JP2001283143A - Electronic document management system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To realize an electronic management system capable of safely and rationally managing electronic documents with approval or examination. A document server has a database having proposal data, approval data, and examination data.
And a registration interface 34 that supports document registration work from the client and sends an approval review request by e-mail to the client that approves / examines the registered proposal.
An approval / examination interface 35/36 for supporting the approval / examination work by the client; a browsing interface 37 for supporting the client to browse the registered document and displaying the selected proposal and its approval data on the client terminal; Is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic document management system, and more particularly to an electronic document management system for registering, approving, and browsing an electronic document with authentication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a business establishment or the like, when a report document or a draft document is created by a member (hereinafter, also referred to as an employee), an approval seal is stamped by the employee, the section manager, and a higher-level manager. Is signed or signed and managed as a decision document for the establishment. This is also the case with contracts. Such a document is viewed by a person who needs it as needed. However, when the amount of the document becomes large, it takes time and effort to manage the document and perform a search at the time of reading, and it is desired to create an electronic document.

[0003] When electronically documenting a decision document or the like, it is necessary to also electronically document a signature or a seal certifying the "approval". The simplest way to do this is to embed the approval record in the electronic document along with the document text. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-222589 discloses that in order to prevent forgery of the approval record, each employee has a recording medium (single floppy (registered trademark) disk or the like) storing his / her own seal image data. An "electronic document circulation and seal system" is disclosed, which reads the document when necessary and inserts the image data into the stamp position of the document.

[0004]

If the approval record is described in a simple text format in an electronic document, forgery is easy. The use of seal image data as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-222589 provides security similar to that of a conventional seal stamp. However, when browsing an electronic document including a seal image, the seal image data is cut out. It is also possible to steal an image of a seal, such as diverting a seal image to another document, and there is still a security problem. Further, in the process of making a decision on a decision document or the like, an electronic document is transmitted and received on a network. However, it is not preferable to distribute such a document in the course of decision on the network.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic document management system capable of safely and rationally managing an electronic document accompanied by approval or examination.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electronic document management system constructed in a system comprising a document server and a plurality of clients capable of logging in to the document server via a network. A document database, wherein the document server has at least electronic document data and approval data as its constituent contents,
Support the creation of a document by the client, and when the created document is sent, register the document as the electronic document data in the document database,
A registration interface for controlling the notification of the approval request by e-mail to a client that performs the approval of the document, and supporting the approval operation of the client that has received the approval request; Approval interface for controlling to register in the document database as data, supporting browsing of documents registered in the document database by the client, the electronic document data selected by the client and the corresponding approval data to the client terminal A browsing interface for controlling display as an authenticated valid document is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, when the approval is performed by a plurality of clients and the approval order is a document in which the approval order is predetermined, the registration interface issues an approval request to the client which first performs the approval, The approval interface provides an electronic document management system in which an approval request is issued to a client who performs next approval every time approval by one client is completed.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an electronic document management system according to the present invention, which is a proposal management system. In FIG. 1, a document server 1 and clients 6, 6,... Are connected via a LAN 7,
The document server 1 holds data relating to all of registration, approval, examination, search, and browsing of a document, and manages the data and a client that handles the data. The Web server 2 and the proposal management server 3 , An employee management server 4 and an e-mail 5. These are one machine in FIG. 1, but they may be distributed to a plurality of machines on the LAN 7.

The proposal management server 3 stores proposal data 3
1, a proposal database 30 including the approval data 32 and the examination data 33, a registration interface 34, an approval interface 35, an examination interface 36,
And a browsing interface 37. The employee management server 4 has an employee database 40 managed so that the approval route can be understood. The Web server 2 is called by the interfaces 34 to 37 to provide the client with a Web screen in the HTML format, so that operations can be performed on this screen. Correspondingly, Web browsers 61, 61... Are also provided for the clients 6, 6,. The interface between the document server 1 and the client may be different.

In the system shown in FIG. 1 having the above configuration, when a client performs an operation such as registration and approval of a proposal, the client first logs in to the document server 1. That is, when the client connects to the document server 1, a login screen shown in FIG. 2 is first displayed, and the client inputs and transmits a user ID (such as an employee number) and a password. When the document server 1 receives this, it specifies the client using the employee management server 4, and if normal, sends the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 to the client and displays it on the terminal screen of the client. The login and menu display are basic functions of the document server 1 not shown, and the interface of the display screen is provided by the Web server 2. In this way, the menu screen of FIG. 3 is displayed, and when one of the menus is selected, information is exchanged with the client by each function of the proposal management server 3 and Web2, and the corresponding processing is executed.
Hereinafter, each process will be described in detail.

When registration is selected on the menu screen of FIG. 3, the document server 1 displays a proposal registration screen on the client terminal via the registration interface 34. FIG. 4 shows an example of the screen. When the client inputs and sends the subject, the contents of the proposal, the file name when there is an attached material, the amount of effect, the classification of the proposal, and the like, the document server 1 registers this proposal. A number is set and registered in the proposal data 31 of the proposal database 30. Further, referring to the employee database 4, obtain the superior from the affiliation of the proposer, detect a client requesting approval, and send an e-mail indicating that the detected client has an approval document and its proposal number (registration number). 5 is notified. In addition, the proposer may input a client for approval, a restriction condition of browsing, and the like on a screen as shown in FIG. When an approval request is sent to a plurality of clients, all of the approval clients may be notified all at once, or the approval may be sequentially performed in an order. In addition, the registration interface 34 allows correction and deletion of a proposal once registered.
Done through.

When approval is selected on the menu screen of FIG. 3 and the registration number of the proposal is input, the document server 1 displays an approval screen on the client terminal via the approval interface 35. FIG. 5 shows an example of the screen, in which the contents of the proposal are displayed, and a list of approvers is displayed at the bottom, and when the approval has already been made, that fact is displayed in the corresponding list. The approval client refers to these, performs “approval confirmation” when approving, and transmits (for example, left-click on the same page). Upon receiving this, the document server 1 checks that the authorized client has the authority with reference to the employee database 40, and
If the client has the authorization, the result of the authorization is recorded in the authorization data 32. When the approval is sequentially performed, an approval request mail is transmitted via the electronic mail 5 to the next client to be approved. In the attached file list, a link to an actual file is displayed, and when the link is clicked, the attached document itself is displayed in another window. Another way to do this is to
Using "method of inputting ID from keyboard", "method of using personal authentication device such as magnetic card / IC card", or "method of installing hardware or software with embedded personal information on client terminal" Is also good. Further, if data flowing between the document server and the approval client on the network is encrypted, security is further improved.

When the examination is selected on the menu screen of FIG. 3, the operation is the same as the above-mentioned approval. Here, whether or not the proposal requires review is specified by the client who made the proposal or approval. Alternatively, all may be unconditionally judged. Fig. 6 shows an example of the screen when this examination is selected. The number of the proposal that needs examination is sent to the examination client by e-mail, and displayed when the examination client selects the above examination on the menu screen in response to this. Is done. When the evaluation, acceptance / rejection, grade, and the like are input to the bottom of FIG. 6 and transmitted to the document server 1, the validity is checked and written into the examination data 33 as in the case of approval. The examination interface 36 is used as an interface between the client and the document server in this operation.

When browsing is selected on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3, the browsing interface 37 operates to display a search screen shown in the figure on the client terminal. The client can use this screen to register the proposal registration number and proposal number (ID
Etc.), enter a proposal category and a keyword, and click a "search" button. The search conditions are transmitted to the document server 1, and a list of proposals matching the search conditions is returned as shown in FIG. Is displayed. Each orchid on this display screen also serves as a link for the proposal. Then, when the client selects a proposal to be viewed, the corresponding proposal is displayed on the client terminal from the document server 1 as a browsing screen as shown in FIG. If the display screen of this proposal is a separate window from the search result screen of FIG. 8, it is convenient to see another proposal. As a method of passing information to the browsing client, the document data and the approval data may be separately passed to be viewed by dedicated browsing software, or the document data and the approval data may be combined into one document for browsing. You may make it. If necessary, the document data to be passed to the browsing client may indicate that it is a copy (set as a document attribute at the time of document registration), or may delete the undisclosed portion. The setting of the non-disclosed portion may be performed by embedding control information in the document at the time of document creation, and controlling the document server or the viewing software.

In the system of FIG. 1 described above, the electronic document and its approval information are all stored and managed in the document server, and registration, updating, approval, browsing, etc. are all configured to prevent fraud. . Therefore, only the document displayed by accessing the document server is a valid approval document,
If a system operation method is set such that a downloaded file or a copy printed is invalid as an approval document, the security of the electronic document can be easily realized. Although the system for the proposal has been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to other documents.

[0016]

According to the present invention, by isolating the electronic document and the original data of the approval information from the client, it is possible to protect the electronic document without using a technique such as advanced encryption. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an electronic document management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a log-in screen for a document server.

FIG. 3 is a menu screen.

FIG. 4 is a registration screen

FIG. 5 is an approval screen.

FIG. 6 is an examination screen.

FIG. 7 is a search screen.

FIG. 8 is a search result screen.

FIG. 9 is a browsing screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Document Server 2 Web Server 3 Proposal Management Server 4 Employee Management Server 5 Email 6 Client 7 LAN 31 Proposal Data 32 Approval Data 33 Examination Data 34 Registration Interface 35 Approval Interface 36 Examination Interface 37 Viewing Interface

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electronic document management system constructed in a system including a document server and a plurality of clients capable of logging in to the document server via a network, wherein the document server stores at least electronic document data and approval data in the document server. A document database having a configuration content and supporting creation of a document by a client. When the created document is sent, the document is registered as the electronic document data in the document database, and the document is approved. A registration interface that controls the client to notify the approval request by e-mail, and supports the approval operation of the client that received the approval request, and when the approval result is transmitted, the approval result is sent to the document database as the approval data. Approve in to control to register Interface, and support for browsing documents registered in the document database from the client, and control to display electronic document data selected by the client and corresponding approval data as valid documents authenticated on the client terminal. An electronic document management system comprising a browsing interface. 2. When the approval is performed by a plurality of clients and the approval order is a predetermined document,
The registration interface first issues an approval request to a client that performs approval, and the approval interface issues an approval request to the next client that performs approval each time approval is completed by one client. 2. The electronic document management system according to claim 1, wherein: