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Celonis Product Documentation

Data collection capabilities

Note

UIAA data capturing is limited, such as in scenarios where a UI disappears after a button is clicked and no data can be captured. For more information, see Download Task Mining: Known issues.

Supported desktop applications

  1. Task Mining can capture fundamental data from all desktop applications. The depth of further information varies depending on the specific application.

    2022-06-10-tm-help-collection-matrix.PNG

  2. Browser: Task Mining can capture information from all browsers like any desktop application. In addition, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) are currently supported for advanced filtering on a per URL basis as well as further browser interactions.

  3. Extended metadata support (for details see the schema documentation):

    1. Google Chrome

    2. Microsoft Edge (Chromium Based)

    3. Internet Explorer/Firefox - URL for certain events

    4. SAP - Saplogon for Windows

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) options for Task Mining

Scenario

Description

Supported?

Install Task Mining in the VDI environment

Works and captures data as if the target application were running directly on the desktop.

Yes, with limitations. 

For more information, see VDI environment limitations.

Install Task Mining outside the VDI environment.

Captures information from remote desktops without installation in the VDI. The VDI Client is installed on an end-user computer only and software connects it to the VDI.

Example software that can be used is:

  • Microsoft Remote Desktop-Clients.

  • Citrix Workspace.

  • Citrix Receiver.

  • VMware Horizon Clients.

Yes, with limitations.

  • Screenshots can still be captured.

  • Metadata may be limited to fundamental data, such as the ProcessName and window title of the client application (for example, window title Citrix Workspace) will still be available).

  • Data from within the VDI, such as which apps are used, is not available. For example, attributes that are usually populated (see schema documentation) will be empty, e.g. TargetElementName, most _UIAA fields, or all fields from a browser extension.

Supported VDI environments for Task Mining

Note

OS limitations apply to the VDI environment (see system requirements and also be aware of the persisted directory and registry key requirements.) For other VDI environments and for virtualized desktop apps, get in touch for more information.

  • Microsoft Azure VDI

    • Example working setup of Multisession Windows 10 OS with up to four users sharing the same host. Four users are assigned to one host that is 8vCPU and 32GB RAM.

  • AWS Workspaces VDI.

  • VMWare Horizon.

  • Citrix.

VDI environment limitations

Limitation

Description

Non-persistent VDI

Non-persistent VDIs are supported if the working directory folders of the Task Mining desktop application are persistent.

Important

If the directories and registry keys are not persistent, the application cannot store any state locally. This can lead to unexpected behavior such as information screens being shown repeatedly, changes to user settings not being saved (e.g. proxy, etc.) and data loss when events are captured in the parquet file. Screenshots may also not be uploaded if, for example, the internet connection temporarily fails. Additional limitations may also exist where folders/directories are not writeable.

Multi-session use

Where multiple users connect to the same Windows instance in parallel, the browser extension cannot be used in parallel. Connection from the browser extension to the Task Mining Desktop Application will either fail for all users beyond the first one, or as a worst case, the connections between users might be mixed.

Considerations before VDI rollout

  • Which environment should you use for Task Mining VDI? If not everyone in the current production environment is involved in the Task Mining project, we recommend creating a new environment for VDI; this will also provide a simple fallback mechanism if unforeseen issues arise and you need to rollback users. It may also speed up configuration changes and even deploy new releases of Task Mining and SAP GUI versions.

  • Is the VDI persistent (e.g., if you save local files, the next time you log-in, are those local files still there?)? Or can the persistent be achieved for specific folders?

  • Are changes durable if there are changes made to the Windows registry? For example, if an application is using the Windows registry and you make changes, are the changes durable? Or can those registry keys be made writable?

  • Is the VDI a full desktop or running virtualized applications? Is it a full Windows set-up?

  • Are browsers used in Citrix? Or is it just using a Microsoft Outlook desktop application? If a browser is used, which browser(s)?

  • Is the VDI a multi-session setup or single-session setup?

Tip

If you plan an automated centralized installation of the Task Mining Desktop Application, make sure that you can control which users get the software installed. If your VDI rollout contains more users than you target with Task Mining, decide if those additional users get Task Mining as well or if you change your setup. You should also roll out in stages, validating with a handful of users before performing a wider rollout.