Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

Module – 1
RPA Foundations- What is RPA – Flavors of RPA- History of RPA- The Benefits of RPA-The
downsides of RPA- RPA Compared to BPO, BPM and BPA – Consumer Willingness for
Automation- The Workforce of the Future- RPA Skills-On-Premise Vs. the Cloud- Web Technology-
Programming Languages and Low Code- OCR-Databases-APIs- AI-Cognitive Automation-Agile,
Scrum, Kanban and Waterfall0 DevOps- Flowcharts.

1.1 What is RPA?

 RPA stands for Robotic Process Automation.

 It is the technology used for software tools that automate human tasks, which are manual,
rule- based, or repetitive.
 Typically, it is like a bot that performs such tasks at a much higher rate than a human alone.

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 These RPA software bots never sleep and make zero mistakes, and can interact with in-house

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applications, websites, user portals, etc.
 They can log into applications, enter data, open emails and attachments, calculate and
complete tasks, and then log out.

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The word 'Robot' in 'RPA' is not a physical robot but a virtual system that helps in automating
the repetitive manual computing or business process tasks.
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Why RPA

 Robotic Process Automation is economically capable as compared to any other automation

solutions.

 It is the new buzz word in the IT industry. It has shifted the traditional way of doing the
business task manually into an automatic task within an organization.

 RPA technology uses bots that interact with web applications, web sites, excel worksheets,
and emails to automate the tasks just like a human.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 1

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

Benefits of RPA
Robotic Process Automation technology provides the following benefits:
Cost Savings
RPA helps organizations to save a huge amount of cost as it is typically cheaper than hiring
an employee to perform the same set of tasks.

Less Error
RPA works on standard logic and does not get bored, distracted, or tired. Hence, the
probability of making errors reduces to a great extent, which means less re-work and an
enhanced reputation for efficiency.

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Faster Processing
RPA works faster than human employees as computer software does not need breaks, food,

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rest, etc., and can perform repetitive operations tirelessly. With RPA, processing time
becomes predictable and consistent, which ensures high-quality customer service across the
operations.
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Better Regulatory Compliance
RPA software works on the logic and data fed to it and does what is only needed as per the
given instructions. Hence, there are minimal chances of not complying with the standard
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regulations.
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Better Customer Service

When RPA is implemented in a business, it frees many of its employees who can spend their
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time working on customer-related services. It is very beneficial for businesses that receive a
lot of customer queries. It also leads to increased productivity for employees.
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Auditable & Secure

RPA bots will only access the data for which they are given permission and create a detailed
audit trail of all activity.

Low Technical Barrier

RPA does not require any programming skills to configure the software robot. Since it is a
code-free technology, any non-technical person can set up the bot using drag and drop
features. It also includes the 'Recorder' to record the steps of automation.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 2

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

1.2 Flavours of RPA

On a high level, you can divide the flavours into the following:

1) Attended RPA (which may be referred to as robotic desktop automation or RDA):

 This was the first form of RPA that emerged, back in 2003 or so.
 Attended RPA means that the software provides collaboration with a person for
certain tasks.
 Example: would be in the call center, where a rep can have the RPA system handle
looking up information while he or she talks to a customer.

2) Unattended RPA:

 This technology was the second generation of RPA.

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 With unattended RPA, you can automate a process without the need for human
involvement – that is, the bot is triggered when certain events happen,

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Example: such as when a customer e-mails an invoice.
 Consider that unattended RPA is generally for back-office functions.
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3) Intelligent process automation or IPA (this may also be referred to as cognitive RPA):

 This is the latest generation of RPA technology, which leverages AI to allow the
system to learn over time
Example: would be the interpretation of documents, such as invoices.
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 There may be even less human intervention.
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1.3 History of RPA

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During the past 70 or so years that computers have been a major catalyst for this trend. Along the
way, there have been different period’s of automation, based on the types of technologies available.
They would also provide a foundation for RPA platforms.
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Mainframe Era: These were huge machines developed by companies like IBM. They were
expensive and mostly available to large companies (although, innovators like Ross Perot would create
outsourcing services to provide affordable options). Yet they were incredibly useful in helping
manage core functions for companies, such as payroll and customer accounts.

PC Revolution: Intel’s development of the microprocessor and Microsoft’s development of its

operating system revolutionized the technology industry. As a result, just about any business could
automate processes; say by using word processors and spreadsheets.

But the automation technologies – while powerful – still had their drawbacks. They could easily result
in complex IT environments, which required expensive and time-consuming integrations and custom
coding.
From this emerged the key elements for RPA, which came about in the early 2000s.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 3

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

A big part of this was screen scraping, which is the automation of moving data among applications,
which turned out to provide a nice boost to efficiency and effectiveness.
But the nascent RPA market got scant attention. It was mostly perceived as low-tech and a
commodity.
Instead, investors and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley focused their attention on the rapidly growing
cloud market that was disrupting traditional IT systems.

But around 2012 or so, the RPA market hit an inflection point. There was a convergence of trends
that made this happen, such as the following:

 In the aftermath of the financial crisis, companies were looking for ways to lower their
costs. Simply put, traditional technologies like ERP were reaching maturation. So
companies needed to look for new drivers.

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 Companies also realized they had to find ways to not be disrupted from technology
companies. RPA was considered an easier and more cost-effective way to go digital.

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 Some industries like banking were becoming more subject to regulation. In other words,
there was a compelling need to find ways to lessen the paperwork and improve audit,
security, and control.

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RPA technology was starting to get more sophisticated and easier to use, allowing for
higher ROI (return on investment).
 Large companies were starting to use RPA for mission-critical applications.

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Demographics were also key. As the millennials started to enter the workforce, they
wanted more engaging work. They wanted careers, not jobs.
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Fast forward to today, RPA is the fastest growing part of the software industry. According to Gartner,
the spending on this technology jumped by 63% to $850 million in 2018 and is forecasted to reach
$1.3 billion by 2019. Or consider the findings from Transparency Market Research. The firm projects
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that the global market for RPA will soar to $5 billion by 2020.
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1.4 The Benefits of RPA

When looking at RPA, the benefits are far more than just about the impact on the bottom line. The
technology can transform a company.

The Impact of Small Improvements: On the surface, an employee who saves 10 to 20 seconds on
a task – even something as simple as a series of cut-and-paste actions –may seem trivial. But it’s not.
When scaled across thousands of employees across a global organization, the impact can certainly be
significant.

 For example, some companies will keep track of the metric of how many hours are saved by
using RPA, which becomes a part of the overall ROI calculation.

Relative Ease of Implementation: Unlike traditional business applications like a CRM or ERP, RPA
generally does not involve an onerous implementation and integration. Why? Note that the software
sits on top of existing IT systems.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 4

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

 RPA is also relatively easy for a person to use since there is no requirement for understanding
complex coding.

The bottom line: The people implementing RPA will get to their objectives quicker and the IT
department will have more time to devote to higher priority items. This is important as there remains
a trend of less investment in IT.

Compliance: Just one violation of a government regulation can have a serious adverse impact on a
company. It could even be a threat to its very existence.

 Examples like Enron or Theranos:

 (While employees are usually diligent and trustworthy, they do make mistakes or they may
not understand some of the regulations. Yet this is not an issue with RPA. You can easily
configure a bot to make sure the actions are compliant with regulatory requirements. Many
RPA vendors also have built in their own compliance systems, handling such laws as the

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Sarbanes–Oxley Act, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and HIPAA (Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)).

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 Another compliance benefit is that there will be less intervention with the data from people,
which lessens the possibility of fraud.
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Customer Service: Nowadays, people want quick and accurate responses from their companies. But
this is difficult to provide, especially when a company is overwhelmed from incoming contacts. But
this is where RPA can make a big difference. The bots are programmed to make sure that all the
necessary steps are taken – at scale. The result is often an increase in customer satisfaction metrics,
like the Net Promoter Score (NPS).
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Employee Satisfaction: Yes, your team should also enjoy the benefits of RPA. After all, it means
that they do not have to spend their valuable time on tedious activities. The result may be less turnover
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and higher productivity.

Wide Application: It’s common for an enterprise application to focus on a certain part of a
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company’s departments or functions. But RPA is wide. It can be used for virtually any part of a
company, such as legal, finance, HR, marketing, sales and so on.
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Data Quality: It should be greatly improved as there will be less chance of human error. In fact, there
will probably be much more data because of the scalability of the automation. In other words, the
datasets for analytics and AI will be more robust and useful.

Digital Transformation: This is a major priority for CEOs. But many companies have legacy
systems that would be expensive to replace or integrate. However, RPA is an approach that can help
with this process, which is often quicker and less costly.

Scalability: If there is a sudden jump in demand, it can be extremely difficult to hire new employees.
But RPA can be a solution. It is much cheaper and faster to ramp up new bots to meet the demand.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 5

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

1.5 The Downsides of RPA

RPA is definitely not a cure-all. The software has its inherent limitations and complexities.
 Cost of Ownership: The business models vary. Some have a subscription or multiyear
license. Other vendors may charge based on the number of bots.
 But there is more to the costs. There is the need for some level of training and ongoing
maintenance. Depending on the circumstances, there may be requirements for buying other
types of software and hardware. Oh, and it is common to retain third-party consultants to help
with the implementation process.
 Technical Debt: This is an issue with RPA. As a company’s processes change, the bots may
not work properly. This is why RPA does require ongoing attention.
 Enterprise Scale:. It can be extremely difficult to manage the numerous bots and there also
needs to be strong collaboration among IT.

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 Security: This is a growing risk with RPA implementations, especially as the technology
covers more mission-critical areas of a company’s processes. Let’s face it, if there is a breach,

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then highly sensitive information could easily be obtained. Actually as RPA gets more
pervasive in manufacturing, there may even be risks of property damage and bodily harm.
This would likely be the case with attended RPA.

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Expectations:. According to a survey from PEGA, the average time it takes to develop a
quality bot was 18 months, with only 39% being deployed on time.
 Preparation: You need to do a deep dive in how your current tasks work. If not, you may be
automating bad approaches.

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Limits: RPA technology is somewhat constrained. For the most part, it works primarily for
tasks that are routine and repetitive. If there is a need for judgment – say to approve a payment
or to verify a document – then there should be human intervention. Although, as AI gets more
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pervasive, the issues are likely to fade away.

For example, insurance companies can use the technology to adjudicate claims for payments,
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based on individual claims history and firm-wide payment policies.

 Virtualized Environments: This is where a desktop accesses applications remotely, such as

through a platform. However, some of the latest RPA offerings, such as from UiPath, are
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solving the problem.

1.6 RPA Compared to BPO, BPM, and BPA

 Business process management (BPM)

 Business process outsourcing (BPO)
 Business process automation (BPA)

They can get kind of confusing but they have key distinctions.
BPM:
For example, FileNet introduced a digital workflow management system to help better handle
documents (the company would eventually be purchased by IBM). Then there would come onto the
scene ERP vendors, such as PeopleSoft
 All of this would converge into a major wave called BPM.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 6

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

 For the most part, the focus was on having a comprehensive improvement on business
processes. This would encompass both optimizing systems for employees but also IT assets.
 There were also various business process management software (BPMS) solutions to help
implement BPM.
 One was Laserfiche. Nien-Ling Wacker founded the company in 1987, when she saw the
opportunity to use OCR (optical character recognition) technology to allow users to search
huge volumes of text.

So then how is BPM different from RPA?

With BPM, it requires much more time and effort with the implementation because it is about
changing extensive processes, not tasks. There also needs to be detailed documentation and training.
Because of this rigorous approach, BPM is often attractive to industries that are heavily regulated,
such as financial services and healthcare.

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However, the risk is that there may be too much structure, which can stifle innovation and agility. On
the other hand, RPA can be complementary to BPM. That is, you can first undergo a BPM

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implementation to greatly improve core processes. Then you can look to RPA to fill in the gaps.

BPO: This is when a company outsources a business service function like payroll, customer support,
procurement, and HR.
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 The market is massive, with revenues forecasted to reach $343.2 billion by 2025 (according
to Grand View Research). Some of the top players in the industry include ADP, Accenture,
Infosys, IBM, TCS, and Cognizant.

As should be no surprise, one of the big attractions of BPO is the benefit of lower wage rates in other
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countries (this is often referred to as “labor arbitrage”). The employee bases will also often be
educated and multilingual.bases will also often be educated and multilingual.
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BPO will have three types of strategies:

 Offshore: This is where the employees are in another country, usually far away.
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 Nearshore: This is when the BPO is in a neighboring country. True, there are usually higher
costs but there is the benefit of being able to conveniently visit the vendor. This can greatly
help with the collaboration.
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 Onshore: The vendor is in the same country. For example, there can be wide differences in
wages in the United States.

There are drawbacks with a BPO: Perhaps the most notable one is the quality issue (you know the
situation when you call a company and get an agent you can barely understand!).
Yet here are some others to consider:
 Security: If a BPO company is developing an app with your company’s data, are there enough
precautions in place so there is not a breach? Even if so, it can still be difficult to enforce and
manage.
 Costs: Over the years, countries like China and India have seen rising labor costs. This has
resulted in companies moving to other locations, which can be disruptive and expensive.
 Politics: This can be a wildcard. Instability can easily mean having to abandon a BPO operator
in a particular country.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 7

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

BPA: This is the use of technology to automate a complete process. One common use case is on
boarding.
For example, bringing on a new employee involves many steps, which are repeatable and entail lots
of paperwork. For a large organization, the process can be time-consuming and expensive. But BPA
can streamline everything, allowing for the on boarding at scale.

OK, this kind of sounds like RPA, right? Yes, this is true. But there is a difference in degree. RPA is
really about automating a part of the process, whereas BPA will take on all the steps.

1.7 Consumer Willingness for Automation

The automation of consumer-facing activities, such as with chatbots on a smartphone or web site, are
becoming more ubiquitous.
Consider a report from Helpshift, an AI-based digital customer service platform automating 80% of
customer support issues for huge D2C (direct-to-consumer) brands including companies like

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Flipboard, Microsoft, Tradesy, and 60 others. Its report is based on the analysis of 75 million customer
service tickets and 71 million bot-sent messages.

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Here are some of the findings:
 A total of 55% of the respondents – and 65% of millennials – prefer chatbots with customer
service so long as it is more efficient and reduces phone time to resolve an issue and explain
a problem.
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 A total of 49% say they appreciate the 24/7 availability of chatbots.- Granted, there is much
progress to be made. Chatbot technology is still in the early phases and can be glitchy, if not
downright annoying in certain circumstances. But in theyears to come, this form of automation
will likely become more important – and also a part of the RPA roadmap.
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 According to the CEO of Helpshift, Linda Crawford: “Seeing as the vast majority of
Americans dread contacting customer support, there’s a huge opportunity here for chatbots to
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fill the void and improve the customer support experience for consumers—and agents

1.8 The Workforce of the Future

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The interesting thing is that the fundamentals of work have not changed much since then. True, there
has been the trend of the gig economy, in which people get paid for offering services through Uber
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and Lyft. Yet when it comes to office work, the structure has remained quite durable.
According to research from the McKinsey Global Institute, white collar workers still spend 60% of
their time on manual tasks, such as with answering e-mails, using spreadsheets, writing notes, and
making calls.

In light of all this, RPA is likely to have a significant impact on the workplace because more and
more of the repetitive processes will be automated away. One potential consequence is that there may
be growing job losses.
A survey from Forrester predicts that – as of 2025 – software automation will mean the loss of 9% of
the world’s jobs or 230 million. Then again, the new technologies and approaches will open up many
new opportunities.
Its analysis shows that technologies like RPA could automate a whopping 45% of the activities of a
company’s workforce. Now when a company engages in an automation project, the CEO will usually
not talk about job loss. It’s something that will frighten the workforce and generate awful headlines.
Instead the messaging will be vague, focusing on the overall benefits of the transformation.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 8

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

This may make it sound like not much is happening. But it does seem like a good bet that the
reverberations will grow and grow, as RPA systems get increasingly robust. As we’ve seen in prior
periods where technology resulted in job loss – such as in the Industrial Revolution – there are serious
changes in politics and regulations.
Companies really do try to avoid layoffs, since they are expensive and take a toll on the organization.
But in the years ahead, managers will probably need to find ways to navigate the changes from
automation, such as finding new roles or reskilling the workforce.
All in all, the rise of automation has the potential for leading for a much better society. Again, workers
can focus on more interesting and engaging activities – not repetitive and mundane tasks. There will
also be ongoing renewing of knowledge and understanding. But there must be proactive efforts, say
from companies and governments, to provide for a smoother transition.

The Technologies You Need to Know

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While RPA does not require programming skills, there is still a need to understand high-level
concepts about technology. Unfortunately, the concepts can get extremely complex and confusing. It

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seems like there is an endless number of acronyms like ACL, API, OCR, CPU, HTTP, IP, JSON,
NOC, PCI, RAM, and SaaS.
Even tech veterans do not know many of the terms – or have just a vague understanding of their
meanings. For example, here’s how Kubernetes is defined:
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Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of
containerized applications.
Huh? To get a sense of this, you really need to have a deep understanding of computer and software
architecture.
But the good news is that – to use RPA effectively – there are only a handful of terms and concepts
you need to know. So this is what we’ll cover in this chapter.
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On-Premise Vs. the Cloud

The traditional IT system approach is the use of on-premise technology. This means that a company
purchases and sets up its own hardware and software in its own data center.
Some of the benefits include:
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 A company has complete control over everything. This is particularly important for regulated
industries that require high levels of security and privacy.
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 With on-premise software, you may have a better ability to customize the solution to your
company’s unique needs and IT policies.

However, the on-premise technology model has serious issues as well. One of the biggest is the cost,
which often involves large up-front capital expenses. Then there is the ongoing need for maintenance,
upgrades, and monitoring. And finally, the use of point applications like Excel can lead to a
fragmented environment, in which it becomes difficult to centralize data because there are so many
files spread across the organization.

 But as the Internet became more robust, there was a move to so-called cloud computing.
 One of the first business applications in this industry was developed by Salesforce.com, which
made it possible for users to use the software through a browser.

Companies could pay per-user, per-month fees for the services they used, and those services would
be delivered to them immediately via the Internet, in the cloud.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 9

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

The downsides with cloud software. Here are just some to consider:
 With less control of the platform, there are more vulnerability to security and privacy lapses.
 Outages do happen and can be extremely disruptive and costly for enterprises that need
reliability.
 Cloud computing is not necessarily cheap. In fact, one of the biggest complaints against
Salesforce.com is the cost.
 Regardless, the fact remains that the technology continues to gain traction.

Besides the impact of Salesforce.com and other cloud applications companies, another critical
development was Amazon.com’s AWS platform.

AWS essentially handles the complex administrative and infrastructure requirements like storage,
security, compute, database access, content delivery, developer tools, deployment, IoT (Internet of
Things), and analytics (there are currently more than 165 services).

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This means the development of applications can be much quicker. The costs are generally lower and
the fees are based on a per-use basis.

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The cloud also has different approaches, such as the following:
 Public Cloud: The cloud is accessed from remote servers, such as from AWS,
Salesforce.com, and Microsoft. The servers have an architecture known as multitenant that
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allows the users to share a large IT infrastructure in a secure manner.

This greatly helps to achieve economies of scale, which would not be possible if a company
created its own cloud.


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Private Cloud: This is when a company owns the data center. True, there are not the benefits
of the economies of scale from a public cloud. But this may not be a key consideration. Some
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companies might want a private cloud because of control and security.

 Hybrid Cloud: This is a blend of the public and private clouds. For example, the public cloud
may handle less mission-critical functions.
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As for RPA, the cloud has different implications and impacts. One is that a platform needs to deal
with complex distributed applications, which can be difficult if a company develops custom programs
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on a cloud service.

In some cases, an on-premise RPA system may be loaded onto a cloud service like AWS. While
there are benefits with this, it is not cloud native. This is because you will still need to upgrade and
maintain the software.

Web Technology
The mastermind of the development of the World Wide Web – which involved the use of hyperlinks
to navigate web pages – was a British scientist, Tim Berners-Lee.

At the core of this was HTML or hypertext markup language, which was a set of commands and tags
to display text, show colors, and present graphics. A key was that the system was fairly easy to learn
and use, which helped to accelerate the number of web sites.

For example, many of the commands in HTML involve surrounding content with tags, such as the
following:
<strong>This is a Title</strong>

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 10

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

HTML would ultimately be too simple. So there emerged other systems to provide even richer
experiences, such as with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets, which provides for borders, shadows, and
animations) and JavaScript (this makes it possible to have sophisticated interactivity, say, with the
use of forms or calculations).

RPA must deal with such systems to work effectively. This means it will have to take actions like
identify the commands and tags so as to automate tasks.

Programming Languages and Low Code

 A programming language allows you to instruct a computer to take actions.
 The commands generally use ordinary words like IF, Do, While, and Then. But there can still
be lots of complexity, especially with languages that use advanced concepts like object-
oriented programming.
 Some of the most popular languages today include Python, Java, C++, C#, and Ruby.
 To use an RPA system, you have to use some code – but it’s not particularly difficult. It’s

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actually known as low code. As the name implies, it is about using minimal manual input.

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For example, an RPA system has tools like drag-and-drop and visualizations to create a bot. This is
not to imply that low code does not need some training. To do low code correctly, you will need to
understand certain types of workflows and approaches.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

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 A key feature for an RPA platform is OCR (Optical Character Recognition), a technology that
has actually been around for decades. It has two parts:

o Document scanner (which could even be something like your smartphone)

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o Software that recognizes text.
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In other words, with OCR, you can scan an image, PDF, or even handwritten documents – and the
text will be recognized. This makes it possible to manipulate the text, such as by transferring it onto
a form or updating a database.
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There are definitely many challenges with effective OCR scanning, such as:

 The size of a font


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The shape of the text

 The skewness (is the text rotated or slanted?)
 Blurred or degraded text
 Background noise
 Understanding different languages

Then how does this technology help with RPA?

 One way is with recoding a person’s actions while working on an application. The OCR can
better capture the workflows by recognizing words and other visuals on the screen. So, even
if there is a change of the location of these items, the RPA system can still identify them.
 Something else: Automation involves large numbers of documents.

Thus, OCR will greatly improve the processing. An example of this would be processing a loan. With
OCR, a document will use OCR to extract information about a person’s financial background, the
information about the property, and any other financial details. After this, the RPA system will apply
the workflows and tasks to process the loan, say, with applying various rules and sending documents
to different departments and regulatory agencies.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 11

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

But there are OCR systems that can help out, such as HyperScience. The software leverages
sophisticated machine learning (ML) technology to quickly and accurately extract the information
(understanding cursive writing, for example).

Databases
 At the heart of most applications is a database, which stores data that can be searched and
updated. This is usually done by putting the information in tables (i.e., rows and columns of
information).

 To interact with this, there is a scripting language called SQL (Structured Query Language),
which was relatively easy to learn.

 It was not until the late 1970s that relational databases were commercialized, led by the
pioneering efforts of Oracle.

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 While relational databases proved to be quite effective, there were still some nagging issues.
Perhaps the biggest was data sprawl. Another problem was that relational databases were not

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cheap. And as new technologies came on the scene, such as cloud computing and real-time
mobile applications, it became more difficult to process the data.

 In the meantime, there have been new approaches that have gone against the model for
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relational databases. They include offerings like MySQL (which is now owned by Oracle)
and PostgreSQL. Yet these systems did not get enough traction in the enterprise.

 But there is one next-generation database technology that has done so: NoSQL. It also began
as an open source project and saw tremendous growth. As of now, MongoDB has 14,200
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customers across 100 countries and there have been over 70 million downloads.

 Where relational databases are highly structured, a NoSQL system is quite flexible. It’s based
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on a document model that can handle huge amounts of data at petabyte scale.
 And going forward, there is likely to be much innovation with database technology. Yet
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relational databases will remain the majority of what companies use – which also means that
this will also be what RPA interacts with as well.
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APIs (Application Programming Interfaces)

An API – which is the acronym for “application programming interface” – is software that connects
two applications.

For example: let’s say you want to create a weather app. To get access to the data, you can setup an
API, which often is fairly straightforward, such as by putting together a few lines of code to make
data requests (say, for the city). By doing this, you will increase the speed of the development.
APIs are pervasive in enterprise environments since they are so effective. They also have different
structures. Although, the most common is a REST (representational state transfer) API.

 It’s true that APIs can be used as a form of automation.

 The technology requires having people with technical backgrounds. The development of an
API can take time and require complex integration.
 There is also the need for ongoing testing. However, there are third-party services that can
help out. There must be a focus on maintaining an API (it’s not uncommon for an API to
break if there is a change in the structure).
 APIs can still have bugs and glitches, especially when in complex IT environments.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 12

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

Because of the difficulties, RPA has proven to be a very attractive alternative. Again, the development
is much easier and there is less of a need for integration. But, interestingly enough, an RPA platform
can be a vehicle for delivering advanced APIs within the enterprise.

AI (Artificial Intelligence)
 A typical RPA system does not have much AI (Artificial Intelligence). The main reason is
that there is a literal carrying out of tasks, which does not require any smart system. But as AI
gets more powerful and accessible, RPA will increasingly start to use this powerful
technology – which should greatly enhance the outcomes.

AI: It’s software that ingests large amounts of data that is processed with sophisticated algorithms
that help answer questions, detect patterns, or learn. Interestingly enough, AI is actually made up of
a variety of subcategories

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Machine Learning: This is where a computer can learn and improve by processing data without
having to be explicitly programmed. Machine learning is actually one of the oldest forms of AI and

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uses traditional statistical methods like k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) and the naive Bayes classifier.

Deep Learning: Deep learning became a major force in AI. Some of the important factors for this
included the enormous growth in data, the use of GPUs (graphics processing units) that provided for
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ultrafast parallel processing, and innovation in techniques like backpropagation.

Deep learning is about using so-called neural networks – such as recurrent neural networks (RNNs),
convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and generative adversarial networks (GANs) – to find
patterns that humans often cannot detect.
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NLP (natural language processing): This is AI that helps understand conversations. The most
notable examples of this include Siri, Cortana, and Alexa.
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But there are also many chatbots that focus on specific uses cases (say, with providing medical
advice).
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Besides, AI has some major issues, such as the following:

Bias: According to IBM: “Bad data can contain implicit racial, gender, or ideological biases. Many
AI systems will continue to be trained using bad data, making this an ongoing problem.”

Causation: Humans have a strong grasp of this. We know what will happen if we use a hammer to
hit a glass. It’s pretty much instinctive. But AI is another matter. This technology is really about
finding correlations in data not causation – and this is a major limiting factor.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 13

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

Common Sense: A human does not have to process many cases to understand certain rules of thumb.
We just naturally understand them. But with AI, common sense has been extremely difficult to code
because of the ambiguity and the lack of useful data for the seemingly infinite use cases.

Black Box: Deep learning can have an enormous number of layers and parameters. This means it can
be nearly impossible for a person to understand why the model is generating certain results. Now
theres more innovation in trying to find ways to understand deep learning outcomes – which is
something called “explainability” – but the efforts are still in the nascent stages.

Comprehension: An AI system cannot truly understand what it is reading or observing.

For example, if it read War and Peace, it would not be able to provide thoughts on the character
development, themes, and so on.

Static: It is also possible to conduct millions of simulations to learn. But of course, the real world is
much more dynamic, open-ended, and chaotic.

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Conceptual Thinking: AI cannot understand abstract ideas like justice, misery, or happiness. There

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is also a lack of imagination and creativity.

Brain: It’s really a miracle of evolution. A typical brain has 86 billion neurons and
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Structured Data: This is data that is formatted (social security numbers, addresses, point of sale
information, etc.) that can be stored in a relational database or spreadsheet.

Unstructured Data: This is data that is unformatted (images, videos, voicemails, PDFs, emails, and
audio files).
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For the most part, RPA uses structured data. However, this represents about 30% of what’s available
in a typical organization. But with AI, an RPA system will likely be much more effective since it will
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be better able to process unstructured data.

Furthermore, there are other potential benefits of the technology: judgement, the use of reasoning,
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and the detection of highly complex patterns. With these, the automation will be greatly enhanced,
helping with things like detecting fraud.

Cognitive Automation
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Consider cognitive automation to be an application of AI, actually.

First of all, it is automation uses a combination of technologies like speech recognition and NLP. By
doing this, the goal is to replicate human actions as best as possible, such as by analysing patterns of
workers and then finding patterns and correlations.
Something else: Unlike other forms of AI, cognitive automation is usually effective with the use of
much less data. There may also be not as much reliance on highly technical talent, such as data
scientists.

Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and Waterfall

In today’s world, software development has become even more difficult because of the emergence of
new platforms like the cloud and the hybrid cloud. This is why it’s important to look at software
management approaches.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 14

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

Agile
-One is called Agile, which was created back in the 1990s (a big part of this was the publication of
the Manifesto for Agile Software Development).
-The focus of this was to allow for incremental and iterative development, which begins with a
detailed plan. This also requires much communication across the teams and should involve people
from the-business side of the organization.
-Nowadays, Agile has gotten easier because of the emergence of sophisticated technologies like Slack
and Zoom that help with collaboration. “

Scrum
This is actually a subset of Agile. But the iterations are done as quick sprints, which may last a week
or two. This can help with the momentum of a project but also make a larger project more manageable
(just as a side note: Scrum was first used for manufacturing but it was later found to work quite well
with software development).

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Kanban
-This comes from the Japanese word for visual sign or card (the roots of the system go back to

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Toyota’s high-quality manufacturing processes).
So yes, with Kanban, there is the use of visuals to help streamline the process. What’s more, the
general approach is similar to Agile as there is iterative development.
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Waterfall
-This is the traditional code development model, which goes back to the 1970s.
-The waterfall model is a structured plan that goes over each step in much detail. To help this along,
there may be the use of a project management tool, say, a Gantt chart.
-While the waterfall approach has its advantages, it has generally fallen out of favor. Some of the
reasons are as follows: It can be tough to make changes, the process can be tedious, and there is often
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a risk of a project being late.
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DevOps
DevOps has emerged as a critical part of a company’s digital transformation.
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The “Dev” part of the word is actually more than just about coding software.
It also refers to the complete application process (such as with project management and quality
assurance or QA). As for “Ops,” it is another broad term, which encompasses system engineers and
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administrators as well as database administrators, network engineers, security experts, and operations
staff.
For the most part, DevOps has come about because of some major trends in IT. One is the use of agile
development approaches. Next is the realization that organizations need to combine technical and
operational staff when introducing new technologies and innovations.
And finally, DevOps has proven effective in working with cloud computing environments.

Flowcharts
An essential part of RPA is understanding workflows and systems, the use of flowcharts is common.
It’s usually at the core of the software application.
With a flowchart, you can both sketch out the existing workflows of a department. And then from
here, you can brainstorm ways of improving them. Then you can use the flowchart to design a bot for
the automation.

Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 15

Robotic Process Automation Design & Development /21CS744 Module – 1

The flowchart is relatively simple to use and it also provides a quick visual way to understand what
you are dealing with. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Some of the basics:
Terminator: This is a rectangle with rounded corners and is used to start and end the process, as seen
in Figure

Process: This is represented by a rectangle. With this, there is only one next step in the process.
Figure shows as example.

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Decision: This is a square symbol that is at an angle. There will be at least two possible paths. Figure
shows an example.
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Prof. Imran Ulla Khan, Dept. of CSE, SKIT 16