The failure of poorly defined RPA success criteria

Technology is advancing rapidly, and we are hearing more about innovative technological projects, these require a great deal of management and analysis before they can be implemented, therefore, important points should always be considered or reviewed before starting a project of this type.

Technological changes and trends by Covid-19

Nowadays the largest corporations are always in constant evolution, improving their processes, products, and services, to provide better service to their customers on the different fronts that a company has. A clear example of today is the challenge in the way companies work due to the consequences of Covid-19, where many jobs (in this case technological) had to be carried out remotely, and every practice or routine had to change. Therefore, many companies adapt to new changes or follow technological trends that arise more and more frequently, using these trends or changes as a key factor in continuous improvement, in such a way that they identify opportunities to adopt modern technologies to compete in a more globalized world. For this reason, companies have begun to implement RPA projects in their organizations, These types of projects mostly require a great capacity to efficiently manage many elements involved such as the definition of many activities, their interrelationships, their order, duration, costs, responsible parties, and their timely and correct execution in the change controls to comply with the agreements taken in the different departments involved.

8 important points to consider when carrying out an RPA project

On many occasions this type of project tends to be poorly planned due to a lack of knowledge of what is wanted and what should be done, therefore they tend to fail, since sometimes the total scope of the project is not clear. To have a better idea of how to implement RPA and learn from this process, we will analyze the importance of the following definitions:

Project scope: basically, this point is one of the most important, because all the activities that make up the project or phase must be focused on achieving the same goal, so the resources, deadlines, costs, environments, equipment, and tasks -to mention a few- need to be considered within the scope, once an exhaustive analysis of what is required has been performed and captured within a requirement (RFP).
What can be automated: RPA technology helps organizations to operate more efficiently, taking care of manual and repetitive tasks making you want to automate everything, however, you must start slowly and intelligently, so you must first evaluate, analyze, and detect which processes are viable to automate.
Project budget: the budget is an unbelievably valuable tool for the execution of any project, but sometimes there are deficiencies in the actual size of the project or a poor analysis by the leader, this in turn generates poor planning and consequently failure to meet the objectives, raising by far the costs set from the beginning and delaying the completion time of the RPA project.
Achievement of business objectives: these are particularly important resources for the orientation of the efforts of each collaborator in the organization, so they must be established clearly and concisely, assigning them a specific time for their fulfillment. Once defined, the way to achieve them is planned, practically and realistically, aligned with the business strategy.
Project execution time: the execution time of an RPA project is essential to control the fulfillment of the phases within the agreed timeframe, which is why it is necessary to plan each of the activities and distribute the time efficiently, considering any risks that may arise. It is therefore especially important to have solid governance (PMO) to ensure the implementation as planned within the time and budget.
Roles in the work team: at least the following roles should be in place for the optimal operation of the team: Business Process Analyst, Process Owner, RPA Analyst/Programmer, Change Management, and Project Management.
Size of the work team: there is no exact number to determine the number of members that a work team should have, but the size of the processes, the tasks to be performed, the complexity of each process and validate the magnitude of each one in terms of activities vs. the time available for its execution should be considered. With the above, it will be possible to determine the optimal number of members.
Choosing a Technology Partner: it is important to know what services are offered by each of the companies in the market, what value they can bring to our organization, evaluate RPA solutions, and verify that they adapt to the needs of the organization.

Methodologies and Project Manager

The above-mentioned points are of significant importance, and for this reason, it is necessary to have a person who can manage the time, resources, environment, and everything necessary to carry out the project successfully, such as a Project Manager. Currently, projects of this type use software development methodologies to structure, plan and control each phase or step of the project, some of the most used methodologies are: Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and XP to mention a few. If you require professional support in your projects, at Linnoit we have well-trained and certified professionals in project management, in addition to having extensive experience in project management with agile methodologies in different areas of the industry.

Conclusions

In short, it is not easy to carry out a successful RPA project, which depends to a considerable extent on several factors such as those mentioned above, as well as on the degree of evaluation, which is nothing more than the assessment of its risks, costs, benefits, resources, and elements. In other words, it is a matter of looking for the best execution alternative, which implies placing oneself in hypothetical scenarios, with the objective that such scenarios pose challenges for the fulfillment of the initial goals.