Getting Started with RPA

Getting started with UiPath RPA can be achieved by following the approach outlined below.

After doing some Google research, reading some UiPath Whitepapers, watching some UiPath marketing videos, looking at industry analyst’s reports on RPA, you will have reached a view that UiPath could be a good technology for your business. Now the question becomes “How to get started with UiPath”?

Yes, UiPath provides a download for its Studio product, so you could just get the software and start. You will need to gain an understanding of the UiPath Architecture and the way UiPath licences work.

A version of UiPath Studio is also available as web application. It contains the same core functionality as the downloadable version but there are some differences.

The downloaded Studio will execute on a PC / Server / Virtual machine with the network used by  normal business user. This is different to web version of Studio which executes on a server hosted by UiPath which will need appropriate network access to connect any resources /  systems within the business network. 

Start with UiPath Architecture

Considering where UiPath RPA software robots will execute, how they will access systems and data is necessary for the starting architecture. There are different types of software robots licences which need to be determined.

Considerations abut scalability, performance, resilience and back up are all part of designing the automation using the UiPath architecture.

Get started with UiPath Skills

UiPath provides a lot of training materials on the UiPath Academy and there are a lot of videos on YouTube covering various aspects of UiPath usage. So technical knowledge is available.

A UiPath Project

For a business to adopt UiPath RPA, it requires more than just the technical aspects of the software. The following list of activities provides a potential outline to getting started with UiPath RPA:

• Discovery
  • What exists today?
  • Where could benefits be achieved?
  • Understand the possible?
  • Describe the initial Scope for process
• Proof of Concept (POC) and Prototypes
  • How a user works
  • Happy Path activity with Green Lights
• Design
  • Define limits
  • Define error handling, logging, security
  • Consider scale options
  • Recovery and Re-run scenarios
  • Define version control process
  • Plan hardware / cloud infrastructure
• Build
  • Configuration driven
  • Decision points
  • Verify state
  • Create execution functionality
  • Construct infrastructure to operate within
  • Documentation for implementation
• Test and train
  • Valid and in-valid data testing
  • Train user interaction
  • Test and monitoring activities
• Production Deployment
  • Live security
  • Real applications
  • Human users interacting
  • Continuous automatic monitoring and reporting

Please contact us to arrange an initial discussion about getting started with UiPath RPA Robots in your business – 0845 643 4410. Ether Solutions offer UiPath Consultancy to compliment the capabilities of in-house teams.

Project to Operational Support

Once an initial deployment is made, consideration needs to be given to on-going skills, standards and operational support. This can involve creating a “Center of Excellence”, “Robot Knowledge Libraries”, “Robot Champions”, etc. It is during these activities the Software Robot aspects need to be fully embedded into existing processes such as:

• Change Control
• Business Continuity Planning
• IT Roadmap
• Quality Management

Using the experience which Ether Solutions has acquired across many implementations, we have created the 90 Day Automation method to assist businesses looking to start automation using UiPath RPA.