Multi-Channel Chatbot and Robotic Process

Automation
Gota Dan Domuta Claudiu Fanca Alexandra
Department of Automation Department of Automation Department of Automation
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca Technical University of Cluj-Napoca Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca, Romania Cluj-Napoca, Romania Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2022 IEEE International Conference on Automation, Quality and Testing, Robotics (AQTR) | 978-1-6654-7933-2/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/AQTR55203.2022.9801960

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Pop - Puscasiu Adela Stan Ovidiu Valean Honoriu Miclea Liviu

Department of Automation Department of Automation Department of Automation Department of Automation
Technical University of Cluj- Technical University of Cluj- Technical University of Cluj- Technical University of Cluj-
Napoca Napoca Napoca Napoca
Cluj-Napoca, Romania Cluj-Napoca, Romania Cluj-Napoca, Romania Cluj-Napoca, Romania
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is a software- one step further by aiming to continually enhance customer
based solution that automates rule-based business processes such services and create a wonderful experience for each of their
as repetitive actions, structured data, and predictable outcomes. customers. Having a chatbot is one of the most important
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how a multi-channel customer service solutions for online businesses.
chatbot can be created and implemented, as well as how Robotic
Process Automation (RPA) may be connected with the chatbot to II. STATE OF THE ART
automate a business process, therefore easing the repetitious labor RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is a software-based
of a business's workers. The goal is to let consumers to explore and solution that automates rule-based business processes such as
purchase products through chatbot, and then send an email with repetitive actions, structured data, and predictable outcomes.
an invoice to the sales department and the customer. The whole According to recent research, implementing RPA boosts
process outlined above should be automated, with no human productivity, decreases costs, improves speed, and minimizes
agents interacting until specifically requested. To be completed, the mistakes[2].
process must operate consistently across all channels, and all According to UiPath – the leading global software
components must communicate and exchange information.
company that develops a platform for Robotic Process
Keywords—Robotic Process Automation (RPA), chatbot, Automation (RPA) [3] – RPA is a technology that allows
multi-channel, ecommerce, DRUID ChatBot Platform, UiPath anybody to develop computer software, or a "robot," that can
replicate and combine the actions of a human interacting with
I. INTRODUCTION digital systems to accomplish a business activity. RPA robots,
The Internet and digitization of our world have grown in like humans, use user interfaces to collect data and control
popularity over the last several decades. Even in the digital programs. To perform a wide range of repetitive activities,
world, people's actions have become increasingly repetitive, they understand, trigger reactions, and connect with other
from their daily personal routines to their daily job activities. systems. Only better: an RPA software robot never sleeps and
Even in the digital era, corporations compel regular never makes a mistake [4].
individuals to undertake repetitive tasks that do not demand Robotic automation may help organizations save money
the use of their imagination or intelligence and frequently
while also allowing them to respond to changing consumer
result in fatigue.
demands more rapidly. Robotic automation refers to the
According to the academic study [1] manual actions
provision of software tools that enable organizations to
demand a large amount of labor, result in human errors,
automate existing user behaviors – as though the user were
reduce employee motivation due to monotonous repetitive
moving through and across their current range of apps [5].
jobs, lower productivity, and raise operating costs. According
Digital robots developed using RPA technology mimic
to the same article [1] organizations have been seeking for IT
human actions in the application’s graphical user interface
solutions that can holistically enhance their user’s
from basic clicks to visiting web pages, scraping data,
performance, improve customer happiness, boost
utilizing AI such as OCR to extract data from documents and
productivity and quality, and save costs. Robotic Process
pictures, and sending emails. An example of automation of a
Automation (RPA) has lately emerged as a game-changing
process is browsing a web page, extracting the relevant data,
technology that outperforms several solutions developed over
completing an Excel file using that data and have the file sent
decades in the Business Process Management (BPM) market.
Humans have been employing technology in an increasing via email.
number of businesses, and one area in particular has faced RPA is a digital transformation technology that assists
tremendous complexity and uncertainty in recent years: organizations in automating repetitive and routine activities.
electronic commerce, also known as eCommerce. Consumers' RPA, like other sophisticated technologies, improves
expectations for customer satisfaction have risen in response efficiency. It uses software, artificial intelligence, and
to the fast growth of eCommerce, and businesses must move machine learning skills to automate manual activities that
were previously handled by humans by programming

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autonomous software robots to repeat simple administrative expressed reasons related to entertainment, social and
tasks [6]. relationship reasons, and curiosity about what they perceive
According to [7] a few of RPA benefits for businesses to be a unique phenomenon. Another article [12] highlights a
are: few benefits of chatbots for users: 24-hours availability,
 Better accuracy: Software robots never get tired
instant answers, consistent answers, recorded answers,
and never make mistakes. They are compliant and consistent.
 Super scalable: From desktop to cloud endless patience, instant transactions, programmability,
environments, RPA performs a massive amount of operations personalization, and for businesses: cost savings, increased
in parallel. Additional robots can be deployed quickly. sales, increased customer interaction, reaching new customers
 Improved compliance: Everything robots do is and gaining a deeper understanding of customers.
monitored. They execute reliably, reducing risk. Many papers examined the behavior of people when they
 Increase speed and productivity: Employees are communicate with a chatbot. This research [13] examined at
the first to appreciate the benefits of RPA as it removes non- how communication differs when people communicate with
value-add activities and relieves them from the rising pressure an intelligent agent rather than another person. People
of work. communicated with the chatbot for longer periods of
 Fast cost savings: RPA can reduce processing costs
time, although with shorter messages, than they did with
by up to 80%. In less than 12 months, most enterprises see a
positive ROI. another human. Furthermore, human–chatbot interactions
The article [8] highlights that the widespread adoption of lacked much of the depth of word present in human–human
RPA has had a significant and favorable impact on business discussions and displayed more profanity. These findings
productivity. RPA technology usage is growing at a faster rate show that, whereas human language abilities easily transfer to
than it has ever been previously. It has maintained its position human–chatbot communication, there are significant
as the industry's best business service provider. RPA can be variations in the content and quality of such conversations.
used in various industries such as: financial services and The literature lacks when it comes to explore the chatbots
banking, healthcare, telecommunications, manufacturing, impact on businesses and customers. However, this study [14]
technology and software, retail, procure-to-pay, consumer highlights a few aspects: chatbots can form virtual
goods, etc. assistantship rather than virtual friendship with customers,
The research [9] identifies two levels of employee they can represent a brand in customer relationship
capabilities: at the first level, various articles have management (CRM). Brand personality perception and
emphasized RPA's power to alter the nature of labor. parasocial interaction (PSI) influence multiple CRM
Employees may focus on higher-value work when RPA is dimensions: behavioral intention, satisfaction, and trust.
utilized to automate mundane processes. The second type of Virtual friend chatbots produce more PSI than virtual
employee-level capacity addresses the development of new assistant chatbots. A study [15] about the impact of chatbot
conversational skill on engagement and perceived humanness
roles for people, rather than changing the nature of work that presents that people consider a chatbot with better
is affected. Employment produced at a new RPA center of conversational competence to be more humanlike and
excellence, as well as all types of jobs related to robot engaging than one with lower conversational skill. It also
management, consultancy, and data analysis, are examples. demonstrates that showing conversational competence
Interestingly, in two publications, RPA robots were described involves more than just including a variety of text in the
as the new digital workforce layer or as new digital employees conversation; rather, chatbots must be able to reply in a way
created to collaborate with people. that is reliant on the text given to it. A chatbot [16] is a
The [1] sums up what should be automated: repetitive growing trend, and chatbots enhance company performance
steps, time-consuming steps, high-risk tasks, tasks with by offering a better experience at a lower cost. A basic chatbot
allow-quality yield, tasks involving multiple people and is not a difficult work when compared to sophisticated
chatbots, and developers must understand and address
multiple steps, etc. In the market, automation solutions are concerns such as reliability, scalability, and adaptability, as
presented in a way that indicates that anything can be well as a high degree of intent on human language.
automated. The reality is that only some activities can be Chatbots increase the productivity and efficiency of
automated, which are briefly described in the book [1]: well existing business processes [17], as well as the convenience
defined and rule-based steps, logical, an input to the task can of customers' shopping, ordering, and payment experiences.
be diverted to the software system, input can be deciphered Furthermore, as businesses strive to deliver innovative
by software systems with available techniques, the output shopping experiences to clients via chatbots, contact with
system is accessible, benefits are more than the cost. customers via chatbots in the e-commerce area is likely to
According to [10] a chatbot is a common example of an grow in the future.
AI system and one of the most basic and prevalent instances Chatbots play an important role in eCommerce businesses,
of intelligent Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). It is a it was reported [18] that 65% of consumers feel comfortable
computer software that responds like a smart individual when handling an issue without a human agent, 64% of consumers
conversed with via text or voice and knows one or more say [19] that the 24/7 service is the most useful functionality
human languages using Natural Language Processing (NLP). and 80% of users who used a chatbots reported [20] a positive
A chatbot is described as “a computer software meant to experience.
imitate interaction with human users, particularly via the
Internet”, according to the dictionary. Smart bots, interactive III. PROPOSED SOLUTION
agents, digital assistants, and intelligent conversation entities
are all terms used to describe chatbots. A. Architecture and Process
Chatbots provide multiple benefits for both users and This paper presents a solution to build a chatbot, make it
companies. The study [11] highlights major motivators for available on multiple channels of communication and
chatbot adoption for users. Productivity is the most often integrate it with an RPA technology to perform an automation
mentioned motivator; chatbots assist users in obtaining quick of a business process. In order to achieve this goal the DRUID
and effective support or information. Users of chatbots ChatBot Platform was used [21]. The Druid ChatBot Platform

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provides one-stop access to best-of-breed AI, Machine with the credentials needed to complete the tasks. As a result,
Learning, and Natural Learning Processing technologies. It the UiPath Connector App simply stores Orchestrator access
provides organizations with the fundamental building blocks credentials. When setting up the Connection string the
to overcome the “how” barrier when developing, following must be specified: Account Name, Tenant Name,
constructing, testing, and deploying AI-powered chatbots. It
Client Id and the UiPath folder used. The UiPath connector
is a no-code, AI-powered chatbot authoring platform that
provides a scalable, secure, configurable, and extendable that has been created is called UiPath_Default. Only one
foundation for developing chatbots that perform a wide range integration has been created and used for the UiPath
of intelligent tasks, communicate with people and systems, connector: UiPathRequest_Invoice. It is used to send the data
and leverage data to drive actionable employee and customer in Orchestrator and trigger the robot to perform the generation
engagements across channels [21]. of invoice. The data is being sent as a JSON object and
contains details about the customer and the order.
Creating a SQL app involves configuring the bot's SQL
connection strings within the chosen solution. To create the
connection string, the following details are required: Client
Type – which is SQLServer in this case, the name or address
of the SQL server, the name of the database which will be
used to connect to and the credentials of the SQL Server
account. The SQL Connector is name sql db in the solution.
Fig. 1: Architecture overview
Multiple SQL integrations have been created to retrieve,
update, delete or insert data in the database.
The Figure 1 displays the components and the A high-level overview of flows is presented in Figure 3.
communication between them. Druid Chatbot Platform is the
main component which facilitates the communication
between the users, backend processes and applications.
Information from applications can be retrieved, deleted, or
updated using REST, SOAP or SQL and UiPath RPA
processes can be triggered using UiPath app Connector from
Druid. The Chatbot Platform establishes the communication
via multiple channels using APIs or external providers.
For the implementation, a cloud database has been setup
using Microsoft Azure and the chatbot has been deployed on
Web, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. One robot for
generating the invoice has been developed and published in
Orchestrator, thus, making it available to be triggered using
Fig. 3: Diagram of flows structure of the solution
API calls or by other business users which have access to the
process.
As it can be observed the proposed application contains 4
important flows:
1. Welcome and Authentication - this flow is used to
welcome the users. In the welcome process, the
chatbot will try to authenticate the user. The bot will
ask the user about their name and email address for
authentication. If the email address is found in the
Fig. 2: High-level overview of the entire end-to-end process database, the bot will welcome the user and trigger
the menu flow, otherwise the bot will ask the user
In Figure 2 is described the end-to-end process on a about their detail and then trigger the menu flow.
high-level perspective. Users can trigger the chatbot by 2. Menu – this flow is triggered after the Welcome and
sending text in chat. The bot tries to authenticate the user or Authentication flow. It is a flow of type Hero which
asks the user to provide data for authentication. Once the has an input mapping to store the user choice and
authentication is successfully, the bot displays a menu. For displays a hero card with 3 options: FAQ, Track
this use case we are interested in the Buying tab, which will Order and Buy. Depending on the user choice, one
trigger the chatbot to retrieve data from the database about the of the flows will be triggered (Figure 4).
products and list them. The user can add multiple products
and different quantities. Once the user is done adding items to
the cart, the chatbot displays all items with their quantity, total
price and asks the user to confirm the order. If the user
confirms the order, then the chatbot send the data to
Orchestrator and an RPA robot is triggered to generate the
invoice. Finally, the chatbot informs the user that their invoice
will be send on the provided email in the next minutes. The Fig 4 Menu flow structure – flow design view
apps connected with the platform are the UiPath Connector
and the SQL Connector. 3. FAQ – this flow is similar to Menu flow. The only
The UiPath connector integrates with the UiPath difference is that it shows the user 4 options to
Orchestrator to provide the Druid UiPath Connector Action

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 choose from: My Order, Returns, Warranty and 4. Map Customer and Shipping details – assigns the
Shipping Zones (Figure 5). data from the transaction item to specific variables
for mapping in the next step;
5. Excel template mapping – reads the excel template
of an invoice and maps a data table variable with the
previous variables;
6. Write the document accordingly and send it to
Fig. 5: FAQ flow structure – flow designer view requester via email – the data is written according
to the invoice template and it is formatted for better
4. Buy - the buying process consists of 3 components: visibility of the data. Once this is done, the file is
1. Buying – new customer: verifies if the customer converted to pdf and is being sent to the chat user
is new or if the customer wants to change the who requested it(Figure 6 and Figure 7);
shipping details. If any of these are true, then the
Buying – gather shipping details for new order
flow is triggered;
2. Depending on the previous step, the Buying –
gather shipping details for new order may be
triggered or not. This flow asks the user to
provide the information for shipping details.
3. Buying – Show products & add to cart flow is
triggered. This flow lists the available products
from the database and lets the user add the
products to cart. The quantity of each added
product must be provided and before submitting
the order, a confirmation from user is needed. Fig. 6: Example of generated invoice
In the confirmed-order flow step, the UiPath robot is
triggered using the Integration configured previously.
Chat users receive an invoice on their email address by
completing the steps from buying process. Once, they confirm
the order, a new queue item is created in Orchestrator and an
RPA Job is triggered. The robot gets the data from
Orchestrator, parses it, maps it and write it in an Excel file.
Finally, the file is formatted according to the specifications
and is being converted in Pdf to be sent to the customer and
sales department.
The solution of the process Create Invoice is the most
important one and is described in details in the following
steps:
1. Trigger RPA job in Orchestrator – once the chat
user confirms the order, a queue item is created and
an RPA Job is triggered in Orchestrator. The queue
item contains data about the order and the customer;
2. Robot starts by Loading Config objects – Get
UiPath Config, Get Druid Config and Get Druid
Credentials; Fig. 7 Email received by the customer
1. GetUiPathConfig: read the config JSON file
for UiPath and deserialize it. The file contains: 7. Reporting – after the invoice was mailed to the
OrchestratorFolderName (the folder in requester, the bot will send an email to the Business
Orchestrator where the Queue items are created or IT responsible, containing the status of the process
and where the Druid credentials are stored), and the invoice, if any;
QueueName and DruidAssetCredentials; 8. Set the transaction item status – set the transaction
2. GetDruidConfig: read the config Druid file and item status in Orchestrator accordingly.
deserialize it. The file contains:
DruidAuthenticateResource, B. Validation and Verification
DruidStartFlowResource, The proposed application was tested on different channels.
DruidBaseServicesURL, Tenant, The obtained results between a chatbot created using the
UsernameOrEmailAddress, Password; proposed application and a user on Facebook Messenger can
3. Get Druid Credentials: retrieves Druid be seen on the following figures (8, 9, 10, 11 and 12).
credentials returning a username and a secured
password;
3. Get Transaction Item from Queue - retrieves a
new transaction item from the Queue and Deserialize
the content;

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 Fig. 8: Facebook Messenger conversation result

Fig. 11: Item created in UiPath Orchestrator

Fig. 9: Facebook Messenger conversation result

Fig. 12: Result of generated invoice

The results obtained on the WhatsApp channel are
presented in the Figure 13.

Fig. 10: Facebook Messenger conversation result

Fig. 13: Chatbot result on WhatsApp

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