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While these repetitive and time-consuming duties are essential in running an efficient organization effectively; administrative automation technology has become more prevalent over time as these repetitive and time-consuming processes grow ever tedious and time-consuming.
An alarm phone goes off automatically with music to wake a student from her nap; simultaneously, a robotic vacuum cleaner starts its weekly cleaning schedule; Heat is needed in the house, but the furnace doesn't fire up immediately to provide heat; These are only some examples of automation's pervasive presence in everyday life; coined from automatic and operation, automation refers to any process in which mechanical or electronic devices perform tasks without human involvement or intervention.
The Basics of Administrative Automation
Administrative automation is using technology to simplify or streamline administrative processes and tasks.
It can encompass anything from an autoresponder that handles customer emails to enterprise systems that manage complex business processes and workflows. Administrative automation has long been an option in the workplace. Yet, it's becoming increasingly widespread due to technological advancements such as AI and machine learning.
Automating repetitive administrative tasks can ease work processes while increasing productivity; Gartner estimates that by 2024 69 percent of day-to-day managerial duties will have been fully automated - now is an opportune moment to explore administrative automation.
Seven Everyday Administrative Tasks to Automate
Time Tracking
Tracing employees' hours helps businesses understand employee performance and establish compensation plans for hourly workers.
Manual or paper-based time tracking methods may prove tedious and error-prone - making automation of this task an appealing prospect.
Jotform offers an employee timesheet template that makes tracking employee hours effortless.
Customize it to collect relevant data such as photos or attachments from employees who will then record their hours directly into it. Weekly working hours, total hours worked, and overtime calculations for every employee can automatically be calculated based on information supplied in this form.
Scheduling
Scheduling employees is often an administrative nightmare for managers, with time off requests and shift assignments being managed manually.
Manual tracking limits the amount of productive work managers can focus on daily.
Jotform's employee schedule template offers the solution: create an automated schedule request form that automatically fills your employee schedule sheet with responses.
Your customized template also helps track employee schedules, days off, and hours worked!
Proposal Writing
Drafting custom sales proposals from scratch can be a time-consuming but necessary activity for many organizations.
While you cannot automate every aspect of this task -- since each proposal must still be explicitly tailored -- automation tools such as proposal generators may ease some of its strain.
Jotform's free proposal generator makes creating winning proposals in minutes easy.
Select any of Jotform's template options and personalize it for your company branding and use case before filling in key details on its form and electronically sending it off for signature.
Customer Data Management
As your business expands, manually tracking customer information becomes increasingly challenging.
Automating data collection and management enables quick retrieval and prevents loss.
With Jotform's free customer relationship management templates, tracking customer data and viewing interactions between your business and customers in an easily understandable spreadsheet format is easier than ever.
Link your contact or lead generation form directly to it to populate it automatically; customize this template as necessary for your needs; access data collected across devices - it all comes together quickly.
Invoice Tracking
Accounting invoices can quickly become complex as transactions increase and fulfillment times change.
Still, an invoice tracking system can drastically simplify this process. For instance, Jotform's fully customizable invoice tracker template makes tracking invoices online easy with its flexible table view that also functions as a calendar, spreadsheet, or card view.
Filling out a form attached to this template automatically populates its spreadsheet.
Managing director of Tiger Financial, Matthew Dailly, also recommends automating invoice reminders.
Most software programs allow you to set reminders when invoice payments are due. In contrast, some even enable early reminders so clients aren't surprised," according to him.
Expense Management
Budgeting and expense management are vital administrative tasks your team must undertake regularly, yet can often prove tedious administratively.
Automating this process makes things simpler for all budget types involved.
Jotform's expense management templates provide secure spreadsheets for tracking expenses and monitoring budget expenditures, with automated populator forms tied directly to these spreadsheets that make entering new expense entries simple and painless.
Each template has an efficient calculation feature that instantly adds totals, so you're never behind on expenses.
Project Management
Reaching out to every team member for updates can take time when managing multiple projects simultaneously, especially if working with large teams or handling several concurrently.
While you cannot automate every aspect of project management, Jotform's customizable project management templates provide a way for you to stay organized by tracking all projects and tasks using an accessible spreadsheet with auto-populated form attachments allowing autofill functionality; you can filter jobs according to the due date, assignee, priority or any other customizable metric you specify within each template.
Tips for Effective Administrative Automation
To ensure your automation efforts are successful, remember the following tips.
- Have a clear goal: Kimberley Tyler-Smith, head of marketing at Resume Worded, emphasizes the need to comprehend why one would want to automate fully. For instance, will it save time, increase productivity, or enable more accurate data collection?
- Know what not to automate: Katy Smith, Product Manager for Airgram, advises against automating too much in your business as too much automation could remove its unique characteristics and personal touch.
Automating everyday and straightforward workplace tasks may seem enticing and efficient; however, automation should only ever replace human interaction where possible -- such as specific sales or customer service tasks," Smith notes.
- Have a backup plan: What happens if automation fails? Andrew Gonzales, president at BusinessLoans.com, advises companies to develop a contingency plan if things go awry. In manual intervention situations, manual interventions may prevent escalation from worsening; when autonomous processes take over without oversight, there may be severe ramifications from errors occurring," Gonzalez states.
What Are Some Essential Skills and Tools for Automating and Streamlining System Administration Processes?
System administration can be an exciting and satisfying career overseeing various IT systems and networks.
However, it can often become time-consuming and repetitive when dealing with numerous servers, devices, users, tasks, and users. Automation and streamlining system administration processes is an ideal way of saving time while decreasing errors, improving performance, and increasing security - that is why this article explores critical skills and tools that may assist system admins in automating or streamlining system admin processes.
Scripting Skills
Scripting is one of the critical skills necessary for automating and streamlining system administration processes.
Languages like Bash, PowerShell, and Python Perl can help create scripts that run across platforms like Linux, and Windows Mac OS. Furthermore, cron, Task Scheduler, or Ansible tools may allow scripts to automate workflows such as backup updates, audits, etc., using scripting technologies.
Configuration Management Tools
Configuration management is another essential skill to master for automating and streamlining system administration processes.
Configuration management ensures the consistency, compliance, and security of IT networks and systems. Configuration management tools, like Chef, Puppet, SaltStack, or Terraform, can assist with automating IT infrastructure deployment, provisioning, and ongoing management.
Configuration management tools can help enforce policies, standards, and best practices across your IT environment while tracking changes over time. SolarWinds Orion offers enterprise-level monitoring for hardware and software. Their various modules allow them to meet a wide variety of monitoring requirements.
Related:- How To Maximize Efficiency Through Automation In Mid-Market Companies
Cloud Computing Skills
Cloud computing is another crucial skill to automating and streamlining system administration processes, providing IT services such as servers, storage space, databases, or applications from over the internet instead of on-premise.
Cloud services like AWS Azure or Google Cloud offer various capabilities that allow system admins to reduce costs, increase scalability, and enhance reliability; automating and streamlining administration through tools like orchestration automation monitoring can all play their part.
Version Control Tools
Version control is another essential skill in automating and streamlining system administration processes, keeping changes tracked over time in code, configuration files, or documentation.
Git, SVN, or Mercurial versions allow you to track changes by managing and tracking changes to code, configuration files, or documentation using features like branching, merging, tagging, or collaboration. These tools also improve IT networks and systems' quality assurance, security, and accountability.
Testing and Debugging Tools
Testing and debugging is another crucial skill for automating and streamlining system administration processes and verifying functionality, performance, and security issues in IT systems and networks.
Testing tools like Selenium, PyTest, or Wireshark can assist in automating system administration processes with methods like unit testing, integration testing, or network analysis and identify errors or vulnerabilities within them.
Communication and Documentation Skills
Communication and documentation skills are another vital asset when automating and streamlining system administration processes, and providing goals, requirements, results, or feedback about IT systems and networks.
Communicative tools like email chat or wiki may assist in automating system administration procedures with tools like alerts and notifications reports. Communication also serves to collaborate, coordinate, and educate stakeholders such as clients, colleagues, managers, etc.
What Are the Advantages of an Automated Management System?
Automated management systems offer competitive companies an effective means of streamlining their business systems.
Automated software can replace many time-consuming business tasks with automation software, making business administration more effective. Advantages of choosing and correctly using a computerized management system include control over processes, clearer visibility of operations, supply chain streamlining, and improved information storage and recall techniques - Plus, these systems help businesses increase efficiency, keep staff accountable, expand customer service offerings and ultimately bring more excellent value back into the organization.
Knowledge is power in competitive industries, and accessing databases and libraries can significantly boost this advantage.
Management information systems allow immediate access to historical and real-time data to help enhance effective management practices. Programs include hardware-powered automated software capable of collecting information from all necessary departments and archiving, backing up, and managing all files/documents as required.
Automatic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software makes internal processes such as inventory, product planning, and customer service management more easily managed.
Utilizing radio frequency identification (RFID), tracking technologies like RFID tags or order tracking methods and interaction between suppliers such as invoicing/order tracking/supplier relationships simpler; for instance, when inventory reaches predetermined levels, it automatically sends out reorder forms, the internet purchasing sites often utilize ERP as they must respond rapidly with orders that may vary significantly in quantity or frequency - an ERP is the ideal way of fulfilling both needs efficiently!
Staff accountability can also be increased with automated management systems designed to assign and track worker responsibilities, such as setting and monitoring worker quotas, communication logs, and task reviews.
Information logs require employees to document leads that lead to evaluation opportunities based on qualitative data. These programs help promote employee growth while keeping employees aware of completed tasks, achievements, and productivity levels achieved.
Automated relationship management systems can increase customer satisfaction as well.
All client communications and information are stored digitally and made readily accessible from multiple locations - this enables quick resolutions to disputes as well as increased sales opportunities through letters, faxes, emails, and SMS sent automatically through automated software. At the same time, customized mass mailing through resource management systems may reflect information tailored to specific historical buying trends or interests.
Automated management systems offer many potential advantages that can increase business value and profit, often through increased ROI.
To optimize this effect, the computerized system and related business software must be utilized efficiently; its value must outweigh its associated expenses for purchase, implementation, and training employees.
Development of Automation
Though fully automated systems weren't invented until the 20th century, many simpler, semi-automated devices existed for hundreds of years prior.
Leonardo da Vinci designed various such devices in his notebooks during the Renaissance period (the early 1500s); for instance, one sketch depicts an automated meat roaster from early 1500s England/Scotland which helped lead up to what would later become the Industrial Revolution - for example, feedback systems used for controlling industrial furnace temperature controls or water mill action was among these inventions.
One of the earliest feedback control mechanisms developed was James Watt's famous flyball governor in 1788 for use with steam engines he invented to regulate output automatically.
The Governor was an upright shaft connected by two arms that were belt-driven to spin at the same speed as the engine's revs, each with a small, heavy ball attached at its end for spinning when started by the engine. Once created, the Governor began its turn-based movement. As engine speed increased, the Governor turned faster, and weighted arms flew outward more and more rapidly until their rising arms steadily closed the steam valve, decreasing steam supply pressure in the piston cylinder.
When the engine speed dropped again, arms fell back towards the center, so the Governor opened the backup valve back up; such feedback action allowed the engine to regulate itself more accurately.
Components of Automated Systems
Many modern automated systems used in automobile factories, petrochemical plants, and supermarkets are highly complex systems involving numerous feedback loops and subsystems with five essential components: (1) action element, (2) sensing mechanism, 3) control element.
Action elements in an automated system provide energy to perform specific tasks or achieve goals.
Animation may take the form of heat to alter room temperatures or electricity for running motors that drive conveyor belts for material movement.
Sensing mechanisms measure the performance or properties of objects an automated system processes, giving insight into whether its operation or function is proceeding as desired.
Sensing means typically connecting with indicators like dials or gauges; for instance, a thermocouple inserted in a pipe measures the liquid's temperature before relaying that reading back onto an associated thermometer for display. For instance, in fluid-flow systems, a control device opens a valve so liquid can flow into its tank; depending on sensors' measurements, the control may close or open that valve accordingly.
Applications of Automation
Microprocessors - miniaturized multi-circuit devices capable of performing all the logic functions found within computers) have made automation possible for various machines and systems in industrially developed nations; automation also impacts almost every aspect of life here.
Here we explore some examples of its varied applications.
Consumer Products
Consumer products of all sorts -- automobiles, household appliances, and home entertainment systems alike -- have become more automated over the past decades.
Computerized ignition and fuel systems in cars aim to optimize fuel economy and performance; vehicles may include GPS devices to help the driver plan optimal routes.
Even smaller consumer products, such as cameras, have automatic capabilities. One type of camera uses sonar technology for automatic focus adjustment: by transmitting an ultrasonic wave that hits its subject and bounces back off, picking up this signal by the receiver inside the camera; the microprocessor then calculates the distance by measuring the time it took the signal to travel from the camera back through the receiver; it activates a motor that adjusts lens as needed by microprocessor - then sends proper lens adjustments back.
Automated reading machines have been created specifically to aid those who are blind and visually handicapped, including the Kurzweil Reading Machine (KRM), which includes an optical scanner, microcomputer, and speech synthesizer.
KRM automatically scanned printed pages by turning their lines into digital form, which was translated to spoken words via its speech synthesizer - reading hundreds of styles and sizes of type.
Manufacturing Industries
Manufacturing industries rely heavily on automation. Some of the most advanced automated systems can be found in industries that process petroleum and iron and steel; car assembly plants operate complex computerized robot systems; aircraft manufacturers employ single-arm robots for drilling and riveting body sections, while electronics firms utilize high-performance mechanisms combined with automated instruments to test finished products.
Another significant innovation affecting manufacturing industries has been integrating engineering design and production through computers into an ongoing activity called computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacturing (CAD/CAM).
Introducing these programs, Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing systems, significantly increased productivity while decreasing development times significantly. When using such programs, an engineer directly sketches mechanical parts like automobile or airplane parts on computer terminal screens using special pens before manipulating this initial draft to improve it.
The Petroleum Industry
The petroleum refining process easily lends itself to automation applications, becoming one of the first industries to adopt automated control devices.
Automation applications for petroleum industry refinements are particularly well suited to automation use. Continuous process manufacturing operations exemplify these production characteristics; their hallmark is managing an ongoing flow of materials from essential components or raw materials to finished goods production.
Crude oil passes through an intricate network of pipes, towers, and vessels before emerging as usable products such as gasoline, jet fuel, and lubricating oil. Automation in an oil refinery is often necessary due to its complex operation. Processes occur at variable temperatures and pressures and involve numerous chemical and physical changes that make direct human control impractical.
Instead, extensive use of automatic mechanisms results in greater productivity when running while decreasing shutdown times significantly.
Control rooms of modern refineries serve as the epicenter of operation, monitoring all functions performed within distillation units, catalytic cracking plants, and purification facilities from here.
Each control panel in their plant contains indicators for measurements, valve positions, controller settings, alarms, and safety devices - to show clearly their relationships among these units and initiate appropriate corrective action should any stop performing as it should. As such, only a limited number of human operators are needed to monitor the panels; only occasionally do manual adjustments need to be made manually by them.
Furthermore, computerized equipment within refineries and pumping stations along pipelines employs automatic control devices. It has intuitive controls installed as a backup.
The Iron and Steel Industry
Iron and steel industries rely heavily on automation. Automatic controls have been implemented into blast furnaces which use iron ore to produce pig iron, measuring pressure and composition of released gasses for analysis by computers; then using this information to regulate blast air volume, temperature, humidity levels, and other variables that impact production process efficiency as well as product quality.
Steel ingots are passed between large cylindrical rollers, which compress them to achieve desired shapes, while automatic instruments monitor the dimensions and temperature changes of each steel piece passing between rollers; this information is relayed back to a computer that adjusts roller spacing accordingly in subsequent passes.
The Automobile Industry
Automobile production initially relied heavily on automation technology in some production areas - specifically continuous process operations like crankshaft forging.
This resulted in integrated manufacturing steps with automated equipment performing some functions before handover to human labor for further operations requiring agility and flexibility from human workers.
Japanese auto manufacturers initiated an automaking revolution during the 1970s by employing advanced, computer-controlled robot mechanisms to automate assembly lines.
These one-arm robotic devices that mimic human arm and hand movement were used for welding and painting auto bodies as well as programming them precisely with physical activities stored in memory by physically moving mechanical components through desired motions, with each move recorded for future replication in real-time by computerized memory banks; some advanced high-performance robots even came equipped with sensors capable of correcting deviations from programmed patterns if any deviated from them during assembly lines.
United States automakers began employing similar kinds of industrial robots during the 1980s.
Some plants use robots equipped with optical laser scanners to ensure auto bodies meet specific dimensions and specified standards.
Service Industries
Most service industries, which include banking, communications, transportation, and government, were slow to embrace automation technology.
One notable exception was the United States telephone system until banks and certain businesses introduced innovative approaches during the 1970s; an excellent example of automation in service industries today would be computerized grocery checkout systems with inventory control software installed as standard features.
Banking
Automated systems can be invaluable tools in services requiring data analysis. Computers assist in sorting checks and verifying account balances.
At the same time, electronic banking utilizes automated teller machines - often found at shopping centers and business buildings - allowing patrons to complete basic transactions instantly by inserting unique plastic cards into slots on these automated tellers, then typing their personal code number onto its keyboards to complete transactions immediately.
EFT transactions also utilize remote point-of-sale terminals linked to stores and banks that enable purchases to be charged directly against bank accounts, similar to automated tellers with debit cards.
Completing an EFT transaction like this requires using debit cards identical to those found with automated tellers. Cardholders' accounts and bank information are embedded onto a plastic card they present when paying at stores using EFT terminals; when paying, store clerks enter these into EFT terminals along with the price of an item purchased.
A terminal equipped with either a magnetic tape reader or laser scanner reads encoded information and communicates this to a customer's bank; their computer then checks to ensure the account exists, compares its balance against what funds were requested, approves this, and sends back approval back to store before electronically sending funds directly from merchant's bank to customer's account.
Communications
Relays and electromechanical switches provided the first generation of genuinely automatic switching equipment during this era; systems of these devices that appeared during the 1920s and 1930s monitored thousands of telephone lines, determined which were demanding service, provided dial tone for any in-progress calls that had begun, checked calls that had finished and disconnected phones when completed, thus taking over many tasks typically handled manually by human operators.
Modern telephone switching systems based on integrated circuits and related miniature electronic devices have proven more reliable, faster, and less costly than their electromechanical predecessors.
Not only can these modern switching systems perform all the usual switching duties without human intervention - including call transfers automatically to alternative numbers based on simple dialed codes - but they can also offer customer services like directory assistance which humans cannot provide by way of automated machines assisting.
Transportation
Automation applications in transportation range from aircraft guidance and control, rail operations management, automotive traffic control systems, and traffic signaling at the highest levels.
Aviation
Automated systems combining radar, computers, and auxiliary electronic equipment have been created in response to ever-increasing air traffic volumes.
At large airports, air traffic controllers rely on such automated systems to manage and direct incoming and outgoing airplane traffic in an orderly fashion. A radar unit allows air traffic controllers to pinpoint every plane within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of an airfield on its display screen - providing this vital data will enable controllers to select safe routes for pilots approaching and leaving airports.
Oxygen masks automatically drop from overhead compartments when cabin pressure falls too low; nearly all commercial aircraft feature an automated pilot who can take over for their human pilot in emergencies; almost all aircraft also utilize a computerized landing system when runway visibility is poor, using radio beams from ground stations connected via satellite, the instrument on board the plane displays exactly where its position about its landing strip is at any moment in time.
Space missions
Automated control and guidance systems are critical components of space missions, like the US space shuttle's launch and subsequent guidance and staging.
From ignition through powered phases of launch, all steps were managed automatically with radar tracking the vehicle closely - any deviations from predetermined trajectory produced automatic correction signals that corrected its flight path immediately; flight and reentry of the shuttle were also automatically controlled with crew monitoring performance of automated systems and taking corrective actions as required in case there were issues or deviations from predefined course paths being corrected in real-time by the autopilot;
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Conclusion
Automation can often be misunderstood as mechanization; however, they differ considerably.
Industrialization refers to using machines instead of human physical effort--muscle power--to complete an assignment; true automation refers to operations performed using equipment capable of self-regulation that automatically controls itself for a self-regulated process.
Machines or systems of devices often achieve automatic control and self-regulation through feedback mechanisms.
A typical automated system typically determines its output depending on what input was given to it. This system is often known as a closed-loop system. Feedback control loops are created when output values are measured against inputs, and the difference is used to adjust inputs accordingly.
A thermostatically controlled home heating system is an example of such an implementation of feedback. Suppose the temperature in a room falls below a predefined level. In that case, a mechanism in the thermostat opens an electric switch that powers up a furnace and opens an electric heater to warm the space to the desired levels.
Once that temperature has been achieved, however, another mechanism closes this switch, simultaneously turning off both components.
