About Appian RPA

Appian RPA is a feature of the Appian platform for automating tasks using Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

As the costs of labor increase, businesses find that investment in automating rote tasks through software is much more attractive. The cost savings for outsourcing work isn't as compelling as the cost savings for robotic process automation solutions. High volume, highly transactional manual processes can be automated to free up your workforce to focus on tasks and initiatives that require higher level cognitive thinking. Additionally, robotic processes ensure data quality and consistency where compliance is concerned and such standards can't be compromised.

RPA represents a new paradigm in business process automation. Appian RPA delivers:

• Full-stack automation: Appian RPA fully integrates with BPM, AI, and case management to provide the right automation technology for the right use case. Unite people, bots, and AI to tackle high-value and high-volume work that involves different levels of cognitive engagement.
• Powerful governance: As your RPA practice grows, you can centrally manage, monitor, and deploy robots across the organization to increase scale and performance.
• Secure, cloud-based RPA: Appian's Cloud is secure, globally available, and trusted to run mission critical, enterprise applications, including those that use robotic process integrations.

How does Appian RPA work?

Robotic processes are programs that control other applications to perform repetitive tasks based on rules, allowing people to focus their efforts on activities that require problem solving or personal interpretation.

Among other objectives, Appian RPA seeks to replace manual tasks with a programmed robotic process. RPA differs from traditional automation in its non-intrusive nature. Robotic processes don't necessarily need to access databases, nor do they have to communicate with computer systems by invoking functions, web services, or APIs. Instead, robotic processes interact with the user interface itself, using the windows of the applications as people do: moving the mouse, clicking different menu options, and entering or reading data from the screens.

Appian RPA robotic processes are powered by Java methods and libraries. These pieces of code represent actions within the robotic process workflow. Developers can then use the Appian RPA Console to architect robotic process workflows using that code.

The console is also the place where administrators can execute processes, monitor completed processes, and schedule new ones. Administrators must also set up environments where robotic processes should run. The execution environment for a robotic process is known as a resource and can be a physical or virtual machine. Appian RPA uses tags to secure visibility and execution for users, robotic processes, and resources.

Who is this guide for?

This documentation serves as the reference guide for Appian RPA administrators and developers. The tasks and responsibilities for each role are as follows:

• Administrator: Technical support in the organization for robotic process deployment, including hardware and software infrastructure and communications. In addition, this role can change permissions and has remote access to the resources and the events generated by the platform.
• Developer: This role corresponds to the programmer, who analyzes and builds the robotic processes. Developers are responsible for deploying code to the central repository and preparing robotic process packages for deployment. Additionally, the developer creates, sets up, and visually defines the workflow for the robotic processes from the console.
• Manager: Operational support to help keep robotic processes functional. Managers are responsible for executing robotic processes, managing exceptions, and troubleshooting issues such as offline resources or failed queue item processing. Managers can't edit or create a robotic process, but help support existing ones.

Many other business roles are important part of RPA. Individuals may step in at certain points in the process and help to resolve exceptions when they arise. As you plan and coordinate robotic processes, it's also important to communicate with employees of the organization who know the processes best suited for automation. Users may need to know at a functional level what robots do, and they must handle detailed information about input and output data from the processes and their metrics. Further, some people must know the costs of both the manual process and the automation in order to calculate savings and determine the return on investment (ROI). The Robotic Workforce Manager solution (bundled with Appian RPA) can help you engage with these individuals and promote RPA usage across your business.

This documentation provides the technical framework to help you code and deploy robotic processes for your organization.

Console browser requirements

The Appian RPA Console supports Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Edge and Internet Explorer users may have some success using the Appian RPA Console on these browsers, but it isn't recommended.