a well mixed cocktail a case study in combining robotic ... · robotic process automation (rpa)...
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A Well Mixed Cocktail – A Case Study in Combining Robotic Process Automation (RPA) With Decision Technologies To Improve Case Management
Lloyd Dugan
Lead Business Architect / Solution Architect, Serco Inc. (NA)
© Copyright 2019 – Serco Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Case StudyGeneral Background
Serco, NA (http://www.serco-na.com/about):
• Corporate:
– Americas division of Serco Group, plc
– Business process outsourcing (BPO) and supporting IT services provider
– Over 50 years’ experience and 10,000 staff in the Americas
– Multiple government and commercial clients
• Large BPO and IT support services contract with the Federal Government
– Multiple call centers with large number of call center workers doing back-office processing
– Leveraging Case Management, Decision, and RPA technologies to support service operations
– PII and IP restrictions on access in Production limit disclosures in the embedded demo
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Case StudySpecific Background
Problem Space and Solution for Assisted Case Work Using RPA:
• Increasing efficiencies of working tasks in a case management system used by call center workers without sacrificing effectiveness of outcomes
• Implement equivalent straight-through-processing (STP) treatment for low-complexity work as way of extending utility of case management solution
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Task Work Process
Dynamic Work Assignment
Data ServicesRPA User Service
(Kapow)
Get Next Task
• The RPA Service launches work as RPA Users on a work schedule (as a cron job) like a Regular User.
• The RPA Users have appropriate logon credentials and provisioning rights for using the system.
• New Decision Service determines if a task qualifies as low-complexity for processing by the RPA User.
RPA EligibilityService
Components: Middleware (RedHat-Fuse) DECISION (Sapiens) Case Management (Appian)
RPA-Enabled Case Management SolutionArchitectural Overview
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DWA Services
Task is
generated
and scored
DWA Assignment
Regular
User
RPA
User
Complete Work (Manually – i.e., as
Regular User)
Default path for Task wherein
RPA User triages work
RPA user
or ESW user
?
Alternate path for Task
marked for Regular User
Case Management Process
provides orchestration context
Task is reset
for Regular
User to work
Main Case
Management ProcessUI-level behaviors include acting upon result of RPA Eligibility Service
and enforced ordered processing to “flatten” any user’s path
Task work is
completed
Complete Work (Automatically –i.e., as RPA user)
Data Services
RPA
User
RPA Eligibility Service
Regular
User
Get Next Task
Process
Task Worked
Through To Completion
?
No
Yes
RPA-Enabled Case Management SolutionFunctional Flow
RPA User Service
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RPA-Enabled Case Management SolutionOperational Results
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• Worked approximately 60k tasks over a 15 day period (out of 160+k tasks),
avoiding need for Regular Users to work them
• Averaged about 12 tasks/minute and took between 4-8 minutes/task at up
to 40 RPA User sessions (across 10 RPA User accounts)
• Was THE key to meeting applicable SLA for task turnaround (along with
Regular Users maximized under DWA)
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RPA User Eligibility Decision ServiceGeneralized DMN Representation of Assignment Decision Logic (**)
RPAEligibility
U
ComplexityRating TaskTypeGroup RPAUserSetting RPAEligibility Description
Input Input Input OutcomeInformational
Note
1 "Low" "ValidForRPAUser""RPAUserOnly",
"RPAAndESWUser"true
RPA online with
qualifying task
2 "High" false non-qualifying case
3 "ValidForESWUser" falsenon-qualifying task
type
4 “ESWUserOnly" false RPA offline
** Simplified logic done in DMN Model was created with the Trisotech DMN Modeler
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AppianUser Group
RPA User Setting
ESW User OnlyRPA User Only (Default)
RPA andESW User
ESW UserAny eligible Tasks can be assigned.
Only eligible tasks marked for ESW Only (i.e., already reviewed by RPA User) can be assigned.
Any eligible Tasks can be assigned.
RPA User
No eligible Tasks can be assigned.
Only eligible Tasks not marked for ESW Only (i.e., not yet reviewed by RPA User) can be assigned.
Only eligible Tasks not marked for Regular User can be assigned.
RPA User Eligibility Decision ServiceManaging Work Routing for Both RPA and Regular Users (*)
RPA User Setting
controls flow of work
to the RPA User(s)
* DWA Admin Console
was created in Appian
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RPA User Eligibility Decision ServiceLow-Complexity Work Defined
No Docs Consumer (Applicant)
No Docs Related Person
No Docs Related Person
No Docs Related Person
No Docs Related Person
Radio Silent Ever Status For
Sending In Documents To
Address Qualifying Issue(s)
Qualifying Consumer’s Application
Relevant Case File
Data With
Qualifying Issue(s)
Pending Action
+ =Low-Complexity
Work For Taking
Pending Action
(RPA User Work)
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• RPA User-eligible work is “low complexity” work, which the RPA User is able to work to completion after
it interprets the evaluation of this possibility by the RPA Eligibility Service (as displayed for it to “see”)
• RPA User will do only what it is “taught” to do, which will be to follow the same set of actions/reactions
to what is presented on screen as UI elements and behaviors that a Regular User would otherwise follow
• RPA User design path must also account for unusual contingencies, which are events it may encounter
that a Regular User could otherwise work through (e.g., latencies in screen or UI element refresh)
RPA User Service Design ApproachTreating RPA User Like Any Other User Resource
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RPA User Service Design ApproachModeling Limitations in Representing RPA User Service Launch
• RPA vs. Regular User launch the process in different contexts, which means the process is a Call Activity
or an invoked via a Service Task…but are not all that helpful in modeling (though maybe in execution?)
Process as Call Activity that can be
started within multiple contexts
Process as a Service that can also
be started by a Service Task
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RPA User Service Design ApproachModeling Limitations in Representing RPA User
• RPA vs. Regular User is really just a type of Performer or Role, which are attributes in BPMN and
CMMN…but are not all that helpful in modeling (though maybe in execution?)
(RPA
User)
(Regular
User)
Has 2 Performers but only 1
is in use at instance-level
Requires use of the User
Task as a Call Activity
Regula
r U
ser
RP
A U
ser
Regula
r U
ser
RPA User
Semantics of this can be hard to
explain to non-experienced modelers
=
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• Session UI initiation – Logging on and handling any errors that are thrown
• Work UI initiation – Launching specific work screens and handling any errors that are thrown
• Work UI navigation – Navigating specific work screens along pre-defined lines of data entry or UI actions
RPA User Service Design ApproachModeling RPA User Experiences as UX Design Patterns Instead
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TIPS Log-on Error Handling
Log-on To System
Log-on Error Handling
Log-on To System Main
Screen
Handle System Log-on
Error
System Log-on Session Ended With
Error Reported
RPA User Work Day
Started System Log-on Error Occurred
Log-on Session
Attempted
RPA User Work Day Ended Per Schedule
Exceeds Count Limit?
Check Log-on
Retry Count
No
Log-on Retry Wait Time
Observed
Yes
RPA User Work Day
Ended Per Work Done
Launch System User
Work
Log-off From System Main
Screen
Log-on Session
Concluded
System User Worklaunched multiple times
until no work remains OR the work day ends
Multiple Parallel RPA
User Log-offs
Multiple Parallel RPA User Log-ons
Work-in-process completed but no new work is started, ending the multiple parallel RPA User sessions still active and moving to log-offs
Something prevents log-on from completing, ending the attempt and leading to an error handling screen
Logon Error Handling:
• RPA User attempts to logon.
• If logon is successful, then Get Next Task is launched
• Otherwise (logon is not successful), and RPA User
handles the error by closing the session and retrying
if retry count is less than the pre-set limit.
• If the retry count is at the limit, then “sleep” for a time
before retrying again with the retry count reset to 0.
RPA User Service Design PatternLogging On To The Case Management System
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RP
A E
ligib
ility
D
eci
sio
n
Serv
ice
User Work Screen Error Handling
Launch System User Work
Started
Invoke RPA Eligibility
Service
Launch System User
Work ScreensLaunch
System User Work Ended Successfully
RPA Eligibility ServiceError Detected
Service Error Occurred
Handle Service Error
Launch System User Work
Ended Unsuccessfully
RPA Eligibility ServiceRequest
RPA Eligibility Service
Response
Service error(s) prevent the user work screens from launching ending the attempt and leading to an error handling screen
UI Form Error Handling:
If launch of the main case management process is successful, then
any remaining error handling moments are presented on the returned
form UI, which are then handled as appropriate by the RPA User.
RPA User Service Design PatternLaunching Process In The Case Management System
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Verification Form Data Entry Handling
Close-out Assisted Work
Screen Processing
Inspect Data Presented By Initial Work Screen
Launch System User
Work Screens Started
RPA User Eligible?
Work Screen Data Entry Completed
Unsuccessfully With Routing To
Regular User Only
Yes
User Type?
No
RPA User
Continue Normal Work Screen
Processing
Regular User
Data Entry Branching Point One Applicable?
Complete Assisted Work
Screen Processing 1
Yes
Data Entry Branching Point Two Applicable?
No
Complete Assisted Work
Screen Processing 2Yes
Complete Assisted Work
Screen Processing 3
No
Work Screen Data Entry Completed
Successfully
Continue Assisted Work
Screen Processing
Path of Inbound Tasks Marked
Regular User Only
Path RPA User Takes when it is not eligible
to work the Task
Streamlined portion of Work Screens that the RPA User will complete (that a Regular User would also have to complete)
UI Form Data Entry Handling:
If launch of the main case management process is successful
and without any errors, then branching moments in the data
entry occur that determine the actions of the RPA User.
RPA User Service Design PatternEntering Data Into The Case Management System
Regular User
Both Users
RPA User
Key:
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Lessons Learned and Looking ForwardCultural Understanding/Acceptance of Using RPA Technology
• Conditioned perception of what a “robot” does, which complicates its true understanding – e.g., errors
the robot might make are seen as different though other users can make the same ones
• Lost in translation moments from SMEs to RPA designers, which occur because translating contextual
decision-making informed through experience and training into algorithmic pathways can be hard
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Lessons Learned and Looking ForwardRPA Design Considerations
• RPA design works best with a fully deployable product, which means it such should not be done until
after the system usage to be automated is more/less fully tested and stable
• RPA designer skills include understanding UIs from user perspective, which have much in common with
automated functional testing tool scripters and those doing 508 Compliance work (assistive technologies)
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Lessons Learned and Looking ForwardFuture Applications of RPA
• 1st gen RPA designer tools use deterministic and structured flow modeling, which means the simple
algorithmic pathways and low-complexity workstreams are first up
• Future gen RPA designer tools must include AI, which will enable more cognitively-dependent situations
to be addressed by RPA Users
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RPA-Enabled Case Management SolutionDemo Followed By Q&A
Demo Video Embedded Here
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