The Assessment of Robotic Process Automation Projects with a Portfolio Analysis: First Step - Evaluation Criteria Identification and Introduction of the Portfolio Concept

Abstract

RPA’s (Robotic Process Automation) usage in organizations has rapidly increased in recent years; as a result, companies have developed high expectations from this technology. However, according to Ernst & Young (E&Y), 30-50% of observed RPA projects initially fail and reveal several risks, which lead to investment losses. Consequently, the RPA project is prematurely retired, and the company is back to the manual process. This premature retirement is mainly because of wrong process selection and the not sufficient company automation (RPA) maturity. Therefore, this paper will introduce the concept of an RPA Portfolio, which will assess the complexity of business processes with a company’s automation (RPA) maturity. The RPA Portfolio is a new innovative concept to simplify and visualize the business process selection for RPA projects, and will help to introduce successfully the right RPA projects.

Keywords

• automation maturity
• business process
• portfolio
• robotic process automation
• technology assessment