CN113824764A - Robot process automation system based on cloud native architecture and operation method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a robot process automation system based on a cloud native architecture and an operation method, and relates to the technical field of software development. The method provides intuitive experience based on the browser for the business user, enables the user to quickly automate tasks, and provides a tool for building process automation for developers. The system is deployed by using a distributed architecture and is managed in a centralized mode. The whole structure is divided into a control room, a robot flow development end and a robot flow operation end. Centralized automation deployment, the control room as a single access and control point for robot execution, can manage the development, scheduling and execution of robot processes and configure various functions. A platform system is provided with RPA as a service (RPAaaS) as an automation solution. Enabling users to automate applications across different infrastructures and industries. Automated methods with the ability to mimic human behavior allow organizations to increase efficiency without changing substantive business processes and infrastructure.

Description

Robot process automation system based on cloud native architecture and operation method

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of software development, and particularly provides a robot process automation system based on a cloud native architecture and an operation method.

Background

The invention is mainly based on two backgrounds, firstly, in the informatization process, organizations such as enterprises need a new method to unify, customize and run application programs, and does not occupy a large amount of IT resources or change the existing infrastructure. Enabling organizations to design automation and optimize business processes to improve productivity and business performance. Meanwhile, the automatic solution capable of accurately simulating human behaviors can be more flexibly and effectively applied to the organization of the existing business process, which cannot be realized by the traditional application, and the organization can realize the function of professional application more simply. And in particular, new automated methods with the ability to mimic human behavior, allow organizations to increase efficiency without changing substantive business processes and infrastructure. And further, the data processing work is changed, and the traditional automation is broken.

Under the great wave tide of cloud protogenesis, a large number of applications are migrated from the traditional environment to the cloud protogenesis environment, and meanwhile, the application programs of digital transformation and competitive advantages are promoted. With the proliferation of cloud technologies and the widespread use of SaaS, traditional software suites have fallen into punctiform solutions.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a cloud-based robot process automation system, which combines an easy-to-use user interface with enterprise-level reliability and safety to realize real-time self-automation. The method provides visual experience based on the browser for the business user, enables the user to realize tasks quickly and automatically, and provides a tool for building process automation for developers. The system provides local deployment and cloud deployment options, and is a platform system provided with RPA as a service (RPAaaS) as an automation solution. Enabling users to automate applications across different infrastructures and industries.

The technical scheme of the invention is as follows: and (4) a security architecture: the security architecture of the system implements 41 technical controls in the seven NIST 800-53r4 control series based on the least privilege principle and strict separation of duties model. The controls are applicable to three suites: control room, development side, and run side (robot execution run time), the entire robot life cycle from creation to deactivation. This security architecture and underlying control maps to the best industry practices defined by NIST and is easily mapped to other frameworks such as cobit (sox) and ISO 27002.

And (3) access control: the system restricts and controls personnel and access to the component logical resource robots. Two separate control planes execute the minimum right. Only developers can read or write, only control room users are authorized to execute the automation control room, and (authorization and execution) are constrained by fine-grained role-based access control (RBAC), covering individual automation (robot) robot running programs and domains.

The robot performs a level separation of duties. Each robot runs programs by a corresponding authorized running end; the robot is controlled by RBAC, and the domain authority defines an operation end running program between the cross-robot and the group; static and security of the execution process. All access credentials are statically protected by a central credential vault, supporting third party credential storage, such as cyberrak. All communications are protected during transmission by SSL and TLS.

Configuration management: configuration management is controlled at both the robot and runtime level. The control room authorizes, executes, and records changes to the development-side and runtime-side running programs. And forcibly executing robot program change control through encryption and identity authentication.

Identification and authentication: the identification and the identity authentication are controlled by Microsoft Windows identity authentication service, and the development end is used for the active directory identity authentication; the running end has two levels of identity authentication, one is used for automatic login identity authentication of the running program, and the other is used for executing the robot program. The credentials remain statically and dynamically protected by a credential vault or integrated with third party products.

The safety architecture model is as follows: based on the least-squares and strict separation of duties model, 41 technical controls were implemented in seven NIST control series. The role-based access control room achieves minimum privilege and responsibility separation by means of configurable role-based access control (RBAC) functionality that complies with NIST AC 2, 3, 5 and 6 requirements. Robot-performed access is performed by means of a dynamic access token, according to NIST SC-11, the control room implements and enforces a trusted path for registering and authenticating the originating and running ends to prevent any attempt to perform the actions of an unauthorized robot.

The system provides a centralized credential vault to securely store all credentials and provide them to the bot as needed. General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are one of the most stringent compliance frameworks for maintaining privacy of personal data. GDPR defines personal data as any data that can be used to identify the identity of a natural person (the body of data).

Control room authentication: when the originating or running end attempts to connect to the control room, the credentials will be encrypted using AES (256 bit key length) and RSA (2048 bit key length) and then transmitted over the existing Transport Layer Security (TLS) layer. Support for security protocols: such as TLS 1.2 and HTTPS data transmission.

And (3) network security aspect: all communication between the control room, the originating side and the running side is done using the outbound WCF TLS 1.2 communication and the inbound HTTPS TLS 1.2. The change management is managed by configuration-managed access restrictions. All automation operations (e.g., create, view, update, deploy, and delete) can only be performed across systems after successful control room authentication is completed.

And (3) preventing common bugs: the system provides some defense measures against common attacks of the application program. Compliance with regulations and vulnerability scanning; and (4) auditing logs: the system of the present invention provides a comprehensive and centralized audit log record of all automation activities for authorized users. Performing role-based access control on the audit log through a control room, and recording each audit operation; additional safety controls: the control room uses a system administrator account limit database connection configuration.

And (3) protecting cloud security: the system operation and security personnel use the VPN with multi-factor authentication to restrict network and cloud control plane access. All present system users must first authenticate using the MFA token to retrieve short-term credentials to access cloud resources. The compliance of the user credentials is continuously monitored. All other operating users, cloud resources, and applications are restricted from accessing the control room. System user access authentication is performed periodically to ensure that only the necessary access is provided to the cloud operator.

The cloud service is multi-tenant, each customer control room environment using a unique tenant identifier to ensure data separation between control rooms; the bot cannot access the client environment unless the client provides specific permissions, typically under support of troubleshooting processes and controls; when the cloud supports the use of cloud solutions, business, personal, and operational data is stored and managed on customer-controlled infrastructure, while specific operational data related to robotic process automation is shared between the cloud and the customer infrastructure. All data privacy and compliance is user dependent; local updates are made through cloud services, and all business, personal, and operational data are retained on and deployed from local servers on the customer network.

Classifying and assembling based on interface elements, wherein the granularity of element differentiation is very detailed, the elements are assembled through modules at the action component level, configuration parameters are selected after dragging, and the configuration parameters are presented in a flow chart or code mode; the module typesetting is clear, the use is simple, the code mode presents clear logic and is quick to operate; the module function has authority to divide granularity to the action component under the RBAC principle; IE, AS400 is developed through an internal interface, and other modules are operated through handles, and also support a graph comparison and position location mode.

Under the list view, a code display mode of the logic is displayed through a readable natural language like the code; providing two management views, namely a flow chart view and a list view; the connection and access of the database are supported, and the operation of increasing, deleting, checking and changing the database can be conveniently carried out by connecting the database through a built-in control.

A designated operating system that provides a smart aware component to interact with Citrix, remote connections, and the like; the development environment and the debugger can be broken, debug and suspended together; supporting the execution of all existing runnable programs of JS, VBA, Java and Python; the development can be carried out in a dragging mode, and an IDE development environment developed by VBScript, JavaScript and Python can also be used in combination with an inline script command; after the recorder records, codes can be automatically generated, a unified recorder is used, and recording objects comprise web, desktop, application, citrix and the like. The method has the advantages that various recording and searching modes are convenient and easy to use, and the software which cannot find the handle can be realized by adopting graph comparison and intelligent sensing components.

The built-in AI automatically identifies images, and can operate elements which cannot be identified by the machine, remote connection and a virtual machine; the API component supports external API calls, Restful, SOAP; the method has the advantages that the flow chart design is adopted, the execution sequence arrangement of tasks and the nocoding mode are supported, and the development is convenient; carrying out multi-dimensional analysis through a control room, and monitoring an execution process and a result; the current PC program is started in a timing or manual mode through a trigger, and can also be triggered through a control room and an API (application program interface); supporting IE, Chrome, Edge, Java, Sliverlight, Citrix and RDP specific plug-in; and (3) a task distribution mode: single, or queue-wise distribution; and the robot analysis component realizes the analysis and display of the log data.

The robot development end allows a user to create and edit from any device and any location where the user can access a Web browser. The robot development end is a Web-based environment that includes the following functions:

general recorder, simplified capture process

Three view options created by the robot: a flow view, represented by a flow graph (default); list view, sequential item list representation. Double view: a split screen for a flow view and a list view;

the native robot code management, Python and JavaScript operation support unlinked inline scripts, and have drag-and-drop integration, rich variable transfer, and no cross-language mapping.

[ Active Directory ] development command component: and automatically executing the operation in the Active Directory by using the Active Directory software package. Active Directory is a Directory service provided by Microsoft to help administrators manage users in an entire group or organization.

[ analyze ] command component: operations in the analysis component can perform transactional analysis on data of the variable records while the robot is running.

Application integration component: text is extracted from the window and saved to the string variable using operations in the application integration package.

[ application ] component: the application or file is launched using an "open program/file" operation in the application component. This operation supports exe,. bat, script file, or shortcut path.

[ AWS understands NLP ] development component: the AWS understands the operations that the NLP component contains, can connect to and use Amazon understands the API to identify language, emotion, key phrases and entities.

[ Boolean ] Command component: the Boolean command component contains the capability to perform various operations on Boolean values.

[ browser ] development command component: the browser component includes operations such as downloading files, finding disconnected links, and starting websites. Supports the Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and Google Chrome browsers.

[ clipboard ] development command component: the clipboard component contains operations that can automatically use the Windows clipboard. These operations are used to copy string values to the clipboard, copy clipboard values to string variables, and then clear the clipboard.

[ Note ] component: the annotation component is used to insert user specified annotations into the robot logic.

[ CSV/TXT ] development Command component: the CSV/TXT component contains operations that enable opening a CSV or text file, reading data from the file, and assigning data to table variables. This software package supports files encoded in ANSI, Unicode, UTF-8, or Windows-1251.

[ data sheet ] development command component: the data table component contains operations that can perform various operations on the values of the table variables. Using these operations, content may be joined or merged, specific values searched for, rows and columns inserted, duplicate rows deleted, and values written to a file.

[ database ] development command component: the database supports the internal operations of the user by storing various data such as sales transaction records, product catalogs, inventory, and customer profiles. The database is used to connect to the database, start a transaction, and manipulate the stored data by retrieving, inserting, updating, deleting, and exporting it to the CSV file.

Time of day development command component: the Datetime value consists of date, time, and time zone. The workspace is capable of performing various operations on the Datetime value.

[ delay ] command component: a delay component is used to add a timing delay to the logic.

[ dictionary ] component: the Dictionary component contains the capability to perform various operations on Dictionary type values.

[ DLL ] component: the Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file contains a shared library of functions that can be used by Windows programs. The DLL component uses the DLL file as a reference and calls a function from the robot.

[ email ] development Command component: the email component contains operations to automatically perform email-related tasks through Exchange Web Services (EWS), Microsoft Outlook, and other email servers. These operations may be used to send, receive, and modify mail, folders, and the status of mail.

[ error handler ] command component: the error handler component contains operations that can easily handle exceptions encountered by the robot and transfer control to other operations in the robot.

[ Excel base ] component: the Excel base component contains operations capable of automating multiple repetitive tasks in the XLSX workbook. These operations may be used when Microsoft Excel is not available on the equipment to be used for automating Microsoft Excel related tasks.

[ Excel advanced ] component: excel advanced components contain operations that enable automatic execution of multiple repetitive tasks when using Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

[ document development ] command component: the operations contained by the file component can automatically perform various file-related operations, such as creating, opening, copying, deleting, and renaming files.

[ folder ] development Command component: the folder component contains components that are capable of automatically performing operations related to folders.

[ FTP/SFTP ] component: FTP/SFTP operations are automatically performed using FTP/SFTP components.

[ fuzzy matching ] component: the fuzzy matching operation is used to compare the similarity of the values of two strings or files. This operation returns a decimal value; the closer the value is to 1.0, the greater the similarity between the two strings.

[ IBM Watson identity verification ] component: the IBM Watson authentication Package contains operations to authenticate the API token and location URL for each service when connecting to and disconnecting from the IBM Cloud account. With this assembly, only one credential needs to be provisioned.

[ IBM Watson Speech to text ] component: this component supports the following audio file formats: flac, mpeg, mp3, ogg, pcm, wav, and webm. The following languages are supported: arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin), English (British and USA), French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish (Argentina, Kastiya, Chilean, Columbia, Mexico and Peru).

[ If ] component: using the operations in the If component, the execution sequence is controlled according to one or more conditions of the task.

Image recognition component: image recognition involves operations that enable searching for User Interface (UI) elements in an application based on an image to automate tasks in the application.

[ Interactive forms ] component: the interactive forms component contains operations that handle exceptions encountered by the robot. All operations performed by a user on an interactive form may be monitored to use subtask execution logic.

The [ JavaScript ] component: JavaScript contains the operation of running JavaScript from the robot. These operations may run JavaScript on Windows, Linux, and UNIX based devices.

[ list ] component: the list component performs various operations on variables of the list data type.

[ Log to File ] component: using the log-to-file component, a log file is created that contains the data.

[ circulation ] assembly: a series of operations are repeatedly run a specified number of times using the loop component, or until a specified condition is satisfied.

[ message frame ] component: and inserting a Message box for displaying the Message when the task runs by using the Message box operation in the Message box. For example, a message box operation may be inserted after a web form, such that the operation displays a message: the web form is filled in and completed.

[ Microsoft LUIS NLP ] Module: microsoft LUIS NLP contains operations that can be linked to and use Microsoft cognitive service text analysis APIs to identify languages, emotions, key phrases, and entities. The following languages are supported: english, chinese (simplified), french, german and spanish.

[ mouse ] component: simulating mouse action.

[ digital ] component: various operations are performed on the digital variables. Digital variables hold numerical values, including integers and decimals. Values from-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807 are saved, and up to 15 decimal digits can be saved.

[ OCR ] component: may be used for operations to extract text from images or applications.

[ Office 365 calendar ] component: automated operation of meeting related tasks in the Office 365 calendar.

[ Office 365 Excel ] component: and automatically executing Excel task operation in the online version.

[ Office 365 Single driver ] component: multiple repetitive tasks in Microsoft cloud storage are automated.

[ PDF File ] component: various operations on a PDF file may be automatically performed using a PDF package.

[ PGP ] automatically encrypts and decrypts files to ensure security.

[ Play Sound ] component: the beeps and media files are played before or after the operation is performed in the robot.

[ Printer ] Components: the operation automatically retrieves and sets the default printer.

[ procedure ] Components: comprising a request operation allowing the control room user to use this operation and configure his robot.

[ instant ] Components: the prompt component is used to accept input values, yes/no responses, or open files or folders.

[ Python script ] component: the Python script package contains operations that enable Python script functions in the task.

[ recorder ] assembly: interactions with User Interface (UI) objects, such as text boxes, buttons, tables, menus, radio buttons, combo boxes, check boxes, list views, links, trees, and page tabs, are captured using capture operations in Recorder.

[ REST Web service ] component: operations in the REST Web services component are used as methods (DELETE, GET, PATCH, POST, or PUT) to send requests to and receive responses from the API.

[ SAP ] Assembly: the SAP component includes operations that automate tasks and processes on the SAP application.

[ SAP BAPI ] Assembly: the SAP BAPI component contains operations that use SAP Business automation tasks and flows. Application Programming Interface (BAPI). BAPI is a standardized method that enables third party applications to interact with SAP systems.

[ Screen ] Assembly: the Screen component is used to automatically capture screenshots. Using the operations in this software package, an area of an application window, an entire computer screen, or an actively opened window may be captured and saved to a specified location in an image format.

[ service ] component: using the service component may automate operations in Windows and application services, including starting, stopping, pausing, resuming, or obtaining service states.

[ simulated key strokes ] component: keystrokes were simulated using Simulate keys in chinese (simplified and traditional), english, french, german, japanese, korean, italian or spanish characters.

[ SNMP ] component: SNMP allows automatic execution of network management tasks such as retrieving and modifying data and sending notification messages.

[ SOAP Web ] component: SOAP Web services operations are used to access and exchange information between two systems in XML format.

[ Step ] Components: the step pack combines the various operations together and runs the operations in a particular order. A step may be provided with an associated name to identify the operation performed by the operation contained in the step.

[ string ] component: various operations are performed using the string component, such as comparing two strings, retrieving a string length, or converting a string to upper or lower case.

[ System ] Components: the computer is automatically locked, logged out, restarted and shut down using operations in the system components. These operations are used at the end of the task.

[ task robot ] component: the "run", "pause" and "stop" operations in the task robot are used to manage the running of one or more child robot programs from a parent robot program or third party software using an API.

[ terminal Emulator ] component: the terminal emulator package contains operations that can connect to another computer and automatically perform tasks. These operations are used to access and control operations on the remote computer. For example, applications may be run and files accessed on different operating systems.

[ trigger cycle ] component: the trigger cycle component can run a series of operations when a trigger event occurs. Multiple trigger loops may be inserted in the robot, or one trigger loop may be nested in another trigger loop.

[ VBScript ] component: VBScript contains operations that enable VBScript functions in tasks.

[ wait ] component: the operation add condition in Wait is used to Wait for an application screen change, or to open or close a separate window before continuing to perform the next operation.

[ Window ] Assembly: tasks associated with the window are automatically performed using the window package.

[ workload ] component: the workload component can insert work items in the queue to implement workload automation. Data links between multiple queues are also supported. Multiple robots may be coordinated and optimal device utilization achieved through a queuing mechanism for workload management.

[ XML ] Components: extensible markup language (XML) is a markup language for storing and transmitting data. XML data generated from web services and cloud computing applications is automatically processed using operations in XML packages.

The robot running end needs to install a robot agent and a registration device on the target device

The robotic agent is a lightweight application that allows the robotic device to be connected to a control room. The robot runs on the device, installs the robot agent and adds the local device to the list of host devices enabled in the control room.

Using the robot agent, the user can perform tasks according to access rights after installing the robot agent on the device.

Performing silent installation on a temporary robotic agent device, editing the robotic agent MSI file for silent installation on a temporary device or a non-permanent Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) of a control room.

The robot agent is automatically updated and the control room may choose to update the robot agent to a higher version using an automatic update function. This reduces down time.

The robot agent is updated manually, and is a lightweight application that allows the robot to run on the device, requiring an update when a new version is available.

The user device credentials are set, the device is enabled to run the robot, and the local device credentials are set.

The robot agent is connected to the device using a script, and the device agent arrangement is configured to run the script using the auto-configuration script to provide authentication details.

And executing robot agent diagnosis examination, executing diagnosis examination on the robot running program equipment by using the robot agent diagnosis tool, and assisting in solving the robot agent connection problem.

The invention has the beneficial effects that: the method has the advantages that the value can be quickly realized, the robot process can quickly start to be developed based on the instant deployment of Web, the user with different skill levels can easily use the product and accelerate the learning process, and the business, the process and the IT are easily cooperated.

The method has the advantages of extremely strong service agility, regular updating, and any equipment can be updated anytime and anywhere, so that the service operation has continuity, high availability, disaster recovery and expandability.

The lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), cloud-native architecture, web-based interface, and ease of use greatly reduce all costs associated with intelligent automation projects, such as infrastructure, licensing, development and deployment, training, maintenance, and support. The total cost of ownership leading to the cloud supporting intelligent automation does not need extra infrastructure investment, and the maintenance cost is reduced by crossing a single platform of foreground, background and employee application programs.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic deployment diagram of control room, data, and component upgrade in three cloud environments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a single node structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the process of using the control room and the robot agent according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a single structure based on a safety control architecture according to the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication protocol and security authentication service based configuration according to the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a structure for implementing high availability by performing master-slave station setup based on a distributed architecture in the present invention.

Detailed Description

Example 1: business continuity, high availability

Local and cloud high availability support is provided for control rooms and robot operators, ensuring minimal down time; flexible micro-service architecture scale to support thousands of robots; data synchronization and related concepts provided by Dell EMC symmetry.

A remote data center solution; increasing storage availability through a RAID storage system and a storage controller; network availability is improved through network interface controller binding and team cooperation.

Disaster recovery: local and cloud high availability support, control room and robot operators ensure that downtime is minimized and in the event of a disaster, all robot plans and triggers will be automatically activated within minutes after a production failure to meet the last recovery point option.

If the process is interrupted due to a production failure, task level logs and other direct files provide the last execution state of the process; the detail log provides the last processed record and the last placed transaction so the DR can be restored to satisfy the 24 restore option.

Example 2: safety: role-based access control (RBAC) assigns privileges to each team/business unit; a larger control module, a scheduler and a user are carried out on the robot, the robot running end and the management through the particle RBAC; and performing logic separation and process isolation on the responsibilities of the running end and the development end.

Details: RBAC of robot: fine-grained authority of each robot (upload, download, delete, view, unlock, run/schedule, etc.).

The RBAC supports analysis. RBAC on the scheduler, fine-grained RBAC setting such as addition, update, deletion, management and the like, key NIST requirements, department isolation, application access enforcement and minimum authority access.

CRUD rights of the user are separated. RBAC on workload

Management-creating queues, managing queues, adding data to queues, reading data from queues and SLA calculators.

RBAC certificate management, creating/updating certificates, using the certificates in the robot, managing and distributing the certificates and lockers, and adding and managing the lockers.

RBAC of robot life cycle; managing import/export software packages; granular RBACs are used to create and use a pool of devices.

Granular RBACs on the platform api, control the authority that can run the robotic analysis component and automatically log into the api.

Veracode authentication: and the highest Veracode 5-level authentication ensures the code safety.

Data and credentials in transit are secure; the transmission process supports RSA, AES and HMAC encryption; TLS 1.2 is supported, which is the standard requirement of enterprise IT; during the automated execution, the credentials remain encrypted; the queue messages are encrypted using AES-256.

Static data and credential security: the control room password supports AES-256 encryption + RSA-2048; and supporting AES-256 bit encryption of the robot.

Bank level security and management certificates: the credentials are stored in a cryptographically protected centralized built-in credential vault.

Automatic login of security credentials, application username and password and FTP credentials.

Interfacing with internal/external applications requires API tokens, SAP credentials and more authentication methods.

Warehouse replication with an HA/DR plan built in supports global infrastructure deployment.

And (4) instantly and comprehensively analyzing the certificate information related to the locker, the role and the robot.

The industry led PBKDF2, where the control room user password was hashed using a SHA512 password.

RSA + AES + HMAC encryption.

The Saybolt CyberArk integration.

Two-factor authentication. SAML 2.0 for SSO; kerberos authentication.

Enterprise-wide security policies are centrally set and enforced.

Enterprise-wide credential standardization for general-purpose applications (e.g., FTP, CRM, SAP, etc.).

A security recorder for enhancing security by controlling the capture of application images in a highly controlled environment.

The robot may run on a virtual machine without a screen or a lock screen.

The security architecture: the security architecture conforms to the NIST SP800-53 Rev4 standard 1-HIPAA, the foundation of FISMA, and the general reference standard of security professionals. FedRamp and ISO-27001 compliance in 2018.

Example 3: scalability: vertical scalability, micro-service architecture, facilitates flexibility and scalability.

Different solution components are installed on different machines (for example:

control room, robot analysis component, robot pool, development end, operation end, load balancer, Windows cluster)

Dynamic adding robot program (zooming as required)

The pool of robots may dynamically increase/decrease the robot programs.

Spontaneous, no downtime in response to unforeseen workload peaks.

Flexibility to use the robot-desktop, server, public/private in any technical environment; cloud-in multiple applications.

Cost-effective reduction of processing and cloud computing costs using only the precise number of robots required for a given process.

And (3) workload management: managing industrial-scale automation by automatically assigning work items to a pool of equipment to achieve service agreement goals, optimize resources, performance, and productivity levels.

Transmitting tasks between workload queues; queues are provided through the CSV, databases and APIs.

Service agreement calculator-determines service agreement workload and adjusts run-side resources to obtain the best results.

Conditional automation and manual circulation are supported, and the flow is adjusted and regulated as required.

Ultra-high reliability: if any of the robot runs a program failure, other robot runs will automatically deploy to handle the workload. The mission-critical flow may run with unrivaled stability 24x 7.

Queue messages are encrypted using AES 256; real-time detailed monitoring and reporting of workload processing, on-demand workload fluctuations are handled using a pool of robots.

Solution accelerators are used for the fastest robot creation: 4 types of recorders; 600+ Pre-build commands for extended library.

Multi-domain support: the operation terminal in one Active Directory domain can be connected to the control room in other Active Directory domains.

A plug-in OCR engine: integrating a plurality of OCR engines.

Example 4: auditing and managing: a fine-grained RBAC robot and management module; fine grained upload/download/delete permissions per robot.

And the system supports an operation room, audit trail, a time schedule, user management, certificate management and license management.

Supporting local VCS version control by using SVN; deploying, arranging and managing all clients and tasks from a single work point; control was performed using a web-based intuitive control room.

Including comprehensive instrumentation and analysis to monitor the robot and the operating end in real time.

Robot planning-creation of a plan, assigning specific tasks to robots or groups of robots. The amount can be selected and specified by a single click.

Events are captured and detailed information of the event is recorded, such as operation, date, time, user, description, level and status, including login, upload, check-in, download, check-out tasks, license installation, user add/delete/update/credential, system setup changes, version control/connect/disconnect.

Control during robot execution: centralized management functions such as pause, play, and pause.

The stealth mode hides windows and information during process execution to prevent unauthorized users from seeing the screen.

Disabling the mouse and keyboard prevents unauthorized users from tampering with the computer while the robot is running.

Task timeout if a task gets stuck and does not receive a response after a specified time, the task is aborted.

The tasks are set to be repeatedly executed in a specified cycle or time.

Automatic scheduling: the scheduling data is securely stored within the control room using an enterprise-level scheduling library component.

The robot reports the automation status update in the control room.

Managing the life cycle of the robot: an enterprise-level framework for automated development, testing, and production.

The built-in robot lifecycle management ensures seamless transition of the robot between development, testing and production environments.

Dependency management is performed when moving robots across environments.

Example 5: and (3) expandability: connecting robot store

A pre-built, downloadable robot program that executes an end-to-end business process.

The mobile phone application program comprises the following steps: can be connected to any control room; receiving real-time notification events of system health and events; a visual instrument panel for robot performance, investment benefits and other operational benefits; deeply excavating work, robots, machine states and schedule logs; remotely starting/stopping the robot; monitoring the active and completed robots; and unlocking the demonstration version and the virtual data, and displaying the characteristics of the application program.

Easy integration: and a rich interoperation api is provided, and integration with a third-party application program is facilitated.

Horizontally spread to millions of data points, using popular memory data processing methods.

Comprehensive reporting and analysis: providing business insights, robot performance and intelligent operation; providing real-time interactive, data-driven discovery; the automatically generated dashboard provides a visual composite view of the most important indicators.

Example 6: example of entering data into a web form from a worksheet

In this example, a robot is built to enter multiple lines of data in the XLSX worksheet into a web form. Using the operations in Excel advanced, loop and record components. To retrieve a value from an Excel file and enter it into a web form, we perform the following operations: 1. open a new robot:

a) in the control room, the robot > my robot is selected. b) Click new > robot. c) In the "create task robot" window, a robot name is input. d) Accept default folder location \ Bots \ for. To change the storage location of the robot, please click "select" and then operate as prompted. e) Click "create and edit".

2. And opening the Excel file. a) Double-clicking or dragging Excel advanced > open operation. b) A session name is entered. c) An Excel file is selected. d) The branding worksheet contains title options. By marking the worksheet to contain title options, the robot can be caused to search the columns at run time according to title names.

3. And starting the website. a) Double-clicking or dragging the browser > initiates the website operation. b) A website URL is entered.

4. The working table values are retrieved and stored in table variables. a) Double-clicking or dragging Excel advanced > gets multiple cell operations. b) The same session name used in the Excel advanced > Open operation is entered. c) All rows are selected from the drop down list. d) The table variables are created using the icons that are "assigned to the right side of the variable" drop down list.

5. And instructing the robot to process the data line by line. a) Double-click or drag cycling action. b) A row is selected for each row in the table iterator. c) The same table variables used in "get multiple cells" are selected. d) The recording variable is created using the icon assigned to the right side of the variable drop down list. The record variable holds all values of a row. In each iteration of the loop, the robot retrieves the next row of values and stores them in the record variables, covering the previous row of values.

6. The first column title is mapped to the web form text box. a) Double-click or drag recorder > capture operation. b) The same window as the window opened by the launch website operation is selected. c) A single click captures the object. d) The mouse is hovered over the text box until a red outline appears. e) Click on the text box. f) And returning to the control room. g) It is verified whether the control type value is TEXTBOX. h) The "setting text" is selected from the "operation" drop-down list. i) In the keystroke field, the same record variable used in the cycle is inserted. j) Select the "by name" option and then copy-paste the first column header into the field.

7. The substeps in step 5 are repeated to map other columns, with the following differences: a) instead of searching for browser window titles, recorder-generated window variables are inserted. b) When a record variable is inserted in the keystroke field, the following column header is copied and pasted into the "by name" field.

8. The submit button is captured. a) Double-click or drag recorder > capture operation. b) The recorder generated window variable is inserted. c) A single click captures the object. d) And verifying whether the control type value is BUTTON. e) A single click operation is selected.

9. And (4) clicking to save.

Example 7: examples of transferring values between robots

How to pass values from one TaskBot to another using dictionary variables. If values are to be passed between taskbots, please use any variable type in the child robot and dictionary variables in the parent robot. This example uses a string named sMySong in the child bot.

Constructing a sub-robot: 1. open a new bot: a) from the control room interface, select robot > my robot. b) Click new > robot. c) Inputting a bot name: favorite gestures d) input folder location:

Bots\TaskbotsExample

e) click "create and edit".

2. Creating variables: sMySong is the string type; as an input and as an output.Creating a variable

3. The song title is captured using the hint > get value operation. a) Double-clicking or dragging > value operation prompts. b) In the title field of the prompt window, input

Add a song

c) In the "prompt message" field, input

Type in a favorite song

d) In the "assign value to variable" field, input

sMySong

And (4) prompting: input value

4. One click save and then one click close. And constructing a parent robot.

0. Open a new bot: a) from the control room interface, select robot > my robot. b) Click new > robot. c) Inputting a bot name:

GetFavoriteSongs

d) inputting the position of a folder:

Bots\TaskBotsExample

e) click "create and edit".

1. The following variables were created:

sMySong: character string type

sPassedSong: dictionary type/string subtype

2. Using task robot > run operation call child robot:

a) double-click or drag task robot > run operation. b) In the "task robot to be run" field, "control room" is selected, and "select" is clicked. c) Click to browse, navigate to

Bots\TaskBotsExample

And then select the favorite song. d) In "input value", the "set sMySong" is selected. e) In "save result to variable" (optional), Dictionary is selected, and then sPassedSong is selected. f) And (4) clicking to save.

3. The returned value from the child robot is accepted using the Dictionary > Get operation. a) Double-click or drag dictionary > get operation. b) In the Dictionary variable field, sParasedSong is selected. c) In the key field, sMySong is selected. d) In the "assign output to variable" field, sMySong is selected. e) And (4) clicking to save.

4. Report content returned from the child robots using message box operations: a) double-clicking or dragging the message box operation. b) In the "input message box window title" field, input

What do you like

c) In inputting a message field to be displayed, inputting

You said, $sMySong$

d) And (4) clicking to save.

Start

Task Bot: Run and assign output to variable

Dictionary: Get value of the key "sMySong" from SsPassedSongS

Message box "You said, $sMySong$"

End

5. The robot is operated.

When prompted to set an input variable, "confirm" is clicked. Following the prompt operation, the message box will return the same value as you entered for the song. If no value is returned, please ensure that the executed step assigns the incoming value to the dictionary key and variable.

Example 8: examples of Using conditional statements

In this example, a robot is constructed that prints messages based on whether a cell has a value or is empty. Using the operations in the components of Excel basic or Excel advanced, If and message box. A prerequisite is that an empty Excel worksheet is saved to the desktop before the robot is built. Since this bot will not create a new Excel worksheet, Excel basic or Excel advanced software packages can be used.

1. A new robot is opened. a) From the control room interface, select robot > my robot. b) Click new > robot. c) Enter robot name and then click "create and edit".

2. The Excel worksheet is opened using an "open" operation in the Excel basic or Excel advanced software package. a) Double-clicking or dragging an "open" operation. b) A session name is entered. c) Click "browse" to provide a file path for a blank Excel worksheet on the desktop.

3. The cell value is assigned to the string variable using a Get single cell operation. a) Double-clicking or dragging the "get single cell" operation in the same package for the "open" operation. b) The session name used in the "open" operation is provided. c) An active cell option is selected. d) In the "store cell contents to" field, a variable output is created.

4. Conditional statements are configured using If operations. a) Double-click or drag If operation. b) A string is selected from the conditional drop down list. c) In the source value field, the variable output is inserted. d) Equal is selected as the operator. e) The target value field is left empty.

5. The message box is inserted into the If container. a) Drag message box operation. b) In inputting a message field to be displayed, inputting

Cell is empty

6. An optional order of operation is configured using Else and message box operations.

a) Drag Else operation next to If operation. b) Drag the message box operation into the Else container. c) In inputting a message field to be displayed, inputting

Cell is not empty

7. And (4) clicking to save.

8. The robot is operated. When the robot runs, the message box appears and the message cell is empty.

9. A value is entered into the cell at Excel worksheet A1, and the worksheet is saved.

10. The robot is operated. When the robot runs, the message box appears, and the message cell is not empty.

Example 8: example of joining a list using Python scripts

Construct a robot to print messages using Python function, Go Be Great! Hello World. In this example, the robot combines the list of string values and prints it into a message box. A prerequisite is that to run the Python script from the control, the latest version of Python 3.x must already be installed on the device.

1. Open a new robot: a) in the control room, the robot > my robot is selected. b) Click new > robot. c) In the "create task robot" window, a robot name is input. d) Accept default folder location \ Bots \ for. To change the storage location of the robot, please click "select" and then operate as prompted. e) Click "create and edit".

2. A variable is created to hold the list values: a) a single click creates a variable icon.

b) Enter into

lArgument

c) The list type and string subtype are selected. d) In the "default value" field, the following values are entered:

a) value at 0:

Go

b) value at 1:

Be

c) the value is 2:

Great

d) value at 3:

!

e) and (4) single click creation.

3. Providing a Python script for the script > open operation: a) double-click or drag Python script > open. b) The manual entry option is selected. c) The following text is copied and pasted into the "script entered here" field.

def data ( str ):

x = " ".join( str )

return x

4. Using Python script > to execute function operations tells the robot to run the script:

a) double-clicking or dragging a Python script > executes the function.

b) Enter into

data

In the "name of function to be executed entered" field.

c) The lArgment variable is selected from a parameter drop down list of functions. d) A variable sOutput is created for the "assign output to variable" field.

5. Insert message box operation to save Python function output:

a) double-clicking or dragging a message box > message box operation. b) In inputting a message field to be displayed, a variable sOutput is selected and inserted. c) The closed message box option is selected. The default value is retained in the field for 5 seconds.

6. Close the script execution session using a Python script > close operation: a) double-click or drag Python script > close.

b) And (4) clicking to save.

7. And (4) single click operation. The robot generates a robot with a "Go Be Great! "message Box for text! . After 5 seconds, the message box disappears.

The invention is not the best known technology. The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the technical ideas and features of the present invention, and the purpose thereof is to enable those skilled in the art to understand the contents of the present invention and implement the present invention, and not to limit the protection scope of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made according to the spirit of the present invention should be covered within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. The invention provides a robot process automation system and an operation method based on a cloud native development framework, which are characterized in that: an intuitive interface is used for creating a robot and designing a business process automation workflow, and is supported to be deployed on a plurality of operating systems such as Windows, Linux and MacOS; different edit flow robot views may facilitate collaboration: the method comprises the steps of providing a flow view of a service user, a list view of a developer and double-view cooperation; provided with recorders that can work across a variety of platforms (e.g., Microsoft Windows, Citrix, VMwear, Web, and SAP); a flexible architecture that enables the addition or autonomous creation of new command components on the system; and the method supports direct calling of JavaScript, Python and VBScript programs and uses a high-level variable function.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the robot process automation system adopts distributed architecture deployment and centralized management; the whole structure is divided into a control room, a robot flow development end (called development end for short) and a robot flow operation end (called operation end for short); the system is formed by a Web-based server (called a control room), and uses a robot running program to set a special Web service; various functions can be managed, executed and configured in the robot process; the control room is used for managing all robots in a centralized way, monitoring remote connection requests and transferring the requests to related component service processing; the development end is a development platform for compiling and customizing robot process automation; the running end executes automatic operation and is installed on a computer to run; the robot runtime program may be deployed on a desktop, a data center, or a cloud virtual machine.

3. The robot process automation system of the present invention, as set forth in claim 2, is characterized in that: centralized automated deployment, with the control room as a single access and control point for the robot to execute; the control room provides the robot program uploading and downloading functions so that a plurality of users can seamlessly cooperate to realize end-to-end service process automation; all scheduling is managed by the control room; the robot program is deployed on a robot running program, and can be temporary or on a predefined schedule; after the plan is created, the control room will automatically and intelligently obtain subsequent updates to the robot program without having to change the automation plan.

4. The system architecture of the invention is a centralized access control mode: lowest authority and access control, user access; by Role Based Access Control (RBAC) in the control room; creating and managing all users and roles from a control room; a control room dashboard provides a single view of the entire automation infrastructure; the control room receives real-time heartbeat and telemetry from the automation device, including events, anomalies, and alarms; an unauthorized user cannot pause, resume or stop any on-going automation program on the runtime side; all historical automation data can be audited and acquired by logging in a control room.

5. The distributed system architecture supports HA/DR, and in a client environment, the system can reduce the risk of cross contamination of potential security vulnerability events from another network; supporting a distributed architecture to provide optimal performance and security, the following are the main assignable components of the control room, which can be clustered to achieve High Availability (HA).

6. The system of the invention adopts a distributed cache structure: the control room system structure uses distributed cache, wherein after any information is updated in one node, all other nodes are immediately updated; this ensures the fastest data synchronization among all nodes and provides a seamless user experience; the system of the invention implements distributed caching by using a clustering mechanism to synchronize all data operations; for example, when a credential vault is opened from one node, it will also be automatically opened for all other nodes.

7. Network architecture and boundary control: the system comprises an authorization and authentication development end, an operation end and a control room, wherein the authorization and authentication development end, the operation end and the control room are communicated by using a security protocol and pass through a network firewall and a load balancer; based on a customer deployment topology that conforms to best practices defined by NIST SC-7 boundary protection, hosted interfaces of devices such as firewalls and load balancers connect to the network; all communications are by default rejected and are allowed only through specific services: security protocols such as TLS 1.2 and HTTPS are used for communication between different registration devices and the control room server; real-time data services are common services for all application servers; receiving and broadcasting a program from each real-time running task robot; plays a coordinating role between the browser (open in the control room) and the robot program that is running the task; the shared file repository is the file system location where all robots physically reside; shared among all application servers, the same repository view and operations can be used; if high availability is involved, the data layer can be configured separately for the failover case; all network connections terminate at the end of each session or within a specified time period.

8. When the cloud supports the use of cloud solutions, business, personal and operational data are stored and managed on customer-controlled infrastructure, while specific operational data related to robot process automation is shared between the cloud and the customer infrastructure; all data privacy and compliance is user dependent; local updating is carried out through cloud service, all business, personal and operation data are reserved on a local server on a client network and are deployed from the local server; classifying and assembling based on interface elements, wherein the granularity of element differentiation is very detailed, assembling through an action-level module, selecting configuration parameters after dragging, and presenting in a flow chart or code mode.

9. The bot development side allows a user to create and edit from any device and any location where the user can access a Web browser, the bot development side is a Web-based environment that includes the following functions: the universal recorder simplifies the capturing process, codes can be automatically generated after the recorder records, a unified recorder is used, and recording objects comprise web, desktop, application, citrix and the like; three view options created by the robot: a flow view, represented by a flow graph (default); a list view, sequential item list representation; double view: a flow view and a list view; the development environment and the debugger can be broken, debug and suspended together; supporting the execution of all existing runnable programs of JS, VBA, Java and Python; the method can be developed in a dragging mode, and can also be combined with an inline script command to use the code management of an IDE development environment native robot developed by VBScript, JavaScript and Python; and the variable transmission is rich, and cross-language mapping is not needed.

10. The robot running end needs to install a [ robot agent ] program package and register equipment on target equipment, and after the robot agent is installed on the equipment, a user can execute tasks according to access authority; a silent installation may be performed on the temporary robotic agent device; the control room may choose to update the robotic agent to a higher version using an automatic update function, which reduces downtime; setting a user device certificate, and enabling the device to operate the robot; a robot agent diagnostic tool is used to perform diagnostic checks on the robot running program device and assist in resolving robot agent connection problems.

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