Robotic Process Automation (RPA) är en allt mer framväxande teknologi och används i organisationer för att automatisera och effektivisera manuella affärsprocesser. Det finns en rad fördelar med att använda denna teknik. Implementeringen av RPA kan dock kopplas till blandade reaktioner hos anställda och det är inte ovanligt att en del anställda motsätter sig tekniken på grund av rädsla och okunskap för automatiseringens påverkan. Denna fallstudie syftar att undersöka hur implementeringen av RPA påverkar organisatoriska aspekter som arbetssätt, roller och ansvar samt att undersöka om det finns skillnader i hantering och upplevelse kring detta i konsult-, privat- och offentlig verksamhet. För att undersöka ovan nämnda områden skedde datainsamlingen genom semistrukturerade intervjuer hosorganisationer som implementerat RPA samt genom litteraturundersökning. Resultatet visar att det finns en hel del likheter i hur RPA påverkar arbetet i organisationer, men skillnaderna ligger i hur arbetet med RPA bedrivs. / Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is an increasingly emerging technology and is used in organizations to automate and streamline manual business processes. There are a number of advantages to using this technology. However, the implementation of RPA can be linked to mixed reactions among employees and it is not unusual for some employees to oppose the technology due to fear and ignorance of the influence of automation. This case study aims to investigate how the implementation of RPA affects organizational aspects such as working methods, roles and responsibilities, and examine whether there are differences in management and experience regarding this in consulting, private and public activities.In order to investigate the above-mentioned areas, the data collection was conducted through semistructured interviews with organizations that implemented RPA and through literature research. The result shows that there are a lot of similarities in how RPA affects the work in organizations, but the differences lie in how the work with RPA is conducted.

Detta examensarbete utforskar en implementation av digital automatisering i en entreprenörsverksamhet med hjälp av Robotic Process Autom ation utifrån ett holistiskt perspektiv. Utförandestrategin för arbetet har varit en aktionsforskning där författarna konfigurerat roboten under studien och intervjuat personer i verksamheten för att fånga intryck och känslor under implementationens gång. Resultatet av studien är ett kunskapsbidrag i form av nytt empiriskt material inom området, konceptvalidering och förslag på god praxis vid framtida implementationer. Studien har även resulterat i en för sitt syfte fullt fungerande prototyp. / This bachelor thesis examines an implementation of digital automation from a holistic perspective in an entrepreneurial business with Robotic Process Automation. The strategy for the thesis has been action research where the authors have configured the robot during the study and interviewed persons in the establishment to capture impressions and feelings during the implementation. The results of the study constitute a contribution of new empirical material within the area, proof of concept and suggestions for good practice in future implementations. The study has also resulted in a fully functional prototype fo r its purpose.

The role of job automation technology within the financial services sector has gained prominence recent years. Decision-makers are faced with questions from the external and internal environment relating to the future of work and career outlook of human capital. While the benefits of job automation are undoubtedly a key driver towards adopting this technology, ethical questions on responsible and ethical leadership have been put under a lens so as to understand what this means for employees within the financial sector. The study explores the ethical considerations made by decision-makers within the financial services sector in South Africa in relation to the employees disrupted by job automation adoption. The findings of this qualitative study were obtained through eighteen semi-structured interviews with decision-makers from the financial services sector and consulting firms with exposure to the financial services industry. The study found that the intent of job automation technology adoption goals coupled with the predominant mindset of decision makers was influenced the nature of considerations made decision makers. These consideration categories were largely aligned to the extant literature and the study contributed to the business ethics domain by sharing specific considerations made by decision makers in industry. Communication, transitions services, change management, shared value framing, empowerment through custodianship, an analysis of transferable skills and skills profiling were the main emergent findings found in the study. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

With the continuously growing importance of technological development and automation, it is vital to separate the wheat from the chaff and distinguish the effective automation from the lesser. Previous economic research typically investigates automation on a sector or national level. I instead focus on the micro-level effects of a specific setting by investigating the effects of introducing Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in the financial aid operation in the Swedish municipality Ronneby, initiated in 2019. Using a Synthetic Control Method (SCM) with yearly municipal level data, I find a reduction in Ronneby’s application duration for financial aid. The application duration estimates are noisy but robust, unanimous, and economically significant. I also investigate Ronneby's financial aid effects, finding no significant results. The share of households receiving aid in Ronneby displays an initial increase, followed by an equally sized fall at the end of the observation window. I conjecture that this movement could stem from the digitalized applications and a delay caused by the pandemic.

Актуальность темы обусловлена тем, что на металлургическом предприятии вручную ведётся подсчёт и сверка количества трубной продукции, что предполагает большие трудозатраты и допущение ошибок в подсчётах. Научная новизна состоит в том, что было проанализировано большое количество исследований по теме применения методов компьютерного зрения для автоматизации бизнес-процессов на металлургическом предприятии, а также разработана уникальная программа, распознающая геометрические фигуры на снимке и подсчитывающая их количество. Практическая значимость работы заключается в том, что разработанная программа будет ежедневно использоваться в процессе отгрузки трубной продукции, упрощая процесс подсчёта количества труб в пачке и снижая время обработки заказа на отгрузку. / The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that the metallurgical enterprise manually counts and reconciles the number of pipe products, which involves large labor costs and the assumption of errors in calculations. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that a large number of studies on the use of computer vision methods for automating business processes at a metallurgical enterprise have been analyzed, and a unique program has been developed that recognizes geometric shapes in the image and counts their number. The practical significance of the work lies in the fact that the developed program will be used daily in the process of shipping pipe products, simplifying the process of counting the number of pipes in a bundle and reducing the processing time of the shipment order.

Process economic improvement subject to safety, operational and environmental constraints is an ultimate goal of using on-line process optimization and control techniques. The dynamic nature of present-day market conditions motivates the consideration of process dynamics within the economic optimization calculation. Two key paradigms for implementing real-time dynamic economic optimization are a dynamic real-time optimization (DRTO) and regulatory MPC two-layer architecture, and a single-level economic model predictive control (EMPC) con figuration. In the two-layer architecture, the economically optimal set-point trajectories computed in an upper DRTO layer are provided to the MPC layer, while in the single-layer EMPC con figuration the economics are incorporated within the MPC objective function. There are limited studies on a systematic performance comparison between these two approaches. Furthermore, these studies do not simultaneously consider the economic, disturbance rejection and computational performance criteria. Thus, it may not be clear under what conditions one particular method is preferable over the other. These reasons motivate a more comprehensive comparison between the two paradigms, with both open and closed-loop predictions considered in the DRTO calculations. In order to conduct this comparison, we utilize two process case studies for the economic analysis and performance comparison of on-line optimization systems. The first case study is a process involving two stirred-tank reactors in-series with an intermediate mixing point, and the second case study is a linear multi-input single-output (MISO) system. These processes are represented using a fi rst principles model in the form of differential-algebraic equations (DAEs) system for the first case study and a simplified linear model of a polymerization reactor for the second case study problem. Both of the case study processes include constraints associated with input variables, safety considerations, and output quality. In these case study problems, the objective of optimal process operation is net profit improvement. The following performance evaluation criteria are considered in this study: (I) optimal value of the economic objective function, (II) average run time (ART) over a same operating time interval, (III) cumulative output constraint violation (COCV) for each constraint. The update time of the single-layer approach is selected to be equal to that of the control layer in the two-layer formulations, while the update time of the economic layer in the two-layer formulation is bigger than that of the single-layer approach. The nonlinear programing (NLP) problems which result in the single-layer and two-layer formulations and the quadratic programing problem which corresponds to the MPC formulation are solved using the fmincon and quadprog optimization solvers in MATLAB. Performance assessment of the single-layer and two-layer formulations is evaluated in the presence of a variety of unknown disturbance scenarios for the first case study problem. The effect of a dynamic transition in the product quality is considered in the performance comparison of the single-layer and two-layer methods in the second case-study problem. The first case study problem results show that for all unknown disturbance scenarios, the economic performance of the single-layer approach is slightly higher than that of the two layer formulations. However, the average computation times for the DRTO-MPC two-layer formulations are at least one order of magnitude lower than that of the EMPC formulation. Also, comparison results of the COCV for the EMPC formulation for different sizes of update time intervals could justify the necessity of the MPC control layer to reduce the COCV for the economic optimization problems with update times larger than that of the MPC control layer. A similar computational advantage of the OL- and CL-DRTO-MPC over the EMPC is observed for the second case study problem. In particular, it is shown that increasing the economic horizon length in the EMPC formulation to a sufficiently large value may result a higher economic improvement. However, the increase in economic optimization horizon would increase the resulting NLP problem size. The computational burden could limit the use of the EMPC formulation with larger economic optimization horizons in real-time applications. The ART of the dual-layer methods is at least two orders of magnitude lower than that of the EMPC methods with an appropriate horizon length. The CL-DRTO-MPC economic performance is slightly less than that of the EMPC formulation with the same economic optimization horizon. In conclusion, the performance comparison on the basis of multiple criteria in this study demonstrates that the economic performance criterion is not necessarily the only important metric, and the operational constraint limitations and the optimization problem solution time could have an important impact on the selection of the most suitable real-time optimization approach. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Employees today have necessary daily tasks that do not require human handling. The objective is to investigate two processes if they are suitable for automation as well as to create and evaluate a prototype. The goals are to analyze the process, examine appropriate tools for automation, compare the tools, create and evaluate prototype, and perform an acceptance test. Robotic Process Automation is about automating tasks that humans have to do. Good candidates for automation are time-consuming, repetitive, rule-based tasks, prone to human er- rors with clear goals and expectations. The preliminary study was conducted in the form of a literature study of web-based sources, and the analysis was done by breaking down the process in different parts. The comparison was carried out by investigating the features of these tools. The prototype was created on Windows in UiPath tools and the robot will work on Internet Explorer and Excel, which will have a macro written in Visual Basic for Applications. The client will look at the criteria given and also on the prototype output and provide a subjective response. UiPath, Workfusion, and Selenium test programs were created. The prototype automatically logs on to Visma PX by entering username and password. Then it navigates, searches for an assignment and retrieves the data available. Indata is filtered and typed into Excel for each activity and employee. Finally, a macro creates graphs. Time tests show that UiPath is significantly more optimized and faster at completing the test programs. UiPath has strong benefits with its tools. / Anställda idag har nödvändiga vardagsuppgifter som inte kräver mänsklig inverkan och tanken är att frigöra dessa uppgifter. Projektets övergripande syfte är att undersöka två processer om de är lämpliga för automation samt att skapa och utvärdera en prototyp. Målen är att analysera processen, undersöka lämpliga verktyg för automatisering, jämföra verktygen, skapa en prototyp, utvärdera prototypen och utföra ett acceptanstest. Robotic Process Automation handlar om att automatisera uppgifter som människor gör. Bra kandidater för automatisering är tidskrävande, repetitiva, regelbaserade uppgifter, benägna till mänskliga fel med klara mål och förväntningar. Förstudien genomfördes i form av en litteraturstudie av webbaserade källor och analysen gjordes genom att bryta ner processen i olika delar. Jämförelsen genomfördes genom att undersöka de funk- tioner som verktygen har. Prototypen skapas på Windows i verktygen UiPath och roboten kommer att arbeta på Internet Explorer och mot Excel som kommer ha ett makro skrivet i Visual Basic for Applications. Beställaren kommer att titta på de kriterier som gavs och även på prototypens utdata och ge en subjektiv respons. Testprogrammen i UiPath, Workfusion och Selenium skapades med sina respektive funktioner. Prototypen loggar automatiskt in på Visma PX genom att skriva in användarnamn och lösenord. Sedan navigerar den i verktyget, söker på ett uppdrag och hämtar den data som finns. Indata filtreras och skrivs in i Excel för varje aktivitet och anställd. Slutligen körs ett makro som skapar grafer. Tidstesterna visar att UiPath är betydligt mer optimerad och snabbare på att slutföra testprogrammen. Jämförelserna visar att UiPath har starka fördelar med sitt verktyg.

Det är allt vanligare att organisationer och dess processer genomgår en digital transformation föratt uppnå konkurrensfördelar. Organisationer letar ofta efter effektivare sätt att utföra processer.För att effektivisera processer kan digitala verktyg som Robotic Process Automation (RPA)användas. RPA har under de senaste fem åren blivit populärt bland organisationer då RPA oftastger en snabb return on investment (ROI). Vid ett strukturerat införande av RPA i organisationerkrävs ett förändringsarbete då det kan uppstå utmaningar som behöver hanteras. Befintliglitteratur inom RPA-området beskriver olika typer av metoder och utmaningar vid införande avRPA, men lite är känt om hur utmaningar och förändringar påverkar RPA-införandet och när deförekommer. Studiens syfte är därför att identifiera vilka utmaningar som uppkommit vidinförandet och när de förekommer. Studiens frågeställning lyder: Vilka utmaningar iförändringsarbetet finns det vid införande av RPA? Studien visar att utmaningar som uppkommer bör hanteras i tid för att inte påverka senareaktiviteter i RPA-införandet. Studiens slutsats är att det finns många olika typer av utmaningarsom en organisation ställs inför i förändringsarbetet när de för in RPA. Studiens resultat påidentifierade utmaningar är motstånd i organisationen, förändringsledning,processbeskrivningar, utveckling av RPA och övervakning av RPA. Det bidrag som studien tillförtill forskningsområdet är när utmaningar vid ett RPA-införande kan förekomma och hur derelaterar till varandra under RPA-införandet. / It’s common that organizations and their processes goes through a digital transformation toachieve competitive advantages. Organizations are often looking for more efficient ways ofexecuting their processes. To achieve efficiency in organizations, digital tools like RoboticProcess Automation (RPA) could be used. During the past five years RPA has become popularamong organizations due to a fast return on investments (ROI). When in a structured wayimplementing RPA in organizations, change management should be applied to handle potentialchallenges. Existing literature within the RPA field explains different types of models andholistic challenges when transitioning to RPA, however, little is known about how these changesare affecting the RPA-implementation and when they occur. Consequently, the purpose of thisstudy is to identify what challenges organizations have met during the implementation and whenthe challenges occurred. The question of the study is: What challenges in the change process isthere when implementing RPA? The study shows the importance of managing the challenges that arise initially to prevent futureissues in the RPA-project. The conclusion is that there are many different types of challenges thatan organization will encounter in change management when implementing RPA. The result of thestudy identified following challenges, organizational resistance, change management, processdescription, development of RPA and monitoring of RPA. The contribution of the study to theresearch area is when challenges during a RPA-implementation can occur and how challengesrelate to each other during the RPA-implementation.

Datum:     2022-06-01         Nivå:                  C-uppsats, 15 hp Institution:        Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Högskola Författare:        Shamoon, Jack         Selman Selim, Sam      Haddad, Jameel                                       00-07-21                      00-09-16                     00-01-30                    Titel:  Digitaliseringens påverkan på redovisningskonsulter. En kvalitativ undersökning om vilka hot och möjligheter digitala verktyg har på redovisningskonsulter. Handledare: Ulla Pettersson Nyckelord: “Robotic Process Automation”, ”RPA”, ”Automation”, “Digitalisering”, “Redovisning”, “Redovisningskonsult”, “AI”, “Molnbaserade tjänster”, “Digitala verktyg”. Forskningsfrågor: - Hur påverkar digitala verktygen redovisningskonsultens roll och arbetsuppgifter?  - Vilka hot och möjligheter har digitala verktyg medfört för redovisningskonsulterna? Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att redogöra för hur digitala verktyg påverkar redovisningskonsultens roll och arbetsuppgifter samt vilka hot och möjligheter digitala verktyg har medfört för redovisningskonsulterna. Metod: Metoden som valdes för att kunna undersöka forskningsfrågor och samla in empiri för denna studien är den kvalitativa metoden. Semistrukturerad intervju tillämpas i denna studie för det empiriska materialet utifrån fem respondenter. Slutsats: Studien har kommit fram till att digitala verktyg har medfört förändring på redovisningskonsulternas arbetsuppgifter, på grund av digitala verktygens utveckling samt att redovisningskonsulten yrkesroll är på väg mot en ny inriktning. Studien visar att digitala verktyg har skapat mer möjligheter än hot för redovisningskonsulter. / Date: 2022-06-01 Level: C-essay, 15 hp Institution: Academy of Economics, Society and Technology, Mälardalen University Authors:   Jack Shamoon             Sam Selim           Jameel Haddad                              00-07-21                     00-09-16                00-01-30                 Titel: The impact of  digitalization on accounting consultants. A qualitative study of the threats and opportunities digital tools have on accounting consultants Tutor:    Ulla Pettersson Keywords: “Robotic Process Automation”, ”RPA”, ”Automation”, ”Digitalization”, ”Accounting”, “Accounting consultant”, “AI”,”Cloud-based services”, “Digital tools”.  Research Questions: - How do digital tools affect the role and tasks of the accounting consultant? - Which threats and opportunities have digital tools contributed to the accounting consultants? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to account for how digital tools affect the accounting consultant's role and tasks, and what threats and opportunities digital tools have contributed to the accounting consultants. Method: The method chosen to examine the research questions and gather empirical data for this study is the qualitative method. Semi structured interviews are applied in this study for the empirical material by interviewing five respondents. Conclusion: The study has concluded that digital tools have contributed to a change in the accounting consultants' tasks due to the development of digital tools and that the accounting consultant's role is moving towards a new direction. The study shows that digital tools have created more opportunities than threats for accounting consultants.

Digitalisering och automatisering har alltmer kopplats till argument om förändringar i arbetslivet. I den här uppsatsen undersöks digitalisering och automatisering i praktiken genom att fokusera på HR-praktiker och organisering av automatisering i HR-avdelningar i större organisationer i Sverige. Trots att det finns flera rapporter, som hävdar att automatiseringsteknologierkommer att förändra HR, finns det få empiriska studier om denna förändring. Syftet med studien är därförattfå en djupare förståelse för digitalisering och automatisering på HR-avdelningar i större organisationer utifrån ett Human Resource Development perspektiv.Genom att använda ett organiseringsperspektiv och situerat perspektiv på lärande, samt teorier om gränser och gränsöverskridande roller, har studien fokuserat på lärande-och förändringsprocesser vid automatisering. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och har använt en tvärsnittsdesign,där sju semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med HR-praktiker från sex olika organisationer. Resultatet visade att det finns kontextuella skillnader mellan HR-avdelningarna gällande hur de har organiserat arbetet med automatisering, vilket har skapat olika förutsättningar för förändring och lärande. En central del i resultatet är behovet av en gränsöverskridande roll mellan HR-och IT-avdelningen. Studien visade även att automatisering inom HR inte innebar en förändring i arbete och kompetens för all HR-personal, då det endast var viss HR-personal vars arbete hade påverkats av automatisering. / Digitalization and automation has increasingly been connected to arguments about changes in working life. This study address digitalization and automation in practice by focusing on HR-practitioners and the organizing of automation in HR units at larger organizations in Sweden. Despite several reportsarguing thatautomation technologies will changeHuman Resources,there arefew empirical studies about this transformation. Therefore the aim of the study isto get a deeper understanding of digitalization and automationin HR-units at larger organizations from a Human Resource Development perspective. By using a organizing and situated learning perspective and theories about boundaries and boundary roles, the study have focused on learning and change processes with automation. The study hasa qualitative approach and used a cross-sectional design. Seven semi-structured interviews have been conducted with HR-practitioners from six different organizations. The findings showed that there are contextual differences between the HR departments regarding how they have organized for automation, which have created different conditionsfor change and learning. A key finding is the need for a boundary role between the HR and IT department. The study also showsthat automation does not imply a change in work and competence for all HR-personnel, as there were only a few persons whichjob had been affected by automation.