Blue Prism

ROBOTIC OPERATING MODEL OVERVIEW

For more information please contact:

info@blueprism.com | UK: +44 (0) 870 879 3000 | US: +1 888 7577476
www.blueprism.com
Contents
1. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................................3
1.1. The Blue Prism Automation Program..........................................................................................................3
1.2. Blue Prism Robotic Operating Model ..........................................................................................................3
2. Process Management ...........................................................................................................................................5
3. Delivery Management ...........................................................................................................................................6
4. Operational Support .............................................................................................................................................7
4.1. Deployment Control....................................................................................................................................7
4.2. BAU Support ...............................................................................................................................................8
4.3. Operational Contingency ............................................................................................................................8
5. Technical Infrastructure, Security and Governance ..............................................................................................9
5.1. Technical Infrastructure ..............................................................................................................................9
5.2. Security .....................................................................................................................................................10
5.3. Governance ...............................................................................................................................................11
6. Implementing the Blue Prism Robotic Operating Model ....................................................................................13

The information contained in this document is the proprietary and confidential information of Blue Prism Limited and should not be
disclosed to a third party without the written consent of an authorised Blue Prism representative. No part of this document may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying without the written
permission of Blue Prism Limited

© Blue Prism Limited, 2001 - 2017

All trademarks are hereby acknowledged and are used to the benefit of their respective owners.
Blue Prism is not responsible for the content of external websites referenced by this document.

Blue Prism Limited, Centrix House, Crow Lane East, Newton-le-Willows, WA12 9UY, United Kingdom
Registered in England: Reg. No. 4260035. Tel: +44 870 879 3000. Web: www.blueprism.com

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 2 of 13
1. Introduction
1.1. The Blue Prism Automation Program
A Blue Prism Automation Program is a rolling program of work driven by the Operational teams which rapidly
delivers ongoing business value through the identification and automation of manual processes within an IT
approved environment.

The Blue Prism Robotic Operating Model provides a structured and controlled environment within which the
deliverables are developed and tested by resources working under the Operations team structure.

The Robotic Operating Model has been designed to integrate fully with our customer’s incumbent change
management systems thereby removing the need for additional procedural and governance obligations.

Robotic Automation refers to process automations where computer software drives existing enterprise application
software in the same way that a user does. This means that unlike traditional application software, Robotic
Automation is a tool or platform that operates and orchestrates other application software through the existing
application's user interface and in this sense is not "integrated".

Blue Prism's Robotic Automation software enables business operations to be agile and cost-effective through rapid
automation of manual, rules-based, back office administrative processes, reducing cost and improving accuracy by
creating a "virtual workforce".

The virtual workforce is built by the operational teams or accredited Blue Prism partners using our robotic
automation technology to rapidly build and deploy automations through leveraging the presentation layer of
existing enterprise applications. The automations are configured and managed within an IT-governed operating
model which has been iteratively developed through numerous large scale and complex deployments.

1.2. Blue Prism Robotic Operating Model

The Robotic Operating Model comprises of an initial task of assigning roles and responsibilities to all tasks across the
automation programme, along with the following key elements:

 Process Management – how changes are initiated, prioritised, approved and scheduled.
 Delivery Management - the structure controlling the definition, design, development and test of individual
processes.
 Operational Support - the procedures which govern how process changes are physically deployed into the
operational environment in a safe and resilient manner, the resources and skills required to manage the
day to day running of processes in the operational environment and the measures in place to ensure
business continuity.
 Technical Infrastructure, Security and Governance – the provision and management of a structured and
scalable technical environment for process delivery in accordance with corporate security policy.

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 3 of 13
The relationship between these key elements of the Robotic Operating Model is illustrated below.

An overview of each of these elements is provided below, detailed documentation and supporting templates exist
for all sections outlined below.

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 4 of 13
2. Process Management
The Process Management Policy comprises the policies and procedures required to create a continuous pipeline of
work into the Automation Program in a structured and controlled way. The key areas to consider when defining the
Process Management policy are:

 Defining the Process Management Policy – The policy should cover:

o The method for identifying, analysing and scoring candidate processes for automation and
effectively communicating the scoring outcomes.
o The method for scheduling planned automations once scored and prioritised. This includes
timescales, communicating intentions to relevant parties, method and/or procedures for project
initiation, etc.
o The templates / documents to be used including responsibilities for completion and sign off.
 Defining the Process Change Control Policy – The policy should cover:
o The method for initiating and managing change requests to existing processes, generated through
operational demand.
o The templates / documents to be used including responsibilities for completion and sign off.
 Defining the System Change Control Policy – The policy should cover:
o The method for initiating and managing change requests to existing processes, generated through
host system changes.
o The templates / documents to be used including responsibilities for completion and sign off.

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 5 of 13
3. Delivery Management
The Blue Prism Process Delivery Methodology is a proven means of delivering the benefits of an Automation
Program (rapid, low cost change driven by the Operational teams), whilst maintaining a full level of governance
under the Blue Prism Robotic Operating Model.

It outlines the delivery concepts required to enable:

 Detailed process analysis and solution design

 Full involvement and leadership from Operational teams in the design and requirements specification
 A Design Authority in place to review and sign off solution designs before the configuration of the
automation build work begins
 Rapid configuration of reusable components and processes
 Ongoing incremental testing of the reusable components even before the full business processes are
developed
 Efficient translation of the business requirement into a working process
 Comprehensive Verification and Acceptance Test periods
 Controlled release of process benefits at the earliest opportunity T
The key areas to consider when defining the Delivery Management policy are:
 Defining the Process Delivery Methodology. The Methodology should cover:
o Definition of the individual project phases from project start up through to UAT, including the
gateways between each phase and the entry and exit criteria for each gateway.
o The templates / documents to be used including responsibilities for completion and sign off.
 Defining the Test Approach. The Test Approach is a key component of the Delivery Management policy.
Key considerations are:
o Definition of the key test phases from including the gateways between each phase and the entry
and exit criteria for each gateway.
o For each phase, the Blue Prism Environment to be used.
o For each phase, whether live or test versions of the in-scope applications are to be used.
o For each phase, whether live or test data is to be used.
o For each phase, who is responsible for the production of test scripts?
o For each phase, who is responsible for test execution?
o For each phase, who is responsible for test case sign off?
o For each phase, the templates / documents to be used including responsibilities for completion
and sign off.

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 6 of 13
4. Operational Support
The Operational Support Policy comprises of the policies and procedures required to maintain a stable operational
environment that delivers operational benefits within agreed SLA’s. Operational Support is focussed around the
following areas:

 Deployment Control
 BAU Support
 Operational Contingency
The following diagram illustrates the Operational Support model

4.1. Deployment Control

The Deployment Control policy describes the procedures for transitioning process changes through the technical
environments that support the Automation Program (e.g. Acceptance test environment / production environment
etc.) including the templates / documents to be used and the responsibilities for completion and sign off of same.

This includes the safe and controlled deployment of new processes as well as planned and unplanned changes to
existing processes.

The Deployment Control policy exists to:

 Ensure continued security and protect against malicious activity

 Schedule deployment in line with key dependencies
 Ensure appropriate review and approval

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 7 of 13
4.2. BAU Support
The Blue Prism product provides comprehensive Management Information on process performance and system
availability and exception as well as sophisticated Exception Handling functionality.

Resource from the appropriate team will be required to monitor and manage the Blue Prism outputs to ensure all
information is quickly and effectively disseminated to the relevant party.

Support agreements will be established with all suppliers to provide a model for maximum system availability and
effective case management.

Blue Prism also recommends that processes running in the operational environment are subject to periodic
maintenance checks. This will ensure the process is kept up to date with the latest business process and system
requirements thereby maximising the business benefits.

4.3. Operational Contingency

The Operational Contingency Plan outlines how the organisation will respond in the event of critical failure in the
production environment.

Where a process was previously performed by people and those people have changed role (meaning they are no
longer available to perform this function during a system outage), it may be considered important to have an
alternative means of executing that same process. This is particularly relevant for those processes which are
subject to a tight SLA’s

It is essential in such instances to have an emergency backup production environment. The Operational
Contingency Plan will define the procedures and responsibility for invoking contingency, test frequency the
creation/specification of the contingency environment.

The Operation Contingency Plan should also contain process-specific instructions for each automated process in
the production environment.

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 8 of 13
5. Technical Infrastructure, Security and Governance
Technical Infrastructure, Security and Governance comprises of the policies and procedures required to ensure
that a structured and scalable technical environment exists to support current and future operational requirements
along with ensuring adherence to all corporate security policies.

Technical Infrastructure, Security and Governance are focussed around the following areas which are discussed in
more detail below.

 Technical Infrastructure
 Security
 Database Administration
5.1. Technical Infrastructure
Technical Infrastructure definition and planning ensures that sufficient hardware and software resources exist to
deliver the Automation Program in its entirety. Technical Infrastructure planning considers the future delivery
requirements of the Automation Program and plans the required technical environment. Hardware and software
requirements will need to be continually assessed as new processes may require additional Blue Prism licenses,
target system software, third party licences, extra runtime production hardware etc. The lead time for these
components needs to be factored into the delivery plans.

The key steps in building a Blue Prism Technical Infrastructure are as follows:

 Request Blue Prism Release – A Blue Prism Release will be requested by the Blue Prism team and is
typically provided to the customer in the form a URL to a Blue Prism download area. The download area
contains all the Blue Prism software required for the automation programme along with installation
instructions to enable the client to perform the installations.
 Request Blue Prism Licence – To enable the Blue Prism software to function a Blue Prism Licence is
required. The licence will be requested by the Blue Prism team and provided to the client in the form of a
file to be installed using the Blue Prism product.
 Produce High Level Design - This step will document, at a high level, the design of the technical
environment. Key considerations are:
o The number of Blue Prism Environments required (e.g. Development, UAT, Production, and
Disaster Recovery (DR)).
o The applications required in each environment.
o The version (i.e. Test or Live) of each application in each environment.
o The data to be used in each environment for each application (i.e. test or live).
o Network folder access in each environment.
o The number of servers, databases, robot pc’s etc. required for each environment.
 Produce Detailed Design - Once the High Level Design has been agreed, a detailed design can be produced.
o Build Development Environment
o Build UAT Environment
o Build Production Environment
o Build DR Environment

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 9 of 13
5.2. Security
Security of the Blue Prism implementation is a key part of the operating model. Every Automation Program must be
governed by a security policy, complemented by appropriate procedures that have been agreed by all relevant
parties.

Access to target systems will already have security control built around them. The security policy which will govern
the Blue Prism application, its database and access to the customer’s target systems will allow Blue Prism to be
operated in a secure and controlled environment.

Key considerations in defining a security policy are:

 Define Blue Prism Access Model – Blue Prism supports two methods of authentication, namely ‘Blue Prism
user authentication’ and ‘Active Directory authentication’ (or ‘single sign on’). The type of authentication to
be used is set when the database is created and cannot be changed on existing databases. Integral to this is
the definition and setup of the user privileges across each of the Blue Prism environments.
 Define Blue Prism Access Support procedures - Procedures should be in place to define how a Blue Prism
user is added, amended or removed. Consideration should also be given to the expiry term of new Blue
Prism accounts and, where Blue Prism user authentication is being used, the expiry term of the password
along with any other password rules (e.g. minimum length, compulsory characters etc.)
 Define Target System Access Model – Blue Prism accesses target systems much as a human user would and
as such requires its own user names and passwords. Therefore consideration should be given to the
following:
o What ‘user id’s’ will the robots use for each application?
o How many robot ‘user id’s’ are required for each application?
o How will passwords be created, stored and managed for each application?
o Which areas of the network will robots have access to?
 Define Target System Access Support procedures – Once the Target System Access Model has been
defined, the support of this model needs to be defined. Consideration should be given to the following:
o Who will be responsible for creating, amending or deleting robot accounts?
o How will IT Helpdesks manage robot account queries?
 Windows Access Model – These sections refers to how the Resource PCs will log on to Windows and access
the LAN.
o What credentials will be used?
o What privileges will be assigned?
o Will Login Agent be used?
o When and how will the passwords be changed?
o What Resources will the access credentials be granted access?
o What will the credential management policy be if Blue Prism’s Login Agent is used?
 Windows Access Support – The creation and modifying of Windows credentials will need to be carefully
governed and in the event of lock out, expiry etc. a procedure will need to be in place to quickly re-enable
access.

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 10 of 13
  Environment Access Model - This section of the security policy relates to the security of the Blue Prism
environments, ensuring that the environments in which the Blue Prism solution and the systems it accesses
runs in are secure. Consideration should be given to the following:
o Who will have access to the Blue Prism databases and servers in each environment?
o Who will have access to the Resource PC’s in each environment?
o How will this be audited?
 Environment Access Support Procedures – Once the Environment Access Model has been defined, the
support of this model needs to be defined. Consideration should be given to the following:
o What are the procedures to be followed when supporting the Blue Prism Servers, Database and
Resource PC’s?
o Who will be responsible for creating, amending or deleting environment access permissions?
 Define Data Policies - Blue Prism has the ability to store data in work queues and logs. Consideration should
be given to:
o Policies regarding data held in Blue Prism work queues and logs including data retention policies?
o Ensuring the security policy respects the organisation's own information security policy, industry
specific data standards as well as adhering to
 The Data Protection Act (1998)
 The Data Protection (Processing of Sensitive Personal Data) Order 2000.
 The Computer Misuse Act (1990)

5.3. Governance
5.3.1 Audit Logs Archive
Blue Prism has the ability to log all stages of the process and its objects to the central session log, providing a
transparent and detailed audit trail of all process activity.

A data policy should be created to define the policies regarding data held in Blue Prism work queues and logs.

Depending on the level of detail selected, the audit logs can begin to consume a large amount of disk space. A
sensible archive strategy will allow the production database size to be kept to a minimum whilst still allowing
retrieval of log files, should business units require them. This mitigates the critical failure due to lack of disk space.
Commercial in Confidence ®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 12 of 13

An archive policy should be created and documented. It will need to be reviewed periodically, as more and more
processes are automated.

5.3.2 Backup
A clear backup policy for automated process should exist. This includes both processes in production and in
development. This allows normal operation to resume following any data losses on the database server. A
centralised, nightly backup of the database server may be considered sufficient. Other organisations may wish to
implement a secondary layer of backup for further assurance, using the Blue Prism software product's export
facility.

The backup policy should be documented and regularly reviewed as part of the Robotic Operating Model creation

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 11 of 13
5.3.3 Disaster Recovery
Where Blue Prism is running business critical automated processes, the consequence of a production environment
failure preventing the successful running of these processes can be serious. Consideration should be given to:

 The creation of a disaster recovery environment to act as a contingency production environment.

 The procedures involved in invoking DR
 The procedures involved in returning to the Business as Usual Production Environment
 The frequency of testing the DR environment and associated procedures

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 12 of 13
6. Implementing the Blue Prism Robotic Operating Model
Key elements of the Blue Prism Robotic Operating Model should be implemented as an integral part of initiating
the first process delivery project – the remaining elements will evolve as the delivery lifecycle progresses.

A ROM Implementation Tracking Sheet exists to assist in the implementation of an Operating Model.

An Enterprise RPA - Delivery Swimlanes Overview exists to assist in the activities to implement a Robotic Operating
Model.

Commercial in Confidence
®Blue Prism is a registered trademark of Blue Prism Limited Page 13 of 13