Use Pega® Robot Manager to monitor the performance, health, and throughput of your robotic process automation (RPA) virtual machines (VMs).

You can view the following kinds of information:

• Defined work groups and work queues
• The health and throughput of registered virtual machines (VMs)
• The threshold of assignments that VMs can process in your work queues

For more information about configuring and using RPA with Pega 7.3, see the following articles:

• Tutorial: Automating processes in your Pega Platform application with Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
• Configuring Robotic Process Automation

Pega Robot Manager 2 is supported on Pega 7.3. To download Pega Robot Manager from Pega Exchange, see Pega Robot Manager.

For more information about Pega Robot Manager 2, see the following sections:

• Enhancements
• Resolved issues in this release
• Importing Pega Robot Manager to your Pega Platform development environment
• Banker Pro sample application
• Configuring the Pega Platform to use Pega Robot Manager
• Pega Robot Manager for viewing and managing VMs
• Starting Pega Robot Manager
• Managing work queues and VMs

Enhancements

The following enhancements have been added to this version of the console:

• Most information in Pega Robot Manager is now updated in real time.

You can now monitor the health of your VMs and failed automation information in real time without needing to refresh the display. For example, a work queue now turns red immediately if the number of assignments exceeds the configured threshold value, allowing you to address issues with VM assignment processing more quickly.

• Pega Robot Manager display is now optimized for UIKit 09.01.

Pega Robot Manager display now supports UIKit 09.01, which provides several user experience enhancements. For example, the display provides a fixed header so that you can always view the header without having to scroll to the top of the display.

Issues addressed in this release

The following issues have been addressed in this release:

• When you clicked a VM in the Robots page, the activity feed displayed only 25 records.

The console has been updated so that the Robots page now displays all records in the activity feed.

• When you clicked a VM in the Robots page, the work group ID, not the work group name, was displayed.

The console has been updated so that the Robots page displays the work group name instead of the work group ID.

• Data for the Automation alerts widget was not refreshed when you clicked a dashboard menu item.

The console has been updated so that data is now refreshed when you click a dashboard menu item.

• When you viewed data in the Case activity widget that was filtered during the last 24 hours, there was a rounding error, based on the time zone in which viewers were viewing the information.

The console has been updated so that the data that is displayed in the Case activity widget is now accurate.

• Pega Robot Manager did not render in Microsoft Internet Explorer 11.

The console has been updated so that it is correctly rendered in Internet Explorer 11.

Importing Pega Robot Manager to Pega Platform

After you download Pega Robot Manager, you can import it to Pega Platform by completing the following steps:

1. In Designer Studio, click Designer Studio > Application > Distribution > Import.
2. Click Choose File.
3. Browse for the .jar file that you downloaded.
4. Click Submit.

Banker Pro sample application

Pega Robot Manager includes a sample application that you can use to understand how RPA solutions are configured within a Pega Platform application. The Banker Pro sample application is configured for traditional, straight-through RPA processing. The application contains work groups for Customer Service and Banking, and each group contains several work queues to hold assignments. The Banker Pro sample application also defines several case types to perform common back-office tasks, such as updating account information, processing claims, and resolving customer disputes. Each case type has a single stage and a single processing step. Each step queues a new assignment to a VM by using the Assign to robot queue advanced shape on the Process Modeler.

Logging in to the Banker Pro sample application

After you import Pega Robot Manager, you can explore the sample application by logging in to the Pega Platform with the following credentials:

• User ID - admin@bankerpro
• Password - rules

VM registration in the Banker Pro sample application

VM registrations are handled by the BankingAdministrator operator, which registers new VMs and assigns them to the correct access group. You must configure the credentials for this operator in each Pega Robotic Automation Runtime instance. You must also customize the pyGetAccessGroupForRobotByWorkGroup decision table to map a work group to the correct access group. Each access group can have different access roles so that you can customize the access rights of each VM in your application. This decision table has been specialized in the Banker Pro application layer.

As a best practice, when you configure RPA, give your administrative operator a unique access group with the PegaRULES:RoboticAdministrator access role.

Customizing the dashboard layout in the Banker Pro sample application

To start Pega RobotConsole, click Launch > Robotic console.

You can customize the dashboard page of Pega RobotConsole by clicking the Gear icon in the upper-right corner of the console. A default configuration is configured in the pyCaseManagerDashboards data transform, which is specialized in the Banker Pro application layer.

Configuring Pega Platform to use Pega RobotConsole

After you import Pega Robot Manager, you must configure certain settings, such as adding the console to an application and enabling agents. For more information, see the following topics:

• Adding Pega Robot Manager to a new application
• Adding Pega Robot Manager to an existing application that uses a previous UI-Kit version
• Enabling the ProcessStaleRobots agent
• Enabling the RoboticAssignmentProcessing agent

Adding Pega RobotConsole to a new application

If you are creating a new Pega Platform application, you can add Pega RobotConsole to your application by completing the following steps:

1. Create the application by using the New Application wizard in Designer Studio. Your application will be automatically configured to be built on the UIKit 09.01 application layer.
2. Open the application record by clicking the application name in the Designer Studio header, and then clicking Open application.
3. In the Edit Application rule form, In the Built on application(s) section, add the Pega RobotConsole application to the stack:
   1. Click Add application.
   2. In the Name field, enter PegaRoboticAutomationConsole.
   3. In the Version field, enter 01.01.02.
4. Click Save.

Adding Pega RobotConsole to an existing application that uses a previous UI-Kit version

​If you have an existing Pega Platform application that uses an earlier version of the UI-Kit, you can add Pega RobotConsole to your application by completing the following steps:

1. Open the PegaRoboticAutomationConsole application rule.
   1. Click Records.
   2. Click Application Definition > Application.
   3. Search for PegaRoboticAutomationConsole by using the Name filter.
   4. Click PegaRoboticAutomationConsole.
2. ​In the header, click Definition.
3. In Edit Application form, in the Built on application(s) section, add UIKit 09.01 to the application stack.
   1. Click Add application.
   2. In the Name field, press the Down Arrow and select UIKit.
   3. In the Version field, press the Down Arrow and select 09.01.
4. Add your application to the application stack.
   1. Click Add application.
   2. In the Name field, press the Down Arrow and select the name of your application.
   3. In the Version field, press the Down Arrow and select the version of your application.
5. Click Save.
6. Create an access group that points to the Pega RobotConsole application:
   1. Click +Create > Security > Access Group.
   2. Enter a name and description, and click Create and Open.
   3. In the Available portals section of the access group, add pyRoboticConsole to the list of portals.
   4. On the Advanced tab of the access group, add the default work pool of your existing built-on application.
   5. Click Save in the Edit Access Group form.
7. Assign the new access group to your users. For more information, see Operator ID: Completing the Profile tab.

Enabling the ProcessStaleRobots agent

The ProcessStaleRobots agent finds the VMs that are running and that have lost connectivity with Pega RobotConsole, and disables them.

Enable this agent by completing the following steps:

1. Click Records > Sys Admin > Agent Schedule.
2. Select the Pega-ProcessEngine instance on the node where you want to enable the ProcessStaleRobots agent.
3. Select the Enabled? check box for the ProcessStaleRobots agent.
4. Click Save.

Enabling the RoboticAssignmentProcessing agent

The RoboticAssignmentProcessing agent finds stale assignments that have been in the VM queue for longer than expected, and moves the assignments back to the work queues from which they originated.

​Enable this agent by completing the following steps:

1. Click Records > Sys Admin > Agent Schedule.
2. Select the Pega-ProCom instance on the node where you want to enable the RoboticAssignmentProcessing agent.
3. Select the Enabled? check box for the RoboticAssignmentProcessing agent.
4. Click Save.

Pega RobotConsole for viewing and managing VMs

Use Pega RobotConsole to view all the VMs that are configured to automate processes in your Pega Platform application. You can monitor VM health and activity and configure information, including the heartbeat interval and the maximum number of assignments in each work queue. The console displays information on the following pages:

• Dashboard page – Provides executive-level information that describes work throughput, the state of VMs, and failed automation history.
• Work group page – Displays information about all the work queues in each work group. Click a work queue to view details about each queue, such as the number of assignments that are past a service-level agreement (SLA) goal.
• Robots page – Displays all the VMs that have registered with your application. Click a VM to view specific details about the selected VM, such as the number of errors it has encountered since coming online.

Starting Pega Robotic Automation Console

To start Pega Robotic Automation Console, click Launch > Robotic console.

You can also configure a new or existing access group with the Robotic Console as the default portal. For more information, see Access Group form: Completing the Definition tab.

Managing work queues and VMs

You can use Pega RobotConsole to manage your work queues and VMs in a number of ways. For example, you can start and stop work queues and modify the frequency of pings that are sent from your VM to your Pega Platform application.

For more information, see the following topics:

• Reprioritizing work queues
• Starting and stopping work queues
• Modifying work queues
• Modifying the heartbeat interval
• Modifying VM details

Reprioritizing work queues

VMs fetch assignments from queues in order of priority. Assignments from the queues that are at the top of each work group are retrieved before assignments in a lower-priority queue. You can reprioritize work queues by completing the following steps:

1. Click Assignments.
2. Click Edit in the panel for the work group that contains the work queue that you want to reprioritize.
3. Drag the queue name to its intended priority in the list.
4. Click Save.

Starting and stopping work queues

You can start or stop a work queue by completing the following steps:

1. Click Assignments.
2. In the panel for the work group that contains the work queue that you want to start or run, click Edit.
3. From the State list, click RUNNING or STOPPED.
4. Click Save.

Modifying work queues

To modify information about assignments in a work queue, complete the following steps:

1. Click Assignments.
2. Click the work queue that you want to modify.
3. Click Edit.
4. In the Max items field, enter the maximum number of assignments that should be in the work queue at any time.

If the number of queued items exceeds this threshold, your queue turns red on the Dashboard page, indicating that the VMs are not keeping pace with the incoming rate of work.

5. In the Max automation run time (in sec) field, enter the expected run time for the assignments in this queue.

If the run time of an automation exceeds the value that is specified on its originating queue, the VM turns red on the Robots page, indicating that it might need administrative attention.

6. Click Save.

Modifying the heartbeat interval

The heartbeat interval governs the expected frequency of pings, or heartbeat messages, that are sent from each registered VM to your Pega Platform application. You can modify the expected interval by completing the following steps:

1. Click Robots.
2. Click the Edit button in the top-right corner of the window, below the operator name.
3. In the Heartbeat interval field, enter the interval, in seconds, that VMs should use.
4. Click Submit. The new heartbeat interval is applied after the VM next registers with your Pega Platform application.

Modifying VM details

To modify VM details, complete the following steps:

1. Click Work group or Robots, and then click the VM that you want to modify.
2. Click the Edit button in the top-right corner, below the operator name.
3. In the Max failed automations field, enter the number of automations that this VM can fail during its processing life. If the number of failures exceeds this value, the VM turns red.
4. Click Submit.