KR101194379B1 - Method and System for supporting execution of collaborative process among enterprises - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a system for supporting an inter-company collaboration process execution. The system for supporting an inter-company collaboration process execution models a collaboration process for supporting the execution of an inter-company collaboration process. When completed, it can support the execution of collaboration processes between companies by executing and controlling the collaboration process, and by providing collaboration process execution functions such as security of collaborative processes, execution of incomplete processes, rerun of collaborative processes, or selection of candidate processes (dynamic selection). It can respond systematically and flexibly to various changes in work that can occur when executing a collaborative process, and can reflect real time.

Description

Method and System for supporting execution of collaborative process among enterprises}

The present invention relates to a method and a system for supporting the execution of a collaborative process between companies, and in particular, to facilitate the smooth and flexible operation of various types of process situations that may occur when two or more companies execute collaborative work processes. A method and system for supporting the execution of collaborative processes.

In a rapidly changing work environment, companies are constantly improving their work processes to increase their competitiveness. As a result, companies are increasingly interested in Business Process Management (BPM), which can systematically analyze and improve business processes.

Business process management separates business processes from applications and systematically manages them. The main contents are defined, executed, analyzed, and automated. The Business Process Management System (BPMS) for business process management defines and models tasks that are repeatedly performed, and systematically processes related documents, information, and tasks while executing modeled tasks. To manage and operate.

In recent years, business processes need to consider not only internal activities but also performance in connection with other companies as business exchanges between companies become active. In general, business processes can be categorized into three types: workflow processes, auto-run processes, and cross-enterprise collaboration processes. The cross-enterprise collaboration process here defines the tasks each collaborator performs in order to achieve one goal. However, collaborative processes often make it difficult to specify the order of tasks, which results in indeterminate job distribution. Collaboration includes collaboration patterns such as Interactive Collaboration, Cyclic Collaboration, and Collaborative Collaboration.

Most business process management systems are specialized in the process management of individual companies. However, because the collaboration process involves many companies, various factors can influence the performance of the collaboration process, such as the performance of one company affects the work of another. However, so far, the business process management system does not provide the functions that can flexibly cope with the external dynamic change factors. In addition, typical business process management systems are designed and developed so that functions support only a part of the process execution of a single enterprise. Therefore, in order to execute a process that is linked to multiple companies (users), it is possible to define a cooperative process between companies in consideration of various phenomena that may occur according to the linked business and collaboration relationship among companies in the process, and to develop a system that can operate flexibly. This is desperately needed.

In addition, companies that participate in collaborative processes may not want to disclose their information to other companies or may not be able to disclose it in a policy manner. I'm asking.

In order to solve the problems described above, the present invention provides a method and system for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution for smoothly and flexibly operating various types of process situations that may occur when two or more companies execute a collaborative business process. In providing.

In addition, the present invention provides a method for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution to support the execution of the collaboration process through the function of collaborative process security, incomplete process execution, collaboration process re-execution or dynamic selection function to efficiently manage dynamic change situations; In providing a system.

The system for supporting the inter-company collaboration process execution for achieving the objects of the present invention includes a process design unit for modeling a collaboration process for supporting the inter-company collaboration process execution; And a process execution and management unit that executes and controls the collaboration process when modeling of the collaboration process is completed in the process design unit.

The method according to the first embodiment for supporting an inter-enterprise collaboration process execution for achieving the objects of the present invention comprises the steps of: modeling a collaboration process for supporting the execution of inter-company collaboration process; Setting access rights for information related to its own process for each company; And executing a process security function according to the access authority setting.

In addition, the method according to the second embodiment for supporting the inter-enterprise collaboration process execution for achieving the above object of the present invention defines a process for supporting the inter-company collaboration process execution, the attributes of the collaboration process and unit business Performing collaborative process modeling to set a value; And executing an incomplete collaborative process priority execution function when an undefined process exists because the process definition is not completed.

In addition, the method according to the third embodiment for supporting the inter-enterprise collaboration process execution for achieving the above object of the present invention defines a process for supporting the inter-company collaboration process execution, the attributes of the collaboration process and unit business Performing collaborative process modeling to set a value; And re-performing the unit task of error or repeat execution by executing the collaboration task redo function when an error or repeat execution request is executed during the inter-company collaboration process and returning to the unit task of the error or repeat execution. do.

In addition, the method according to the fourth embodiment for supporting the inter-enterprise collaboration process execution for achieving the above object of the present invention defines a process for supporting the inter-company collaboration process execution, the attributes for the collaboration process and unit business Performing collaborative process modeling to set a value; And performing a candidate process selection function that dynamically selects a subprocess to be executed before the execution time reaches a specific task by using a template process to redefine the process during the collaboration process.

The present invention has the effect of being able to respond systematically and flexibly to changes in various tasks that may occur when executing a collaborative process while maintaining the rigidity and system consistency characteristics of a general task management system and reflecting real time.

In addition, the present invention provides a function of collaborative process execution of collaborative process security, incomplete process execution, collaborative process rerun, or candidate process selection (dynamic selection), so that the execution and fluctuations of the collaborative process can be smoothly overcome. have.

1 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a collaboration process management system for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a diagram illustrating an example of in-house process modeling in a process design unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a diagram illustrating a process and unit business security setting in a collaborative process security function according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
4 is a diagram illustrating an example of executing a cooperative process security function according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
5 illustrates an incomplete collaboration process priority execution function according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
6 is a diagram illustrating a priority execution process of an incomplete collaboration process according to the second embodiment of the present invention;
7 is a diagram illustrating a collaboration task redo function according to a third embodiment of the present invention;
8 is a diagram illustrating a process of re-executing a collaborative task according to a third embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen in which a person in charge of a company recognizes a wrong work performance and requests to return to an office according to a third embodiment of the present invention;
10 illustrates a candidate process selection function according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a screen on which a candidate process is generated based on a template process in order to apply a candidate process selection function according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present invention, if it is determined that detailed descriptions of related known functions or configurations may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

A business process is a collection of activities that a company performs to achieve a specific purpose. It can have multiple layers of subprocesses, depending on the complexity of the work. The business process of a company is largely divided into a private process that occurs inside a single company and a public process that is processed through interaction with a trading partner. A process that collectively represents two or more individual corporate processes that participate in collaboration, that is, a public process that is commonly used, is called a Collaborative Business Process (hereinafter referred to as a Collaboration Process). This intercompany collaboration process represents an organic relationship between companies and their units. The intercompany collaboration process should take into account that some private processes are involved.

Hereinafter, in the embodiments of the present invention, a system for automating the inter-company collaboration process and supporting the execution of the collaboration process will be referred to as a "collaboration process management system", and the collaboration process management system is a prototype system. Here, process automation is a role that supports directly executing a defined process without any special help, and refers to a function of distributing and controlling work according to the defined process. Process execution is performed based on this process automation, and the task is automatically assigned to the user rather than finding the task, thereby maximizing the synergy between the various tasks involved in the process execution.

Next, a structure of a collaborative process management system for supporting execution of an intercompany collaboration process according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

 1 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a collaboration process management system for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the collaborative process management system defines a collaborative process for supporting intercompany collaboration process execution, and may be configured as a process design unit 110 and a process execution and management unit 120.

The process design unit 110 is a process designer that supports collaborative process modeling, and may set attribute values for a collaborative process and a unit work in order to define a formalized business procedure.

The process execution and management unit 120 is configured in the form of a web portal, automates the process, is responsible for the execution and control of the collaboration process for the collaboration work modeled in the process design unit 110, the specific access rights View and manage collaborative processes.

In addition, the process execution and management unit 120 is a collaborative process execution function required to overcome the execution and fluctuations of the collaborative process, and performs collaborative process security, incomplete process execution, collaborative process rerun, or candidate process selection (dynamic selection). can do.

 Collaboration process security provides security setting authority for inter-company processes and business activities. Incomplete process priority execution enables execution even if undefined processes are included in the collaboration process. The collaborative task re-execution function can re-execute the execution path including tasks of different companies, and the dynamic selection function provides the ability to modify and replace processes and activities that can be changed during execution.

Then, methods for supporting collaboration process execution in the collaboration process execution support system according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the above functions of the intercompany collaboration process system.

In the embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of companies participating in the collaboration process each model its own process through the process design unit 110. Accordingly, the process design unit 110 may complete the collaboration process by integrating the processes of a plurality of modeled companies. The collaborative process is a collection of models that model only the tasks assigned to each company for a single process. For example, if Firm A performs only 1, 2, and 4 tasks in a process that includes five 1-2-3-4-5 tasks, then Process A's process design department will determine the work attributes for 1, 2, and 4 You define and store it, and later call that process to Enterprise B's Process Design Department to complete the collaboration process by modeling the definitions for the 3 and 5 tasks.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the process design unit 110 performs modeling setting of a new product development process such as participant definition, system definition, variable definition, and message definition. Specifically, the main company prepares an outsourcing design order, approves the outsourcing design order, reviews the collaborative bill of materials (cBOM), defines participant definition, system definition, variable definition, and message definition for the final cBOM creation unit work. Define and save the [DH] outsourcing design process unit task after setting the unit task name only. The cooperative company models the collaborative process called [TH] outsourcing design process through detailed modeling procedures for the unit tasks belonging to the [DH] outsourcing design process.

Then, the process execution and management unit 120 executes and controls the collaboration process in which the modeling is completed in the process design unit 110.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, a method of supporting collaboration process execution through a collaboration process security function will be described.

Collaborative process security is an implementation technology that enables companies participating in collaborative processes to establish access to information related to their processes. These collaborative process security functions can be configured for each company to open or close a process or task in executing a collaborative work process including two or more companies.

Collaborative process security can be largely divided into process security and activity security.

Process security is the ability to set enterprise and user access rights across processes (subprocesses). Unit business security is a function to set the corporate and user access rights for individual unit business.

3 is a diagram illustrating a process and unit business security setting in a cooperative process security function according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Each company (A, B, C), through the process execution and management unit 120, each of the access rights (public / private) to the process (sub-process) or unit business based on the setting function of the collaborative process and unit business security Set.

For example, if company A is the main company and company B is a cooperative company, the process execution and management unit 12 of company B sets only the unit work b indicated by a solid line to the public to set the unit security. Unit a is marked private. When logged in with accounts of two companies (A and B) that perform collaborative work, respectively, the process execution and management unit 120 of enterprise B executes the collaborative process security function to restrict the authority to view, modify, and execute the enterprise A. And control. Specifically, the process execution and management unit 120 executes the collaborative process security function for the unit work a to set the corporate and user access rights for the individual unit work. Accordingly, the process execution and management unit 120 of the company B executes a process security function so that only the open unit work b can be viewed, modified, and executed in the company A. FIG. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, Firm A has one unit in the process of Firm B composed of unit tasks (a, b).

Also, for example, if company A is the main company and company C is a cooperative company, the process execution and management unit 12 of company C establishes process security for performing cooperative work with the cooperative company (company A). . If you are logged in to each of the accounts of two companies (A, C) that perform collaborative tasks, the process execution and management unit (120) of company C has a collaborative process for the private process indicated by the dotted line to limit the process viewing rights for company A. Implement security functions to establish enterprise and user access rights for the entire process (subprocess). Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, the company C sets the process security to private, and thus the company A is not given the enterprise and user access rights to the entire process (subprocess), and thus the company C is not allowed to access the process.

An example of executing the cooperative process security function according to the first embodiment of the present invention is shown as shown in FIG. The screen of FIG. 4 (a) shows the main company A as mentioned above as a company called TH, and the screen of FIG. 4 (b) is a partner screen called DH, which is a view of the entire process rather than unit security. This is a screen for setting permissions. Here, both TH and DH companies show only their own process list, which shows that they can't see the DH process in TH and can't see the TH process in DH.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, a method of supporting collaboration process execution through an incomplete collaboration process priority execution function will be described.

In the case of companies working on long-term projects, it is often time consuming to model the whole process because of the large number of activities defined. Moreover, it may take more time to define a collaborative process involving multiple companies. In reality, however, there are cases where you have to wait for all the detailed process modeling to be completed and work in an incomplete state.

Therefore, the collaborative process management system includes the incomplete collaborative process priority execution function in case the work needs to proceed in an incomplete state.

Incomplete Collaboration Process Priority Execution refers to a technology that forcibly executes an incomplete process, that is, preferentially executes the entire collaboration process even when there is no task in the collaboration process or an incomplete process whose definition is not completed.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, a subprocess that has not been defined among the entire processes will be referred to as a 'default process'. By default, incomplete processes cannot be executed, so running an incomplete process means forcing the entire process to include an undefined process. In order for a process to continue running without time delay, the process must be fully defined before execution time reaches an undefined process.

5 is a diagram illustrating an incomplete form of a collaboration process and its execution according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The undefined process consists of two business phases for the pending status notification and waiting until the process definition is completed, as shown in FIG.

An undefined status notification is a unit task that informs the person in charge of an undefined situation when a process is not completed after reaching an undefined subprocess unit task.

Suspend until completion of process definition is a unit of work that suspends process execution until the process definition is completed after an undefined status notification activity.

Then, the process definition of one company (B) of the two companies (A, B) is not completed, and the process of executing the collaboration process in an incomplete state using an undefined process will be described with reference to FIG. 6. Here, the incomplete collaborative process priority execution function will be described as an example of being executed in the enterprise B collaborative process management system.

First, the collaborative process management system defines a process for supporting intercompany collaboration process execution through the process design unit 110, and performs a collaborative process modeling for setting attribute values for the collaborative process and unit work.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the enterprise A has completed modeling of the collaborative process that is performed in collaboration with the company B. As a result, the task or subprocesses that should be modeled in the company B have not been modeled. Make it work.

In step 210, the collaboration process management system checks whether the collaboration process is executed through the process execution and management unit 120. As a result of the check, if the collaborative process is not executed, the standby state for the collaborative work is maintained, and if the collaborative process is executed, the collaborative process management system checks whether an undefined process exists through the process execution and management unit 120 in step 220. do.

 As a result of the check, if there is an undefined process, that is, the process definition for the requested collaboration process is not completed, the collaboration process management system executes the incomplete collaboration process priority execution function through the process execution and management unit 120. That is, in step 230, the process execution and management unit 120 notifies an undefined state to notify the company A that there is an undefined process, and in step 240, the process execution state is stopped and the unit waits until the process definition is completed. Perform work

On the other hand, if there is no undefined process, the collaborative process management system in step 250 executes the collaboration process through the process execution and management unit 120. For example, if the requested collaborative process request is a quotation request, the collaborative process execution may sequentially execute processes such as quotation creation, internal payment, and quotation review.

This incomplete collaborative process priority feature allows Enterprise B to define, for example, a mold design process to continue the collaboration process while Enterprise A (the main company) runs a predefined collaboration process. do.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, a method of supporting collaboration process execution through a collaboration task redo function will be described.

In the collaborative process management system according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, collaborative rollback and rerun suitable for the collaborative process environment included in the process execution and management unit 120. Collaboration process re-execution function corresponding to the re-execution function can support the execution of collaborative processes.

Re-execution of collaborative work is a technology that supports the re-execution of the path including the tasks that have been performed when there is an error during execution of the cooperative process between companies, and when the repetition of the work is required.

Re-execution of collaborative work is a function used when a mistake or error of a person arises, and it is intended to return to the wrong unit of work and re-execute, so that even if the path to return is spanning the process between two companies, it is possible to go back.

Then, the process of re-executing the collaborative work according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7, 8A, and 8B.

First, each company defines a process for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution through its process design unit 110 and performs modeling of the collaboration process to set attribute values for the collaboration process and the unit work.

In step 311, the process execution and management unit 120 of the company A checks whether a request for return from the requester of the company A is received. In this case, when the requester of the company A requests to return to the company A manager, in step 312, the process execution and management unit 120 of the company A executes the approval unit for the request fact, and then executes the collaboration work re-execution function in step 313. Run Then, in step 314, the process execution and management unit 120 of the company A notifies the manager of the company B who is performing the collaboration work to return to the manager. Accordingly, the Company B manager identifies the work that is currently in progress and performs the approval unit work, and executes the collaborative work re-execution function through the process execution and management unit 120 to return to the unit work requested by the company A. .

As a result, the Company A and Company B managers will notify the rest of the unit personnel located on the path within the unit business that performed the collaboration task rerun from the requested unit task.

As an example of actually applying such a collaborative work re-execution process, the attached FIG. 9 shows a screen for a person in charge of a company to recognize a wrong work performance and apply for return to collaboration.

Through this process, in case of an error in the execution of the collaborative process, it is possible to solve the problem of the existing return function that can check only limited information about other companies due to process security.

In the fourth embodiment of the present invention, a method of supporting collaboration process execution through a candidate process selection function will be described.

In the case of a collaborative process involving a large number of companies for a long time, frequent modification of the process is inevitable to reflect various external variability factors, which means that the process often needs to be redefined. To this end, the collaborative process management system according to the fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention may support the collaborative process execution through the candidate process selection function included in the process execution and management unit 120.

The candidate process selection (dynamic selection) function is used when various work methods are available to perform sub-processes of a specific task, and various candidate sub-processes are defined in advance and execution time reaches a specific task. This is a technique for selecting subprocesses to execute before doing so. This candidate process selection function can be used to define and replace new candidate processes or to select predefined candidate processes within the scope of the template process that is inherently based when a change in any business process occurs during the collaboration process. Process replacement is possible. In other words, the candidate process selection function is a function of dynamically selecting and applying a process instead of redefining the process whenever the process changes.

The cooperative process management system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention may support cooperative process execution through a candidate process selection function as shown in FIG. 10.

The collaboration process management system for each company defines a process for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution through the process design unit 110 and performs collaboration process modeling for setting attribute values for the collaboration process and unit work.

When a unit task is basically performed through the process execution and management unit 120, the collaborative process management system continuously maintains and manages information on the process through a connection between the unit task and the before and after unit task variables.

The process execution and management unit 120 dynamically selects subprocesses to be executed before the execution time reaches a specific task by using a 'template process' for flexible and dynamic process change while maintaining process consistency. Perform candidate process selection. Here, the template process holds variables connecting the unit work before and after the existing unit work, and is a process that becomes a standard and an interface. In this case, candidate processes to be applied to dynamic change must be generated by inheriting a template process, and thus candidate processes inherit the template process, thereby maintaining process variable information management.

In FIG. 11, a candidate process (eg, a review meeting request (1), a review meeting (2), and a meeting record reception (3)) is generated based on a template process in order to apply dynamic selection. . Here, it can be seen that the candidate process inherits the unit tasks of the template process as it is and additionally defines the unit tasks.

The candidate process selection function as described above reduces the time for redefining the process and allows the process to be replaced during execution, thereby allowing the business process to operate more flexibly.

On the other hand, in the detailed description of the present invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

110: process design
120: process execution and management

Claims (16)

delete delete delete delete delete delete Defining a process for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution and performing collaboration process modeling for setting attribute values for the collaboration process and the unit business; And
If the process definition is not completed and there is an undefined process, executing an incomplete collaboration process priority execution function,
The step of executing the incomplete collaboration process priority execution function,
Confirming whether the collaboration process has been executed;
When the collaboration process is executed, performing an undefined status notification unit task for notifying the other company performing the collaboration task that the undefined process exists if the undefined process exists; And
And performing a unit task that stops and waits for a process execution state until the process definition is completed.
The method of claim 7, wherein
And the undefined process includes an undefined status notification and a unit task for waiting until the process definition is completed.
delete The method of claim 7, wherein
The step of executing the incomplete collaboration process priority execution function,
If the undefined process does not exist, further comprising continuing to execute the requested collaboration process.
Defining a process for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution and performing collaboration process modeling for setting attribute values for the collaboration process and the unit business; And
Re-executing the unit work of the error or repeat execution by returning to the unit task of the error or repeat execution by executing the cooperative work re-execution function when an error or repeat execution request during the execution of the inter-company collaboration process,
Re-executing the unit task of the error or repeated execution,
If any one enterprise receives a return request from its requester, executing an approval unit task for the return; And
A method for supporting the execution of an inter-enterprise collaboration process comprising the step of notifying a request to return to another enterprise conducting a collaboration.
The method of claim 11,
And wherein the re-execution of the collaborative work is performed even if the path to be returned is over a process with another company.
delete Defining a process for supporting inter-company collaboration process execution and performing collaboration process modeling for setting attribute values for the collaboration process and the unit business; And
And performing a candidate process selection function that dynamically selects a subprocess to be executed before the execution time reaches a specific task by using a template process to redefine the process during the collaboration process. How to support running collaborative processes.
15. The method of claim 14,
The template process is a method for supporting the execution of the inter-company collaboration process, characterized in that the process of holding the variables connecting the unit work before and after, and become a standard and interface.
16. The method according to claim 14 or 15,
The template process is a method for supporting the execution of the inter-company collaboration process, characterized in that the candidate process is inherited its own work as the candidate process to redefine the process.

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