FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970) & THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10, rule 13)
1. Title of the invention: SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROCESS AUTOMATION
2. Applicant(s)
NAME NATIONALITY ADDRESS
TATA CONSULTANCY Indian Nirmal Building, 9th Floor,
SERVICES LIMITED Nariman Point, Mumbai,
Maharashtra 400021, India
3. Preamble to the description
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it
is to be performed.

TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present subject matter relates, in general, to process automation and in particular, to a method for desktop automation.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Business processes and procedures are basic elements of operation of any modern organization. Business procedures vary according to the type of processes involved. These business procedures can be made efficient when manual processes involved therein, are substituted by automated processes. Business process automation is the use of technology components to substitute and/or supplement manual processes with automated processes, to manage information flow within an organization to lower costs, reduce risk, and increase efficiency.
[0003] Every organization thrives for continuous improvement and automation of the organization’s processes provides a way for continuous improvement. Automation of business processes helps to reduce operational costs and increase efficiency by delivering best services to customers of the organization.
[0004] For all practical purposes, every business process may be measured using takt time. Takt time is the ratio of, effective working time per shift to customer requirement per shift. Business processes may be comprised of several applications. Automation of these applications can increase the takt time and help the organization to deliver best services to its customers. In order to have an increasing takt time, the business process should promote the simplicity of linking the applications involved therein. Automation can help integrate the applications which are normally performed at various locations. [0005] Present day business processes are well automated and automating the processes is achieved through automation tools. The automation tools help modify user interface, add procedural and/or process guidance to workflows in the business process, and deliver application automation and integration capabilities.

SUMMARY
[0006] This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to process automation, which are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter. [0007] In one embodiment of the present subject matter, methods and systems for analyzing and automating manual steps performed by users on computing devices are described. The method of automation may include obtaining attribute data associated with a plurality of steps of a process and determining value-added and non value-added steps based on the obtained attribute data. The method also includes identifying process bottlenecks and amenable steps from among the plurality of steps, ascertaining a technology lever for automation of an amenable step based on value stream mapping, and implementing the technology lever for automating the amenable step.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods, in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter, are now described by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: [0009] Fig. 1 illustrates a process automation system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter
[0010] Fig. 2 illustrates a method for process automation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0011] It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] The present subject matter relates to systems and methods for analyzing and automating manual activities performed by users on computing devices. The methods can be implemented in systems capable of analyzing processes and support real time computation, such as desktop computers, hand-held devices, laptops or other portable computers, mobile phones, and the like. Although the description herein is with reference to certain computing devices, the methods and systems may be implemented in other devices and systems as well, albeit with a few variations, as will be understood by a person skilled in the art. [0013] The concept of automating manual operations is known for quite sometime, but integrated desktop automation method stands different from mere substitution of manual processes with automated processes. Integrated desktop automation represents a systematic method of automating and managing complex business processes by interacting with applications non-intrusively at user interface level. Further, integrated desktop automation also provides visibility into business processes across a full range of activities involved in the processes.
[0014] Conventionally, business processes often involve a flow of sequence of operations on a single or set of applications. The flow includes interaction of a user with screens of computer systems. A plurality of computer systems are linked to each other in a network and each computer system involves several applications being processed. In such an establishment, a user may interact with several screens on a desktop of a computer system while processing and interacting with large amount of data. [0015] In addition, the user navigates through several screens of applications to acquire any required data. In the process of acquiring the data, several switching between windows of the applications, mouse-clicks, typing of required values using keyboard, accessing files, accessing applications are involved. When these operations are performed by the user on the computer system, connected over the network to gather required data, the user invests a considerable amount of time and effort. Further, many processes may involve extraction of data from one application and transfer of a part of the extracted data to another application. The extraction of data and its extraction may further include manual time consuming steps such as, toggle of screens and copy-pastes. Further, the process may require the data to be stored. Thus, the considerable time and effort used by the user has a substantial cost factor for an organization.
[0016] Besides various conventions adopted by an organization, the organization also includes various fields of operation which follow the conventions, such as front offices,

middle offices and customer service centers. Among these, the customer service center involves greater percentage of communication with customers. Typically, in a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, a BPO user may handle a call with a customer to solve various problems of the customer regarding a product or, may guide the customer for proper usage of the product. During the call with the customer or while performing transactions, the user interacts with the computer system and inputs information into the computer system relating to the customer or the product. The user might have to input each information or detail on different application windows and this involves substantially large time. Procedure followed by the user to input the information into the computer system comprises of several non value-added steps, such as navigation through application windows, mouse-clicks, waiting time involved in gathering data, etc. Although the conventional automation tools assist the user in inputting the information into the computer system in less time, they involve less visibility of value-added and non value-added steps. [0017] More often than not, integrated desktop automation requires integration of applications. The conventional automation tools find technical difficulty in the integration of applications. Implementation of few automation tools involve invasive changes to be made in computer system. Best practices for performing automation for data based on inputs from scanned images remain unknown in the automation tools. Therefore, organizations need to implement better automation tools to achieve better standards. Further, present day automation tools are built for mere automation of existing steps involved in an organization’s process. For every additional step involved or introduced into the organization’s process, new automation logic are to be designed in existing enterprise applications, which are larger and time consuming process.
[0018] Further, the automation tools also face compatibility issues while automation of a process involving use of multiple various applications spread across various fields of operation.
[0019] According to an implementation of present subject matter, systems and methods for analyzing and automating the manual activities performed by users on computing devices are described herein. The systems and methods may be implemented in various industries and offices, such as back office, front office, contact centre for process automation. Further the described methods may allow efficient and effective desktop automation. In operation, various steps of a process may be captured. The capturing of various steps may include identifying various steps performed by a user during execution of different steps to complete a process. The various steps may include detecting one or more

interactions with hardware equipments such as computing devices. Examples of such interaction include, but are not limited to mouse movements, mouse clicks, switching between application windows, instances where the users has entered data or retrieved data, d window used most often, data inputted most often, etc. [0020] In one implementation, the captured steps are segregated based on two parameters - whether the steps are value-added steps or non value-added steps. The segregation may be based on activity parameters that may define the steps into different criteria based on the value added by each step during the time of execution of the entire process. The activity parameter may define the steps which enhance the process as value-added steps, and the steps which do not enhance the process such as error correction step, multiple back and forth movements between screens, quality analysis step or a step seeking approval of retrieved information, as non value-added steps. In said implementation, the steps segregated into the value-added steps and non value-added steps may be analyzed based on value stream mapping to identify process bottlenecks while performing the value-added steps and the non value-added steps. Inputs from Business Process Management (BPM) are also considered, wherever available, to identify the bottlenecks and need of technology intervention, to improve the process. Further, based on the identified bottlenecks, amenable steps may be determined that may require automation based on different available technology levers. Also, in one implementation of the present subject matter, the identified amenable steps may also be categorized into high impact and low impact amenable steps. [0021] In one implementation of the present subject matter, for the identified amenable steps, a technology lever, from amongst multiple available technology levers is selected to automate the steps. In said implementation, the identification of a technology lever implementation for automation of each of the amenable steps is based on lever parameters associated with each step, where the technology levers are selected from amongst “Optimal Screen Layout”, “Unified View”, “Extended Business Rules”, and “Transaction Fulfillment” technology levers. While implementing a technology lever for automation of a step, the lever parameters associated with the step may be analyzed along with the available implementation structures to determine the optimal technology lever and the best implementation structure. For example, a user has to navigate and toggle through multiple screens or tabs to seek required information, copy the information from one application to the other and remember multiple steps as part of process. In such cases, the “Transaction fulfillment” technology lever, automates the navigation, screen toggles and manual rule based steps to improve transaction processing time and accuracy of transaction.

[0022] Further, on selection of technology lever for automation of amenable steps, method of implementation of the technology levers may be selected from among known implementation structures. The implementation structures may include, but are not limited to, building a new modular component for implementing the technical lever, implementing a modular component that exists in a repository for implementing the technical lever, selecting modular component based on benchmark Suppliers-Input-Process-Output-Customer(s) (SIPOCs) for implementing the technical lever, and implementing a co-solution for implementing the technical lever.
[0023] In one implementation of present subject matter, based on the implementation structures, implementation of an ascertained technology lever may be performed by method of implementing a co-solution. When one particular known modular component fails to automate various steps of the process, a co-solution may be implemented in order to result in efficient automation. For example, the co-solution may be derived from proven features of in-house available tools or market tools, such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tools, and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) tools in automation of a process. Implementation or deployment of any technology lever for automation of manual steps involved in accessing an application requires the technology lever to be compatible with the application. The compatibility issues are checked by interrogators. In cases when the technology lever is non-compatible, a co-solution may be built by integrating features of multiple tools to resolve the problem. In an example, co-solution may be built to overcome a challenge of an Application Programming Interface(s) (APIs) not being available from one of the underlying applications to carry out end-to-end automation.
[0024] System(s) implementing the disclosed method(s) include, but are not limited to, desktop computers, hand-held devices, multiprocessor system, microprocessor based programmable consumer electronics, laptops, network computers, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like.
[0025] It should be noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the present subject matter. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions.

Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the present subject matter, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.
[0026] It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the words during, while, and when as used herein are not exact terms that mean an action takes place instantly upon an initiating action but that there may be some small but reasonable delay, such as a propagation delay, between the initial action and the reaction that is initiated by the initial action.
[0027] While aspects of described system(s) and method(s) of process automation system can be implemented in any number of different computing systems, environments, and/or configurations, the implementations are described in the context of the following exemplary system(s) and method(s).
[0028] Fig.1 illustrates a process automation system 102, as an example, for automation of steps of a process. The process automation system 102, hereinafter interchangeably referred to as system 102, includes processor(s) 104, interface(s) 106 and a memory 108. The processor(s) 104 can be a single processing unit or a number of units, all of which could include multiple computing units. The processor(s) 104 may be implemented as one or more microprocessor, microcomputers, digital signal processors, central processing units, state machines, logic circuitries, and/or any devices that manipulate signals based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities the processor(s) 104 are adapted to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory. [0029] The functions of the various elements shown in the figure, including any functional blocks labeled as “processor(s)”, may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared. Moreover, explicit use of the term “processor” should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, network processor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), read only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM), non-volatile storage. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. [0030] The interface(s) 106 may include a variety of software and hardware interfaces, for example, interface for peripheral device(s), such as a keyboard, a mouse, a

microphone, an external memory, a speaker, and a printer. Further, the interface(s) 106 may include one or more ports for connecting the system 102 with other computing devices, such as web servers, and external databases. The interface(s) 106 may facilitate multiple communications within a wide variety of protocols and networks, such as a network, including wired networks, e.g., LAN, cable, etc., and wireless networks, e.g., WLAN, cellular, satellite, etc.
[0031] The memory 108 may be coupled to the processor 104 and may include any computer-readable medium known in the art including, for example, volatile memory, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) and Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), and/or non-volatile memory, such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Erasable Programmable ROMs (EPROMs), flash memories, hard disks, optical disks, and magnetic tapes. The process automation system may also include module(s) 110 and data 112. The modules 110 and the data 112 may be coupled to the processors 104. [0032] The modules 110, amongst other things, include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The modules 110 may also be implemented as, signal processor(s), state machine(s), logic circuitries, and/or any other device or component that manipulate signals based on operational instructions.
[0033] In another aspect of the present subject matter, the modules 110 may be computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a processor/processing unit, perform any of the described functionalities. The machine-readable instructions may be stored on an electronic memory device, hard disk, optical disk or other machine-readable storage medium or non-transitory medium. In one implementation, the computer-readable instructions can be also be downloaded to a storage medium via a network connection. [0034] The module(s) 110 includes, for example, a data collection module 114, a value stream mapping module 116, a lever determination module 118, a lever implementation module 120, and other module(s) 122. The other module(s) 122 include programs that supplement applications or functions performed by a process automation system, such as process automation system 102.The data 112 serves, amongst other things, as a repository for storing data obtained and processed by one or more module(s) 110. The data 112 includes, for example, process attribute data 124, analyzed data 126 and other data 128. The other data 128 includes data generated as a result of the execution of one or more modules in the other module(s) 122.

[0035] In one embodiment, the process automation system 102 is associated with a repository 130, which stores a library of modular components to implement technology levers for automation of various different amenable steps in a process. Although the repository 130 is illustrated external to the process automation system 102, it will be understood that the repository 130 may be internal to the process automation system 102 as well. Further, the repository 130 can be implemented as, for example, a single repository, a distributed repository or a collection of distributed repositories. [0036] In an implementation, to develop the repository 130, different modular components utilized for automation of steps of various processes may be used. Such modular components may comprise several automation components which may be used for similar platforms, processes and services. In one implementation, the type of modular components and their capability to automate a step associated with a bottleneck of the process may depend on the platform of working, memory capacity of a computer system, number of applications accessed in the computer system, amount of data extraction from various running applications in the computer system, etc. It would be understood by those skilled in the art that the modular components may be collected from various situations for overcoming the process bottlenecks to make the repository more effective. [0037] In operation, the process automation system 102 is adapted to automate at least few steps of a process. To this end, the data collection module 114 is adapted to capture proceedings of a process involving different steps at various time instances with a corresponding transaction time. The data collection module 114 may capture the proceeding of the process in the form of data with different identified steps in the process. For example, process of extraction of a customer’s details to an application may include, movement of a user of the application throughout a layout of computer desktop’s screen, multiple clicks of computer mouse, navigation through multiple application window, waiting for data extraction, etc. Among such steps performed for the process, the data collection module 114 may identify the steps associated with the process and capture various steps performed by the user for execution of the process.
[0038] Further, the data collection module 114 may also be adapted to determine value-added steps and non value-added steps from among the captured steps of the process. In one implementation, the data collection module 114 is adapted to determine the value added steps and the non-value added steps based on activity parameter associated with each step. For example, in the above described scenario of extracting customer related details, movement of a user of the application throughout a layout of computer desktop’s screen,

multiple clicks of computer mouse and navigation through multiple application window may be classified as non value-added steps, and entry of extracted customer details in a target application as value-added step.
[0039] In one implementation of the present subject matter, the captured data is used for a detailed time-motion study and analysis. For this purpose, the value stream mapping module 116 is adapted to determine process bottlenecks and amenable steps from amongst the steps captured from the process. Based on the value-added and non value-added steps, the value stream mapping module 116 identifies an operational parameter to determine the process bottlenecks. The process bottlenecks may allow determination of steps which are amenable and may require automation for efficient and effective execution of the process. In one implementation, the data to be analyzed by the value stream mapping module 116 may be obtained in form of graphical representations like picture graphs, tabulations, bar graphs, pie graphs, line graphs and the like. Based on these graphical representations, a suitable operational parameter is fixed by the value stream mapping module 116 to identify process bottlenecks and thus amenable steps for automation of the process bottlenecks. The value stream mapping module 116 determines the bottleneck based on number of manual activities involved in the process, such as fetching of relevant application screen, toggling between various screens, horizontal and vertical scrolling, copying and pasting of data, and the like. Further, the graphical representation generated by the value stream mapping module 116 may be stored in analyzed data 126.
[0040] Further, the value stream mapping module 116 is also adapted to identify high impact and low impact steps from amongst the identified amenable steps. High impact steps may indicate steps which when automated, may relatively improve the execution of the process better as compared to other steps. For example, a step which requires, large amount of time for execution and accesses multiple applications may be identified as a high impact step. In one implementation, the high impact steps are automated first as compared to the low impact steps. However, it may also occur that apart from the high impact steps, the low impact steps are also automated for the automation of the process. As described earlier, the automation of the amenable steps may either reduce or remove bottlenecks from the process for its efficient and effective execution.
[0041] In another implementation of the present subject matter, the lever determination module 118 of the process automation system 102 is adapted to ascertain a technology lever for the automation of the identified amenable steps. In said implementation, the technology levers may be ascertained from amongst, optimal screen layout of the user’s

desktop, unified view of user’s desktop, extended business rules, and transaction fulfillment, based on lever parameters.
[0042] The technology lever, ‘optimal screen layout of the user’s desktop’, may optimize screen orientation of the user’s desktop to improve the user’s experience, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the entire process. A typical user, from an industry, performing back office processes, front office processes, or call centre process in present day, while interacting with the computer system desktop and communicating with the customer over a phone call is tasked with ever expanding responsibilities that range from handling the customer’s basic inquiries to performing complex sales transactions. To evidence an effective transaction or a call handling with the customer, the user will have to navigate through many application windows coupled with several computer key-board interaction to deliver required information corresponding to the inquiry by the customer. Further, the user may also have to perform copy-paste of data fields extracted from one application to the other. In such scenarios, the technology lever, ‘optimal screen layout of the user’s desktop’ and ‘unified view’ may enable integration of all the applications accessed by the user for a particular process, into a single application window. By integrating all the applications into a single application window, the user may gain access to a simplified and automated user desktop. The result of integration of all the applications results in an efficient process transaction and improved focus on task at hand.
[0043] The reality of implementation of any business logics and business rules to a process is complex in nature and requires extensive understanding of underlying process and ability to identify an existing code with the business process. Thus, in order to automate a set of existing processes, generating a new code appears to be an underlying requirement. The technology lever, ‘extended business rules’, helps in non-invasive addition of business logics to perform data validation and business rules to extend the application functionality. [0044] For example, in a telecom organization, a back office agent has to populate an accurate partner code into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in order to pass on a commissioning request and lead benefits. In cases where the CRM system does not have a built-in provision for validation of the partner code, business rules may be incorporated. These business rules may be built external to the application and may guide the validation of the partner code. Further, addition of such business rules may ensure accuracy of transactions. The business rule may also help the agent for a single log-in into the application. In other words, once the business rule is created, the partner code may be validated for accuracy and accordingly the commissioning request will be allocated and lead

benefits passed to the right partner. Therefore, the technology lever, ‘extended business rules’, may be implemented for an amenable step or multiple amenable steps without changing the underlying code already implemented for the execution of the step(s). Further, the technology lever, ‘transaction fulfillment’, may enable the automation of repeated rule based steps and thus help for faster execution of the process. [0045] In an implementation of the present subject matter, based on the identified process bottlenecks and amenable steps for automation, the value stream mapping module 116 suggests appropriate technology lever among the technology lever discussed earlier in the present subject matter, for automation of the amenable steps. [0046] In said implementation, the lever implementation module 120 is adapted to implement the ascertained technology lever(s) for the identified amenable steps. It would be appreciated that each amenable step may be implemented with a particular technology lever based on the requirement and conditions determined for the amenable step based on the associated lever parameters. In an implementation of the present subject matter, the implementation of the ascertained technology lever may be carried out, by either selecting loosely coupled technology lever or multiple integrated technology levers, by choosing a particular implementation structure. The implementation structure may be chosen from amongst the following choices, but not limited to, building a new modular component, implementing modular component existing in the repository 130, selecting a modular component based on a benchmark Suppliers-Input-Process-Output-Customer(s) (SIPOCs) and implementing a co-solution.
[0047] The terms ‘modular component’ referred in the present subject matter represents reusable automation components used for automation of similar application platforms or steps or services associated with a process. For example, in a customer service oriented company or a call centre, caller authentication may be a mandatory step. For such authentication, modular components comprising steps for authentication of the caller are built. Once, these modular components are developed, they can be used for other call centre processes provided that the processes work on similar platforms. Once the authentication of the caller is processed, the customer care executive will have to perform multiple sign-in with several applications to extract information for a particular query by the caller. In such cases, the customer care executive has to remember ID and password and will have to enter the details at every stage of extracting information. In such a scenario, a single sign-in modular component(s) are developed which helps the executive to sign-in into several applications by a single sign-in. According to the present subject matter, when the value stream mapping

module 116 identifies process bottleneck(s) in a process, and if there exists no modular component for implementation of technology lever corresponding to the process bottleneck, a new modular component may be built for the implementation. [0048] In said implementation, the repository 130 is adapted to store a plurality of modular components used for earlier process automation of various steps of different processes. Each of the modular components stored in the repository 130 may represent a particular implementation of technology lever for a particular kind of identified step in a process. Any newly built modular components can also be stored in the repository 130 for any future implementation.
[0049] In one implementation, to implement the technology lever for automation of a step, the modular components existing in the repository 130 may be used. Further, since different organizations implement similar processes in different ways, the SIPOCs developed for a single process across different organizations are different with different attributes for process elements. The lever implementation module 120 may compare several SIPOCs developed for different organizations implementing the same process under consideration to offer an automated solution. In one implementation, a benchmark SIPOC is selected from among several SIPOCs based on factors, such as better productivity, less difficulty in implementation, less implementation time, etc. Based on the selected benchmark SIPOC, a corresponding modular component may be selected for implementation of technology lever(s) from the repository 130.
[0050] In addition, when a particular modular component is selected for implementation of technology lever(s) and upon the implementation of the technology lever(s) corresponding to particular modular component(s) for automation of manual steps involved in the process, the technology lever(s) may not provide required automation. In such cases, the present subject matter includes co-solution(s) for the still existing problems. These co-solution(s) may involve integration of features of in-house tools or market tools such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) and other data recognition. In an implementation of the present subject matter, the lever implementation module 120 implements a co-solution in case of failure of working of individual in-house or market tools to meet automation requirement. The co-solution can be a combination of two or more technology levers.
[0051] Fig. 2 illustrates a method 200 for process automation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. According to an aspect, the concept of process

automation are described with reference to the process automation system 102 described
above.
[0052] The method may be described in the general context of computer executable
instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs,
objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, functions, etc., that perform
particular functions or implement particular abstract data types. The method may also be
practiced in a distributed computing environment where functions are performed by remote
processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed
computing environment, computer executable instructions may be located in both local and
remote computer storage media, including memory storage devices.
[0053] The order in which the method is described is not intended to be construed as
a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to
implement the method 200, or an alternative method. Additionally, individual blocks may be
deleted from the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter
described herein. Furthermore, the method 200 can be implemented in any suitable hardware,
software, firmware, or combination thereof. The method 200 is explained with reference to
the process automation system 102, however, it will be understood that the methods can be
implemented in other systems as well.
[0054] Referring to method 200, at block 202, attribute data for proceedings of a
process involving multiple steps, at various instances is obtained. The obtained data can be
used to analyze time-motion details of various steps performed by a user interacting with
different applications and functionalities of desktop of a computer system.
[0055] At block 204, value-added and non value-added steps are determined based on
obtained attribute data. In one implementation, navigation among application windows,
mouse clicks, copy-pate actions, and the like can be determined as non value-added steps,
while data extraction(s), interaction with an application in a process may be determined as
value-added step(s).
[0056] At block 206, process bottlenecks and amenable steps from amongst the
plurality of steps for automation are identified based on value stream mapping. In one
implementation, the value stream mapping may provide bottlenecks present in the process
along with amenable steps for automation within the process based on value-added and non
value-added steps.
[0057] At block 208, at least one technology lever for automation of at least one
amenable step from amongst the amenable steps is ascertained based on the value stream

mapping. In one implementation, the value stream mapping may result in graphical representations, such as a pie graph, a bar graph and a line graph to indicate high impact and low impact steps among the amenable steps for automation. [0058] At block 210, the ascertained technology lever is implemented for automation of the at least one amenable step. In one implementation the technology lever is implemented based on implementation structures. The implementation structures may include, but limited to, building a new modular component for implementing the technical lever, implementing a modular component that exists in a repository for implementing the technical lever, selecting modular component based on benchmark Suppliers-Input-Process-Output-Customer(s) (SIPOCs) for implementing the technical lever, and implementing a co-solution for implementing the technical lever.
[0059] Although embodiments for methods and systems for process automation have been described in a language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as exemplary implementations of present invention.

I/We claim:
1. A process automation system (102) for analyzing and automating steps of a process
performed by users on computing devices comprising:
a processor (104);
a data collection module (114) coupled to the processor (104), adapted to: obtain attribute data associated with a plurality of steps of the process,
wherein the plurality of steps are performed during completion of the process;
and
determine value-added and non value-added steps from amongst the
plurality of steps based on the obtained attribute data and activity parameters;
a value stream mapping module (116) coupled to the processor (104), adapted to identify process bottlenecks and amenable steps from amongst the plurality of steps for automation based on operational parameters;
a lever determination module (118) coupled to the processor (104), adapted to ascertain at least one technology lever for automation of at least one amenable step based on value stream mapping and lever parameter; and
a lever implementation module (120) adapted to implement the at least one technology lever for automating the at least one amenable step.
2. The process automation system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the value stream mapping module (116) is further adapted to identify high impact steps and low impact steps from amongst the identified amenable steps, and wherein the high impact steps are indicative of priority for automation.
3. The process automation system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one technology lever is one of, optimal screen layout of a user’s desktop, unified view of the user’s desktop, extended business rules, and transaction fulfillment.
4. The process automation system (102) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lever implementation module (120) is adapted to implement the ascertained technology lever and wherein the ascertained technology lever is one of, loosely coupled technology lever and multiple integrated technology lever, based on an implementation structure.

5. The process automation system (102) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the implementation structure is one of, building a new modular component, using a modular component existing in a repository, selecting modular component based on benchmark Suppliers-Input-Process-Output-Customer(s) SIPOC(s), and deriving a co-solution.
6. A computer implemented method for analyzing and automating steps of a process performed by users on computing devices, the method comprising:
obtaining attribute data associated with a plurality of steps of the process, wherein the plurality of steps are performed during completion of the process;
determining value-added and non value-added steps based on the obtained attribute data;
identifying process bottlenecks and amenable steps from amongst the plurality of steps based on value stream mapping;
ascertaining at least one technology lever for automation of at least one amenable step from amongst the amenable steps based on the value stream mapping; and
implementing the at least one technology lever for automating the at least one amenable step.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the determining is based on activity parameters, and wherein the activity parameters are indicative of value added by at least one step from among the plurality of steps.
8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the ascertaining is based on lever parameters, wherein the lever parameters define requirement and condition for implementing the at least one technology lever for automation of the amenable steps.
9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the implementation of the at least one technology lever is performed by at least one of, building a new modular component for implementing the technology lever, using a modular component existing in a repository, selecting a modular component based on benchmark Suppliers-Input-

Process-Output-Customer(s) SIPOC(s); and deriving a co-solution and wherein the co-solution is derived from proven features of in-house tools and market tools.
10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having a set of computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause a computing system to:
obtaining attribute data associated with a plurality of steps of a process, wherein the plurality of steps are performed during completion of the process;
determining value-added and non value-added steps based on the obtained attribute data;
identifying process bottlenecks and amenable steps from amongst the plurality of steps based on value stream mapping;
ascertaining at least one technology lever for automation of at least one amenable step from amongst the amenable steps based on the value stream mapping; and
implementing the at least one technology lever for automating the at least one amenable step.