APMG International launches Robotic Process Automation Foundation (RPAF)

The Robotic Process Automation certification is designed to help organizations increase the speed and efficiency of their workflows by allocating repetitive processes and tasks to software robots to increase productivity and eliminate error. 

Within the last decade, Robotic Process Automation has become increasingly popular, having been adopted and quickly implemented by leading financial and insurance companies – (users include The Guardian Group, Kryon Systems and Bancolombia.)

 The reason for RPA’s popularity is three-fold:

1.  Catalyses improved customer satisfaction
2.  Increases operational efficiency, and
3.  Delivers higher levels of quality

Robotic Process Automation frees employees from repetitive tasks, whilst completing those tasks faster and more accurately. Automation as a business practice is commonly referred to as a driver for the Industry 4.0 movement, and as such has become a necessity for professionals utilising contemporary software within their organizations.

“RPA drives rapid and significant cost savings and is a significant enabler to digital transformation. Software robots have been proven to enhance productivity and increase employee satisfaction. For any organisation that wants to implement RPA to remove high-volume repetitive and mundane tasks like reporting, identifying and extracting data, answering online chats and filling in forms, this certification will help you understand the challenges of implementing RPA using a structured best practice approach which is scalable,” says Richard Pharro, CEO, APMG International.

Jan-Willem, Author of Service Framework Automation, said: “As time and technology evolves, businesses and organization are no longer able to avoid digitalization. To stay relevant, organization are adopting various forms of technology to stay ahead. One of the said technologies is Robotic Process Automation (RPA). RPA continues to gain popularity and is here to stay. RPA provides invaluable benefit in process automation of an organisation and improves productivity, speed, and quality. The Robotic Process Automation Foundation course (RPAF) provides a comprehensive and practical overview of the fundamentals of RPA technology, as well as the workflow design aspects and techniques. It is ideal for anyone starting or intending to lead an automation transformation programme for their organization to increase quality and efficiency."

"The RPAF provides a simple step-by-step guide that every organisation can use to digitize their service offering. The vendor-neutral certification scheme provides the know-how, quality criteria and best practices in designing automated processes; and best methods of using robots and scripts to automate workflows and processes. Accredited by APMG International, a leading accreditation and examination institute, the RPAF certification is globally recognized and is sought after in the global job market.”

Service Automation Framework focuses on automation of end-to-end services (a design orientated approach considering the whole value chain). Examples of service automation includes streaming services like Spotify and Netflix, and self-scan at the airport or supermarket.

Robotic Process Automation focuses on automation of processes (more business focused) and uses AI and bots to complete tasks. Examples of robotic process automation could be a software robot assessing the data on a loan application to inform a decision, or voice recognition to access your bank account.

Crucially, both Service Automation Framework and Robotic Process Automation can be used in conjunction with one another to achieve excellency. They work synonymously to achieve optimum productivity and higher levels of quality. The Service Automation Framework has extended its scope to include Robotic Process Automation to provide guidance to organisations implementing new processes.

Within the RPA course, you will learn the fundamentals of RPA technology, and the workflow design aspects and techniques, as well as how to set up bots that execute processes. You will also learn what constitutes the first steps towards implementing RPA into your organization, how to design automated processes, and how to use scripts to automate workflow and processes.

Course Objectives

• The course objectives of the Robotic Process Automation course include a practical understanding of:
• The history of robotic process automation and its core benefits.
• The business drivers for robotic process automation.
• How RPA can help organizations reduce operational costs, whilst remain high-quality of service.
• The inter-relationship between Robotic Process Automation, Service Automation and Business Process Automation.
• The technical structure and components of RPA platforms.
• RPA workflow design methodologies and activity planning (variables, arguments, data types and collections.
• Specification of sequence and control flow in workflow design.
• Common RPA functions and techniques, including Excel automation, database automation, text extraction and email automation.
• Monitoring aspects of RPA, including logs, audit, alerts, and role management.
• RPA quality controls and exception handling of workflows.
• Automation Orchestration for managing automation tasks and actions
• The structure and setup of RPA projects in organizations and the setup of the RPA Centre of Excellence.
• Continual improvement practices for RPA.

McKinsay’s research documented that:

• Implementing RPA technologies into the daily practices of an organisation has proven to reduce operational costs by 25%
• Repetitive tasks executed in an automated fashion has proven to reduce error by 62%
• A 200% Return on Investment

If you’re interested in learning about RPAF training in to enhance the quality of your organization visit the SAF website for more information or book an exam via the APMG Website.

The Service Automation Framework Alliance is an independent body of knowledge for the development and advancement of Service Automation practices and certification.  Service Automation Framework (SAF) is a set of best practices for the automated delivery of services. The concept builds further on the self-service practices of ITIL and IT Service Management. In its current form, the SAF is published as in a series of volumes, covering different processes of service automation.

The Service Automation Framework Alliance (SAFA) is a leading global provider of progressive, vendor-neutral training and certifications programs including the Service Automation Framework curriculum. With a worldwide network of certified trainers, training partners, and testing centres, the SAFA training courses and accreditation programs have become internationally established and further proven through a series of published books, papers, and on-going industry research. The highly modularised format of the Service Automation Framework curriculum allows it to be adapted to various types of training requirements.