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Tech Breakdown is the opportunity to understand how developers are implementing Automation Anywhere through the lens of the value-added for their organization, and the technical solution that got them there. This Tech Breakdown was written by former A-Lister, RPA developer, and CoE lead Zeth Baker previously of Republic Airways. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a need for flexibility and speed in creating new automation solutions, solving for unforeseen business changes, and increasing our overall development velocity to support our operation. As a regional airline, Republic Airways operates flights 24/7, and every second matters in the operation to make sure our flights depart and arrive on time. If you have ever flown, you know how important it is that flights take off on time, as nobody wants to be delayed while trying to visit their family and friends, go on vacations, or business trips. The bots we build support that goal of helping our flights to take off on time, along with e
Clearly defining roles and responsibilities is important in any team, especially in the world of automation when there may be lots of stakeholders and team members across the organization. The entire team collectively steers the ship toward successful automation implementation — as long as they know where they’re going and how they’re getting there. Let's explore the key players and their responsibilities in this dynamic ecosystem. Then, we'll uncover why defining these roles is so critical, and share an example of how skipping this step can take things off course. What are the roles and responsibilities to be defined in the automation development lifecycle? Automation roles can vary based on your organization's structure and the complexity of projects, but below are some common roles on the automation team, and their typical responsibilities. Automation Developer: The automation developer is responsible for designing, building, and maintaining automations. This requires a strong under
In today's dynamic business world, where speed, precision, and adaptability are paramount, the role of automation has never been more crucial. Behind the scenes, a robust automation team works tirelessly to ensure processes are efficient, seamless, and ready for the challenges of tomorrow. Enter virtual machines (VMs) – the unsung heroes that can transform the way your automation team operates. In this blog post, we'll review what VMs are, why automation program use them, and share how you can leverage VMs to realize the full potential of your automation initiatives.What are virtual machines?In the context of an automation program, virtual machines (VMs) are like virtual versions of actual computers — the software kind of magic that lets you run various operating systems and apps all at once on a single physical machine. VMs are isolated from each other, each operating as an independent system with its own virtual hardware – think CPU, memory, storage, and even network connections. The
What is this blog about? A well-planned and executed deployment process is foundational for achieving successful automation implementations. It ensures that automation initiatives are seamlessly integrated into production processes, providing lasting value and setting the stage for further growth.Why should the reader care about this topic? Production Efficiency: A structured deployment process ensures that automation solutions are integrated seamlessly into the production environment. This leads to increased efficiency in operations. Quality Assurance: A well-planned deployment process includes rigorous testing and validation procedures. This helps in assuring the quality and reliability of the deployed automation, which is critical in a production setting. Minimizing Disruption: A structured deployment minimizes disruption to ongoing operations. This is particularly important in Mission 3, where the primary goal is to optimize existing production processes. Cost Efficiency: An effect
Automation can transform workflows and supercharge efficiencies, enabling us to focus on tasks that truly require human creativity and problem-solving. But not every process is suitable for automation, and implementing it without careful consideration can lead to inefficiencies and setbacks. Let’s dive into the aspects and best practices of a use case assessment — an essential process used to evaluate what’s a good fit for automation. What is a use case assessment and why is it important for automation programs?A use case assessment is one of the first steps of automating business processes. This systematic evaluation method identifies and analyzes potential scenarios where a particular solution, such as automation, can be effectively applied to solve challenges. Without a use case assessment, you’re shooting from the hip. And when you’re shooting from the hip, you could be wasting time, effort, and resources on ideas that don’t actually make the most sense for your business or for you
Welcome to our Stellar Keynote Recap Series! As part of the 1st Annual Pathfinder Community Space Camp & Generative AI Showcase, we’re hosting live sessions with Community MVPs and industry experts to share the latest developments in intelligent automation—especially Generative AI!—and provide you with learnings and resources to drive success at scale. If you don’t have the chance to attend the live session or want to come back to reference some of the critical mission information that was discussed, we’ve captured key intel from each session to share with you! Day 5 Stellar Keynote is Your Pipeline Lifeline! For our final keynote session, we’re throwing you a pipeline lifeline! Mark Goodaire, our Director of Automation & Business Transformation, chats about all the different approaches to pipeline, pipeline management, and leveraging tech for your pipeline with Adam Favreau, Sr. Manager of HR Technology at Boston Scientific, and Tim Long, Director of Digital & Data Busin
In the fast-paced world of automation, staying ahead of the curve is vital. Automation leaders, in particular, face the task of not only nurturing their own skills but also ensuring their teams are equipped to drive automation success. Finding the right resources, training programs, and materials can be a daunting, time-consuming, and expensive task. That's why we created Pathfinder Academy — your one-stop solution where you can supercharge your automation team toward excellence with quality, hands-on learning for free. What is Pathfinder Academy? Pathfinder Academy is a new learning resource — your go-to source for automation training. Whether you want to give your automation team members a clear path from automation novice to ninja or you want to close specific skill gaps, you’re just a few clicks away from engaging training. Join Pathfinder Academy to explore:Flexible paths with courses that build on each other Engaging, video-based learning Quick, digestible lessons designed to fit
Intelligent automation is a team sport. While thriving automation programs across industries are comprised of both lean and large teams, the non-negotiable role essential for a successful program is the Automation Leader—the job function dedicated to leading strategic alignment to business goals, implementation, executive relationship-building, organizational evangelism of intelligent automation, and more.If you are an automation leader, we want you to know we see you. We understand the responsibilities on your plate and the pressure from senior management to deliver and scale. As your team’s leader, there are many ways to approach building and nurturing a successful automation program, as well as many ways you might find your efforts stalled. That’s precisely why we developed Pathfinder Mission Control.Pathfinder Mission Control is your trusted companion for automation success. It is a game-changer for automation leaders by providing expert tools and guidance to build resilient, scala
Automation leaders across the globe are tuned into the developing power and potential applications of generative AI. But trepidation around the unknowns of this rapidly evolving technology is stopping them from putting this tool to work for themselves, particularly regarding security and compliance. Does that sound like you, too? We’re here to address these concerns and offer guidance to approaching your first generative AI business use case with confidence and success. In this blog we’ll discuss:Approaching challenges with generative AI adoption Use case possibilities Preparing to build your first generative AI business use case Adoption is the challenge8 years ago an unfamiliar tech was growing in prominence. There was uncertainty around how it worked, whether it was safe and secure, and whether it threatened existing jobs. That tech was intelligent automation. Fast forward to present-day, we’re observing the same unfamiliarity and uncertainty with generative AI. When speaking to our
It’s not an uncommon scenario. Sometimes, during Automation Pathfinder Program sessions we hear: “We’ve been having trouble with our leadership understanding our vision for automation.” We immediately ask “What has your program accomplished so far, where do you plan to go from here, and how have you communicated these things with your leadership team?”. Sometimes we’ll get a response like, “Well, we created 15 bots last year and plan to launch another 20 this year. We told our executives about it, but they didn’t seem to care that much. They didn’t really understand the work it takes to build a bot or the benefit that it brings to the organization.” This is how we know a team has missed several steps in developing a clearly defined vision, tracking the metrics that matter, and effectively communicating the value the automation program is bringing to the organization. Here’s where we go from here: Developing a Compelling Vision Have you ever known someone who had a killer idea but cou
IntroductionHello again, and welcome to Part II of my blog series on how to build an automation team for long term scale and growth. Part I focused on establishing the foundation of your team by asking some key questions about your organization's strategy, culture, structure, and project management approach. I emphasized the importance of having clear roles, responsibilities, expectations, vision, and communication for the team members. I also provided some examples of different types of teams based on different organizational models and suggested some best practices for creating a successful automation team.In this post, I will be moving on to the next stage which covers how and when to grow your team. I will cover the key indicators you need to monitor, the questions you need to address as you begin discussing your team's growth, what roles should you consider expanding or creating, and what the impact will be on your organization during and after this growth period. One thing to kee
Imagine 2023 in Austin, TX is rapidly approaching and, per the usual, we’ve meticulously curated a schedule brimming with informative, inspiring, and interactive sessions that will engage every person in every role and stage of automation. (If you haven’t purchased tickets yet, what are you waiting for? Book your spot today!) But with only two days to spend at our annual event, we don’t want you feeling like it’s the first day of secondary school—frantic to figure out your class schedule, where you need to be, and when. Nobody’s got time for that!With that in mind, we’ve curated a list of the top sessions from Automation Anywhere’s Community Team for automation leaders and/or business analysts that will benefit you the most. We want to maximize our impact on YOU at Imagine 2023, and these five sessions are where we bet you’ll gain big insights and bigger takeaways (everything is bigger in Texas, after all). 5 Habits of Highly Effective Automation ProgramsScale Your Program for Success:
Please note that this document is part of The automation Success Framework and is referenced by the following parent document. This specific article discusses different approaches to configuring the platform for DevOps to ensure a secure and practical development methodology.DevOps refers to the tools and practices that guide a software development team and ensure solutions are developed securely and effectively. Automation Anywhere can be configured in various ways to suit different approaches to DevOps. In this article I discuss best practice approaches, which you can adapt to the specific needs of your organisation.The structure of your CoE will have a significant impact on your DevOps approach, as will the number of control rooms you have licenced. Two Control Rooms With two control rooms it is still possible to implement a methodology which implements a clear separation between Development, Testing and Production automations. The diagram below outlines the suggested approach. In
Please note that this document is part of The automation Success Framework and is referenced by the following parent document. This specific article discusses the importance of effective automation reporting and proposes a best practice approach. Building effective reporting into your automations is very important for many reasons. Some examples are:Having a dashboard / reporting to supervise operation of the automation allows business users to monitor what their digital workers are doing. Without some form of oversight of the process, business users may not take proper “ownership”, and may place undue expectations on the Automation CoE to manage the outcomes. It is important to monitor what is triggering exceptions to the process and how many there are. This allows for proper planning of enhancements to the logic. There should be a way to track the notional benefits being delivered by the automation, so the Automation CoE can track ROI of the investment in and maintenance of the au
This article is part of a broader series that forms the Automation Success Framework. Please click on the link to view all topics. Note that there is a considerable amount of interdependency between each of the topics. For example, your choice of model for the automation Centre of Excellence (CoE) will influence how you need to configure the Control Room, and will also influence the roles involved in the Automation Lifecycle.The purpose of this particular article is to outline a suggested best practice configuration for the Automation 360 control room to support the below objectives. This post will walk you through the process of configuring the below model to meet the above objectives.It should be noted that every organisation is different, and this configuration may not suit all scenarios. The approaches outlined in this document can be customised by the platform administrator as required. Note also that this document must not be considered a replacement for reading the online docum
This article is part of a broader series that forms the Automation Success Framework. Please click on the link to view all topics. Note that there is a considerable amount of interdependency between each of these topics. For example, your choice of model for the automation CoE will influence how you need to configure the Control Room, and will also influence the roles involved in the Automation Lifecycle. In this article we will discuss the process of managing automations through the various stages of the automation pipeline or lifecycle. Note that a separate article deals with the configuration of the control room to support different DevOps practices and to manage separation of duties. That article is available here.. Introduction The stages through which automations will move should be considered as more of a lifecycle that a straight pipeline. This is because automations tend to evolve continuously as the operations of the business change. There are four key stages to the automat
This article is part of a broader series that forms the Automation Success Framework. Please click on the link to view all topics. Note that there is a considerable amount of interdependency between each of these topics. For example, your choice of model for the automation CoE will influence how you need to configure the Control Room, and will also influence the roles involved in the Automation Lifecycle. In this article we will discuss the role of the Automation Centre of Excellence (CoE), the different CoE structures that are possible, and the benefits and disadvantages of each structure. Introduction The Automation Centre of Excellence (CoE) is an organisational unit dedicated to ensuring that the automation program is as successful as possible. All activities of the CoE should ideally be directed toward achieving this goal. To ensure that the CoE is fulfilling this goal it is important for an organisation to first define what a successful automation program looks like. The followin
The Automation Success Framework I have been maintaining a series of best practice documents on setting up and managing an automation practice using Automation 360. It occurred to me that Community is probably the best place to host and maintain this content. As a result, I am posting all the content on “The Automation Success Framework” here. The Automation Success Framework is broken down into four separate topics. Please click on each of the links below to explore that particular topic.(Note that I am currently migrating the content to community, so not all links are enabled right now).Setting up and configuring your Control Room Establishing your Automation Centre of Excellence (CoE) The Automation LifecycleNote that there is a considerable amount of interdependency between each of these topics. For example, your choice of model for the automation Centre of Excellence (CoE) will influence how you need to configure the Control Room, and will also influence the roles involved in the
Migration isn’t glamorous. Stakeholders and leadership teams don’t see us driving more value to the business—whether it’s in the form of headcount, cost, or time savings—when our only focus is moving old code to a new system. However, this doesn’t mean we should rush through the development cycle in order to push through migration and getting back to creating new automations. For each process we migrate, we should be going through the full development lifecycle, with a heavy emphasis on testing, to ensure a successful overall migration.At BSC, we’ve been leveraging Automation Anywhere since 2018 and have hundreds of automations within our ecosystem that needed to be migrated from V11 to A360. We started migration in mid-2022 with a goal to complete migration by mid-2023. Even though it was a big task, we focused on taking the time needed to migrate each automation thoughtfully and successfully. Here are steps we took and how I recommend proceeding should you have the large task of migr
