JP2007004210A - Workflow processing method, apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique that allows another worker to efficiently perform the work without setting a substitute when a worker who is predetermined for the work of the case is unprocessed.
In a workflow processing method that supports proxy processing in workflow processing that circulates a matter in a predetermined circulation order and performs the work of the matter for each circulation destination, the authority is higher than the user who performs the workflow processing. The step of acquiring the user ID of the lower user from the authority management table of the storage device, and the matter information indicating that the work state is unprocessed in the work corresponding to the acquired user ID is stored in the storage device The step of obtaining from the matter management table and outputting by the output device, the work status of the work corresponding to the user ID of the user performing the workflow process, and the work status of the work corresponding to the acquired user ID of the lower user, A step of changing according to the operation content for the work of the output item information.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention supports work proxy processing by a worker other than a predetermined worker in a workflow process in which a case is circulated according to a predetermined circulation order and the work of the case is performed for each circulation destination. The present invention relates to workflow processing technology.

  Conventionally, if the worker for the work and the agent who performs the work on behalf of the worker in advance are registered, the attendance status of the worker is constantly monitored and it is determined that the worker is absent. It is described that a workflow system in which work does not stay can be realized by sending a processing request to an agent by e-mail (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 11-219393 A

  In the prior art, it is necessary to register a substitute for work in advance, and if the user forgets to set this, the work stays. In addition, regarding the monitoring of the presence status, there are cases where an operator is present but forgets to perform work, and this is also not an effective means for preventing work retention. .

  In addition, it is also considered that the circulation of documents, which is usually realized in a workflow system, can be omitted if the higher-level authorized person processes the matter. Absent.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and when a predetermined worker is not yet processed for the work of the case, it is possible for another worker to efficiently perform the work without setting a substitute agent. Is to provide new technology.

  The present invention provides a workflow processing device that supports proxy processing in workflow processing that circulates a matter in accordance with a predetermined circulation order and performs the work of the matter for each circulation destination. A certain matter information is output, the operation content for the work is received, and the work status of the user's work and the work status of the lower user's work are changed according to the operation content.

  In the workflow processing apparatus of the present invention, when a user who performs workflow processing logs in, a user ID of a user whose authority is lower than that user is referred to by referring to an authority management table that stores information indicating the job authority of each user. Is obtained from the authority management table.

  Next, with reference to the matter management table storing the user ID of the worker who performs the work of each matter of the workflow processing and information on the working state, the work is assigned to the worker of the acquired user ID of the lower user. Of the work, the matter information indicating that the work state is unprocessed is acquired from the matter management table and output by the output device.

  The user who performs the workflow process refers to the output item information, and inputs the operation content for the work of the item information by the input device.

  In the workflow processing device of the present invention, when receiving the operation content for the work of the output matter information, the user who made the input in the work of the matter for which the input has been performed with reference to the matter management table The work assigned to the user ID and the work assigned to the user ID of the lower user are searched from the matter management table, and the work state of the searched work is changed according to the received operation content.

  According to the present invention, when a worker determined in advance for work on a case has not yet been processed, it is possible for another worker to efficiently perform the task without setting a substitute agent.

  Hereinafter, a workflow processing apparatus according to an embodiment that supports proxy processing in workflow processing that circulates cases according to a predetermined circulation order and performs the work of the cases for each circulation destination will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a workflow processing apparatus according to this embodiment. The workflow processing apparatus according to the present embodiment manages the case information and the workflow control unit 14 having a function of determining the worker of each work and changing the state of the case according to a predefined business flow. The case management database 10 having the case management table 11, the worker authority management database 12 having the authority management table 13 for managing the work authority of each worker, and the authority lower than the worker in the worker authority management database 12 An authority confirmation processing unit 15 for searching for an operator is received, and an operation content from a client device including an item operation client screen 16 that provides a user interface for an operator to perform an item operation is received and workflow processing is performed.

  The authority confirmation processing unit 15 performs a process of acquiring, from the authority management table 13 in the worker authority management database 12, a user ID of a user who has a lower authority than the user who performs the workflow process. Further, the workflow control unit 14 acquires and outputs item information indicating that the operation state of the operation corresponding to the acquired user ID is unprocessed from the item management table 11 in the item management database 10. The operation of the work corresponding to the user ID of the user who performed the input is received by the input device, and the input of the operation content for the work of the output item information is received by the input device. A process of changing the work state of the work corresponding to the state and the user ID of the lower user according to the operation content is performed.

  A program for causing the workflow processing apparatus of this embodiment to function as the processing unit is recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and stored in a magnetic disk or the like, and then loaded into a memory and executed. The recording medium for recording the program may be a recording medium other than the CD-ROM. The program may be used by installing it from the recording medium into the information processing apparatus, or the program may be used by accessing the recording medium through a network.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the workflow processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, the workflow processing apparatus of this embodiment loads a program for causing a computer to function as the processing unit into a memory, and these software processing and hardware resources such as a magnetic disk device cooperate. As a result, a process for supporting the proxy process of the workflow process is performed.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a business flow representing an estimate approval requesting operation in which the approval of the created estimate according to the present embodiment is performed in order from the manager to the manager. As shown in FIG. 2, when a case is entered in this business flow, a chief approval work 2010, which is the first work, is generated.

  That is, in the conventional workflow processing, for example, when the chief officer logs in as an operator, the workflow control unit 14 acquires the logged-in chief user ID, searches the case management table 11 in the case management database 10, and Among the tasks corresponding to the user ID, the matter information of the chief approval work 2010 that is in the state to be processed next is acquired and the contents are displayed on the matter operation client screen 16, and the chief who is the worker performs the work. The state of the chief approval work 2010 is in process until it is performed. Similarly, a section manager approval work 2020 and a section manager approval work 2030 are performed.

  On the other hand, in the present invention, for example, when the chief approval work 2010 is unprocessed, when the general manager logs in as an operator, the workflow control unit 14 acquires the user ID of the logged-in general manager and stores it in the matter management database 10. In this case, the authority confirmation processing unit 15 obtains the user ID of the worker from the workflow control unit 14 and searches the authority management table 13 in the worker authority management database 12 for work. The user ID of the section manager or chief who is a lower-level user than the user is acquired and passed to the workflow control unit 14, and the workflow control unit 14 is, for example, the lowest order as unprocessed matter information in the work of the lower-level user Search for and obtain the matter information of the chief approval work 2010 of the person, display the content on the matter operation client screen 16, That director is in the process the status of the chief approval work 2010 to do the work. Here, input of a case key for uniquely identifying a case may be received to acquire specific case information.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for supporting the proxy processing of the workflow processing according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the matter information in which the work state by the lower user is not processed is displayed, the operation content for the work is received, and the work state assigned to the user and the lower user are assigned to the work state. A process of changing the work state of the work according to the operation content is performed.

  When the user transmits information such as a user ID and a password to the workflow processing apparatus via the client apparatus and logs in to the workflow processing apparatus as an operator, the workflow control unit 14 stores the user information of the logged-in worker in step 3010 The user ID is read from the storage device and the like, the case management table 11 in the case management database 10 is searched, and the next processing is to be performed in the work corresponding to the user ID of the worker. For the work that is being processed, that is, among the unprocessed work assigned to the worker, the work immediately before that has been processed, the matter information of the work is acquired, and the user ID of the acquired worker To the authority confirmation processing unit 15.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the item management table 11 according to the present embodiment. The case management database 10 of this embodiment is a database having a case management table 11 for storing case information as shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the case management table 11 has five fields: a case key field 4010, a business flow name field 4020, a work ID field 4030, a worker ID field 4040, and a work state field 4050.

  A case key field 4010 is a field for uniquely identifying a case, and stores the above-described case key. The business flow name field 4020 is a field for uniquely identifying a business and stores a business flow name registered on the workflow system. The work ID field 4030 is a field for uniquely identifying each work in the business flow, and stores a number indicating the order of the work in the business flow. The worker ID field 4040 is a field for uniquely identifying a worker assigned to each work, and stores a user ID. The work status field 4050 is a field for storing the status of the item, and stores information such as “unprocessed” and “processed: approved” according to the status of the item.

  In step 3020, the authority confirmation processing unit 15 searches the authority management table 13 in the worker authority management database 12 using the user ID passed from the workflow control unit 14 as a search key, and from the user identified by the user ID. Also, the user ID of the user with lower authority is acquired from the authority management table 13 in the worker authority management database 12 and passed to the workflow control unit 14.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the authority management table 13 of this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the authority management table 13 has two fields, a user ID field 5010 and a job authority field 5020.

  A user ID field 5010 stores a user ID for uniquely identifying a user, and stores an ID for identifying a worker of each work defined in the business flow. The job authority field 5020 stores information indicating the job authority of each user in the organization, and stores the job title of the user.

  In FIG. 5, in order to make the explanation easy to understand, the job title field 5020 stores the job title name such as “department manager” as it is, but information indicating that the job title of each job position is in descending order from “department manager” is separately provided. It is assumed that the authority confirmation processing unit 15 stores the user ID of the user with lower authority with reference to the information indicating the rank of the authority. For example, when the user ID passed from the workflow control unit 14 is “0001”, the authority confirmation processing unit 15 sets the job title “department manager” in the job authority field 5020 whose user ID field 5010 is “0001” to the authority management table. 13, the contents of the job authority field 5020 are “0002”, “0003”, and “0006” in the user ID field 5010 corresponding to “section manager”, “person in charge”, and “person in charge” lower than “manager”. Is read from the authority management table 13 and passed to the workflow control unit 14.

  In step 3030, the workflow control unit 14 stores item information indicating that the operation state is unprocessed in the operation corresponding to the user ID acquired from the authority confirmation processing unit 15 in the item management database 10. Obtained from the case management table 11.

  For example, if the user IDs acquired from the authority confirmation processing unit 15 are “0002”, “0003”, and “0006”, the worker ID field 4040 is searched using these as search keys, respectively, and the corresponding work status field 4050 is retrieved. , The item information whose content is “unprocessed”, that is, the item information whose item key is “0002” and the worker ID field 4040 is “0002” or “0003” is acquired from the item management table 11.

  At that time, among items whose contents of the work state field 4050 are “unprocessed”, matter information of the work whose processing deadline has passed is acquired, or items having the same matter key as the unprocessed work of the login user The item information may be acquired. When the processing time limit is used, it is assumed that the processing time limit is stored in the case management table 11 in advance.

  In step 3030, the case information is acquired as described above, and then the case information is transmitted to the client device of the worker together with the case information acquired in step 3010, and the case operation client screen 16 is displayed on the output device of the client device. Output. Here, when acquiring the matter information, if the matter information whose work status is unprocessed has acquired a plurality of matter information for the same matter, one of the matter information, for example, the authority is the lowest It is assumed that the item information of the user and the item information with the earliest work order are selected and transmitted to the client device and output by the output device.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the item operation client screen 16 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, in the case operation client screen 16, the lower user unprocessed work 6010 indicating the work that has not been processed by the lower user is displayed together with information on the work to be performed by the logged-in worker. When an approval button 6020 or a reject button 6030 is pressed by the logged-in worker via the input device to input an operation content for the low-level user unprocessed work 6010, and the press of the completion button is accepted, The operation content (information indicating “approval” or “rejection”) is transmitted to the workflow processing apparatus together with the case number “0002” which is the case key of the executed case. Although FIG. 6 illustrates the pressing of the button as the operation content, other operations such as inputting various data may be accepted as the operation content, and the form data may be updated.

  In step 3040, the workflow control unit 14 checks whether a response is received from the client device by the communication device, and if a response is received from the client device, the operator performs an operation from the received data. Read and acquire the item key indicating the item and the data indicating the operation content.

  In step 3050, the matter management table 11 in the matter management database 10 is stored using the acquired matter key, the user ID of the user who is logged in as the worker, and the user ID of the lower user obtained in step 3020. The content of the work state field 4050 of the work in which the content of the matter key field 4010 matches the acquired matter key and the content of the worker ID field 4040 matches the user ID of the login user or the user ID of the subordinate user is searched. Change according to the operation.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a modification example of the case management table 11 of the present embodiment. 7, when the acquired case key is “0002”, the user ID of the login user is “0001”, and the user IDs of the lower-level users are “0002”, “0003”, and “0006”, A change example when the content of the work state field 4050 of the management table 11 is changed to “processed: approved” is shown.

  That is, in the case where the case key is “0002”, there are operations with worker IDs “0001”, “0002”, and “0003”, and when the operation content is pressing the approval button 6020, If the contents of those work status fields 4050 are changed to “Processed: Approved”, and the operation content is a press of the reject button 6030, the case key is “0002” and the worker ID is “0003”. The content of the work status field 4050 to be changed is changed to “Processed: Rejected”, and processing for returning the case to the person in charge is performed. Here, in order to indicate which worker has set the work status, the worker ID is included in the work status field 4050, and in the case of rejection, to notify the section manager that the manager has rejected the job ID. In addition, the contents of the work state field 4050 corresponding to the worker ID “0002” may be changed in the same manner.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, work in which the work state by a user with lower authority is unprocessed can be performed by a user with higher authority without setting an agent, It is possible to prevent stagnation. Also, by inputting one operation content, the work status of the logged-in user's work and the work status of the lower user's work are all changed according to the operation content. This can be done by inputting operation details.

  As described above, according to the workflow processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the matter information in which the work state by the lower user is not processed is output, the operation content for the work is received, the work state of the user's work and the lower user Since the work state of the work is changed according to the contents of the operation, when a worker who is predetermined for the work of the matter is unprocessed, another worker can efficiently perform the work without setting the substitute. Can be done.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the workflow processing apparatus of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the work flow showing the approval request | requirement work of the quotation which performs approval of the produced estimate of this embodiment in order from a section manager to a department manager. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the process which supports the proxy process of the workflow process of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the case management table 11 of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the authority management table 13 of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the item operation client screen 16 of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a change of the case management table 11 of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of the workflow processing apparatus of this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Matter management database, 11 ... Matter management table, 12 ... Worker authority management database, 13 ... Authority management table, 14 ... Workflow control part, 15 ... Authority confirmation processing part, 16 ... Matter operation client screen, 2010 ... Manager approval Work, 2020 ... Manager approval work, 2030 ... Manager approval work, 4010 ... Project key field, 4020 ... Business flow name field, 4030 ... Work ID field, 4040 ... Worker ID field, 4050 ... Work status field, 5010 ... User ID Field, 5020 ... Job authority field, 6010 ... Subordinate user unprocessed work, 6020 ... Approve button, 6030 ... Reject button.

Claims (5)

In a workflow processing method that supports proxy processing in workflow processing that circulates a matter in accordance with a predetermined circulation order and performs the work of the matter for each circulation destination,
A step of acquiring a user ID of a user whose authority is lower than that of the user who performs the workflow process from the authority management table of the storage device, and that the work state of the work corresponding to the acquired user ID is unprocessed A step of acquiring the indicated matter information from the matter management table of the storage device and outputting it by the output device, and a work state of the work corresponding to the user ID of the user who performs the workflow processing with reference to the matter management table of the storage device And a step of changing the work state of the work corresponding to the acquired user ID of the lower user according to the operation content for the work of the output item information.   The workflow processing method according to claim 1, wherein when acquiring the item information, item information of a work whose processing deadline has passed is acquired from an item management table of a storage device.   When there is more than one item information for which the work status is unprocessed when acquiring the item information, select one of those item information and output it by the output device The workflow processing method according to claim 1, wherein the method is a workflow processing method. In a workflow processing apparatus that supports proxy processing in workflow processing that circulates a matter according to a predetermined circulation order and performs the work of the matter for each circulation destination,
An authority confirmation processing unit that acquires a user ID of a user whose authority is lower than that of the user who performs the workflow process from the authority management table of the storage device;
A user who acquires the matter information indicating that the work state of the work corresponding to the acquired user ID is unprocessed from the matter management table of the storage device, outputs the matter information by the output device, and performs the workflow processing A work flow control unit that changes the work state corresponding to the user ID of the job and the work state corresponding to the user ID of the acquired subordinate user according to the operation content for the work of the output matter information. A workflow processing device. In a program for causing a computer to execute a workflow processing method that supports proxy processing in workflow processing that circulates a matter according to a predetermined circulation order and performs the work of the matter for each circulation destination,
A step of acquiring a user ID of a user whose authority is lower than that of the user who performs the workflow process from the authority management table of the storage device, and that the work state of the work corresponding to the acquired user ID is unprocessed The obtained matter information is acquired from the matter management table of the storage device and output by the output device, the work status of the work corresponding to the user ID of the user who performs the workflow process, and the acquired user ID of the subordinate user A program for causing a computer to execute a step of changing a work state of a corresponding work according to an operation content for the work of the output item information.

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