Robotic process automation (RPA) has significantly benefited companies trying to ride the wave of artificial intelligence (AI) powered applications. UiPath is one of the most widely used RPA tools. UiPath Orchestrator is one of the UiPath components that serves as a center for managing all bots and software. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a better understanding of the UiPath Orchestrator.
What is an UiPath Orchestrator?
- The UiPath Orchestrator is a web application that allows you to orchestrate the execution of repetitive business processes by UiPath Robots.
- Orchestrator manages the creation, monitoring, scheduling, and controlling of automated bots and processes.
- It's a centralized forum for managing and controlling all software bots. It can handle the entire robot fleet.
- It serves as a point of integration for third-party solutions and applications.
Orchestrator Capabilities
- Provisioning- Establishes and maintains the connection between the robots and the web application.
- Deployment- Ensures that it delivers the correct package versions to the assigned robots for execution.
- Configuration- Looks after the maintenance and delivery of robot environments and processes configuration.
- Queues- Ensures that it automatically distributes the workload is across robots.
- Monitoring- Manages user permissions and keeps track of Robot recognition details.
- Logging- Logs are stored and indexed in an SQL database
- Inter-connectivity- Functions as a centralized contact point for third-party solutions or applications.
Orchestrator Use Cases
The strength of UiPath's Orchestrator comes from its ability to control the entire robot fleet. Attended, unattended, non-production, studio, and studioX robots are the different types of use cases. You can operate them from a single location.
- Attended- User events activate this type of robot and it operates at the same workstation as a human. Orchestrator is used with attended robots to provide a centralized process deployment and logging medium.
- Unattended- In virtual environments, robots can run unattended and automate a variety of processes. The Orchestrator is in charge of the remote execution, control, scheduling, and support for work queues, in addition to the Attended Robot capabilities.
- Studio/StudioX- It has unattended robot capabilities, but it should only be used to connect your Studio or StudioX to Orchestrator for creation purposes.
- NonProduction- Robots are similar to unattended robots, but you can only use them for research and development.
UiPath Orchestrator User Interface
Now that you have understood what UiPath Orchestrator is, it’s time to get to know the Orchestrator user interface regarding tenant context and folder context.
1. Tenant Context
- To view and control tenant-level entities in the Orchestrator, pick ‘Tenant’ from the sidebar menu.
- With only one instance of Orchestrator, multitenancy allows isolating data. This feature helps automate various departments within the organization while ensuring that it approves the Orchestrator data according to the user’s preferences.
The options that are available from tenant view are as follows:
Robots
A robot is an execution host that runs the UiPath Studio processes.
Users can add robots, edit them, display their status and license state, adjust the environment, and change their runtime settings on the robots tab. You can also see the logs that a single robot creates.
Folders
- Folders give fine-grained control over automation and their associated entities over the entire organization.
- In Orchestrator, there are two types of folders: Classic and Modern. Classic folders’ functionality is allowed by default, while the host or tenant administrator must enable modern folders’ functionality.
Users
- A user is an individual with access-dependent capabilities whose view and control of the Orchestrator are determined by the access rights granted. Users can be developed and managed either locally in the Orchestrator or an external directory.
Roles
- In the Orchestrator, the Roles tab helps in handling user permissions. The Orchestrator’s view that a consumer has is defined by the role they have been assigned.
Jobs
- The execution of a process on one or more robots is referred to as a job. The jobs page lists show all the jobs that are completed, those that are still working, and those that are put on hold.
Machines
- The Machines page allows the provision and control of the machines to prepare for registering robots with Orchestrators. It lists all the machines that are currently in operation, as well as their forms.
Packages
- It displays all projects published from UiPath Studio and those manually imported on the Packages tab. You can display all available versions of any package on the Packages tab.
ML Skills
- It retrieves and requests machine learning skills from the AI Fabric service. It authenticates the robot that is running the ML Skills.
Audit
- The Audit page shows the audit trail for all acts taken by orchestrator entities. Several criteria, including Component, User, Action, and Time, are used to filter the data on the Audit page.
Credential Stores
- A credential store is a named location inside a safe store, such as CyberArk, where you can get robot credentials and credential assets when you need them. At the tenant stage, Orchestrator encourages the use of several credential stores.
Webhooks
- Webhooks make it easier to integrate UiPath automation with the app ecosystem. You can subscribe to Orchestrator events and have them sent to any external DCM, BPM, or CRM solution to notify about new queue items that can be processed.
Licensing
- Robot licensing is available at both the host and tenant-level in the Orchestrator on the License list. This allows you to shorten the deployment time and handle activation from a single location. With a single click, you can trigger, renew, delete, and delegate licenses.
Alerts
- Notifications for robots, queue objects, triggers, tasks, procedures, and activities are shown on the Alerts tab. You will receive updates from all of your folders on this tab. Alerts are sent in real-time and can be categorized as Info, Success, Warn, Error, or Fatal.
Settings
- Users can adjust various settings on the Settings tab, including the time zone, email warning information, account information, package feeds, and interactive authentication.
Folders Context
From the sidebar menu, pick any available folder to view and control the entities within that folder.
Automation
Automations consist of the following tabs:
Processes- The Processes page allows you to build new processes from uploaded packages, manage existing processes, and keep all of your processes up to date with the latest package versions.
Jobs- On an UiPath Robot, a job represents the execution of a procedure. It can start the execution of a job in either attended or unattended mode.
Triggers- Triggers allow you to run jobs in a pre-defined sequence if new products are added to your queues at predetermined intervals.
Logs- The Logs page shows you all the robots’ logs in all the folders you have access to. To access the Logs tab, you must have view permission on Logs.
Monitoring
Monitoring consists of the following tabs:
Machines- Machines display information about all the existing runtimes on an aggregate basis and allow you to check the overall health of each runtime.
Processes- The Processes page allows you to build new processes from uploaded packages, manage existing processes, and keep all of your processes up to date with the latest package versions.
Queues- A queue is a storage container that can accommodate an infinite number of objects. Multiple types of data, such as invoice info or customer data, are stored in queue objects. Other systems, such as SAP or Salesforce, are used to process this data.
SLA- Displays SLA and Risk SLA information for all queues in the current folder with SLA predictions allowed. This allows you to determine if it will process the newly added queue items on time and, if so, what resources you'll need to devote to ensure that you do not violate their SLA.
Queues
Review section- On the Queues page, click the Review Requests tab to show revision requests. The page shows items in different queues that have been allocated for revision.
Assets
Assets are usually shared variables or credentials that can be used through several automation projects. They allow you to store unique information that the robots can easily access.
Storage Buckets
Developers use storage buckets to provide a per-folder storage solution when building automation projects. The storage bucket page shows the current bucket configuration and allows you to create as many new storage buckets as you need.
Testing
Testing contains the following tabs.
Test Sets- A Test Set is a collection of any individual Test Cases, each intended to serve a specific function through several projects. And allows you to build new test sets, update existing ones, and run them.
Test Cases- The Test Cases page shows all of your test cases from all of your projects and app versions in one place. These are the test cases that are used in and make up your Test Sets.
Test Executions- Previously executed Test Sets and their information are shown on the Test Executions tab since Test Sets are often subject to change.
Test Schedules- Test Schedules allow you to run tests at predetermined intervals and in a scheduled manner.
Test Data Queues- Using test data queues, you can store and manage test data. The test data queue serves as a container for queue items that are ready to be consumed via various activities. The test data queue items are uploaded or deleted based on the first-in-first-out (FIFO) concept.
Action Catalogs
Task catalogs are task containers that allow you to categorize your tasks using a variety of criteria. The catalog where a task is stored is defined when the task is created using Studio's Build Type Task operation.
Settings
Permissions- Individuals with access-dependent capabilities whose view and control of the Orchestrator are determined by their assigned roles. You may install users locally in Orchestrator or an external directory.
Machine- You can use the Machines page to provision and manage system entities, which you can then use to bind UiPath Robots to Orchestrator. It lists all the machines that are currently in use, as well as their types.
Demo- Connecting Robot With the Orchestrator
Step1: Open UiPath Assistant
UiPath Robot is a kind of representative that runs the workflow. Create a workflow in UiPath studio then upload it on the cloud orchestrator. Then configure different robots to run this workflow.
Step2: Login to the UiPath Orchestrator
Open the browser, navigate to the platform.uipath.com website. Signup with your UiPath account.
Step3: Create a Tenant
After signing in, go to the admin option. Click on add tenant, the tenant window will be displayed. Fill in all the mandatory fields like tenant name and password. Click on the provision. The tenant is created, and the details are shown on the tenant page.
Step4: Connect the Robot to the Orchestrator
In the UiPath assistant, go to preferences, then orchestrator settings, and click sign in.
Once you click on sign-in, the UiPath assistant will get the token from orchestrator user authentication, and it will get connected.
Step5: Status- Connected, Licensed
Once you sign in, you can notice a green dot indicating that the robot is connected and licensed. The machine and robot are also automatically connected.
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Next Steps
This tutorial on ‘UiPath Orchestrator’ explores what a UiPath Orchestrator is and helps you understand its capabilities and use cases. Apart from the UiPath Orchestrator, it also includes the Orchestrator user interface concerning tenant and folder context. Finally, you saw the demo on how to connect the robot with the orchestrator.
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