Let’s face it – creating accurate and up-to-date process definition documentation (PDD) for robotic process automation (RPA) is a tedious task. The manual process involves consultants spending several hours with operators, subject matter and process experts to understand the process & identify the gaps. Next, they document their observations and communicate with stakeholders via multiple emails – which is not an efficient way of collaboration. Such siloed and disconnected documents and communication are easily lost. Also, since these email communications happen in sequential order as stakeholders gather all the requirements and context that goes into PDD in sequence, there is an undesired delay.
| What is a process definition document (PDD)? A process definition document (PDD) is the representation of “AS-IS” business processes that are chosen for RPA. The document outlines the sequence of steps that constitute the end-to-end process, the rules and exceptions handling of manual processes, and the envisioned process after partial or complete automation. Developers refer to this document when building robots that automate the desired process. |
Reviews and approvals are also not efficient with manual Process Design Documents. Multiple unorganized versioning, scattered conversations, and a lack of transparency into the decision-making process make reviews a nightmare. Generally, PDDs are at least 50 pages long. The manual process of gathering the requirements, constraints, and context that developers need is a daunting task, slowing down the implementation and scale of the automation program.
Automate process documentation process with SurfaceAI
The ability to capture “AS-IS” processes accurately and automatically transform them into PDD considering all key business objectives, constraints, and regulatory practices in one place and map them to automation opportunities. Having a centralized digital PDD provides better context for developers with all required information at their fingertips should they need it, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
SurfaceAI comes with intelligent engines that convert empirical data into insightful process maps showing different flow variants which operators take to handle real-time exceptions. The document captures the name of the process along with the steps executed. It also captures all the applications that operators use to complete a process end-to-end which will enable to draft the “TO-BE” process maps and complete steps about how the bot will be designed.
The PDD defines what are possibilities/activities that a bot can or cannot perform in that particular process, and how errors, variations & exceptions will be handled. As SurfaceAI allows you to capture videos and screenshots, it can be used as additional sources for enriching the process definition document.
Once the first PDD is created, businesses need to revisit the document regularly to update the recent changes to the process flow. SurfaceAI supports continuous discovery providing businesses with the ability to automatically identify changed processes and regenerate updated PDD. The frequency of process discovery can be determined by the enterprise.
The process design phase is one of the most critical stages in the RPA journey. Optimizing your processes thoughtfully will help maximize your return on RPA investment. By automating the process definition documentation process, you can accelerate the delivery of automation and scale confidently.