Characterizing Robotic Process Automation

Within digital transformation, which is continuously progressing, robotic process automation (RPA) is drawing much corporate attention. While RPA is a popular topic in the corporate world, the academic research lacks a theoretical and synoptic analysis of RPA. Conducting a literature review and tool analysis, we propose – in a holistic and structured way – four traits that characterize RPA, providing orientation as well as a focus for further research. Software robots automate processes originally performed by human work. Thus, software robots follow a choreography of technological modules and control flow operators while operating within IT ecosystems and using established applications. Ease-of-use and adaptability allow companies to conceive and implement software robots through (agile) projects. Organizational and IT strategy, governance structures, and management systems therefore must address both the direct effects of software robots automating processes and their indirect impacts on firms. EM_Fundamentals_RPA_Manuscript_Revision_2_2, page 2/16 The Emergence of Robotic Process Automation Digitalization is no longer a marginal phenomenon or a buzzword. ITs constantly evolve and bring about new products and opportunities (Vedder & Guynes, 2016). Thus, today’s business environments face continuous digital transformation, leading to multifaceted information systems (IS) topographies (vom Brocke et al., 2018). Within digital transformation, neither automation nor robotics are new developments. In the past few years, robotic process automation (RPA) has drawn much corporate attention concerning automation initiatives. According to Information Services Group (2018), 54% of European companies plan to automate at least 10 processes via RPA by 2020. Among others, accomplishing non-value adding activities (cost-)efficiently and in a scalable manner as well as reducing turnaround times are motivating companies to automate these processes using software robots (Sutherland, 2013). RPA is interesting to companies that pursue an operational excellence strategy, although RPA’s use should not be limited to this strategy. However, the academic research lacks a theoretical and synoptic analysis of RPA. Responding to the call by Van der Aalst et al. (2018), we seek to shed light on the academic discourse about RPA. To capture all relevant knowledge on the topic, we first conducted a systematic literature review (Webster & Watson, 2002; Okoli, 2015) in which we searched different electronic databases (AIS eLibrary, EBSCO, IEEE Xplore, JSTOR, ProQuest, Science Direct, Springer, Web of Science) and the major IS conferences (AMCIS, ECIS, ICIS, PACIS, HICCS), using “robotic process automation” and combinations of “automation,” “robot,” “software,” and “bot” as keywords. Complementing the initial set of publications, we conducted a backward-and-forward search. We also analyzed existing tools in an inductive reasoning process, adapting Thomas’s (2006) process steps. To ensure an unbiased approach towards the analysis, we collected a library of functional elements by examining features that are offered to users within the tool to build robotic process flows. Based on this we created and continuously reevaluated categories of functional classes. We selected tools that offer commercial solutions, enclose a variety of functionalities, operate in multiple regions and industries and are sold by key market players (Le Clair, 2017, 2018). While there are other tools on the market, we only chose freely available ones for our analysis to guarantee transparent and reproducible results. As the analyzed tools offer the same or very similar functionalities in accordance with the existing literature, we do not expect additional insights by incorporating further tools in our analysis. EM_Fundamentals_RPA_Manuscript_Revision_2_2, page 3/16 These methodological approaches allowed us to integrate and organize available knowledge, while also providing orientation and a focus for further research into RPA. We did not confine ourselves solely to RPA, but also examined its relationships to other technologies and research fields. Characterizing Robotic Process Automation To characterize RPA in a structured way, we introduce the main characteristics of RPA in Figure 1 by emphasizing four major traits. In our elaboration, we follow the extensive understanding of the IEEE Corporate Advisory Group (2017, p. 11), which defines RPA as the use of a “preconfigured software instance that uses business rules and predefined activity choreography to complete the autonomous execution of a combination of processes, activities, transactions, and tasks in one or more unrelated software systems to deliver a result or service with human exception management. ” Software robots automate Processes