JP2008140378A - Workflow management method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a highly versatile and easy-to-maintain workflow management method in which specification of a workflow by a document creator is not needed, and which is excellent in flexibility and expandability by organically combining a plurality of existing systems. <P>SOLUTION: The workflow management method includes a starting step for specifying a workflow based on a tag attached to a document to be examined, attaching a status tag and an examiner's tag to the document, and starting the workflow, and an examination/approval step for requesting examination/approval based on the status tag and the examiner's tag, and updating the status tag and the examiner's tag. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a workflow management method.

  Various workflow systems for electronically examining and approving documents in an organization such as a company have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In the workflow system, generally, the document creator (drafter) identifies the workflow by checking the operation rules in the organization, etc., and sets the reconcilor defined in the identified workflow, so that it is sequentially reviewed and approved. Will be done.
JP 2006-65874 A

The conventional workflow system has been processed as described above, but the following problems have been pointed out.
(1) The document creator must confirm the operation rules in the organization and specify the workflow, and the work is complicated.
(2) The system is specialized for the documents and tasks that are subject to workflow.
・ Maintenance is complicated ・ Dedicated client software is required ・ Flexibility and scalability are poor ・ Existing document management system without workflow function cannot be used effectively.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-described conventional problems, and the object of the present invention is that it is not necessary to specify a workflow by a document creator, is highly versatile, and is an organic combination of a plurality of existing systems. It is to provide a workflow management method with excellent flexibility and extensibility and easy maintenance.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, a workflow is identified based on a tag attached to a document to be circulated, and a status and a tag of the circulator A workflow management method comprising a start process for starting a workflow by adding a tag, and a review / approval process for performing a review / approval based on the status and the tag of the coordinator, and updating the tag of the status and the coordinator It is a summary.

  Also, as described in claim 2, in the workflow management method according to claim 1, the start step includes a first step of registering a tag for identifying a workflow in association with a document to be circulated. The second step of identifying the workflow based on the tag, presenting the identified workflow and confirming the start of the workflow, the tag indicating the first contributor of the confirmed workflow, and the tag indicating the workflow status are circulated A third step of registering the document in association with the document to be subject to the review, wherein the examination / approval step distributes the metadata of the document to be circulated to the corresponding person based on the tag indicating the convener. 5th process for requesting review / approval of documents to be reviewed based on the process and distributed metadata, and workflow depending on the result of review / approval A sixth step of registering a tag indicating the status and a tag indicating the next contributor if it exists in association with the document to be reconciled, and repeating the fourth to sixth steps until the end of the workflow. 7 steps can be provided.

  Further, as described in claim 3, in the workflow management method according to claim 2, in the fourth step, the document is searched according to a tag narrowing condition attached to the metadata acquisition request. The metadata of the acquired document can be distributed.

  Further, as described in claim 4, in the workflow management method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, authentication of a user is performed at the time of registration and review / approval of a document subject to reconsideration, It is possible to provide a step of permitting subsequent processing when authentication is normally performed.

  Further, as described in claim 5, in the workflow management method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the status and reviewer confirmation at the time of review / approval, tag addition or update, A step of acquiring the interpretation from a database holding the interpretation of the tag can be provided, and the processing content can be changed based on the acquired interpretation.

  Further, as described in claim 6, in the workflow management method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, a tag to be attached to a document is determined according to an operator's user name and / or organization to which the operator belongs. The process to perform can be provided.

  Further, as described in claim 7, in the workflow management method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the tag to be attached to the document is determined according to the document type and / or affiliation selected by the operator. A step of determining may be provided.

  Further, as described in claims 8 to 14, it can be configured as a workflow management apparatus.

  In the workflow management method of the present invention, it is not necessary to specify the workflow by the document creator, it is highly versatile, and the workflow is easy to maintain with excellent flexibility and expandability by organically combining multiple existing systems. A system can be constructed.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a workflow system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the workflow system manages a tag attached to a document to be reconciled as metadata, a metadata management unit 1 that plays a central role in the workflow system, and a metadata management unit 1 A workflow identification unit 2 that identifies a workflow based on a request, a document registration unit 3 that holds document information to be circulated, and a user who accesses in response to a request from the metadata management unit 1 or the document registration unit 3 An authentication unit 4 for authentication and user terminals 5A, 5B, etc. such as PCs (Personal Computers) operated by a user using the workflow system are connected to a network.

  The metadata management unit 1 includes a user handling unit 11 corresponding to user access via the user terminals 5A and 5B, a metadata management execution unit 12 that executes metadata management, and a UI for the user terminals 5A and 5B. In response to a request from the UI generation unit 13 that generates (User Interface) and the user terminals 5A and 5B, the metadata of the document to be circulated is converted into RSS (RDF (Resource Description Framework) Site Summary, Rich Site Summary, Really RSS generation unit 14 that generates and distributes (sends) in a simple syndication) format, tag interpretation unit 15 that interprets a tag attached to a document, and workflow specification request that requests the workflow specification unit 2 to specify a workflow Unit 16, workflow status management unit 17 that manages the status of the workflow, and tags attached to documents to be reconciled Metadata DB (Data Base) 18 for holding the meta data, and a tag interpreting rules DB19 to hold the interpretation rule of the tag. The RSS generator 14 receives a request reception unit 141 that receives an RSS acquisition request from the user terminals 5A and 5B via the user response unit 11, and the metadata management execution unit 12 performs meta data according to a condition (described later) included in the request. A tag search unit 142 that searches for a corresponding document from the data DB 18 based on a tag, a data generation unit 143 that generates metadata (RSS) about the document obtained by the search, and a user who has requested the generated RSS And a response transmission unit 144 that transmits to the terminals 5A and 5B.

  The workflow specifying unit 2 includes a workflow server 21 that responds to access via a network, and a workflow DB 22 that holds workflow definition information.

  The document registration unit 3 includes a document registration WWW server 31 that responds to access via a network, and a document registration DB 32 that holds document information to be reconciled. A different server may be provided for each document type.

  The authentication unit 4 includes an authentication server 41 that responds to access via a network, and an affiliation / authentication DB 42 that holds affiliation information and authentication information of each user. The affiliation / authentication DB 42 may be divided into an affiliation DB and an authentication DB.

  The user terminals 5A and 5B include an RSS reader 51 that accepts RSS delivery, and a browser 52 that browses a page from a link included in the delivered RSS.

  2A and 2B are diagrams showing variations of the system configuration. FIG. 2A is a type in which the metadata management unit 1, the workflow specifying unit 2 and the authentication unit 4 shown in FIG. 1 are separated, and FIG. 2B is a metadata management unit 1. (C) is a type in which the workflow specifying unit 2 and the authentication unit 4 are integrated, and (d) is a type in which the metadata management unit 1, the workflow specifying unit 2 and the authentication unit 4 are integrated. Type (e) is a type in which the metadata management unit 1 and the workflow specifying unit 2 are integrated.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the metadata DB 18, which includes “id” for identifying a record, “document id” for identifying a corresponding document, and “tag” added to the document. The tag may be singular or plural. The tag is a part of the metadata, and the metadata is a generic name including document-related information such as a document URL and a tag.

  Examples of tags related to workflow presentation include "Invention Notification Form", "Technical Report", "Declaration Form" ... related to the types of tasks and documents, "XX Research Institute", "OO Division" related to affiliation, etc. Non-organizational affiliation of “~ subcommittee”, “˜study group”, “under preparation”, “under preparation”, “under preparation”, “request for review”, “approved”, “approved: nobody”, “non” There are “approval”, “TO: who”, “CC: who”, “TO: archive”, and the like. A tag such as affiliation can be assigned only after authentication.

  In addition, tags that indicate the status of workflows and registered documents are not convenient if they are rewritten without permission by a third party or illegally or accidentally by a user, so these tags are automatically created and changed by the system as system tags. It must be done and cannot be changed by the user. Examples of system tags include "Create: Who", "Create: Who" (2006-08-31 / 23: 59: 59), "Change: Who", "Change: Who" (2006-08-31 / 23:59:59) ”“ TO: Who ”“ CC: Who ”“ Requesting review ”“ Reviewed: Who ”“ Reviewed: Who ”(2006-08-31 / 23: 59: 59) "Approval requesting" "Approved: Who" "Approved: Who" (2006-08-31 / 23: 59: 59) "" Not approved "" Not approved: Who "" Not approved: Who " (2006-08-31 / 23: 59: 59) ".

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tag interpretation rule DB 19, which includes “id” for identifying a record, “tag” to be interpreted, and “interpretation” indicating interpretation contents. In the figure, interpretation is described for humans, but on implementation, functions that can be executed by the system are described.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the workflow DB 22, which includes a “tag”, a corresponding “workflow”, and a “description” of the workflow. By specifying a workflow by combining a plurality of tags, it is possible to define a plurality of workflows for the same tag. In addition, maintaining the description of the workflow together can improve maintainability.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the document registration DB 32, which includes “id” for identifying a record, “document name”, and “URL” for indicating a storage location of the document.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the affiliation / authentication DB 42, which includes “id” for identifying a record, “name” of the user, “affiliation”, “role”, and “password” for authentication. It is.

<Operation>
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a rough processing flow of the workflow system.

  In FIG. 8, the creator (drafter) creates a document to be circulated on the user terminal (step S1), and assigns a tag for identifying the workflow at the time of registration in the workflow system (step S2).

  The workflow system identifies the workflow from the tag identifying the workflow (step S3), and adds a tag indicating the first contributor and a tag indicating the workflow status after confirmation of the creator (step S4).

  Next, metadata (title, description, URL, etc.) of the document to be circulated is distributed to the corresponding user based on the tag by RSS (step S5).

  The user who received the RSS distribution performs review / approval (step S6), and the workflow system updates the tag indicating the status of the workflow and the tag indicating the next contributor, if any, according to the result of the review / approval. However, if the workflow is not completed, the same processing is repeated from RSS distribution (step S5).

  If the process of the last contributor has been completed or if a denial or the like has been made during the process, the process is terminated (step S8).

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the flow of processing on the network.

  In FIG. 9, the creator tags the document to the metadata management unit 1 (step S11), and the metadata management unit 1 authenticates the creator to the authentication unit 4 (step S12). The workflow specifying unit 2 specifies the workflow (step S13), and the creator uploads the document to the document registration unit 3 (step S14).

  In addition, users A, B, and C receive RSS distribution from the metadata management unit 1, browse documents from the document registration unit 3 based on this, and review and approve the metadata management unit 1. (Steps S15 and S16). At this time, the authentication unit 4 performs authentication when accessing the document registration unit 3 (step S17).

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the flow of user processing, and shows in more detail the processing for the metadata management unit 1 and document registration unit 3 of users A, B, and C in FIG. The abbreviation notation on the right side of 10 is used in FIG.

  In FIG. 10, when the user XX acquires RSS from the metadata management unit 1 by the RSS reader 51 of the user terminal 5 (step S21), the user browses the document from the document registration unit 3 by the browser 52 from the document link included in the RSS. (Step S22), after examining the contents, the metadata management unit 1 is examined from the browser 52 (step S23).

  11 and 12 are sequence diagrams showing an example of processing from document registration to workflow start.

  In FIG. 11, when a registration request is made from the creator user terminal 5 </ b> A to the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 (step S <b> 101), the user handling unit 11 sends a registration UI generation request to the UI generation unit 13. In step S102, a registration UI is acquired (step S103), and the registration UI is provided to the user terminal 5A (step S104). FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a UI for document registration. A document name input field 501 for inputting a document name of a document to be registered (a document to be circulated), and a URL (document registration WWW server 31) of a document registration destination. Document URL input field 502 for inputting the above URL and the like, and tag input for inputting a tag specifying a workflow to be attached to the document (may be directly input or selected from a tag selection field 504 described later) A column 503, a tag selection column 504 capable of selecting a tag to be input to the tag input column 503, and a WF presentation button 505 for requesting to search and present a workflow (WF) under the input conditions are provided. .

  Returning to FIG. 11, when the creator inputs a document name, URL, and tag to the registration UI from the user terminal 5A to request registration (request for workflow presentation) (step S105), the user of the metadata management unit 1 The corresponding unit 11 requests the registration by designating the document name and URL to the document registration WWW server 31 of the document registration unit 3 (step S106).

  The document registration WWW server 31 requests authentication from the authentication server 41 of the authentication unit 4 (step S107), and the authentication server 41 requests authentication from the UI generation unit 13 of the metadata management unit 1 (step S108). 13 generates an authentication UI and provides it to the user handling unit 11 (step S109), and the user handling unit 11 provides the authentication UI to the user terminal 5A (step S110).

  When the creator inputs an id, password, and the like from the user terminal 5A to the authentication UI (step S111), the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 sends authentication information to the authentication server 41 of the authentication unit 4 (step S112). The authentication server 41 collates with the affiliation / authentication DB 42 (steps S113 and S114). If the authentication is OK, the authentication server 41 sends a message to that effect to the document registration WWW server 31 of the document registration unit 3 (step S115). The server 31 requests the user terminal 5A to upload a document via the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 (steps S116 and S117).

  In response to this, the user terminal 5A sends the document file to the document registration WWW server 31 of the document registration unit 3 (step S118), and the document registration WWW server 31 registers the document file in the document registration DB 32 (step S119). Then, the document registration WWW server 31 sends a notification that registration has been performed and the document id to the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 (step S120).

  Next, in FIG. 12, the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 sends the document id and tag to the metadata management execution unit 12 (step S121), and the metadata management execution unit 12 registers them in the metadata DB 18 ( Step S122).

  Next, the user handling unit 11 makes a workflow generation request with a tag to the workflow status management unit 17 (step S123), and the workflow status management unit 17 transmits the request to the workflow specification request unit 16 (step S124).

  The workflow specification request unit 16 makes a workflow specification request with a tag to the workflow server 21 of the workflow specification unit 2 (step S125), and the workflow server 21 compares the workflow DB 22 to specify the workflow (steps S126 and S127). .

  Next, the workflow server 21 confirms the affiliation information with the authentication server 41 of the authentication unit 4 (step S128), the authentication server 41 collates with the affiliation / authentication DB 42 (steps S129 and S130), and the collation result is displayed as the workflow identification unit. 2 to the workflow server 21 (step S131). For example, if the tag is “○ × Laboratory” and the reader of the workflow has “Leader”, the collation is “Who is the leader of XX Laboratory?” Is obtained.

  Next, the workflow server 21 sends the workflow information including the collation result to the workflow status management unit 17 (step S132), and the workflow status management unit 17 sends the same content to the user correspondence unit 11 (step S133).

  Next, the user handling unit 11 issues a confirmation UI generation request to the UI generation unit 13 (step S134), the UI generation unit 13 generates a confirmation UI (step S135), and the user terminal 5A receives the confirmation UI. Provide (step S136). FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a workflow presentation UI. The specified workflow contributor 514 is displayed together with the document name 511, the document URL 512, and the tag 513 as registration contents, and the start of the workflow is instructed by the WF start button 515. In addition, a previous button 516 can be used to return to the previous state.

  Returning to FIG. 12, when the creator instructs the workflow start from the user terminal 5A (step S137), the user corresponding unit 11 requests a tag to be added to the tag interpreting unit 15 (step S138), and the tag interpreting unit 15 Referring to the interpretation rule DB 19 (steps S139 and S140), the acquired tag is returned to the user corresponding unit 11 (step S141). Specifically, the tag “WFZ: (person): (person):...” Describing the workflow reconcilor, the tag “examination requesting” describing the status of the request for review, and the next contributor are described. A tag “To: (person)” or the like is acquired.

  Next, the user handling unit 11 sends the document id and tag to the metadata management execution unit 12 (step S142), and the metadata management execution unit 12 registers them in the metadata DB 18 (step S143). In the example shown in FIG. 14, when the start of the workflow is instructed by the WF start button 515 and the creator is “Yamada”, the tag of this document is “invention notification XX laboratory WFZ: Suzuki: Sato: Tanaka Created by: Yamada Under review request To: Suzuki

  Returning to FIG. 12, when receiving the RSS acquisition request from the user terminals 5A, 5B,..., The user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 requests the RSS generation unit 14 to generate an RSS (step S144). The production | generation part 14 produces | generates RSS of an applicable document, and performs RSS delivery to the user terminal which performed the request (step S145).

  FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram of filtering in RSS distribution, and a workflow of a document with a tag “To: Mr. A”, a document with a tag “To: Mr. B”, and a document with a tag “To: Mr. C”. When Mr. A is running, only document information with a tag “To: Mr. A” is filtered and distributed to RSS. It is also possible to perform filtering based on tags indicating document contents such as “invention notification” and “report”. In this way, various documents and tasks can be handled with the same mechanism, and organic coupling of individual systems that has been difficult in the past can be easily realized.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of an RSS acquisition request transmitted from the RSS reader 51 of the user terminals 5A and 5B to the metadata management unit 1. (A) shows the first format, the first “http: // server /” is the address of the server (metadata management unit 1) that distributes the RSS feed, the next “tag /” and the last “ "/ rss" means acquisition of an RSS feed that has been narrowed down by a tag specified between them. [tags] indicates a tag, and [value] indicates the value of the tag. Those having a special meaning on the system, such as “To: (person)”, have an advantage that the analysis processing of the tag portion becomes easy by specifying the tag and the value separately. (B) is a specific example of (a) and indicates that the RSS feed is narrowed down to an RSS feed whose tag “To” has a value of “Mr. A”. When the RSS generation unit 14 (FIG. 1) of the metadata management unit 1 receives the request of FIG. 16B by the request reception unit 141, the tag search unit 142 performs metadata using the tag “To” and the value “Mr. A”. The management execution unit 12 searches the metadata DB 18 to identify the corresponding document (s), the data generation unit 143 generates an RSS for the document, and the response transmission unit 144 transmits it as a response.

  (C) shows the second format, where the first “http: // server /” is the address of the server (metadata management unit 1) that delivers the RSS feed, the next “tag /”, and the last “/ rss” "" Means the acquisition of RSS feeds that have been narrowed down by the tags specified in the meantime, but if the tag specified by [tags] is included, the value is not questioned Is. (D) is a case where one tag “tag1” is designated as [tags], and (e) is a specific example thereof. In this case, the document is narrowed down to documents including the tag “◯ △ Laboratory”.

  (F) is a case where two tags “tag1” and “tag2” are designated as [tags], and the two are concatenated by “% 20” in which a blank character is encoded for a URL to be “tag1% 20tag2”. (G) is a specific example, and is narrowed down to documents including the tag “◯ △ Laboratory” and the tag “Invention Notification”.

  (H) is a description of (b) in the same format as the second format, where the value “Mr. A” is described consecutively with a blank character “% 20” in between the tag “To”. is there. A tag having a special meaning on such a system is not recognized as a separate tag, but is narrowed down by recognizing the tag as “To” and its value as “Mr. A”.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an RSS feed and its display example for a document with a tag “To: XX”, where (a) shows an RSS feed example, and (b) shows a display example on a user terminal. If it is addressed to Mr. XX, the document “To: XX Examination Requested” and the document “To: XXX Approval Requested” are displayed together.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an RSS feed and a display example of a document with the tag “To: XX Examining request”, where (a) is an RSS feed example and (b) is a display example on a user terminal. Only documents addressed to Mr. XX and requesting examination are displayed.

  FIG. 19 is a sequence diagram showing an example of examination processing.

  In FIG. 19, after RSS distribution (step S151) is performed from the RSS generation unit 14 of the metadata management unit 1 to the user terminal 5B of the examiner, the examiner registers a document based on the document link in the RSS from the user terminal 5B. A browsing request is made to the document registration WWW server 31 of the section 3 (step S152).

  The document registration WWW server 31 confirms the workflow with the workflow status management unit 17 of the metadata management unit 1 (step S153), and the workflow status management unit 17 requests the tag interpretation unit 15 to interpret the tag (step S154).

  The tag interpretation unit 15 refers to the tag interpretation rule DB 19 (steps S155 and S156), and returns the tag interpretation result (status, reconcilor, etc. and necessary processing thereafter) to the workflow status management unit 17 (step S157). The status management unit 17 returns the workflow status to the document registration WWW server 31 of the document registration unit 3 (step S158).

  Next, the document registration WWW server 31 makes an authentication request to the authentication server 41 of the authentication unit 4 (step S159), the authentication server 41 makes an authentication request to the user terminal 5B (step S160), and the examiner receives an id from the user terminal 5B. Then, authentication information such as a password is sent to the authentication server 41 of the authentication unit 4 (step S161).

  The authentication server 41 collates with the affiliation / authentication DB 42 (steps S162 and S163), returns the authentication result to the document registration WWW server 31 of the document registration unit 3 (step S164), and the document registration WWW server 31 returns to the metadata management unit 1 The authentication result is sent to the user corresponding unit 11 (step S165).

  The document registration WWW server 31 acquires the corresponding document from the document registration DB 32 (steps S166 and S167), and sends it to the user terminal 5B for browsing (step S168).

  On the other hand, the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 makes a request for generating a screening UI to the UI generating unit 13 (step S169), and the UI generating unit 13 generates a screening UI (step S170). Via the user terminal 5B (step S171). FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a UI for examination / approval. A document name 521, a document URL 522, an open button 523, and a workflow reconcilor 524 are displayed, and processing buttons 525 and 526 for “examination OK” and “non-approval” are displayed. The examination process can be performed.

  Returning to FIG. 19, when the examiner performs an examination operation from the user terminal 5 </ b> B (step S <b> 172), the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 sends an examination notification to the workflow status management unit 17 (step S <b> 173). The management unit 17 requests the tag interpretation unit 15 to generate a tag corresponding to the examination process (step S174).

  In response to this, the tag interpretation unit 15 refers to the tag interpretation rule DB 19 (step S175), requests the metadata management execution unit 12 to reflect the metadata (step S176), and the metadata management execution unit 12 sends the metadata DB 18 to the metadata. The metadata is reflected in (Step S177). In the example of FIG. 20, if the immediately preceding tag is “Invention Notification ○ × Laboratory WFZ: Suzuki: Sato: Tanaka Creation: Yamada Requesting Examination To: Suzuki”, “Examination OK” × Laboratories WFZ: Suzuki: Sato: Tanaka Creation: Yamada Examined: Suzuki To: Sato ”becomes an“ invention report ”by non-approved processing XX Laboratory WFZ: Suzuki: Sato: Tanaka Creation: Yamada Unapproved: Suzuki To : Yamada ".

  Next, returning to FIG. 19, the workflow status management unit 17 of the metadata management unit 1 requests the RSS generation unit 14 to generate RSS (step S178), and the RSS generation unit 14 performs RSS distribution (step S179).

<Easy tag setting>
FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the tag management unit 6 for automatically presenting tags. As shown in (a), the tag management unit 6 includes a tag management server 61 that responds to access via a network, and a tag management DB 62 that holds tag information corresponding to a user or affiliation. The tag management unit 6 is arranged on the network of FIG. 1 and constitutes a part of the system.

  (B) shows an example of the tag management DB 62, “id” identifying a record, “user / organization” identifying a user or organization, and “tag” indicating a plurality of tags corresponding to the user or organization. Including.

  FIG. 22 is a sequence diagram showing an example of processing up to document registration using the tag management unit 6, which replaces FIG. Subsequent processing is the same as in FIG.

  22, when a registration request is made from the creator user terminal 5 </ b> A to the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 (step S <b> 201), the user handling unit 11 requests authentication from the authentication server 41 of the authentication unit 4. (Step S202). The authentication server 41 requests authentication from the UI generation unit 13 of the metadata management unit 1 (step S203), and the UI generation unit 13 generates an authentication UI and provides it to the user response unit 11 (step S204). 11 provides an authentication UI to the user terminal 5A (step S205).

  When the creator inputs an id, password, and the like from the user terminal 5A to the authentication UI (step S206), the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 sends authentication information to the authentication server 41 of the authentication unit 4 (step S207). The authentication server 41 collates with the affiliation / authentication DB 42 (steps S208 and S209). If the authentication is OK, the authentication information is sent to the user correspondence unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 (step S210).

  Next, the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 sends authentication information to the tag management server 61 of the tag management unit 6 (step S211), and the tag management server 61 collates the user or affiliation with the tag management DB 62 ( Steps S212 and S213), a list of corresponding tag groups is sent to the user correspondence unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 (Step S214).

  Next, the user handling unit 11 sends a registration UI generation request to the UI generation unit 13 (step S215), acquires the registration UI (step S216), and provides the registration UI to the user terminal 5A (step S217). The UI for document registration is the same as that shown in FIG. 13 except that a tag acquired from the tag management unit 6 is preset in the tag input field 503.

  Returning to FIG. 22, when the creator inputs a document name, URL, and tag to the registration UI from the user terminal 5A and requests registration (request for presentation of the workflow) (step S218), the user of the metadata management unit 1 The corresponding unit 11 requests the registration by designating the document name and URL to the document registration WWW server 31 of the document registration unit 3 (step S219). The document registration WWW server 31 requests the user terminal 5A to upload a document via the user correspondence unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 (steps S220 and S221).

  In response to this, the user terminal 5A sends the document file to the document registration WWW server 31 of the document registration unit 3 (step S222), and the document registration WWW server 31 registers the document file in the document registration DB 32 (step S223). Then, the document registration WWW server 31 sends a notification that registration has been performed and the document id to the user handling unit 11 of the metadata management unit 1 (step S224).

  FIG. 23 is a diagram showing another example of a document registration UI. Instead of directly inputting a tag, an appropriate tag is set by selecting a document type and / or belonging button. It is a thing. In FIG. 23, the UI includes a document name input field 531 for inputting a document name of a document to be registered (a document to be circulated), and a URL of a document registration destination (a URL on the document registration WWW server 31). A document URL input field 532 to be input, a document type selection field 533 for selecting a document type from a categorized tree by a button (indicated by a square such as budget, purchase, technology, and sales), and a button (XX Research) And an affiliation selection field 534 for selecting the affiliation according to the input condition and a WF presentation button 535 for requesting to search and present the workflow under the input conditions. .

  FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of data describing the relationship between the document type and affiliation in the UI and the corresponding tag. In FIG. 24, the data includes a plurality of descriptions D1 for each affiliation surrounded by “<dept˜˜ </ dept>” and “<doc_type> ˜˜ </ doc_type>” included in this description D1. The document type description D2 enclosed in, a plurality of descriptions D3 for each category enclosed in “<item˜˜ </ item>” included in this description D2, and the description D3 includes “ It consists of a plurality of descriptions D4 for each button surrounded by <button˜˜> ”.

  In the first line of the description D1 for each affiliation, a heading such as “XX Research Institute” is set as the attribute value of the attribute name name. In the first line of the description D3 for each category, a heading such as “accounting” is set as the attribute value of the attribute name name. In the description D4 for each button, a heading such as “budget” is set as the attribute value of the attribute name “name”, and a tag such as “budget approval document” is set as the attribute value of the attribute name tag.

  The above data is held in the metadata management unit 1 (can be arranged in another server), and the UI generation unit 13 generates an attribute value of the attribute name name of the description D1 for each affiliation when generating a UI for document registration Affiliation selection candidates are acquired from the above, processed into HTML with a button, and the affiliation selection column 534 of FIG. 23 is displayed. In addition, the UI generation unit 13 acquires a category from the attribute value of the attribute name name of the description D3 for each category, and acquires a document type selection candidate from the attribute value of the attribute name name of the description D4 for each lower button. Then, it is processed into HTML with a button, and the document type selection field 533 of FIG. 23 is displayed. Since there are overlapping categories and document types obtained from the descriptions D1 for each of a plurality of affiliations, sorting and merging are performed before processing into HTML with buttons.

  When a button is selected from the document type selection field 533 and the affiliation selection field 534 in the UI of FIG. 23, the tag is specified from the correspondence relationship described in FIG. 24 and handled as a tag set by the user. For example, when “Budget” is selected from the document type selection field 533 in FIG. 23 and “Ox Laboratories” is selected from the affiliation selection field 534, the first description from the affiliation “Ox Laboratories” in FIG. D1 is specified, the description D4 is specified from the document type “budget”, and the corresponding tag “budget approval document” is obtained.

<Summary>
As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, there are the following advantages.
(1) Since the creator of the document automatically identifies the workflow simply by attaching an intuitive tag indicating the document content, it is necessary to identify the workflow by confirming the operation rules in the organization as in the past. And free from complicated work.
(2) Because it is not a system specialized for the document or task that is the target of the workflow,
・ Maintenance is easy ・ General-purpose browser is sufficient on the client side ・ Extensive flexibility and expandability ・ Existing document management system without workflow function can be used effectively (3) RSS reader periodically obtains RSS Therefore, it is not necessary to separately deliver by e-mail or the like in order to execute the workflow, the update of the distribution information can be checked efficiently, and labor and labor can be reduced.
(4) Since the RSS reader is devised to make it easy to see the contents of the distribution, it is possible to easily check the headline of the distributed request and improve the workability.
There are advantages such as.

  The present invention has been described above by the preferred embodiments of the present invention. While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims. Obviously you can. In other words, the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the details of the specific examples and the accompanying drawings.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the workflow system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the variation of a system structure. It is a figure which shows the example of metadata DB. It is a figure which shows the example of tag interpretation rule DB. It is a figure which shows the example of workflow DB. It is a figure which shows the example of document registration DB. It is a figure which shows the example of affiliation and authentication DB. It is a figure which shows the flow of a rough process of a workflow system. It is a figure which shows the flow of a process on a network. It is a figure which shows the flow of a user's process. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram (part 1) illustrating a processing example from document registration to the start of a workflow. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram (part 2) illustrating a processing example from document registration to the start of a workflow. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a UI for document registration. FIG. It is a figure which shows UI example of workflow presentation. It is a conceptual diagram of filtering in RSS distribution. It is a figure which shows the example of the request | requirement of RSS acquisition transmitted to the metadata management part from the RSS reader of a user terminal. It is a figure (the 1) which shows an RSS feed and its example of a display. It is a figure (the 2) which shows an RSS feed and its example of a display. It is a sequence diagram which shows the example of a process of examination. It is a figure which shows UI example of examination and approval. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the tag management part for performing the automatic presentation of a tag. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process example until document registration. It is a figure which shows the other example of UI of document registration. It is a figure which shows the example of the data describing the relationship between a tag corresponding to a document kind and affiliation.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Metadata management part 11 User correspondence part 12 Metadata management execution part 13 UI production | generation part 14 RSS production | generation part 141 Request reception part 142 Tag search part 143 Data generation part 144 Response transmission part 15 Tag interpretation part 16 Workflow specification request | requirement part 17 Workflow Status management unit 18 Metadata DB
19 Tag interpretation rule DB
2 Workflow identification part 21 Workflow server 22 Workflow DB
3 Document Registration Unit 31 Document Registration WWW Server 32 Document Registration DB
4 Authentication Unit 41 Authentication Server 42 Affiliation / Authentication DB
5, 5A, 5B User terminal 51 RSS reader 52 Browser 6 Tag management unit 61 Tag management server 62 Tag management DB

Claims (14)

Identifying the workflow based on the tags attached to the document to be circulated, adding the status and the tag of the circulator, and starting the workflow;
A workflow management method comprising: an examination / approval process for performing examination / approval based on the status and the tag of the councilor and updating the tag of the status and councilor. The workflow management method according to claim 1,
The start process is
A first step of registering a tag for identifying a workflow in association with a document to be reconsidered;
A second step of identifying a workflow based on the tag, presenting the identified workflow, and confirming the start of the workflow;
A third step of registering a tag indicating the first contributor of the confirmed workflow and a tag indicating the status of the workflow in association with the document to be reconciled, and
The above review / approval process
A fourth step of delivering the metadata of the document to be reconciled to the appropriate person based on the tag indicating the reconcilor;
A fifth step for requesting review / approval of the document subject to reconsideration based on the distributed metadata;
A sixth step of registering a tag indicating the status of the workflow according to the result of the examination / approval and a tag indicating the next contributor when it exists in association with the document to be reconciled;
A workflow management method comprising: a seventh step of repeating the fourth to sixth steps until the end of the workflow. The workflow management method according to claim 2,
The fourth step is a workflow management method characterized in that a document is searched according to a tag narrowing condition attached to a metadata acquisition request, and the metadata of the document acquired by the search is distributed. In the workflow management method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A workflow management method comprising a step of authenticating a user at the time of registering a document to be reconciled and at the time of examination / approval and permitting a process subsequent to normal authentication. The workflow management method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
When checking the status and reviewers at the time of review / approval, and adding or updating tags, it has a process of acquiring interpretations from a database holding the interpretation of the tags,
A workflow management method characterized by changing processing contents based on an acquired interpretation. The workflow management method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A workflow management method comprising a step of determining a tag to be attached to a document according to an operator's user name and / or organization. The workflow management method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A workflow management method comprising a step of determining a tag to be attached to a document according to a document type and / or affiliation selected by an operator. An initiating means for identifying a workflow based on tags attached to a document to be circulated, adding a status and a tag of the circulator, and starting the workflow;
A workflow management apparatus comprising: examination / approval means for performing examination / approval based on the status and the tag of the councilor, and updating the status and the tag of the councilor. The workflow management device according to claim 8,
The starting means is
A first means for registering a tag for identifying a workflow in association with a document to be reconsidered;
A second means for identifying a workflow based on the tag, presenting the identified workflow, and requesting confirmation;
A third means for registering a tag indicating the first contributor of the confirmed workflow and a tag indicating the status of the workflow in association with the document to be reconciled;
The above examination / approval means are:
A fourth means for delivering metadata of a document to be circulated to a corresponding person based on a tag indicating the circulator;
A fifth means for requesting review / approval of the document to be reconciled based on the distributed metadata;
A sixth means for registering a tag indicating the status of the workflow according to the result of the examination / approval and a tag indicating the next contributor, if present, in association with the document to be reconciled is provided. Workflow management device. The workflow management device according to claim 9,
The workflow management apparatus, wherein the fourth means searches for a document according to a tag narrowing condition attached to a metadata acquisition request, and distributes the metadata of the document acquired by the search. The workflow management device according to any one of claims 8 to 10,
A workflow management apparatus characterized by comprising means for authenticating a user at the time of registration and examination / approval of a document subject to reconsideration, and permitting processing subsequent to normal authentication. The workflow management device according to any one of claims 8 to 11,
A database holding the interpretation of the above tags;
It has a means to acquire the interpretation of the tag from the database when checking the status and reviewer at the time of review / approval, adding or updating the tag,
A workflow management apparatus characterized by changing processing contents based on an acquired interpretation. The workflow management device according to any one of claims 8 to 12,
A workflow management apparatus comprising means for determining a tag to be attached to a document according to an operator's user name and / or organization. The workflow management device according to any one of claims 8 to 12,
A workflow management apparatus comprising means for determining a tag to be attached to a document according to a document type and / or affiliation selected by an operator.

Images