Building a Smart Shelf Audit and Restocking Bot with UiPath 🚀

🧠 Introduction

Retail and inventory management rely heavily on accurate shelf audits and timely restocking. In large operations, this process can be time-consuming and error-prone when done manually.

To solve this problem, I developed a Smart Shelf Audit and Restocking Bot using UiPath — an end-to-end automation that scans shelf data, identifies issues, and sends four daily reports straight to my inbox.

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❓ Problem Statement

In a real-world retail environment, stock audits are often:

• Manual and repetitive
• Prone to human error
• Not done frequently enough to catch fast-moving stockouts

These issues can lead to:

• Lost sales due to out-of-stock items
• Misplaced products on the wrong shelves
• Delay in restocking because alerts are not timely

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🧩 Solution Overview

The Smart Shelf Audit and Restocking Bot does the following:

1. Pulls shelf data from UiPath Data Service
2. Analyzes stock levels and detects:
   • Low stock
   • Misplaced items
   • Restocking requirements
3. Generates four reports:
   • Audit Report
   • Inventory Report
   • Low Stock Products Report
   • Restocking Report
4. Emails those reports daily via Outlook
5. Is scheduled using UiPath Orchestrator

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⚙️ Key Components

Here are the main components used in this automation:

• UiPath Studio
  
  Used to develop the entire automation workflow with drag-and-drop activities.

• UiPath Data Service
  
  Stores structured mock shelf data.

• Excel Activities
  
  Generate and format multiple report files.

• Outlook Activities
  
  Send the reports via email with attachments.

• UiPath Orchestrator
  
  Publishes, deploys, and schedules the automation to run daily.

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🧠 Workflow Diagram

Here is a high-level diagram of the automation flow:

Replace the link above with the real image link after uploading.

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🛠 Step-by-Step Breakdown

1️⃣ ScanShelfData.xaml

• Extracts ProductID and ScannedStockLevel
• Writes results to AuditLog.csv

2️⃣ InventoryAnalyzeData.xaml

• Extracts Shelf & Warehouse stock levels
• Outputs to Inventory.csv

3️⃣ GenerateAuditReport.xaml

• Merges data based on ProductID
• Outputs to AuditReport.csv

4️⃣ Email Automation

• Sends 4 reports daily via Outlook
• Uses Send Outlook Mail Message activity

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🚀 Orchestrator Deployment

• The automation is published to UiPath Orchestrator
• It is scheduled to run every morning
• While it works perfectly when triggered manually, I'm currently troubleshooting a minor issue with the scheduled execution — part of refining real-world deployment!

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📈 Results and Benefits

This automation:

• Eliminates manual shelf audits
• Ensures daily visibility into inventory
• Helps anticipate restocking needs
• Demonstrates the power of RPA in retail

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🏁 Conclusion

This Smart Shelf Audit and Restocking Bot shows how UiPath can simplify retail operations through automation. As part of my journey toward becoming a UiPath MVP, I’m sharing this real-world case study to help others build practical RPA projects.

Feel free to comment below or reach out if you have questions — let’s learn together!