Explore Options for Connecting Applications
You can connect applications and data using integrations, which use API-based automation, and robots, which use UI-based automation. Integrations and robots achieve the same results but have different implementations and benefits.
Learn when to use each type of automation so that you develop the beset automation for your use case.
When to Use an Integration
When automating a business process, if an application supports an integration, you should design an integration. Integrations offer the most scalable and robust automation solutions.
When all of the following statements are true, design an integration:
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The applications that you're automating have APIs.
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The APIs can access and update the fields that the business process uses.
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You have access to all of the APIs.
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Your organization has the staffing resources to design an integration.
When to Use a Robot
You typically build a robot when one or more blockers prevent you from designing an integration.
For example, build a robot for any of the following scenarios:
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No APIs: The applications that you're automating have no APIs; or their APIs can't access and update the fields that the business process uses.
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Operational and logistical challenges: The applications that you need to automate have APIs, but you can't access them. The APIs might be temporarily inaccessible until a team can enable them, or an integration developer might not be available to build the integration.
In both cases, you could postpone the automation work until your organization can support the design of an integration. Or, you can eliminate these bottlenecks and automate your business now by rapidly prototyping a robot.
See Build Robots.
Pros and Cons
| Technology | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
|
Integration |
More scalable and robust than a robot |
Not all applications meet its API requirements |
|
Robot |
Lets you automate even when an application has no APIs Supports the rapid prototyping of an automation solution |
Less scalable and robust than an integration Lower throughput than an integration |
Future Considerations
You typically build a robot when one or more blockers prevent you from designing an integration.
In the future, when the APIs are accessible and the integration developers have availability, you can replace the robot with an integration and incorporate more robustness and scalability into the automation, without impacting your business process. See Replace a Robot with an Integration in Using Robots in Oracle Integration 3.