CUSTOMER CASE | PUBLIC SECTOR
Eläketurvakeskus maintains its robot production cost-effectively with RaaS service
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Eläketurvakeskus (ETK), The Finnish Center for Pensions, has been using robotics to save resources and streamline processes since 2017. In 2021, ETK needed an outsourced maintenance solution for its robots, for which ETK chose Sisua Digital’s RaaS service. With Sisua’s RaaS service, ETK receives cost-effective production maintenance as well as support and best practices for automation development from Sisua’s experts.
ETK took its first steps in the field of robotics (RPA, Robotic Process Automation) with Sisua Digital already in 2017, when we started to map out use cases for automation together. By implementing automation, ETK wanted to dismantle its processing queues and reduce the manual workload in processes that were large in volume.
"Sisua Digital helped increase our robotics know-how, and together we gathered ideas to find use cases for robotics and went through their feasibility," says Jyrki Hyttinen, ETK's project manager.
As a result of the process analysis, a data processing automation was implemented for ETK, which is still running in production. In that same context Sisua Digital trained two internal RPA developers for ETK.
By using robotics ETK saves working hours and is able to update data in real time
Since the first automation, ETK has independently developed more automations. At the moment ETK has various automations in production: automation is used, for example, for data processing and refinement. In these automations, robots filter and combine data. In addition, ETK has automations in which robots transfer data from one system to another. In these automations robots retrieve information and transmit it onto other systems. The robots in a way act as an integration between two systems. For example, the robot retrieves notifications about changes from e-mail, after which it takes the requests to the management system and finally notifies the customer that the matter has been processed.
“Robots process large amounts of data much faster than humans. By using automation, we aim to save resources, ie working hours. Some tasks are not reasonable to do manually. In addition, automation enables more frequent data updates, so the data is more up-to-date than before. Previously we were able to update data manually once a month, but now the robot does it daily,” describes Hyttinen.
ETK runs their automations both daily as well as on-demand, which are larger-scale runs.
With Sisua’s RaaS service, ETK receives cost-effective production maintenance and support for automation development
In 2021, ETK became Sisua’s RaaS customer (Robotics as a Service) which means that Sisua Digital provides infrastructure as a service for ETK’s robotics and takes care of its maintenance.
“We needed UiPath licenses as well as the Orchestrator tool to maintain the robots. In addition, we had a need for support and more experienced expertise. We wanted to share ideas with Sisua’s experts and solve more difficult challenges together. We also needed help using the Orchestrator and some structure in our automation development,” Hyttinen explains.
Maintaining an automation infrastructure independently can be expensive and time consuming. Outsourcing the maintenance was more cost-effective in this case and saves ETK’s resources. Meanwhile, the new operation environment enables new, updated automation operating models. Even the old automations were upgraded to be more reliable with the new operation environment. Sisua Digital also trained ETK’s developers to use Orcherstrator and shared best practices and security requirements in automation development.
In addition to the maintenance service, Sisua provides support for automation development. ETK and Sisua Digital have gone through ETK’s automations together to see if there are any errors or how they could be improved. Using Orchestrator enables monthly monitoring and automation reports which help manage errors and improve statistics and production reporting.
“A monthly status report with Sisua’s experts brings structure to our development. We get the industry’s best practices and don’t have to invent the wheel ourselves. We also get help using the Orchestrator and making the automation runs. We have received support for ongoing development projects and reviewed their implementations together, thus being able to make automations in accordance with good practice. If any problems have occured, we have discussed with Sisua's experts how to solve them,” says Hyttinen.
In the near future ETK intends to focus even more resources on robotics
ETK has been satisfied with the cooperation and the RaaS service.
“The RaaS service was a natural continuation for previous collaboration, which we were pleased with. The cooperation has gone really well and we have got what we wanted. For example, when we put a request to Sisua today, we got an answer in 15 minutes. Their experts are professional and know their case, and the content has been what we were looking for,” describes Hyttinen.
ETK intends to continue developing robotics in the future. The outsourced maintenance service allows robotics to be scaled flexibly and as needed.
“We are working to map more automation use cases. Our own understanding of what is a good automation target is constantly improving. Even though we are still in the early stages, with the RaaS service, we will have a bigger kick-off for our development. The number of in-house automation developers has grown from two to four, and the goal is to put more resources into robotics and develop our own operation models. We can learn from Sisua's operation models and thus also harmonize our own,” states Hyttinen.
Author: Paiju Koivula
What was achieved
Benefits of RaaS service
- Outsourcing maintenance service is cost effective and saves resources
- ETK receives support from Sisua for automation development
- Operating models are up to date
- ETK receives best practices for development
- Automations comply with security requirements
- Robot capacity can be flexibly increased as needed
- Orchestrator enables better reporting and error management
About the company
Eläketurvakeskus
Eläketurvakeskus (ETK) is a statutory developer, expert and provider of joint services regarding occupational pension. ETK is responsible for the content and maintenance of the central register of the occupational pension scheme and for the availability of common information and services in the field of occupational pensions. ETK’s expertise is used by private and public employment pension institutions, social security and insurance administrators and authorities, decision-makers, research and education institutions and the media. ETK employs more than 300 people.
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