
Robotic Process Automation
Robotic Process Automation has the potential to enable accurate productivity with low cost and high value. With the rise in interest in RPA, implementation of the digital workforce is being established in every sector of the organizations with companies operating with more efficiency and creating new revenue growth with growing business advantage.
What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
RPA is the use of artificial intelligence to instruct a machine to perform monotonous, repetitive manual tasks that were previously performed by humans. The software is programmed to do repetitive tasks across applications and systems. It works best with standard-based, high volume regular tasks that require manual inputs.
RPA is a software robot that mimics human actions to ensure the outputs are complete, accurate and consistent while logging in to applications, handling queries, entering data, calculating, maintaining records and transactions, completing tasks and then logging out.
RPA software
RPA software is an advanced setup for IT infrastructure in a company. It empowers a company to put into effect the technology at a fast pace with accuracy, with the existing infrastructure and systems. The major difference between RPA and traditional IT Automation is its ability to adapt to varying situations, circumstances, and exceptions and autonomously make decisions, communicate with the other systems either by screen scraping or API integration, interpret the actions and also trigger responses.
Types of RPA
Attended automation
While performing automation processes these tools require human intervention.
Unattended automation
Unattended automation software eliminates the need for manual data entry and increases order fulfillment rates, including increased speed, efficiency, and accuracy. These tools are intelligent and have decision-making capabilities.
Hybrid RPA
Hybrid automation combines attended and unattended RPA and enables the passing of work to systems automatically or by human employee prompt, allowing the system and humans to work on different tasks simultaneously. These tools will have combined capabilities of both attended and unattended automation tools.
Features of RPA
Analytical Suite
RPA software comes with an analytical suite that identifies the performance of the system workforce. It monitors and manages automated functions from a central console. This console can be accessed from anywhere. It allows the users to track the operations and determine issues while offering basic metrics on robots, servers, workflows, and systems. This feature of RPA does not require any integration since everything is inbuilt.
Bot Creation Interface
The bots are created quickly and effortlessly by capturing mouse click and keystrokes with built-in screen recorder components of RPA tools. The RPA tool has an option to edit bots manually by using the task editor.
Source Control
Source control enables secure storage of each version of a process in progress without the risk of being deleted. This component allows scheduling bots, handling and maintaining a log of user and bot activities. It performs as the point of access and control for bot implementation.
Security
If an organization runs on automation, it is crucial to have strong user access management features. RPA tools include role-based security to ensure action specific permissions. To defend against the interruption of network communication. Many Robotic Process Automation tools allow the configuration as well as customization of encryption for securing certain data. The entire automated data, the instructions and the audits accessed by the bot are encrypted to avoid tampering and ensure compliance. RPA solutions also include data of detailed logging of users’ actions as well as the task executed by them.
Exception Handling
RPA system supports exception handling. It manages the exceptions in unassisted automation and ensures that the problems can be automatically resolved or identifiable and repairable by the system or passed for human completion.
Two main forms of exception in RPA are Business Exception which tends to happen when data or inputs don’t conform to business and application criteria within a process to be automated.
And System Exception which happens in technical situations like non-responding application or application crash.
Debugging
RPA can identify and remove errors in the application. It is done to ensure the applications are error-free. Sometimes, RPA tools require to stop running to make the change and replicate the process whereas sometimes tools allow dynamic interaction while debugging. This dynamic approach of debugging resolves issues in the production environment without requiring changes to the process.
Script Less Automation
Scriptless automation is to conduct testing without scripting or coding any programming language. It is a more structured model that can automate any department where clerical work is done across an enterprise. It reduces the amount of hand-code-writing and accelerates the outcome of business apps. This approach decreases the initial cost of installation, training, and deployment.
Seamless Integration
RPA provides seamless integration of front office and back office bots. The front office bots simplify the customer-facing functions like customer service or sales. The back office software bots automate unattended functions like generating reports, monitoring systems or transferring files. With seamless integration, RPA tools enable efficient flexibility in evaluating digital workforce performance.
Benefits of RPA
- RPA improves productivity by minimizing manual error-prone processes.
- It reduces the operating costs and increases the output thus cost-saving.
- It ensures that the business operations and processes comply with all regulations and standards.
- It improves the process by completing tasks in less time and make changes as needed.
- It enables better customer service by eliminating human errors.
- It provides improved efficiency by digitizing and auditing process data.
- It increases the consistency with a standardized process with compliance and audibility.

Applications of RPA
Customer service
For smooth Customer Relationship management sales are an important and crucial aspect of all business domains. RPA can make operation activities faster than manual performance in tasks like verifying and uploading scanned documents, make invoices available to customers, error-free sales operations to avoid customer complaints and dissatisfaction which are generally due to clerical mistakes.
Data Management and Accounting
Companies and Organizations can use RPA for a variety of operational tasks. It can process relevant data in less time with accuracy from personal records and files and operational performance sheet with acute details, general accounting, operational accounting, transactional reporting and budgeting which is a time-consuming and clerical error zone for humans.
Financial services
As a virtual worker, RPA replicates user actions to eliminate or reduce human intervention in a repetitive and manually intensive process which can improve efficiency in financial institutions. Several processes like processing insurance claims, account opening, and closing, managing audit requests, foreign exchange payments, and other financial services can use RPA implementations.
Healthcare
Managing records in healthcare institutes and hospitals are quite critical. RPA services can automate various complex tasks in hospitals and clinics to improve their efficiency and provide better medical care for their patients. It can carry out tasks like maintaining patient records, billing, and claims, providing prescriptions, collecting patient reports and data, delegating medical professionals.
With this approach it will be easy in executing, and tracking these procedures with compliance with various rules and regulations.
Human resources
HR is the most people-centric business function which helps the business grow by attracting, developing and retaining the employees that can benefit from automation. High performing HR departments have been turning to technology to meet the parameters for the rules and regulations and recruiting. RPA implementation in HR can improve in their data management, reporting, employee functionality, and their experience and a smooth HR process flow. It can reduce the effort in data entry changes, employee joining and leaving, payroll processing, and travel expense management, updating employee information and timesheet submission processes.
Supply chain management
RPA can be used for eliminating manual input of purchase orders. Raising, responding and processing purchase orders is an important administrative task for suppliers and manufacturers. RPA identifies the requirement and matches them against actual stock thereby raising purchase orders without relying on human intervention. The RPA generates lots of data and enhances results with great efficiency by reducing waste with fewer delays. The continual improvement in procurement, automating order processing and payments, monitoring inventory levels and tracking shipments streamlines the supply chain.
