JP6347238B2 - Management system and management method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a management system and a management method for facilitating user feedback on new functions.

  Conventionally, when a person who performs a plan wants to promote the plan, a point system is introduced to promote the plan.

  For example, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 gives points according to the use status of an image forming apparatus that is currently used in order to increase the number of new contracts of an image forming apparatus (MFP, Multifunction Peripheral), The usage fee of the image forming apparatus newly contracted is discounted according to the number of points given.

  The above example was for the purpose of increasing the number of new contracts, but in addition to this, for example, when releasing feedback from users as a beta site test before releasing new product features, There may be a purpose of increasing the amount.

JP 2001-297265 A

  As a developer of new features to be released, we want to get a lot of feedback in order to improve the quality of new features. However, it is difficult for users to receive detailed feedback because feedback is not the main task of the user. It was.

  In view of the circumstances as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a management system and a management method that can easily obtain feedback from a user who has tried a new function before official release.

  In order to achieve the above object, a management system according to an aspect of the present invention manages a license server that manages a license of a function provided to a customer and feedback when a new function before the official release by the customer is tried. A feedback server, wherein the feedback server is based on the feedback, a first communication unit capable of communicating with the license server and the customer terminal, a customer-specific feedback database capable of storing the feedback from the customer, and the feedback server. A customer-specific point database capable of storing the number of points indicating the amount of feedback calculated in the above, a feedback management unit for collecting the feedback from the customer and storing it in the customer-specific feedback database, and the customer-specific feedback A point calculation unit that calculates the number of points based on the feedback stored in a database and stores it in the point database for each customer, and the license server includes a second communication unit capable of communicating with the feedback server; A discount table that defines the correspondence between the number of points and the discount amount of the license fee charged to the customer, a customer-specific license fee database capable of storing the license fee for each customer, and the customer of the feedback server Obtain the number of points from another point database, and determine a discount amount for each customer based on the discount table; and discount the license fee based on the determined discount amount to the customer And a license fee management unit for charging. Therefore, it is easy to get feedback from users who have tried new features before the official release.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the management system according to an aspect of the present invention, the point calculation unit may calculate the number of points based on the number of feedback cases and the number of characters of the feedback.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the management method according to an aspect of the present invention, when the feedback management unit of the feedback server uses a new function before the official release by the customer from a customer who uses the provided function. Feedback is collected and stored in a customer-specific feedback database, and the point calculation unit of the feedback server calculates the number of points indicating the amount of feedback based on the feedback stored in the customer-specific feedback database. The discount calculation unit of the license server obtains the number of points from the customer-specific point database of the feedback server, and the correspondence between the number of points and the discount amount of the license fee charged to the customer is stored. Discount The price reduction amount for each of the customer is determined based on the table, the license fee management unit of the license server, based on the determined the discount amount, to bill the customer subtracting value the license fees.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is easy to obtain feedback from a user who tried a new function before release.

It is a whole figure for demonstrating the whole image of the environment where the management system 100 which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention operates. It is a block diagram in case the feedback server 10 is comprised by a common computer. It is a block diagram in case the license server 20 is comprised by a general computer. It is a figure which shows the example of the discount table 27a. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a flow of processing in the management system 100.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[overall structure]
First, an overview of an environment in which a management system according to an embodiment of the present invention operates will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall view for explaining an overall image of an environment in which a management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention operates.

  The management system 100 includes a feedback server 10 in the management cloud 1 and a license server 20 that manages a license of the image forming apparatus 40 managed by the management system 100.

  The management cloud 1 includes a configuration server 30 that manages the configuration of the image forming apparatus 40 that the management cloud 1 manages with a license agreement.

  Also, the cloud administrator accesses the management cloud 1 from the management terminal 50 that manages the management cloud 1 and manages the management cloud 1.

  The image forming apparatuses 40 installed at the sites of the end customers X, Y, and Z that use the image forming apparatus 40 are managed remotely from the management cloud 1 via a network.

  A serviceman (may include a salesman) of the sales company A and the sales agent B becomes a user of the management cloud 1 and performs the maintenance of the image forming apparatus 40 of each end customer via the service terminal 60. The management cloud 1 is accessed, and remote maintenance or the like of the image forming apparatus 40 installed at each end customer site is performed.

  When a new function is released in the management cloud 1, as a test before the official release, a service person who is a user of the management cloud 1 tries the new function, and feedback of the trial result is performed to the feedback server 10. get.

  The feedback server 10 calculates the number of points from the feedback amount for each sales company and sales agent company, and discounts the license fee charged to the customer according to the calculated number of points.

  In the following description, a sales company and a sales agent company (or a service person belonging to the sales company) who are users of the management cloud 1 are referred to as customers, and a user of the image forming apparatus 40 managed by the management system 100 is referred to as a customer. Is called the end customer.

  The overall image of the environment in which the management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention operates has been described above.

[Feedback Server Configuration]
Next, the configuration of the feedback server 10 will be described. The feedback server 10 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram when the feedback server 10 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the feedback server 10 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 11, a read only memory (ROM) 12, a random access memory (RAM) 13, an operation input unit 14, a communication unit 15, a display unit 16, and A storage unit 17 is provided, and these blocks are connected via a bus 18.

  The ROM 12 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11 and temporarily holds an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 17 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or other nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 17 stores an OS, various applications, various data, a customer-specific feedback DB (Database) 17a, and a customer-specific point DB 17b.

  The customer feedback DB 17a stores customer feedback for each customer.

  In the customer point DB 17b, the number of points calculated according to the feedback amount is stored for each customer.

  The communication unit 15 is connected to a network for exchanging information with the license server 20, the configuration server 30, the image forming apparatus 40, the management terminal 50, and the service terminal 60.

  The CPU 11 develops a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 14 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12 or the storage unit 17 in the RAM 13, and the display unit 16 and the storage unit according to the expanded program. 17 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 14 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 16 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 11 will be described.

  The functional blocks realized in the CPU 11 of the feedback server 10 are a feedback management unit 11a and a point calculation unit 11b.

  The feedback management unit 11a obtains feedback from each customer by a method such as e-mail, and stores the obtained feedback in the customer-specific feedback DB 17a.

  The point calculation unit 11b calculates the number of points for discounting the license fee from the amount of feedback (number of cases and the number of characters) stored in the customer feedback DB 17a.

The point calculation unit 11b calculates the number of points using, for example, the following mathematical formula.
Number of points = number of feedbacks x factor 1 + number of feedback characters x factor 2
The coefficient 1 and the coefficient 2 may be arbitrarily determined by the administrator.

  The configuration of the feedback server 10 has been described above.

[License server configuration]
Next, the configuration of the license server 20 will be described. The license server 20 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 3 shows a configuration diagram when the license server 20 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the license server 20 has a CPU 21, ROM 22, RAM 23, operation input unit 24, communication unit 25, display unit 26, and storage unit 27, and these blocks are connected via a bus 28. ing.

  The ROM 22 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 23 is used as a work area for the CPU 21, and temporarily holds the OS, various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 27 is, for example, an HDD, a flash memory, or other nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 27 stores an OS, various applications, various data, a discount table 27a, and a customer-specific license fee 27b.

  The discount table 27a is a correspondence table between the number of points and the discount amount of the license fee.

  The customer-specific license fee DB 27b stores the license fee for each customer after the discount.

  The communication unit 25 is connected to a network for exchanging information with the feedback server 10, the configuration server 30, the image forming apparatus 40, the management terminal 50, and the service terminal 60.

  The CPU 21 develops a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 24 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 22 or the storage unit 27 in the RAM 23, and the display unit 26 and the storage unit according to the expanded program. 27 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 24 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 26 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 21 will be described.

  Functional blocks implemented in the CPU 21 of the license server 20 are a discount calculation unit 21a and a license fee management unit 21b.

  The discount calculation unit 21a calculates the discount amount of the license fee for each customer using the point number for each customer acquired from the feedback server 10 and the discount table 27a.

  The license fee management unit 21b charges the discount amount calculated by the discount calculation unit 21a by subtracting it from the original license fee charged to the customer.

  The configuration of the license server 20 has been described above.

[About discount table]
Next, an example of the discount table 27a will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the discount table 27a.

  For example, if the number of points obtained by feedback for a certain customer is 3, the discount amount is 500 yen from the row e1 of the discount table 27a.

  For example, if the number of points obtained by feedback from another customer is 53 points, the discount amount is 4000 yen from the row e3 of the discount table 27a.

  Administrators can arbitrarily set the number of points and the discount amount.

  The example of the discount table 27a has been described above.

[Process flow]
Next, a processing flow in the management system 100 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing in the management system 100.

  First, the feedback management unit 11a of the feedback server 10 acquires feedback from each customer, and stores the acquired feedback in the customer-specific feedback DB 17a (step S1).

  Next, the point calculation unit 11b of the feedback server 10 calculates the number of points from the amount of feedback stored in the customer-specific feedback DB 17a, and stores the calculated number of points in the customer-specific point DB 17b (step S2).

  Next, the discount calculation unit 21a of the license server 20 acquires the number of points stored in the customer-specific point DB 17b of the feedback server 10, and calculates the discount amount for each customer based on the discount table 27a (step S3).

  Next, the license fee management unit 21b of the license server 20 charges each customer with a license fee obtained by subtracting the discount amount from the original license fee for each customer using the customer-specific license fee DB 27b (step S4).

  The flow of processing in the management system 100 has been described above.

[Additional notes]
As described above, the management system 100 according to the present invention includes the license server 20 that manages licenses of functions to be provided to customers, and the feedback server 10 that manages feedback when trying new functions before the official release by the customer. The feedback server 10 includes a first communication unit 15 capable of communicating with the license server 20 and the customer terminal 60, a customer feedback database 17a capable of storing the feedback from the customer, A customer-specific point database 17b that can store the number of points indicating the amount of feedback calculated based on feedback, and feedback management that collects the feedback from the customer and stores it in the customer-specific feedback database 17a 11a and a point calculation unit 11b that calculates the number of points based on the feedback stored in the customer-specific feedback database 17a and stores it in the customer-specific point database 17b, and the license server 20 includes the feedback A second communication unit 25 that can communicate with the server 10, a discount table 27a that defines the correspondence between the number of points and the discount amount of the license fee charged to the customer, and the license fee for each customer can be stored A customer-specific license fee database 27b, a discount calculation unit 21a that obtains the number of points from the customer-specific point database 17b of the feedback server 10 and determines a discount amount for each customer based on the discount table 27a; The determined value Based on can amount, and a license fee management unit 21b to charge the customer subtracting value the license fees.

  In addition, this invention is not limited only to the above-mentioned embodiment, Of course, various changes can be added within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

1 ... Management cloud 10 ... Feedback server 11 ... CPU
11a ... Feedback management unit 11b ... Point calculation unit 12 ... ROM
13 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Operation input part 15 ... Communication part 16 ... Display part 17 ... Memory | storage part 17a ... Feedback DB classified by customer
17b ... Customer-specific point DB
18 ... Bus 20 ... License server 21 ... CPU
21a ... Discount calculation unit 21b ... License fee management unit 22 ... ROM
23 ... RAM
24 ... Operation input unit 25 ... Communication unit 26 ... Display unit 27 ... Storage unit 27a ... Discount table 27b ... Customer-specific license fee DB
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 28 ... Bus 30 ... Configuration server 40 ... Image forming apparatus 50 ... Management terminal 60 ... Service terminal 100 ... Management system

Claims (3)

A license server that manages licenses for functions provided to customers, and a feedback server that manages feedback when trying new functions before the official release by the customer;
The feedback server is
A first communication unit capable of communicating with the license server and the customer terminal;
A customer-specific feedback database capable of storing the feedback from the customer;
A customer point database capable of storing the number of points calculated based on the feedback and indicating the amount of the feedback;
Collecting the feedback from the customer and storing it in the customer-specific feedback database;
A point calculation unit that calculates the number of points based on the feedback stored in the customer feedback database and stores the points in the customer point database;
The license server
A second communication unit capable of communicating with the feedback server;
A discount table that defines the correspondence between the number of points and the discount amount of the license fee charged to the customer;
A customer-specific license fee database capable of storing the license fee for each customer;
A discount calculation unit that obtains the number of points from the customer point database of the feedback server and determines a discount amount for each customer based on the discount table;
And a license fee management unit that deducts the license fee and charges the customer based on the determined discount amount. The management system according to claim 1,
The point calculation unit
A management system that calculates the number of points based on the number of feedbacks and the number of characters of the feedback. The feedback management unit of the feedback server collects feedback from the customer who uses the provided function when the new function before the official release by the customer is tried, and stores it in the customer-specific feedback database,
The point calculation unit of the feedback server calculates the number of points indicating the amount of feedback based on the feedback stored in the customer-specific feedback database, and stores it in the customer-specific point database,
The discount calculation unit of the license server obtains the number of points from the customer-specific point database of the feedback server, and based on a discount table that defines the correspondence between the number of points and the discount amount of the license fee charged to the customer To determine the discount amount for each customer,
A management method in which a license fee management unit of a license server deducts the license fee based on the determined discount amount and charges the customer.

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