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Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Clarified
RPA is really a subset of proper End-to-End Test Automation
This article is one of the “IT Terminology Clarified” series.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA), according to Wikipedia, is “a form of business process automation technology based on metaphorical software robots (bots)”. This definition is a bit vague, isn’t it? I read on and had a better understanding of it from the following three sentences.
“perform that task in the application’s graphical user interface (GUI), and then perform the automation by repeating those tasks directly in the GUI.”
“RPA tools have strong technical similarities to graphical user interface testing tools.”
“RPA tools differ from such systems in that they allow data to be handled in and between multiple applications, for instance, receiving email containing an invoice, extracting the data, and then typing that into a bookkeeping system.”
Table of Contents:
· Robotic Process Automation Simplifed
∘ 1. RPA drives the application via GUI
∘ 2. The audience of RPA is business users
∘ 3. RPA often involves Multiple Applications
∘ 4. RPA is really a subset of Test Automation, focuses little on Quality Assurance
∘ 5. Real Test Automation is much more challenging than RPA
· People called me RPA Expert before I knew the meaning of RPA
· Suggestions on learning RPA
∘ Resources:Robotic Process Automation Simplified
Let me translate RPA into plain English.
1. RPA drives the application via GUI
If a system is a web app, you can use Selenium scripts to drive the app in the browser by “using” a keyboard and mouse; With the same token, you can use Appium + WinAppDriver to automate windows desktop apps; Appium + ExpressoDriver to automate mobile apps on iOS and Android platforms respectively.
Quite often, failed test automation attempts are started with GUI automation using Cypress or Playwright. After the attempts failed, those fake test automation engineers (and the tech leads supported them) tried to avoid embarrassment by saying “Cypress/Playwright was the best for end-to-end testing…
