Automation Toolkit: best-practice templates, step-by-step work plans and maturity diagnostics

"My old uni classmates might be confused by what I'm doing right now. I assist with enhancing the automation test framework by supporting a continuous integration environment, I have extended knowledge of general office automation software, practices, and procedures. I like my job, daily I'm being challenged to contribute innovative solutions which incorporate and enhance automation with monitoring, alerting, and incident management. Oh, I'm the Automation Engineer and I have strong experience with automation software test tools and technologies (Selenium/Python/SideeX). I am secure in what I do, I think that people have a hard time caring when they feel insecure."

Save time, empower your teams and effectively upgrade your processes with access to this practical Automation Toolkit and guide. Address common challenges with best-practice templates, step-by-step work plans and maturity diagnostics for any Automation related project.

Download the Toolkit and in Three Steps you will be guided from idea to implementation results.

The Toolkit contains the following practical and powerful enablers with new and updated Automation specific requirements:

STEP 1: Get your bearings

Start with...

• The latest quick edition of the Automation Self Assessment book in PDF containing 49 requirements to perform a quickscan, get an overview and share with stakeholders.

Organized in a data driven improvement cycle RDMAICS (Recognize, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control and Sustain), check the…

• Example pre-filled Self-Assessment Excel Dashboard to get familiar with results generation

Then find your goals...

STEP 2: Set concrete goals, tasks, dates and numbers you can track

Featuring 932 new and updated case-based questions, organized into seven core areas of process design, this Self-Assessment will help you identify areas in which Automation improvements can be made.

Examples; 10 of the 932 standard requirements:

1. Reliability and high quality are essential characteristics of any solution used in industrial substation automation. Which products on the market live up to their claims of meeting the most stringent standards in quality?
   
   
2. How fast does your organization move to implement and scale digital workforce, when the benefits from robotic process automation are high and the payback period is so attractive, at just under one year?
   
   
3. Licensing issues; for example, if you have a license for software (e.g.., SAP) that is priced based on the number of users, how will the substitution of a software robot in place of humans be counted?
   
   
4. With increasing political pressure on retaining jobs onshore, concurrent with the introduction of more accessible intelligent automation tools, is offshoring shared services still a viable strategy?
   
   
5. Considerations should include target user groups to evaluate functionality, ease of use, business process change and user acceptance. How does the solution in use handle core business processes?
   
   
6. Are your processes mission critical like regulatory compliance standards that require full visibility and traceability of every action and decision within a process such as: PCI, HIPAA and SOX?
   
   
7. Have you assessed the potential savings on health care costs and the effect on the wellness and morale of your workforce by using robots to relieve tedious or potentially deleterious tasks?
   
   
8. What are the key technical or process barriers that inhibit adoption of highly automated production methods, or is the lack of implementation of corresponding methods strictly market-based?
   
   
9. What manufacturing process which is currently of the pick and place type would most reduce manufacturing cost or increase production volume if it was transitioned into a continuous process?
   
   
10. What cutting-edge technologies, processes, techniques, and engineering capabilities must you develop to enable your research agenda in the most productive, economical, and timely manner?
    
    

Complete the self assessment, on your own or with a team in a workshop setting. Use the workbook together with the self assessment requirements spreadsheet:

• The workbook is the latest in-depth complete edition of the Automation book in PDF containing 932 requirements, which criteria correspond to the criteria in...

Your Automation self-assessment dashboard which gives you your dynamically prioritized projects-ready tool and shows your organization exactly what to do next:

• The Self-Assessment Excel Dashboard; with the Automation Self-Assessment and Scorecard you will develop a clear picture of which Automation areas need attention, which requirements you should focus on and who will be responsible for them:
  
  
• Shows your organization instant insight in areas for improvement: Auto generates reports, radar chart for maturity assessment, insights per process and participant and bespoke, ready to use, RACI Matrix
• Gives you a professional Dashboard to guide and perform a thorough Automation Self-Assessment
• Is secure: Ensures offline data protection of your Self-Assessment results
• Dynamically prioritized projects-ready RACI Matrix shows your organization exactly what to do next:

STEP 3: Implement, Track, follow up and revise strategy

The outcomes of STEP 2, the self assessment, are the inputs for STEP 3; Start and manage Automation projects with the 62 implementation resources:

• 62 step-by-step Automation Project Management Form Templates covering over 1500 Automation project requirements and success criteria:

Examples; 10 of the check box criteria:

1. Procurement Management Plan: Are actuals compared against estimates to analyze and correct variances?
   
   
2. Procurement Audit: Were products/services not received within the prescribed time limit?
   
   
3. Procurement Audit: When negotiation took place in successive stages, was this practice stated in the procurement documents and was it done in accordance with the award criteria stated?
   
   
4. Schedule Management Plan: Is the ims development and management approach described?
   
   
5. Cost Baseline: Have you identified skills that are missing from your team?
   
   
6. Stakeholder Management Plan: Is the amount of effort justified by the anticipated value of forming a new process?
   
   
7. Probability and Impact Assessment: What is the past performance of the Automation project manager?
   
   
8. Contract Close-Out: Has each contract been audited to verify acceptance and delivery?
   
   
9. Requirements Management Plan: Describe the process for rejecting the Automation project requirements. Who has the authority to reject Automation project requirements?
   
   
10. Scope Management Plan: Are Automation project leaders committed to this Automation project full time?

 
Step-by-step and complete Automation Project Management Forms and Templates including check box criteria and templates.

1.0 Initiating Process Group:

• 1.1 Automation project Charter
• 1.2 Stakeholder Register
• 1.3 Stakeholder Analysis Matrix

2.0 Planning Process Group:

• 2.1 Automation project Management Plan
• 2.2 Scope Management Plan
• 2.3 Requirements Management Plan
• 2.4 Requirements Documentation
• 2.5 Requirements Traceability Matrix
• 2.6 Automation project Scope Statement
• 2.7 Assumption and Constraint Log
• 2.8 Work Breakdown Structure
• 2.9 WBS Dictionary
• 2.10 Schedule Management Plan
• 2.11 Activity List
• 2.12 Activity Attributes
• 2.13 Milestone List
• 2.14 Network Diagram
• 2.15 Activity Resource Requirements
• 2.16 Resource Breakdown Structure
• 2.17 Activity Duration Estimates
• 2.18 Duration Estimating Worksheet
• 2.19 Automation project Schedule
• 2.20 Cost Management Plan
• 2.21 Activity Cost Estimates
• 2.22 Cost Estimating Worksheet
• 2.23 Cost Baseline
• 2.24 Quality Management Plan
• 2.25 Quality Metrics
• 2.26 Process Improvement Plan
• 2.27 Responsibility Assignment Matrix
• 2.28 Roles and Responsibilities
• 2.29 Human Resource Management Plan
• 2.30 Communications Management Plan
• 2.31 Risk Management Plan
• 2.32 Risk Register
• 2.33 Probability and Impact Assessment
• 2.34 Probability and Impact Matrix
• 2.35 Risk Data Sheet
• 2.36 Procurement Management Plan
• 2.37 Source Selection Criteria
• 2.38 Stakeholder Management Plan
• 2.39 Change Management Plan

3.0 Executing Process Group:

• 3.1 Team Member Status Report
• 3.2 Change Request
• 3.3 Change Log
• 3.4 Decision Log
• 3.5 Quality Audit
• 3.6 Team Directory
• 3.7 Team Operating Agreement
• 3.8 Team Performance Assessment
• 3.9 Team Member Performance Assessment
• 3.10 Issue Log

4.0 Monitoring and Controlling Process Group:

• 4.1 Automation project Performance Report
• 4.2 Variance Analysis
• 4.3 Earned Value Status
• 4.4 Risk Audit
• 4.5 Contractor Status Report
• 4.6 Formal Acceptance

5.0 Closing Process Group:

• 5.1 Procurement Audit
• 5.2 Contract Close-Out
• 5.3 Automation project or Phase Close-Out
• 5.4 Lessons Learned

Results

With this Three Step process you will have all the tools you need for any Automation project with this in-depth Automation Toolkit.

In using the Toolkit you will be better able to:

• Diagnose Automation projects, initiatives, organizations, businesses and processes using accepted diagnostic standards and practices
• Implement evidence-based best practice strategies aligned with overall goals
• Integrate recent advances in Automation and put process design strategies into practice according to best practice guidelines

Defining, designing, creating, and implementing a process to solve a business challenge or meet a business objective is the most valuable role; In EVERY company, organization and department.

Unless you are talking a one-time, single-use project within a business, there should be a process. Whether that process is managed and implemented by humans, AI, or a combination of the two, it needs to be designed by someone with a complex enough perspective to ask the right questions. Someone capable of asking the right questions and step back and say, 'What are we really trying to accomplish here? And is there a different way to look at it?'

This Toolkit empowers people to do just that - whether their title is entrepreneur, manager, consultant, (Vice-)President, CxO etc... - they are the people who rule the future. They are the person who asks the right questions to make Automation investments work better.

This Automation All-Inclusive Toolkit enables You to be that person.

Includes lifetime updates

Every self assessment comes with Lifetime Updates and Lifetime Free Updated Books. Lifetime Updates is an industry-first feature which allows you to receive verified self assessment updates, ensuring you always have the most accurate information at your fingertips.