Just wondering if anyone has advice on how to manage a list (documentation) of multiple bots and their details in a dashboard style format? The company I work for we have about 15 bots across almost 15 different VM’s. Each VM also therefore has a generic user associated. Each VM also has a different UiPath license key. Need to keep track of everything.
We currently have an Excel file which lists Machine ID, Username, Password, UiPath License Key, Bot name, etc. However this is becoming a bit of a mess these days as data is spread across multiple tabs and therefore passwords or details that have changed in one place, maybe haven’t been updated in other places. I’m trying to figure out a way to manage everything from a single source as best as possible and to make it clearer. Also to manage things like knowing how many spare VM’s we have available or license keys.
I’m trying to think of best possible way to document our list of bots. As some VM’s may contain multiple bots, for example:
VM 1 - User1 - Bot 1A
VM 2 - User2 - Bot 2A
VM 2 - User2 - Bot 2B
VM 3 - User3 - Bot 3A
VM 3 - User3 - Bot 3B
VM 3 - User3 - Bot 3C
But if I want to review our list of VM’s it is confusing to have them listed multiple times as above - perhaps a collapsible list in Excel or something. But I’m interested to hear how other people manage RPA their framework.
There are various ways you can try but it’s finally up to you which one you want to adapt. I’m going to name some that came just out of my mind. First, always divide your automation strategies into tenants and (modern) folders (and subfolders, if necessary). Second, confusion could happen in any area, especially in development. Try to use CI/CD tools like Azure DevOps or Jira and push and deploy your packages and test cases automatically. When you do that, it would be easy to control the operations from another portal in your IT department. And third, for your documentaiton strategy, please have in mind that you are talking in the network level and it’s not necessarily an RPA issue. But in order to resolve that, IT guys usually use special softwares (rather than Excel) for documenting the VMs and other virtual/real devices like SpiceWorks.
I suggest you come up with a central portal in the network operations/monitoring software of your choosing, create documentation for every server there and use APIs to join your CI/CD platform. I think in that way you can gather all your stuff in one place and put your focus easily on one screen. It would be like a control room just like SOCs.
Thanks, this is some really useful info. I think other departments may be using Jira so I will investigate this as an option. Would it be secure to store things like UiPath license keys and user account passwords here?
I am relatively new to RPA, started fresh in this role but the team has downsized and I am now alone. Nothing has been documented very well previously and they have this system of managing everything in an Excel file which I’d like to move away from if possible. The issue is they are still exploring the idea of RPA so we are unlikely to get funding for additional software licensing (and Orchestrator) until a later date. So if Jira isn’t possible I may need to try a free alternative
If you’re just beginning skip Jira for now because it will make more complexity. Skip it for now and do it at the very last operation because other than that you need to know the concepts and also learn the integration between UiPath and DevOps tools like Jira in Academy. When you use Unattended robots, Orchestrator will save them (one-way hashed which is secure) for you. But naturally, you can’t roll-back the saved passwords. You also have the option to use other credential stores like CyberArk or Azure Key Vault. If that won’t help you, you can save your sensitive info in offline credential stores or password management softwares with a master key with multiple backup plans deployed.
I’ve been there my friend. Just select a good scenario which is not too small and not too big but have great ROI and you can show it off in front of your managers that you’re sure they would love it. There’s no other way to create the mutual feeling about RPA in your organization.
Rest assured, we’re here to help and you’re not alone in this
