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Working smarter Client overview Process type
and harder, The RSA has a simple mission:
to make roads safer for
Transport and road safety
thanks to robots everyone. It aims to reduce
collisions, deaths, and serious
injuries by 50 percent by the
The Road Safety Authority’s (RSA) mission is to save lives
end of 2030. To achieve this, it
and reduce injuries on Irish roads, which it delivers through
co-ordinates the development
a multi-annual road safety strategy. It also provides services
and delivery of the Irish
to millions of customers each year. The adoption of robotic
government’s road safety
process automation (RPA) to handle repetitive tasks has
strategy. It also produces
helped staff increasingly to focus on work that can improve
information and education
service delivery and make Irish roads safer.
campaigns, monitors and
improves vehicle standards,
oversees driver instruction
standards, issues driving
licenses and undertakes
enforcement activities.
UIPATH.CO M | TH E R OA D SA F ETY AU T H O RI TY ( RS A) 1
It’s commonly accepted that traveling not integrated and don’t ‘speak’ to each
by car is one of the most dangerous other.” This type of routine, repetitive
ways to get from A to B when compared data input work consumes valuable
to the alternatives1. But there are capacity across the organization and
organizations across the globe working reduces opportunities for staff to engage
hard to reduce the likelihood of us in more beneficial, value-add activities.
coming to harm on the roads.
Enabling greater levels of system
While there are many stakeholders integration and reducing the burden
that fulfill this role in Ireland, including on staff is a key priority for the RSA.
An Garda Síochána and Transport To achieve this aim, it has a strategic
Infrastructure Ireland, the RSA plays a roadmap to replace older technology.
crucial role. As an official statutory body, Part of this includes using RPA to simply
formed in 2006, its mission is to reduce and cost-effectively allow information
the number of deaths and injuries on to pass between systems, increasing
Irish roads and make them safer for all capacity and efficiency.
users. Since its creation, the range of
functions allocated to the authority has RPA can also help staff communicate
grown exponentially. It now employs over more effectively with customers. At the
300 full-time staff at its headquarters in moment, it takes up a disproportionate
County Mayo and other satellite offices amount of time owing to manual
around the country. handling of information. “As our services
and remit has grown over the years, we
One of those members of staff is Nessa have seen increasing levels of staff effort
Kelly, Assistant Principal Officer in the across multiple areas of the organization
Strategy Unit of the RSA. As a senior dedicated to this type of non-value
member of the team, she oversees the work,” Nessa says. The RSA decided it “We want to ensure Irish
delivery of the operational excellence was time to invest in RPA. “There was so roads become safer for all.
program in the RSA. “From the cradle to much opportunity to put bots to use,” Everything we do is wrapped
the grave, we seek to improve road safety she adds. up in road safety.”
for everyone in Ireland,” she says.
“It could be school children walking
to class, teens taking driving tests
or professional drivers requiring
certifications. We want to ensure Irish
roads become safer for all. Everything
we do is wrapped up in road safety.”
Addressing legacy systems
and issues
When it was established, the RSA
inherited several legacy systems across
its wide range of services and over time,
it has built up a complex network of
processes. “We have many legacy
systems,” says Nessa. “Staff have to work
with these every day to update records,
and move information because they’re
UIPATH.CO M | TH E R OA D SA F ETY AU T H O RI TY ( RS A) 2
At the start it was quite tactical. the tests. This increased customer team introduced a web form on the RSA
The RSA pinpointed the processes satisfaction and allowed us to reallocate intranet and requests for automations
where most time was wasted and got staff while also reducing wasted time came flooding in.
to work. The first robot, named Pat through untaken tests,” says Nessa.
(Process Automation Tool), helped with With these automations, Pat has “Most of the requests are for processes
the driving test cancellations process. processed 34,000 web form requests on our legacy systems,” explains Nessa.
Before the bot was introduced, learner and more than 21,000 email requests, One is for gaining clearance to become a
drivers would be given a date for the test. resulting in additional capacity across driving instructor. Another is for issuing
To change or cancel it, they had to call or various query-handling teams. But Pat a certificate of professional competence.
email the RSA directly. This led to a lot of wasn’t alone. In total, over the course of “All these processes are based on old
customer queries. 2020, when the pandemic caused many systems that don’t integrate. That means
operational challenges, there were 12 staff must move information from
There was an obvious opportunity to robots deployed throughout the RSA. one place to another. Robots are the
automate this entire process. “We started At one point, 10 bots were deployed perfect solution.”
by creating a web form for customers to to extend 450,000 commercial vehicle
complete,” explains Nessa. “They could roadworthiness testing certificates. It “As a public sector organization,
add in their details requesting to cancel couldn’t have achieved this manually we can’t waste resources,” says
their test, and we trained Pat to take this
Denise. “RPA allows us to make
information and update the driver test New robot ideas
system before sending the customer an
sure people can focus on our
automated confirmation that the test had There’s certainly no lack of ideas for
main strategic goals rather than
been cancelled.” robots. “The operational excellence wasting time on admin.”
team now has a priority list of 27
Pat got going immediately and began automation requests,” says Denise
handling about 2,000 cancellations Barry, Director of Strategy, Policy, and
every fortnight. “Previously, there had Technology. “We’ve shown what can be
been six people working on the job, done. Staff members across the RSA have
but Pat took about 80 percent of this played a key role in this and are very open
repetitive task from them. A member of to how RPA can help,” she adds. “The
staff would normally take 10 minutes bots are in high demand.” In fact, the
per cancellation. The robot could do 200
in half an hour,” Nessa says. “In the RSA
we always have projects which can help
improve road safety and service delivery
and this created capacity for them to
undertake some of this other work.”
80% 30+
With the first automation up and running,
the team soon began to incorporate
other processes. For example, when
people are given a test date, they
2,500
sometimes forget to cancel or rearrange.
This leads to no-shows. The team created days saved by
of cancellation
an SMS reminder system, sending a robots taking tasks automated
tasks automated
text 10 days ahead of the test. “Where a on various tasks
customer was not available to take their
test, we provided them with a simple
option to text back and cancel their test.
Pat received the responses and cancelled
UIPATH.CO M | TH E R OA D SA F ETY AU T H O RI TY ( RS A) 3
Bringing staff on the journey
But getting to this stage didn’t happen
overnight. The RSA leadership team
was keen to ensure staff knew that the
bots were being introduced to improve
capacity and would benefit staff.
“Implementing RPA is a reflection of
teamwork across the organization. Our
process improvement forums led the
way, with staff in business units being
trained and supported by our change
facilitators. We also created videos of
Pat so everybody could see how he
works,” adds Denise.
“Acceptance from staff is key,” says
Nessa. “People may have been worried
about robots taking their jobs, but once
they saw how Pat could help, they felt
like he was just another colleague.”
business while offering more varied Next steps
Feedback from staff has been work to employees.”
We are here to provide you with
overwhelmingly positive. “People were
more information, answer your
amazed that a robot could do the type As the RSA’s automation journey
questions, and create an effective
of tasks they were used to,” adds Nessa. continues, the aim is to become more
automation experience for you.
“Some of our people have worked here strategic than ever. Rather than focusing
for years and know the systems inside on single processes, the team wants to
out—including all their quirks and embed RPA throughout the organization Contact us
idiosyncrasies. They never thought a so it becomes second nature.
robot could be trained to deal with all Check out our YouTube channel
that. When 80 percent of some tasks In Denise’s words, “RPA is more than for product overviews, demos,
were automated, they were stunned.” just a technology. It’s about being and UiPath conference highlights,
able to work alongside digital co- and to hear from our founders and
The impact has been felt throughout the workers that are here to help, not leadership team.
organization. In the region of 2,500 days replace us. They make life easier and
have been saved with robots taking on more rewarding while helping us meet youtube.com/user/UiPath
36 tasks since Pat was introduced. “As our aims. As a result, we can all work
a public sector organization, we can’t smarter and harder with the support
waste resources,” says Denise. “RPA of robots. It’s fantastic that a leading
allows us to make sure people can focus public sector organization is at the
on our main strategic goals rather than forefront of this in Ireland.”
wasting time on admin.”
This has helped create new career
opportunities and job mobility
for staff. “By automating processes, Reference:
we can really get to grips with the 1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/
more important tasks,” says Denise. wp/2015/05/14/the-safest-and-deadliest-ways-
“It allows us to become a data-driven to-travel
UIPATH.CO M | TH E R OA D SA F ETY AU T H O RI TY ( RS A) 4
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