Business process automation can be defined as computer aided coordination of resources, facilities and people to achieve the desired outcomes in such a way that the process is optimised. Business process optimization is the ultimate level of automation, where optimum utilization of resources is achieved to obtain superior quality of output consistently.

The term business process automation is applied to the spectrum of business process management tools. The continuum of business process automation encompasses workflow automation, business process integration, process control and improvements based on business intelligence and expert systems.

Business process automation in its simplest form is workflow automation where operational aspects of a work procedure are computerised by facilitating flow of information. Based on their complexity from the view point of amenability to automation the business processes can be classified as follows:

• Administrative processes are one of the most generic and sluggish of all kinds of business processes – at best symbolised by a moving paper around the sections for a routine decision. These are the processes that can be automated easily using simple workflow methodologies, by proper design of validations and interlocks. For example, approval for business trip can be applied online and the sanctioning authority will have a fixed time period to say “yes” or “no”, beyond that time system sanctions the tour and the information is carried forward to finance department for information and administration department for making arrangements for the trip. Office automation is generic term used for automating administrative processes.
• Transaction oriented business processes are those that generally result in payments or receipts. Accuracy of data is of utmost importance here, where automation aims at data integrity and eliminating multipoint of data entry.
• Critical processes are those processes that are key to the success of the organization. These are the processes where a company’s major chunk of activities get done and are critical for delivery of company’s strategy. Data and application integration is the essence of automation of these processes.

Throughput is a generic measure for any kind of workflow and workflow automation maximises it.

In general business process automation is application of principles of manufacturing process control like measurement of process variables, comparison against standards or set values, closed loop control mechanisms etc. - all this using available features of information technology - BPM provides repository of tools for just the same.

Generally breakthrough improvements in business processes are taken up as a project and once the projects goals are accomplished, the processes are standardized and remains largely unchanged (but for occasional interventions by participants to eliminate glaringly visible flaws in the processes). But availability of process modelling and simulation tools have given business processes the ability to adapt to ever changing dynamics in the market place and incorporate improvements in the processes.

Most important thing to note is that business process automation is not simply automating or computerising the tasks that are being conducted manually. It provides an opportunity to probe and eliminate underlying assumptions around the manual tasks. For example, the basic assumption of purchase order against indents even for general spares can be defeated by the realisation that general spares can be ordered automatically based on the inventory levels. Automation is an opportunity to simplify work and get rid of repetitive tasks and non value adding activities.

Next, business process automation deals with most common delays associated with business processes – delays due to reluctance of people in making decisions, lack of right information and separation of decision making authority from points in the process requiring decisions. Computerised information flows can be deployed to bring routine decisions closer to the process, with the help of integrated process data and optimizing software, which can in the worst case provide process participants with the most viable options to choose from. This brings the decisions right where they belong – to the frontline.

Another important aspect that business process automation addresses is that effectiveness of business processes is marred by the erroneous data that gets processed. Through automation it can be ensured that there is a single point of data entry, and validated through built-in controls or even better, if manual entry can be done away with altogether and process data is captured through automated transactions.

One point that emerges strongly from the above discussion is that the business process automation is oriented around the desired outcome and not around the tasks – against the popular notion that business process automation is about automating the individual tasks to achieve the speed.