Waseda University pioneered the Application of RPA in Japanese Universities

Waseda University (Waseda University) is the first university in Japan to formally use RPA to improve office efficiency. This private university was founded in 1882 (Meiji 15), with a large number of talented graduates, and now it has become a prestigious research university in Japan and the world.

In 2012, Waseda University developed a medium-and long-term plan "Waseda Vision 150th Anniversary Vision" for its 150th anniversary, introducing a new research support and financial system. As part of the plan, the school began to introduce RPA in 2017, with the aim of automating and informationizing business processes.

Project background:

Waseda University is composed of more than 100 departments, such as undergraduate, graduate school, research institute and so on. In addition to budget management, each department is also responsible for the management of research funds.

Most of the research funds are public funds, which should not only be strictly regulated, but also be accurately put in place. In addition, the rules for the use of funds vary from subject to subject. Due to the large number of projects, the amount of research fund application is large, and the task of document processing is heavy.

In order to automate the processing of applications and documents, Waseda University decided to deploy RPA.

Application process:

1. Make an entry form for hundreds of thousands of payment applications each year.

two。 Check the format of the entry table before registering with the system.

3. Identify the wrong data content when entering the system.

Before RPA implementation:

1. Manual production and printing of a large number of payment application entry forms is time-consuming and laborious.

two。 Manual input is not only inefficient and burdensome, but also prone to errors.

3. When there are many errors in the data entered into the system, the system cannot identify all the errors at once.

After the implementation of RPA:

1. Prevent human error and improve business efficiency and quality.

The 2.RPA robot automatically validates the Excel documents stored on the server and returns the problem to the person in charge.

Implementation effect:

With the implementation of RPA, the processing time of each document is reduced by about 30%, and the working hours of the whole school can be saved nearly 40000 hours a year. In terms of amount, the productivity can be increased by tens of millions of yen a year.