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Automatically Identifying Process Automation Candidates Using Natural Language Processing

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Blockchain and Robotic Process Automation

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Abstract

The general goal of automation is to relieve humans from repetitive and routine-like tasks. The positive effects of automation have been demonstrated in various contexts and range from efficiency gains to the reduction of errors. In this chapter, we focus on the automation of individual tasks in a process using the so-called software robots, which is often referred to as Robotic Process Automation (RPA). More specifically, we focus on the task of identifying suitable candidates for such automation efforts. In practice, this identification task is associated with substantial manual effort and, hence, is both time- and cost-intensive. Recognizing these issues, we consider how also the identification of automation candidates itself can be supported through automation. We particularly focus on the way in which Natural Language Processing (NLP) may be employed for this purpose. We show how NLP techniques support the identification of automation candidates in widely used process representations, such as process models and textual process descriptions. As such, we demonstrate how tackling one of the key impediments to the adoption of RPA may be supported in an algorithmic and automated manner.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Data and Web Science Group, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

    Han van der Aa

  2. Kühne Logistics University, Hamburg, Germany

    Henrik Leopold

  3. Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Henrik Leopold

Authors
  1. Han van der Aa
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  2. Henrik Leopold
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Correspondence to Henrik Leopold .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

    Agnes Koschmider

  2. Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany

    Stefan Schulte

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van der Aa, H., Leopold, H. (2021). Automatically Identifying Process Automation Candidates Using Natural Language Processing. In: Koschmider, A., Schulte, S. (eds) Blockchain and Robotic Process Automation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81409-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81409-0_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-81408-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-81409-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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