JP2001134668A - Progress management system using workflow management method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a progress management system using a workflow management system which does not need to be incorporated into a core system such as a production / distribution management system and can manage the progress of individual orders or products. SOLUTION: A workflow management means 4 having a function of creating a request form and sending it to an approver by a person in charge, and a function of approving the request form by an approver, and progress management for accumulating attributes common to the workflow management targets. A request form creating means 1 using a database 8, a template for inputting the attribute for each managed object, and registering the attribute value of the managed object when the created request form is approved by an approver. Alternatively, a progress management system using a workflow management method, comprising a progress management data registration / update means 8 for updating.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a progress management system using a workflow management system having a function of creating and approving a request form by a person in charge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various information communication systems such as electronic mail have been developed using computer systems connected by a network. Among such systems, a workflow management system has been developed as a kind of groupware based on e-mail. In such a system, a plurality of workers perform and manage a series of tasks in accordance with task procedures, that is, tasks. By sharing information through circulation and the like in a workflow on a computer network, the collaborative work of multiple users with common tasks and purposes is supported. These apparatuses have a common feature that they receive information as a result of the work at the time when the work by the worker is completed, and pass this information to the worker in the next process.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-190584 proposes a workflow system for predicting troubles in workflow operations in advance and performing actions such as defining workflow operations and changing priorities. This technology includes a workflow definition unit, a workflow operation / management unit, and a personal information management unit. From these means, the workflow evaluation / prediction means obtains necessary information and predicts the progress of the workflow.

[0004] The workflow defining means defines conditions such as requirements, order, timing, names of workers in charge, and priorities of workflow tasks. The workflow operation management means manages the execution progress according to the definition and urges each worker to execute the unit work. The personal information management means manages personal information on the unit work of each worker. The workflow evaluation / prediction means predicts the future progress status of the workflow work by obtaining the above definition, execution progress status, and personal information.

[0005] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-305662 proposes a cooperative work support device using a bulletin board system for supporting cooperative work between workers by providing information on the results and progress of other workers. ing. In this technique, each product created in each task constituting a task is centrally managed, and the result is disclosed as a bulletin board to all workers who participate in the task during the creation process. This allows each worker in the downstream process to look at this and work at any time.

As a bulletin board, a bulletin board data structure is displayed on a terminal device, and work products and their states are displayed. The operator selects the product with a mouse or the like, edits, reviews,
Perform the operation of completion. For example, in “editing a work product”, the result of the work is reflected in the work product. In “completion of work”, the state of the product is changed to “completed” when the worker determines that the work is completed. In the “work review”, when the work needs to be reviewed, the “completed” state of the product is released.

In this technique, when the state of a product is changed, the state of a related product is changed to achieve cooperation between works. For example, when the result is “completed”, the state of the work that receives the result is “to do”, and the work of the next process is prompted. When "completion" is released in the upstream process, "completion" is also released in the downstream process to urge the review of the work.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-305668 discloses that when data is circulated in a workflow, the display state of the circulated data is automatically controlled in accordance with the work and role of each circulating destination to improve operability. A data circulation system has been proposed. This system is a client / server system, and has a means for displaying data such as images and texts on the client side, and a means for defining a circulation route of such data on the server side.

This database includes a display template, a business user management table, a route definition table,
The data state management table is held. Database display templates include user (client)
In the management table, the association between the circulation destination user and the display template is set. Based on the contents of these databases, the control means refers to the management table and outputs data circulated in the workflow to the screen of the display means according to the display template corresponding to the user.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-11507 has a task analysis function which displays the work of a task on a time axis for each person in charge and can easily grasp the work period and the amount of work for each person in charge.
A workflow management system has been proposed. According to this, in a client / server system, a database stores management information for each job and job information related to a job for each user (administrator or person in charge), and displays a display screen provided on the client. To
The job list and the user list are displayed using the time axis.

According to this technique, a workflow server refers to a database in response to a request from a client, searches for a job that is being executed or is to be executed, creates a job list, and creates a job list for each user. Search for information, create a user list, and display it on the business analysis screen. On the display screen provided on the client, the work period for each job is displayed along the time axis in the display range of the job list, and the work period and work volume to be assigned to each user are displayed in the display range of the user list. Is displayed along the time axis.

[0012]

All of these prior arts manage the progress of the work of the person in charge and manage the progress of the workflow itself. Therefore, if this is applied to production management or logistics management, etc., it is possible to manage the work of personnel in the so-called office department such as sales department and process department, but to work in the so-called field department such as factory or logistics. The progress could not be managed.

Heretofore, it has been necessary to separately obtain information on the progress management of these field departments from a core system such as a production management system or a distribution management system. However, in general, information from the core system is periodically output in a prescribed format such as a daily report, a weekly report, a monthly report, and the like, but the content is for the field section and the head office section. Therefore, in order to obtain necessary information in the office department, it is necessary to set up a separate program in the production and distribution management system, and there are limitations on the processing capacity and processing time of the system. It was difficult to know.

The above-mentioned prior art also has the following problems. In the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 8-190584, it is possible to define the assignment, order, priority, and the like of workflow tasks, but this is limited to task management within the office department. Therefore, information relating to the progress management of the on-site department, such as production or distribution, such as a change in the priority of production or distribution, cannot be obtained from this system.

According to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-305662, information about the results and progress of other workers can be obtained by a cooperative work support device using a bulletin board system. Can be omitted.
However, in order to know the progress of production and logistics for individual orders and products, it is necessary to extract necessary information from these information posted on the bulletin board, and then make a comprehensive judgment based on that information . Therefore, it can be said that it is difficult to judge the current state, that is, the final request contents to the site at the present time, only from the public information on the bulletin board.

In the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-305668, when data is circulated, the display state of the circulated data is automatically controlled in accordance with the work and role of each circulating destination, and thus it is generally considered necessary. It is expected that business efficiency will be improved in obtaining information. However, the office department needs to know the progress of production and logistics when it is not possible to cope with normal work on the site, such as order change, and in many cases it is an irregular work.

However, according to this technique, information that is not considered necessary by the person in charge is automatically controlled (restricted).
Is, can not know. Conversely, if the range of the circulation data is widened, unnecessary information is circulated in large quantities, and on the contrary, the efficiency of the work is reduced.

The technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-11507 relates to a workflow management system, and is aimed at business analysis for easily grasping the work period and work amount for each person in charge. Although it is possible to manage the work progress of each person in the office section, the progress of production and distribution is not considered. Therefore, it is impossible to know the progress of individual orders and products in the field section.

As described above, the prior arts are all aimed at managing the progress of the workflow work itself, that is, which person is in charge of the work in the department. Therefore, even if it is possible to evaluate the importance according to the work within the department or the order of the number of days of stay, etc., it should be used to manage the progress of each order, product, inventory, etc., which are important items of the on-site department such as production and distribution work Was difficult.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and does not need to be incorporated in a core system such as a production / distribution management system, and uses a workflow system capable of managing the progress of individual orders or products. The purpose is to provide a system.

[0021]

The above object is achieved by the following invention. The invention relates to a progress management system using a workflow management system, which comprises: (a) a workflow management unit having functions of (a) creating a request form and sending it to an approver by a person in charge, and approving the request form by an approver; (B) a progress management database for accumulating attributes common to the management targets of these request documents, (c) request document creation means using a template for inputting the attributes for each management target, D) progress management data registering / updating means for registering or updating the value of the attribute to be managed when the created request form is approved by the approver;
This is a progress management system using a workflow management method, characterized in that it comprises:

According to the present invention, various instructions are given to the production or distribution of individual orders or products and the progress is managed using a workflow management system. Instructions for production and distribution are made by creating, sending, and approving various request forms. Progress management refers to the management target, that is, each order or product that is managed by various requests.
A progress management database is provided to manage progress. In this database, attributes such as the number of items, classifications, etc., which are provided in common for the management target (individual order or product) are stored. These attributes are attributes that can be fields of a table in the database, and as main examples, attributes that can be aggregated such as quantity, number, weight, and the like, or classification of management targets such as product classification, consumers, and persons in charge There are attributes for

The request form creation means uses a template for inputting the attributes of these management targets (orders or products), so that information can be collected without omission.
As a model, the entire request form may be in a template form, or may be called in the request form and embedded in a part of the request form. The template format may be any format such as a table format or a report format, but if it is a table format, a plurality of management targets can be input.

The created request form is sent from the requester to the approver by the function of the workflow management means. When the sent request is approved by the approver, the value of each attribute entered in the request form template is determined, and the progress management data registration / update means uses the progress management database as progress information at that stage. Registered in.

This request form is sent to the next approver, and as it is or after being modified and approved again,
This is the progress information of the next stage. The contents of the progress management database are updated to the progress information at this stage by the progress management data registration / update means. In this way, by linking with the workflow management means, each time an individual request form is approved, its contents are automatically registered or updated in the progress management database and are reliably reflected,
The accuracy of progress management is improved.

The progress management database can be referred to by each person in charge using a normal DBMS (database management system) function. this is,
If there is a network environment (such as a personal computer LAN) capable of implementing the workflow management means, it can be easily realized. As a result, each person in charge can extract various types of information from the progress management database and compile the information, and can use the information for performing their own tasks.

[0027]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention. When the form of the request form is selected by the request form creating means 1, the corresponding model is searched from the model database (DB) 3 by the model search means 2 and displayed. The person in charge inputs the information specifying the management target such as the order number and the product number and the attributes of the management target such as the quantity and the delivery date to the template. In addition, the address of the request, the contents of the request, special notes, and the like are entered in the request as information necessary for workflow management.

The workflow management unit 4 sends the created request to the approver (for example, a boss) of the request using the document transmission / reception unit 5 using the function of the workflow management system. When the approver receives and approves the request, approval information is added to the request and sent to the next approver by the workflow management function. Here, the next approver is generally determined based on the business flow, such as the address of the request form or the supervisor in charge. Here, as for the workflow management method, a normal workflow management means (system) can be used. Note that various document information such as a request book and an instruction book handled by the workflow management unit 4 are stored in the document database 9.

In the present invention, when the approval information is input by the approval information input means 6, the registration updating means 7 registers the progress management data in the progress management database 8 (record addition). In the progress management database 8, the information for specifying the management target input in the above-described template and the attributes thereof include the number of the request form, the request department, the person in charge,
It is registered together with information on the request form such as the request destination. The approval information input means 6 may also use the approval / return function of the ordinary workflow management means.

Next, when another request form is created and approved for the same management target, the progress management database 8
The attribute registered in is updated. For example, when there is a change in the delivery date of a product of a certain order number, the delivery date column (field) of the progress management database 8 is updated. It is preferable to input a comment such as "Change delivery date" in the special description column, or to make it possible to select from options.

By providing an inquiry means for the progress management database 8, each person in charge can know various instructions and requests from other persons, but the present invention is not limited to this. Furthermore, as a result of these instructions and requests, it is possible to know what situation the management target is currently in. For example, if a product is searched and totaled up to a certain delivery date, the quantity and progress can be known.

As described above, the progress of the present invention is as follows.
It is based on the instructions and requests from the office department's request and can be said to indicate the schedule of progress. Therefore, the person in charge can easily judge whether the delivery date can be changed, whether the processing order can be changed, or the like, based on the totaled results of the work in progress in the on-site department such as manufacturing and distribution. In addition, if an instruction or request that is difficult to implement in the field department can be checked before issuing the request, the request can be discarded or returned without approval.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the flow of data processing in the present invention. First, as shown in FIG. 2, in step S1, a person in charge creates a new request form.
Here, a request form ID (number) is issued, and the contents of the request and the destination of the request form are input. Next, or at the same time as the request form creation screen, in step S2, a predetermined model corresponding to the type of the request form is displayed. In step S3,
Enter the management items (number) and attributes (quantity, delivery date, etc.) of the order or product targeted by the request form.

In step S4, when the contents of the request form are confirmed by clicking the confirmation button or the send button, etc., the process proceeds to step S5, where the workflow processing is executed, and the request form is determined by the next predetermined approver. Will be sent to In step S6, when the request form is approved by the next approver, in step S7, information such as the order or product input to the template is registered in the progress management database. If the request is not approved, discard it in step S11.
A return process is performed. At step S12, the request form is registered in the progress database and the information (discard, return, etc.) is written.

Next, in step S8, it is determined whether or not the approver is the final approver of the request, that is, whether or not there is a destination for requesting approval of the request. The determination of the final approver may use the function of the workflow management system. As a result of the determination, if the approver is the final approver, the workflow related to the request is terminated. If the approver is not the final approver, the process proceeds to step S9, and the request is sent to the next approver by workflow processing.

Next, in FIG. 3, when the next approver approves the sent request at step S21, the process proceeds to step S2.
Proceeding to 2, the progress management database is updated. In this case, even if there is no change in the information such as the order or the product, since the approver is different in the information on the progress, it is updated together with the approval department or the like. Hereinafter, determination of the final approver in step S23, sending of the request form to the next approver by the workflow process in step S24, step S3
Discarding / returning of 0 and S31 and writing (updating) to the progress database are performed in the same manner as in FIG.

FIG. 4A shows an example of a display screen of the progress status by this system. This is a result of searching the progress management database by the request destination (person in charge), and is a list of tasks for which the person in charge is the request destination. Than this,
You can immediately know the quantity and delivery date of the product for the task you requested. For example, in this example, it can be seen that the request form No. C003 has a large order of 5,000 tons and the delivery date is early, so that it is necessary to process it with the highest priority.

On the other hand, in the workflow management system of the prior art, as shown in FIG. 4B, the status of each request form itself, that is, suspension / response completed, can be known. The progress of the target product cannot be known. In addition, the order of the above request form No.C003 is 5000
It is necessary to refer to the contents of the request form separately for the fact that there are tons and the delivery date is fast. On the other hand, according to the present invention, since the progress status of the products to be managed can be known including the quantity, the work required for investigating the progress status becomes unnecessary, and the work efficiency is improved.

Further, since the progress management database has fields of the person in charge and the quantity, the total quantity of products and the like for each person in charge can be calculated by the tabulation process. If this is displayed as a list, it is easy to know which person is under load and to consider the distribution of tasks. Similarly, it is also possible to examine the distribution of tasks among the departments by performing a totaling process for each department (the department to which the person in charge belongs). In addition, various usages are conceivable, which can contribute to efficiency of work.

[0040]

According to the present invention, there are provided a workflow management means having functions of creating, sending, and approving a request form, and a progress management database for managing the production and distribution of individual orders or products. If the certificate is approved, the order and product information and progress can be registered or updated. As a result, it is possible to manage the progress status of production, distribution, and the like only by handling the request form by the workflow management means without separately inputting the progress status.

As a result, not only is the work of inputting the progress status unnecessary, but also the content of the request form is reliably reflected in the progress management database, so that the accuracy of the progress management is improved.
In addition, by querying the progress management database, each person in charge can extract and sum up various types of information to perform the task in a planned manner, and to expect the task to be more efficient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of data processing (registration processing) in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of data processing (update processing) in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen. (A) Invention example (b) Conventional example

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 Request form creation means 2 Model search means 3 Model database 4 Workflow management means 5 Document transmission / reception means 6 Approval information input means 7 Registration update means 8 Progress management database 9 Document database

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuto Araki 1-2-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term in Nihon Kokan Co., Ltd. 5B049 AA01 AA02 AA06 BB07 CC00 CC21 CC32 DD01 DD05 EE00 EE02 EE05 FF03 FF09 GG04 GG07 GG09

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A progress management system using a workflow management system, wherein (a) a workflow management having a function of creating a request form by a person in charge, sending it to an approver, and approving the request form by an approver. Means, (b) a progress management database for accumulating attributes common to the management targets of these request documents, and (c) request document creation means using a template for inputting the attributes for each management target, (D) a progress management data registering / updating means for registering or updating the value of the attribute to be managed when the created request form is approved by the approver; Progress management system using.