Cost-Benefit Analysis of an RPA Program

Hi Shibu,  it depends on the vendor, but you answer your question very comprehensively here: https://www.peerspot.com/artic...

Hi @Murat Gultekin, @reviewer1701468, @reviewer1295343, @Javier Orellana and @reviewer1465254, Can you please chime in here​ ​and share your expertise? ​ ​ ​

Hi@Evgeny Belenky ​, Would categorize the life cycle of RPA in basic 7 stages as mentioned below.  Stages of RPA Lifecycle: I. Discovery Phase It is the first and crucial phase of the RPA implementation roadmap that works with the combination of AI, human expertise, and technology to select the right automation process. Furthermore, it also helps in defining perfect governance for the success of the entire given procedure. In the given phase, the requirement of the client is given more prominence and the decision is made whether to automate the process or not. If the decision is taken to automate the given process; then there is a detailed analysis of the complexity by the RPA analyst team. Furthermore, the business team and RPA architect strategist work together to create a high-level implementation plan that helps in making their analysis more full proof. Finally, benefits associated with the automation are noted down. II. Solution Design Phase It is the phase where the designing of the steps to automate a given task is taken into consideration. Here, there is a lot of drafting that comes as a boon to the RPA service providers. Besides, there is a requirement of few documents that will come in handy for an effective RPA development and includes: · Solution Design Document (SDD) · Process Design Document (PDD) · Technical Design Document (TDD) The above-given document contains all the information that will be requiring the developers to process each step in depth. After analyzing all the requirements of the clients by designing a PDD, other requirements get priority and include budget, time spent, number of people currently working on the given task, and so on. Thereafter, there is a creation of a flowchart to get an understanding of the process flow. It will, in turn, help in understanding which steps need automation and what their needs are. Afterward, the developers choose one of the best RPA software tools to automate the given task that results in developing the bot for perfect task automation. III. Development Phase It is the phase wherein the developer created automation scripts within the chosen RPA tools such as UiPath, Blue Prism, and many more. By following the previously developed PDD, there is a generation of bots or automation scripts. Although in the given phase, there is no need for coding, and certain scenarios are testimonies of it. However, it might change depending on the task that is undergoing automation. Now, once there is a development of a suitable bot, the next stage is set for testing the developed bot. IV. User Acceptance Tests (UAT) The given stage signifies the testing of the developed bots. The given bots undergo testing in a pre-production environment so to examine their usage by the users via automation of some of the specific tasks. Testing of the bots is conducted by some companies by the separate testing team. While many organizations have their committed testing team that performs testing using QA tests just like a normal SDLC flow. Companies having team members that excel in QA testing are the one that gets access to bots with automation. If testing is successful; then bots get proceeding to the next stage. However, if the test meets with failure, bots are again reverting to the development phase. Here, the developers find out errors that led to its failure, and the testing process is repeated. After undergoing successful testing the second time, there is a transmission of the bots to the deployment phase. V. Deployment & Maintenance Phase After development and testing of the given bot are done, they are deployed into the production environment. After their deployment, they are ready for usage by the customers. However, the case might arise that some issues again gets resurfaced. No need to worry, because the bots again go back to the development and testing team so to resolve the issues as soon as possible. After resolving the problems, the bots are moved to the final phase i.e. their execution. VI. Execute Bots It is the crucial phase of the RPA life-cycle where the execution of bots occurs after its deployment so to generate meaningful results for the development team. Besides, the bots get in checking mode to ensure that the implementation has occurred as per the requirements of the customers. VII. Support & Maintenance It is the last phase of RPA life-cycle, where the bot after its execution becomes available in public. In the current phase, the team is ready to offer continuous support and maintenance to the customers if they found any defect in the given application. Those RPA service solutions are considered as best that have the best support and maintenance services and offer an immediate resolution of the flaw even after the product is in the hand of users.

Let me summarize the RPA life cycle but first let's put a process in place. Robotic Process Automation: bringing together people, processes, technology and information towards effective digital transformation. Pillar-1: Process Mining and Opportunity assessment Pillar-2: Business Case and Project Management Pillar-3: Solution Design and Project Planning, Scheduling Pillar-4: Technology Support and assessment and help Pillar-5: Technical Delivery, Analysis, Design, Deployment Testing and QA Pillar-6: User Acceptance, Deployment and GoTo Production Pillar-7: Service and Support (Service Management, Handover to Service Team) Pillar-8: Critical Success Factor and Measurement  Pillar-9: Change Management and Back to Pillar-1 Teams Involved: Business Operations, IT and Governance, Architecture Teams (ARCHITECTURE BOARD), Delivery Teams, Support Teams, Infrastructure Teams Information Security Team, Compliance and Legal Team etc.