A robotic task is the result of the integration of all Appian RPA platform components. A robotic task follows steps that are configured in the Appian RPA console and executes on a specified robot. This page discusses how to create a robotic task in Appian RPA, including some general guidelines and steps in the console.

What makes a good robotic task?

Robotic tasks are intended to supplement human activity in an application. Robotic tasks don't possess the judgment that human beings have; so, there is some potential for the robotic task to encounter exceptions, or patterns the process doesn't know how to handle. Additionally, the robotic task may take a long time to execute due to application processing time. After all, the applications are designed to handle input from human beings, which is much slower than that of a robotic task.

Because of this behavior, any robotic task must be:

• Reliable: Whatever the robotic task does, it must be done well. Without this guarantee, the robotic task should not go on. A robotic task that processes important information must always be confident of what it is doing. For example, if the robotic task is not on the window it should be at a given time, data loss could occur. Usually robotic tasks operate directly on production environments; so, reliability is very important at all phases.
• Resumable: Robotic tasks must be designed so that a user can stop its execution at a given time and resume it without manual intervention on the execution machine. This is especially important for robotic tasks that take a long time or process a large number of items. If execution stops, either manually or due to an error, it must be able to be resumed.
• Traceable: A robotic task must do everything it's supposed to do, and what it does must be reflected somewhere. At least, it must be reflected in the execution log, although its medium can be adjusted for easier reading and interpretation by the developer. If the user wants to access the log, it is advisable to make the information requirements and expectations clear so that a developer can build it into the robotic task during the development phase.

As with any business technology, you'll want to consider data security in every part of your robotic task. Visit the Securing Data in Robotic Tasks page to learn more about data security in every phase of a robotic task.

Create a robotic task

Required role: Developer or Administrator

To create a robotic task:

1. Go to the Robotic tasks tab in the Appian RPA console.
2. Click Create robotic task in the toolbar.
3. Choose a template to start building your robotic task. If you want to start from scratch, select Blank.
4. Enter these details:
   • Name: Name to identify the robotic task in the console and Maven project.
     • Note: This value must be unique in your Appian RPA environment. Spaces are not supported, so consider using hyphens to separate words. It is a best practice to preface the name with the application specific prefix.
   • Permissions: Assign permissions to configure security for the robotic task.
   • Group: Location of the Maven project. We use the default value, although it can be modified.
   • Version: Version of the robotic task. As in the previous case, the default value will be used.
   • Repository: Select a repository or use the console's default.
5. Click OK. The browser downloads the robotic task code and you're brought to the robotic task configuration page.

Create a robotic task from a template

Required role: Developer or Administrator

Templates give developers a head start when creating new robotic tasks. Appian RPA includes default templates for common operations.

To create a robotic task from a template:

1. Go to the Robotic tasks tab in the Appian RPA console.
2. Click Templates in the toolbar.

3. Find a template in the list and click Create a robot in the Actions column.

   

4. Enter the details listed above.
5. Click OK. The browser downloads the robotic task code and you're brought to the robotic task configuration page.

Create a robotic task from an existing configuration

Required role: Developer or Administrator

You can use an existing robotic task configuration as the basis for your new robotic task. Learn more about copying a robotic task configuration.

Import a robotic task

Required role: Developer or Administrator

To import a robotic task:

1. Go to the Robotic tasks tab in the Appian RPA console.
2. Click Import robotic task in the toolbar.
3. Click UPLOAD to browse for the file on your computer, or drag and drop the file in the dialog.
4. Select the Include import customization file box if you're using one of these files to manage variables and other components.
5. Click INSPECT.
6. Review the inspection results. If there are no issues, click IMPORT.

Learn more about deploying robotic tasks and Appian applications.

Configure the new robotic task

Required role: Developer or Administrator

After you create the robotic task, you'll need to configure the robotic task's definition and technical details.

See Configure a robotic task to get started.