KPN - Solution Architect (Freelance/ZZP)

Specific Project

• Bridge proces changes require that existing RPA Bots are adjusted, replaced or stopped to continue the finance operational processes, expected scope 5 Bots. Timeline not decided yet.
• Assignment: the development and implementation of the changes to the Bots, according required to time, budget and scope. Consists of phases: Impact analysis. After that ; Solution design, Development, and Implementation follow.

Results:

On the determined scoped Bots:

1.      Deliver infrastructure setup for the dev, test and production environments.

2.      Adherence to the CoE determined best practices to be followed. She makes sure that proper coding standards and guidelines are adhered to.

3.      Once the Process Design Document (PDD) is signed off, the overall solution is designed and documented: Solution Design (SDD) according to quality requirements (see section responsibilities)

4.      Oversight of the development effort being carried out to develop the component workflows and responsible to document extra requirements after the PDD has been signed-off.

5.      A Development Specification Document (DSD) is reviewed and signed-off and the functional testing is performed to be able to pass the acceptance testing.

6.      Sustained solution: The solution is developed, deployed and monitored and any changes needed are documented

Specific hard-and softskills:

• An RPA Solution Architect should be a seasoned software professional with more than 5 years of programming experience in any one of the popular programming languages like for .NET (C#, C++ or VB) and/or Java. A solution architect should have a lot of experience working in the service industry and a similar business setup to understand the business processes and the technical architecture of the solutions.
• Infrastructure knowledge including servers, storage, firewalls, load balancers, routers etc. is imperative in getting things rolling. An RPA solution architect is no ordinary developer and should have strong conceptual and analytical skills and should be result oriented. Most importantly a solution architect should be able to develop solution architect designs. A good RPA solution architect is a team player with leadership and cross-team collaboration experience.
• Experience creating Bots integrating with Oracle Cloud applications. 3 years UiPath experience. Experience with Oracle Cloud integrations ( UiPath adapter or API’s)

Responsibilities and Ownership of the RPA Solution Architect

A solution architect is the pillar of an organization’s RPA implementation and has to perform various responsibilities to make sure the solution when deployed will serve the purpose of automation with no glitches. Most of the responsibilities include:

• Enabling the RPA solution to be developed and deployed: The solution architect is responsible to oversee the initial infrastructure setup for the dev, test and production environments. The solution architect also explores the server and other RPA deployment options.
• Preparing for the RPA journey: The solution architect is responsible to adhere to the CoE determined best practices to be followed. She makes sure that proper coding standards and guidelines are adhered to. Collaborating with the Implementation lead on feasibility and optimization is undertaken. As part of the preparation the solution architect is also responsible to estimate the time and cost and plans on the technical meetings to be conducted during the process.
• Designing the solution: Once the Process Design Document (PDD) is signed off, the overall solution is designed and documented. This includes the component splitting and appointing developers to develop each component and/or workflow. The solution architect is responsible for identifying reusable components that can save duplicate effort and also defining how to manage configurable parameters, queues and schedules of Robots to optimize the cost and runtime. A document describing outstanding challenges is also created to log any challenges that may or may not be taken care of during the implementation.
• Building the workflows: The solution architect oversees the development effort being carried out to develop the component workflows and is responsible to document extra requirements after the PDD has been signed-off. A good RPA solution architect mentors the developers through constant monitoring and helps in troubleshooting and debugging of the issues. She is the source control owner and makes sure the logging and reporting happens as per the requirements laid down.
• Testing: An impeccable solution design and implementation needs testing at various levels of the design and implementation. A timely and diligent code review and audit by a solution architect ensures there are fewer bugs and the solution is compliant and robust. A Development Specification Document (DSD) is reviewed and signed-off and the functional testing is performed to be able to pass the acceptance testing.
• Sustaining the solution: As part of the Monitoring and Control the solution developed and deployed is monitored and any changes needed are documented in addition to the support provided to fix any unknown issues popping out of the production environment.