Opportunities in Robotic Process Automation by and for Model-Driven Software Engineering

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) offers a non-intrusive approach to workflow automation by defining and operationalizing automation rules through the graphical user interfaces of engineering and business tools. Thanks to its rapid development lifecycle, RPA has become a core enabler in many of nowadays’ digital transformation efforts. In this paper, we briefly review how some of the critical success factors of RPA endeavors can be supported by the mature techniques of model-driven software engineering (MDSE); and how RPA can be used to improve the usability of MDSE tools. By that, we intend to shed light on the mutual benefits of RPA and MDSE and encourage researchers and practitioners to explore the synergies of the two fields. To organize such prospective efforts, we define a reference framework for integrating RPA and MDSE, and provide pointers to state-of-the-art RPA frameworks.