Best Practices -Intelligent Process Automation Implementation

This post is to highlight some of the best practices that one should keep in mind before going forward with any Robotic automation implementation

Typical methodology for any IPA implementation is

IPA implementation methodology

In this post, we will focus on the first 3 phases — Plan, Discover & Design

1. Plan — This is the phase where all the planning is done for the IPA implementation

Best practices in the Plan phase are

· IPA complexity calculator for SAFe implementation

· Calculate the Attrition% and Shrinkage%

· Resource effort & costing for Simple , Medium & Complex process (first time and repeat)

· Between “Process Discover” and “Bot development” there should be a phase of ‘Bot analysis and design” where the the click recording of the process is done, BRD/ SSD made and signoff from the client obtained

· Keep the process categorization to -Simple , Medium & Complex. Further classification only complicates the classification process and is against global norms

· Costing for process automation between 0–49, 50–200, > 200

· BOM for the Hardware and Software (include Active Directory, Excel, SAP, E Mail, Reporting , DR etc costing, if required)

· Negotiated rate with the Automation platform provider

· The final costing sheet for the various IPA platforms . This sheet can have Revenue projection and Cash Flow

· Security framework and controls (Communication flow,Transmission Security, IAM, Access control, Encryption, Audit Log)

2. Discover-Initial value assessment

The Discover phase is meant to capture the details around

· Processes

· Resource cost

· Time involved

· Average Handling time

· Process schedule

· Exceptions

· Process complexity (Simple, Medium, Complex)

resulting in determination of

· Feasibility of automating a process

· Level of complexity

· Cost of Ownership

· Cost Avoidance

· RoI

· Process prioritization( within categories like High visibility / High Impact, Quick Wins , Global processes, Business value etc)

3. Design — The value bench marking phase

The Design phase is meant to capture the details around

· Process recording

· BRD / SSD document creation & signoff

· Project Plan creation & review

resulting in determination of

· Percentage of automation

· Determination of the final complexity of the process

· Effort and cost re-estimation

· Scope of work