Discover more about Patricija’s BA placement

I’ve spent the best 11 months as part of the Process Automation Team, specialising in business analysis in UiPath robotics process automation tools. Robotics process automation is the use of software robots to perform mundane, repetitive, time-consuming tasks to free up an employee’s time to do more valuable, engaging work.

• A process that takes a list of people on a spreadsheet and adds them to a training course on a separate application
• A process that takes passenger bookings where the departure time has changed and automatically completing a checklist of tasks that can include rebooking car hire, checking if hotel dates need changing etc.

This can take a lot of time and is repetitive. With a robot completing this work, the employee completing this task can now focus on addressing individual cases that need a human touch, and provide a better service, as they are not rushed to complete all the ‘green path’ cases.

Another advantage to RPA is that a robot can complete tasks with much higher accuracy and speed. If a lot of money is lost due to actions not being taken in time, or errors being made that need fixing, perhaps automation could be a solution to be investigated in this area.

The best thing about working with RPA (robotics process automation), is that neither “everyday looks the same” nor “everyday looks different” applies. You come into the office knowing what projects you oversee and at what steps are needed to move the project along. Unexpected changes or tasks that need doing are not overwhelming, as they are not constant. Once one project is completed, you move onto the next one, which is usually completely different to the last.

A typical day involves arriving in the office, checking your calendar to see what meetings you must prepare for, checking your to-do list so that you can plan your time outside of the meetings, and then preparing materials for your first meeting. When providing business analysis for RPA, the meetings tend to cover the Triage/ Analysis phase of a project which involves identifying the scope of a new automation idea, creating process maps to identify each step/route the robot would take to perform the actions, and managing stakeholders to gather all the information you would need to send the solution designer and developers to produce the automation smoothly. Outside of meetings you are creating the process maps, updating documentation and analysing any documents/ task mining traces.

If you decide to take the development/programming route, your meetings would consist of updating the team/stakeholders on the progress of a project and identifying any technical changes/approaches that are needed to provide an effective solution. This can involve gaining knowledge of useful APIs, how to utilise data warehouses, knowledge of activities within UiPath Studio, etc. Otherwise, your time outside of meetings would be building the automation.

Although I have only worked in the team for 11 months, the responsibility I have been given has been a fantastic learning experience! One of the business areas that I oversee for RPA business analysis is Engineering, a new relationship as we didn’t have any automations with them prior to the one I will explain.

This automation is a ‘Maintenance Team Allocation’ process that checks which team is available on the day, whether they are shift code 121 or 122, if they are on a late or early shift and what number their team is. It would then identify long-haul aircraft departing or arriving at Heathrow that day and identify if a daily maintenance check or transit check is required. If yes, it would assign the most appropriate team to that aircraft to perform said check, send the allocation to a supervisor for approval and then update the SAP system so that the teams can access this information. This allows the managers in engineering that would usually perform this task to spend more time on managing time-critical maintenance cases, rather than routine checks.

One thing I enjoy about this project, and all the others, is the visible value you are providing the business. It is easy to get caught up in corporate work and lose sight of where your day-to-day work is useful. It is a constant reminder with RPA that your work is making someone’s life easier.

I joined the team with no knowledge of what RPA was or what I was going to be doing, so I had no expectations of what skills would be required. Because of this, everything was a surprise! With RPA business analysis in particular, some skills I’ve honed this year are:

• Attention to detail
• Stakeholder management and leadership
• Leading meetings and owning projects
• Technical skills/knowledge (while not needed, have been immensely useful to gain over the year as this new programming knowledge has boosted my analysis capabilities and the quality of my suggestions)
• Change management
• Delegation of limited resources

Once I grasped the concept of RPA and business analysis, my managers were not afraid to put me in positions of responsibility (with a lot of support and encouragement). This experience of project ownership and (by the end of the placement) being the most knowledgeable person in the room on a subject was an invaluable opportunity to grow my confidence in a corporate environment. Despite my age and (lack of) years of experience in the industry, with a bit of correctly managed guidance, and time to make mistakes and learn from them, I am capable of being just as valuable and knowledgeable as anybody in the team.

To somebody looking for a career in aviation: Aviation is not just operation-specific roles, there is a breadth of opportunities at British Airways that you don’t even know exist. There is something out there for everyone and it is important to keep doors open to try new things. I never imagined myself in a digital, tech-based role, but it has been a better year than I could have ever imagined, and I surprised myself (someone with no interest in tech prior to this year) with how much I enjoyed my role.

To somebody looking for a career in RPA: Don’t underestimate the power of throwing yourself in the deep end, it is OK to be inexperienced and feel a little silly in the beginning but as soon as you start acting as if you are an expert, the sooner you become one. With the right guidance from your managers, say yes to everything you can! You will never learn something new if you don’t go out of your way to learn something new… if that makes sense.

If you are wanting to follow in my footsteps and begin a career in an amazing company like British Airways: be authentically yourself, accept growth and change, truly listen to others and their ideas, be open to saying yes to new opportunities and opening these doors for yourself and spend time reflecting on how you can be a good leader too.

Thank you for reading!