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A Day in the Life of an Automation Analyst
A Day in the Life of an Automation Analyst
Eden Law – 24 February 2021
Tags:
Career Pathways (/taxonomy/term/431) Capability (/taxonomy/term/398)
As part of our work to define
digital career pathways (/help-and-advice/digital-career-
pathways), we asked digital professionals and members of the Digital Professional Stream
(/help-and-advice/digital-professional-stream/participation-digital-professional-stream) to
provide a short ‘day in the life’ story about their role. Jodi from the Service Delivery Office
(Department of Finance) shares a day in her life as an Automation Analyst.
My main role as an Automation Analyst is to automate business processes that are
standardised, repetitive and rules-based using Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
One of the Automation Analyst’s main tasks is monitoring automations that have already been
configured and released into the production environment. Automations can be scheduled to
run at specific times and are monitored to ensure they run successfully in an RPA tool. If there
are any issues, the role of the Automation Analyst is to communicate with the business owner
and troubleshoot the issues.
An overview of the role
People misunderstand the role and think you need to be a software developer to be an
automation analyst. This isn’t a requirement.
To be an Automation Analyst, it helps to have knowledge in Windows applications and other
applications used in the business process you are automating. Having a technical background
or a language like Visual Basic is an advantage when developing automations, but not
essential. Although technical skills are important, I have found that a wide range of skills like
communication and collaboration are also necessary.
Business analyst skills or process mapping skills are also an advantage. Being able to think
logically is also required. An automation analyst can take on some of the roles of a business
analyst.
I report to the Automation Lead. As an Automation Analyst, you will closely deal with subject
matter experts of the processes you are automating. When monitoring your RPA tool of
choice, you will need to communicate with the business owner when troubleshooting any
issues.
Stages of the automation process
The automation process starts with scoping to see if a business process can be automated,
including the time saved and the benefit gained by automating the process. After the process
is approved for automation, I meet with a subject matter expert in the ‘define phase’ and go
through the process in detail and document it.
The next stage is designing the automated process. Our automation team collaborates to
discuss the proposed design for the automation to ensure the process works efficiently is well-
designed.
Next, we start configuration of the process in the RPA tool. This involves building the
automation process step-by-step, using actions of the tool to tell a robot (virtual worker) what
to do. There is a lot of logic and testing involved - but not software coding as some people
may think.
Once the process is configured, a test plan is created and signed off. User Acceptance Testing
is then completed.
Next, the process will be put into the production environment under supervision. The last
phase is to release the automation into unsupervised release where the process will be
scheduled and monitored as part of day-to-day business.
What an automation analyst seeks to achieve
In this role, the following outcomes are the goal:
cost savings
reduction in errors
standardisation of business processes
reducing boring repetitive work for teams
responding to customers more quickly
making efficiencies with business processes, to enable a virtual workforce.
I enjoy using problem-solving skills when designing new automations and collaborating with
team members to build efficient processes. I get a lot of satisfaction when processes I have
automated are successfully deployed into production. Knowing I have built something that
reduces someone’s workload and contributed to customer satisfaction is satisfying.
What skills are important for your role?
strong problem-solving ability and the ability to logically work through and find the
source of errors
ability to learn an RPA tool
someone who can follow a methodology and adhere to best practice standards with
attention to detail
ability to analyse and document business processes
ability to collaborate with others and communicate with non-technical subject matters
experts
IT skills are an advantage.
If you think you have the skills required and enjoy problem-solving, then give it a go.
You can also view a
video on the role of RPA in government and how it is used by the SDO
(https://youtu.be/ppIneDVurzE) in the DTA’s series from thought leaders in government.
All views expressed in this blog are Jodi’s personal views, and do not necessarily reflect the view of
the department or agency.
Eden is a Content Designer with the Digital Profession.
© Commonwealth of Australia. With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and
where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 license.
