Towards discovering erratic behavior in robotic process automation with statistical process control

IF 2.3 4区管理学 Q3 BUSINESS

Information Systems and e-Business Management Pub Date : 2024-08-30 DOI:10.1007/s10257-024-00686-y

Petr Průcha

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Abstract

Companies that frequently use robotic process automation often encounter difficulties in maintaining their RPA portfolio. To address these problems and reduce time spent investigating erratic behavior of RPA bots, developers can benefit from exploring methods from process sciences and applying them to RPA. After a selection process, we examine how variability and deviations impact robotic process automation. Indicators of statistical dispersion are chosen to assess variability and analyze RPA bot behavior. We evaluate the performance of RPA bots on 12 processes, using statistical dispersion as a measure. The results provide evidence that variability is an undesirable form of erratic behavior in RPA, as it strongly correlates with the success rate of the bots. Importantly, the results also show that outliers do not affect the success rate of RPA bots. This research suggests that variable analysis can help describe the behavior of RPA bots and assist developers in addressing erratic behavior. Additionally, by detecting variability, we can more effectively handle exceptions in RPA.

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利用统计流程控制发现机器人流程自动化中的不稳定行为

经常使用机器人流程自动化的公司在维护其 RPA 组合时经常会遇到困难。为了解决这些问题并减少调查 RPA 机器人不稳定行为所花费的时间，开发人员可以从探索流程科学的方法并将其应用于 RPA 中获益。经过筛选，我们研究了可变性和偏差对机器人流程自动化的影响。我们选择了统计离散性指标来评估变异性并分析 RPA 机器人的行为。我们使用统计离散度作为衡量标准，对 12 个流程的 RPA 机器人性能进行了评估。结果证明，变异性是 RPA 中不可取的不稳定行为形式，因为它与机器人的成功率密切相关。重要的是，研究结果还表明，异常值不会影响 RPA 机器人的成功率。这项研究表明，变量分析有助于描述 RPA 机器人的行为，并帮助开发人员解决不稳定行为。此外，通过检测变量，我们可以更有效地处理 RPA 中的异常。

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来源期刊

Information Systems and e-Business Management Multiple-

CiteScore

6.20

自引率

11.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Nowadays, in the age of information technology and the internet, the creation and maintenance of business models has to consider the latest developments in information technology to ensure competitiveness and long-term success of the enterprise. The aim of Information Systems Management (ISM) is to integrate information technology into business models and business processes to explore its potential to meet the business goals. Many international journals in the field of information systems (IS) or information management (IM) focus primarily on the quantitative analysis of information systems phenomena, especially through the use of empirical studies. However, research on qualitative analysis, development, and deployment of information systems is not covered sufficiently by the existing international IS journals. Therefore, the journal Information Systems and e-Business Management (ISeB) focuses on the core tasks of Information Systems Management, the conceptual analysis, design, and deployment of information systems, as well as on all e-business related topics. 1. Editorial objective The central aim of the journal ISeB is to publish original, well-written, self-contained contributions that elucidate novel research and innovation in information systems management and e-business which advance the field fundamentally and significantly. Published quarterly, the journal will: - Provide a vibrant forum for both academicians and industry specialists to explore the information systems and e-business management field - Bring innovative research on all aspects of information systems management from analytical, behavioral and technological perspectives - Enable rapid dissemination of latest research and innovation, supported with a double-blind peer review process. 2. Nature of topics The function of information systems management is the use of information technology (IT) to meet the information requirements of a company. Core tasks of ISM are the generation of project ideas (e.g. identification of business opportunities enabled by new information technologies), conceptual analysis, design, and integration of information systems. Submissions to ISeB should have a clear business focus and use appropriate information systems methodologies. They should either be founded on theory or should have proven their value based on prototypes and their beneficial application in the field. The general applicability of the concepts presented is strictly required. Case studies are welcome, if the insights presented allow general applicability. Moreover, empirical studies are welcome if clear research questions with relevance to the field of information systems and e-business management are given and the studies are carried out correctly. ISeB topics focus on (but are not restricted to) the following areas: - Information Modeling: The central task of information systems modeling is the conceptual specification of information systems from the business point of view. Information modeling includes the development or the application of high-level modeling techniques used for conceptual modeling, e.g. event-driven process chain (EPC) for process modeling, entity-relationship model (ERM) for data modeling, and object-oriented methods like the unified modeling language (UML). - Domain-Specific Information Systems: Different industry domains (e.g. manufacturing, retailing, or finance) are characterized by different requirements to information systems that are reflected in different IS architectures for specific domains. The development and maintenance of information systems in an industry domain can be supported by these architectures. Either the development of generalizable domain-specific architectures or the employment of such architectures in practice can be discussed. - E-Business Management (intra-organization al and inter-organizational information systems): Possible sub-topics include the development and deployment of IS for electronic commerce and supply chain management, market places, new business scenarios enabled through new technologies. Based on a business strategy, submissions have to clearly state how the strategy can be operationalized using IS. - Information Systems Development: The development and deployment of large-scale IS (e.g. enterprise resource planning software) requires the use of appropriate software engineering methodologies, procedure models, and project management. Possible research areas are the development of software engineering methodologies, procedure models, and the design of project management methods. Empirical studies on IS development may focus on the application of well-founded methods in practice. - Information Technology Management: The function of information technology management is the provision and operation of the technical infrastructure and the planning of the technical orientation of information systems in an enterprise. An important aspect is the impact of changing information systems on organizational structures and processes – and vice versa. In this context, the use of information technology to realize a business strategy efficiently can be analyzed. - Latest Information Technology Developments: Latest developments in information technology have to be evaluated to explore potentials to generate new business strategies. Current topics and trends to be evaluated for business use are e.g. business intelligence systems, agent technology, and workflow management systems. Officially cited as: Inf Syst E-Bus Manage