Leaderboard

Dear Sandeep, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is there in the industry for quite sometime now but more popularized in last 3 or 4 years. Considering the competition in every industry, every organization is trying to keep their operating cost low and provide the right product or service with right quality to the customers. It has become mandatory to every organization to search and implement new methods of production to improve the margins and quality at same time. RPA is becoming new buzz word or new method to talk and implement as every customer, organization, Industry are looking for change and a quick change. As a Lean Six Sigma Practitioner, our role has become more significant during initial stages of RPA implementations. In a simple way, A LSS Practitioner can identify and suggest the right opportunity to implement RPA by following structured method. Few debates are there saying that there is no involvement required from LSS Practitioners in RPA implementations as these would be pure technology driven. At the same time, I have observed that many projects are not able reach their end objective on time (Please read the line again... NOT ABLE TO REACH THEIR END OBJECTIVE ON TIME) due to lack of structured methodology during initial phases. A Lean Six Sigma Practitioner can support/add value to make the RPA projects success as below. 1) Understanding the objectives and preparing the business case for improvement 2) Establishing right metrics to measure the improvement 3) Preparing detailed VSM to identify highly manual repetitive time consuming process steps. 4) Estimating the benefits by performing cost vs. benefit analysis (All the processes may not yield greater ROI but many qualitative aspects to consider) 4) Design/Re-design the process to make it suitable for RPA (Please note that automating the process As-Is may not give desired results) 5) Standardize the input and handoffs 6) Support the RPA developers with suitable functional guidance 7) Tracking and Monitoring the projects with robust governance models (Depending on PMO structure in the organization) 8) Evaluating the outcomes (Metrics, Benefits) post implementation Depending on organization's project management structure, LSS Practitioner can have greater role to play in implementing RPA projects. Few organizations have started RPA consultant roles to manage all the activities mentioned above and few are managing with existing LSS teams. Fundamental method would be the same irrespective of organization structure however, LSS practitioners will have additional edge of LSS methods and concepts to get quick results. Hope this helps.