# Process Automation and Blockchain in Intelligence and Investigation Units: An Approach
## 3 Literature Review: Background and Related Work
### Process Automation  
According to [PERSON] [16], [PERSON] et al. [17] and [PERSON] et al. [18], processes are composed of sequences of tasks ordered and organized with the participation of agents, resources, and tools, and are usually executed to achieve a particular objective. With regard to automation, [PERSON] [19] and [PERSON] [20] mentions that it is the application of techniques and tools in a given process with the objective of making it possible to increase its efficiency and production, reducing the consumption of resources, or to reduce work or manual interferences. In this context, process automation can be understood as the integration of technology into an organizational environment to create values and advantages such as improved efficiency or increased productivity, concepts that reduce cost and time to complete processes, standardize activities, and more [16; 17; 18; 19; 20]. Over the years, several studies and practices have focused on the application of process automation. Concepts have been applied in the market and academy, which have been motivated by different objectives, such as contributing to greater agility of results, reduction of time, resources, and costs for carrying out operational activities [21]. However, according to [PERSON] [22], many organizations tend to initiate projects aimed at automating processes without first trying to understand them. Further, many organizations do not try to better integrate information technology within the organization. By ignoring the essential steps of understanding and simplifying, organizations have an increased risks of developing ineffective systems. For this purpose, the adoption of an approach or strategy for the implementation of process automation can be an essential factor to contribute to a higher success rate. In this context, [PERSON] [21] mentions that the approach presented by [PERSON] [22], the USA principle (understand, simplify, and automate), is common sense and can have its strategy applied to different types of projects aimed at process automation. In his approach, [PERSON] [22] points out that the first step of a process automation application project (i.e., understand) is to understand the current process in all its details in order to execute different methods such as walking through the process, conducting an analysis of the work breakdown structure (WBS), or fishbone analysis. With the knowledge obtained after the execution of the first step, the next step is to look for ways to simplify the process. For example, one may check the possibility of excluding unnecessary steps, unnecessary or inefficient use of resources, or other improvements. Finally, once the process has been reduced to its simplest form, automation can be considered [21; 22]. According to [PERSON] [22], applying the USA principle to a system not only leads to higher stakeholder involvement but also contributes to an increase of acceptance and productivity by those affected by the technology. In addition to the strategy for application in projects aimed at process automation, it is also worth mentioning the importance of identifying criteria for applying automation in processes or workflows that contribute to the identification of automation processes. In this regard, [PERSON] [23] pointed out nine characteristics that can be used as criteria for the application of automation, resulting from literature reviews and interviews with information technology (IT) professionals. The characteristics cited were high transaction volume, high transaction value, frequent access to multiple systems, stable environments, limited human intervention, limited exception handling,manual IT processes prone to errors or rework, ease of decomposition of the process into well-defined processes, and a clear understanding of current manual costs [23; 24; 25]. [PERSON] et al. [26] also proposed a method that assists organizations in analyzing and classifying processes to identify those that are suitable for automation through the adoption of robotic process automation (RPA).