# Process Automation and Blockchain in Intelligence and Investigation Units: An Approach
## 1 Introduction
Although current approaches aimed at process automation application and digital asset management can be used in specialized units, there are challenges regarding the location and adoption of approaches that take into account the issues and challenges inherent in the considerable complexity and specificity of the process automation application and digital asset management, as well as a concern with security. Concerning digital asset management, it is still a big challenge to provide a secure, verifiable, and traceable way to manage, store, share, and retrieve them. In some cases,  
Figure 1: Total violent crime reported in the United States (in millions). Survey period: 2013-2018. Publication date: September 2019. Source: statista.com. due to the involvement of a trusted third party, many approaches lack trust, transparency, security, and immutability [9]. Despite the existence of several studies that have presented different approaches related to process automation and blockchain in industrial or academic environments, to the best of our knowledge, no records of application-oriented work in the context of intelligence and investigation units were found. For the case of adopting approaches currently used in the market or even those involving the hiring of companies that provide specialized consultancy services for either process optimization and improvement or operational activities automation that use specialized systems, there are limited or partial applications due to restricted access of existing operating procedures, workflows, and information. Consequently, there are also challenges regarding the location and adoption of market solutions that meet the needs of these specialized units. For the case of specialized systems that aim to automate processes or operational activities, specialized units tend to develop their solutions and underutilize previously acquired market tools. This finding was presented in a survey [11] about leading specialized agencies in the fight against organized crime in Brazil. Motivated by this scenario, this work presents an approach that adopts concepts of process automation and blockchain to assist and guide researchers and professionals interested in studies and practices aimed at simplification and/or automation of processes in the context of intelligence and investigation units. Based on this context and due to the considerable concern with security, as well as the characteristics inherent to the context of these units, an opportunity has arisen to adopt alternative solutions aimed at the management, storage, and/or sharing of generated digital assets. After carrying out a survey with specialists from specialized units who perform an experience in an institution, our results showed evidence of the feasibility of use and suitability of the approach for the given scenario, especially regarding how it helps interested parties apply process automation and establish a deeper trust in management, storage, and/or sharing of generated digital assets. The two significant contributions of this study are as follows:  
1. This paper proposes an approach that helps (i) business processes analyzes; (ii) verification of processes suitable for automation; and (iii) analyzes and prioritizes classification for automation, considering simplification methods before automation, when necessary. Furthermore, the proposed method was tailored for business analysts without the need to become experts in process automation or business process management, and can be adopted as a guide to contribute to the direction of process automation application in the context of units who carry out intelligence and investigation activities. 2. A proposal to apply blockchain technology and cryptography as support mechanisms in the management, storage, sharing, and/or retrieval of generated digital assets. Issues related to auditability (traceability), versioning identification, authenticity, access control, non-repudiation, integrity verification, security, decentralization, and transparency are considered and discussed.