Process and Task Automation Through Automation Anywhere

Process and Task Automation Through Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere primarily has three tools to help automate the processes and tasks. They are:

•    Screen Recorders
•    Smart Recorders
•    Web recorders

Let us understand how they work with a use case for each of them.

Screen Recorder:

Screen Recorder is used when process mostly involves mouse clicks and keyboard operations.

Prerequisite- Plan to run the automated process (the recorded task) on the same computer on which it was recorded. This ensures that the screen display coordinates are the same as they were when the task was recorded.

Use Case- Consider a project manager who needs to keep track of his project's progress. He generates a report every fortnight using Excel and shares it with his team members. Since this is a repetitive process that must be done on a regular basis, he wants to automate it. This process mostly involves mouse clicks and keyboard operations.

1. Open the AAE Client window
2. Click New button
3. Select Screen Recorder in the Automate pop-up window
4. The AAE Client window gets minimized and recording toolbar is displayed on your screen
5. Record the steps that the bot needs to perform
6. launch Microsoft Excel tool
7. open the Run window by pressing Windows + R on the keyboard 
8. Type Excel in the open field and press Enter to launch Microsoft Excel 
9. Maximize the Excel window by pressing Windows + up key on the keyboard 
10. Open a blank Excel sheet by pressing Enter
11. Insert the data into Excel sheet S
12. Select the entered data and make it bold and italic by pressing Ctrl + B and Ctrl + I keys
13. Save this Excel sheet 
14. To do this, open the Browse window by pressing Alt + F, then press A, and then O on the keyboard 
15. Insert the file name, insert the path in the address bar and press Enter 
16. Save the file by pressing Alt + S 
17. Once done, click the Stop button in the recording toolbar 
18. Specify a task name in the Save Task window
19. Optionally, you can change the default folder in which to save the task and click Save 
20. To view or edit the commands that are automatically generated during recording, right-click on the task in the Task pane and then select the Edit option. 
21. The Workbench window, with commands created, is displayed
22. To execute the task bot, click the Run button

Bot has been built using a Screen Recorder.

Smart Recorder:

Smart Recorder is used to record the capturing of objects from applications such as HTML, Java, WPF, Flex and Silverlight.

Capture actions through an object window and save the keystrokes and mouse clicks in the Actions list for the Object Cloning command in the Workbench.

Prerequisite- It is ideal for desktop applications and captures objects such as drop-down menus, list boxes, radio buttons, check boxes and mouse clicks.

Use Case- A project manager wants to change the power settings of his system.

1. Select Smart Recorder in the Automate pop-up window
2. Alternatively, you can click the Record button and select Smart Recorder from the options.
3. Then open the Run window.
4. Type Control Panel in the open field and press Enter.
5. Click the Refresh button to ensure the newly opened application gets listed in the Recorder window field.
6. Select the Control Panel window title from drop-down list in the Recorder window and click Start.
7. The AAE Client window gets minimized and the recording toolbar is displayed on your screen.
8. Now, record the steps that the bot needs to perform.
9. Select System and Security from the options in the Control Panel.
10. Then select Power Options from the options for System and Security.
11. Next, select the Create Power Plan option.
12. Then select the Power Saver option and click the Next button.
13. Lastly, click the Create button to confirm the new plan.
14. Once done, click the Stop button in the recording toolbar.
15. In the Save Task window, specify a task name, select a folder in which to save the task, and click Save.
16. To view or edit the commands that are automatically generated during recording, right-click on the task in the Task pane and then select the Edit option.
17. The Workbench window, with commands created, is displayed.
18. To execute the task bot, click the Run button.
19. Watch how the bot executes all the steps recorded using the Smart Recorder

Bot has been built using a smart recorder.

Web Recorder:

It is ideal to use a Web Recorder for automation when the process involves web application. Note, you can extract data and/or table from a website.

Prerequisite- The Web Recorder commands can only run in Internet Explorer.

Use Case- The strategic management team of an organization wants to gather data about the world population on a regular basis from a website.

1. Select Web Recorder in the Automate pop-up window. Alternatively, you can click the Record button and select Web Recorder from the options.
2. Enter the URL of the website for which you want to record the actions in the Web Recorder window and click Start.
3. The AAE Client window gets minimized and the specified website, along with the Web Recorder toolbar, is displayed in your internet browser.
4. To extract the data, total current population, click the Extract Data button.
5. Select the required option in the dialog box and click Next.
6. The yellow strip with instructions to select data is displayed.
7. Move the mouse over the data to be extracted. Note, a green box is displayed over the text that can be extracted.
8. Click the marked data to select it for extraction.
9. After confirming the data extracted is correct in the Extract Data window, assign it to a variable and then click Save button.
10. Next, to extract the table that lists the population in each country, click the Extract Table button in the Web Recorder toolbar.
11. Then move the mouse over the table you want to extract from the page.
12. If the table is selected, a green border is highlighted around the table.
13. Click the marked table to select it for extraction.
14. The Extract Table window is displayed that shows the table extracted.
15. After confirming table data, click the Next button.
16. Now, extract the table data to CSV file and provide the location where it needs to be saved.
17. Once done, click Finish button and stop the recording.
18. In the Save Task window, specify a task name, select a folder in which to save the task, and click Save.
19. To view or edit the commands that are automatically generated during recording, right-click on the task in the Task pane and then select the Edit option.
20. The Workbench window, with commands created, is displayed.
21. To display the extracted data, we will insert a message box command after the extract data command.
22. In the Message Box window, enter the message to be displayed and the variable which holds the extracted data.
23. Next, execute the task bot to view the automation.
24. Watch how the bot executes all the steps recorded using Web Recorder

Bot has been built using a web recorder.

Key Features of Automation Anywhere platform:

1) Automation Anywhere provides four levels of integration:

• User Interface
• Application Programming Interface (API)
• Operating System (OS)
• Database (DB)

2) Automation Anywhere platform is Infrastructure-agnostic

• Server-based processing
• Public and private cloud environments
• Facilitates centralized deployment and control from desktop to data center

3) It has 575+ drag and drop commands

4) Steps

• Automate- Automate processes and tasks with any complexity 
• Manage-Centralized control, distribution and analysis
• Define- Visually document any process with the click of a button

5) Architecture- Traditional Hub and Spoke

• Centralized Management
• (Control Room) (Authorized, controlled and manged from the control room)
• Bot Creators (Development client)- Create, edit and execute bots
• Bot Runners (Run time clients)- Execute bots
• Control Layer
• Monitors and administrates multisite infrastructure
• Facilitates increased collaboration to optimize productivity

6) Dashboard- These provide the first level of navigation. Helps in business decisions and corrective actions to fix errors. The control room dashboards provide:

• Active users
• Registered clients
• Failed tasks
• Apps
• Bot schedules
• Bots
• Queues
• Workflow 
• Status of device

7) Dashboard Features

Sorting

Filtering

Applying visually appealing colors

setting the time bars