Top Blue Prism Interview Questions and Answers 2018 – Certified by Experts

1. What is Robotic Automation?

Ans: Robotic automation is a kind of automation wherever a machine or computer imitates human actions in creating rules-based tasks.

2. What is Blue Prism’s Robotic Automation?

Ans: Robotic Automation implies process Automation’s where computer software drives existing enterprise application software in the same way that a user does. Automation is a gadget or stage that operates other application software through the existing application UI.

3. Is Robotic Automation like screen scraping or macros?

Ans: No, managerial Robotic Automation is a generation on from old technologies like screen scratching or macros. The major differences are: Robots are universal application orchestrators – any application that can be used by a man can be used by a present day robot, whether mainframe, bespoke application, legacy, web service enabled or even a close 3rd party API hosted service. Robots assemble procedural knowledge which after some time joins with a shared library that can re-used by some other robot or device. Applications are “read” by the robot, either through submitted APIs where they exist, through the OS before application appear, or through the screen with respect to the native application. In this last case the modern robot “reads” an application screen in context and in the same way a user does. As part of the robot training it is shown how to read the application’s display much like a user is shown.

4. Is Blue Prism an RPA Tool?

Ans: Yes, Blue Prism is an RPA Tool.

5. What systems can Blue Prism robotically integrate?

Ans:  Blue Prism has consolidated several years of experience of integration and various technologies into its software. The technologies employed are secure, reliable and robust. Instead of making new adaptors for each individual application Blue Prism has developed technology adaptors for all the technologies employed at the presentation layer, Windows, Web, Java, Green Screen/Mainframe and even Citrix. This synthesizes with a wide group of dedicated tools that have been developed, means that we are confident in being able to link any system with on a button click. This proven application orchestration ability ensures that new processes can be quickly designed, built and tested without any influence on existing systems.

6. What hardware infrastructure do I need to run Blue Prism’s Robotic Automation Platform?

Ans: Blue Prism is uniquely designed for flexibility and to meet the most robust IT standards for IT operational integrity, security and supportability. This software can be used either as a front office or back office process, runs quite happily on a standard desktop in the front office or on any scale of systems for back-office processing.

7. What is process Studio?

Ans: A Blue Prism Process is created as a plan that looks like a business flow diagram. Processes are created in a zone of Blue Prism named Process Studio which looks similar to other process modeling applications) and uses standard flow diagram symbols and notation.

8. Is Blue Prism’s Robotic Automation Platform secure and auditable?

Ans: Security and auditability are incorporated into the Blue Prism robotic automation platform at multiple levels. The runtime environment is entirely separate to the process editing environment. Approvals to design, create, edit and run processes and business objects are specific to each authorized user. A full audit trail of changes to any process is kept, and comparisons of the before and after effect of changes are provided. The log created at run-time for each process provides a detailed, time-stamped history of every action and decision taken within an automated process. Our consumers tend to find that driving a process with Blue Prism gives them a lot more control when compared to an old-fashioned process, and from a yielding point of view assures that processes run continuously, in line with the process definition.

9. How do I get started on delivering processes using Blue Prism?

Ans: Blue Prism acclaims a phased approach to getting started as the Operational Agility framework is very scalable. It is typical to target the configuration of between 1 and 10 processes initially with a rolling program of processes being introduced once the outline is established.

10. What support do I need from Blue Prism Professional Services?

Ans: It genuinely depends on the potentials you already have in-house and the way you wish to work. Blue Prism can give a full extent of services from basic training, reinforce and mentoring with a view to quickly getting your team independently delivering ongoing automation, right through to a full turnkey package where we will take responsibility for delivering business benefit within agreed service levels.

11. Why Blue Prism?

Ans: Reasons: High-level Robustness because of .NET customized code within the process automation Provides Audit Logs enabling Supports both internal and external Encryption/Decryption Keys Automation process can be designed within IT Governance

12. How much does robotic automation cost?

Ans: A “fully loaded” office robot is around a 1/3rd the cost of universally sourced agents. The versatility and ease of disposition mean that this connection is easy to maintain and decide the nested method for given set of tasks.

13. What is the difference between thin client and thick client?

Ans: Thin client: Any application that we cannot get the quality properties while spying using any RPA tools. For E.g.  Citrix or any virtual environment. Thick client: Any application that we get pretty handful of attribute properties using RPA tools E.g. calculator, Internet Explorer

14. Does blue prism require coding?

Ans: Blue Prism’s digital workforce is composed, administered and supported by the user or customer, spanning operations and technology, sticking to an enterprise-wide robotic operating model. It is code-free and can computerize any software. The digital workforce can be applied to automate processes in any department where managerial or administrative work is performed in an organization.

15. What are the differences between Blue Prism and UiPath?

Ans: UiPath and Blue Prism both the tools have their own software and they are very good. UiPath and BP both have strong process designers for developing the solutions. Differences: In terms of programming languages Blue Prism Handles C# for coding UiPath handles VB for coding Coming to Control Room/Dashboard UiPath control room – The Orchestrator – is web-based; you can access it from the browser or mobile. BP has client based servers, obtainable only through their apps. In terms of cost and uses UiPath Low-cost for developing Easy to learn and explore Can be learned on own Study materials are easily available on web Blue Prism Good for mass scale deployment of large number of rob High-cost for getting and using Blue Prism Limited training available as the only source of training is BP Training cost is too high

16. Difference between Mainframe and Non-Mainframe Applications?

Ans: For Mainframe applications: It’s a single screen and keyboard-based application. There are separate set in-built commands supported by Blue Prism especially for mainframe applications For non-mainframe applications: It includes multiple screens Control moves from one screen to another screen.

17. What are different spy modes?

Ans: We have only one spy mode-mainframe web based-HTML spy mode In Windows, we can use win32, region, aa and spy modes

18. How to make the data item as global.

Ans: A Data Item is visible only on its own page, on the properties forms will make the Data Item as global.

19. What is Environment variable?

Ans: An Environment Variable is a value that is available to all Business Objects and Processes, i.e. across the environment.

20. What are session variables?

Ans: Session Variables are particular to that instance of the Process. If 2 instances of the same process are continuing at the same time, they both have the same Session Variables, but the Session Variables values will be different. From Control Room, we can view and modify session variables

21. What is the Excel Object used by Blue Prism?

Ans: MS Excel VBO is the Object used by Blue Prism

22. What are the stages?

Ans: Stages are Flow diagram elements that can be added to the diagram by clicking on the page but not by dragging from the toolbar.

23. What is the Application Object used by BP to add the data to the queue?

Ans: BP use Internal – Work Queues Application Object to put the CSV data into the queue

24. What is a Visual Business Object?

Ans: Visual Business Object acts as an adapter to the user interface of a specific application. To finish this, each Visual Business Object has three main parts A connector, which is a usual library given by Blue Prism for communicating with a particular kind of application user interface. An application control interface (ACI) that uses the VBO’s connector to display the elements of a specific application’s user interface. One or more pages, each of which implements all or part of an operation that the VBO can perform.

25. How to create an action in the blue prism and how can it be published?

Ans: As their name suggests, actions implement the logic of a business object. each action includes a set of stages along with data items holding information utilized by that action. An action can be published, which lets it be called by methods and probably other software. An action can also remain hidden, making it available only to other actions in this business object. Whichever option is preferred, the action begins with a Start stage and finishes with an End stage, In between appear whatever stages are required to carry out the tasks this action performs.

26. What are the commonly used stages in VBO?

Ans: Read: gets data from a user interface component and stores it in a data item. Write: puts data from a data item to a user interface element. Navigate: opens menus click buttons and carry out other tasks needed to navigate through an application’s screens. Wait: pauses execution until a requirement is met in the application. For example, a VBO might need to wait until an appropriate window has appeared before progressing or wait for the entire application to finish loading. Link: Generates a link between stages in a page’s execution. Decision: acts like an If statement, branching an operation’s control flow based on the assessment of one or more data items. Choice: acts like a switch statement, choosing one of several control flow selections based on the value of one or more data items. Calculation: contains an expression that executes a calculation on data items, such as adding two numbers, extracting a sub-string or transforming a date from one format to another. Loop: iterates over a collection of data. Code: contains arbitrary code written in languages such as C# and Visual Basic. This might be used to carry out complicated data manipulation, for example,  to enter an application-specific interface, such as a COM object in a Windows interface. Code stages can also be used to access database interfaces, giving a page direct access to application data. Page: requests another page in this VBO. Exception: explicitly raises an exception in the execution of an action. Recovery: begins a block for managing exceptions. Resume: ends a block for controlling exceptions. Alert: sends an information to one or more subscribers via email intimating that something has occurred. A VBO might send an alert whenever an exception is raised.

27. What is a Blue Prism Process?

Ans: Since Blue Prism obtains applications through their user interfaces, a Blue Prism method acts much like a human user. Just as a person might interact with various applications to carry out a series of business steps, a Blue Prism process can invoke actions in several VBOs to carry out those same steps. In some ways, a Blue Prism process is quite comparable to a VBO. Like a VBO, a process is represented in one or more pages, and each page comprises some number of stages and data items. There are major differences, however. The biggest one is the way in which pages can be entreated. In a VBO, any published page can be called at any time; the object exposes a set of operations that can be invoked in any order. A Blue Prism process, however, always begins at its Main page, and the pages it contains always execute in a determined order

28. How to create a Process in Blue prism and how does it work?

Ans: To create a process, a developer uses Process Studio. Just as processes are related to business objects, Process Studio is related to Object Studio A process illustrated in Process Studio looks much like a common flowchart. As in Object Studio, each page in a process has its own tab, giving the analyst divide the process into logical groupings. Also like Object Studio, Process Studio enables its user to create logic graphically by gathering stages on a design surface. The tool adds a built-in debugger that allows passing through a process, arranging breakpoints, examining data items, and more. One of the difficulties in working with business processes is changing them reliably. To help with this, Process Studio holds track of the earlier version of a process being edited. The user of the tool is then able to switch to a view that shows both the old and new versions side-by-side, letting see specifically what’s different. Blue Prism also provides a process history tool that enables tracking corrections to processes over time.

29. How to deploy blue prism applications?

Ans: Just like manual processes, automated processes need to be checked and maintained. To allow this, Blue Prism provides two tools: Control Room and System Manager. The purpose of Control Room is to let both business analysts and IT team work with Blue Prism processes. The tool allows them to perform tasks such as: Starting and stopping instances of Blue Prism and RPA processes. (It’s also possible to do this from the command line or with external software—using Control Room isn’t needed. Viewing the log produced by each Blue Prism process, either while the process is running or after it’s completed. Amongst other things, this log records when every stage in a process is performed. Creating process schedules. For example, a business analyst might represent a schedule that runs Blue Prism process X at 9 am every Friday morning. If X finishes successfully, the schedule then runs Blue Prism process Y. If X doesn’t complete successfully, the schedule runs Blue Prism process Z. Observing work queues, examining things such as how far Blue Prism processes have taken in a particular input file and what exceptions have transpired.

30. How to secure blue prism applications?

Ans: Any application intended for enterprise deployment must squarely address security, and Blue Prism is no exception. One important foundation for security in the product is role-based access control. Once a Blue Prism administrator has defined what roles a user can act in, the system will allow that user to perform only the actions allowed by these roles. Blue Prism also keeps track of significant changes to its environment. Using the Audit Log Viewer, part of System Manager, an administrator can examine records of things such as when a user logs into Blue Prism when that user starts or deletes a process when that user changes her password, and more. Another issue, especially for a technology based on presentation integration, is safely storing and managing the usernames and passwords used to log in to applications. To do this, Blue Prism provides an encrypted credentials database controlled by a Blue Prism administrator. For example, a set of credentials (i.e., a username and password) might be usable only by specific Blue Prism processes started by users in specific roles and running on specific servers. It’s also possible to use Active Directory in place of some parts of Blue Prism’s user management mechanisms. While it’s not required, larger organizations in particular, can find this useful.

31. Describe VBO and it’s role

Ans: VBO is the business object and the below images show its functionality.

32. How to choose a connector in Blue prism?

Ans: The connector’s job is to manage low-level interaction with an application’s user interface. Since application interfaces use a variety of technologies, Blue Prism provides a variety of connector choices. The options are: An HTML connector, which allows working with HTML, JavaScript, ActiveX controls, and other common components of a browser interface. A Windows connector, allowing access to Windows applications built using the .NET Framework, the Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) library, Visual Basic 6, PowerBuilder, and other Windows-based user interface technologies. A Java connector for working with user interfaces created using Swing, Java applets, Oracle Forms, and other technologies based on the Java Virtual Machine. A mainframe connector, which allows access to mainframe applications through terminal emulators from various vendors, including Attachmate, Micro Focus, IBM, and others. A Citrix connector, allowing access to applications that provide their user interfaces via technologies such as Citrix XenApp and Microsoft Remote Desktop Services.

33. What is Robotic Process Automation?

Ans: RPA ,even in our digital era, many business processes are still carried out by people. Yet these processes commonly rely on one or more applications, with human beings providing the driving intelligence. For example, think about a back office that handles customer orders. Each order might require getting a customer’s name, then look up and validating the customer’s shipping address. Once this information is available, the next steps might be to calculate the shipping cost and place the order. In a typical back office environment, people execute this process, often relying on many applications to complete it. But why? Just as more and more manufacturing processes are now done by robots, why can’t more and more business processes be done by software robots? The answer is that with RPA, they can. Put simply, RPA means using software rather than people to carry out business processes that rely on applications. RPA allows replacing people with software robots. While this kind of automation can be useful when a process uses just one application, it’s especially valuable when a process relies on multiple applications. Rather than integrating the applications through whatever application programming interfaces (APIs) they might expose, RPA instead accesses each one through its user interface, just as a person would.

34. How Long Until My Team is Self-sufficient In Developing Automated Processes?

Ans: The initial 3 days training course provides the basic knowledge required to begin creating automated processes. Candidates can expect to achieve full accreditation within the time frame of the project for the initial Operational Agility framework creation. During this time the trainees are delivering automated processes into the production environment, therefore, generating business benefit. If you wish to know more about the certification process, click here, and read my next blog.