6 RPA Design Principles To Live By

Where Do We Start?

We’ve gathered here today to find out how to implement RPA. When it comes to designing good, automated processes, first look at where you can use RPA. RPA is designed to free employees from the time-consuming, mundane tasks so they can get back to the interesting, value-driving ones. Knowing where you can benefit from RPA will help you design, develop and deploy your RPA program. With that, let’s dive into the six principles.

6 RPA Design Principles

1. RPA use cases

Your industry and types of processes are going to affect how your RPA implementation goes. For example, if you’re in a highly regulated industry such as healthcare or financial services, you’ll need to ensure RPA governance is a top priority. That means risk management, compliance and good planning for your automation before you get started.

Here are a few examples of what RPA technology can do for you:

• Fraud detection.
• Payment processing.
• Quality control management.
• Calculating payroll.
• Appointment scheduling.
• Audits.

There are tons of examples of successful RPA projects across various industries. Read our blog on RPA use cases to find out more.

2. RPA business case

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to gain buy-in from executives, stakeholders and people across your business. To gain their support for implementing an RPA project, you need to write a detailed business case explaining:

• Why the business needs automation/what pain points RPA will solve.
• The calculated return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO).
• How automation aligns with the overall strategic business plan.
• The benefits and risks of introducing automation technology.
• A plan including timeline, training and required resources.

Check out our blog on building an RPA business case for more details.

3. Choose your tools

Once you’ve nailed down your business priorities, it’s a matter of using automation tools and solutions that align with those goals. We recommend you start by identifying the right places to automate.

Process discovery, process mining and task mining are all tools that will help you identify where bottlenecks exist in your as-is processes and where you can improve them through automation.

Business process automation (BPA), or IA, are the same cake with different sprinkles. BPA software automates business processes. There are a lot of BPA/IA solutions, so make sure you find tools that are reliable, robust and secure like our no-code-/low-code automation software, SS&C | Blue Prism® Enterprise.

To find out more about what automation software is and which tools are out there, read our helpful guide.

4. Develop a plan

Following a scalable operating model will help you design automations effectively throughout the RPA lifecycle: discovery, design, development, testing and deployment. The SS&C | Blue Prism® Robotic Operating Model 2 (ROM™2) is our step-by-step guide to help you automate and scale. It’s going to show you where you are in your automation maturity and how you can achieve the best results for each automated process.

5. Test your solution

Test your automated processes to ensure your design is up to snuff. RPA testing verifies that your digital workers perform their rule-based tasks as expected before you roll them out to the rest of the business.

6. Deploy!

Get those digital workers on the clock. They’re ready to free up tasks and boost efficiency.

Evolve and Scale Your Process Design

Now that your robotic process automation (RPA) is up and running and going well, you should consider how evolving your RPA software robots with intelligent automation can grow your enterprise even more. That’s going to include a whole host of solutions through process intelligence, BPM, intelligent document processing (IDP) and more.

As you scale, you’ll find out more ways to move from automating basic office tasks to achieving total digital transformation across your organization. The benefits of digital transformation? Cost savings, improved efficiency, better customer service, boosted employee satisfaction, faster processes, reduced manual day-to-day tasks, increased productivity and more.

Looking for guidance on which automated processes to design first? Get started with SS&C Blue Prism.

Alexis Veenendaal is an Associate Content Writer and Editor at SS&C Blue Prism. She’ll tell you all the cool tips and tricks for implementing intelligent automation into your workplace. She has lived and worked internationally as a professional writer and designer for nearly a decade after graduating from the University of Lethbridge for English Literature. Her personal pursuits include authoring books and digital cartography.