NASA’s Implementation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) – aka “Bots” AGA 23rd Annual Commonwealth of Virginia Professional Development Training (PDT) December 6, 2018

Agenda NASA as Innovation Engine Robotic Process Automation Journey Bots in Use Digital Employee Considerations Lessons Learned and Best Practices

NASA as Innovation Engine https://youtu.be/WeA7edXsU40

Involve the Right People Bring the Right Message RPA Journey NASA focused on three key elements to successfully implement and begin using bots in the production environment. Focus on Innovation Involve the Right People Bring the Right Message Process Robotics was selected as a winner of NASA’s annual Innovation Kick Start program – which embraces innovation across the Agency. The entire Agency voted on the winners – Process Robotics was one of 70+ innovations presented! Collaboration is key! NASA built support by involving key stakeholders on day 1, which included the following people: Executive Sponsor Robotics Lead CFO Representation CIO Representation Lines of Business Leads (Finance, HR, IT) The term “digital employee or digital assistant” is used regularly to describe the bot at NASA. Fears or concerns are quickly dismissed when the bot is described as an “assistant” who has to follow the same rules and standards as a FTE. Access, roles, security, SODs, etc. – the bot follows the same rules as humans.

RPA Journey (cont.) NASA Shared Services Center first adopter of Bots  largely transactional processes Quickly adopted governance model to manage develop, integrate, review, operate, and maintain new automations, and avoid stovepipe capabilities

Bots in Use Today Funds Distribution [2+1 almost ready] Human Resources Office of the Chief Information Officer Procurement Description: Distribution of funds through the NASA budget structure hierarchy Description: Creating suitability records for employees in NASA’s systems (e.g. ServiceNow) Description: Creating purchase requests (PRs) in SAP for NASA CIO contracts Description: Updates PRs with Grants Award Agreement information and assigned to CO Annual savings expected: 26,000 hours of manual work (160,000 transactions averaging 10 minutes of manual work) Annual savings expected: 37 days of manual labor to be automated by the bot (2.4 days saved within first month of deployment) Annual savings expected: Hundreds of PRs created each year, ranging in timeframe from 15 minutes to hours to create (depending on complexity) Annual savings expected: 700 Hrs of manual work (7,000 transactions averaging 6 minutes of manual work) Currently assessing adoption agencywide

Digital Employee Considerations Washington is a digital employee working in the server room. Agency User ID Agency User ID Login and Password Login and Password Encrypt and Signs Email Encrypt and Signs Email DAR Using 256 Bit Encryption DAR Using 256 Bit Encryption Use NAMS for Access Use NAMS for Access Have a Valid .gov Email Address Have a Valid .gov Email Address Uses CITRIX and/or VPN Uses CITRIX and/or VPN Requires a computer seat to work Requires a computer seat to work Takes Annual IT Security Training Override IT Security Training Requires SW licenses as necessary Requires SW licenses as necessary Occasionally makes a errors (Why we audit) Cannot make errors (Increased control)

RPA Lessons Learned Make sure you identify all of your key customers and stakeholders and engage them early and often IT security Target/recipient application service provider Management/internal controls Involve staff that perform the work the Bot will automate  be transparent why you are doing this and what staff will do if Bot is doing some of their work [“will I loose my job?”] Select proof of concept projects Is business process well/optimally designed or does it need to be reengineered Be patient (integration of functional & technology communities; test, test, test; user, customer, stakeholder acceptance)

RPA Best Practices Address process for handling system changes/enhancements early Establish a process to identify and track RPA ideas, lots of interest will drive need to prioritize and establish expectations Get an executive sponsor that can drive change Encourage “out of the box” thinking  question the status quo/we’ve always done it this way Build and maintain documentation library and system architecture requirements Early engagement with OIG and audit firm