to handle, the more process automation, testing and optimisation will be delayed or aborted.
  • Highly repetitive: automating tasks that are ‘repeatable enough’ will help to yield a better return on investment.
  • Less complex processes: processes should be simple enough so that bots can be implemented quickly. Increased process complexity drives robot complexity (which in turn can increase operating costs, and potential business disruptions).
  • Well-documented: process descriptions that accurately detail processes are essential for bots to be taught behaviours at the keystroke level. When processes are well known, the programming and testing of the bots will take less time.
  • Interacts with many systems: good candidates for RPA are processes that need access to multiple systems. Manual effort for frequent access to multiple systems can be high and lead to increased human error, inconsistent performance and high cost of impact, making such processes good candidates for RPA.