{"id":1370,"date":"2012-01-09T08:36:25","date_gmt":"2012-01-09T08:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/business-process-automation\/"},"modified":"2021-08-31T15:44:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T15:44:30","slug":"business-process-automation","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa","title":{"rendered":"Business Process Automation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_business_process_automation_mean\">What Does Business Process Automation Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Business Process Automation (BPA) is the digitalization of key <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1168\/business-process\">business processes<\/a> with computing technology and cloud computing services.<\/p>\n<p>BPA is based on three fundamental principles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32988\/cloud-orchestration\"><strong>Orchestration<\/strong><\/a><strong>:<\/strong> Allows organizations to centralize management of its enterprise computing architecture.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/29461\/cloud-integration-platform\"><strong>Integration<\/strong><\/a><strong>:<\/strong> Supports business functions by ensuring the BPA system is spread across the process-centric boundaries of an organization.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32099\/automation\"><strong>Automated execution<\/strong><\/a><strong>:<\/strong> Reduces the need for human intervention.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_business_process_automation\">Techopedia Explains Business Process Automation<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The BPA process is geared toward implementing software applications to automate routine business tasks through initiation, execution and completion, while achieving enterprise-wide workflow efficiency. An Enterprise Resource Planning (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/1508\/enterprise-resource-planning-erp\">ERP<\/a>) system is often conceived as a BPA implementation outcome.<\/p>\n<p>BPA is designed to maintain efficiency and increase the stability and operational productivity of an underutilized workforce by integrating business critical software applications. BPA works by analyzing critical and non-critical business processes and their relationship and dependency on other business processes and external partners, in addition to developing or sourcing automated software and computing processes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Business Process Automation Mean? Business Process Automation (BPA) is the digitalization of key business processes with computing technology and cloud computing services. BPA is based on three fundamental principles: Orchestration: Allows organizations to centralize management of its enterprise computing architecture. Integration: Supports business functions by ensuring the BPA system is spread across the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[231,227,221,229,239,228],"class_list":["post-1370","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-it-business-alignment","definitioncat-data-management","definitioncat-enterprise-applications","definitioncat-infrastructure-management","definitioncat-productivity-software","definitioncat-risk-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Business Process Automation (BPA)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Business Process Automation and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Process Automation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Business Process Automation and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-31T15:44:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Business Process Automation\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-09T08:36:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-31T15:44:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa\"},\"wordCount\":169,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa\",\"name\":\"What is Business Process Automation (BPA)? - Definition from Techopedia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-09T08:36:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-31T15:44:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"This definition explains the meaning of Business Process Automation and why it matters.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Business Software\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/topic\/34\/it-business-alignment\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Infrastructure Management\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/topic\/23\/infrastructure-management\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Term\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Business Process Automation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/\",\"name\":\"Techopedia\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Techopedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/techopedia-light-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/techopedia-light-logo.svg\",\"caption\":\"Techopedia\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/techopedia\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/techopedia\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/Techopedia\"],\"publishingPrinciples\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/about\/editorial-policy\",\"ownershipFundingInfo\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/about\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\",\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/margaret-rouse-headshot.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/margaret-rouse-headshot.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"Margaret Rouse\"},\"description\":\"Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other\u2019s highly specialized languages.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/margaretrouse\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/@techdefinitions\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"Technology Expert\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/contributors\/margaret-rouse\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is Business Process Automation (BPA)? - Definition from Techopedia","description":"This definition explains the meaning of Business Process Automation and why it matters.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Business Process Automation","og_description":"This definition explains the meaning of Business Process Automation and why it matters.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa","og_site_name":"Techopedia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/","article_modified_time":"2021-08-31T15:44:30+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@techopedia","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa"},"author":{"name":"Margaret Rouse","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5"},"headline":"Business Process Automation","datePublished":"2012-01-09T08:36:25+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-31T15:44:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa"},"wordCount":169,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa#respond"]}],"articleSection":""},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa","url":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa","name":"What is Business Process Automation (BPA)? - Definition from Techopedia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-09T08:36:25+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-31T15:44:30+00:00","description":"This definition explains the meaning of Business Process Automation and why it matters.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/671\/business-process-automation-bpa#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Business Software","item":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/topic\/34\/it-business-alignment"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Infrastructure Management","item":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/topic\/23\/infrastructure-management"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Term","item":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Business Process Automation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/","name":"Techopedia","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization","name":"Techopedia","url":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/techopedia-light-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/techopedia-light-logo.svg","caption":"Techopedia"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/","https:\/\/x.com\/techopedia","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/techopedia\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/Techopedia"],"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/about\/editorial-policy","ownershipFundingInfo":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/about"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5","name":"Margaret Rouse","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/margaret-rouse-headshot.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/margaret-rouse-headshot.jpeg","caption":"Margaret Rouse"},"description":"Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other\u2019s highly specialized languages.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/margaretrouse\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/@techdefinitions"],"knowsAbout":["Technology Expert"],"url":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/contributors\/margaret-rouse"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/definition\/1370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/definition"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/definition"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7813"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/definition\/1370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"definitioncat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/definitioncat?post=1370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}