To realize RPA’s true value, you must choose the right processes to automate. Automating the wrong workflows can waste resources and deliver poor results, while the right choices unlock efficiency, scalability, and ROI. Learn four steps to help you identify processes that support a sustainable, high-impact automation program.
In brief:
- Knowing how to select the right processes for automation is essential because not every manual process is viable for automation. Organizations that go into RPA without evaluating their processes for rules-based automation tend to struggle or fail.
- Process assessments may reveal “broken” manual processes. These processes must be improved before considering them for automation.
- An intake system for process evaluation and an RPA scorecard will help identify the most eligible — and most valuable — processes to automate.
- Use a process definition document (PDD) to capture the output of process discovery sessions and record the as-is business process.
- Use a solution design document (SDD) to gather each process’s technical requirements so they can be included in the automation.
With a market size of over $4.6 billion in 2025, robotic process automation (RPA) is a popular technology that many enterprises are adopting. RPA takes routine, repeatable, rules-based processes and intelligently automates them by using software to replace manual tasks so employees can focus on more value-added activities. However, realizing the true value of RPA starts with selecting the right processes to automate.
Many organizations begin their RPA journey without taking the time needed up-front to review and assess which processes are viable for automation. They assume everything can or should be automated without determining return on investment (ROI) versus the cost to build and maintain.
As we like to say: Automating a bad or nonviable process just gets you the same bad results faster.
Understanding why process selection matters is only the first step. To avoid automating the wrong workflows, organizations need a structured way to identify and evaluate potential processes to automate before any development begins. That work starts with RPA analysis and ideation.
This blog post uses our proven approach to walk business and information technology (IT) leaders through the full journey of selecting and preparing processes for automation. We’ll start with RPA analysis and automation prioritization, then explore automated business process discovery and solution design documentation.
Why Choosing the Right Processes to Automate Matters
Many organizations begin their automation journey believing that most business processes should be automated. In reality, not every process is viable for automation, and organizations that go into RPA with this mindset tend to struggle or fail.
Centric Consulting Operational Modernization Architect Nick Rahn says, “Some processes require oversight based on strategy or long-term vision, or still require manual review because of compliance reasons.”
Without taking the time to assess processes for automation, organizations can end up with overly complex solutions that take more time and money to develop. They may also automate manual processes that should have been improved before they were automated.
When organizations focus on the right processes to automate, they are better positioned to unlock efficiency, productivity, scalability, and measurable ROI — while allowing teams to focus on higher-value activities.
4 Steps for Choosing the Right Processes to Automate
Step 1: RPA Analysis and Ideation
Start Small: Choose a Department or Team for Pilot Automation
Getting started with RPA shouldn’t include every process in your company. Instead, begin with analysis and ideation for an RPA use case intake so you can drive it forward. We recommend starting small by choosing one department — or even one team — within your organization and looking for automation opportunities.
Taking a deliberate yet calculated approach allows for greater focus, leading to potential quick wins that promote RPA’s use across a larger breadth of the organization.
Engage SMEs to Identify High-Potential Use Cases
Once you have chosen a pilot department, engage with subject matter experts (SMEs). This group should represent people who can provide more information on how processes are executed today and the pain points they encounter during daily execution.
By engaging SMEs early, you can identify processes for automation that are repetitive, rules-based, and well-suited for early success — particularly when considering different types of RPA solutions.
Create a Process Intake Methodology
Establish a way for users to submit ideas for evaluation. In the early stages, this may be as simple as an email submitted to an inbox. As your automation program gains traction, more user-friendly interfaces, such as a SharePoint site or internal webpage, become more effective.
At a minimum, intake submissions should capture information such as:
- Process frequency
- Transaction volume
- Time per transaction
- Organizational impact
- System complexity
- Data reliability
- Overall process continuity
Based on the needs of your business, you may find additional information that end users should include during this initial request phase to support more effective decision-making.
Gathering this information up-front is more efficient than collecting it later, when time may be taken away from development — or, worse, when a process never reaches implementation, revealing it may not have been a strong candidate for automation to begin with.
While analysis and ideation help identify potential processes for automation, not every idea should move forward. To invest your time and resources wisely, your organization must determine which processes are truly viable and which to prioritize based on impact and ROI.
Step 2: Feasibility and Automation Prioritization
Once you have established where you will begin testing your automation journey and set up a procedure to allow users to submit ideas for RPA projects, you then need a way to evaluate and assess each idea submission.
Why Every Process Isn’t Viable
Not every business process is viable for automation. Without a structured way to assess the feasibility of automating a process, you risk taking on overly complex processes that require significant effort to build and maintain, or automating manual processes that deliver poor results.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is making it more feasible to automate more processes. AI coupled with RPA can automate processes that formerly had unreliable data sources. That opens up a world of possibilities. However, you still need to address how viable it is to automate the process, especially considering ROI. Just because AI makes it so you can automate doesn’t mean you should automate.
Build and Use an RPA Scorecard
An effective way to evaluate for business process automation viability is to use an RPA scorecard template. This scorecard helps you assess automation viability using a minimal amount of information so you can eliminate nonviable processes early and reduce non-value-added work later.
At a minimum, include the following information on your RPA scorecard template:
- Process frequency
- Transaction volume
- Time per transaction
- Organizational impact: How many users will you impact if the process is automated?
- Number of systems and screens
- Input data (structured or unstructured)
- Complexity of business rules: Rules-based and, if so, level of complexity
- Process, system, and data reliability: Is the process prone to errors? Does it include unreliable data? Are there many variations to achieve the same outcome?
- Service-level agreements (SLAs): Is the process held to specific SLAs?
- Process continuity: Does the process (or dependent systems) experience frequent changes or is it relatively stable?
Rahn suggests asking: “First, does it help us realize additional revenue or recover revenue? Does it help speed, scale, or grow our business? Can I make something easier or better for my customers? How difficult will it be to put in place?”
Prioritize Processes for the Greatest Impact
Once you’ve determined feasibility, you should prioritize processes based on ROI and operational value.
“If maximizing ROI is the goal, then you want small tasks in extremely high volume,” Rahn says. “Automating millions of records or transactions — each one taking a minute or two — drives huge benefits.”
After you’ve evaluated processes to automate for feasibility and priority based on ROI and operational impact, you can shift your focus from which processes to automate to how those processes work.
Step 3: Automated Business Process Discovery and Documentation
Importance of Involving SMEs in Process Walkthroughs
During automated business process discovery, you’ll take a deeper dive into prioritized processes to fully understand each step involved in execution. This phase requires close collaboration with SMEs who understand both the “happy path” and the exceptions that occur during real-world execution.
“Process mining and task mining are the tip into engaging SMEs to find out why a process is the way it is. We can use AI to find out what is happening, but we usually need a person to tell us the ‘why,’” Rahn says.
Best Practices for Discovery Sessions
Discovery sessions often involve screen sharing, recording (with approval), and asking detailed, exception-based questions. Depending on how complex the process is, you may need multiple sessions to fully document all possible outcomes.
Capturing explicit detail during discovery ensures digital workers can emulate the actions of human users as closely as possible.
Sample content categories for a PDD.
During the discovery and documentation phase, you’ll be able to explore alternatives — including continuous process improvement, native application enhancement, or other automations — to make sure RPA is the right solution.
Create a Process Definition Document
The process definition document (PDD) captures the output of discovery sessions, documents the as-is business process, and sets the scope with the business.
The PDD typically includes process flows, target systems, assumptions, and known exceptions, and it serves as a shared reference for both business users and developers. Thorough discovery and a well-defined PDD ensure that the processes you select for automation are clearly understood and properly scoped before moving into solution design.
Although you may not initially choose a business process as viable for automation, that doesn’t mean you cannot, or should not, address it later.
Step 4: From PDD to Solution Design Document
Finalize and Validate the PDD
Before you begin development, review the PDD with appropriate business users and finalize it. While additional scenarios may surface later, capturing 80–90 percent of known cases is typically sufficient to move forward without unnecessary delay.
Once approved, the PDD is handed over to the technical team to create the solution design document (SDD).
“This is a technical understanding of the process and is built in lockstep with the automation,” Rahn says.
Best Practices for a Solution Design Document Template
The SDD defines the to-be automated process and translates business requirements into a technical blueprint for development. Keeping the SDD current throughout development and testing ensures it remains useful beyond deployment.
A good SDD should include the following information at a minimum:
- An introduction
- Solution overview
- Operational control and alerting
- Data security and credentials
- Assumptions taken into account
What to include in the SDD.
Selecting the right processes to automate and documenting them clearly through disciplined design sets the stage for successful deployment. However, long-term automation success depends on what happens next.
Best Practices for Sustainable Automation Success
Automation does not end at deployment. As processes evolve and systems change, your organization must continue reviewing your automations and your approach to process selection.
Treating process intake, discovery, and design as a repeatable cycle allows organizations to scale RPA programs while maintaining governance, efficiency, and quality.
When organizations treat process selection, intake, discovery, and design as a repeatable cycle, automation becomes a strategic capability rather than a one-off initiative. This disciplined approach ensures future processes for automation are evaluated with the same rigor.
Get Started With Choosing the Right Processes for Automation
Choosing the right processes to automate is critical to realizing the true value of RPA — and you must revisit that choice continuously as your organization grows, systems change, and new opportunities emerge.
By investing time in RPA analysis, automation prioritization, automated business process discovery, and disciplined documentation, your organization can avoid common pitfalls and focus on processes for automation that deliver meaningful business impact.
With the right approach, automation becomes a repeatable, scalable capability — one that drives efficiency, productivity, and long-term success.
Want more support in your process automation journey? Our operational excellence consultants can help you improve business processes to increase operational efficiency and effectiveness. TALK TO AN EXPERT
