The main components of RPA

The main components of RPA 해시게임

RPA generally provides the tools needed in the development, integration, deployment, operation and maintenance of automated software.

Usually consists of three main components: editor, runner and controller.

The main components of RPA

·Editor refers to the supporting development tools for robot script design, development, debugging and deployment.

The runner refers to the robot that actually completes the automated execution operation.

The controller refers to the management program for the whole life cycle of the robot.

It is a supporting tool for operation and maintenance personnel to monitor, maintain and manage the running status of the robot.

1 Editor

In order to better meet the needs of developers for the ease of use, flexibility and WYSIWYG of editors,

The following features are typically available in RPA editor tools.

Visual control drag-and-drop and editing functions: In order to better reuse the built-in automation modules in the software,

It allows developers to use a visual editor to create RPA flowcharts,

Even by dragging and dropping, there is no need to write code for the robot,

Get what you see is what you get.

This is good for non-professional developers to learn and use quickly.

The created visual RPA flowchart can be directly translated into each step performed by the robot.

·Automatic script recording function: After the RPA recording function is enabled, as long as the business personnel operate the business process normally, the recorder can automatically generate the RPA running script.

Next, developers can also optimize and edit these scripts, so that the development process of automation tools also becomes flexible.

Hierarchical design capabilities for automation scripts: Although RPA scripts appear to be executed sequentially,

But in order to better realize reuse and reflect the designer’s design ideas,

RPA also provides hierarchical design requirements.

Workflow editor functions: including the creation, editing, inspection, simulation and publishing of flowcharts, etc.

The support workflow diagram contains both robot operation steps and manual operation steps.

Debugging function of automated scripts: automatically prompt or correct syntax errors in scripts,

Visualize step-by-step tracking and verification.

·Remote configuration of robots: that is, it supports the development and configuration of non-locally installed robots.

Pre-built libraries and pre-built templates: In order to allow developers to use automation modules directly,

Provides a module prefab library, and allows developers to share their custom modules with other developers for reuse.

·Prefabricated connector program: automatic processing modules for some mature software products,

Such as SAP or Oracle, etc., provide prefabricated connector programs.

·Support open standards such as ISO and IEEE.

·Interface integration capabilities: Provide interface integration capabilities such as REST/SOAP Web Services/API, etc.

In addition to scripts, developers are still supported to write additional interface programs.

2 Runner

The three core technologies in the RPA runner include the simulation technology of mouse and keyboard events, screen capture technology and workflow technology.

(1) Simulation technology of mouse and keyboard events

This technology first appeared in some game plug-ins,

It uses some API access mechanisms provided by the Windows operating system.

A technique similar to manual mouse click and keyboard operation is simulated by a program.

Due to security controls, some applications prevent other programs from simulating keyboard and mouse events,

Therefore, RPA uses a lower-level driver technology to simulate mouse and keyboard events.

(2) Screen capture technology

Screen scraping is a technique that builds bridges between current systems and incompatible legacy systems,

is used to extract data from the interface or network of the presentation layer (client or browser),

Therefore, it is the first to be used in some web crawler software.

Although the efficiency of screen scraping information will certainly exceed the manual operation of humans,

But it will also be subject to various restrictions, such as the compatibility of existing systems and applications, the dependence of the underlying HTML code of the website, etc.

Therefore, RPA software needs to have more technical implementation capabilities in this regard.

And stronger adaptability, such as identification technology based on interface control ID and image, etc.

(3) Workflow technology

Workflow technology was born in the 1990s,

It can correlate a series of work tasks of different organizations and different roles in the business process,

Coordinate and organize according to predefined flowcharts,

So that business information can be transmitted to each other in each node of the whole process.

RPA generally provides workflow-like support capabilities throughout the process from design, development, deployment, operation to monitoring.

3 Controller

The supporting capabilities provided by the RPA controller are as follows.

(1) Monitoring ability

The controller provides a centralized control center, which can monitor the running status of multiple robots,

And provide remote maintenance and technical support capabilities for robots.

The centralized control center provides the task scheduling and queue sequencing capabilities of the robot,

And provide an open control center access mechanism,

For example, the running status of the robot can be monitored through mobile devices such as tablet computers.

(2) Safety management capability and control capability

The controller provides security management and control capabilities for sensitive information such as usernames and passwords,

It is necessary to ensure the real-time maintenance of these information by business users,

Also ensure the safe storage of information,

At the same time, it will not be acquired by other parties involved in the automation work.

(3) The ability to run the robot

The controller provides the ability to run the robot in silent mode.

Usually the execution process of the robot is visible to the business personnel,

But sometimes in order to ensure data privacy,

This process needs to be hidden from business personnel or monitors.

(4) Ability to automate assignment of tasks

In the concurrent running state of multiple robots,

The controller can realize dynamic load balancing based on priority control,

Timely assign automation tasks to idle robots.

(5) Automatic expansion capability

The controller provides the robot automatic expansion capability,

When the business volume surges and the original robot resources cannot meet the automated processing tasks,

The number of robots can be increased in time and resources can be adjusted dynamically.

(6) Parallel automated execution capability

In order to better utilize resources, the controller provides the parallel automated execution capability of multiple robots in a virtual machine.

(7) Queue management

The controller provides management of the robot queue and resource pool of running devices,

The order in which the robot processes tasks can be adjusted according to the priority of the process tasks.

(8) Failure recovery capability

The controller provides the failure recovery capability of the single-point robot,

Because an abnormal situation may occur during the execution of a robot, the process is interrupted.

At this time, other robots need to take over the task immediately and continue to execute the original business process.

(9) Support SLA report

Based on automated service level agreements (SLAs), the controller provides monitoring and reporting of SLAs, analysis of robot operating performance, and real-time calculation of ROI.

4 Other components

In addition to these functions available in editors, runners and controllers,

RPA also provides additional capabilities for change management, security compliance management, and AI integration.

·Change management: including version control, version comparison, version recovery,

inspection and control from test to production environment, environment comparison and other functions.

Security compliance management: including robot activity logs, role access control, active directory integration, role isolation for development/testing and operating environments, automatic processing after lock screen, security authentication, etc.

·Artificial intelligence integration: including integration with artificial intelligence technologies such as machine learning,

natural language processing, dialogue robots, computer vision, etc.

 

As for what functions should be in RPA software, the industry has not yet formed a conclusion. Big and comprehensive is a way of thinking, and small and refined is also a way of thinking.

At present, most domestic RPA products are still following the design concepts of foreign products, and the composition and functions of the products are also very similar.

But never underestimate the power of innovation. Ideas and technologies are constantly evolving. Maybe in a few years, RPA functions will change dramatically.