Orchestrating Intelligent Automation in a Project

Intelligent Automation: Context

Intelligent automation is an optimisation lever that helps projects transition from rule-based fixed automation to judgement-based evolutionary processes. It is a conglomerate of multiple cognitive technologies like machine learning, RPA (Robotic Process Automation), deep learning, video analytics, emotion recognition, neural networks, etc. It creates a virtual workforce to emulate human execution of repetitive processes.

Automation Approach: Comparison

Rules-based fixed automation, also known as traditional business process automation, is modelled from a process perspective. The project manager starts with an outside-in approach where a project derivative models a specific flow with defined process steps. Each process step has a system interface specified in an object. The data from these objects is given to the processes, which further outline the business rules to make decisions on this set of data. All these help in achieving the end goal of the project.

Judgment-based evolutionary automation, or simply intelligent automation solutions, is designed with an inside-out approach, unlike traditional automation. The project manager finalises an end goal in mind and then determines the business rules that are required to achieve the end goal. Once the rules are defined, the next step is to analyse the dataset required to support these business rules, which includes all objects that need to be created and the process steps to run these objects.

Features of Intelligent Automation

• Analyse and understand complex documents with limited need for technical knowledge.
• Mimic human actions at scale to automate repetitive and standard tasks.
• Image process automation to filter inappropriate images, identify counterfeit goods, and tag people/objects.
• Deep learning mathematically mimics human learning and vision.
• Automatically detect process violations based on compliance and regulations to determine conflicts of interest.
• Semantic analysis to determine the right category and automated category assignment based on keywords.
• Virtual agents or chatbots respond to customer enquiries and assist customers with intelligent responses.

A few process considerations for Intelligent Automation

• Repetitive tasks with high execution volumes
• Processes that require both rule-based and judgment-based decisions
• Processes that need either structured or unstructured data

Phases in the Intelligent Automation Architecture

1. Identify: The project manager will perform a thorough analysis of the current state and processes to determine the repetitive tasks that can be a candidate for automation.

2. Select: The next step is to select the tools/utilities that can help transform these manual, repetitive tasks into advanced AI-automated steps. Some of the advanced features include NLP (Natural Language Processing), advanced data analytics, content classification, video analytics, speech-to-text capability, etc.

3. Plan: Plan the intelligent automation strategy involving cognitive decision-making and procure the dataset to run the algorithms in order to produce the expected results. This phase also includes defining the acceptance criteria for each use case and the reporting metrics to measure the automation success.

4. Execute: Set up the environment to run these automated tests and schedule the unmonitored batch jobs to get the savings efficiency from this intelligent automation.

5. Report: With the intelligent automated tools, the reports are published to the stakeholders in real-time without any delay. The project manager evaluates these reports for efficiency and addresses any concerns highlighted in the automated results to leadership.

Benefits of Intelligent Automated Solutions

• The use of automation gives bandwidth to individuals for innovation as it limits human intervention in repetitive tasks.
• Intelligent automation drives efficiency and reduces human errors while allowing individuals to focus on judgment-based analysis and decision-making.
• Automation helps deliver seamless work to the customers and streamlines responses in real-time.
• Reduced time to market with an efficient SDLC process and streamlined software delivery.
• Identify risk-prone areas for better planning and execution.

Responsibilities of a Project Manager

A project manager has a crucial role to play when it comes to implementing intelligent automation solutions. Primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Task Management: Create a thorough project plan, highlighting the task assignment, any dependencies, and deadlines. Revisit the project schedule to keep it real-time whenever there is any deviation from the upcoming deadline.
• Risk Management: Analyse the project state and identify potential risks based on the expertise and market trends. Provide a mitigation strategy to handle the potential risks in the project.
• Resource Management: Manage and assign resources based on their expertise area and suggest adjustments to cater to any unforeseen impact.
• Change Management: Address teams' concerns observed during this transition to intelligent automation and provide a solution/approach to mitigate any risks.
• Reporting: Use KPI (key performance indicators) to trigger the automated status reports. Evaluate the status reports and identify areas of future improvement.
• Communication: Share the key highlights and/or risks with the stakeholders in real-time. Use an automated tool to generate the meeting minutes and action items post each touchpoint call.
• Training: Coordinate knowledge training sessions for the team to bring them up to speed to effectively use the automated tools.
• Continuous Improvement - Monitor the performance of the automated solution and suggest adjustments to yield its maximum potential.

To get started, complete a high-level automation capability and maturity evaluation within your organisation to identify areas of opportunity and then understand the opportunity potential and effort estimation to implement the intelligent automated solutions.