2018.3 Release: Accelerating the Time to Value for RPA

Today I’m happy to announce the availability of UiPath 2018.3, perhaps our most impressive release so far, offering the broadest set of functional capabilities driven by customer feedback.

Param Kahlon,Chief Product Officer UiPath

With UiPath Go! – the new marketplace for reusable automation components, a brand new Studio architecture and continued innovation in the extensibility, security, and performance of the core Platform, we are enabling our customers to transform their business processes faster than ever.

The first RPA marketplace integrated into an enterprise RPA platform

Go! already hosts close to 200 reusable components, solutions for lines of business, and high-value AI assets that developers, our partner ecosystem and business experts can instantly and securely discover, share, and consume to innovate at a fast pace. It is the first marketplace integrated into an enterprise RPA platform, allowing RPA teams to download reusable components directly into their Studio Library, significantly reducing development time, cost and efforts.

Visit this article to learn more about how you can take advantage of Go!.

Share automation components across the organization

In fact, with 2018.3, RPA teams can share and reuse components across the entire organization: in UiPath Go!, in Studio, within a tenant in Orchestrator, or with third parties. The power of reusable, interchangeable automation components accelerates automation development and ultimately the organization’s ROI. When creating an SAP automation project, for example, teams can save effort and time by reusing common workflows like login and log out. Everything can be managed centrally, of course, making version control less of a headache for developers.

New Studio architecture: more power, so you can do more

A breakthrough in reusability wouldn’t have been possible without rethinking some of the more fundamental, structural aspects of UiPath Studio. With a new architecture, Studio becomes so much more powerful, responsive, reliable and secure, allowing for more advanced features to be developed.

Not only does it enable reusable components, but it also removes dependencies and conveniently supports running, scaling, upgrading and troubleshooting automated processes no matter how complex they may be.

Last but not least, it makes it possible for our technology partners to implement custom Studio extensions and panels, paving the way for continuous innovation within the UiPath ecosystem.

More ways to use and manage Robots, hassle-free

We are introducing a couple of key features that should further enrich attended automations while simplifying them for the business user. The new custom input forms are meant to enable you to interact dynamically with the automation while it runs, and input data in real time. On top of that, you can now disable or enable keyboard and mouse actions to eliminate unwanted interference and ensure reliable execution during the automation.

In addition to making Attended Robots easier to command, we’ve made them more accessible to license, schedule, and provision. They can now be connected to any machine. These are Robots that “float” from one computer to another, a capability that is particularly relevant for contact centers, where employees need to log in from different computers, and also for non-persistent VDIs.

Furthermore, RPA administrators can now distribute and reallocate licenses to tenants in just a few clicks, without having to contact the support team. And you will be pleased to know that with 2018.3 you can schedule time off for Robots during weekends, holidays, or any other downtime. Not that they ever complain!

Upgrade risk-free, keep everything stable, ensure consistent performance

Upgrading to the latest version of UiPath with full backward compatibility for existing workflows is now possible, free from disruption. Install activity packages for specific projects to have an easier time controlling how the automation is managed from one version to the next. Developers can turn back the clock and fix mistakes without having to interrupt other members in the RPA team.

Shipped with 14 new Word and Excel activities

To indeed be enterprise-ready and built with the user in mind, an RPA platform must deliver tight Microsoft Office integration. So here they are, the most popular Office activities, ready to be dragged and dropped into the automation workflow: generating reports, documents, and PDFs, adding images and tables to documents, copying and pasting ranges in Excel, filtering, and others. Find the complete list in the release notes, here.

Taking UiPath where it needs to be

We’ve invested heavily in hiring best-in-class engineers to recreate the UiPath Platform in Japanese, and we have German, Russian, and French in beta, ready to take UiPath closer to where you need it, and closer to a native feel.

One of the things that we’re seeing is that although RPA is delivering terrific results, there is still a lot of work that needs to go into taking this promising new technology to ultimate scale. Today’s release marks an important milestone to more systematically help our customers realize that goal with new capabilities that are meant to accelerate everything. We will keep working hard to advance our roadmap; please continue to let us know how we can improve.

Please join Diego Lomanto, VP Product Marketing, UiPath, and me for a deep dive webinar into the 2018.3 release on November 8, between 10 and 11 AM EST.

If you are a current partner or customer interested in the more technical aspects of what’s new in 2018.3, please find all the new features in the release notes.