We keep talking about how HMRC is leading the way in government automation technology, so what does that actually mean? The first time I heard HMRC was using robots I imagined something like a car manufacturer production line but this didn’t make sense. Clearly I was behind the curve on knowing about the automation technology out there.
Hi, I’m Sam, an Automation Service Owner based in Telford. I’ve been working in HMRC’s Automation Delivery Centre (ADC) now for eight months so, I’m pleased to say, I can now give you a more informed explanation of how HMRC use robotics.
Making mundane tasks automatic
There are a variety of different software products available that can be programmed to replicate the more repetitive tasks of customer advisers, administration personal and mundane data gathering tasks. HMRC has used one of these products through an enterprise license. We have unlimited use of the software to build as many ‘unattended’ solutions as we can, as well as ‘attended’ solutions which need some human intervention. What all this means is we’re making the mundane tasks automatic. That in turn makes our processes more efficient, and it also frees up our customer contact advisors to do more interesting and customer-facing work.
With the introduction of so many robotic solutions, the ADC is a really exciting area to be right now. We have a live service support team to keep all the robots running, manage the infrastructure and, really importantly, oversee the steps we take for any changes that we make. As the robots interact with so many of HMRC’s core systems this part is really important. The team also need to make sure that any changes to those core systems don’t impact on the robot function as well. So there is always lots to do.
The team
We’re currently recruiting for a Service Delivery Manager for the ADC in Telford to work as part of a close-knit team comprising Service Owner, Incident Manager, Service Introduction Manager, Incident Support and Service Introduction Support. Plus there’s the Dev Ops team made up of Platform Engineers, Scrum Master, Business Analyst, Lead Developers and Developers.
The ADC is part of the HMRC’s Telford Digital Delivery Centre, so we follow the wider digital working principles and use agile methodology, making use of lots of scrum processes and live calls. We work hard but we have fun doing it.
Take it from me, robotics is an exciting technology to work with and our ADC is a great place to be for anyone interested in real innovation in this space. Plus, there are all the benefits of working for a large, forward thinking government department. If you’re interested in applying, follow the link below to all our current vacancies. It would be great to hear from you.