Robotics Back Office Process Automation- Best Practice

This document provides insights into the business benefits, suitable processes, and best practices for implementing Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in the back office. It discusses the advantages of RPA, the processes best suited for automation, and the recommended practices for successful implementation.

Robotics Back Office
Process Automation-
Best Practice
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Research Aim..............................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives....................................................................................................................3
Research Questions.....................................................................................................................3
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................3
Business benefits of the RPA implementation............................................................................3
Business processes that are best suitable for RPA implementation............................................4
Best practices for RPA implementation......................................................................................5
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
RBA or Robotic Process Automation can be defined as the form of business process that
takes place when basic tasks are automated through hardware or software. These systems can
work across a variety of applications (Bitkowska, 2020). By implementing RPA or robotic
process automation, organizations can develop robots that can help in reducing the amount of
manual labour that is involved in the activities of both, the back office as well as the from office.
Some of the actions that are most performed by robots include monitoring the emails as well as
documents received, extracting data from the file etc.
Research Aim
Robotics Back Office Process Automation- Best Practice
Research Objectives
 To understand the business benefits of the RPA implementation.
 To determine the business processes that are best suitable for RPA implementation.
 To identify the best practices for RPA implementation.
Research Questions
 What are the business benefits of the RPA implementation?
 What kind of business processes are best suitable for RPA implementation?
 What are the best practices for RPA implementation?
Literature Review
Business benefits of the RPA implementation
The process of RPA is being increasingly adopted by a lot of organizations across
different industries. There are many business benefits of RPA implementation for an
organization and these can include cost savings, increased accuracy as well as quality of work
produced, empowered employees etc. One of the biggest advantages of Robotic Process
Automation is that it helps in reducing the amount of expenditure on unnecessary activities
(García-Alcaraz, Oropesa-Vento and Maldonado-Macías, 2017). This is because when the work
is automated, it not only gets completed faster but also, there is a reduction in the expenses that
are involved with it. As a result, a greater output is achieved by investing a very little amount of
money. Besides this, the number of errors are reduced and the results that are obtained are free of
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any mistakes or errors. RPA implementation also helps in reducing the overall time that is
involved in completing a particular task. The implementation process involves employees within
the organization to possess special technical skills. RPA implementation simply means to
automate the various processes (BUSINESS BENEFITS OF ROBOTIC PROCESS
AUTOMATION, 2020). This does not involve writing a script or long codes.
This means that the even complex tasks can be performed with much more ease as
compared to the manual efforts (Hacioglu, 2020). As a result, the organization is able to increase
its overall efficiency as well as gain quick returns. Robotic Process Automation allows an
organization to provide better solutions to the customers and satisfy their needs in an effective
manner. This is because there is a greater control over the different business processes. By
implementing RPA, a company can utilize its resources in a much more efficient manner in order
to ensure that the tasks are completed with the least amount of resistance from the employees.
The business processes become more flexible and cost-effective. Critical communication can be
done in a better way with the help of intelligence robotic process automation. Other business
benefits of implementing RPA include empowered workforce, safe and secure enterprise data
and as a result the organization becomes more efficient, productive and the work is completed in
less amount of time with accuracy. Therefore, these are some of the benefits of implementing
robotic process automation in business.
Business processes that are best suitable for RPA implementation
Robotic process automation is mainly best suitable for activities that are highly repetitive
as well as manual. These can include entry of data, reconciliation, transferring of data, data
mapping, data processing as well as report generation (Houy, Hamberg and Fettke, 2019).
Various business processes can include manufacturing, administration, operations, information
technology, customer service and so on. There are certain business processes that can be
considered to be best suitable for the implementation of robotic process automation. For
example, by implementing the concept in customer service, the overall efficiency of business can
be improved. This is because organizations can save a lot of time that is usually spent on
identifying customers and delivering them a better support. This leads to the customer
representatives being able to reach to information faster and eliminating the waiting time for the
customers (Here’s how RPA is shaping the future of customer service, 2020.). By the
implementation of RPA, the customers' requests can be addressed in an effective manner.
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Besides this, manufacturing is another business process that can be automated by using robotic
process automation. This is because by adopting this practice, manufacturing firms can reduce
the amount of human errors and increase overall productivity. The products that are
manufactured are more efficient and better in quality.
The respective process can also be implemented in human resource management like on-
boarding new employees within a large company. This particular business process usually
involves a lot of activities like logging on and off of a lot of systems in order to set up benefits,
emails as well as payrolls for new employees (Mager, 2019). By implementing robotic process
automation software, the organization can complete all these activities in an efficient manner by
just entering the user identity and password. This is because the RPA software interacts with
other computer systems and if it is implemented correctly, it can help in completing the assigned
tasks in an improved manner. The developer employees are not required to have any kind of
expertise in RPA because it can be implemented very easily. Also, it does not impact the other
systems within the organization. Lastly, RPA can be implemented in the operations business
process within an organization because the level of control over the different operational
activities is enhanced. As a result, the output which is generated is accurate and more reliable.
Best practices for RPA implementation
There are different practices that are considered to be best suitable for the implementation
of robotic process automation. These include identifying the processes that will yield the greatest
benefits for the organization. These processes will not only help in increasing the overall
revenues and volume, but also reduce the level of errors. A well planned and high level design
results in automations that are most successful. It is important to make sure that the PDD or
process design document captures the workflow in a very efficient manner. Once the suitable
processes have been identified, it is important to breakdown them into workflows. The reason
behind doing so is that there are some business processes that are complex and thus, should have
their respective workflows (Mendling and et. al., 2018). The activities of the workflow should be
chosen very carefully as this can have an impact on the business on the whole. This enables other
developers to read and interpret the workflows that have been created. Once the workflows have
been approved by the management, the next practice involved getting prepared for the
implementation process (Mohanty and Vyas, 2018). RPA not only helps in simplifying the
overall process, but also enables the organization to improve its efficiency.
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One of the reasons why automation through RPA is implemented is because it allows the
process owners within the organization to make changes to them. Creating configuration files is
one of the best practices in the implementation of robotic process automation or RPA. Change-
prone settings should be incorporated in the files so that the owner of the company has the
flexibility of changing the same as desired (Alexander and et. al., 2018). A developer should
always ensure that no hard coding is used in the external settings like the pathway of the files,
names of the documents, logins etc. Components that can be used again like emails and logins
should be stored and a library for the same can be created. As a result, it becomes easier to
support the automations in the future. There can be certain errors that can come up while
implementing the automation. Some of these errors can include failed logins, no more space on
the disk and directories that do not exist. Thus, a developer should ensure that the automation is
coded in such a way that it can handle such errors without causing any issues. Therefore, these
are some best practices for the implementation of robotic process automation or RPA.
Research Methodology
Research methodology can be defined as the techniques or processes that are mainly used
to identify, select and analyse information about a particular topic. For this project, secondary
methods have been used to collect data for the literature review section. These include case
studies, online articles, websites, journals etc. Collecting data from these sources was beneficial
because the information could be tailored based on the requirement of the project (Carolan,
2020). There are many advantages of using secondary methods like they are not only time
saving, but also very cost effective. Also, the results that are obtained are reliable as the
information that is used is revised and tailored for the project. Other secondary methods of
collecting data include focus groups, surveys, interviews, books etc. Different case studies and
research papers on the topic “Robotic Process Automation” were referred to in order to gather
the most relevant data. As a result, this will facilitate a better understanding among the readers.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Alexander, S., Haisermann, A., Schabicki, T. and Frank, S., 2018. Robotic Process Automation
(RPA) im Rechnungswesen und Controlling-welche Chancen ergeben
sich?. Controlling, 30(3), pp.11-19.
Bitkowska, A., 2020. The relationship between Business Process Management and Knowledge
Management-selected aspects from a study of companies in Poland. Journal of
Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, 16(1), pp.169-193.
Carolan, M., 2020. Automated agrifood futures: robotics, labor and the distributive politics of
digital agriculture. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 47(1), pp.184-207.
Dobell, J., 2018. The Future of Accounting and Tax Technology Is Now. Int'l Tax Rev., 29, p.58.
Drotth, A. and Sällström, M., 2019. Robotic Process Automation as an administrative aid: The
utilization of RPA to manage supporting business processes for self-employed
craftsmen.
García-Alcaraz, J. L., Oropesa-Vento, M. and Maldonado-Macías, A. A., 2017. Kaizen Planning,
Implementing and Controlling. Springer International Publishing.
Hacioglu, U., 2020. Digital Business Strategies in Blockchain Ecosystems. Springer
International Publishing, DOI, 10, pp.978-3.
Hofmann, P., Samp, C. and Urbach, N., 2020. Robotic process automation. Electronic
Markets, 30(1), pp.99-106.
Houy, C., Hamberg, M. and Fettke, P., 2019. Robotic process automation in public
administrations. Digitalisierung von Staat und Verwaltung.
Ivanov, S.H., Webster, C. and Berezina, K., 2017. Adoption of robots and service automation by
tourism and hospitality companies. Revista Turismo & Desenvolvimento, 27(28),
pp.1501-1517.
Lewicki, P., Tochowicz, J. and van Genuchten, J., 2019. Are robots taking our jobs? A
RoboPlatform at a bank. IEEE Software, 36(3), pp.101-104.
Lukanova, G. and Ilieva, G., 2019. Robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation in
hotels. Robots, Artificial Intelligence, and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and
Hospitality, Emerald Publishing Limited, pp.157-183.
Mager, C., 2019. Innovation in transaction banking: What can emerging technologies
deliver?. Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems, 13(1), pp.66-71.
Mendling, J. and et. al., 2018. How do machine learning, robotic process automation, and
blockchains affect the human factor in business process management?. Communications
of the Association for Information Systems, 43(1), p.19.
Mendling, J., Decker, G., Hull, R., Reijers, H.A. and Weber, I., 2018. How do machine learning,
robotic process automation, and blockchains affect the human factor in business process
management?. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 43(1), p.19.
Mohanty, S. and Vyas, S., 2018. How to Compete in the Age of Artificial Intelligence:
Implementing a Collaborative Human-machine Strategy for Your Business. Apress.
Murphy, R.R., 2019. Introduction to AI robotics. MIT press.
Rosenfeld, A., Agmon, N., Maksimov, O. and Kraus, S., 2017. Intelligent agent supporting
human–multi-robot team collaboration. Artificial Intelligence, 252, pp.211-231.
Steinhoff, J.C., Lewis, A.C. and Everson, K.E., 2018. The march of the robots. The Journal of
Government Financial Management, 67(1), p.26.
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Steinhoff, J.C., Lewis, A.C. and Everson, K.E., 2018. The march of the robots. The Journal of
Government Financial Management, 67(1), p.26.
Syed, R., Suriadi, S., Adams, M., Bandara, W., Leemans, S.J., Ouyang, C., ter Hofstede, A.H.,
van de Weerd, I., Wynn, M.T. and Reijers, H.A., 2020. Robotic Process Automation:
Contemporary themes and challenges. Computers in Industry, 115, p.103162.
Tripathi, A.M., 2018. Learning Robotic Process Automation: Create Software robots and
automate business processes with the leading RPA tool–UiPath. Packt Publishing Ltd.
Willcocks, L., Lacity, M. and Craig, A., 2017. Robotic process automation: strategic
transformation lever for global business services?. Journal of Information Technology
Teaching Cases, 7(1), pp.17-28.
Willmann, J., Block, P., Hutter, M., Byrne, K. and Schork, T. eds., 2018. Robotic Fabrication in
Architecture, Art and Design 2018: Foreword by Sigrid Brell-Çokcan and Johannes
Braumann, Association for Robots in Architecture. Springer.
Ying, L.M., 2018. Robotic Process Automation with Blue Prism Quick Start Guide: Create
software robots and automate business processes. Packt Publishing Ltd.
Online
BUSINESS BENEFITS OF ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://ayehu.com/business-benefits-robotic-process-automation-2/>.
Here’s how RPA is shaping the future of customer service. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.softwebsolutions.com/resources/integrate-rpa-in-customer-
service.html>.
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