Implementation cycle of robotic process automation (RPA)

By now, you might be a little familiar with Robotic Process Automation and how it is one of the most trending technologies in today’s world. It is revolutionizing the field of automation by employing software robots or bots to execute redundant tasks with high accuracy and no human intervention. Much is said about Robotic Process Automation, its tools, and its applications. But, very little is known about the implementation of RPA in an industry. In this blog post, we are going to take a closer look at the implementation cycle of Robotic Process Automation.

To begin with, there are roughly six stages involved in RPA implementation. They are:

1. Requirement Phase
2. Design Phase
3. Development Phase
4. Testing Phase
5. Deployment Phase and
6. Execution Phase

Let’s take a detailed look at each phase.

• Requirement Phase

This is the initial phase of process automation. Zeroing in on the requirements ensures a smooth implementation and execution. So, first and foremost of all, examine the areas where automation can be implemented. Second, analyze whether those processes can be automated or not. This can be determined by the margin of error, human assistance, decision making, etc., Once a process gets a ‘go’ for automation, move on to analyze the complexity of the process. Examine each and every step of that process carefully and break it down into a sequence of steps of execution. This sequence comes in handy in the next phase, the design phase.

• Design Phase

Perhaps this is the most vital phase of the entire implementation process. Any setbacks in this stage may disturb the whole implementation process. The processes that received a ‘go’ status and the sequence of steps finalized in the previous stage will be analyzed further and a flowchart is prepared to reduce the complexity of the process.

After the design of a flowchart, focus on other things such as the budget, project timeline, finalizing a team, etc.,

The last part of this phase is to finalize a suitable RPA tool. Choose a tool that meets your requirements perfectly.

• Development Phase

After the design phase comes the development phase- the practical application of the design phase. In this phase, developers create scripts to automate processes in the chosen tool. While there are a variety of RPA tools in the market, the tools Ui Path, Blue Prism, and Automation Anywhere are the leaders. Keep in mind that the automation scripts are written by referring to the flowchart designed in the previous phase. And, some processes require almost no coding as there a huge number of scenarios that do not require any kind of coding whatsoever.

• Testing Phase

After the development phase, move on to the testing phase. In this phase, the developed bot is tested in a pre-production environment. The bot is tested against different scenarios and is determined whether it is suitable to automate a particular process or not. If the bot is determined as not suitable, it is then sent back into the development phase where its errors are fixed and is again sent for testing. This process continues until it is determined to be suitable for automation.

• Deployment Phase

After the testing phase, the bot heads into the deployment phase. Here, the bot is sent into a production environment where users can start using it as per their needs.

In case of any issues, it is sent into development and later, testing to resolve the issue.

• Execution Phase

The final stage of RPA implementation- the execution phase. In this phase, the bots are executed and verified whether they are generating the anticipated results.

By following all the above-mentioned phases, implementing RPA in your business/organization will become much easier.