How can you measure the productivity gains of RPA?

FTE (Full time equivalent) is an excellent metric to compare the amount of work produced by an automation versus how many humans were necessary to produce the same work. This number is important because the operation might scale and you are not hiring additional human labor to perform those tasks. Velocity is another excellent metric for how quickly a task is performed versus previous human time estimation. The productivity comes as your team can act fast since automation provides outcomes faster than humans.

Defining productivity metrics is crucial for assessing the gains of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Clear metrics enable organizations to quantify time savings, error reduction, and efficiency improvements brought about by RPA implementation. Metrics such as process completion time, error rates, and resource utilization provide tangible data to measure and compare productivity before and after RPA adoption. These benchmarks facilitate informed decision-making, allowing businesses to track the impact of RPA on operational efficiency and justify the investment in automation technologies.

Purpose - What is the purpose of automation is import. Ask key questions - Is it going to improve KPI ? What KPI's ? who in organization is impacted ? what factor is the target? - is this Automation focused for certain OKR's (Objectives and Key Results) - Increase automation? straight through processing etc

The first step is to Identify Your Business Goals and Objectives and the next thing you can do is to select the relevant metrics which includes the following -Choose productivity metrics that directly relate to the identified goals and objectives. Common RPA metrics include: * Cycle Time: Measure the time it takes to complete a process from start to finish. * Throughput: Track the number of tasks or transactions completed in a given time. * Quality: Evaluate the accuracy and error rate of automated tasks. * Utilization: Monitor how efficiently RPA bots are utilized. * Cost: Calculate the cost savings or ROI generated by RPA. -Ensure that the selected metrics are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

Measure RPA success: Before: Set clear baseline metrics (time, errors, output, employee time) for manual tasks. After: Track direct savings (time, output, error reduction) & indirect gains (employee redeployment, customer satisfaction). Factor in: Software costs, bot utilization, employee acceptance, and compliance. Regular review: Adapt and maximize RPA benefits for long-term impact.

One of my thumb rules is measuring the value created, not the saved man-hours. The KPI of value created should be the actual outcome intended by the area of the business value chain. It can range from, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to Quality Metrics, or even Time-to-Market. In today's business landscape, organizations are increasingly shifting their focus from traditional cost-cutting measures to a more holistic approach, where they seek to create tangible value for their customers, employees, and stakeholders. This shift recognizes that automation and technology can do much more than simply reducing labor costs. It can transform processes, enhance customer experiences, and drive revenue growth.

RPA productivity gains are measured by time saved, reduced errors, and cost efficiency. Evaluate resource reallocation, scalability, and faster cycle times, ultimately gauging ROI and improved customer satisfaction.

In order to assess the value automation can bring to a business, leaders must look at cost savings through reduced contracted values, reduced licensing structures, or access allocations. Insights into error reduction and data quality is also a great assessment of the ROI that automation brings to a company. Time savings will reflect through employee enhanced productivity, and in turn should reflect in boosted revenue and customer retention rates. The best part of automation is that the designs allow for many ways to truly assess what productivity means to a business!

If designed rightly, scalability is another key win that can be obtained from automation. Ability of bot for Parallel processing of input files is one aspect of that where number of bots can be increased using config change

Define the productivity metrics tailoring it based on the process automated is essential to evaluate the success of an implementation. Another key steps is to share and agree the metrics with the main stakeholders (e.g. SMEs, Process Manager) that will manage the automation in the long term. Their buy-in and support is essential to prove the solid implementation of an automation.

1. **Process Efficiency:** Measure the time taken to complete specific tasks before and after implementing Robotic Process Automation (RPA). If RPA reduces the processing time significantly, it indicates increased efficiency. 2. **Error Reduction:** Evaluate the accuracy of tasks performed by RPA compared to manual processes. If RPA leads to a reduction in errors and rework, it demonstrates improved productivity and reliability. 3. **Resource Utilization:** Assess how RPA impacts human resource allocation. If RPA allows employees to focus on more complex and value-added tasks while routine, rule-based activities are automated, it indicates increased productivity by optimizing workforce utilization.

There should be some goal associated with those metrics you have defined. So let's say customer satisfaction. You define customer satisfaction based on the number of escalations received. So if in the past year the number was 30% then maybe your target would be to bring it down to 20% or below than that.

Once you've identified your productivity metrics, establishing a baseline and target becomes important. The baseline reflects the existing state of your process pre-automation, while the target envisions the desired state post-automation. Embrace innovation by integrating real-time monitoring and machine learning predictions to dynamically adjust targets based on evolving business conditions. For instance, in automating a data entry process, leverage historical data not just for static benchmarks but as a foundation for adaptive targets, ensuring your RPA bot evolves with the changing demands of your business landscape.

These are the some points which can help in measuring productivity gain from RPA ☆ Customer satisfaction ☆ RPA FTE calculation ☆ Gained productivity ☆ Cost per error ☆ RPA ROI ☆ Loss of business value in downtime ☆ Bot success and accuracy rate

RPA and other Intelligent Automation technologies are not meant to replace completely the human work, instead they are meant to be combined with human supervision and ability on taking informed decisions. Therefore, recurrent monitoring an Automation will a responsibility of the process owner once the automation is deployed. Monitoring the performances and analyzing the results ensures the Automation is "healthy", and allows a process owner to timely intervene should problems arise. Checking the outputs files or dashboards that summarize the key metrics/ratios should be a daily responsibility of every process owners.

Consider the adoption of RPA tools by users. This will also provide way to understand user perspective and implementation success.

Depois de ter definido os indicadores de qualidade e eficácia, fica muito mais fácil monitorar a ação dos bots implementados. No início do go-live deve-se manter uma monitoria constante, garantir que foi entregue a automação completa e eficaz, dessa forma facilita a manutenção preditiva se for necessário.

To successfully implement RPA, begin by selecting processes for automation and developing RPA bots. Set productivity metrics and targets. Deploy bots and monitor performance with tools like dashboards. Continuously evaluate results, considering external factors. Make adjustments to optimize productivity and keep records for future reference to maintain RPA success.

Post-implementation of RPA, monitoring and analyzing results are imperative. Beyond conventional tools, integrate advanced analytics and AI-driven insights to provide a comprehensive view of your productivity metrics. Consider a holistic approach by factoring in external elements like market dynamics or technological advancements that may impact your outcomes. Embrace a continuous improvement mindset, utilizing real-time feedback loops to not only assess but also proactively enhance your RPA bot's adaptability. Periodically evaluate results and leverage data-driven decision-making to fine-tune processes, ensuring sustained optimization in the ever-evolving landscape of automation.

Too often the result of a project are taken for granted, and the success of a Team not celebrated. Sharing the results & benefits gained, and thank the people involved in the work are essential to close the project and bring a positive culture and attitude within the Team/Company. It is also a key moment to discuss lessons learnt useful for future adoptions.

Always sharing the BOT results with stakeholders help them to quantify the results and boost their confidence on BOT's and eventually it helps to Automate more processes and thanks note to team will always boost them.

Concluding the RPA journey involves dynamic celebration and communication of success. Enhance reporting with interactive platforms, engaging stakeholders and fostering shared accomplishment. Recognize collaborative efforts through continuous rewards, encouraging ongoing innovation. Emphasize adaptability in showcasing RPA's alignment with organizational agility. This approach not only boosts awareness and satisfaction but also fuels a culture where celebrating success becomes integral to sustained growth and innovation.

If you are using good tools then there are tool like AA CoE Manager which helps you track the benefits of an automated process in production and gives clear indicator whether you are on track interms of achieving planned RoI If you don't want to invest in such tools then - there is Bot Insight which can be use to track real time production data and build reporting dashboards in control room which will give you real-time productivity gains for your automated process.. Lastly you can use Audit logging facility to track your customised parameters and use the data to build your own dashboards using Excel pivots and charts of BI tools

Here are the ways to assess productivity gains in RPA: 1. Reduction in error and mistakes being done manually. 2. Amount of processing time taken. 3. Cost involved and ROI after the process is automated. 4. Enhanced customer satisfaction. This can be checked based on customer feedback analysis.

In my experience, too often I saw "productivity gains" and other quantitative benefits considered more important compare to qualitative benefits such as standardization, increase in quality, increase in flexibility, major customer satisfaction. Qualitative benefits are relevant as well, and despite the difficulty to decline with objective measures, must be considered in the big equation of the benefits brought by RPA and Automation in general.

KPI for the project plays a vital part in evaluating the true growth and gain achieved. The more clearly defined the KPI indicators the more easy it is to determine the whole project. So before the start of the program these points should be considered.

The project sponsor is responsible, so as the RPA individual who is in charge of the opportunities, make sure they have a strong business case and can demonstrate the outcomes of implementation.