A framework to support Robotic process automation

Abstract

With the increasing demand for digitalization, organizations look to emerging technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to increase their business performance. This makes it essential to identify and select the most suitable processes to maximize the benefits for organizations. However, despite the increasing interest of academics and professionals in RPA, the literature lacks a study on the main criteria organizations should consider to decide which processes to automate. Therefore, this research lists the main criteria for process automation based on scientific and professional know-how. A systematic literature review was performed, followed by a Delphi study with RPA professionals, to tune the former insights collected from the scientific literature. Our findings point to 32 criteria that organizations and decision-makers should consider before choosing which processes to automate. Feasibility, process description, and input and output data are the most voted. The criteria are evaluated with 18 processes in six organizations with positive results. While professionals may find valuable information in this document to help them decide which processes must be automated first, academics are now aware of which areas deserve further investigation.