With Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA), you can use robotic automations, which are configured in Pega Robotics Automation Studio, to automate and integrate processes on the desktop. Automating repetitive tasks reduces errors and frees your staff to focus on higher-value, customer-oriented tasks. For example, you can:

• Synchronize all your desktop applications with a customer's account information.
• Automatically launch or close applications on the desktop.
• Send updated customer account information from your Pega 7 application to one or more web or desktop applications.
• Streamline users' workspaces. By automating communication among various desktop applications, users do not need to switch among many applications to update information.

For example, customers can submit a request to change their account information in your application. An automation can retrieve customer account information from a legacy application that is running on a case worker's desktop and display it in an application form. Another automation can send the updated account information from your application to the legacy application.
You can configure an automation to run on a flow action on a flow in your case type, or from a modal dialog box or overlay anywhere in your application.

PrerequisitesBefore you begin, ensure that the following tasks have been completed:

• Install and configure Pega Robotics Automation Studio and Pega Robotics Automation Runtime. 
• Automations have been created in Pega Robotics Studio.

There are Two Type of  installation options available:

• Run time only installation
• Pega Robotic Studio installation

The runtime client allows the users to run automations on a user’s desktop. The automation project can be loaded after launching the run time client and right clicking the run time icon in the task bar. During installation of the client enable RDA checkbox needs to be checked in order to enable the REST service (API) for handling automation requests from Pega 7 applications.

Pega Robotic Studio is built on top of Visual Studio. Robotic Studio is used for creating automations. The installation files and instructions can be found in Pega Robotic Automation Architect Essentials (8.0) course in Pega academy. The course also provides a sample application and step by step instructions on how to create an automation. Automations can also be invoked from a Pega application by running the debugger in robotic studio.
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Both runtime and Robotic Studio have configuration files which need to be updated with Pega server base URL. At runtime, Config files are copied to the temp folder under C:/user/AppData/Roaming/OpenSpan. The files need to be updated or deleted from this folder every time the Config files are updated in order to pick up latest Config changes.

Robotic automations can be used to automate the routine tasks which are repeated in a workflow. Pega robotics adds the ability to automate tasks using the user interface of existing applications. It can help speed up manual tasks by automating user actions.

Automations are created in Pega Robotic Studio. The latest version available is 8.0 and can be downloaded from PDN. The minimum requirements for running automations are PRPC 7.2.1 with Pega HFIX-29471 or PRPC 7.2.2.
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There are two types of Pega robotic automations:

Pega Desktop Automation
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Desktop automations are used to provide a unified desktop experience to users by integrating and automating desktop (or web applications) with Pega 7 applications. Desktop or web applications can be launched from flow actions and data can be transferred back and forth between the workflow and desktop applications.
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Desktop automations can help reduce the redundant work that is required to copy and duplicate data in multiple applications. This can help reduce the time a CRM representative needs to spend with a customer on the phone and can also reduce data entry errors which can occur when entering the same data multiple times.

Legacy applications where APIs don’t exist or are not compatible with new Pega 7 applications can be integrated with the help of automations.

Pega Process Automation

Process automations are used for automating high-volume back-end repetitive work. Case assignments are routed to a robotic queue from where they are picked up by a robotic automation VM to perform the automations.
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The working is similar to an agent but the processing is done by an automation instead of the Pega requestor processing the assignment. A new ‘type’ dropdown has been added in the work basket instance to specify a robotic automation work queue. If Robotic type is selected from the dropdown, two additional fields are displayed:

1. Maximum queue length: This value is used to specify the maximum number of assignments that should be in the queue at a given time.
2. Maximum automation execution time: The value is used to specify the maximum amount of time the VM is expected to take to run the automation.

Automation VM’s can be managed in Pega Robotic Automation Console. Robotic workbasket turns red when the number of assignments exceed the maximum queue length or the automation execution time. The automation console is packaged with a sample application and can be downloaded from the PDN link.

You can use Robotic Process Automation (RPA) automations to automate repetitive and unattended back-office activities directly from your Pega 7 application. Using process automations can help you to process large volumes of cases in batches faster and with fewer errors compared to manual handling.
For example, you can queue an automation to process one or more stages of an automobile insurance claim. After a claim is submitted, the claim can immediately be routed to a robotic automation virtual machine (VM). The robotic automation VM runs an automation that analyzes the information submitted with the claim, looks up and verifies policy holder information, and updates web and desktop applications with case information.
When you use automations with your case type, case assignments are first routed to robotic work queues. A robotic automation VM retrieves the assignment from the queue, obtains the case data associated with the assignment, and performs the specified automation. After it processes the assignment, any modified data is sent back to the case, and the robotic automation VM retrieves the next assignment to process.
Any information that you want to share between your Pega 7 application and the automation must be marked as relevant records.

Pega Robotic Process Automation (RPA), organizations can automate the tedious manual work that is hampering productivity and efficiency. Whether adjudicating claims, onboarding customers or employees, reconciling financials, or updating customer information in systems record your business can utilize Pega RPA to optimize processes across your enterprise. 

​Provides a robust management console so you can easily orchestrate, manage and prioritize the queuing of work and processing activity for Pega software robots. Dashboards, reports and drill-downs monitor robot health, work status, SLA compliance, and auditing.

​Provides an automation authoring experience designed for rapid development and delivers the most powerful application automation and integration capabilities available today. The visual design surface makes it easy to create workflows and apply business rules through shapes or by recording workflows. 

Intelligence and robotic automation help enterprises maximize the value of their two biggest investments, people and technology, by understanding how users interact with applications. Pega robotic process automation, desktop automation, workforce intelligence, and case management together to enable more productive employees and a better customer experience. Unlike RPA-only solution providers, Pega offers end-to-end Robotics, CRM, and BPM for any digital enterprise,  giving organizations the power to:

• Identify workflow inefficiencies: As a first step, businesses can quickly and more easily analyze their employee workflows to uncover processes that are causing disruption in customer experience, such as needless and error-prone data rekeying across different apps. This visibility helps pinpoint inefficient processes that could be prime candidates for robotics to digitally transform their operations.
• Automate desktop processes: CSRs suffering from application overload can now benefit from desktop applications operating in a single seamless process—moving data between applications where APIs don't exist. Solutions can be deployed in weeks, quickly simplifying the employee experience, which leads to a better customer experience.
• Reduce repetitive tasks: Outside of customer service, many high-volume, low-complexity tasks traditionally done by employees can now be automated without the need for human intervention. Robotic process automation enables these processes—from reviewing claim details to updating transaction systems—to be run unattended, further freeing representatives to meet the needs of their customers.

Pega provides the only software automation solution capable of simplifying desktops and boosting productivity while enabling full automation of end-to-end processes.