Robotic Process Automation — automating UI interaction with applications that do not have APIs — is a legitimate use case that Power Automate Desktop handles well in specific scenarios. It is also a tool frequently applied to problems that should have been solved with a proper integration.
Attended automation
Runs with a human present at the machine. The automation handles repetitive mechanical steps while the human monitors and handles exceptions. Good use cases: processes where human oversight is required at specific decision points, tasks with occasional exceptions requiring judgement, processes involving systems the user needs to be logged into with their own credentials.
Unattended automation
Runs without human involvement — typically scheduled, on a dedicated machine, using a service account. No human monitors the run. Good use cases: high-volume repetitive processes that run overnight, batch processing between systems without direct integration, processes that must run outside business hours.
The licensing distinction
Attended RPA is included in Power Automate Premium per-user licensing. Unattended RPA requires an additional unattended bot licence per machine — a significant additional cost. Factor this into your business case.
When RPA is not the right answer
RPA is a last resort, not a first choice. Before reaching for RPA: does this system have an API? Could this be solved with a standard Power Automate connector? Could the manual process be eliminated rather than automated?
Every RPA implementation done as a shortcut around a proper integration has eventually been replaced by a proper integration. The proper integration is usually faster to build than stakeholders expect and cheaper to maintain than the RPA.
If considering RPA, first spend two hours investigating whether an API or connector exists for the target system. That investigation will either find a better solution or confirm that RPA is genuinely the right tool.
