This blog mainly focuses on the high-level steps involved in the delivery of an automation solution. The lifecycle comprises various templates for different purposes.
Note: This is not limited to a specific organization. However, we are depicting a general RPA Delivery life cycle that can be followed for any RPA use case.
RPA Delivery lifecycle follows different phases:
- Discovery
- Design
- Build
- Deployment/Go-Live
Preliminary Process Assessment (PPA) - Discovery Phase:
The main purpose of creating this document is to provide high level analysis of the solution, effort estimation, robot estimation, Functional and Non-Functional benefits etc.
Analysis needs to be performed which consider:
- High level business process description
- Proposed Automation Solution (AS-IS and TO-BE process maps)
- Underlying Application details
- Opportunity analysis
- Process Metrics
- Benefit realization
This is also one of the key documents in identifying the areas of risks.
Process Definition Document (PDD) - Design Phase:
The purpose of PDD is to document the manual process on which the automation to be built. This document is also useful for the processes for which manuals/documentation doesn’t not exist.
The details that need to be keyed include:
- Process Description
- Application used
- Scope
- Process Map (AS-IS)
- Process Detail (Screen level details i.e., screenshots, steps)
- Exceptions
The key contacts of this document would be
- Process Owner
- Process SME (Subject Matter Expert)
- Business/Customer
Solution Design Document - Design Phase:
The purpose of this document is to outline the process that needs to be automated. This plays a key role with the business and the developer in building the right solution.
The SDD should include below:
- Business Process Description
- AS-IS (Manual) and TO-BE (Proposed) maps
- Underlying application details
- Solution Overview
- Activity Design
- Exceptions and Alert Mechanism
- Operation control (Robot scheduling details)
- Data Security and Credentials
The key contacts for this document would be
- RPA Developer
- Business/Customer
- Design team (for approval)
Build Phase:
This phase mainly focuses on the development as well as the testing of the automation solution.
This includes:
- Building of activities (target for the reusable activities as separate activity)
- Main Activity build
- Unit test at the end of each component
- Peer Code review
- UAT test plan creation
- Execution of UAT test cases
- Complete code review by any certified developer/Mentor
The key contacts for testing would be:
- Tester (SME, RPA tester, Developer)
- Mentor/certified developer
Build and Test Flow:
Deployment/Go-Live Phase:
This phase mainly focuses on deploying the package to production environment after final testing and approval.
Once deployment is completed, there would be ramp plan where the solution is handed over to the run service team/Digital workforce team from the business /customer.
Ramp-up plan include the Automation solution perquisites, scheduling details, robot details, credentials, application details etc.
