Exploring Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 5 minutes to read
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    Summary of Exploring Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub

    The ServiceNow Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub in the Zurich release offers a centralized platform to deploy, manage, monitor, and ensure compliance for robotic automations across an enterprise. It includes several key applications:

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    • RPA Hub: Central orchestration for robot lifecycle management.
    • Unattended Robot: Software agent installed on Windows machines to run fully automated tasks without human intervention.
    • Unattended Robot Login Agent: Supports unlocking or self-login of robot machines during unattended automation runs.
    • Attended Robot: Software agent installed on Windows machines to execute automations that require human interaction.
    • RPA Desktop Design Studio: Windows native app for developers to design, configure, and test automation workflows.

    Types of Automations

    • Unattended Automation: Automations that run without human supervision, ideal for repetitive tasks such as report generation, delivering efficiency, cost reduction, and accuracy improvements.
    • Attended Automation: Human-assisted automations where robots support users in complex or dynamic tasks, such as customer service, providing information, and automating data entry on demand.

    Roles and Responsibilities

    • Release Manager: Creates bot processes and robots, assigns developers, configures, and publishes bot processes in RPA Hub.
    • Developer: Configures bot processes with applications, credentials, schedules; builds and tests automation packages in RPA Desktop Design Studio; publishes automations.
    • Robot/Assisted User: Executes automations on designated Windows machines with installed robots.

    RPA Hub Workflow

    The workflow involves creating bot processes in RPA Hub by the release manager, configuring and building automations by developers using RPA Desktop Design Studio, publishing to RPA Hub for execution, and running automations on robot machines by robot users. This collaboration ensures streamlined automation deployment and management.

    Benefits

    • Improves productivity and operational efficiency.
    • Reduces errors by enhancing accuracy.
    • Supports enhanced customer service to meet diverse demands.

    Integration and Security

    RPA Hub integrates with ServiceNow Workflow Studio, allowing seamless incorporation of RPA actions and subflows into ServiceNow workflows. Sensitive data within RPA Hub is protected using the ServiceNow Key Management Framework, ensuring secure storage and handling.

    Upgrade Considerations

    When upgrading RPA Hub to Zurich from San Diego or Tokyo, customers must upgrade all related Microsoft Software Installers (MSIs) and set a specific system property to avoid upgrade delays and ensure proper table restructuring. Proper upgrade steps prevent issues with bot process definitions and data table extensions.

    Next Steps

    To further leverage RPA capabilities, customers should explore detailed configuration and usage guides for RPA Hub components such as Unattended Robot, Attended Robot, Login Agent, Now Assist integration, and RPA Desktop Design Studio.

    Learn about the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub applications, types of automations, benefits, high-level architecture, and workflow.

    Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub overview

    The following Robotic Process Automation (RPA) applications operate and interact with each other in an enterprise environment to automate tasks efficiently.
    RPA Hub
    The ServiceNow® RPA Hub application provides a centralized orchestration to deploy, monitor, manage, measure, and verify compliance of all robots at an enterprise level.
    Unattended Robot

    The ServiceNow® Unattended Robot is a software agent that you install on a Windows machine. Unattended Robot can execute unattended automations without requiring any human intervention.

    The ServiceNow® Unattended Robot Login Agent is a software agent that you install on a Windows machine with Unattended Robot. You can use this application to unlock or to perform a self-login to the robot machine when an unattended bot process is triggered.

    Attended Robot

    The ServiceNow® Attended Robot is a software agent that you install on a Windows machine. Attended Robot can execute attended automations that require human intervention.

    RPA Desktop Design Studio

    The ServiceNow® RPA Desktop Design Studio is a Windows native application that is used by RPA developers to design or configure automation workflows.

    Types of automations

    You can create two types of automations with RPA Desktop Design Studio and run them with Unattended Robot or Attended Robot:
    Unattended automation

    In this automation, tasks, processes, or workflows are carried out by the robots without the need for direct human intervention or supervision. You can use this type of automation to automate highly repetitive tasks.

    For example, Report generation. In this use case, the reports are automatically generated and distributed to relevant stakeholders.

    Unattended automation offer significant efficiency gains, reduced operational costs, and improved accuracy in organizations.

    Attended automation

    Also known as human-assisted automation. In this automation, the robots work alongside human users to augment their tasks and activities. You can use this type of automation with human supervision.

    For example, Customer service. In this use case, robots can assist customer service representatives by providing relevant information, suggesting responses, and automating data entry. The robots are installed on operator’s workstations and are triggered by human operators on demand.

    Attended automation is often suited for scenarios where a combination of automation and human judgment is required to handle complex, dynamic, or non-standard tasks.

    Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub users

    Table 1. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub users
    User Description
    Release manager Creates bot processes and robots in RPA Hub. Add developers to the Managed by group of the bot process so that they can customize the bot process. Configures and publishes the bot process.
    Developer Configures bot processes to assign business applications, robots, credentials, process parameters, schedules, and so on. Builds automation packages, tests the automation projects, and handles exceptions in RPA Desktop Design Studio. Publishes packages to RPA Hub. Creates and deploys automations in a low-code environment.
    Robot user/Assisted user Executes automations in the specified robot machine.

    Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub workflow

    The three main parts of a process workflow are RPA Hub, RPA Desktop Design Studio, and robot machines (virtual machine or user desktop).

    The following diagram shows the process workflow of the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub applications.

    Figure 1. Workflow of creating and executing automations using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub applications
    Basic tasks related to configuring automations in RPA Hub. Infographic showing how release managers create bot process and how developers configure, test, and publish bot processes.
    1. As a release manager, create a bot process, define robots, and assign a developer who would continue to configure the bot process.
    2. As a developer, configure the bot process to associate a package, business applications, robots, parameters, and credentials so that robots can use them to run automations.
    3. As a developer, build automation packages, tests the automation projects, and handles exceptions in RPA Desktop Design Studio.
    4. As a developer, publish the configured bot process to execute, manage, and monitor automations.
    5. As a robot user or assisted user, execute automations in the specified Windows machine where Attended Robot or Unattended Robot is installed.

    RPA Hub Benefits

    • Increases productivity and delivers higher operational efficiencies.
    • Enhances accuracy by eliminating processing errors.
    • Enhances customer service and meets highly varied customer demands.

    Integration with Workflow Studio

    Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub provides an integration with the Workflow Studio application. This integration enables you to integrate ServiceNow workflows with Robotic Process Automation by using ServiceNow components for Workflow Studio. For more information about RPA Hub actions and subflow, see Workflow Studio actions and subflow in RPA Hub.

    Key Management Framework

    RPA Hub uses the ServiceNow® Key Management Framework for all the sensitive data that is stored on the application. For more information, see Understanding the Key Management Framework.

    Important information for upgrading RPA Hub to Zurich

    Ensure that you upgrade the current installed Microsoft Software Installers (MSIs) (RPA Desktop Design Studio, Attended Robot, Unattended Robot, and Unattended Robot Login Agent), by downloading the RPA applications. For more information, see Download the RPA applications from RPA Hub.

    Important:
    The following upgrade steps are applicable only when you’re upgrading from San Diego or Tokyo to Zurich.

    Based on the number of records in the application file table, you could experience a potential delay while upgrading the RPA Hub applications from Tokyo or before to Zurich.

    Before upgrading RPA Hub to Zurich, you must set the value of the glide.rollback.blacklist.TableParentChange.change system property to false. If this property doesn't exist in the System Property [sys_properties] table, add the property and set its value to false.

    After you upgrade to the Zurich, the bot process definitions change to the new structure, that is, the bot process configuration. Although the bot process configuration doesn't replace the bot process completely. Most fields are moved from bot process to bot process configuration.

    If you upgrade to the Utah version without updating the system property value, the tables don’t extend the Application File table. Manually to update the table changes, see the Restructuring RPA Hub tables to sys_metadata in Utah article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

    What to explore next

    To learn more about configuring Robotic Process Automation, see: