A framework to evaluate the viability of robotic process automation for business process activities

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive framework with thirteen criteria across five perspectives to evaluate the suitability of business process activities for robotic process automation, aiding practitioners in decision-making.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, structured evaluation framework specifically designed to assess RPA automation candidates in business processes.

Findings

Framework effectively classifies process activities for RPA suitability

Application to real-life data demonstrates practical utility

Supports decision-making in RPA implementation

Abstract

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.