Glossary · RPA (robotic process automation)
What is RPA (robotic process automation)?
Definition: RPA is software that automates tasks by repeating what a person would do on screen: opening applications, copying data and clicking buttons.
An RPA workflow is set up by recording or describing the steps an employee follows in an application's interface. The software then performs them on its own: it logs in, finds a record, reads a value and enters it into another system. It does not need the application to offer a technical connection, because it works on the same screen a person would use.
It makes sense when a system offers no other way in: legacy applications without an API, third-party web portals or temporary solutions while a permanent integration is being prepared. In those cases it solves a real problem, such as downloading invoices from a supplier portal or moving data between two systems that cannot talk to each other.
Its weak point is its dependence on how the application looks. If a button, a menu or the order of a screen changes, the workflow stops working, sometimes without warning. That is why it needs monitoring, exception handling and frequent maintenance. Whenever a system offers an API, direct integration is more stable; the usual approach is to combine both, with the API as the foundation.
Example: a supplier only publishes its invoices on its web portal; an RPA workflow logs in every morning, downloads them and drops them into the folder that the main automation processes.