# Process Automation and Blockchain in Intelligence and Investigation Units: An Approach
## 3 Literature Review: Background and Related Work
### Process Automation
The proposed approach aims to contribute to the analysis and classification of business processes through the adoption of six properties (i.e., level of maturity and standardization of processes, interactions with software applications, the adoption of business rules, complexity levels, and transaction volume). According to [PERSON] et al. [26], [PERSON] et al. [27] and [PERSON] [28], RPA is a form of business process automation that adopts software-based robots in the performance of manual labor structured tasks, such as data manipulation, interactions, and communications with system applications. [PERSON] et al. [26] added that, although RPA does not focus on the optimization or simplification of the process (i.e., traditional process automation), the approach allows for the virtual workforce to perform tedious and repetitive work. [PERSON] et al. [29; 30; 31] recommended the use of RPA when the degree of process maturity, process standardization, transaction volume, and business rules are all high. On the other hand, [PERSON] et al. [31] found that RPA is suited better for processes with a high workload and low complexity. According to [PERSON] et al. [32], the RPA approach was not necessarily relevant to a certain type of business but for standardized and repetitive processes that take significant time to form a conclusion, perform manual interactions with software applications, are focused on business rules, and perform at regular intervals [32]. Another important issue inherent to the application of process automation is related to the technological solutions developed. [PERSON] [33] pointed out important issues for information systems that aim to automate processes such as security, incorporating the human factor in the software application's stage design, the decomposition of complex problems in manageable sub-problems, the removal of irrelevant or redundant information or steps [34], and more. A systematic literature review carried out by [PERSON] et al. [35] focused on the identification, selection, grouping, and rigorous analysis of approaches (71 studies) that apply information technology to fight money laundering. They also pointed out a lack of approaches aimed at process automation application within this scenario. Having selected this type of financial crime due to its scope and economic/social impact, as well as the high complexity and volume of information, the study grouped the selected approaches into five main categories. The categories were the detection of suspicious transactions, detection of patterns or anomalies, risk analysis, applications of visual techniques and applications in security, governance, and/or control. The adopted support mechanisms were also the subject of research in which results showed a greater tendency to use algorithms or mathematical solutions such as data mining and machine learning. Table 1 presents a brief comparison of the approach presented in this paper and studies presented in the literature with relation to characteristics regarding the analysis of business process for automation.