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Install Robotic Process Automation for Award Management

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This content applies solely to Award Management, which must be purchased separately from the Appian base platform. This content was written for Appian 26.6 and may not reflect the interfaces or functionality of other Appian versions.

Appian Award Management (AM) includes robotic process automation (RPA) as an optional add-on. When you configure RPA for AM, you can create robotic tasks that perform repetitive activities based on the rules you define. See the Appian RPA documentation for guidance and examples.

Note:  Before configuring RPA for AM, review the RPA system requirements to make sure your environment meets the requirements to execute robotic tasks.

The RPA add-on must be installed on the same environment where the AM solution is installed.

With the RPA research process, end users can submit vendor research requests. AM then uses a robotic task to look up vendor information on specific websites (GSA schedule, SBA status, and ICD) and returns the results to end users.

This page provides instructions for installing and setting up a new deployment of RPA for Award Management.

Note:  Throughout this document, the target environment is referred to as <site>.appiancloud.com. Some steps require access to your local machine and your Appian environment. Note which environment each step applies to as you proceed.

Step 1: Download the AM RPA add-on package

Download the add-on package that contains the following files:

  • AwardManagementRpav2.6.0.zip: RPA add-on for the AM application.
  • AwardManagementRpav2.6.0.properties: Import customization file for configuring the add-on package.
  • ContractDirectorySearch.zip: Robotic package for Interagency Contract Directory (ICD) search.
  • GAM-IE11-WebDriver.zip: Driver package for the robotic task configuration.

To download the AM RPA add-on:

  1. Go to MyAppian > SUPPORT > DOWNLOADS.
  2. Select the SOLUTIONS tile.
  3. Click Award Management V26.6.2.6.
  4. In Downloads, under Add-ons, click the AwardManagementRpav2.6.0 link.
  5. Click PROCEED to agree to the License Agreement.
  6. Click AwardManagementRpav2.6.0 to download the ZIP file.
  7. Unzip AwardManagementRpav2.6.0.zip to access the software installation files.
    • Note: The directory where the RPA add-on was downloaded and extracted is referred to as <bot-directory> in subsequent steps.
  8. Verify that the files listed above are available.

Step 2: Deploy plug-ins for the AM RPA package

You must deploy the following plug-in for the AM RPA package to work:

  • Dynamic Document Generator

The steps for deploying plug-ins differ for Appian Cloud and self-managed environments.

Appian Cloud environments

To deploy the plug-in for an Appian Cloud environment:

  1. In the target environment, sign in as the deployment user.
  2. Navigate to the Admin Console.
  3. On the left side of the console, click Plug-ins.
  4. Click ADD NEW PLUG-INS.
  5. Search for and click Dynamic Document Generator.
  6. Click DEPLOY.

Self-managed environments

To deploy the plug-in for a self-managed environment:

  1. Download the following plug-in from the Appian AppMarket:

  2. Follow the Deploying Plug-ins instructions to deploy the plug-in.

Step 3: Create a service account for AM RPA

To use the robotic tasks, create a service account and an API key in the Appian Console. Complete these steps before deploying the RPA add-on to the environment.

Step 4: Upgrade your Appian environment for AM RPA

Award Management 1.9 introduced a new method of implementing robotic tasks that requires Appian version 24.1 or later. If your Appian environment is on version 24.1 or later, skip this section and continue with Step 5.

Note:  This step applies only to environments running Appian versions earlier than 24.1.

To upgrade your Appian environment:

  1. Go to Appian RPA.
  2. Select Settings > Configuration.
  3. Go to the Security policies section and select the Allow Appian to provide selenium web drivers checkbox.
  4. Click Save security policies.
  5. Go to the SMTP Email configuration section and select the Use TLS checkbox.
  6. Click Save email configuration.
  7. Go to the Tools Configuration section and verify that the following fields are empty:
    1. Default repository URL (/ ending)
    2. Default repository username
    3. Default repository password
  8. Select Save tool configurations.
  9. Navigate to Robotic Tasks.
  10. Select Repositories.

  11. Delete the following two repositories:

    • https://<site>/rpa-repo/repository/jidoka/
    • https://<site>/rpa-repo/repository/jidoka-snapshots/

Step 5: Import robotic tasks for Award Management

Import the robotic tasks that AM uses to retrieve vendor information.

To import robotic tasks:

  1. Go to Appian RPA > Robotic Tasks.
  2. Click Import Robotic Task Upload icon.
  3. Click Upload and select ContractDirectorySearch robotic task.
  4. Click Inspect > Import > Close.
  5. If there are no errors, click Import and wait until the dialog box says Import Complete.
  6. In the Robotic Tasks column, in the top right, click the Support files icon.
  7. Hover over the Root directory, and click Upload icon.
  8. Upload the GAM-IE11-WebDriver.zip file and select the Unzip on server checkbox.
  9. Click OK and refresh the page.
  10. Verify that GAM-IE11-WebDriver is listed under the Root directory and has Robotic tasks: icd-robot.

Root directory showing GAM-IE11-WebDriver with robotic tasks.

Step 6: Deploy the AM RPA add-on

Import the RPA add-on into the AM application.

To deploy the RPA add-on:

  1. In the target environment, sign in as the deployment user.
  2. Navigate to Appian Designer.
  3. Click IMPORT.
  4. Click UPLOAD and choose the AwardManagementRpav2.6.0.zip file downloaded in Step 1.
  5. Select Include related import customization file.
  6. Click UPLOAD.
  7. Select the AwardManagementRpav2.6.0.properties file downloaded in Step 1.
  8. Click INSPECT and review the inspection results.
    • Note: The inspection could take several minutes and may time out. If this occurs, the import will continue in the background.
  9. If there are no issues, click IMPORT.
    • Note: The import may time out due to file size. If this occurs, the import will continue in the background.
  10. Review the import results.

Step 7: Update the AM RPA connected system

Update the RPA connected system with the API key generated when you created the service account in Step 3.

To update the RPA connected system:

  1. Using an administrator account, sign in to <site> and navigate to Appian Designer.
  2. Open the connected system AS AM CS Rpa.
  3. In the Appian RPA Configuration section, locate the API Key field and click Clear.
  4. Enter the service account API key.
  5. Click Test Connection and verify that it says Connection successful.
  6. Click SAVE.

Step 8: Set up the AM RPA robot

AM uses RPA for General Services Administration (GSA) research, Small Business Administration (SBA) research, and Interagency Contract Directory (ICD) research. These research processes allow users to submit a request to complete their vendor research. After the request is submitted, AM uses a robotic task to look up vendor information in the GSA, SBA, and ICD libraries and pulls this information into the solution for end-user access.

To set up the RPA robot:

  1. Follow the steps to install a robot to create the GSA robot and configure security.
  2. After completing the previous step, click CREATE to open the Manage Connection dialog. Follow the steps on that screen to bring the robot online. For more information, see Manage connection.
  3. Add the robot to the robotic pool:
    • Add the robot to the AS_AM_POOL_getResearchDetails and GAM pools using the Robotic Pools tab in the Operations Console.

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