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Automating tasks by using Blue Prism processes


As an application business analyst, automate tasks and repetitive actions, such as onboarding employees, scheduling systems, and data processing, by using the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) processes in Blue Prism. To trigger a Blue Prism RPA process, create a process in your application by using the Run Blue Prism Process element in the Process designer.

The following image describes the actions to automate a task by using a Blue Prism process:

Automate tasks using Blue Prism process.png

Before you begin

Make sure that an administrator has configured a webhook callback and Blue Prism connector.

To create a process that triggers a Blue Prism process

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. Navigate to the Workspace tab and select the application in which you want to create a process.
  3. In the application, select Processes, and then click New.
  4. In the Process designer, drag the Run Blue Prism Process element to the canvas.
  5. In the element Properties pane, enter the values of the following input properties:

    Property

    Description

    Connection ID

    Connection ID of the Blue Prism connector.

    Process Name

    Name of the RPA process that you want to trigger. Select the process name from the drop-down list. 

    Important: The RPA process must be exposed as a web service in Blue Prism.

    Parameters

    Parameters for the process.
    Important: The following data types are supported:

    • String
    • Time
    • Number—To use Number, in Blue Prism, accept a number parameter in the string type and internally convert it to Number.
    • Date—In Blue Prism, Date is used in the UTC format.
    • DateTime—In Blue Prism, DateTime is used in the UTC format.
    • Boolean—To use Boolean, in Blue Prism, accept a Boolean parameter in the string type and internally convert it to Boolean.
    • Timespan—To use Timespan, specify a duration in minutes.
  6. If required, add the other process elements and specify the execution flow that you want to create.
  7. Save the process.

Important

  • The process in BMC Helix Innovation Studio invokes a Blue Prism RPA process in synchronous mode with a timeout interval of 1 minute. After you run the process, if a synchronous call completes within the timeout interval, you receive the response from the RPA process. If a BluePrism process takes more than one minute to respond, use the Blue Prism callback mechanism to receive the response from the RPA process.
  • In Blue Prism, you can run one process at a time for one digital worker. If you want to run multiple processes, you must configure a Resource Pool.

Example: Automating the task of onboarding an employee by using a Blue Prism RPA process

Ajay is an application business analyst at Apex Global. He wants to automate the task of onboarding an employee by using a Blue Prism RPA process so that minimal manual intervention is required to complete the task. Ajay performs the following actions to create a process to trigger the Blue Prism RPA process that performs the employee onboarding task.

  1. Create a process as shown in the following image:
    Run Blue Prism process.png
  2. Add the process properties as shown in the following image:
    Run Blue Prism process properties.png
  3. To access attributes within the schema of the BlueprismParameters document definition, add the Create Document element, and enter the element properties as shown in the following image:
    Blueprism parameters.png
    1. To add a document, select the BlueprismParameters document definition as shown in the following image:
      BlueprismParameters document definition.png
    2. Add the values for the document nodes and use these values as input to trigger the Blue Prism RPA process. To add values for the document nodes, click Add/Remove Document Nodes, and select the key and value checkboxes of nodes as shown in the following image:
      BlueprismParameters Add Document Nodes.png

  4. To trigger the RPA process in Blue Prism, add the Run Blue Prism Process element, and enter the element properties as shown in the following image:
    Process_name_drop_down.png
  5. In Run Blue Prism Process properties, perform the following:
    1. In the INPUT MAP section, select the process from the Process Name drop-down list as shown in the following image:
      Process_name_list.jpg
    2. In the Parameters field, map the Create Document output as shown in the following image:
      Run Blue Prism Process parameters.png
  6. Click Ok and then click Save to save the process.

Learn about how to run a process by using the Manage Processes dashboard at Managing processes by using the Manage Processes dashboard.

Example: Using Blue Prism Callback to receive notifications about process execution

Ajay is an application business analyst at Apex Global. He automates a task by using an RPA process in Blue Prism. He wants to receive a notification about the process completion. Ajay performs the following actions to automate the task and receive notification about the completion or failure of the task:

  1. In your application, create the following process to automate the task:
    BP callback process.png
    1. Add the process output variable as shown in the following image:
      BP callback output variable.png
    1. Add Create Document properties as shown in the following image:
      BP callback create doc.png


      1. To add a document, select the BlueprismParameters document definition as shown in the following image:
        BlueprismParameters document definition.png
      2. Add the values for the document nodes and use these values as input to trigger the Blue Prism RPA process. To add values for the document nodes, click Add/Remove Document Nodes, and select the key and value checkboxes of nodes as shown in the following image:
        BlueprismParameters Add Document Nodes.png

      Important

      Make sure that you use the authkey, processCorelationid, and callbackurl nodes as process parameters in your Blue prism process script.

    2. In the Run Blue Prism Process properties, select CallBackUserEndPoint from the Process Name drop-down list, and in the Parameters field, map the output of Create Document as shown in the following image:
      Process_name_drop_down_example.png
    1. Add Receive Task properties as shown in the following image:
      BP callback recieve task.png
    1. Add Timer properties as shown in the following image:
      BP callback timer.png
    1. Add Send In App Notification properties as shown in the following image:
      BP callback send notification1.png
    1. Add Send In App Notification properties as shown in the following image:
      BP callback send notification2.png
    2. Save the process.
  1. Create the following rule that is triggered by the Blue Prism callback:
    BP callback rule.png
    1. Add the following Trigger properties:
      BP callback rule trigger.png
    1. Add the following Qualification properties:
      BP callback rule condition.png

      Important

      Make sure that you specify the Expression field value in the following format:

      Blue Prism callback expression.png="<application bundle ID:Callback Configuration name>"

      For example, if you are using the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog application and BlueprismConfig callback configuration, the Expression value is Blue Prism callback expression.png="myit-sb:BlueprismConfig"

    2. Add the following Signal Process properties:
      BP callback rule signal process.png
    3. Save the rule.

 

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