Supporting Subject Matter Experts as Developers: Towards a Framework for Decentralized Robotic Process Automation Development

Julia Eggers, Judith Wewerka, Altus Viljoen, Helmut Krcmar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has emerged as promising automation technology in recent years. Firms seize RPA for fast and cost-efficient low-code process automation implemented and maintained decentrally in the business units by subject matter experts (SMEs) without IT development experience. However, decentralized RPA projects are reported to frequently fail and be prone to challenges as SMEs struggle to meet their new roles and responsibilities, such as developers or testers. Yet, research lacks an understanding of how challenges related to SMEs' roles and responsibilities unfold and how to address these challenges when executing decentralized RPA projects. To this end, our study employs a Design Science Research approach, drawing on literature and 14 expert interviews, to (1) systematically synthesize the challenges related to SMEs' roles and responsibilities and (2) derive a software development framework for supporting SMEs in their new roles and responsibilities in decentralized RPA projects. Thus, our study contributes to RPA and low-code development research and provides SMEs with guidelines to navigate decentralized RPA projects in practice.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023
EditorsTung X. Bui
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages5432-5441
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9780998133164
StatePublished - 2023
Event56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: 3 Jan 20236 Jan 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Volume2023-January
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period3/01/236/01/23

Keywords

  • Design Science Research
  • Low-Code
  • Robotic Process Automation
  • Software Development

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