The General Services Administration (GSA) has announced initial publication of its Federal Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Program Playbook that aims to assist agencies in establishing new RPA programs, and provide guidance for existing programs.
According to GSA CFO Gerard Badorrek, the playbook will be updated periodically “to reflect developments in the Federal RPA environment.”
Further agency efforts on implementing RPA could quickly end up saving the government billions of dollars, the CFO said.
“The opportunity for RPA to transform Federal operations is massive. Current RPA programs operating within agencies are achieving roughly five hours of workload elimination per employee,” Badorrek said. “If the government deployed RPA at scale and achieved only 20 hours of workload elimination per employee, the net capacity gained would be worth $3 billion – and that is only scratching the surface,” he said.
Key guidance and themes in the playbook include:
- Just Get Started: After establishing initial planning, leadership should use active and agile management in getting started to launch an RPA program.
- Ensure Effective Collaboration Between the RPA Program and the CIO: effectively working with the CIO and their representatives to expedite RPA.
- Establish Aggressive Goals and Deliver: Setting aggressive goals and communicating those within the agency to bolster ongoing business cases for RPA.
- Invest in Process Assessment and Improvement Capabilities: Increase impact and value by using process improvement expertise to help “optimize RPA candidate selection and reengineer broad-scale business processes.”
- Balance the Dual Priorities of Governance and Productivity: Establish a management mechanism to centralize and standardize RPA governance while balancing the governance, controls, and standard operating procedures with high productivity and automations deployment.
- Think Strategically about Technology Options: Invest time in assessing technology options and focus on low-cost solutions.
