PROBLEM STATEMENT:

As Ameren IT continues our journey towards the Utility of the Future, finding ways to work smarter and more efficiently is becoming an extremely critical component of our success.  IdeaHack 2016 focused on the broad problem surrounding the execution of a continually increasing work load and several of the ideas from this event have been implemented, including:

• Rapid Delivery Teams – The concept of forming a team with an ongoing backlog has been utilized in the ongoing Digital Product startup in Collinsville and associated Agile Center of Excellence.  
• Nimble Architecture – The External Job Applicant IdeaHack use case has been expanded to be an ongoing, IT wide architecture strategy that has evolved into the Ameren HR DataHUB Project that kicked off in August.  In partnering with an outside technical partner, this will be expanded well beyond Human Resource use cases to fulfill Information Technology Ameren wide requirements.
• Lightspeed Platform - The idea of rapidly delivering digital products in an Agile fashion on a Cloud based DevOps platform was implemented in the "Digital Outage Product" in Collinsville. This same idea and platform are being utilized for upcoming Digital Transformation projects such as "Billing & Payment,"  "Move in Move out" and "CSS DevOps."

This year, the focus will be more narrowed on a specific solution.  Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the application of technology that allows our coworkers to configure computer software, which in this case is the "robot," to work with existing applications in processing repetitive transactions, manipulating data, communicating, and performing many other tasks with the goal of automation.

Participants will work in teams of up to 5 and be given 36 hours to complete the challenge.  Several pre-selected business cases from throughout B&CS will be available for automation and the teams will develop/understand the business case surrounding the process, utilize RPA or wireframe to demonstrate the automation, and then creatively present their solution. Subject matter experts will be on hand to answer questions and provide guidance and feedback throughout the event. Be on the lookout for additional information, including prizes, detailed information on event logistics, and more!

In order to enter the contest:

• Every member of the team has to individually sign-up here on DevPost
• After registering, contact the Hackathon Manager with the following information:

                  Please specify what team you are on or what other members you are participating with. You                      may list yourself as a free agent as well.

                  Provide your shirt size. The polo shirts will come in sizes for both men and women.

• Criteria 1
  Business/Employee Impact
• Criteria 2
  Prototype Functionality
• Criteria 3
  Innovation
• Criteria 4
  Presentation