These eight questions should help you start automation in a positive fashion, or at least bring you one step closer to becoming part of the increasing number of innovative companies that turn to RPA in 2018.

1. Robotics
Quotient (RQ)
CiGen
8 Questions to Ask about
Processes before
Implementing Robotic
Process Automation

2. 1. Is the
process
rules based?
Processes with clear
processing instructions
(template driven), with decision making
based on standardised and predictive rules
make automating easier.
Processes with many
exceptions
are overly complex, therefore increasing
cost and time to implement.

3. 2. Are there
measurable
savings?
The CiGen team recommends to
commence automation with
processes that can be evaluated against a
known cost and/or time basis.
The cost savings or benefit
gained
can typically be expressed in terms of
greater accuracy, faster response times,
reduced labour costs and higher
productivity from re-allocating staff.

4. 3. Does the
process have
readable
inputs?
Processes require
readable input types, including text based
data, user interface (UI) activities
(keyboard strokes, mouse clicks, etc),
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and
green screen.
Processes can operate within
almost any application or environment,
such as desktop, Citrix, web, server, etc.
Ensure your process has readable inputs - if
they do not, then investigate what steps
are required to obtain them.

5. 4. Is the
process
manual and
repetitive?
Processes that require a high degree of
manual, structured and repetitive input
involve activities that are more susceptible
to human error.
Unless the answer to this question is ‘yes’, it
is perhaps better to leave it to your
creative, bright-minded employees.

6. 5. What type of
Data:
Structured or
unstructured?
Robotic process automation calls for
structured data, like that made available in
an ERP application, Excel file, etc.
Unstructured data, like the free-form
content within the body of an email, must
often be pre-processed and turned into a
structured format for robots to successfully
automate.
Leave the unstructured data until later in
your automation cycle once you have
learned how to get the most out of your
RPA solution.

7. 6. Are the
process(es)
high volume
and/or high
frequency?
High transaction volume processes
(including batch processes), such as those
that run end of day and end of month,
or
High frequency processes, such as those
that run intra-daily, daily and weekly
offer excellent payback.

8. 7. Mature and
stable?
The more stable the process, the more
smooth and effective (and thus cost-
efficient) its automated version.
The reason behind this is that RPA should
always change whenever some steps in the
process change.
But more adjustments also mean more
hassle, and therefore reduced efficiency.
are consistent and well-defined, stable
processes are also predictable.

9. 8. What
process
automations
should you
avoid?
Seek to avoid automating processes
that are either marked for re-work,
continually change over the short to
medium term,
or those that will be eliminated in the near
term.

10. WWW.CIGEN.COM.AU
M o r e a n d m o r e e m p l o y e e s w i l l b e e n g a g e d t o
c o n d u c t h i g h e r v a l u e w o r k i n o r d e r t o i m p r o v e
c u s t o m e r e x p e r i e n c e , o r c o m e u p w i t h i n n o v a t i v e
i d e a s t h a t s u p p o r t e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n t a t b o t h
t h e m i c r o a n d m a c r o s c a l e o f t h e o r g a n i s a t i o n .
M o s t o f a l l , s t a n d a r d i s e d , r e p e t i t i v e a n d h i g h
v o l u m e / f r e q u e n c y p r o c e s s e s w i l l b e t h e r e a l m o f
s o f t w a r e r o b o t s , n o t p e o p l e .
Conclusion

11. WWW.CIGEN.COM.AU
Thank you for interest!
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