RPA Project Pipeline: What Should You Plan?

Implementing RPA is a complex process. Many companies therefore struggle with a range of related difficulties and make a number of mistakes that can prove very costly. Many lack the right tools and systems and, above all, the processes needed to support their automation practices. This article explains how to create a robust RPA project pipeline that will help your company succeed in this area.    

A pipeline for RPA projects

  Many business owners associate a pipeline primarily with a concept used to identify the beginning and end of the sales process.   In RPA projects, however, it is a process that represents the workflow of an RPA implementation within a company. CI/CD (Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery) is the most popular approach in this context.   CI is a method used by IT teams to streamline code changes and facilitate workflow. Its principal advantage is that it helps detect fundamental problems early in the software-development lifecycle, when correcting them is less expensive. CD, in turn, is a process comprising various technical stages in which software is built, tested and deployed to one or more test and production environments. Together, CI and CD enable more efficient software delivery.   With CI/CD, RPA software can be expanded, integrated and deployed smoothly. The time spent correcting errors is also reduced significantly. The CI/CD approach bridges the gap between the development of RPA technology and operations while automating the delivery of new robots. It achieves this by automating the build, test and continuous-deployment phases.    

What are the advantages of CI/CD in RPA?

  The principal benefits of CI/CD include:

• Time savings — resulting from the automation of activities such as testing and deployment
• Faster delivery — enabling a quicker time to market
• More improvements — involving end users can significantly increase the usability of an RPA system, while new requirements can be implemented on an ongoing basis
• Immediate error detection — enabling problems to be resolved faster and a bot to be deployed without unnecessary complications
• Control over deployments — a CI/CD approach in an RPA project pipeline enables control mechanisms such as code reviews to be implemented
• Regular updates — CI/CD makes releasing subsequent software versions easier and less time-consuming
• The ability to monitor process progress — users can monitor the workflow in real time, eliminating delays in providing feedback
• More efficient deployments — code can be reviewed and edited on demand, making the overall deployment process relatively low-risk

   

Does CI/CD in RPA have any disadvantages?

  No solution is perfect, and every case should be considered individually by analyzing the capabilities and needs of each company. In an RPA project pipeline, CI/CD will certainly work well in organizations that employ trained software engineers with an excellent understanding of the software lifecycle.   If one disadvantage of CI/CD had to be identified, it would be the relatively high barrier to entry: users without IT expertise may find such software difficult to operate.    

Examples of pipelines in an RPA project

  A pipeline in IT processes may take the following form:

1. Source-code control
2. Continuous integration
3. Code deployment
4. Production deployment

  An RPA pipeline, for example, may consist of the following steps:  

1. Comprehensive analysis
2. Reviewing and gathering requirements
3. Conducting design-thinking workshops
4. Meeting with managers and team leaders to discuss the possibilities offered by RPA
5. Involving the IT team
6. Involving senior management in strategic automation planning
7. Identifying processes suitable for automation
8. Identifying areas that need improvement, such as customer complaints or security problems, in order to improve and standardize organizational processes through automation
9. Calculating the potential return on investment for different implementations
10. Prioritizing initiatives
11. Educating the team, familiarizing employees with the technology, and discussing the benefits and opportunities an RPA implementation can deliver
12. Conducting research, such as an employee survey, into attitudes and possible concerns about the forthcoming change
13. Discussing potential challenges associated with RPA implementation
14. Selecting the best RPA solution for the organization’s needs
15. Preparing an internal-communication strategy for the RPA implementation
16. Collecting feedback, monitoring outcomes and improving the system regularly
17. Including RPA in the annual and quarterly objectives of individual company departments

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Introduce modern RPA solutions in your company

  Given that RPA bots are used in sectors such as education, accounting, law, HR and customer service, their implementation must involve as few errors as possible. To achieve this, it is worth obtaining support from an experienced technology partner that can help you carry out an effective digital-transformation process. Working with a company such as MindBox will contribute to your company’s success and help reduce numerous serious problems, including integration gaps in IT systems.   Would you like to learn more? Contact us.