Process and Object Studio

For the folks working on Blue Prism development or any other assignment related to Blue Prism, there are these two terms which comes to us on daily basis.

These are 'Process Studio' and 'Object Studio'.

So what is a Process Studio?

Answer: As the name indicates, process studio is a place where one can view, create, update processes definitions. In very simple terms this is a place where all the process development happen.

One of the sample screen shot of process studio is as below :

Please note that source of this image is internet and I am just using it for a reference. So any copy rights with this image ( if any) will intact.

Few important points to be remember regarding the process studio are , left panel ( I split the above screen shot and display below). This is the area from where you can get all the required stages which will be used by the process.

Note how the blue rectangle is highlighting 'Pointer' option in the above screen shot.
This basically indicates the current selection.

Another very important part of Process studio is the section from where you can run/debug your process to test if it is working as expected.

You can locate it from left top corner in the first screen shot and below is the section:

I'll explain the purpose of each button in my next blog.

What is Object Studio?

As name indicates, this is a place where one can create/view/modify Business Objects.
It is similar to Process studio , however it has few additional options available in the left panel such a 'Navigate', 'Read', 'Write' Stages etc.

I'll explain all these options in my next blog on Object Studio.

I hope it will give you a basic idea about the difference between Process and Object studio in Blue Prism.

Advice for People who want to Learn Blue Prism

Hi Friends,

I am writing this post today to list down important points which you should consider if you seriously considering RPA- Blue Prism is your career path.

I recommend that first of all you should understand Blue Prism structure overall.
This will really help you to move forward with any of the main streams within Blue Prism such as Designing Blue Prism Environment or Developing Automations.

There is very useful video on you tube for understanding the architecture of Blue Prism :

Blue Prism Architecture


Once you will understand the architecture then next thing you should know how a bot logs into the machine. Because ultimately it will be bot who will perform the required work by running the automation.

You can refer to this very useful video to understand Login Agent.

Blue Prism - Login Agent


If you are planning to prepare for ATA02 - Designing a blue prism environment, there is this really useful video which you can refer:

ATA02 - Designing Blue Prism Environment

Once you will understand these basics of Blue Prism environment, it will really easy to move to next components of the application.
You can also start learning developing a process.

Another really useful resource is this website : www.learntoearnit.com

Hope this will help you folks, I will update my blog with some examples regularly.

Blue Prism ATA02 - Login Agent

Thought to write this post today to explain 'Login Agent' In Blue Prism. Since this is the very first thing that one should know while starting his/her preparation for Blue Prism exam or for any real world project.

So let's gets started!!!


INTRODUCTION:

In very general terms 'Login Agent' is nothing but a software. As any other software, this also has something to perform for us which is : It provides us a mechanism to login to an assigned windows device in a secure manner. So it really just a software and nothing else.

Blue Prism vendor deliver login agent with the installer of Blue Prism software. And it will be located in same installation media.

Another important point to remember is that any login agent supports only that version of Blue Prism application with which it will be delivered by Vendor. 

On the similar lines, Login Agent will support only those Operating systems which will be supported by Blue Prism application.

So in terms of compatibility, Login agent will behave the same way as Blue Prism Application will do with which Login agent had been delivered by vendor.


There are few prerequisites which we need to understand prior to installing Login Agent on any windows machines.

Below are these requirements:

1. There should be Blue Prism Application installed on the machine where we would like to install Login Agent.
2. There should be few security policies which system admin has to enforce on the windows machine so that Login Agent would work as expected.

First one in the above list is pretty straight forward. 

However, for the security policies , please refer below :

Any machine on which we need Login Agent to work properly, there should be few security policies enabled :

1. The machine should not prompt for 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' while machine will come online after a reboot.
2. There should not be any policy acceptance screen because there will be no one to accept those policies on the remote machine.
3. System should not get locked after idle time.

These policies should be updated by System Administrator and can be updated by going in to Group and local system policies.

Finally, the user which will finally login to this machine, should have administrator level access.

Please note that the policies mentioned above are mandatory and Login Agent will not work as it should if not followed properly.

I hope this Introduction will help to understand the first few things for Login Agent.

In my next post, I will cover why we need a Login Agent and then afterwards we will cover 'How' a login agent would work.

Keep reading and if you find it helpful, please pass it along in your network.

Blue Prism ATA02 - Architecture Overview

In continuation to my last post,  'Introduction to ATA02 - Technical Architect Exam' for Blue Prism, I am writing this post today to start my online course for all those aspirants/technical folks who want to pursue their career in the field of RPA and want to design complete setup of Blue Prism.

As mentioned in the earlier post, ATA02 certification will help to boost your career in the field of architect where one will be able to design the Blue Prism environment.

So let's gets started....

A good understanding of each and every component is 'a MUST' while designing any new application.

This is valid for any application and it is true for Blue Prism Implementation as well.

That is the reason I am starting this course by introducing basic components of Blue Prism.

Any Blue Prism implementation will have the following components :

• Interactive Client
• Run Time Resources.
• Application Server ( Optional, depending upon the work load)
• Database Server ( Core Critical Component).

• Interactive Client : - 

Interactive Client will be used for development( for DEV region) and for Controlling and Monitoring for UAT and PROD regions. A Blue Prism Interactive Client will be an End-User desktop build , it can be physical as well virtual( depending upon the use case). An Interactive Client will be used to facilitate the setup, development , configuration as well as monitoring various Blue Prism Processes across the environment. 

• Run Time Resources:

Run Time Resources are components we can refer as 'Bots' which run the actual processes. It is best practice to Visualize this component of Blue Prism. Because visualizing Run time resources will have its own advantages ( I will post a detailed description on the advantages in a separate post next week). We commonly refer these machines as 'Software Robots'

• Application Server:

As listed above, application server is an optional component while designing a Blue Prism setup. Please note that it is purely depend on the use case in hand which will decide whether we need an application server or not. 

Also, one should note that key functionality of application server is to marshal all communications between Blue Prism Resources ( Interactive Client, RunTime resources etc. ) to the database.

This is to enhance the security of the data while communicating with database.

Additionally, application server can be physical or virtual windows server.

• Database Server ( SQL Server):

A database server is the most Critical Component of Blue Prism Implementation. Because it stores all the information related to the processes, schedules, audit and user information. Database server will act as a centralized repository to hold all the important information related to any process, user, audit or schedules.

I'll stop here with today's post. Please feel free to contact me on my linkedIn profile. 

Also, you can subscribe my YouTube Channel. I'll be posting videos explaining the details of Blue Prism Implementations regularly.

Blue Prism( RPA ) - An Introduction to ATA02 Certification

Hi Readers,

Before I will write anything on ATA02 certification of Blue Prism for Technical Architect Exam, I would like to introduce my self.

My name is Harsh and I am a Blue Prism ACCREDITED Technical Architect. I have recently cleared my exam and with that experience I thought to help all students/aspirants who want to achieve and learn more about RPA technology using Blue Prism.

One of the main motivating factor for me to write this blog is because I feel that there is not much online content available for everyone to learn and prepare for exam. In addition to this blog, I have recently started a you tube video channel as well. Click here to go to my you tube channel.

You can get my LinkedIn profile from the you tube video description as well.

So, without any further delay, let's get started :

What is RPA??? , I am sure many of us already know the answer. But I would like to write it up anyways.

RPA is 'Robotic Process Automation'. In a very simple terms, RPA is a technology with the help of which any business can automate their Business processes which will help them to reduce man effort and obviously increase the throughput because with RPA we can build a bot which can run 24*7 without break. As you can imagine the power of such a workforce and the benefits to the business overall.

Blue Prism is one of such software with which we can implement RPA in our business.
You can learn more about Blue Prism by going to this Link.

Now obviously to build such work force and to deploy the bots any business has to has the following:

• Developers - To write code for bots which will be executed by bots. In Blue Prism terminology it is being referred as 'Process'
• Architects -  To design the whole environment with the given Use Case. This will include designing all the components by using best industry practices for each vendor.

Blue Prism has launched multiple certification exams so that one can  learn more about these aspects of the implementation. 

One of such examination is ATA02. This exam is specifically for version 6.X of Blue Prism and is for anyone who want to build his/her career in the field of technical architect.

With the help of this exam, one can learn how to design various components of Blue Prism such as 'Interactive Client' , 'Run Time Resources' , 'Application Servers' and 'Database Servers'. And how to utilize these components to the best of their capabilities.

ATA02 Exam consists of total 45 questions and one has to score 70% in the exam to earn the certificate.

The cost of this exam is USD 125. And in case one will fail in first attempt , second attempt has to after one month of the failed attempt.

You can register from Pearson VUE site for this exam by going to this URL.

One of the prerequisite is that you should have a Blue Prism portal account to register for this certification exam.

And you can get the study material from Blue Prism portal which will help you to understand all the required concepts needed for this exam.

NOTE : In my personal experience in appearing this exam, I should say that the exam is of Medidum to High difficulty level and one appear for the exam only and only after understanding all the core concepts inside and out.

You can reach out to my on my linkedIn profile , in case you will have any questions.

And don't forget to subscribe to my posts and you tube channel as I will keep on updating the content which will help everyone in understanding these concepts.