Robot manages Trading on the Ukrainian Energy Exchange

BACKGROUND

Initially, the system could open and close trades only once a day. The administrator pressed the button, checking the time by the clock: the error should not exceed 10 seconds. Upon completion of trading, the administrator handled notifications about transactions: he manually copied the files generated by software into a special folder, from where they were sent to the bank. It posed a high risk of errors in operations due to the human factor.

BUSINESS CHALLENGE

Automate trade management and processing of notifications about transactions. Eliminate monotonous routine operations of the administrator, leaving the ability to promptly intervene in the activities of the robot and correct them.

SOLUTION

To address the task, we chose EasyRPA — an inexpensive system that can be customized for the customer’s needs.

Algorithm of operations that needed to be automated:

1. Processing of files from the Gas Transmission System Operator (GTSO) of Ukraine.
2. Scheduled opening of a trading session.
3. Scheduled closing of a trading session.
4. Processing of trading data.

The administrator needs to quickly decide whether to interfere with the activity of the robot or not. This requires a user-friendly interface where you can quickly click on a button. IBA Group experts have developed a small Java-powered notification application.

Before performing any action that the administrator may potentially interfere with, the robot sends a notification with a request. For example, when it is time to open trades, the robot asks: “May I proceed to trade opening?”  At which point, the administrator has a window on top of all other open windows with this question, a 1 minute countdown timer and buttons: “Start” and “Cancel”. If the administrator does not press them, the process starts itself.

Before sending the trading data to GTSO, the robot has to sign the data files with electronic digital signature using the Koristuvach ACSK IDD DFS (Користувач АЦСК ІДД ДФС) application. Due to security restrictions of this application, the robot could not perform this operation through the UI. As a result, the developers of electronic digital signature provided EndUser SDK Java-library, with which the robot can sign files without using the UI of the application.

Where an error occurs, the robot aborts and transfers control to the administrator. If the administrator is inactive, the process terminates automatically. Thus, the robot can perform all actions without human intervention at all.

OUTCOME

Due to automation, the company has achieved a very high accuracy in trade opening: delay is within 1-2 sec. The human factor is now eliminated in the process. The robot is active around the clock and does not require human intervention. The administrator controls the robot, but may perform other tasks in parallel.