Overview:

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is an automation approach that uses the screens of underlying applications, just like people do. RPA solutions are external to the applications they drive, and are not otherwise integrated with those applications. Most of the robotic automations are focused on the tasks or incremental elements of work, which in aggregate, form more complex processes. As such, the focus is on standardized, routine, predictable, and rule-based activities that do not require expert judgment, intuition, or collaborative decision-making.

RPA leverages the same user interfaces created for manual task execution, and evaluates rules and executes decisions based on pre-defined scenarios. RPA mediated processes are always deterministic, so the range of possible outcomes is known in advance.

Examples of tasks people complete using core business systems include address checks, credit checks, product order entry, and similar activities with limited numbers of steps and decisions, and which use known and easy to manage rules.

1.      What is not RPA?

• Excel Macro !!!
• VBS!!
• Batch Script!
• Power Shell Script!
• UI Automation, Win Automation, Test Automation, etc.,
• But all of the above is part/ component of RPA!

2.      Why RPA?

• To avoid human errors and to reduce human efforts.
• To saves time and improve productivity, accuracy and consistency.
• Enhance the business analytics and easy standardization of workflow.
• To have a frictionless delivery of tasks.
• Complete Audit trail for any kind of compliance purposes.
• Cost reduction.

Cognitive bots handle situations that are beyond the scope of RPA. They are especially effective in handling subjective decision-making and other scenarios where the outcomes are not determined in advance. These bots use a variety of techniques to handle exceptions and process unstructured data, while improving the quality of delivered work. You will learn how cognitive bots handle problems that are challenging and costly for classic OCR (optical character recognition) deployments. In addition, you will learn about the comprehensive multi-step process in which cognitive bots are trained and work with people to deliver high-quality results.

Chatbots are conversational bots that interact with people to collect information, provide answers, and identify problems that require escalation to manual processing. You will learn about common business scenarios that require conversational outreach. Outreach may be a normal part of the workflow, or some exceptional scenario that captures additional necessary information. In this module, you will identify common scenarios that require conversational interaction. In addition, you will learn about the benefits of “touch-less” customer service. In addition, you will see how chat bots fit in the architecture of Intelligent Automation, and how they work with cognitive and robotic process bots to solve complex business-process challenges.

Conversational Automation utilizes machine learning techniques to extend automation into the realm of conversational interactions. This means that email exchanges, chats or voice conversation can be automated thereby deflecting inbound or outbound inquiries from manual processing. 

3.      RPA Tools

• Blueprism
• UiPath
• Automation Anywhere
• WorkFusion
• NICE
• OpenSpan / Pega RPA
• Others – Another Monday, Kofax, Kryon, Onvisource, Open Connect, Redwood Software, Softomotive, Symphony Ventures, Thoughtonomy, Cicero.

4.      Blueprism RPA Platform:

• Human Resource
• Banking & Financial Services
• Insurance
• Healthcare & Life Sciences
• Shared Services
• Media
• Commerce & Many more !!

5.      Automation Anywhere RPA Platform:

• Adding Cognitive ability of Bot – IBM Watson, LUIS, MS bot Framework, Cortona Skills and many more
• Adding Learning ability to the bot – Applied Machine Learning
• More efficient Analytics implementation for better decision making
• More efficient man in middle implementations
• Many more is coming!!!

6.      Workfusion RPA Platform:

• Natural language dialogue: Engage with your data conversationally and discover and insights. All you need is a desktop web browser or the mobile app for iPad.
• Automated predictive analytics: Automatically surface what is likely driving outcomes.
• One-click analysis: Make sense of data discoveries in one click with automatic visualizations you can use in dashboards to tell more powerful stories.
• Smart data discovery: Find the most interesting patterns in your data based on your own words with cognitive capabilities that offer are guide you to answers.
• Simplified analysis: Quickly understand what your data is telling you with automation that does the hard work so you can spend time using new, unexpected insights to drive your business.
• Accessible advanced analytics: Connect to data without taking on complex data refinement or preparation. Accessible advanced analytics remove complexity and time-consuming tasks while backing your decisions with data you can trust.
• Self-service dashboards: Share your insights in a dashboard or infographic you easily build from visualizations you save during data discovery.

7. Microsoft Cognative:

• Azure Bot Service: Accelerate development for conversational AI. Integrate seamlessly with Cortana, Office 365, Slack, Facebook Messenger and more.
• Microsoft bot Framework: Build, connect, deploy, and manage intelligent bots to naturally interact with your users on a website, app, Cortana, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger, and more. Get started quick with a complete bot building environment, all while only paying for what you use.
• Language Understanding: Language Understanding Intelligent Service adds conversational intelligence to your bots
• QnA Maker: Go from FAQ to Bot in minutes with no coding required
• Text Analytics API: Easily evaluate sentiment and topics to understand what users want
• Bing Spell Check: Detect and correct spelling mistakes in your app
• Bing Speech API: Convert speech to text and back again to understand user intent
• Bing Web Search API: Get enhanced search details from billions of web documents
• Cognitive Services: Use AI to solve business problems. Infuse your apps, websites and bots with intelligent algorithms to see, hear, speak and understand natural methods of communication.

 8.      Microsoft continues, LuIS, Cortona

• Vison API (Analyze an image): This feature returns information about visual content found in an image. Use tagging, descriptions and domain-specific models to identify content and label it with confidence. Apply the adult/racy settings to enable automated restriction of adult content. Identify image types and color schemes in pictures.
• LUIS: A machine learning-based service to build natural language into apps, bots, and IoT devices. Quickly create enterprise-ready, custom models that continuously improve.
• Cortona Skills (digital assistant): Have conversations with your users, Chain skills to solve complex problems, Stream audio to your users, Launch client code on devices, Create customized skills with Cortana’s profile ,Use existing resources to jumpstart skill building.
• Video Indexer: Audio Transcription, Face tracking and identification, Speaker indexing, Visual text recognition, Voice activity detection, Keyframe extraction, Sentiment analysis, Visual content moderation, Keywords extraction.

9.     Blueprism RPA Platform

• Object Studio: Enables the business users or IT professional to create reuseable Blue Prism Objects as the building blocks for the business process using existing systems and procedures by modelling existing applications and “training” Blue Prism as a robotic user.
• Process Studio: Enables the business or IT to design, build, edit and test processes, constructed from reusable Blue Prism objects
• Control Room: Enables the business or IT services to schedule, run and manage processes.
• Best features: Infrastructure scalability on demand, easy deployment, working queue, very stable and widely accepted RPA tool.
• Limitations: Machine Learning, Analytics & Man in Middle supports
• Special Supports: VB.net, C# Coding, IBM Watson, LUIS, Cognitive services
• Tops Clients: EY & Deloitte, Accenture, NHS, Accenture, Hexaware, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Capgemini, IBM and many more.

10.      UiPath RPA Platform

• UiPath Studio: Studio Designer is the perfectly intuitive environment where anybody can model automation visually, without code. A powerful recorder literally builds automation by watching you work and a rich library of template activities will get you moving fast and easy.
• UiPath Orchestrator: Orchestrator manages your entire workforce, handling all the critical enterprise duties: release management, centralized logging, reporting, auditing and monitoring, remote control, workload balancing and asset management.
• UiPath Robot: UiPath Robot executes processes with perfect accuracy. It can run assisted, automatically executing tasks under your employees’ control and supervision, or unassisted, processing high-volume work independently from human interaction.
• Best Features: Very much user friendly & .net Framework Class Library
• Limitations: Very limited cognitive , Machine learning support, not so stable tool yet
• Special Supports: Complete Microsoft .net Framework Class Library
• Tops Clients: EY & Deloitte, SAP, EY, J.P.Morgan, Accenture, Capgemini, BBC and many more

11      Automation Anywhere RPA Platform

• AA Enterprise Client: Creating, recording, designing, coding & debugging bots
• Bot Runner: Runtime environments to run the bot from control room.
• AA Control room: Enables the business or IT services to schedule, run and manage processes, users, licenses and bots.
• Best features: Easy to code, Widely accepted.
• Limitation: Very limited cognitive , Machine learning support, not so stable tool yet, calculation is too difficult , code re-use & maintenance
• Special Supports: Complete Microsoft .net Framework Class Library
• Tops Clients: EMC2, KPMG, Deloitte, Accenture, Genpact, Infosys and many more.

12      Workfusion RPA Platform

• Control Tower: the main application that runs Robotic Process Automation.
• WorkFusion Studio and the Robotic Process Automation script recorder
• WorkSpace: The online application to manage work queues and complete manual tasks, and
• Platform Monitor: The online application that manages system health and BOT status
• Best features: Best in build, Machine learning, cognitive supports, Man in middle supports, Build in Analytics and dashboards
• Limitation: Relatively new in the market
• Special Supports: AI, Machine Learning, Man in middle supports
• Tops Clients: Infosys, Deloitte, Cognizant, HCL Technologies, EY, L&T Infotech, TATA, Virtusa, FIS™ and Wipro and many more

Duration:  40 hours

Course outlines:

1.    Module 1: Robotic Process Automation

• What is RPA? What’s not!
• Why RPA?
• All RPA tools, Top 4 RPA tools and their Platform, Environment, Features & Limitation.
• What is SPA? Next generation of RPA!
• Automation Market.
• Automation Drivers.
• Automation Economics.
• Automation Challenges.
• Automation Strategy.
• Automation Implementation.
• Robotics Bot.
• Cognitive Bot.
• Chat Bot.
• Future of RPA, AI, Machine Learning, Cognitive computing
• IBM Watson, Microsoft bot framework, Cortona Skills, Current Development on Cognitive services & Products by Microsoft, Google, Amazon & others.
• Installation , Configuration & Troubleshooting of Workfusion RPA Platform
• Semantic and syntax
• Excel Automation
• DOS, emulator automation
• API Automation (APIs, File Exchange, Database, ETL).
• Web Scraping and Crawling (static web applications/sites).
• Web Automation (dynamic web applications/sites).
• Desktop Automation (legacy applications and Internet Explorer applications).
• Surface Automation (screen-only tools, image recognition).
• Cognitive Automation (unstructured data).
• Email Automation.
• OCR Automation.
• Control room, Orchestrator, Control tower and bot monitor.
• Assignments.
• Discussion, tips & tricks and networking.

2.     Module 2: Blue Prism

• Introduction to RPA and Blue prism
• Process Flow
• Inputs and Outputs
• Business Objects and Process Layers
• Error Management – Exceptional Handling
• Case Management – Work Queues
• Release Manager and Logging
• Environmental Locking and Credentials
• Surface Automation.

3.      Module 3 - Introduction To RPA And Blue Prism

• Intro to Cognitive Automation
• Setting up and getting started with Blue Prism
• Pre-requisites
• Development Best Practices
• Application Types – Main Frame, Java, and Browser-Based Applications
• Basic skills
• Running a process

4.    Module 4: Process Flow

• Rule-based decisions
• Collections, Circular paths, and Loops
• Breakpoints
• Layers of Logic
• Pages for Organization
• Controlling Play – Debug mode – Step in/ out / over

5.     Module 5 - Inputs And Outputs

• Inputs, Output and Startup Parameters
• Data item Visibility
• Data types
• Control Room
• Process Outputs

6.      Module 6 - Business Objects And Process Layers

• Object studio and Process studio, differences
• Action Stages
• Application Modeler
• Spying Elements
• Attributes
• BO stages
• Attach and Detach
•  Action inputs and outputs
• Data items as Inputs

7.      Module 7 - Error Management – Exceptional Handling

• Recover and Resume
• Throwing Exceptions
• Preserving the Current Exceptions
• Exception Bubbling & Exception Blocks
• Exceptional Handling in Practice

8.      Module 8 - Case Management – Work Queues

• Queue Items
• Work Queue Configuration
• Defer
• Attempts
• Pause and Resume
• Filters
• Reports

9.      Module 9 - Release Manager & Logging

• Safe Stop
• Collection Actions
• Choice Stage
• Log Viewer
• System Manager
• Process / Business Object grouping
• Process and Object references
• Export and Import
• Packages and Releases

10.      Module 10 - Environmental Locking, Credentials And Other Additional Features

• Undefined Collections
• Data item Initialization and Exposure
• Casting, Code stage, and Run Mode
• Initialize and Clean up Pages
• Attribute Tinkering
• Dynamic Attributes and Relative positions
• Active Accessibility
• Application Manager Mode
• Global send keys and Clicks
• Command Line, Resource PC

11.      Module 11 - Surface Automation

• Introduction to Surface Automation on Thin client applications (Region Mode)
• Training Application and Object Model
• Interacting with Application Elements (Text boxes, Combo boxes, buttons etc.)
• Tabulated Data
• Alternate text input methods
• Adding Robustness and Performance
• Fonts & Character Conflicts
• Sending Key events and Special keys