Initialize
Initializing an RPA program can be challenging as there is a lot to consider and to prioritize, but don’t be daunted. Breaking down the actions for setting up your capability into steps that are manageable. Whether you have completed a successful Pilot or Proof of Concept, or are going straight to production you should start planning for the future.
In the initialize phase,there is a focus on establishing the capability and bringing together a Centre of Excellence inside your organization. The experts brought together here will build the foundations on which to grow your digital workforce. It is during this phase that you will define how RPA will look in your organization, how it will be implemented and how it will be delivered operationally.
To initialize your capability safely and with scale in mind, we have provided you with some key considerations across each core foundation of the Blue Prism Robotic Operating Model.
- To be successful, the Vision for your Digital Workforce should directly align with corporate strategy to increase engagement of key stakeholders. To start your Vision think of 3-5 things you want to achieve as a COE to help the organization achieve their goals. The vision should be reviewed as the service evolves
- Build a Business Case to get senior sponsorship for RPA
- Engage with Operation team, subject matter experts and IT to help you deliver RPA successfully and realize the full RPA benefits
- Build a Communication Plan and update it regularly
- Create quick wins and identify KPIs to help you measure successful outcomes and communicate success.
- Define your Organizational Model. Although your selection should be based on the nature of your business and the culture within it, we usually advise customers that are in their beginning of the journey, to begin with a centralized model.
- Start to integrate RPA as part of your business and educate the organization on the art of the possible
- Adopt a Discovery process to identify processes to automate.
- Establish a healthy and credible Pipeline, balancing maximization of benefit, resource and re-use of objects and processes.
- As you start off avoid complexity, compliance based processes and processes that are high risk or business critical processes. For tips on this visit the Process Discovery section.
- Create an RPA Governance Board
- A Change Management process should be in place to proactively identify IT application changes that affect target applications
- Consider how you will Manage Risks
- Make sure your Digital Workers have the correct access and authorizations to the applications they are going to be working.Read more on how to Onboard Digital Workers
- Dashboard and Reporting. will allow you to quickly view information on various aspects of the digital workforce
- Create a Logical Access Model to document and record the users or teams that have access to Blue Prism functionality
- Logging and Managing Data policies need to be created to document how long an organization needs specific data
- Create a governed Security Policy.
- Define a Delivery Methodology consisting of best practices standards and templates to ensure that everyone has the tools to automate consistently.
- Defined stage gates. Design Authority and Governance Board are essential to ensure Build and Design quality and consistency.
- Consider the best practices that are provide for the Control Room to successfully deploy your automated processes.
- Make sure that you always have a Business Continuity Plan and Operational Handbook for the processes that you automate so that your operations won't be disrupted in case your deployment is causing issues.
- Consider consolidating and gaining a centralized control of your Digital Workforce rather than having an individual line of business or business owners controlling your Digital Workforce.
- Create a dedicated COE team that will be working on the RPA projects.
- Provide Training and Certification to the COE.
- Invest in the COE staff by providing Succession Planning and Upskilling Paths
- Ensure the roles in your current model are adequate to scale to the next level of maturity.
- The key skills that should be filled are:
- Ensure that a DATABASE MAINTENANCE. regime is in place and give a rationale around the need of database maintenance
- Review your existing ARCHITECTURE and make sure that your infrastructure CAN BE SCALED to host more processes
- Build the IT relationship to ensure they are bought into supporting and governing your RPA capability.
Blue Prism’s Success Accelerator program combines various levels of mentorship and access to our Expert Services, Technology Ecosystem and Certified Partners based on the size and maturity of your digital workforce operations.