Home · Agentic solutions · UI Agent: automation without APIs
Case study · IT & quality · Operations“That system cannot be automated”
UI Agent: automation without APIs
A slot-booking portal from 2009, no API, no vendor, no docs. UI Agent works its interface like a person: logs in, fills forms, reads statuses — and copes when the layout shifts.
Executive summary
Key processes run through API-less systems: an old WMS and a client's slot portal.
UI Agent navigates the interface like a person — more resiliently than classic selectors.
1,200 bookings a month with no clicking; people handle exceptions only.
The client portal, the old WMS, the TMS; UI Agent + UiPath robots.
A logistics operator, 1,200 slot bookings a month
Every delivery to the key client needs a booking in their portal — by hand: login, seven fields, an attachment, noting the number. Plus an old WMS where the same data goes in a second time.
The portal's vendor is gone; the WMS is “better left alone”. Classic selector automation broke at every minor page change. The team's verdict: “impossible”. Until now.
The current reality
- HumanAn employee logs into the client's portal
- HumanRetypes 7 fields from the TMS, adds the attachment
- HumanEnters the same data again — into the old WMS
- Error riskA typo in the number = a rejected delivery and a penalty
- WaitingBookings done in batches — slot windows slip away
- SystemAfter a portal layout change, the scripts die
The hidden cost of the current process
“It cannot be done” is the most expensive sentence in operations.
- 280 hours a month of retyping between three systems.
- Penalties for wrong or late bookings — every typo has a price.
- “Untouchable” processes block automation of everything downstream.
The cost of doing nothing
Manual work is an operational tax: the automation investment is finite, the manual cost is paid again every month.
The process after automation
- AutomationA robot pulls the day's deliveries from the TMS
- AutomationUI Agent logs into the portal and completes the booking like a person
- AutomationThe same run in the old WMS — without touching its insides
- AutomationA layout change? UI Agent understands the screen, not just a selector
- HumanRejected or unusual bookings: a dispatcher decision on Teams
What the automation handles
- Bookings and WMS entries — every delivery, no exceptions
- Coping with screen-layout changes
- A register of booking numbers and confirmations
When a human decides
- Bookings rejected by the client's portal
- Rule changes on the client's side
- Time-window negotiations
Before
After
Value model — example assumptions
Business benefits
- The “untouchable” process runs unattended within weeks
- No more penalties for typos and late bookings
- Bookings at night and weekends too — slots stop slipping away
- A template for the group's other API-less systems
Board-level KPIs affected
What management gains
- Proof that “impossible” was a tooling problem, not a process problem
- A map of the other processes trapped in old systems
- The key client's operational risk under control
Estimate it for your organisation
An illustrative estimate based on your inputs. A model of released capacity — not a savings promise.
Systems in this scenario
Inputs
- TMS (dostawy dnia)
- Portal awizacji klienta (bez API)
- Stary WMS (bez API)
Mientha agentic layer
- UiPath Agent Builder
- UiPath robots
- Maestro™ · Action Center
Core systems
- Portal klienta
- WMS
- Rejestr potwierdzeń
Human approval: Teams / Action Center
What we deliver
- A prototype: UI Agent walks the process on your portal
- Automation of the full TMS → portal → WMS flow
- Exception handling with Teams notifications
- A booking register with confirmations and screenshots
- Run-success monitoring and alerts
- A playbook to extend to further API-less systems
What we need to start
- Portal access (a test account or a service window)
- 10–20 sample bookings with their input data
- The client's slot and attachment rules
- A dispatcher as the exception owner
Implementation roadmap
Discovery
We map the process, data and exceptions with process owners.
Design
Target flow, business rules, approval thresholds.
Build
Agents, robots and integrations in your environment.
Validate
Tests on real cases, exception handling.
Go-live
Controlled rollout with human oversight.
Optimise
Monitoring, reporting and continuous improvement.
Typical duration depends on systems and rules — a single process is usually weeks, not quarters.
Risk and controls
Autonomy under control
- UI Agent runs on an account with the same permissions as the employee
- Every run recorded: screenshots and confirmation numbers
- A doubtful screen read → the case goes to a human, no guessing
- A kill switch and manual fallback at any moment
Why now
- Every month of “impossible” is ~€7,280 of retyping work
- UI Agent is a new class of tooling — older approaches genuinely failed here
- Replacing the old systems slips every year; the process cannot wait for it
Why this matters to:
The client-critical process stops depending on manual clicking.
Automation without touching systems nobody wants to open.
A payback in months on a process that “had to” stay manual.
Questions we usually hear
Classic selectors are brittle on old portals. UI Agent understands the screen visually and semantically — a layout change is just another route to the same goal.
The robot works on your account, on your behalf, within the portal's terms — like an employee, minus the typos. Many clients actually appreciate it: bookings arrive on time.
We have heard that about many systems — sometimes for years. The automation pays back in months; and when the replacement does come, we move the flow to the new system.
When this may not be the right solution
- The system disappears in a quarter — the effort would be wasted
- The process happens a few times a month
- The portal's terms expressly ban automation — we check that first
A question for your next board meeting
How many processes in your company are manual only because someone once said “impossible”?
Which of your processes is stuck because “the system has no API”?
Show us the one system everyone gave up on. We will come back with a working prototype of the process walk-through.
Name your “impossible to automate” system