A team of citizen developers at Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support is using automated processes to save thousands of work hours on repetitive tasks.
The Robotic Process Automation Bots Team — a group of trained DLA Weapons Support experts operating at Richmond, Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio — identifies routine, time-consuming processes and constructs bots to handle them. These software-coded bots operate continuously, processing data and completing tasks, which frees up employees for higher-value activities.
The citizen-developer approach integrates automation directly into business operations. Team members, who are experts in their respective fields, are trained in software development to create, test and maintain these automated solutions.
Before creating a bot, the team works directly with an organization to map out current processes, workflows, applicable policies, and system interactions to determine where bots could help. This preparatory work, which also includes structured interviews with workers, helps ensure each bot serves the desired business outcome.
Before the bots are deployed, citizen developers run them through a battery of tests to ensure they function as intended under a wide variety of conditions. Documentation like test plans and demonstration videos support the governance, auditability and sustainment of deployed bots.
Marcus Miller, a demand and supply chain analyst, described how learning to design and build automation reshaped his understanding of organizational workflows.
“Working as citizen developers, we have had to step outside of our own functional areas and really understand how different parts of DLA connect to support the warfighter,” Miller said. “Mapping processes with employees — whether in procurement, supply or customer support — gave us a much more detailed view of how people use our systems and how dependent everything is on clean data and clear policy.”
“As we dug into these workflows, it became obvious how important it is to have a well-defined, consistently followed process before you can automate anything,” he added.
Miller explained the process helped identify areas where steps could be made clearer and streamlined. Sometimes that leads to improving the process itself before ever building a bot. Incorporating new tools and automations offers a better appreciation for how data flows and how technology can strengthen accuracy and efficiency.
“Overall, learning to build automations has given us a much broader understanding of how the organization works and a sharper eye for how to make processes better — not just for automation’s sake, but for the mission,” Miller said.
The bots team delivered automation across 20 use cases during the award period, completing more than 75,000 records and saving about 18,000 hours of human productivity for DLA Weapons Support by removing manual workload from routine processes.
Bots are used today in acquisition support, supplier notifications, technical and quality support, and customer operations. Automation has reduced the need for manual intervention by routing referrals, generating reports, notifying suppliers, retrieving proof of delivery, and cleaning up post-award actions.
Bobby Porter, a procurement analyst in the Business Process Support Directorate, described the effect of automation on workforce focus.
“With bots taking on high-volume repetitive tasks, employees are now able to focus their time on higher-value work outputs that fully leverage their expertise,” Porter said. “Instead of spending hours on manual data entry, record processing or system-to-system transfers, the workforce can concentrate on analysis, problem-solving, customer engagement and continuous process improvement. This shift improves data accuracy and decision making, and it allows employees to apply their skills where they have the greatest impact on supporting the warfighter.”
Collaboration is central to the Bots Team’s execution model. Citizen developers operate and coordinate across the agency with industry partners, military services and other fourth-estate organizations. The team adheres to coding standards and uses commercial off-the-shelf tools, standardized templates, checklists and playbooks to ensure consistency and repeatability while executing automation efforts.
The automation pipeline reflects increasing workforce engagement with data flows and system interactions. Tracy Ruland, branch chief of Business Process Support in Richmond, described this shift.
“We’re seeing more ideas coming from the workforce, more people are thinking in terms of data flows and system interactions, and there seems to be a growing comfort with identifying processes that are good candidates for automation,” Rutland said. “As the pipeline expands, it reflects a real shift in digital and data acumen. Employees are getting better at spotting inefficiencies, understanding how data moves through our systems, and recognizing where automation can strengthen accuracy and mission support. The conversations we’re having now are more technical, more forward-leaning and much more focused on long-term digital transformation.
“The pipeline isn’t just a list of future bots; it is a sign that the organization is becoming more digitally fluent, more data-aware and more confident in using automation as a tool to enhance DLA Weapons Support and overall warfighter readiness,” she continued.
The RPA citizen-developer program at DLA Weapons Support demonstrates how operational expertise combined with structured automation development can produce measurable productivity gains while strengthening process consistency and auditability. The RPA Bots Team supports this by automating repetitive, rule-based workflows and redistributing workforce effort toward analysis, problem solving and continuous process improvement.
The team’s work earned the Innovation Excellence Award during the 58th Annual DLA Employee Recognition Awards event in January. While the award reflects prior accomplishments, the sustained application of citizen-developed automation continues to support DLA Weapons Support operations and warfighter readiness.