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Using Pega Robot Manager 8.3.1

Updated on October 8, 2021

Use Pega Robot Manager™ to manage and deploy automation packages to both attended robotic desktop automation (RDA) and unattended robotic process automation (RPA), monitor the performance, health, and throughput of your RPA robots; and manage the life cycle of your RPA robots, including manual start and stop, and defining scheduled actions to enable more throughput when the workload is high.

For more information about using Pega Robot Manager, see the following sections:

​​Configuring your organizational hierarchy

You can use Pega Robot Manager to deploy automation packages to users who run desktop automations on their local workstations. For example, you want contact center agents in the customer service department to run an automation package that assists the agents in collecting claim information. You also want to deploy a different automation package to accountants in your finance department. You can model your organization in Pega Robot Manager, and then assign the automation packages to different departments and individual users.

For more information, see the following topics:

Adding departments

You can add multiple top-level and multiple subdepartments to departments, either manually or by using a .csv file to import departments in bulk.

Manually adding departments

You can manually add departments to your corporate hierarchy, and then assign users to them.

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. On the Departments tab, click Actions > Add department.
  3. Select the parent level to which the department belongs.
  4. Enter a name (required) and description (optional), and then click Submit.

Importing departments

You can import departments by importing a .csv file.

The file must contain the following columns:

  • Department name
  • Department description
  • Parent path

Do not provide a value in the Parent path column for the top-level department. Use an exclamation point to denote a subdepartment, for example, BankerProCorporation!Customer service.

You can also download a template in .csv format, which contains these columns, that you can use to import departments, by doing the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. On the Departments tab, click Actions > Import CSV.
  3. To download a template that you can modify, click Download Template.

To import a .csv file, do the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. On the Departments tab, click Actions > Import CSV.
  3. Select the .csv file that you want to import.
  4. Click Import.

Modifying departments

You can modify the name and description of a department.

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. On the Departments tab, expand the organizational tree, click the More options icon, and click Edit.
  3. Enter a name and description, and then click Submit.

Deleting departments

You can delete a department that has no users in it.

  1. If the department has users, either delete them or move them to another department. For more information, see Moving users to another department or Deleting users.
  2. In the application header, click Users.
  3. On the Departments tab expand the organizational tree, click the More options icon, and click Delete.
  4. Click Submit.

Adding users

You can add users to departments and specify the user access groups, which are associated with the roles that define the tasks that the users can perform. You cannot edit email addresses for users who use basic authentication or edit the user principal name (UPN) for users who use SSO authentication.

Operator IDs are created for each user that you add. Users log in with the email address or UPN that you specify.

Manually adding users

You can manually add users to departments in your corporate hierarchy.

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. Click the People tab.
  3. To add a new user, click Actions > Add user. To edit an existing user, click user name, and then click Actions > Edit.
  4. In the New user or Edit user dialog box, in the First Name field, enter the first name of the user
  5. Click the Department field and select the department to which the user belongs. This department must be at least the third level in the organizational hierarchy.
  6. In the Last Name field, enter the last name of the user.
  7. In the Role field, press the Down Arrow key and select the access group to which the user belongs.
  8. In the Email address field, enter the email address of the user. This field is required for user roles that use basic authentication. Users log in to Pega Robot Manager with their email addresses.
  9. In the UPN field, enter the UPN. This field appears for roles that use SSO authentication and is required.
  10. In the Status field, press the Down Arrow key and select the status of the user (Active or Inactive).
  11. Click Submit.

For users who log in to Pega Robot Manager with basic authentication, the system generates the password pega. Users should change their passwords by clicking Forgot password? on the Pega Robot Manager login page.

Importing users

You can import users by importing a .csv file.

The file must contain the following columns:

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Email address (provide a value for users who log in to Pega Robot Manager with basic authentication; otherwise, leave this column blank)
  • UPN (provide a value for users who log in to Pega Robot Manager with SSO authentication; otherwise, leave this column blank)
  • Department
  • Role
  • Status

Use an exclamation point to denote that a user belongs to a subdepartment, for example, BankerProCorporation!Customer service!Corporate accounts. You cannot assign a user to the top two departments in the organizational hierarchy.

You can also download a template in .csv format, which contains these columns, that you can use to import users by doing the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. Click the People tab.
  3. Click Actions > Import users.
  4. To download a template that you can modify, click Download Template.

To import a .csv file, do the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. Click the People tab.
  3. Click Actions > Import users.
  4. Select the .csv file that you want to import.
  5. Click Import.

For users who log in to Pega Robot Manager with basic authentication, the system generates the password Pega. Users should change their passwords by clicking Forgot password? on the Pega Robot Manager login page.

Modifying users

You can modify user information, such as name, role, and status.

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. Click the People tab
  3. To add a user, click Actions > Add user. To edit an existing user, click user name, and then click Actions > Edit.
  4. In the New user or Edit user dialog box, in the First Name field, enter the first name of the user.
  5. Click the Department field and select the department to which the user belongs. This department must be at least the third level in the organizational hierarchy.
  6. In the Last Name field, enter the last name of the user.
  7. In the Role field, press the Down Arrow key and select the access group to which the user belongs.
  8. In the Email address field, enter the email address of the user. This field is required for user roles that use basic authentication. Users log in to Pega Robot Manager with their email addresses.
  9. In the UPN field, enter the UPN. This field appears for roles that use SSO authentication and is required.
  10. In the Status field, press the Down Arrow key and select the status of the user (Active or Inactive).
  11. Click Submit.

Moving users to another department

You can move users to another department.

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. On the Departments tab, expand the organizational tree to find the department that contains the users that you want to move, and click the department.
  3. In the Users section, select one or more check boxes for the users that you want to move.
  4. Click Move.
  5. In the Move users dialog box, select the department to which to move the users.
  6. Click Move.

Deleting users

You can delete users, which also removes their operator IDs.

Deleting a single user

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. Click the People tab.
  3. Click the name of the user that you want to delete.
  4. Click Actions > Delete.
  5. Click Submit.

Deleting multiple users

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. On theDepartments tab expand the organizational tree to find the department that contains the users that you want to delete and click the department.
  3. In the Users section, select one or more check boxes for the users that you want to delete.
  4. Click Delete.

Pega Robot Manager dashboard

The Pega Robot Manager dashboard is a centralized workspace that displays operational information about your robotic process automations and key performance indicators, such as the status of your robots or cases that are past their service-level agreement (SLA).

For more information, see the following topics:

Templates and widgets

Each dashboard uses a template that provides preconfigured layouts that define the standard size and position of widgets. Several standard templates are available.

After you apply a template to your dashboard, you can add widgets to each slot to display helpful functions on the main screen of Pega Robot Manager. Slots in a template are shown as gray rectangles.

Customizing the dashboard

The dashboard is displayed each time that you log in to your application. When personalization is enabled, you can configure your dashboard based on your individual preferences and business needs.

For example, you can add a widget that displays the number of assignments that could not be processed or the number of assignments that did not meet a service-level agreement (SLA) goal.

Click the Gear icon to display the Edit dashboard panel to customize your dashboard.

For information about configuring your dashboard display, adding and configuring widgets, and publishing your dashboard, see Configuring your dashboard.

Note: You can click Publish only when you publish a dashboard, which displays the dashboard for your own login.

Pega Robot Manager widgets

Pega Robot Manager provides the following widgets that you can add to your dashboard:

  • Automation alerts – displays failed robotic automations.
  • Automation alerts over time – displays the number of failed robotic automations over a period of time.
  • Case activity – displays the cases that were created and resolved over a period of time.
  • Cases past SLA – displays the cases that exceeded an SLA goal.
  • Resolved cases by type – displays the number of resolved cases by case type.
  • Robot status – displays the robots in each work group that have issues or that are not running.

Creating widgets and displaying them on the dashboard

You can create your own widgets to display on the Pega Robot Manager dashboard.

For example, you can create a report that displays the percentage of robotic automations on a robot that run and are successfully completed on the first attempt. The following procedure describes how to create a report widget to display on the dashboard.

  1. Create a report in Dev Studio in your application ruleset. For more information, see Creating a report definition.
  2. Create a section in your application ruleset. For more information, see Sections - Completing the Create, Save as, or Specialize form.
  3. Add a chart control to the section and configure it so that it displays the report that you created:
    1. In the Data Source section, from the Type list, select Report Definition.
    2. In the Applies to field, press the Down Arrow and select the class to which your report applies.
    3. In the Report field, press the Down Arrow and select the name of your report.
    4. From the X-axis data field, select the property to use for the X-axis.
    5. Configure other information, as appropriate. For more information, see Harness and section forms - Adding a chart.
    6. Click Submit.
  4. Mark the section as a widget, and configure the report widget:
    1. In the Edit Section form, click Settings.
    2. In the Widget title section, enter the name of the widget.
    3. From the Category list, select Robotic process automation.
    4. Configure other information, as appropriate. For more information, see Settings tab of the Section form.
    5. Click Save.

After you log out and log back in to Pega Platform and start the Robotic Console, you can select the widget and display it on your dashboard.

Simulating data

You can display simulated data on the dashboard. This can be useful for previewing how the current dashboard will look when it is populated with metrics or for demoing purposes. You can also view simulated data when you edit the dashboard. While data is simulated, links on the dashboard are disabled.

Note: Data simulation is not available on production level 5. For more information, see Specifying the production level.

To toggle data simulation, perform the following steps:

  1. In the application header, click Dashboard.
  2. Click Simulate data.

Managing work groups and assignment types

You can use Pega Robot Manager to manage your work groups and assignment types in several ways. For example, you can create work groups and assignment types, as well as start, stop, and change priority assignment types. You can also monitor health of your work groups and process failed assignments.

Note: Assignment types in Pega Robot Manager correspond to work queues in Pega Platform.

For more information, see the following topics:

Creating a work group

In Pega Robot Manager, you create work groups and define assignment types for that work group, as well as assign automation package and robots that use that package to work on assignments in the realm of that work group. Automation packages contain all of the automations that are required for the robots to process all the assignment types in a work group that the robots are assigned to.

Note: You can remove a work group only by using Dev Studio.
Note: Assignment types in Pega Robot Manager correspond to work queues in Pega Platform.

You can create a work group and assignment types by completing the following steps:

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. Click Actions > Add new.
  3. Enter a name for the work group
  4. Enter at least one assignment type that this work group will be processing, based on robot activities included in the automation package assigned to the work group.
  5. Click Create.

Monitoring work groups

On the Work groups tab of the Robots page, you can create a new work group and get an overview of all your existing work groups, see how many robots and assignment types there are in each work group, and see if there are issues in a work group that need to be addressed. You can then click on a work group to open its page and access additional functions, controls, and performance metrics for that work group.

You can do the following actions on the work group page:

  • View performance metrics for that work group such as number of completed automations, success rate, and savings. Data can be displayed for the current day, past 7 days, and past 30 days.
  • View a list of all assignment types for that work group, and start or stop processing assignments for each assignment type.

    A red warning message displays for an assignment type if the number of queued items meets or exceeds the value set in the "Max capacity" setting of an assignment type, or if cases in the queue are past SLA.

  • Change how the assignment types are prioritized - by user-defined order, or by assignment urgency.
  • Click an assignment type to open its page where you can see recent robot activity or configure compliance thresholds such as maximum capacity or estimated savings.
  • Move robots from another work group to this work group.
  • View the list of robots assigned to this work group, and check their status, current activity, and performance.
  • Issue commands to one or more robots to make them start or stop processing assignments.
  • Click a robot to view information about robot performance, such as audit trail information and how many assignments the robot could not process.
  • View five latest issues with automation in the work group.
  • Assign an automation package to the work group and set its expected load time. This is a user-defined value of how long it should take for the package to load and get all applications into a state where they are ready to be monitored. This value is used as part of the robot start-up sequence to determine if a robot has become unresponsive.

Reprioritizing assignment types

Robots can retrieve assignment types by using one of the following methods: by urgency, or by their order on the work group page. By default, robots retrieve assignments based on their urgency.

You can change the prioritization method or reprioritize assignment types by completing the following steps:

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. Click the work group that contains the assignment type that you want to reprioritize.
  3. In the Assignment types section, click the Pencil icon.
  4. Perform one of the following actions:
    • If you want to prioritize by assignment type, select the Assignment type radio button and use the drag handles to reorder the list.
    • If you want to prioritize by urgency, select Most urgent radio button.
  5. Click Submit.

Starting and stopping assignment types

After you start an assignment type, active robots start processing assignments of that type. You can stop an assignment type if an application that is required for the automation is currently down, or if you want robots to focus on more important assignment types. To start or stop assignment types, complete the following steps:

  1. In the application header, click Robots
  2. In the Work group tab, click the work group that contains the assignment type that you want to start or stop.
  3. Click the STOP or START button next to the queue that you want to start or stop.

Configuring assignment types

In Pega Robot Manager you can configure information about assignments. For example, you can specify several assignments in a queue which, when exceeded, results in a warning notification.

  1. In the application header, click Robots
  2. Click the work group containing the assignment type that you want to modify.
  3. Click the assignment type name
  4. Click the Pencil icon.
  5. In the Max capacity field, enter a number.

    If the number of queued assignments meets or exceeds this threshold, a warning message is displayed for that assignment type on the work group page, indicating that the robots are not keeping pace with the incoming rate of work.

  6. In the Max automation run time (seconds) field, enter the length of time that the automation is expected to complete in.

    When the time of processing an automation exceeds twice the value that is specified for the originating assignment type, the robot displays a red icon on the Work groups and Dashboard pages, indicating that it might need administrative attention.

  7. In the Estimated saving (currency from locale) field, enter the estimated monetary amount that will be saved by performing one automation.

    This value is used to calculate the savings metric that is displayed on the work group page.

  8. Click Save.

Modifying the heartbeat and work polling intervals

Each Robot sends a heartbeat, or periodic message, to your Pega Robot Manager application to indicate that the robot is still running and available. The work polling interval is the period of time that a robot waits if after finishing the latest assignment, it did not immediately receive the next assignment.

You can modify these intervals by completing the following steps:

  1. In the application header, click Settings, and then click the System tab.
  2. Click the Pencil icon in the Robot Settings section.
  3. In the Heartbeat interval (seconds) field, enter the heartbeat interval, in seconds, that robots should use when they send a signal to your Pega Platform application.

    A robot displays a red icon if the heartbeat interval has been exceeded, indicating that the connection to the robot has been lost.

  4. In the Work polling interval (seconds) field, enter the polling interval, in seconds, that the robot should wait between requesting new work assignments.
  5. Click Save. The new intervals are applied after the robot next registers with your Pega Platform application.

Configuring the number of automations that can fail on a robot

You can configure the number of automations that can fail on a robot. If automation failures exceed this value, Pega Robot Manager indicates that there are issues with the robot health on the Dashboard, Work group, and Robots pages.

  1. In the application header, click Robots, and then click the Robots tab.
  2. Click the robot that you want to configure
  3. Click the Pencil icon in the Compliance section.
  4. In the Max failed automations field, enter the number of automations that can fail on a robot during its processing life.

    If the number of failures is greater than this value, the robot displays a red icon on the Dashboard and Work groups pages to indicate that the maximum number of failed automations has been exceeded.

  5. Click Save.

Viewing conflicts for work assignments

You can view work assignments for which there are conflicts. Conflicts appear when an automation was successfully run but returned data that did not meet validation criteria for the case or assignment. Use conflict information to determine which automations to review, which could mean that you need to update validation rules or that the automation developer should review the format of the values that are returned by the automation.

  1. In the application header, click Issues.
  2. Click the Conflicts tab.

Viewing work assignments time-outs

You can view work assignments that have timed out. A work assignment is considered timed out when a robot that accepted an assignment does not report that it was successfully completed before a certain period of time has passed. If the period of time that passed since the robot accepted the assignment is higher than twice the value of Max automation run time setting of an assignment type, then the assignment is classified as timed out and is moved to the work queue "Timed-out robotic automations."

Carefully review each time-out to determine the current status of the work actually completed by the robot. If the robot was not able to begin processing of the assignment, the assignment can be requeued for processing by another robot.

  1. In the application header, click Issues.
  2. Click the Time-outs tab.

Processing failed assignments

If an assignment is not successfully processed (automation failed for that assignment), you can requeue it so that it can be processed again or you can skip processing of the automation by manually continuing the flow in a case type. You can also requeue multiple failed assignments at a time.

Note: Because Pega Robot Manager cannot determine the portions of the automation completed before errors occurred, investigate the failed assignments before requeuing.

If an assignment did not complete successfully, one of two statuses is returned to Pega Robot Manager:

  • Completed with errors – the robot attempted to complete the assigned work, but the automation detected a problem when attempting to run. For example, the required application was not available at the time or the automation was not able to execute because some input values were incorrect. After resolving issues, you can requeue such assignments. If the automation keeps failing, it may require troubleshooting and refactoring in Pega Robot Studio.
  • Did not complete – the automation encountered an unexpected error and did not complete the assignment for an unknown reason. Manual intervention is needed for each such failed assignment. The failing automation might require troubleshooting and refactoring in Pega Robot Studio.

Processing a single failed assignment

You can requeue a single assignment so that it can be processed again or manually continue a flow in a case type to skip processing on an automation.

  1. In the application header, click Issues.
  2. Click Failures tab.
  3. From the drop-down list, select the type of assignment for which you want to view failed assignments.
  4. In the span Failure column, click the case that contains the failed assignment that you want to process.
  5. In the Assignments section, click Begin.
  6. Do one of the following actions:
    • To manually continue the flow, select Actions > Resume manually, and then click Submit.
    • To address the invalid data and to requeue the item so that it can be processed again, do the following actions:
      1. Optional: Click Action > Edit to update a field.
      2. Click Submit.

Processing multiple failed assignments

You can requeue multiple failed assignments so that they can be processed again.

  1. In the application header, click Issues.
  2. In the Failures tab, select the failed assignments that you want to reprocess.
  3. Click Requeue all.

Managing robots

You can manage your robots from two pages: the work group page, which displays only robots assigned to this work group, and from the Robots page, which displays all your robots and can be filtered by robot status and work group. You can start, stop, terminate robots, and move them between work groups.

Note: The term "robot" as used in this article refers to a remote computer running a Windows operating system, where Robotic Automation Runtime is installed, and optionally, an RPA Service is also installed. RPA Service is a Windows service that is installed on the same computer as the runtime executable and acts as an intermediary between the runtime process and Pega Robot Manager.

The following table describes status of robot and available commands, depending on the status of the robot and of the RPA Service. Available options may be limited if commands are pending execution.

Is RPA Service active?Is Runtime
running?
Robot statusAvailable commands
YesNoStandby (blue)

Start (if not on schedule and no command is being processed)

Terminate (if Start fails)

YesYesRunning (green)

Stop (if no command is being processed)

Terminate (if Stop fails)

Running (red)Stop (if no command is being processed and the robot has not lost connectivity)
NoNoOffNone
NoYesRunning (green)Stop (if no command is being processed), no ability to terminate
Running (red)Stop (if no command is being processed and the robot has not lost connectivity), no ability to terminate

Starting robots

After a robot registers with the RPA Service, it is in standby state, which is indicated by a blue dot on its icon. In this state, a Robot Runtime on the remote computer is not running. For a robot to be able to process assignments, it must be started. You can manually start one or multiple robots either from the global list of robots or from the list of robots in a specific work group. You cannot manually start robots that are running on a schedule.

Note: Starting a robot is a multistage process. Each stage of the startup sequence is indicated by the progress bar of the robot. Starting a robot can take up to three minutes from when the command was entered. The robot startup time depends on the value of the heartbeat interval, package download requirements, and the time required to start and log in to the applications with which the robots interact.

Starting robots from the Work group page

To manually start one or more robots from the work group page, perform the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. On the Work groups tab, click the work group that contains the robots that you want to start.
  3. Start one or multiple robots:
    • To start a single robot, click the More options icon for that robot, and then click Start.

      The RPA Service attempts to start the robot, which is indicated by a progress bar. If successful, the color of the dot on the robot icon changes to green.

    • To start multiple robots, perform the following actions:
      1. Select the check boxes next to all robots that you want to start.
      2. Click the More options icon in the header of the robots list, and then click Start.

        The RPA Service attempts to start the robots, which is indicated by a progress bar. If successful, the color of the dot on the robot icons changes to green.

    Note: Starting a robot can take up to three minutes after you enter the command.

Starting robots from the list of all robots

To manually start one or more robots from the list of all robots, perform the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. On the Robots tab, locate the robot or robots that you want to start. You can use filters to display robots from a specific work group or in a specific status.
  3. Start one or multiple robots. Perform one of the following actions:
    • To start a single robot, click the More options icon for that robot, and then click Start.

      The RPA Service attempts to start the robot, which is indicated by a progress bar. If successful, the color of the dot on the robot icons changes to green.

    • To start multiple robots, perform the following actions:
      1. Select the check boxes next to all robots that you want to start.
      2. Click the Bulk actions icon, and then click Start.

        The RPA Service attempts to start the robots, which is indicated by a progress bar. If successful, the color of the dot on the robot icons changes to green.

    Note: Starting a robot can take up to three minutes after you enter the command.

Stopping robots

You can stop a robot either manually or by creating a schedule. After you manually stop a working robot, it finishes its current assignment and its status changes either to standby (if the RPA Service is running), or to off (if the RPA Service is not running). If a schedule is defined for a robot, this schedule is disabled when the robot is manually stopped. You can stop one or multiple robots from the global list of robots or from the list of robots in a specific work group.

Stopping robots from the work group page

To manually stop one or more robots from the work group page, perform the following actions.

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. On the Work groups tab, click the work group that contains the robots that you want to stop.
  3. Stop one or multiple robots:
    • To stop a single robot, click the More options icon for that robot, and then click Stop.

      Pega Robot Manager sends a stop command to the robot, and if successful, the color of the dot on the robot icon changes to blue (if the RPA Service is running), or to off (if the RPA Service is not running).

    • To stop multiple robots, perform the following actions:
      1. Select the check boxes next to all robots that you want to stop.
      2. Click the More options icon in the header of the robots list, and then click Stop.

        Pega Robot Manager sends a stop command to the robots, and if successful, the color of the dot on the robot icons changes to blue (if the RPA Service is running), or to off (if the RPA Service is not running).

Stopping robots from the list of all robots

You can manually stop a single robot or multiple robots from the list of all robots.

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. On the Robots tab, locate the robot or robots that you want to stop. You can use filters to display robots from a specific work group or in a specific status.
  3. Stop one or multiple robots:
    • To stop a single robot, click the More options icon for that robot, and then click Stop.

      Pega Robot Manager sends a stop command to the robot, and if successful, the color of the dot on the robot icon changes to blue (if the RPA Service is running), or to off (if the RPA Service is not running).

    • To stop multiple robots, perform the following actions:
      1. Select the check boxes next to all robots that you want to stop.
      2. Click the Bulk actions icon, and then click Stop.

        Pega Robot Manager sends a stop command to the robots, and if successful, the color of the dot on the robot icons changes to blue (if the RPA Service is running), or to off (if the RPA Service is not running).

Terminating an unresponsive robot

If a robot that is controlled by the RPA Service does not respond to the stop command, you can terminate it.

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. On the Robots tab, locate the unresponsive robot that you previously tried to stop. You can use filters to display robots from a specific work group or in a specific status.
  3. Click the More options icon, and then click Terminate.

Understanding when a robot needs attention

A robot displays a red icon on the Work groups, Robots and Dashboard pages in one of the following scenarios:

  • The number of assignments equals or exceeds the configured threshold. You can set this value by editing the Max capacity setting of an assignment type.
  • The connection to the robot is lost. This means that a robot did not send a heartbeat signal to Pega Robot Manager within the expected period of time, known as a heartbeat interval.
  • The last automation took longer than expected to complete. This value is controlled by Max automation run time (seconds) setting of an assignment type.
  • The number of assignments that the robot failed exceeds the currently defined threshold. You can set this value by editing the Max failed automations setting of a robot.
  • The robot cannot access an application that is required for automation.

Moving robots between work groups

If you have more than one work group, you can move robots between them either manually or by defining a schedule. You cannot manually move robots that are currently running or robots with an enabled schedule. Robots can only move to their "Candidate work groups," that is, groups that are mapped to their administrative operator (registration operator) in the pyGetCandidateWorkGroupListByDispatchOperator decision table. For more information, see Configuring Pega Robot Manager 8.3.1.

To move robots from the work group page, perform the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. On the Work groups tab, click the work group where you want to move robots.
  3. Click Move robots here.
  4. Select the check boxes next to all robots that you want to move to this work group.
  5. Click Move.

Moving robots from the Robots page

To move robots to a specific work group from the Robots page, perform the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. Click the Robots tab, and then click Move robots.
  3. On the Move robots dialog box, select the work group where you want to move the robots, and then click Next.
  4. Select the check boxes next to all robots that you want to move to this work group.
  5. Click Move.

Scheduling robots

Note: For the scheduling feature to work, specific agents need to be enabled and configured in Pega Platform. For more information, see Configuring Pega Robot Manager 8.3.1.

You can set schedules for robots, which reduces the manual effort of managing robots. Robots can be stopped outside of working hours or moved between work groups to provide assistance during known peak hours.

When no scheduled action is defined, the default behavior of the robot is to run in its current work group. When you create a scheduled action for a robot, its current work group is designated as the base work group. After a scheduled action ends, the robot moves back to its base work group.

Note: To change the base work group of a robot, stop the robot, remove all its scheduled actions, move the robot to the designated work group, and then create a new schedule.

For more information, see the following topics:

Setting a new schedule for a robot

When a schedule is first created, it is permanently assigned a time zone based on the time zone of the user that created it. When copying a schedule to a similar robot, the time zone does not change, even when copied by a user in a different time zone. When users are added to Pega Robot Manager by using the People tab, their time zone is inherited from the time zone of the logged in user.

Note: The time zone of the user creating the schedule is determined by the time zone setting of the Operator ID record of the logged in user. If no time zone is specified on that record, the time zone of the Pega Platform server is used. To ensure proper schedule operation in a multi-node environment, specify the time zone on the operator ID record of the user that creates the schedule, so as not to rely on the server time zone, which may be different across nodes.
  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. In the Robots tab find the robot that you want to set the schedule for and click the More options icon.
  3. Click Schedule.
  4. Click Add action.
  5. Select the first action that the robot performs: Stop or Move to group (and start).

    When Move to group (and start) is selected, the robot finishes processing any open assignments, and then shuts down and moves to the new work group, where it receives a new package assignment at startup. Afterward, the robot starts processing work in the new work group.

  6. Select the work group that the robot will move to.
  7. Select recurrence, duration, and action-specific options.
    • None – scheduled action will be executed once for the duration defined in the "from" and "to" fields.
    • Daily – scheduled action will be executed every day, every weekday, or every user-specified number of days. For this option, you also need to set the date on which the schedule will start and optionally, the date when it will end.
    • Weekly – scheduled action will be executed every user-defined number of weeks for the duration defined in the "from" and "to" fields. Optionally, you can specify the days of the week when the schedule will run each week, by selecting a check box next to each day. For this option, you also need to set the date on which the schedule will start and optionally, the date when it will end.
    • Monthly – scheduled action will be executed every month, on a user-defined day, for the duration defined in the "from" and "to" fields. For this option, you also need to set the date on which the schedule will start and optionally, the date when it will end.
  8. Optional: To add another action, click "Add action."
  9. Optional: To change the priority of the actions, hover the mouse cursor over the Priority column of that action, and then drag the action to the place that you want.
  10. Click Submit.

Copying a schedule from a similar robot

If you already have a schedule defined for a robot, you can reuse this schedule for other robots by using the Copy from similar robot feature. To copy the schedule from a similar robot, perform the following actions.

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. In the Robots tab find the robot that you want to set the schedule for and click the More options icon.
  3. Click Schedule.
  4. Click the Copy from similar robot radio button and select a robot from the drop-down list.
    The list is populated with robots that can process the same assignment types as your current robot. If a robot processes different assignment types, it is not considered similar.
  5. Optional: Modify the copied schedule.
  6. Click Submit.

Disabling a schedule

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. In the Robots tab find the robot that you want to remove the schedule for, and click More options icon.
  3. Click Schedule.
  4. Clear the Enable schedule check box.
  5. Click Submit.
Note: Manually stopping a working robot disables its schedule.

Deferring a scheduled action

In specific cases, a scheduled action defined for a robot may be deferred until its next recurrence or until the end of another scheduled action. While deferred, the affected robot will be in a standby state. Possible scenarios for deferring a scheduled action are as follows:

  • If a scheduled action A is about to happen, but there is action B with a higher priority that will start in the next 15 minutes, then scheduled action A is deferred.
  • If a scheduled action is about to start now, but according to the schedule it is supposed to end in the next 15 minutes, then this action is deferred.

Automation packages

After Pega Robotic Automation Studio developers build an automation, they can publish automation packages to a Package Server and then to Pega Robot Manager, which displays all the available packages that developers can publish.

In Pega Robot Manager 8.3.1, the Pega Robotic Automation Importer was added to enable easier development for attended (RDA) implementations. For more information on the Importer, see Pega Robotic Automation Importer component.

Once the package appears in Pega Robot Manager, you can then deploy the automation package to a robotic work group, department of users, or individual users in your organization. For example, a package can contain updates to customer service tasks, which you can test and then deploy those changes to contact center agents who respond to calls from customers.

When a robot logs in to Pega Platform, the robot registers into its defined work group, retrieves the automation package that is assigned to that work group, loads it, and then begins requesting automation assignments.

For more information, see the following topics:

Package versions

Packages can have one or more versions, and you can deploy and promote any version of a package. For example, a Pega Robot Studio developer can publish an initial 1.0 package, which has been deployed to a production level. The developer can later publish an updated 1.1 package, which you can deploy to your QA level, where you can test it and then deploy it to production users.

Modifying package details

You can modify the name and description of a package.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package that you want to rename.
  3. Click Actions > Edit.
  4. Enter a name, description, or both, and then click Submit.

Viewing package versions

You can view information about versions of a package, such as when a package was published and by whom, that are on Pega Platform.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package for which you want to view version information.
  3. Click Actions > Versions.
  4. Click Close.

Deleting package versions

You can delete a version of a package from Pega Robot Manager.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package for which you want to delete a version.
  3. Click Actions > Versions.
    A Lock icon indicates that a package version has been deployed, and you cannot delete it. You must remove the package deployment first. For more information, see Removing a package from a deployment level.
  4. Click Delete for the package version that you want to delete from Pega Platform.
  5. Click Close.

Deleting a package

You can delete a package from Pega Robot Manager.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package that you want to delete.
  3. Optional: If a package is assigned to a department, work group, or user, remove the package assignments. For more information, see Removing package assignments.
  4. Optional: If a package is deployed, remove the package from all levels to which it is deployed. For more information, see Removing a package from a deployment level.
  5. Delete each version of the package. For more information, see Deleting package versions.
  6. Click Actions > Delete.
  7. Click Submit.

Deployment levels

The deployment pipeline defines the levels through which an automation package moves from software development to a production environment. You deploy a package to a level and assign the deployment level to departments, users, and robotic work groups in that level so that the appropriate resources can develop, test, and use the package.

Pega Robot Manager provides the following default deployment levels:

  • Development – the level in which developers update and maintain packages
  • UAT – user acceptance testing. The level in which business users test packages to validate that a package performs as expected in real-world scenarios
  • Production – the level in which case workers use the final version of the package in a live environment

You cannot rename, change the respective order of, or delete these deployment levels.

For more information, see the following topics:

Adding a deployment level

You can add deployment levels to your pipeline, in addition to the three default levels that Pega Robot Manager provides. For example, you can create a QA level, where QA testers can run performance tests before you promote the package to the UAT level.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package for which you want to add a deployment level.
  3. Click the Down Arrow of the deployment level to the left of where you want to add the new level.
  4. Click Add deployment.
  5. Enter a name, and then press Enter. The deployment level is displayed to the right of the level that you clicked.

Renaming a deployment level

You can rename a deployment level that you created.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package for which you want to rename a deployment level.
  3. Click the Down Arrow for the deployment level that you want to rename.
  4. Enter a name, and then press Enter.

Reordering deployment levels

You can move deployment levels to change their order in the deployment pipeline.

  • You cannot move the Deployment or Production deployment levels from their locations.
  • The UAT level must be located between the Development and Production levels.
  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package for which you want to reorder a deployment level.
  3. Drag the deployment level that you want to move to the appropriate location.

Deleting a deployment level

You can delete a deployment level that you created.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package from which you want to delete a deployment level.
  3. If a package has been deployed to the deployment level, you must first remove the package deployment. For more information, see Removing a package from a deployment level.
  4. Click the Down Arrow for the deployment level that you want to delete, and then click Delete.

Deploying a package

You deploy a package into a deployment level and then assign the deployment level and its package to the appropriate robotic work group, department, or user.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package that you want to deploy.
  3. Complete one of the following actions:
    • Deploy a package into a development level on which there is no package deployment:
      1. Click Deploy version in the development level into which you want to deploy a package.
      2. In the Available versions dialog box, click Deploy for the package version that you want to deploy.
    • Deploy a package version that has already been deployed to a deployment level:
      1. Click the Deploy icon in the deployment level to which you want to deploy a package.
      2. In the Available versions dialog box, click Deploy for the package version that you want to deploy.
      3. Assign the deployment level and package to the appropriate resource. For more information, see Assigning deployment levels and packages.

Assigning deployment levels and packages

You assign a deployment level and the package that is deployed in it to a robotic work group, department of users, or individual users. For example, you can assign the Production deployment level, which contains a package so that robots can automatically process claims, to a robotic work group.

When you assign a deployment level and package to a department, the package is inherited by all the subdepartments and users in each subdepartment. If you later add users or subdepartments to the department, any packages that were assigned to the department are also inherited by new subdepartments and users.

You can assign multiple deployment levels and packages to a user. For example, users inherit packages on a deployment level that are assigned to their departments, and you can also assign deployment levels and their associated packages directly to those users. If users are assigned multiple packages, they can select which package they want to use when they log in to their workstations.

You can assign only one package to a robotic work group.

Assigning a package on the Packages page

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package, and then click the deployment level that you want to assign.
  3. Click Assign new.
  4. In the Create assignment dialog box, assign the deployment level and package.
    • To assign a deployment level and package to a robotic work group:
      1. Click the Work group radio button.
      2. In the Work group field, press the Down Arrow key and select the work group.
    • To assign a deployment level and package to a department:
      1. Click the Department radio button.
      2. From the Department drop-down list, select the department.
    • To assign a deployment level and package to a user:
      1. Click the User radio button.
      2. In the User field, press the Down Arrow key and select the user.
  5. Click​ Next.
  6. Optional: If a package configuration is defined, click the configuration that you want to assign. For more information, see Package configurations.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Click Assign.

Assigning a package on a work group page

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. In the Work groups tab, click the work group where you want to assign the package.
  3. Click Assign new.
  4. In the Create assignment dialog box, assign the deployment level and package.
  5. Optional: If a package configuration is defined, click the configuration that you want to assign. For more information, see Package configurations.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Click Assign.

Removing assignments

You can remove an assignment, for example, if a case worker was inadvertently assigned to use the Development deployment level and package.

Removing assignments on the Packages page

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package for which you want to remove an assignment.
  3. Click the deployment level that you want to remove.
  4. In the Assigned to section, click the Delete icon for the department, work group, or user to which the deployment level is assigned.
  5. Click Submit.

Removing assignments on a work group page

  1. In the application header, click Robots.
  2. In the Work groups tab, click the work group where you want to remove the package assignment.
  3. In the Package section, click Remove.
  4. Click Submit.

Viewing assignments

You can view all the packages that are assigned to departments or to individual users.

To view package assignments for a department, complete the following steps:

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. In the Departments tab, click the department for which you want to view package assignments.

To view package assignments for a user, click Users, and then click the user.

The Assigned to section displays all the packages that are assigned to the department or user.

Enabling and disabling assignments

You can enable or disable packages that are assigned to departments or users.

To enable or disable a package assignment for a department, which enables or disables it for all subdepartment users, complete the following steps:

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. In the Departments tab, click the department for which you want to enable or disable a package assignment.
  3. Click the switch in the Assigned to section to enable or disable a package assignment.

To enable or disable a package assignment for a user, complete the following steps:

  1. In the application header, click Users.
  2. On the People tab, click the user.
  3. Click the switch in the Assigned to section to enable or disable a package assignment.

Package configurations

A package can contain one or more configurations, which are defined on the automation by the Pega Robot Studio developer. Configurations act as variables into which different information can be substituted as needed.

For example, an automation developer builds an automation that retrieves parcel delivery information from an intranet website. A user must enter a tracking number in the website to retrieve parcel information.

For performance purposes, two sites are maintained on the intranet website—one for the East Coast of the United States, and one for the West Coast, with separate URLs for each site. The automation developer can create two configurations for the automation package, with one for the East Coast and one for the West Coast. Depending on which package configuration is used, when the automation runs, it loads either the East Coast or West Coast website URL.

In Pega Robot Manager, when you assign a package, you can assign the package configuration for the East Coast website to East Coast users and the package configuration for the West Coast website to West Coast users.

Promoting a package to another deployment level

After a package has been deployed to a level, you can promote the package to another level in the pipeline. For example, after business users finish testing in the UAT level, you can move the package from the UAT level to the production level.

Package deployments are not removed from the original deployment level when you promote them to another level.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package that you want to promote.
  3. Click the package on the deployment level that you want to promote.
  4. Drag the package to the deployment level to promote the package to that level.

Removing a package from a deployment level

You can remove a deployed package from a deployment level.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package that you want to remove from a deployment level.
  3. Optional: If the deployed package is assigned to a department, work group, or user, you must remove the package assignments. For more information, see Removing assignments.
  4. Click the Delete icon for the package version that you want to delete.

Restoring a package on a deployment level

You can restore a previously deployed version of a package deployment on a deployment level. For example, if you deployed a package version from UAT to Production but need to perform more testing, you can restore a previously deployed production package in the Production level.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package for which you want to restore a package version.
  3. In the deployment level for which you want to restore a package, click the Down Arrow, and then click Deployment history.
  4. Click Restore for the package deployment that you want to restore.

Viewing package deployment history

You can view details about a package deployment, such as which version of a package was deployed and when it was deployed.

  1. In the application header, click Packages.
  2. Click the package for which you want to view the deployment history.
  3. In the deployment level for which you want to view the deployment history, click the Down Arrow, and then click Deployment history.

​​Notifications

You can improve your experience with Pega Robot Manager by enabling gadget and email notifications. When notifications are enabled, you receive emails about issues with your robots, for example when a robot loses connectivity, scheduling service is down, or automation execution time is too long. Pega Robot Manager uses the notification feature of Pega Platform. For more information, see Notifications.

To see notification preferences, you must define at least one case type.

Customizing notifications

To enable and customize notifications, perform the following actions:

  1. In the application header, click Profile > Notification Preferences.
  2. Switch on the Receive Notifications toggle.
  3. In the Gadget column, select or clear the check box for each notification related to Pega Robot Manager, and in the Email column, choose the frequency of email notifications from the menu.
    • Instant – email notifications are delivered instantly when they are triggered.
    • Daily – email notifications that are generated over the period of a day are consolidated and sent as a daily digest.
    • Weekly – email notifications that are generated over the period of a week are consolidated and sent as a weekly digest.
    • Disable – email notifications are turned off.
  4. Click Submit.

Viewing notifications in the gadget

To view notifications in the gadget, click the Notification icon next to the Profile icon.

Click the notification to open a relevant Pega Robot Manager page and address the issue. For example, clicking a notification that a robot reached 80% of failed assignments threshold opens the page that contains details about that robot.

Assign to Robot Queue

Starting with Pega Robot Manager 8.3.1, you can define case statuses within the Assign to Robot Queue : Setting case status based on robotic automation status smart shape. This gives you granular control of the case status, within and outside the happy path scenario. You can map all or some of the pre-defined assignment states to case statuses and keep them synchronized.

Robotic assignment stateDescription
Assignment is queuedChange case status when a robotic assignment is added to a work queue.
Note: Work queues are called assignment types in Pega Robot Manager.
Robotic Automation is in progressChange case status when a robot pulls the assignment and starts working on it.
Robotic Automation has conflicting resultsChange case status when a robotic assignment is completed but returns data that fails validations specified for the case.
Robotic Automation failsChange case status when a robotic assignment could not be completed and failed.
Robotic Automation times outChange case status when a robotic assignment could not be completed in the threshold time specified in the assignment type/work queue.

For more information about assigning tasks to a robotic work queue, see Assigning a task to a robotic work queue.

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