After setting up your UiPath Automation Cloud account on Day 1, it’s time to focus on identifying a high-impact repetitive task and planning your first automation. This critical step ensures you choose a task that will bring measurable benefits to your business, setting the foundation for long-term automation success.
On Day 2, you’ll learn how to identify the right process, break it down into workflow steps, and use UiPath Autopilot to accelerate development.
Why Planning Your First Automation Matters
Selecting the right task for automation is key to maximizing efficiency and ROI. Start with tasks that are:
Repetitive: Performed frequently and consistently.
Rule-Based: Follow a clear set of steps.
Time-Consuming: Taking up significant hours of your or your team’s day.
Error-Prone: Prone to mistakes when done manually.
Automating such tasks not only saves time but also reduces errors and allows you to focus on strategic activities.
Step 1: Brainstorm Repetitive Tasks
Take time to reflect on your daily operations. Consider tasks that:
Occur frequently, like data entry or email sorting.
Require accuracy, such as invoicing or customer record updates.
Distract from higher-value work, like processing customer orders manually.
Examples of Repetitive Tasks:
Logging customer inquiries into a database.
Extracting and processing invoices from emails.
Scheduling appointments based on client preferences.
Tip: Involve your team to get a broader view of bottlenecks in your processes.
Step 2: Prioritize Tasks for Automation
From your brainstormed list, prioritize tasks based on their potential impact and ease of automation. Use these criteria:
Frequency: How often is the task performed?
Complexity: Is the process straightforward and rule-based?
Impact: How much time or resources will automation save?
Example Task Selection: “Process customer orders received via email and log them into a spreadsheet.”
Step 3: Break the Task into Workflow Steps
Once you’ve chosen a task, break it into individual steps to ensure clarity. For the example task, here’s a breakdown:
Receive Emails: Check the inbox for customer order emails.
Extract Information: Identify key details like customer name, product, and quantity.
Log Orders: Add the extracted details into a structured spreadsheet.
Send Confirmation: Notify the customer that their order has been received.
Step 4: Use Autopilot to Build Your Workflow
Now that you’ve mapped out the task, use UiPath Autopilot to generate a workflow in Studio Web.
Access Autopilot:
Log in to your UiPath Automation Cloud account.
Open Studio Web and select Create New Workflow.
Choose the Autopilot option.
Describe the Task:
Enter a natural language description. For example:
“Extract customer order details from email, log them into a spreadsheet, and send a confirmation email.”
Review the Generated Workflow:
Autopilot creates a .xaml file with pre-configured activities such as:
Email Activities: To fetch and read customer order emails.
Data Extraction: To parse order details.
Excel Activities: To write data into a structured spreadsheet.
Notification Logic: To send email confirmations.
Customize the Workflow:
Open the workflow in Studio Web.
Update file paths, email templates, or validation rules to align with your process.
For example:
Modify the Excel file location to save orders in a shared drive.
Adjust the email confirmation template to include your branding.
Step 5: Test the Workflow
Testing is crucial to ensure your workflow runs as expected.
Run with Sample Data:
Use a few example customer order emails to test the workflow.
Ensure all steps, from email reading to confirmation sending, execute correctly.
Troubleshoot:
Address any issues, such as incorrect data extraction or formatting errors in the spreadsheet.
Refine the workflow logic in Studio Web.
Step 6: Document Rules and Requirements
Before deploying your workflow, document any business rules or requirements for reference. For example:
Only process emails with a specific subject line, like “New Order”.
Validate that the order quantity is within available stock levels.
Ensure the confirmation email includes the estimated delivery date.
This documentation will help you refine and expand automation workflows in the future.
Example Day 2 Workflow: Automating Customer Order Processing
Scenario:
A small e-commerce business receives customer orders via email and manually logs them into a spreadsheet.
Task Description for Autopilot:
“Extract customer orders from Gmail, log them into an Excel file, and send a confirmation email to the customer.”
Generated Workflow Components:
Email Activities:
Connect to Gmail and fetch unread emails with “Order” in the subject line.
Data Extraction:
Parse customer name, product, and quantity from email content.
Excel Activities:
Write order details into an Excel spreadsheet stored in a shared folder.
Notification Logic:
Send a confirmation email to the customer, including the logged order details.
Testing Outcome:
The workflow successfully processes three sample orders, updates the spreadsheet, and sends confirmation emails.
Benefits of Using Autopilot on Day 2
Saves Time:
Autopilot quickly converts your task description into a functioning workflow.
Reduces Complexity:
Simplifies workflow creation for users without technical expertise.
Customizable:
Tailor the generated workflow to fit your unique business requirements.
What’s Next?
By the end of Day 2, you should have:
Identified a repetitive task to automate.
Mapped out the workflow steps.
Used Autopilot to create a basic automation workflow.
Tested and refined the workflow for accuracy.
Tomorrow, on Day 3, you’ll build on this foundation by fully customizing your workflow in Studio Web and preparing it for deployment.
Ready to take the next step? Log in to UiPath Automation Cloud and start building your first workflow with Autopilot. For assistance, contact t.francis@diyrpa.com. Let’s turn your vision into reality!
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