Robotic Process Automation
Overview
Infor Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a set of software components that provides the ability to automate business process with the help of Bots to perform a sequence of meaningful activities that can mimic human behavior or perform other system activities.
Infor RPA also includes the cloud-based Multitenant component called the Mastermind, which orchestrates and allows the deployment of the workflow processes, configuration, scheduling and monitoring capabilities.
Key Concepts and Definitions
| RPA | Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that uses software robots or bots to automate rule-based, repetitive tasks in business processes, reducing manual effort and human error. |
| Bot | A bot or robot in RPA refers to the software program or agent that performs tasks in an automated manner. It can mimic human interactions with computer systems. |
| RPA Flow | A sequence of activities or steps that an RPA bot follows to complete a specific business process. |
| Process | List of all published RPA flows. |
| Job | An execution instance; its specific to a Process. |
| Device | Device is a physical machine where the agent which executes the RPA process in unattended mode is installed Orchestration is the management and coordination of multiple RPA bots and processes to work together seamlessly, often through a central control system. |
| Attended Mode of Execution | Attended automation involves bots working alongside human operators to assist with tasks in real-time. |
| Unattended Mode of Execution | Unattended automation, on the other hand, runs independently without human intervention, often in batch processing mode. |
Key Components
| RPA Studio | Studio is a desktop application that Infor Employees, Customers and Partners can use to build workflow processes for their business use cases. Studio allows workflow authors to design, develop and publish RPA Processes. |
| RPA Mastermind | An Infor RPA Engine which communicates between the on-premise installation and Multi-tenant cloud RPA Management to trigger the run of RPA processes. |
| Agent Runtime and Robot Service | Desktop applications that are installed as part of unattended installations. – Agent – Windows service that communicates with Mastermind and processes automation requests configured by the user in the RPA Management UI in an unattended mode. – Runtime – Executes the workflow processes that users have authored in Studio. – Robot Service – Communicates with the Agent inside of windows user session and triggers Runtime. |
| RPA Management API | Multitenant microservice deployed in cloud that serves as the backend entry point for the RPA Management UI, Agent, and Tray Assistant. |
| RPA Management UI | Multitenant application hosted in Infor OS Portal, provides a user interface for RPA users to add additional configuration for their workflow processes including: 1- Job configuration such as scheduling and device assignment. 2- Adding variable values for variables defined in each workflow process authored by the user in Studio. 3- Users can give consent for workflow processes to access resources behind IONAPI. 4- Device registration. 5- Robot registration (Robots are the windows login credentials that automation can be executed in). 6- Task Monitoring. |
| RPA Tray Assistant | A desktop plugin application installed to execute processes in an attended mode. It gives users access to their workflow processes and configurations that have been published to Mastermind. 1- Gives users control to automatically trigger any of the workflow processes they have access to in Mastermind. 2- Add variable values. 3- View workflow process details. |
| Recorder | Chrome based extension, allowing users to record a set of activities in the Chrome browser, generating an RPA flow of activities. |
Workflow Elements
| IDP | Infor Document Processor is a service designed to recognize and extract text from images or documents. |
| JQ Transformation | JQ is a JSON processor which is used to slice, filter, map, and transform JSON data with ease. |
| JSON To DataTable | Takes a flat JSON array containing the required columns for transformation and outputs a DataTable. |
| ForEach<T> | Executes the activity contained in its Body for each item in a specified Values collection. By default, the loop iterator is named item. You can change the name of the iterator variable in the ForEach<T> activity designer. The loop iterator can be used in expressions in the children of the ForEach<T> activity. |
| Try Catch | This is an exception handling activity that works in conjunction with the “Continue on Error” property of the activities. An activity used in the Try block will only throw an exception when the Continue on Error is unchecked. If checked, the RPA will run like it normally would. |
| GET OCR text | An automation activity in RPA Studio which allows to extract the text from documents or images. |
| Extract Document Key – Value | An automation activity in RPA Studio which allows to extract values based on provided keys. |
| Extract Data | An automation activity in RPA Studio which can perform a template -base text extraction. |
Want to learn more?
Quick Reference
There is a lot to learn in the Infor Technology Platform. A quick reference sheet is always helpful. Check out this RPA Cheat Sheet.
Topical Videos
Need information on a specific feature or function or a quick overview? These short videos may be just what you are looking for. Check out our Infor Robotic Process Automation playlist on YouTube.
Written Guides
Product documentation is the go-to reference for how specific parts of the product work. For online, searchable, easy to understand docs see our documentation portal.
Community
Collaborating with others in your industry is a great way to learn and help others. Start participating in the Infor RPA Community today.
Courses
Infor U Campus offers learning tracks that combine video based and instructor-led training. If you are an Infor customer then check out courses on Infor U Campus.