A very useful function of pods is the ability to update them when changes have been made.  For example, if a company that uses their logo as a header for all reports and documents on their system decides to change their logo, it would be a very tedious process to manually remove and insert the new logo in each and every document. But if this logo was originally created and added as a pod file to the document, it can easily be updated to the new logo.

The following steps illustrate how to update pods for your document templates.

Pods must be framed in order for them to update correctly. Under the AutoTag Manager, select the options button to find the pod framing menu.

On the bottom, a Frame PODS drop down menu with the following four options is displayed:

:  This is the default setting and will not frame your pods nor allow them to be updated

:  Frames pods allowing the start and end to be anywhere in the document. This allows you to easily create pods that are segments of larger paragraphs or tables. However, because they can be any shape or size these pods are more difficult to locate later on.

: Frames pods within a rectangular region. These pods are limited to their rectangle shape, but are much easier to find.

: Same as content control only locked so they may not be modified at a later time.

Once you have successfully created, loaded and saved a framed pod file to a document, you are ready to update it.

First, replace the old pod file with the new one you want to update it with.

Select the image, text or table you would like to replace your pod with and press the create pods button in the AutoTag manager.  You must use the same pod name and file as the original pod we would like to update.

, you will be prompted that you are about to replace the pod. Select 

Step 3 - Updating the Pod through the .NET Engine

Pods can be updated through the Java engine as well.

After your pod file has been replaced with the new one, you need to run the updatepods.exe program so the existing documents containing that pod will be updated accordingly. The updatepods.exe file can be located in the Windward Reports .NET Engine folder.

In order to update pods, you need to add this to file location to your path. Once this is complete, open your command prompt to run the update pods program. Both your pod files and documents that need to be updated should be located in the same folder to make the update process easier.

Next, in the command prompt, you simply change directory to the folder containing your pods and documents: type “

” followed by the .rdlx pod file followed by the document.

(For example: C:\Pods>updatepods.exe logo.rdlx a_windward_report.docx).

Click enter and the pods will be updated accordingly.

Load Pods

Update Pods

Equivalent to PAD Flows, UiPath Automations, Blue Prism Processes, or A360 Main Task Bots.

Bots

Analyzes your RPA automation estate and generates effort estimates, complexity insights, and migration sequencing recommendations before conversion begins.

MAP_Migration_Analysis__Planning

GenAI

ALCOnly

Traces define the direction of the relationship between artifacts. A trace is one type of relationship that can exist between artifacts. 

Trace

Blueprint's method for preventing double-charging on repeated imports. Each process is tracked by its original GUID from the source platform — re-importing a modified version of the same process does not consume an additional license

GUID-Based_Duplicate_Handling

A Migrator license consumed on export to PAD. Required to produce a migrated desktop flow or solution file. Licenses are counted per main, not per action or file

Migration_License

Identifies sub-processes used across multiple bots and converts them into shared external desktop flows. Processes that previously inlined the sub-process instead call the shared flow, reducing duplication across the estate

Reuse

User-defined patterns applied automatically during migration — "whenever you see X, do Y." Used to handle custom action mappings, work queue references, missing dependencies, and reuse candidates

Rules

A simulated export to PAD that generates full output — including TODO/INFO/SRC comments and applied Rules — without creating a PAD flow. Used for effort estimation and scoping before committing to a migration

Estimator

A comment Blueprint embeds in generated PAD code containing the original source code, included to reduce ambiguity about the bot's original intent when the generated PAD logic looks different from what the developer expected

A comment Blueprint embeds in generated PAD code to provide helpful context — especially for patterns that change significantly between platforms — without requiring any user action

INFO

A comment Blueprint embeds in generated PAD code to flag something the user must manually resolve before the bot is production-ready. TODOs are categorized by type and are the basis for effort estimation in the Estimator

TODO

A PAD desktop flow generated by Blueprint during migration that wraps or calls shared sub-processes. Blueprint uses wrapper flows to handle reusable components and patterns that don't have a 1:1 equivalent in PAD's native structure

Wrapper_Flow

Blueprint's intermediate format. Imported processes convert to COM before export to PAD. Adding a new source platform requires only a new parser — not a full pipeline re-engineering

COM_Common_Object_Model

Governs PAD flows across their full lifecycle — from ideation and build through to operation and retirement — providing visibility into health, compliance, and change history.

ALC_Automation_Lifecycle_Control

Converts automations from UiPath, Automation Anywhere A360, and Blue Prism to Microsoft Power Automate Desktop (PAD).

Blueprint_Migrator

A process design pattern where execution can jump to different blocks or steps out of sequence — common in Blue Prism and UiPath. PAD enforces mostly linear execution, which is one of the fundamental structural challenges in migration

Non-linear_Workflow

Automation Anywhere's orchestration platform — equivalent to UiPath Orchestrator. Manages bot deployment, scheduling, and monitoring for A360 automations

Control_Room_Automation_Anywhere

Automation Anywhere's cloud-native RPA platform (version A360 / version 11+). One of Blueprint's supported source platforms. Exported as a .zip file containing a manifest.json

Automation_Anywhere_A360

The manifest file in a UiPath package that defines the project structure, dependencies, and entry points. Required when importing a UiPath project into Blueprint Migrator

project.json_UiPath

A leading RPA platform known for its visual workflow editor (XAML-based) and rich ecosystem of activities. UiPath is one of Blueprint's supported source platforms for migration. Exported as a package folder containing a project.json file

UiPath

A reusable library of actions in Blue Prism that abstracts interactions with a specific application (e.g., a 'SAP Business Object'). Analogous to shared libraries or modules in traditional software development

Business_Object_Blue_Prism

The Blue Prism tool used to build and manage UI element definitions (selectors). Elements captured in the Application Modeler form the basis for selector generation during migration to PAD

Application_Modeler_Blue_Prism

The file format used to export processes and objects from Blue Prism. This is the required import file when migrating Blue Prism automations using Blueprint Migrator

.bprelease

An enterprise RPA platform known for its structured, object-oriented approach. Automations are built as process diagrams that call reusable 'objects.' Blue Prism is one of Blueprint's supported source platforms for migration

Blue_Prism

A packaged file format used to export and import one or more PAD desktop flows between environments. Blueprint can export migrated bots as solution files as an alternative to pushing directly to a connected PAD environment

PAD_Solution_File

An automation in Microsoft Power Automate (the cloud product, distinct from PAD) that can trigger and orchestrate desktop flows. Not to be confused with desktop flows themselves

Cloud_Flow_Power_Automate

PAD's term for an RPA automation. Desktop flows can be run directly in PAD or called by a cloud flow in Power Automate

Desktop_Flow_PAD

The underlying scripting language used by Power Automate Desktop. Blueprint generates Robinscript directly when producing migrated PAD flows. Users rarely write Robinscript by hand — PAD generates it via its visual editor

Robinscript

Microsoft's Power Automate Desktop (PAD) RPA tool. It is Blueprint's sole migration target. Automations in PAD are called desktop flows and are written in a scripting language called Robinscript

A sub-process or shared flow that is called by multiple parent processes rather than duplicated. Promoting reuse reduces maintenance overhead and is a key goal of good RPA architecture

Reusable_Component

Automating interactions with Windows desktop applications (as opposed to web or API automation). Relies on UI element selection and is more fragile than API-based automation because it depends on screen layout remaining consistent

Desktop_Automation

A single step within an RPA bot — e.g., Click Button, Read from Excel. Term varies: UiPath (Activities), Blue Prism (Stages), A360 and PAD (Actions)

Action

Logic built into a bot to catch and respond to errors gracefully — retrying, logging, escalating, or recovering — rather than crashing. A critical quality indicator for production-grade automations

Exception_Handling

The boundary within which a variable exists and can be referenced. Source platforms like UiPath and Blue Prism support scoped variables (local to a subflow); Power Automate Desktop treats all variables as global by default until recently

Variable_Scope

The top-level entry point of a call tree — the root process that initiates execution and may call one or more sub-processes. Blueprint Migrator charges licenses by main, not by individual action or process.

Main

The hierarchical structure of a process and all the sub-processes it calls, showing what invokes what. Blueprint uses the call tree as the basis for its licensing unit (a 'main')

Call_Tree

A smaller, modular component called by a parent process. Term varies by platform: UiPath (Sub-processes), A360 (Child Task Bots), Blue Prism (Objects), PAD (Subflows)

Sub-process

A string or expression that uniquely identifies a UI or Web element (button, field, window) on screen so a bot knows what to interact with. Selectors are highly platform-dependent and are one of the most common sources of migration complexity

Selector

A structured list of items that bots process one by one. Work queues allow multiple bots to pull and process items in parallel and are a core pattern for high-volume automations

Work_Queue

A central control platform that manages, schedules, monitors, and deploys RPA bots across an organization. UiPath Orchestrator and Automation Anywhere Control Room are examples

Orchestrator

A bot that runs fully autonomously, typically on a server or virtual machine, without any human involvement. Usually triggered by a schedule or event

Unattended_Automation

A bot that runs on a user's machine and requires human interaction or triggering during execution. The user is present and collaborates with the bot in real time

Attended_Automation

An automated workflow created in an RPA tool. The term varies by platform: UiPath uses Automations or Processes, Automation 360 uses Task Bots, Blue Prism uses Processes, and Power Automate Desktop uses Flows

Process

An automated workflow and its full call tree from the root entry point (Main). Equivalent to a PAD Flow, UiPath Automation, Blue Prism Process, or A360 Main Task Bot.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is software technology that uses bots to mimic human interactions with digital systems — clicking, typing, reading screens — to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks without changing underlying applications.