JPH05216736A - Information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an information processor capable of automatically deciding the delivery destination of every kind of document, and sending out the document to the delivery destination. CONSTITUTION:A directory in which processing route information is expressed is held with a directory holding means 110. A processing route analyzing part 120 extracts a processing route rule in accordance with the document, for example, documents to be processed inputted from plural processing route rules, etc., and outputs it to a retrieval means (directory access part) 130. The retrieval part 130 retrieves the directory in the directory holding means 110 based on an inputted processing route rule. The processing means (directory access part) 130 specifies the delivery destination of the document according to a retrieval result, and also, sends out the document to a device in accordance with a specified delivery destination.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus connected to a plurality of devices via a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art ISO (International Organization for Standardization) / IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 9594 defines an international standard for managing various resources and names of networks. For example,
OSI (Open Systems Interconnec) defined by ISO
directory management is defined. According to the above international standard, various resources and components of the network can be defined.

Also, in recent years, in offices and the like, a network system in which network resources such as computers and workstations are connected to a network is being constructed in accordance with the above international standard so that resources can be effectively used and distributed processing can be performed. .. In such an office, it is possible to send and receive electronic slips between, for example, workstations connected to the network.

A directory system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-285535.

[0005]

By the way, in general, the electronic form processing in an office where a network system is constructed has the following processing form. Of course, it is needless to say that the same processing form is used even in an office where the network system is not built. (1) There are various types of slips in the office, and the delivery destination and delivery route are often different for each slip.
In addition, even with the same slip, the department name of the delivery destination may differ depending on the department to which the issuer belongs, or the person in charge may differ. (2) The created slip is processed via a plurality of departments within the company.

In such a processing mode, it is difficult for the operator such as the issuer to promptly determine to which destination (in which department and which person in charge) the slip to be processed should be sent. .. In addition, there is a high possibility that the slip is erroneously sent to a different destination.

Therefore, in order to reliably send the slip,
The operator is the destination of each slip and the person in charge at the destination,
It is necessary to remember the delivery route in advance or refer to the manual or the like, and then perform the delivery operation of the slip to the corresponding delivery destination, which makes the work complicated and the work efficiency is poor.

[0008] Therefore, in order to deal with such a problem, if the destination of the digitized slip is automatically determined and the slip is sent to the destination, the slip processing can be smoothly performed. It will be possible.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, neither the method nor the apparatus has been realized nor proposed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing apparatus capable of automatically determining a destination of various documents and sending the documents to the destination. And

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an information processing device connected to a plurality of devices via a network, a directory holding means for holding a directory in which processing path information is expressed, and a processing device. Search means for searching the directory based on a processing path rule depending on a document to be processed, and a destination of the document according to the search result, and a specific one of the plurality of devices corresponding to the specified destination. Processing means for sending the document to a device.

A second aspect of the present invention further comprises management means for recording and managing a processing state indicating to which destination the processing for the document to be processed is currently completed.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the directory holding means holds the directory in which the processing path information is expressed. From the processing route information, it is possible to obtain specific processing route information according to the processing route rule depending on the document to be processed, that is, information of each destination.
The search means searches the directory in the directory holding means based on the processing route rule depending on the document to be processed, and the processing means specifies the destination of the document such as a slip according to the search result, and Since the document is sent to the specific device corresponding to the specified destination, the destination is determined based on the processing route rule and the processing route information for any processing route. Further, the document is further delivered to the destination, and the document processing can be smoothly performed.

In the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the above operation, the management means records and manages the processing state of the document indicating to which destination the document is currently processed. Therefore, the processing status of the document can be grasped.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, the information processing apparatus 100 includes a directory holding unit 110, a processing path analysis unit 120, a directory access unit 130, and a slip processing management unit 140.

The directory holding unit 110 contains ISO /
A directory of the OSI directory format (The Directory) defined by IEC9594 (details will be described later) is held.

The processing path analysis unit 120 has a plurality of processing path rules respectively corresponding to various electronic documents (slips), and each processing path is based on the electronic slip to be processed. The rule is analyzed, and the specific processing route rule as the analysis result is analyzed by the directory access unit 13.
Send to 0. Note that the processing route rule is a rule that represents the processing route of the destination unique to the slip. For example, in the outbound travel expense bill, for example, describe the processing route rule "Issuer → Manager → General Manager → Accounting". can do.

The directory access unit 130 accesses the directory holding unit 110 based on the analysis result of the processing path analysis unit 120 and determines the destination. For example, in the case of the above-mentioned travel expenses billing slip, it is determined by referring to the directory who the issuer, the manager, the general affairs staff, and the accounting correspond to.

The slip processing management unit 140 stores and manages, for each slip, the processing status of the slip indicating to which destination the processing for the document (slip) is currently completed when there is a series of processing paths. When an inquiry about the processing status of a slip is made, the processing status of the corresponding slip is returned to the inquiry source as an inquiry result.

FIG. 2 shows an example of directories held in the directory holding unit 110. In the example shown in this figure, the directory 200 represents “hierarchy of organization within company” as processing path information. Note that, in FIG. 2, a rectangular figure as indicated by reference numeral 210 represents a node, and each node is connected by a link.

In the directory 200: ◇ Below the root node "o = ABC", the node "o"
“U = sales department”, node “ou = development department”, and node “cn = Kobayashi” are connected. ◇ Below the node “ou = sales department”, the node “cn =
The node "ou = general affairs" to which "Suzuki" is connected as a subordinate
Are connected. ◇ Below the node “ou = Development Department”, the node “ou =
N1 ”, the node“ cn = Sato ”, the node“ cn = Yamada ”, the node“ cn = Abe ”, and the node“ cn = Ohno ”are connected as subordinate nodes“ ou = ”.
N2 ”and the node“ cn = moat ”are connected.

The directory holding unit 110 also holds information representing the roles and responsibilities of the organization in the company as an attribute of the node of the directory 200. An example of the attribute is shown in FIG. In the example shown in the figure, the node "ou
= ”Development Department”, the attribute “manager” is cn = Hori @
ou = development department, the attribute “accouting” is expressed as ou = general affairs @ ou = sales department, and the attribute “manager” has cn in the node “ou = N2”.
= Yamada @ ou = N2 @, and the attribute "secretary" is c
It is expressed that n = Sato @ ou = N2 @.

The following is how the issuer, department manager, general affairs staff, and accounting of the slip processing route work for a specific slip. ◇ The issuer corresponds to the value in the name field of the slip. -The manager is a node directly above the issuer's node in the directory hierarchy and corresponds to the value of the attribute "manager" of that node. The general affairs officer corresponds to the value of the attribute "secretary" in the node directly above the issuer's node, or in the node above it directly above. -Accounting corresponds to the value of the attribute "accouting" in the node immediately above the issuer's node or in the node directly above it.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a network system including the information processing apparatus 100. In the figure, the information processing apparatus 100 and the destination apparatuses 410 and 420 for processing the above-mentioned travel expense bill slips,
430 and 440 are connected via a network 450. The information processing apparatus 100 and each apparatus have a function of transmitting and receiving data such as an electronic slip (e-mail) via the network 450. Note that the information processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 is not provided with a means for transmitting / receiving data, but is actually provided with a means for transmitting / receiving data. The data input via the means for transmitting and receiving is input to the processing path analysis unit 120 when it is from the issuer, and the directory access unit 1 when it is from other than the issuer.
If the inquiry is input to 30, and if it is an inquiry about the processing state of the slip, it is input to the slip processing management unit 140. In FIG. 4, reference numerals 1 to 6 within the symbol “◯” represent the order of sending the electronic slip data when processing the above-mentioned travel expenses billing slip.

Next, the slip processing by the information processing apparatus 100 described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The processing path analysis unit 120 is a network,
The processing route rule corresponding to the slip from the issuer, which is input via the means for transmitting and receiving (not shown), is searched from the plurality of processing route rules held by itself (step 5
01), and outputs the processing route rule to the directory access unit 130.

The directory access unit 130 determines whether or not all the processing routes in the received processing route rule have ended, that is, whether or not the slip has been sent to all the destinations in the processing route (step 502). Here, if there is a destination to which the slip should still be sent, the next destination information (for example, information such as the manager or general affairs staff) is extracted from the processing route rule (step 503) and the destination information is obtained. On the basis of the above, referring to the directory (see FIG. 2) and the attribute of the node (see FIG. 3) in the directory holding unit 110, the destination is specified (this is the person who actually processes the slip) ( Step 504). After that, the voucher is transmitted to the specified destination, and the process waits until a processing end notification for the voucher is input from the destination (step 505).

The slip transmitted from the directory access unit 130 is input to the destination via the means for transmitting / receiving and the network, and the predetermined processing is performed here. At the destination, when the predetermined processing for the slip is completed, the directory access unit 130 informs that the slip and the processing are completed.
Will be sent to.

In the standby mode, the directory access unit 130, which has entered the slip from the destination input via the network and the means for transmitting / receiving and the fact that the processing has been completed, receives the processing status of the slip, for example, the transmission after the processing for the slip has been completed. The previous name is recorded in the slip processing management unit 140 (step 50).
6).

The slip processing management unit 140 stores the name of the destination for which the processing of the slip has been completed for each slip. When the slip processing has been completed, the names of the issuer, the manager, and the general affairs manager are stored. Then, when there is an inquiry about the outbound travel expense bill slip from a certain inquiry source, the slip processing management unit 140
The processing status of the slip is returned as an inquiry result.
As a result, the inquiry source can recognize how far the processing for the outbound travel expense bill is currently progressing.

Next, the slip processing for the outing travel expense bill will be specifically described. Here, how the going-out travel expense bill issued by Abe is processed will be described.

The issuer, Abe, uses the directory cn
= Abe @ ou = N2 @ ou = A node identified as the development department. The issuer sends out the travel expense bill slip to the information processing device 100 (route number 1 shown in FIG. 4).

The information processing apparatus 100 sequentially executes the following processes (1) to (3).

(1) Processing for sending slips from the issuer to the manager Abe (node "cn = Abe") belongs directly to the upper node "ou = N2". Since the attribute of the node "ou = N2" has the contents as shown in FIG.
From the value of the attribute "manager", cn = Yamada @ ou = N2 @
It can be seen that ou = Development Department. Therefore, the directory access unit 130 is cn = Yamada @ ou = N2
@ Ou = Send a slip from the issuer to the development department (route of number 2 shown in FIG. 4) and have the department manager process it. As a result, the processed slip is returned (route of number 3 shown in FIG. 4), and the following processing (2) is executed.

(2) Processing for sending slips from the manager to the general affairs officer The role of the general affairs officer in the node "ou = N2" is shown in FIG.
"Secretary" in the node "ou = N2" shown in
From the value of “, cn = Sato @ ou = N2 @ ou = Development Department. Therefore, the directory access unit 130 is c
n = Sato @ ou = N2 @ ou = Send a slip from the department manager to the development department (route number 4 shown in FIG. 4) and ask the general affairs staff to process it. As a result, the processed slip is returned (route number 5 shown in FIG. 4), and the following processing (3) is executed.

(3) Processing for sending slips from general affairs staff to accounting As shown in FIG. 3, the attribute "accouting" does not exist in the attribute of the node "ou = N2", that is, the node "ou = N2". The role of accounting in is not described. In such a case, a search is made to see if the accounting role is described in a higher node. In this case, the attribute of the upper node “ou = development department” is directly referenced to check whether there is a corresponding attribute. Node "ou = development department"
The attribute of "acouting" is the role of accounting at the node "ou = N2" because the attribute of "acouting" is as shown in FIG.
From the value of, it can be seen that ou = general affairs @ ou = sales department. Therefore, the directory access unit 130 outputs ou =
General Affairs @ou = Send a slip from the general affairs staff to the sales department (route number 6 shown in FIG. 4).

In the above embodiment, the processing for the slip has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also applied to a document (for example, a approval document, a contact point, etc.) exchanged between departments in a company. be able to.

Further, although the directory holding unit exists locally in the information processing apparatus of the above-described embodiment (see FIG. 1), it may be provided globally as shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 6, an information processing apparatus 610 having a configuration in which the directory holding unit is deleted from the configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1, and a directory holding unit having the functions of the directory holding unit 110 and the server function described above. 620 and 620 are connected to the network 630. Then, the directory access unit 130
The directory holding unit 6 via the network 630
20 may be accessed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the delivery destination or delivery route is different depending on various documents (for example, slips), the department name of the delivery destination is determined by the department to which the issuer belongs even if the same document is used. Even if the destination is different or the person in charge at the destination is different, by referring to the directory representing the organization based on the processing route rule corresponding to the document to be processed, the corresponding destination Since the decision is made and the document is sent, slip processing can be performed smoothly.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, the directory, that is, the processing path information is searched by the searching means on the basis of the processing path rule depending on the document to be processed, and the processing means determines, for example, according to the search result. Since the destination of a document such as a slip is specified and the document is sent to the specified destination, the destination of the document to be processed is automatically determined, and the document is sent to the destination. You can

Therefore, there are various kinds of slips (documents),
Even if these slips have to be subjected to predetermined processing, the slip processing can be smoothly performed according to the processing route corresponding to the specific slip.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of an information processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a directory used in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of attributes of nodes in the directory shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a network system including an information processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a slip processing operation of this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing another embodiment of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100, 610 ... Information processing device, 110, 620 ... Directory holding unit, 120 ... Processing path analysis unit, 130 ... Directory access unit, 140 ... Voucher processing management unit, 20
0 ... Directory, 450, 630 ... Network.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information processing device connected to a plurality of devices via a network, based on a directory holding means for holding a directory expressing processing route information, and a processing route rule depending on a document to be processed. Searching means for searching the directory, and processing for specifying a destination of the document according to the search result and sending the document to a specific device among the plurality of devices corresponding to the specified destination. An information processing apparatus comprising: means. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising management means for recording and managing a processing state indicating to which destination the processing of the document to be processed is currently completed. apparatus.