RPA project portfolio investment feasibility assessment for industry organizations

The issues of robotics in industry, primarily the software robotics of RPA (Robotic Process Automation), have been studied. The impact of robotization on increasing labor productivity in enterprises, unemployment rate in both developed and developing countries, increasing the competitiveness of the Russian economy, and bridging the gap in labor productivity within industries has been analyzed. The purpose of the study is to systematize methods for evaluating software robotics projects based on RPA and select indicators to assess their investment attractiveness. The main hypothesis of the study is that, despite their specifics, the methods of assessing Project Portfolio Management are applicable to RPA projects. It has been proposed to evaluate the investment attractiveness of the robotics program as a portfolio of interrelated and complementary investment projects, considering compliance with companies’ strategic goals, the investment attractiveness of the portfolio based on financial indicators and risks, technological feasibility (based on the CMMI-RPA process maturity model), marketing and product competitive advantages development, and the creation and use of companies’ strategic and root advantages. The analysis of the practical application of the proposed approach is based on a portfolio of RPA robotics projects used by nuclear industry enterprises. The RPA robots portfolio in accounting and personnel accounting of the general service center of the Greenatom JSC, a subsidiary and dependent company of the Rosatom state corporation, has been analyzed in detail. Rosatom’s first robotics program was formed in 2019, and currently it includes more than 400 successfully implemented robots in the nuclear industry.