JP2002245215A - Workflow system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problems of the conventional workflow systems, in which a work screen and a flow are integrally formed, development man-hours are difficult to reduce, when it is newly developed a program must be extensively changed, when an organization is changed and processes are increased or deceased, an applicant not being able to cancel applications, an approver being unable to cancel rejections, a package process being difficult to be accepted in cost, and an input being infeasible from an outing place during movement. SOLUTION: A workflow engine 11 and the work screen 12 are separated. The workflow engine 11 can be utilized in common to various workflow system. The workflow engine 11 has many functional elements 13, and a specific workflow system can be generated easily, by extracting and connecting required functional elements 13 in the workflow engine 11. Processes can be canceled by a worker himself, and processes can be executed from a terminal at the outing place, a home personal computer, or a cellular phone.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system of government offices, corporations, and the like, in which applications, drafts, slips, reports, and attendance records are electronically drafted, approved,
Regarding the processing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, organizations such as government offices and corporations widely use systems for electronically drafting, approving, and processing applications, drafts, slips, reports, and attendance records using a computer. Have been done. In the present invention, applications, drafts, slips, declarations, attendance records, etc. are called work,
Approval, processing, etc. are called flows. A system that electronically processes a work according to a flow is called a workflow system.

FIG. 8 shows a first example of a conventional workflow system. This is an example of an application for attending external education, in which a student who wishes to attend submits an application for enrollment (process 1), the department manager approves the application (process 2), and a person in charge of employee education processes (process 1). 3), which is approved by the supervisor in charge (Step 4). In this first example, the flow is not branched by one since there is only one worker in each process.

FIG. 9 shows a second example of a conventional workflow system. This is an example of a draft document, which is drafted by the drafting person (step 1), approved by the section manager (step 2), and multiple co-chairs discuss at the same time (step 3). 4), which is handled by a person in charge of the supervisory department (Step 5). In the second example, since there are a plurality of workers (consultants) in step 3, the flow branches here, and in step 4, the flow returns to one.

FIG. 10 shows a third example of a conventional workflow system. This is an example of a business trip application form, in which a plurality of business trip applicants individually apply for a business trip, and the supervisory department approves them collectively. A business trip applicant issues a draft (Step 1), and the section manager approves it (Step 2). A plurality of business trip applications with the same business trip destination are collected by the supervisor in charge, and they are collectively processed (step 3). Further, the supervisor in charge collectively processes a plurality of business trip applications (step 4). Such batch processing is convenient, but in the conventional workflow system, it is necessary to make it for each work, and it is very expensive.

[0006]

Although three examples of the conventional workflow system have been given, the conventional workflow system is not limited to this example, and the work screen (eg, attendance application form, drafting form, travel application form) and the flow are integrated. Have been created. That is, the work screen and the flow cannot be handled separately.
Therefore, when developing a new workflow system,
It is difficult to reduce the number of development steps by using a part of the existing workflow system. As a result, the development of a workflow system similar to the existing one costs as much as a new development from scratch and is inefficient. This is the first conventional problem.

[0007] In the conventional workflow system, since the work screen and the process flow are integrated, when the organization is changed and the number of processes is increased, for example, when the stage of the approver is changed from one stage to two stages, the program is executed. Significant changes are needed. This is the same when the number of steps is reduced. The second problem of the prior art is that such a lack of flexibility results in a large change cost.

[0008] Even in the conventional workflow system, when the work is not approved, the approver (worker in the post-process) can send the work back to the applicant (worker in the previous process). On the other hand, in reality, it often happens that the applicant notices an error after applying and wants to recover the work. In fact, it was easy to get back the pre-digitization paper application. However, in the conventional computerized workflow system, the applicant cannot recover the work after the application, that is, cannot cancel the application. For this reason, there is no other choice but to ask the approver to send back. However, this is relentless for the applicant, wasteful in time and man-hour, and loss of opportunity is likely to occur.

[0009] Further, after the approver sends back to the applicant, the approver may notice that the return is wrong. At this time, the approver has not been able to cancel the remand so far, so the applicant has to request the applicant to apply again. This is also mentally resistant because it involves the face of the approver.

As described above, in the conventional electronic workflow system, it is not possible for the operator of the process to cancel individual process processes such as application, approval, discussion, and return. This is the third conventional problem.

As described above, in the conventional method of creating a workflow system, the addition of the batch processing is very expensive since the batch processing needs to be built for each work. Batch processing is necessary for work efficiency, but it is difficult to enter in terms of price. This is the fourth conventional problem.

Recently, the speed of management is important. Therefore, the approver, the councilor, and the approver should give urgent approval, for example, even while traveling by train. In addition, even if a person in charge changes the business trip schedule at a business trip destination, it is less problematic to be able to carry out the change procedure on the spot than post-processing. The same applies when the person in charge considers an unscheduled business trip on the go. However, since the conventional workflow system is premised on inputting from an in-house terminal connected to an in-house LAN, it is impossible to input from outside while moving or of course.
This is the fifth conventional problem.

The workflow system of the present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional workflow system.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a workflow system for electronically processing a work according to a flow, a workflow engine for defining, controlling, and managing the work is provided. The workflow engine and the screen of the work are separated and independent. This is a workflow system characterized in that the workflow system can be used in common.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the workflow system according to the first aspect, the workflow engine has a large number of functional elements, and a specific workflow system extracts necessary functional elements from the functional elements and connects them. A workflow system characterized by being created together.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the workflow system according to the second aspect, when a specific workflow system is created by extracting necessary functional elements from the functional elements of the workflow engine and joining them together, the flow branching / flowing is performed. The workflow system is characterized in that convergence and batch processing functions are automatically set.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the workflow system according to the first aspect, wherein the worker can perform a process cancellation process of the work by himself / herself.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the workflow system according to the first aspect, wherein the processing of the work can be performed by a terminal or a mobile phone connected to the Internet.

[0019]

FIG. 1 shows a basic structure 10 of a workflow system according to the present invention. The first feature of the workflow system of the present invention is that the workflow engine 11 and the work screen 12 are separated. The second feature is
The workflow engine 11 can be used commonly for various workflow systems. The third feature is that the workflow engine 11 has many functional elements 13,
One particular workflow system is that the necessary functional elements 13 in the workflow engine 11 can be extracted and connected and easily created. The fourth feature is that when the necessary functional elements 13 are extracted from the workflow engine 11 and connected, branching, convergence, and the like of the flow are automatically set, so that no labor is required. At this time, since the batch processing function is automatically set, no extra cost for batch processing is required. A fifth feature is that the process (application, approval, discussion, remanding, etc.) can be canceled by the worker himself. A sixth feature is that the processing is performed not through the company LAN but through the Internet, so that processing can be performed using a terminal at a destination, a personal computer at home, or a mobile phone.

The main functional elements 13 of the workflow engine 11 are (1) application document management, (2) flow definition,
(3) flow control, (4) job organization definition, and (5) security data management. Table 1 shows the details of these functional elements. Among them, the main are (2) flow definition and (3) flow control.

[0021]

[Table 1]

First, the flow definition will be described. The flow definition includes a flow definition setting and a document definition setting. FIG. 2 shows a conceptual diagram of the flow definition setting. Workflow engine 1
In one, a flow definition matrix 20 of a maximum of 99 steps × a maximum (99 workers + notifiers 99) is prepared. A specific workflow system is defined by assigning a process name and an operator name to each item of the flow definition matrix 20.
FIG. 2 shows one worker in step 1, one worker and one notifier in step 2, three workers and one notifier in step 3, and one worker and two notifiers in step 4. , A state in which one worker and one notifier are assigned to step 5.

FIG. 3 illustrates the assignment of the workflow definition in the draft of FIG. 9 as an example of the definition of a specific workflow system. “Draft” is assigned to the process 1 and “drafting person” is assigned to the corresponding worker. Next, “approval” is assigned to step 2 and “department manager” is assigned to the corresponding worker. Next, "consultation" is assigned to step 3, and "consultant 1, consensus 2 and consensus 3" are assigned to workers corresponding thereto. Next, “approval” is assigned to step 4, and “officers” are assigned to the workers corresponding to the “approval”. Next, “process” is assigned to step 5, and “supervising department manager” is assigned to the corresponding worker. This defines the drafting workflow.

In the same way as in the above draft, the attendance application form shown in FIG. 8 and the business trip application form shown in FIG. 10 can easily create a workflow by assigning processes and workers to the flow definition matrix 20. As described above, the workflow engine 11 having the general-purpose flow definition matrix 20 is separate from the work screen for the specific workflow system, and the flow definition of almost all the workflow systems is the workflow engine 1
The above-mentioned first, second, and third features of the workflow system of the present invention can be easily realized by using No. 1.

In the case of the definition of the draft in FIG. 3, the flow branches off into three when going from step 2 (approval) to step 3 (consultation), and converges to one again when going to step 4. In such a conventional workflow system, the flow chart must be generated one by one in such a case, which is troublesome. However, in the workflow system of the present invention, branching is automatically performed only by assigning an operator to the flow definition matrix 20, and convergence (batch decision, collective processing) is set, so that no labor is required. This is the aforementioned fourth feature of the workflow system of the present invention.

In the workflow system of the present invention, the functions "clip" and "clip release" can be added when defining a flow. Realizing this function with a conventional workflow system is very expensive. The “clip” function will be described with reference to the business trip application form in FIG. 10 as an example. First, at the time of the flow definition, the "clip" function of the business trip application form is defined for the responsible department manager. Then, the three business trip applications sent from the department managers 1, 2, and 3 to the supervisor in charge of the department are automatically bundled (clipped), and as if in the “receiving tray” on the work screen of the supervisor in charge of the department. It is displayed as a single business trip application. Therefore, the person in charge of the supervisory department only needs to process one business trip application. So, in fact, three business trip applications are processed. Similarly, if the head of the department in charge approves one travel application form, three travel application forms are actually approved.

The difference between "clip" and "collective processing" is as follows. In “Clip”, multiple works are automatically bundled, and one work is displayed on the “Receiving Tray” on the work screen, so if one work is processed, multiple works are automatically processed. Is done. On the other hand, in the “batch processing”, a plurality of works are selected and then processed collectively while the original plurality of works remain on the “receiving tray” of the work screen. Therefore, in "batch processing", it takes time to select a work to be processed. Therefore, the "clip" function is easier to use. The “clip release” function is a function of automatically returning a plurality of works that have been clipped to a certain process and apparently sent in one case to the original plurality of work displays in the process.

In the document definition setting, the name of the document used in the flow definition setting made as described above, the storage period, the application code, the availability and storage destination of the attached document, the availability of log output and the storage period, etc. Set.

Next, the flow control will be described. The main functions of flow control are as follows. (1) In accordance with the flow definition for each process such as application, approval, consultation, return,
Determine the next process and the next worker. (2) According to the flow definition, an automatic approval process at the time of stay is performed. (3) Store the attached document according to the flow definition. (4) For each process, check the worker in accordance with the flow definition.
(5) Notify by e-mail according to the flow definition for each process.

In the flow control of the workflow system according to the present invention, the person himself / herself can cancel the process once applied, approved, discussed, sent back, and the like. This avoids wasting time and effort on others, and is also good for the mental health of the person. This is the fifth feature of the workflow system of the present invention, which is not included in the conventional workflow system.

In the workflow system of the present invention, processing can be performed not only at an in-house terminal but also at a personal computer at home or an Internet-compatible mobile phone. In this way, for example, work requiring urgent processing can be sent in real time to approver, councilor, approver, etc. while traveling by train, approver, councilor,
The decision maker can process with a mobile phone. In addition, a new work (eg, an unscheduled business trip) can be drafted and applied using a mobile phone. Even if you are at home on a return home or on vacation, you can process urgent work as if you were in the office. These avoid loss of opportunity. This is the sixth feature of the workflow system of the present invention.

Next, an example of the screen configuration of the workflow system of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 shows a screen frame structure 40.
It is. The screen has four frames: a header frame 41, a menu frame 42, and a content frame a.
43 and a content frame b44.

The header frame 41 displays and operates information on the entire screen. Specifically, proxy switching, department switching, logout, and the like are performed.

A menu for a content frame is displayed in the menu frame 42. Menus include user (worker) screens, trays (receiving / sending / writing), document status, new creation, settings (personal information, agent,
Password), options, etc. In addition, as an administrator screen, employee registration, employee information, superiors, subordinates, roles, and holiday settings are displayed.

The content frames 43 and 44 display the content selected in the menu. Command buttons required for content operation are displayed in the content frame a43. A content data display or an input screen is displayed in the content frame b44.

FIG. 5 shows the transition of the header frame screen 41 on the user (operator) screen. When you log in, you will be taken to the top page screen, and if you select “Switch agency”, you will be taken to the agency selection screen. When "department switching" is selected, a department selection screen is displayed. When "Logout" is selected, a logout confirmation screen appears.

FIG. 6 shows the transition of the content frame screens 43 and 44 on the user (operator) screen. When you log in, you will be taken to the top page screen, and if you select "Receive", you will be taken to the Receive List screen. In addition, “send”, “over writing”, etc. are as shown in the figure. By sequentially selecting in this manner, even a beginner can easily take out a necessary work screen.

FIG. 7 shows the transition of the header frame screen 41 and the contents frame screens 43 and 4 on the manager screen.
4 is a transition. Content frame 4 of administrator screen
When the user logs in at steps 3 and 44, a top page screen is displayed. When "employee registration" is selected, an employee registration list screen is displayed. In addition, "employee information", "supervisor subordinates", etc. are also as shown in the figure.

[0039]

According to the workflow system of the present invention, a workflow engine and a work screen are separated from each other, and the workflow engine can be used commonly for various workflow systems. The workflow engine has a large number of functional elements, and a specific workflow system can easily create the necessary functional elements in the workflow engine by connecting them together. Therefore, development of various workflow systems can be easily performed only by creating work screens required for the system. Therefore, a workflow system for a specific task can be developed in a short period of time and at low cost.

As a basic function of the workflow engine,
Since the process (application, approval, discussion, return, etc.) can be canceled by the worker himself, the created workflow system is very easy to use because there is no waste in the work and it is premised on the occurrence of human work mistakes.

Further, since the processing is performed not through the in-house LAN but through the Internet, the processing can be performed with a terminal at a place of going out, a personal computer at home, or a mobile phone. For this reason, the efficiency of business is high, and opportunity loss is unlikely to occur.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a basic structure of a workflow system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a flow definition setting.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a definition of a specific workflow system.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a frame configuration of a screen.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of transition of a header frame screen on a user screen.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of transition of a content frame screen on a user screen

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of transition of a header frame screen and transition of a content frame screen in an administrator screen.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a first example of a conventional workflow system.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a second example of a conventional workflow system.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a third example of a conventional workflow system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Basic Structure of Workflow System of the Present Invention 11 Workflow Engine 12 Work Screen 13 Functional Element 20 Flow Definition Matrix 40 Frame Configuration 41 Header Frame 42 Menu Frame 43, 44 Content Frame

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A workflow system for electronically processing a work in accordance with a flow, comprising a workflow engine for defining, controlling and managing the work, wherein the workflow engine and the screen of the work are separated and independent. A workflow system characterized in that the engine can be used commonly for various workflow systems. 2. The workflow system according to claim 1, wherein the workflow engine has a large number of functional elements, and the specific workflow system is created by extracting necessary functional elements from the functional elements and connecting them. A workflow system characterized by: 3. The workflow system according to claim 2, wherein when a required functional element is extracted from the functional elements of the workflow engine and connected to create a specific workflow system, the flow branches and converges.
And a batch processing function for automatically setting a work batch processing function. 4. The workflow system according to claim 1, wherein the worker can cancel the process of the work by himself / herself. 5. The workflow system according to claim 1, wherein said work can be processed by a terminal or a mobile phone connected to the Internet.