Robotic process automation (RPA) has become a popular term among businesses in recent years. Although RPA is not a new process in cost and time saving, RPA has been made possible even among the less digitally savvy people in recent years with more readily available and easy-to-use automation software. UiPath is one such software. My first encounter with UiPath is at work. I am tasked to create a process after training on the software this year.
The process that I have done is a simple one that creates a content page for an Excel file (that taps onto Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) on Excel), formats and combines the worksheets, and creates a PDF by combining it with another. This flow can be seen in the picture above.
Things I Like:
1. It takes over the mundane process. For my process, I have managed to set it up so that the RPA does the work for you like pointing and clicking your mouse. I think I am not able to let it run in the background, but this can be solved with 2 computers. The copying and pasting will otherwise take me a day if I feel motivated.
2. It requires little to no coding. UiPath allows me to drag and drop functions onto the flow chart and even reenact my actions when I use the recording mode. This process is relatively code-free. I have tried to learn Python automation, and this is much easier, although what I have been to on UiPath may only be the easy bits.
First Impression: UiPath is suited for someone looking to automate a process that is a routine task easily, but the process may be limited by the software.