JP2003167965A - Service providing counter system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a maintenance service providing counter having high operation efficiency in which two or more venders related to information processing system failure are integrated. <P>SOLUTION: This service providing counter system for providing a maintenance service to a user's information processing system through a communication line is provided with a constitution information table 204 for the user's information processing system; a vender's service point list table 203 for providing the constituting equipment of the information processing system or the service; failure contents generated in the information processing system; and a vender-estimated service conformation table 206 related to the failures. The counter system acquires the service point of the constituting equipment of the user system or the vender on the basis of the service point list table 203 and the constitution information table 204, and sets a communication path between the service providing counter and the failure-related vender and user on the basis of the estimated service conformation table information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a service providing window system, and more particularly to a service providing window system capable of promptly providing a service in response to a user's request.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a failure occurs in an information processing system, particularly when the failed part is unclear, a user of the information processing system (computer system) usually provides the information processing system. The occurrence of a failure is notified to a coordinating vendor (a vendor that manages various devices that configure the information processing system or a vendor that provides a service) by telephone or the like.

If the coordinating vendor, which is the service providing window, cannot clearly determine the part where the failure has occurred, in response to the call from the user, the information relating to the failure is obtained from the user, and the information is related based on the information. Make inquiries to potential vendors. After that, for example, a communication path connecting the related vendor, the user, and the collecting vendor is set, and a conference is held via the communication path to study the failure countermeasure. In addition, JP-A-9-
Japanese Patent No. 106421 discloses a service providing system capable of selecting an appropriate service source from a large number of service information sources according to the situation.

[0004]

As described above, a system composed of products (devices and services) provided by a plurality of vendors is provided by the coordinating vendor who manages the system, and the coordinating vendor provides maintenance services. Will be in charge. There are various kinds of failures, from failures that can be identified which product is the cause to the failure to failures related to the entire system. In particular, there are many cases where the latter is a failure related to the entire system, or the user cannot specify the product or its part in which the failure has occurred.

When it is not possible to specify the information, the coordinating vendor will be called, but if a failure occurs in the entire system, it is necessary to connect with a plurality of vendors, and it takes time to establish the connection. This is one of the causes of the reduced efficiency of the service window. Especially in the current situation where outsourcing is rapidly progressing, the number of system vendors is large, and it is expected to increase further in the future. For this reason, the efficiency of the service window will become more pronounced.

Further, the system disclosed in the above publication does not disclose a technique for providing a maintenance service by consolidating a plurality of vendors involved in a failure.

The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and an object thereof is to provide a service providing window with high operation efficiency.

[0008]

The present invention adopts the following means in order to solve the above problems.

A service providing window system for providing a maintenance service for an information processing system used by each user via a communication line, wherein the service providing window system is system configuration information of the information processing system used by each user. Related to this failure, a user configuration information table storing the information, a service point list table storing service points of a vendor that provides a device or a service that constitutes the information processing system, the content of a failure that occurs in the information processing system, And a supposed service correspondence table storing related information with the vendor, wherein the service providing window system, based on the service point list table and the user configuration information table,
The service point of the service provider and the failure are acquired based on the acquired service points and the information stored in the assumed service correspondence table. A communication path is set up between a vendor and a user related to.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a service providing window system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is the website of the vendor Z, 20
Is a service terminal for a user to apply for service provision to a vendor in order to receive maintenance service. Three
0 is the service terminal 20, the website of the vendor Z 1
0 and vendor A to vendor G websites 40 to 46. Here, the vendor A to the vendor G are products constituting the information processing system used by the user, that is, various devices or services (for example, printer, personal computer, interface,
The vendor Z is a provider that respectively provides application software, a LAN driver, and a LAN (hardware component), and the vendor Z is a general vendor that manages the vendors A to G. Further, the vendor Z is a vendor that integrates various devices or services provided by the vendors A to G to construct the information processing system and provides the user with the information processing system. Also, the vendor Z temporarily isolates a fault occurring in the system. Then, the vendor requests the maintenance service to each vendor, and when it cannot be separated, the vendor should be the window for the primary maintenance service.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing details of the service terminal 20. Reference numeral 21 is a terminal control device composed of a personal computer or the like, and 21 is a browser installed in the personal computer. Reference numeral 23 is a keyboard, 24 is a display, and 25 is a mouse, and these constitute peripheral devices of a personal computer. 26 is T
The V camera, 27 is a microphone, and 28 is a speaker, which provide a TV conference function. The video conference function is also provided on the websites of the collecting vendor Z and the vendors A to G.

In these figures, when a failure occurs in the provided system, the user A operates the service terminal 20 after grasping the failure status, and the We of the vendor Z
b Access the site 10. The vendor Z having received the access displays the user ID input screen shown in the screen A of FIG. 1 on the service terminal 20 and waits for the input of the user ID.
In response to this, the user inputs the user ID. At this time, the user ID is stored in advance in the memory 2 of the service terminal 20.
By storing the data in 0c, the labor of input can be reduced. In this case, the user can send the message containing the user ID to the process A (10a) of the vendor Z by simply clicking the "OK" button on the screen A.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are Web pages of the vendor Z
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the process A executed by the site, and FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the database used by the process A and the process using the database.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 203 denotes a service point list table stored in the database, which is a device or service of the information processing system used by the user, a provider (vendor) of the device or service, and a service of the vendor. Point (address)
To store. A user information master file 202 stores user information, and the user configuration information 204 can be extracted using the user ID 201. A user configuration information table 204 stores various devices or services that make up the information processing system used by the user, and provider (vendor) information of the devices or services. Reference numeral 205 denotes a user unique information table, which stores various devices or services constituting the information processing system used by the user, provider (vendor) information of the devices or services, and service point information of the vendor. The user unique information table 205 can be created by searching the service point list based on the user configuration information 204. Reference numeral 206 denotes an assumed service correspondence table, which is a table listing, for each failure that occurs in various devices or services that make up the information processing system used by the user, the vendor and the address of the vendor.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on a personal computer operated by the user A, the vendor Z, or the vendor A or the vendor G at the time of a video conference in which each vendor participates to deal with a failure. . The user or each vendor can continue the conference while viewing this screen.

FIG. 7 is a correspondence time accumulation table of each vendor, which accumulates the number of times each vendor participated in a conference for dealing with a failure and the total participation time. Each vendor can calculate the corresponding cost based on the number of times of participation and the total participation time.

Next, the processing executed by the above process will be described with reference to these figures.

First, in FIG. 3, the user ID is extracted from the electronic message received via the service terminal 20 (step 101), and the extracted user ID and the contract database storing the contracted user IDs are collated and the above-mentioned is calculated. User ID
Is a contracted user ID (step 102). If it is not the ID of the contracted user, an error screen indicating that the non-contracted user cannot receive the service is generated (step 107), the error screen is transmitted to the service terminal 20 (step 120), and the process is ended.

In the case of a contracted user, the user ID is used to search the user information master file 202 shown in FIG. 5, and the system configuration information 204 of the user is read (step 103). Next, the user configuration information 204
The service point list 203 is searched based on the above to generate the user existence information 205 (step 104). Next, based on the user unique information 205, the screen B of FIG.
The service request screen shown in (20b) is generated (step 105). The service request screen may display the names of various devices or services used by the user as buttons. Next, the generated screen data is transmitted to the service terminal 20 (step 10).
6).

Upon receiving the service request screen B, the service terminal 20 displays the screen on the service terminal 20. By operating the button displayed on the screen, the user can establish a connection with the device displayed on the button or the vendor providing the service. After that, each vendor and the user can directly communicate with each other to receive maintenance services for various devices and services.

Next, when the user A cannot specify the product he / she wants to receive support for, he / she selects "other" from the buttons displayed on the screen. In this case, a connection is established between the user A and another window of the vendor Z (step 108).

At the other counter of the vendor Z, it is necessary for the primary isolation of the details of the failure that occurred, the time when it occurred, the error code, the frequency of failure occurrence, etc., based on the generated unique user information 205. A hearing is conducted to obtain the information (step 109). Next, the assumed service correspondence table 206 is selected (step 11
0), the related vendor is specified based on the table, and a connection is established with the specified vendor (step 111). For example, when it is determined that the printer-related failure has occurred, refer to the printer failure section of the table 206,
A connection may be established between the vendor A, the vendor C, the vendor D, the vendor E, the vendor Z, and the user A, and a video conference may be held between them.

When the connection is established, a timer for calculating the time required for the conference is started (step 1
12). Subsequently, the number of times each of the vendors participates in the conference is added up. Next, the count number in the participation frequency column X of the corresponding time (meeting time) integration table of each vendor shown in FIG. 7 is incremented (step 113). Then, the video conference is started (step 114). When the conference ends, the timer is stopped (step 115) and the participation time of each vendor is calculated (step 117). Subsequently, the participation time of each vendor obtained by calculation is added to the participation time column Y of the corresponding time (meeting time) integration table of each vendor shown in FIG. 7 (step 117).

Next, it is judged whether or not the cause of failure can be identified by the conference (step 118). If the cause of failure can be identified, the connection between the user A and the device related to the cause of failure or the vendor providing the service is left. Other connections are disconnected (step 119). If it cannot be specified, the process returns to step 108.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the location or cause of the failure is unknown, the collecting vendor Z first accepts it and searches the database based on this response to search the database. The vendor related to the failure is promptly identified, and a connection is established between the identified vendor and the user and the vendor Z. Therefore, the problem can be promptly resolved while sharing the problem between these parties.

Further, each vendor participating in the connection can accurately grasp the number of participations and the total participation time. Therefore, the corresponding costs should be calculated accurately (eg vendor Z
Can be charged.

From the user's point of view, with respect to a failure whose cause cannot be specified, a plurality of vendors can provide quick service support. Correct information is transmitted to multiple vendors at the same time, and problems can be resolved quickly.

Also, from the viewpoint of the vendor Z, it is possible to immediately start a meeting with a plurality of vendors, which improves the efficiency of the coordination and gathering work. Information can be transmitted quickly and correctly, and service grade can be improved. The response time to multiple vendors will be clear and payment of response costs will be smooth, improving the efficiency of the vendor's counter operations.

There is an effect called.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, since a plurality of vendors involved in a failure are aggregated to provide a maintenance service, it is possible to provide a service providing window with high operational efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a service providing window system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing details of a service terminal.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process executed by a website of a collecting vendor.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a process executed by a collecting vendor's website.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a database used by a process.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a corresponding time integration table.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Collection Vendor Website 20 service terminals 21 Control device 22 browsers 23 keyboard 24 display 25 mice 26 TV camera 27 microphone 28 speakers 30 network 40-46 Vendor Website

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A service providing window system for providing a maintenance service for an information processing system used by each user via a communication line, wherein the service providing window system is a system of an information processing system used by each user. A user configuration information table that stores configuration information, a service point list table that stores service points of a device that constitutes the information processing system or a vendor that provides a service, the content of a failure that occurs in the information processing system, and this failure And an assumed service correspondence table storing related information with a vendor related to the above, the service providing contact system configures an information processing system used by a user based on the service point list table and the user configuration information table. Equipment or services Acquiring a service point of a vendor to be provided, and setting a communication path between the service providing window and a vendor and a user related to the failure based on the acquired service point and the information stored in the assumed service correspondence table. A service providing window system characterized by. 2. The service providing window system according to claim 1, wherein information on a fault held by a user is shared between the service providing window and a vendor related to the fault. 3. The service providing window system according to claim 1, wherein the service providing window system integrates, for each vendor, the number of times the communication path is set and the communication time set for the vendor related to the failure. A service provision window system characterized by having an assumed response time accumulation table retained by