Subject: SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
As organizations increasingly adopt SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation (SAP Intelligent RPA) to automate complex business processes, the need to extend standard bot capabilities often arises. While SAP Intelligent RPA offers a rich library of prebuilt activities, some scenarios require custom functionality tailored to unique business needs or integration with specialized systems.
This is where the Software Development Kit (SDK) becomes indispensable. Using the SDK, developers can create custom activities — reusable components that encapsulate specific logic or integrations — which can be seamlessly integrated into SAP Intelligent RPA workflows. This article explores how to work with the SDK to develop custom activities and enhance your automation projects.
Custom activities are user-defined building blocks that expand the functionality of SAP Intelligent RPA bots beyond out-of-the-box capabilities. They allow automation developers to:
- Access external systems or APIs not covered by standard activities.
- Implement complex business logic or calculations.
- Encapsulate reusable functionality for multiple workflows.
- Improve maintainability and modularity of automation projects.
- Flexibility: Develop bespoke logic using familiar programming languages like C# (.NET Core).
- Reusability: Package and distribute custom activities across projects or teams.
- Integration: Connect to external services, databases, or legacy systems securely.
- Performance: Optimize critical parts of automation through compiled code.
- Development Environment: Visual Studio 2019 or later with .NET Core support.
- SAP Intelligent RPA Studio: Installed for bot development.
- SDK Package: Download and reference the SAP Intelligent RPA SDK NuGet package.
- Create a new .NET Core Class Library project in Visual Studio.
- Add references to the SAP Intelligent RPA SDK NuGet packages.
- Implement the custom activity class by inheriting from the base
Activity class provided by the SDK.
- Decorate properties with attributes such as
[Input] and [Output] to expose data to the SAP Intelligent RPA Studio.
- These parameters enable workflow designers to configure the activity within visual bot workflows.
- Override the
Execute method to define the core functionality of the activity.
- Use any required SDK services, external APIs, or business logic within this method.
- Handle exceptions gracefully to ensure reliable bot execution.
¶ 5. Building and Packaging
- Compile the project to generate a
.dll file containing your custom activity.
- Create a package (zip or NuGet) including the assembly and metadata for deployment.
- Use the SAP Intelligent RPA Studio to import the custom activity package.
- Once imported, the custom activities appear in the activity palette, ready for drag-and-drop use in bot workflows.
- Design for Reusability: Build modular and generic activities that can serve multiple workflows.
- Document Thoroughly: Provide clear descriptions and usage instructions for parameters.
- Test Rigorously: Validate activities independently and within workflows.
- Secure Coding: Handle sensitive data carefully and follow SAP security guidelines.
- Version Control: Maintain version history and update packages systematically.
Imagine a scenario where standard email validation is insufficient due to custom business rules:
- Develop a custom activity that validates email addresses against an external API or corporate directory.
- Input: Email address string.
- Output: Validation result and error message.
- Integrate this activity into onboarding workflows to ensure data quality.
Developing custom activities with the SAP Intelligent RPA SDK empowers automation developers to extend bot capabilities beyond standard offerings, enabling sophisticated, tailored automation solutions. By leveraging the SDK, businesses can address unique challenges, integrate with diverse systems, and build more robust and maintainable automation workflows.
As SAP Intelligent RPA continues to evolve, mastering SDK-based custom activity development will be a key skill for delivering innovative and scalable intelligent automation projects.