The Importance of Standardization in Automation: A Real-Life Example

In my current project with a financial industry customer, I have been working on automating various processes to improve efficiency and reduce errors. However, one of the challenges we faced was the lack of standardization in the process. Without standardization, the process of creating a new user account was prone to errors, delays, and inconsistencies. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of standardizing the process and how it simplifies automation.

The Non-Standardized Process

Before we applied standards, the process of creating a new user account had three different ways of requesting the account, as shown in the yellow blocks below:

As you can see, each block contains different information, which can lead to multiple edits and updates before the account is ready for handover. This staggered process also introduces the risk of error, such as incorrect spelling of a surname, which requires more edits to the user account.

The Standardized Process

After applying standards, we now have a consistent process for creating new user accounts. All requests must come in through a form, and this form has data fields that the requester must complete before submitting. This ensures that all data required for a user account arrives at once, avoiding the issues of misinterpretation we had earlier with the first & last name spelling.

The new process reduces the number of edits required and ultimately results in the requester getting their end product – the user account – much sooner. In addition, we have introduced naming standards, so all users created are in the format of: first initial and full last name.

Benefits of Standardization

Standardizing the process has several benefits, including:

1. Consistency: With standardization, we ensure that all processes are equal and meet set guidelines, resulting in consistent quality end products.

2. Error Reduction: By having a set process, we reduce the risk of errors, as all data is collected at once and validated beforehand.

3. Efficiency: Standardization simplifies the automation process, allowing for quicker deployment and easier maintenance.

4. Improved Communication: With standardized processes, communication between teams is more straightforward, as everyone is working to the same guidelines.

5. Scalability: Standardization makes it easier to scale processes, as we can simply replicate the process for larger volumes of requests.

Simplifying Automation

When automating a standardized process, we can see how much simpler it becomes. Without standards, we would need to account for every scenario that the request could follow, allow for breaks in the process, enable human interaction, and provide error correction. With standards, we can allow automation to generate the username, validate the inputs, and hand over the item to the requester.

Estimating the time required for automation also becomes simpler, as we have a clearly defined process with a set of inputs (the user details) and an expected outcome (the user account). Once the process is standardized, changes to this process become more controlled – we can introduce and enforce a review process, which means any changes to the process are agreed within the team and released in an agreed manner.

Conclusion

In conclusion, standardizing the process of creating new user accounts has simplified the automation process and reduced errors. By having a consistent process, we ensure that all requests are treated equally and that all users are created with the same naming standards. This not only improves efficiency but also enables scalability and easier maintenance. I hope this example illustrates the importance of standardization in automation and encourages you to consider standardizing your own processes.