10 best-practices-for-new-robotic-process-automation-rpa-developer-220f7ccdf33
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The document provides 10 best practices for new robotic process automation (RPA) developers. The best practices include: (1) creating documentation of the process being automated, (2) planning the automation solution design before development, (3) breaking down programs into modular components, (4) ensuring code readability through naming conventions and comments, (5) avoiding hardcoding external settings, (6) seeking help from online resources when problems arise, (7) thoroughly testing automation scripts, (8) understanding the limitations of RPA tools, (9) keeping programs simple, and (10) taking regular breaks during development. The best practices are meant to help new developers reduce errors and streamline the development process.
10 best-practices-for-new-robotic-process-automation-rpa-developer-220f7ccdf33
- 1. 10 Best Practices for New Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Developer The democratizationof RPA iscreatinga new breedof developers,manyof whomare from non-ITbackground.If youare one of them, readonfor the 10 bestpracticeswhichall newbie developersshouldknow. . . . RoboticProcessAutomationorRPA has beendominatingthe headlinesof late.Forall the goodreasons,of course. Justrecently, UiPathannouncedthatithas raised$153 millioninaSeriesBroundthat values the companyat $1.1 billion,makingthempossiblythe firstRPA unicorn.Notthe last,dare we suggest. Blue Prism,anotherleadingvendorinthisRPA space,isgoinggreatguns.Their shares,which are publiclytradedonLondon’sAlternative InvestmentMarket,hasrisenastaggering3-fold overthe past one year. Andthe impact of thistechnologyisstartingtotrickle down. Beyondthe earlyadopterslike the Banking,FinancialServices andInsurance (BFSI) and BusinessProcessOutsourcing(BPO) industries,manyorganizationsacrossvariedsectorsare nowlookingatlaunchingor have alreadystartedtoimplementaformal automationor robotisationprogramme. CFB Bots We are a disruptive, deep tech start-up which strives to empower employees to make a difference at work. Apr 6 · 10 min read Get started
- 2. In manyof these companies,mundane,repetitive workthatusedtobe performedby employeesare nowbeingautomatedbysoftware robots. Of course,the goal of automationisnot simplyjobdisplacements. For manyof the enlightenedcompaniesthatwe’veseen,besidesenhancingenterprise productivityandimprovingemployee engagementlevels,RPA alsoprovidesanopportunity for movingtheiremployeesupthe value chain. Essentiallyfromless doing tomore thinking. “You’re eitherthe one that creates the automation or you’re getting automated.” For example,insteadof performingthe mind-numbingtaskof transactionprocessing,many SubjectMatter Experts(SMEs) are now takingonthe role of RPA developerwhere theywill designanddevelopthe software robotsthatwill automate thesetasks. AndRPA isgreat inthissense because of itsease of use. Withstandard out-of-the-box featureslike graphicaluserinterface,drag-and-drop programming,desktoprecordingtool,andmanymore,evennontech-savvyuserscan become a bonafide RPA developer. Havingsaidthat, if youhave neverdone programmingorcodingbefore,itisunderstandable if you harboursome trepidationstowardsyournew jobdescription. In fact,you are not alone. Many usershave privatelyairedtheirconcernstousabouttheir new roles.Especiallywhen manyof theirbosseshave alreadyassumedthatitwill be apiece of cake makingthis transition. We knowthe journeyisnotso straightforward. Hence,to helpyou,we have puttogetherthisguide containingthe 10 bestpractices whichall newRPA developersshouldknow. These bestpracticesare distilledfromyearsof experienceinprogramming(ingeneral)and RPA developmentmore specifically. Theyare meantto shortcutyour learningcurve,andreduce the amountof angstand frustrationyoumayhave duringyour developmentcycle.Mostimportantly,we hopethese tipsprovide youwithactionable insightsthatyoucanimmediatelyapplyinyourwork. These bestpracticesare generallyRPA-platformagnostic,meaningyoucanapplythem no matterwhichspecificRPA tool youare workingon.For the clarityof instruction,we have chosento use UiPathto illustrate some of these concepts. Let’sget started. 1. DocumentationBegin withthe endinmind.
- 3. In the contextof RPA,thismeansyou shouldstart off bydocumentingthe processthatyou will be automating. We call thisthe ProcessDefinitionDocument(PDD),anditminimallycomprisesof the processmap,as well asa detailedstep-by-stepwalkthroughof the process.These process stepsare usuallyaugmentedbyscreenshotsforclaritypurposes,andmayinclude pertinent informationsuchaspossible exceptionsanderrorhandling. Otheruseful informationtoinclude inside the PDDare: · Contactsof the processSMEs · “As is”processmetrics,e.g.transactionvolumes,average handlingtime(AHT),etc · In scope and outof scope One hiddenadvantage of doingthisisthatthe PDD can serve aspart of yourorganization’s BusinessContinuityPlan(BCP).Forexample,if there isanoutage inthe productionbots,your SMEs shouldbe able topickup the PDD and follow the instructionsthere toperformthe processmanually(asa lastresort,of course). 2. Planning If you fail toplan,you planto fail. The same goesforRPA developmentaswell. It isgenerallynotadvisableforone tojumpstraightintoRPA developmentwithoutfirst consideringthe highlevel design. What thismeansisthat you needtoidentifybeforehandthe variouscomponentsthat altogethermake upyoursolution,andhow these componentsinteractwithone another. One great hack — create agenericandprocessagnosticframeworkthatenablesyoutodeal withanyuse casesina consistentandstructuredmanner.
- 4. 3. Modularity Impliedfromthe previouspointisthe importance of modularity. Modularityinthiscontextmeanssimplytobreakdownacomplex programme intobitesized, more manageable components. There are twoimportantbenefitsof doingso. Firstly,there are oftencommonstepsthatoccur across differentprocesses,forexample, loggingintothe SAPsystem.Ratherthangeneratingthese stepsfromscratcheverytime you automate a newprocess,a smarterand more efficientwayistocreate a separate workflow that doesso,and add thisto yourautomationlibrary. So the nexttime youhave a processthat requiresloggingintoSAP, youcansimplyinvoke this workflowfileasfollows: Thisgreatlyenhancesthe reusabilityof yourcontent. The secondbenefitisthatmodularitysupportsfine granulardevelopmentandtesting.Thisis especiallyuseful whendealingwithcomplex processes,asyoucan independentlyassignthe developmentandtestingof specificcomponentstoindividual developers. 4. Readability Ignoringthe readabilityof yourRPA scriptisa commonmistake made bymany new RPA developers. Readabilityinthiscase meanshoweasyisitfor someone else(otherthanthe developer) to take the script and understandwhatthe software robotisbeingprogrammedtodo.Infact, for complex processesinvolvinghundredsorthousandsof steps,the developerhimself often lose track of what isgoingon if he doesnot take active stepsto ensure readability. Ensuringgoodreadabilitywill alsodrasticallyreducedthe amountof time youspendduring troubleshootinganddebugging,aswell asduringbotsmaintenance. To do so isfairlystraightforward.Mostly,youneedtomake aconscientiousefforttoprovide meaningful namesforworkflowfiles,activities,argumentsandvariables. Moreover,as a bestpractice,all yourvariablesandargumentsshouldbe alignedtoa naming convention: · Variablesshouldbe incamelCase,e.g. firstName,lastName · Argumentsshouldbe inTitleCase,e.g. FileName,DefaultTimeOut
- 5. Also,all yourworkflownamesshouldcontainthe verbdescribingwhatthe workflow does, e.g. GetTransactionData,LoginToSAP. Last but not least,youshouldmake judicioususe of commentsandannotationstodescribe sectionsof yourcode whichare not as intuitive.Itisimportanttobe selective thoughasyou do notwant to endup clusteringyourprogramme withredundantcomments. 5. Avoid hard coding Where possible,youshouldavoidhardcodingall the external settings(e.g.file paths,URLs) withinyourscript.Byhard coding,we meanthat the onlywayto change these settingsisto amendthemfromwithinthe scriptitself. Hard codingshouldbe avoidbecause these settingsare prone tochangesovertime.For example,the file locationwhereyoudownloadthe dailyreporttomightchange due to businessrequirements. The ideais to minimizeunnecessarychangestothe script,especiallyif ithasalreadybeen deployedtoproduction,toavoidintroducingadditionalbugsorerrors.Also,if these settings are usedmultipletimeswithinthe script,if youhardcode,youneedtoknow exactlywhere the changesare required(chancesare thatyoudo not). The most efficientwaytostore these parametersistouse a configurationfile,anexampleof whichisgivenbelow: In thisexample,we have createdanExcel spreadsheetcontainingthree worksheetswhere the external settings,constantsandautomationassetsare stored. 6. You are not alone No,I am not referringtothe 1995 Michael Jacksonclassic. Chancesare thatas a beginner,youare likelytoencountersome seemingly“insurmountable” problemsduringyourdevelopmentstage. Ratherthan tearingyourhair cut tryingto resolve yourissues,keepcalmandgoogle it!
- 6. For it ishighlylikelythatsomeoneelsehave encounteredthe same problemandfounda solutionforit. You will be pleasantlysurprisedbyhow helpful ProfessorGoogle canbe. By the way,if you happentouse UiPath,do check outtheir forumas well.There are a lotof active discussionsandyoucanfrequentlyfindanswerstoyourmostpressingquestions. For it is highly likely that someone else have encountered the same problem and found
- 7. One additional advice Iwouldgive istobe as precise aspossible inyoursearchquery.Often times,the solutionisalreadyoutthere — youjustneedtoknow whattosearch for! 7. Testing One commonmistake made bynewbie developersisnottestingtheircode enough(or at all). Thisis especiallytrue inthe case of RPA where developersnormallystartoff workingonthe happypath. Unfortunately,inreality,the scenariosare usuallymuchmore complicatedthanthat.There couldbe many variantsof a single process,orthe inputdatamight not come inthe format that youexpect. Hence it isimportantto putin place a robusttestplanwithcomprehensive testcases,sothat we can ensure the robotis performingexactlythe waywe wantitto be. “Testing leadsto failure,and failure leadsto understanding.” A failedtestshouldnotleadtofingerpointing.Rather,itshouldbe embracedinthe sense that the error isdiscoveredbeforethe botsgointoproduction(where fargreaterdamage can be caused). Also,youshouldstrive totestas frequentlyaspossible.Donotwaituntil the entire developmentiscompletedbeforeyoustarttesting.If youhave implementedmodularityin your design,youshouldbe able toindependentlytestthe variouscomponentsandsee if they are workingasintended. For the bestresults,RPA developmentshouldnotbe anindividual pursuit.Inanideal case, the developer,the peerreviewerandthe testershouldall be differentpersons.
- 8. 8. Understandthe limitations No matterwhichRPA platformsyouuse,there isnoone perfecttool. There are alwayslimitationstowhatall these commerciallyavailable RPA softwarecando, despite whatyourvendormaytell you. Some of these include: · Do not be overlyreliantonthe desktoprecorder.The desktoprecordercanbe a veryuseful tool for youto understandhowtoconstruct yourRPA scriptfor a certainprocess,butrarely isthe generatedscriptresilientenoughtobe usedreliablyinaproductionenvironment. · The truth,unfortunately,isthatthe robots,notmatter how carefullydesignedand developed,isunlikelytoworkall the time.Hence,inRPA,itisextremelyimportantforthe robotsto be able tohandle errorsand exceptions.Loggingshouldbe done sothatfurther investigation,if warranted,canbe carriedout. · Image recognitionshouldbe usedonlyasalastresort whenall else fails.Thisisbecause image matchingonlyworkswhenthe image isfullyvisible onscreen,i.e.itcannotbe inthe background.Also,image recognitionissensitive tothe screenresolution,whichcanbe sometimestrickytohandle. · Most RPA toolsallowyoutoextracttextfromdesktopor webapplications,eithernativelyor usingan OCR engine.If youare usingthe latter,dobe mindful thatOCRis not hundredper centaccurate. In caseswhere accuracy isimportant,youmightnotwant to relysolelyon OCR. 9. KeepIt Simple,Stupid In programming,simpleisbeautiful (butnotalwayseasy). Where possible,trytoreduce or eliminate unnecessarycomplexitiesinyourscript.Thiswill helpreduce the numberof bugsor programmingerrors,whichinturnmeansthat you need to spendlesstime tryingtodebugorresolve them.
- 9. 10. Taking breaks You are nota robot,so youwill notbe able to write code non-stop.Yourbrainandbody requiresregularbreaksforeffectivecoding.Infact,youare likelytocreate more bugsor make more mistakeswhenyouare tiredor stressedout. So make ita pointto take enforcedbreakseveryonce inawhile sothatyougive yourself the opportunitytorecuperate andrecharge.Afterall,codingisaveryintensive(andaddictive too) activity. Good automating. Thisarticle originallyappearedonourRoboticProcessAutomationblogseries. . . . Whatare someother adviceyou havefornew RPA developers?Do share themin the commentsbelow. sBest Practice nProcess Automatio sRobotic Automation Rpa FollowCFB Bots We are a disruptive,deep tech start-up which strives to empower employees to make a difference at work. 72 Never miss a story fromCFB Bots GET UPDATES