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    "title" : "5 Tips for Implementing Citizen Development in Your RPA Program |Digital.gov",
    "description": "5 Tips for Implementing Citizen Development in Your RPA Program",
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    {"kicker" : "Robotic Process Automation","title" :"5 Tips for Implementing Citizen Development in Your RPA Program","deck" : "Guidance and best practices for federal robotic process automation programs looking to operationalize citizen developers","summary" : "The Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Community of Practice highlights five key points for implementing RPA citizen developers, as shared by federal subject matter experts James Gregory (General Services Administration), Frank Wood (Defense Logistics Agency), and Russ Kuehn (Social Security Administration) during their recent webinars with the Federal RPA Community of Practice.","date" : "2021-08-16T13:44:00-05:00","date_modified" : "2024-04-02T09:45:13-04:00","authors" : {"james-gregory" : "James Gregory"},"topics" : {
        
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      "filename" :"2021-08-13-5-tips-for-implementing-citizen-development-in-your-rpa-program.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2021/08/2021-08-13-5-tips-for-implementing-citizen-development-in-your-rpa-program.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/cm-topics-button-component/content/news/2021/08/2021-08-13-5-tips-for-implementing-citizen-development-in-your-rpa-program.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/cm-topics-button-component/content/news/2021/08/2021-08-13-5-tips-for-implementing-citizen-development-in-your-rpa-program.md","slug" : "5-tips-for-implementing-citizen-development-in-your-rpa-program","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/cm-topics-button-component/2021/08/16/5-tips-for-implementing-citizen-development-in-your-rpa-program/","weight" : "1","content" :"\u003ch2 id=\"citizen-developers-what-are-they\"\u003eCitizen Developers: What are they?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRobotic Process Automation (RPA) software is marketed to be low-to-no code with the goal of empowering non-technical employees to develop and deploy automations locally. Citizen developers are federal employees who have been enabled to create and develop RPA applications for individual or business unit consumption with the RPA software. In order to empower citizen development at a federal agency, the agency’s CIO office and RPA teams must collaborate to establish governance to ensure that RPA can be deployed safely, securely, and effectively across the enterprise. Below you will find some tips on how to ensure success for citizen development at your federal agency:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"tip-1-empower-your-employees\"\u003eTip 1: Empower your Employees\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmpowering the workforce through marketing and training to become citizen developers will drastically improve the chances an initiative is successful, but this is often easier said than done. Ideal candidates typically share some common characteristics. These individuals should be comfortable with technology, have a deep understanding of business processes and workflows, and have sustained motivation and enthusiasm towards learning the required skills.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDevelopment licenses can be a large expense for an RPA program, so it is critical they are carefully assigned. Individuals may often show initial enthusiasm for citizen development, but utilizing the skill set takes a back seat to other competing priorities. Therefore, it is important for programs to identify individuals with sustained motivation so that licenses are not used inefficiently.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIdeal candidates:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAre comfortable with technology.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHave a deep understanding of the workflow and business processes.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHave sustainable motivation.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"tip-2-establish-effective-governance\"\u003eTip 2: Establish Effective Governance\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA major concern with citizen development is governance and automation security. Organizations can ensure all governance and security best practices are followed by clearly communicating standardized protocols and procedures for automation development. Extensive code-review processes and the utilization of separate environments ensures security is not sacrificed, while still realizing the benefits of having citizen developers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe recommend:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA centralized code repository to facilitate code review and disaster recovery.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRole-based access controls (RBAC) to mitigate the risk associated with automations in accessing sensitive data.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSeparate environments for code development, testing, and production.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"tip-3-leverage-existing-relationships-and-experiences\"\u003eTip 3: Leverage Existing Relationships and Experiences\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRPA is a low- to no-code software, making it very easy for individuals to build, deploy, and manage automations. Many employees within an organization already possess the required skills to develop automations. Organizations can encourage technologically savvy employees to collaborate with trained developers, drastically reducing training time and costs. Similarly, potential citizen developers can connect with chief information officer (CIO) shops and information technology (IT) departments to quickly understand the required security protocols and best practices in developing automations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBe sure to:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEncourage inter-organizational collaboration to leverage existing expertise from other functional areas.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConnect with CIO shops and IT departments to decrease time to market.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMinimize training costs and increase efficiency.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"tip-4-establish-leadership-buy-in-and-support\"\u003eTip 4: Establish Leadership Buy-in and Support\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe most successful cross-agency initiatives are often organized and managed from the top-down, rather than the bottom-up. Establishing leadership buy-in early on in the initiative facilitates rapid implementation of citizen developers in an organization. In addition, leadership support of a citizen developer initiative will help secure training funds for employee upskilling.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSuccessful initiatives:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDrive initiative from the top-down, rather than bottom up, to achieve faster results.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCreate consistent messaging and communications to ensure progress is not hindered by changing roles or responsibilities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAdd clarity to the initiative by establishing organization-wide common ground.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"tip-5-include-qualitative-benefits-in-return-on-investment\"\u003eTip 5: Include Qualitative Benefits in Return on Investment\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen evaluating an investment opportunity, it is common practice to simply evaluate the quantitative aspects of return on investment. However, implementing citizen developers within an organization also provides many qualitative benefits that should be considered. For example, training more employees in developing automations helps improve the baseline understanding of RPA and can increase the rate of adoption across the agency. Training also aids in opportunity identification, as employees who work with the business processes at the ground level are able to identify future candidates for automation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInclude benefits that:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConsider the improvement in automation opportunity identification. \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConsider the opportunity cost of using a different automation technology to migrate data between outdated legacy systems,additional capabilities, decreased error rates, improved quality, etc.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWeigh the value of a long-term cultural transformation by ingraining new automation skill sets in employees with training and an open space for them to learn and get used to the program.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMake government processes faster to improve services to citizens. \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHelps federal employees do their jobs better.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"bonus-tip\"\u003eBonus Tip \u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInterested in learning more about using citizen developers? Check out these \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH1-QrRbs4EfcB8RXMgiJoI\"\u003evideo shorts\u003c/a\u003e and be sure to join the \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/rpa/\"\u003eFederal RPA Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e.  \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDCuPPh8lP8\u0026amp;list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH1-QrRbs4EfcB8RXMgiJoI\u0026amp;index=7\"\u003eInterpretation of Citizen Development\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roiC_nxXuH0\u0026amp;list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH1-QrRbs4EfcB8RXMgiJoI\u0026amp;index=7\"\u003eFuture of Citizen Development within Government\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqSuKO3Gywk\u0026amp;list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH1-QrRbs4EfcB8RXMgiJoI\u0026amp;index=5\"\u003eIncorporating Citizen Development into the CoE (Center of Excellence)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igagQ_hsJtI\u0026amp;list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH1-QrRbs4EfcB8RXMgiJoI\u0026amp;index=4\"\u003eBenefits of Adopting Citizen Development\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKruaC_2q04\u0026amp;list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH1-QrRbs4EfcB8RXMgiJoI\u0026amp;index=3\"\u003eHurdles to Implementing Citizen Development at Scale\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkE6SDz2-iI\u0026amp;list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH1-QrRbs4EfcB8RXMgiJoI\u0026amp;index=2\"\u003eResponding to Critics of Citizen Development\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KajUqAB4Yg\u0026amp;list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH1-QrRbs4EfcB8RXMgiJoI\u0026amp;index=1\"\u003eImplementing Checks and Balances for Citizen Development\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n"}
  ]
}