A Framework to Evaluate the Viability of Robotic Process Automation for Business Process Activities

• Published in: Business Process Management: Blockchain and Robotic Process Automation Forum Vol. 393; pp. 200 - 214
• Main Authors: Wellmann, Christian, Stierle, Matthias, Dunzer, Sebastian, Matzner, Martin
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Springer International Publishing AG 2020; Springer International Publishing
• Series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing
• Subjects: Process activity evaluation; Process characteristics; RPA support; Viability assessment
• ISBN: 9783030587789; 3030587789
• ISSN: 1865-1348; 1865-1356
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_14

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technology for centralized automation of business processes. RPA automates user interaction with graphical user interfaces, whereby it promises efficiency gains and a reduction of human negligence during process execution. To harness these benefits, organizations face the challenge of classifying process activities as viable automation candidates for RPA. Therefore, this work aims to support practitioners in evaluating RPA automation candidates. We design a framework that consists of thirteen criteria grouped into five perspectives which offer different evaluation aspects. These criteria leverage a profound understanding of the process step. We demonstrate and evaluate the framework by applying it to a real-life data set.