Process Automation Best Practices 2022

It’s a no-brainer that process automation can save your team time and money. But, as with any business initiative, there are best practices to follow to ensure success. Here are our top 9 process automation best practices for 2022:

1. Define the scope and objectives of your project

Defining the scope of your process automation project is key to ensuring its success. Without a clear understanding of what you want to automate and why you won’t be able to select the right software or set realistic objectives. Scope definition also helps you identify potential roadblocks and plan for them before they become a problem.

When it comes to setting objectives, make sure they are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. This will help you track progress and ensure that your project is on track. Ask yourself:

• What are you trying to achieve with automation?
• Savings in time and money?
• Improved efficiency? More consistent results?

Understanding your goals will help you make sure that the process automation project is successful.

2. Involve all stakeholders from the start

2nd on automation best practices list is stakeholders engagement. Stakeholders are people who have a vested interest in the success or failure of your process automation project. They can be affected by the outcome, positively or negatively. For this reason, it’s important to involve them from the start.

The best way to do this is to set up a steering committee made up of representatives from all the stakeholders. This group should meet regularly to discuss the project’s progress and make decisions about the next steps.

Don’t forget to keep everyone in the loop about what’s happening with regular updates. This will help ensure that everyone is on board with the project and its objectives.

3. Define clear success criteria

Success criteria are the standards against which you will measure the success of your process automation project. They should be specific, measurable, and achievable. Without clear success criteria, it will be difficult to track progress and assess whether or not the project is successful.

Some examples of success criteria for a process automation project include:

• Reduced processing time by x%
• increased accuracy of results by x%
• improved customer satisfaction scores by x%

4. Build a business case for process automation

Before you can start a process automation project, you need to build a business case for it. This document should outline the benefits of automation and how it will help the company achieve its goals. It should also include a cost-benefit analysis to show that the investment will be worth it in the end.

The business case is important because it helps secure buy-in from upper management. Without this support, it will be difficult to get the resources you need to make your project a success.

5. Consider the user experience

The 5th on process automation best practices is the UX. It’s all well and good to automate a process, but if it makes the user experience worse then it’s not worth doing. When designing your automation solution, always keep the user experience in mind.

Ask yourself:

• Will this make the process easier or more difficult for users?
• Are there any potential roadblocks that could make using the automation solution a hassle?
• What training will users need to use the solution effectively?
• Answering these questions will help you design an automation solution that actually improves the user experience instead of making it worse.

Remember, user experience is just as important as the cost when it comes to process automation.

6. Don’t forget about change management

Change is hard, even when it’s for the better. When you automate a process, there will be some changes for users and stakeholders to get used to. For this reason, change management is an important part of any process automation project.

Change management is the process of preparing people for the change, helping them through the transition, and ensuring that they are able to use the new system effectively.

Some things to consider when doing change management for a process automation project include:

• Communication: Keep everyone informed about what’s happening with regular updates.
• Training: Make sure that users know how to use the new system by providing training and support.
• Feedback: Get feedback from users throughout the process to make sure that they are comfortable with the change.

7. Plan for potential problems

No matter how well you plan, there will always be potential problems that could arise during a process automation project. It’s important to anticipate these so that you can deal with them quickly if they do occur.

Some common problems that can occur during process automation projects include:

• Scope creep: This is when the scope of the project starts to expand beyond what was originally agreed upon. It can happen when new stakeholders get involved or when users start asking for more features than what was originally planned.
• Budget issues: Automation projects can sometimes go over budget due to unforeseen costs or scope creep. It’s important to keep a close eye on the budget and make sure that you are not spending more than you can afford.
• Schedule delays: Automation projects can sometimes take longer than expected to complete. This can be due to a number of factors, such as team members being pulled away to work on other projects or unforeseen technical problems.

It’s important to plan for these potential problems so that you can deal with them quickly if they do occur.

8. Monitor and optimize the process

Last but not least on automation best practices are monitoring and optimization. Once the process is automated, it’s important to monitor it closely to make sure that it is working as intended. You should also be on the lookout for ways to optimize the process so that it can run even more smoothly.

Some things to keep in mind when monitoring and optimizing an automated process:

• Measure the performance of the process: Keep track of key metrics such as cycle time, throughput, and error rates. This will help you see how well the process is performing and identify areas that need improvement.
• Compare the results to the goals: Make sure that the process is meeting the goals that were set out in the business case. If it’s not, then something needs to be changed.

Look for ways to improve: Always be on the lookout for ways to make the process more efficient. Even small improvements can add up to big savings over time.

9. Be prepared to adjust

Even after a process has been automated, it’s important to be prepared to make changes. The needs of the business can change over time, and the process will need to be adjusted accordingly.

It’s also important to keep in mind that no process is perfect. There will always be room for improvement, so don’t be afraid to make changes as needed.