RPA Hub architecture

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of RPA Hub architecture

    The Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub architecture in ServiceNow Yokohama release enables customers to design, manage, and orchestrate robotic automation processes through a centralized ServiceNow instance integrated with customer environments.

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    Key Components

    • RPA Desktop Design Studio: Installed in the customer environment, this is where developers build and locally test automations before publishing them to the ServiceNow RPA Hub.
    • Unattended Robot: Robots that operate independently on Windows machines or Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDIs) without human intervention. They execute automations based on machine-specific configurations.
    • Unattended Robot Login Agent: A software agent installed on the unattended robot machine to enable self-login or unlocking when an unattended bot process starts.
    • Attended Robot: Robots installed on user desktops that assist human users to enhance bot process efficiency.
    • RPA Hub: A scoped application within the ServiceNow instance acting as the command and control center for managing robots, packages (automation build repository), and bot processes (task sequences and schedules).
    • RPA Plugins: Delivered via the ServiceNow Content Delivery Network (CDN), these plugins provide the foundational automation building blocks used across RPA Desktop Design Studio, Unattended, and Attended Robots.

    Key Capabilities and Features

    • Automation Lifecycle: Automations are developed in RPA Desktop Design Studio, tested locally, and then published to RPA Hub for orchestration and execution by robots.
    • Bot Processes: Define the sequence of actions and schedules that robots follow to complete tasks, with these instructions passed to the respective robots for execution.
    • Queue Management: RPA Hub supports queues, which organize and distribute work items or tasks efficiently across multiple robots.
    • Security: The entire RPA Hub scoped application is protected through access control lists (ACLs) to ensure secure management and operation.
    • Updates and Installation: RPA Hub application and related plugins are installed from the ServiceNow Store, which manages updates through the CDN.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    This architecture empowers customers to automate complex processes with flexible robot types (attended and unattended), centralized orchestration, and secure management. Customers can expect streamlined automation deployment, efficient task distribution through queues, and seamless integration between development and execution environments, all managed within the ServiceNow platform.

    Learn about the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub architecture.

    The following diagram shows how the ServiceNow instance communicates with the customer environment.

    Figure 1. High-level architecture of the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub application
    High-level architecture of the Robotic Process Automation Hub application.
    Various components make up the architecture of the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub application:
    • RPA Desktop Design Studio, Unattended Robot, and Attended Robot are the three applications that you install to form the customer environment.
    • The Unattended Robot Login Agent is a software agent that you install on a Windows machine with Unattended Robot. You can use this application to unlock or to perform a self-login to the robot machine when an unattended bot process is triggered.
    • Unattended robots work independently without any human intervention. They are installed on Windows machines or Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDIs). For example, to create an unattended robot, you need to mention the machine name on which the robot is installed on. The automation is executed from here.
    • Attended robots work along with humans to improve the efficiency of a bot process. They are installed on user desktops.
    • After the automation is built in the RPA Desktop Design Studio, a developer tests it locally and then publishes it to the ServiceNow® RPA Hub instance for further orchestration.
    • RPA Hub is a scoped application in the ServiceNow instance. It is the command and control center for managing the robots, packages, and bot processes. For more information about these terms, see Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub glossary.
    • The automation that is uploaded from the RPA Desktop Design Studio resides under the packages section, which also acts as a build repository.
    • You can install the RPA Hub application and the plugins from the ServiceNow Store. The ServiceNow Store checks the Content Delivery Network (CDN) for updates. RPA plugins form the building blocks that are used to create an automation. The plugin files are delivered via the CDN application to RPA Desktop Design Studio, Unattended Robot, and Attended Robot. The plugin inventory is maintained inside the RPA plugin.
    • In a bot process record, you define the sequence of actions that a robot follows to accomplish a specific task, along with the schedule. This information is passed to the robots. When the automation is triggered, the automation executes.
    • In the RPA Hub application, additional capabilities, like the queue. A queue is a structured data storage mechanism, used for managing and controlling the distribution of tasks, work items, or cases to different robots for processing.
    • The entire scoped application is safeguarded with access control lists (ACLs).