Automation package basics
To successfully automate a task, a robot must first load an automation package that contains the instructions necessary to run the automation.
These instructions could include details such as: a list of applications to access; how to proceed through a user interface; which information to retrieve; or which information to update.A single package typically contains the related automations that are needed to complete a specific business objective, for example, looking up a financial history, updating user contact information, and so on.
Each automation package can have multiple versions that correspond to development updates or bug fixes.
For more information, see Automation packages.
Deployment levels
Deployment levels are groupings of packages that are related to how mature an automaton package is. In Pega Robot Manager, you can associate an automation package (or its specific version) with one of the three default deployment levels:
- Development
- UAT (User Acceptance Training)
- Production
For more information, see Deployment levels.
Package assignment
Package assignment links a deployment level of an automation package to a specific department, user, or robotic work group. For example, you can assign a package version in the UAT deployment level to a specific group of users for testing purposes.
Assignments can be inherited through your organization hierarchy. For example, users in a subdepartment will inherit a package assignment that was deployed at the parent-department level.
For more information, see Assigning deployment levels and packages.
Example
The following example provides a summary of automation package deployment and consumption in Robot Manager.
As a developer, you create an automation in Pega Robot Studio, and you publish your work to the automation package repository (either Pega Package Server or a repository controlled by Robot Manager).
Simultaneously, the package metadata is published to Robot Manager. This way, Robot Manager is aware of all the automation packages and versions that are available for consumption. After a package version and its associated metadata are published, the robot administrator can then log in to Robot Manager and assign the automation package version to either an individual user or a group of users.
When a Customer Service Representative (CSR) logs in to their workstation, the instance of Pega Robot Runtime that resides on that workstation requests the package assignment that is associated with that CSR. Based on the package assignment, Pega Robot Runtime then downloads and loads the corresponding package from the package repository, and the CSR is ready to start working.
The following figure represents the package deployment and consumption process:
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