How can employees contribute to the design and improvement of automated processes?

🤔 How can employees contribute to the designs of automated processes? The employees who are doing or once did the processes that you are looking to automate or have automated are subject matter experts. They intimately know the processes, what works well and what does not. They know the pain points, the sources of friction and the needs of the customer. Engaging these subject matter experts in the design or re-design of automated processes makes the difference between automated business processes that get a C grade versus and A+. Want to be a leader in your space? Consult with the right Subject Matter Expert! 👍 Like to support this

Employees know all the pros and cons about the process, they should follow all the industry standards religiously to automate any process. To improve the quality of the process, timely assessment is necessary and lessons learnt from previous pain areas or issues should be considered in future planning and execution.

In my opinion, the most important point in involving employees to automation is not only their familiarity with the processes that are suitable for automation, but mainly how automation will contribute to them and their new work routine. They have to understand "what's in it for them..", this will engage them significantly

1. Resusability 2. Performance optimization of overall performance 3. New Recommendations for better process scalability 4. Retrospective meetings can help the team to sync up better way

Employees can contribute to the design and improvement of automated processes by actively engaging in feedback loops. Regularly soliciting insights from end-users helps identify pain points and areas for enhancement. Additionally, fostering a culture of collaboration encourages staff to share their expertise, ensuring automated systems align with operational needs. Open channels for communication and training empower employees to understand and adapt to evolving technologies, fostering a dynamic and responsive automation environment.

Requirements are where process owners should shine. Developers know technology. But they don't know the capabilities required or the main roadblocks that must be overcome.

Consider this example, a financial institution aiming to automate the mortgage loan approval process, employees involved in the manual processing of loan applications collaborate with the automation team. They provide comprehensive details about the existing workflow, including input documents, credit evaluation, approval steps, decision rules, and dependencies on various departments. Employees express their pain points, emphasizing the need for faster processing times and reduced errors. This collaboration allows the automation team to design a system that not only replicates the existing process accurately but also improves it by addressing employee concerns.

Employees can contribute to the design and improvement of automated processes by offering a comprehensive walkthrough of the process. This involves providing detailed information, covering various scenarios, and addressing potential expectations to ensure a thorough understanding for effective automation.

The definition of requirements should be exclusively outcome-based. Designers ought to be granted the flexibility to refine the existing process, provided such adjustments incur no additional costs or offer a reasonable return on investment (ROI)

Do not assume Process Owners all agree on the how and why a process is preformed. These differences need to be removed before automation starts. Why is also vital to understand as it might highlight a better approach that either the process owners didn't know or is only available via automation

Large projects should have logical acceptance testing along the way to ensure the project stays on the right track and expectations are reasonable. This may consist of 25%, 50%, 90% program reviews or other increments. In applications with existing operators receiving updates, its good to get their feedback and buy in before the final deployment. Just be careful to set guidelines on what are acceptable changes at each stage. Major changes too late can lead to change orders or schedule delays. Also be clear on who has final approval. Decision by committee means no one will be happy with the final result!

1. Post-Development Testing: After developers conduct unit testing, business users step in for the next phase. 2. UAT Involvement: Business users actively participate in User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to validate bot solutions. 3. Test Case Creation: They should create detailed test cases for various scenarios. 4. Scenario Testing: Business users run the bot through different scenarios to ensure comprehensive testing. 5. Exception Handling: Testing exception scenarios is a crucial aspect, helping identify potential issues. 6. Bug Identification: Actively searching for and identifying bugs during testing. 7. Feedback for Improvement: Providing constructive feedback for enhancing the output generated by the bot.

La parte de prueba y validación es crucial para lograr un resultado excelente tras el proceso de automatización. Debemos contar con la suficiente flexibilidad para escuchar activamente a los empleados del equipo implicado y redefinir, si es necesario, cualquier parámetro o condición que estuviera afectando el óptimo progreso de la automatización. Re-ajustar estos parámetros a medida que obtenemos el feedback sincero de los empleados hará que ellos se sientan partícipes del proyecto y conseguiremos unos resultados excelentes.

Colaboradores podem ajudar a testar e validar as soluções de automação propostas, fornecendo feedback valioso sobre sua eficácia e usabilidade. Além dos erros e falhas, ainda é necessário amadurecer se de fato aquele processo não deve passar mais uma vez pela análise de requisitos.

Feedback and Testing: Employees can provide valuable feedback during the testing stage of automated processes. They can identify flaws, inconsistencies, or areas that need improvement.

Employees can contribute to the successful adoption of automation solutions by maintaining an open mindset toward changes in their work processes, proactively acquiring the necessary skills to use the automated solution, fostering a collaborative environment by sharing knowledge with other team members, providing constructive feedback to the development team for continuous improvement.

Embracing and mastering automation tools like UiPath or Power Automate is essential for automating and optimizing processes. a program of citizen developers can significantly enhance efficiency and productivity, unlocking the full potential of automation in streamlining operations and driving organizational success.

Change management is necessary! You need to involve the whole staff in the change, make them feel that they are being listened to. The key is good communication, before they see changes and before someone else tells them wrong let them know the benefits of the tools. Make meetings to show them the status of the project, and if you can give them little wins, a bite of what they are going to get at the end.

From my perspective, the fourth step highlights how employees are at the heart of successfully incorporating automation tools. Embracing change, honing skills with these tools, and following established practices are pivotal in maximizing the efficiency of automated processes. As I navigate through this transition, I acknowledge the collaborative effort required not only to implement automation but also to align with guidelines and organizational standards. Personally, actively adopting and utilizing these tools goes beyond compliance; it's a direct contribution to optimizing the benefits and value gained from these technological advancements.

Dashboards play a very important role in automation. What you see is what you can improve. It gives us a good indication of what is working and what is not, so that we can revisit if needed.

"If you can't measure it, it didn't happen" highlights the critical role of monitoring and measuring in automation. I once automated an SAP/invoice reconciliation process without integrated monitoring tools. Initially, the automation appeared to streamline operations, but without KPIs, issues like delayed reconciliations and discrepancies in data matching went unnoticed. This oversight eventually led to a backlog of unreconciled invoices and financial inaccuracies, emphasizing the necessity of tracking and measuring to ensure continuous improvement and effectiveness of automated processes.

Define specific KPIs that align with the objectives of the automation initiative. These KPIs should measure the impact of automation on factors such as process efficiency, productivity, error reduction, cost savings, and customer satisfaction. Before implementing automation, measure the current performance of the manual process to serve as a benchmark for comparison. Track Automated Process KPIs: Continuously monitor the KPIs defined for the automated process. Use tracking tools or dashboards to visualize the data and identify trends. Compare the performance of the automated process against the established baseline metrics. Analyze the data to identify improvements in efficiency, productivity, and other relevant KPIs.

Una vez realizados las actualizaciones en el proceso debemos medir. Y hoy disponemos de múltiples herramientas para poder realizarlo. KPI's, Dashboard, Resúmenes ayudan a que con solo un vistazo podamos tener una aproximación de la realidad. Tomar los datos, centralizarlos, almacenarlos y luego procesarlos por medio de Grafana, Power BI u otros. El panel de control es una herramienta poderosa para conocer el porcentaje de cumplimiento de los objetivos de calidad, producción y servicio. La única forma de saber que está pasando en un proceso es medirlo y resumirlo para que los distintos niveles puedan realizar acciones. Los operadores son los primeros en percibir desvíos y procurar soluciones en caso de haber problemas.

It's good practice to save the automation results to see fail/successful percentage, to see what test ia not stable. I am using a BI tool personally + cypress cloud reports to keep track.

Identifying automation improvements in RPA is not an extra step it is absolutely vital for increasing efficiency and accuracy. A notable example I worked on is the enhancement of an RPA robot in accounts payable. Initially, the system was programmed to handle basic invoice processing. Over time, the robot was improved to include advanced features like fraud detection, automatic reconciliation with purchase orders, and reporting. This upgrade not only streamlined the payment cycle, reducing processing time and errors, but also provided better financial control and compliance, illustrating the impact of continuous process automation enhancements in optimizing business processes.

Los empleados pueden impulsar significativamente la automatización de procesos. Fomentando una cultura de innovación y colaboración, pueden identificar y sugerir áreas para la automatización. La formación continua en nuevas tecnologías y prácticas de automatización es esencial para mantenerse al día y aportar ideas valiosas. Un sistema de retroalimentación constante permite refinar procesos automatizados, mientras que el análisis de datos y el uso de tecnologías emergentes como IA y RPA revelan nuevas oportunidades de eficiencia. La participación activa y el compromiso de los empleados son cruciales para el éxito y la mejora continua de la automatización de procesos.

Over time, technologies evolve and advance. There may be new instruments and sensors that can take the automation to the next level. Or new tools that simplify things. It is important to keep a continuous improvement mindset.

Identificar melhorias de automação envolve examinar os processos automatizados em busca de oportunidades de aprimoramento. Isso pode incluir redução de etapas redundantes, implementação de tecnologias mais avançadas, integração de sistemas para maior eficiência, simplificação de interfaces de usuário, entre outras possibilidades. Os colaboradores podem contribuir sugerindo ideias para tornar os processos automatizados mais eficazes, ágeis e adaptáveis às necessidades em constante mudança da organização.

I've often seen automations requiring manual intervention from business users, even if it's just providing input. This suggests that future enhancements and business impact should be considered when designing automations to ensure they're fully automated & eliminate the need for manual intervention in future sprints. For example, an automation should only be considered "fully built" if it's hyper-automated to the maximum extent possible, minimizing or eliminating manual steps & data gathering from different sources. This approach requires connecting the automation to all relevant data sources and ensuring it can operate autonomously. Therefore, continuous improvement and hyper-automation are crucial for achieving truly effective automation.

When it comes to RPA the key thing to understand is "you can't automate a bad process". Before development starts the process should be analysed and improved (highly recommend Lean Sigma 6). I've seen far too often a process automated only to find a large proportion of it adds no value and could have been skipped. Saving valuable development time and improving the stability of the solution.

A manufacturing company implemented an automated robotic system to assemble components on an assembly line. To monitor the effectiveness of the automation, the company tracked KPIs such as cycle time per assembly, defect rate, and overall production volume. By comparing these KPIs against the baseline metrics from the manual assembly process, the company could clearly demonstrate the productivity gains and cost savings achieved through automation. Additionally, the company gathered feedback from assembly line workers to identify potential improvements in the robot's programming and workflow integration. This feedback-driven approach enabled the company to continuously refine the automation process and maximize its benefits.

Muitas vezes o projeto é mapeado para atingir um resultado em que se espera uma única forma da tarefa ser realizada, pois quem utiliza no dia a dia normalmente não documenta os caminhos de quando algo dá errado ou de quando surge uma restrição em que o sistema não permite a conclusão da tarefa. Sendo assim só depois rodando em produção o desenvolvedor vai conhecer tais restrições quando o robô acusar erro, tendo seu passo a passo divergente do que fora mapeado. A sugestão é documentar os processos não só o caminho feliz em que tudo sai como planejado, mas também demais caminhos que possam ocorrer e tem de ser tratados, ou indicar que aquela tarefa não pode seguir. Outra sugestão é mais reativo, atualizar o robô para tratar o novo cenário.

La automatización para que pueda ser plenamente efectiva debe tener en cuenta no solo los aspectos de aumento de producción/calidad sino tratar la empresa en forma colectiva con todos sus integrantes. Escuchar, atender las dudas, opiniones de los operadores, personal de mantenimiento, de producción. El proceso debe ser acompañado con capacitación y dar la oportunidad de participación. Muchos proyectos no han llegado a su meta por la resistencia al cambio.

Just because there appears to be a gap that can be fixed by automations, before proceeding, it is worth checking: 1) A solution does not already exist for the problem 2) There is not a solution coming soon on a product roadmap 3) The problem won't just go away if a different approach is taken (eg: No need to print those documents for markup when all that happens is they are scanned again afterwards).