JP2000082103A - Electronic document sending back device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently send a document back to an editor on the occurrence of document inadequacies in a job using a word processor. SOLUTION: Identification information of an editor is registered in advance in an editor table for every information item in an electronic document. When sending back operation and the information item to be sent back are selected in an arbitrary person in charge terminal, the identification information of the editor corresponding to the information item to be sent back is retrieved from the editor table, and the electronic document is returned to the person in charge terminal of the editor obtained by the retrieval result. Or, identification information of a last updater is recorded in the editor table for every information item in the electronic document, the identification information of the last updater corresponding to the information item to be sent back is retrieved from the editor table, and the electronic document is returned to the person in charge terminal of the last updater obtained by the retrieval result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document return device in a workflow system for sequentially transferring an electronic document including a plurality of information items to a next person in charge terminal device according to a predetermined transfer order and performing a series of operations. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A workflow system is one of the information technologies for increasing the productivity of business of a company. This workflow system is described in Nikkei Computer No. 5.2, 1994 (Nikkei BP) pp. As described in 57 to 60, in a task in which a plurality of persons belonging to a certain organization work together while circulating the documents, the documents are digitized, and the digitized documents (hereinafter, referred to as electronic documents) are converted. It is a tool that has the function of improving work efficiency by circulating through electronic communication, and the function of progress management that can acquire information on the phase of an electronic document in real time in real time. The workflow has a function of preliminarily defining a circulation route of an electronic document in a business, and automatically sending a document to the next process according to the defined circulation route when each process (work) of the business is completed.

[0003]

However, such a conventional method has the following problems. In other words, if a part of the document is found to be incomplete during the circulation of the document, if you do not know who is responsible for the defective information item, you cannot know where to send the document back, You have to find the document entrant and send it back. Further, even if the return destination is known, it is troublesome to manually send it back to the relevant person each time, which causes a reduction in work efficiency.
It is an object of the present invention to automatically return a document to the creator or creator by a simple operation when it is necessary to return the document, such as when a defect is found in the document, and efficiently perform the work. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic document sending-back device in a workflow system that can perform the job.

[0004]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the first object, there are provided receiving means for receiving an instruction to send back an electronic document, and sending processing means for sending the specified electronic document to a return destination. It is characterized by having. Further, display means for displaying the electronic document, instruction means for indicating the electronic document to be returned on the display screen of the display means, and selection processing means for selecting a return destination associated with the specified electronic document are further provided. It is characterized by having. A display unit for displaying the electronic document; an instruction unit for specifying at least one item of the electronic document to be returned on the display screen of the display unit; and a selection process for selecting a return destination related to the specified item. Means is further provided. According to the above means, when it is necessary to send back the document, for example, when a person in charge of processing at an arbitrary processing stage finds a defect in the received electronic document, the send back operation is performed, and The electronic document is sent to the person in charge terminal device. In this way, the person in charge who found the defective item can be sent back without considering who the perpetrator is.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a workflow system using the present invention.
A plurality of staff terminal devices 1a to 1n for inputting information necessary for each item of the electronic document, and these staff terminal devices 1a to 1n;
1n and a server computer 2 connected to the network 3 for controlling transfer of electronic documents. The server computer 2 has a slip table 4 for storing information of a slip as an electronic document, a sentence table 5 in which identification information of a responsible person for each item of the slip is stored in advance, and a comment file 6 for storing a comment for an incomplete slip item. And a route management table 7 in which the circulation routes of the slips are stored in a network address list. In this embodiment, a case will be described as an example where a payout slip is processed by a plurality of persons as an electronic document.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the slip table 4.
Storage area 411 for the name of the client requesting withdrawal, storage area 412 for the department to which the client belongs, storage area 413 for the name of the purchased article, storage area 414 for the code number corresponding to the article, price of the article Storage area 415, a budget balance storage area 416 in the department to which this term belongs, and a storage area for a slip number 417 as information for identifying the slip itself.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the responsibility table 5.
The names of responsible persons 501 to 507 and network addresses 511 to 511 responsible for each of the slip items shown in FIG.
517 is stored in advance, and if the network addresses 511 to 517 are found, a withdrawal slip having incomplete items can be returned to the culprit of the network address as an electronic mail. .

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the comment file 6. When a defective item is found in the withdrawal slip of the slip item shown in FIG. 2, a specific person in charge of the examination comments the content of the defect. It stores what you enter in the format.

FIG. 5 shows the slip of FIG.
1 shows an example of a slip screen 700 displayed on the display screens 1 to 1n. The name of the requester is displayed in a display column 701, and the data input here is stored in a storage area 411 of the slip table 4. You. Similarly, the data input to the display column 702 is stored in the storage area 412 of the slip table 4.
The data entered in the display column 703 is the slip table 4
, The data stored in the display field 704 is stored in the storage area 414 of the slip table 4, and the data input in the display field 705 is stored in the storage area 415 of the slip table 4.
The data stored in the display column 706 is the slip table 4
The data input to the display field 707 in the storage area 416 is stored in the storage area 417 of the slip table 4. At the bottom of the slip screen 700, two function buttons 710,
715 is displayed, and by pressing this button (selecting with the mouse cursor), the responsible terminal device executes the following processing. That is, as a result of the examination, if there is no incomplete entry, the "OK" button 710 is pushed, and the slip is transferred to the next person in charge terminal. Is executed.

FIG. 6 shows a slip screen 800 after pressing a “return” button 715 on the slip screen 700 of FIG. 5. When the “return” button 715 is pressed, a mouse pointer 805 is newly displayed. In addition, a message 810 "Please specify a return area" is displayed.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a return confirmation window 900 for confirming the return of a voucher. Identification information 905 comprising the name and network address of the criminal to whom the voucher is to be returned is shown. Is displayed,
A comment 910 for sending back is displayed. FIG. 7 shows an example in which text information such as “please enter the number of purchases in the product name” is displayed as the comment 910. Further, function buttons 921, 922, 923
Is displayed, and by pressing this function button, the responsible terminal device executes the following processing. That is, the user presses the “OK” button 921 when sending after confirming the return, and “Cancel” when canceling the return is required.
The user presses a button 922, and presses a comment button 923 to enter a comment. The content of the comment 910 can be input by pressing the comment button 923.

FIG. 8 is a workflow diagram showing a flow of a certain payment slip processing business.
The first writer A fills out one part of the voucher and the second writer B fills out another part of the voucher in a second process 105. In the third process 110, after the examiner checks the slip, the remaining part of the slip is filled in to complete the slip, and in the fourth process 115, the processing staff actually pays out the slip. Is shown.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1 for processing a dispensing slip in accordance with the workflow of FIG. 8 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, in the first process 100, an input process for a withdrawal slip by the first writer A is performed by the person in charge terminal device 1a of the writer A. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for this input. First, FIG. 5 is displayed on the display unit screen of the person in charge terminal device 1a of the entrant A.
Is displayed (step 20).
0). Therefore, when the entrant A inputs, for example, the name of the entrant into the display column 701 (step 225), the entered contents are transmitted to the server computer 2 via the network 3.
And stores it in the corresponding storage area 411 of the slip table 4 (step 230). The above series of processing is completed for one item, and if there is another item to be input, the process returns to step 225. If the input has been completed, the processing in the first process 100 ends, and the process moves to the next second process 105 (step 240). Specifically, the slip is delivered to the second person in charge terminal device based on the network address stored in the route management table 7. Second
The input process of the slip item by the second writer B in the process 105 is similar to the process in the first process 100.

Next, in a third process 110, the input slip is examined. FIG. 10 is a flowchart for this examination. First, the examiner checks the slip screen 700 of FIG. 5 displayed on the display unit of the operator terminal device 1n used by the examiner and checks whether or not each of the entered items is incomplete. Then, as a result of the examination, if there is no defect in the withdrawal slip, the “OK” button 710 is pressed, and if there is any defect, the “Return” button 715 is pressed. Upon confirming that the button has been pressed (step 300), the terminal device 1n of the examiner identifies which button was pressed.

If the "OK" button 710 is pressed, no deficiencies have been detected, so that the examination is terminated as it is, and the process proceeds to the fourth process 115, where the requested withdrawal processing is executed. When the “return” button 715 is pressed, the process for the return is executed (step 305) because the defect is detected. "Return" button 7
When the button 15 is pressed, the terminal device 1n of the examiner changes the slip screen from the slip screen 700 in FIG. 5 to the slip screen 8 in FIG.
Change as 00.

At this point, a mouse cursor 805 for selecting a defective item appears on the screen, and a message 810 for having the examiner select the defective item is displayed (step 310). For example, here, assuming that there is insufficient entry in the product name, the examiner performs an item selection operation on the corresponding item column 703 on the slip screen 800 (step 315). The item selection operation is performed by giving some selection instruction to an item for which a defect is detected, for example, by double-clicking the corresponding item column 703 with a pointing device such as a mouse. In addition to this, for example, a method of moving the cursor on the screen to the corresponding item column 703 and pressing the determination button may be considered.

When confirming that the item column 703 of the content defect is selected, the terminal device 1n of the examiner inquires of the server computer for the identification information of the person responsible for the defect item. In response to the inquiry, the server computer reads the defect item 5 from the prepared responsibility table 5
Criminal name 503 and network address 5 for 03
13 is retrieved (step 320), transmitted to the terminal 1n of the person in charge of the examination person who made the inquiry, and a message for confirming the return of the error and the criminal person identification information 9 are displayed on the screen.
A confirmation window 900 having the information 05 is displayed (step 325).

In this window 900, the examiner is 3
One button can be selected. Upon confirming that the button has been pressed (step 330), the terminal device 1n of the examiner identifies which button was pressed. If the item considered to be incomplete is not the case, and the cancel button 922 is pressed, the process returns to the start of the check in step 300 (step 33).
5).

In order to make it easy for the responsibilities person to make a mistake when sending back an incomplete slip,
When the comment button 923 is pressed, the comment 91
An entry field where 0 can be entered is displayed, and a comment is entered in this entry field. The content entered in the comment entry field is displayed as a comment 910 as shown in FIG.
Further, it is transmitted to the server computer 2 through the network 3 and stored in the comment file 6 (step 345).

When returning, the "OK" button 921 is pressed. Then, the person in charge terminal device 1n of the reviewing person sends back a disbursement slip with incomplete items, together with the comment 910, to the person in charge terminal device of the network address displayed together with the name of the responsible person in the confirmation window 900 (step 3).
40).

In the above-described embodiment, the responsible person for each slip item is registered in advance in the sentence table 5 in FIG. 3. However, the purpose of this is when the defect is detected in the slip. By sending a slip to the person in charge of the defective item, it is intended to correct the defectiveness accurately.

Here, instead of registering the responsibilities in advance in the responsibilities table 5, the first and second processes 100, 10
In the input processing of step 5, the name of the input user and the network address are sequentially stored in the storage area of the responsibility table 5 corresponding to each item each time the item is input. The name and network address of the person who last updated the item are stored.
When the document is sent back in step 40, the document is sent to the last updater, and when the responsibilities are different from the responsibilities, the responsibilities can be prevented from requesting the responsibilities again for input. . In addition, there is an advantage that the workflow of FIG. 8 is restarted without interruption by sending to the last updater.

The method of substituting the responsibilities by the final renewers can be realized by the flowchart shown in FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 11 is obtained by adding a step 235 to the flowchart of FIG. That is, after the entry of the items in step 225, the input worker's name and network address are stored in the corresponding items of the responsibility table 5 (step 235). In this case, the name of the input person and the network address can be obtained by inputting each time or inputting at the time of login. By adding this process, the address of the worker who last updated each item is always stored in the sentence table 5, and the address of the last updater is searched in step 320 in the flowchart of FIG. At 340, the document is sent back to the last updater.

When the return document returns to the input process 100 or 105, it is entered again. At this time, it is searched whether a comment is attached, and if there is a comment (step 205), it is first displayed on the screen. Then, the responsibilities are made to understand what is wrong (step 210). It is confirmed that the criminal has read the comment by pressing a button or inputting a key (step 215). Then, the comment 910 is deleted from the comment file 6 (step 2).
20).

According to the above processing, after displaying the comment and letting the culprit or the last updater understand the insufficiency, the contents of the comment file 6 are cleared and the processing can be continued as the same workflow as before. .

In the above-described embodiment, in the display of the document sent back destination criminal name in the send back confirmation window 900 in FIG. 7, not only the name of the criminal but also the network address are displayed, so that the reminder person can write down the network address. It is also possible to send another e-mail at a later date.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
A table that stores the identity of the responsible person for each item of the document handled in the workflow is prepared, so when the document is defective, the document is easily sent back to the person in charge according to the item where the defect occurred, and the defect is corrected quickly, There is an effect that the work can be performed efficiently.

Further, when the identification information of the last updater is sequentially stored as the identification information of the criminal, the electronic document is unnecessarily returned if the last updater and the criminal are different. And a series of operations can be performed without interrupting the workflow.

Also, since an interface for adding a comment at the time of sending back is prepared, the sentenced criminal easily obtains information on the defect from the comment information,
The content of the defective item can be corrected.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a device for handling electronic documents, when it becomes necessary to send back a received electronic document, the operator does not need to explicitly specify the return destination. The effect that it becomes possible to send back is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a slip table in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a sentence table in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a comment file according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a slip screen according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen when returning a slip.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a window for confirming a slip to be sent back.

FIG. 8 is a workflow diagram illustrating an example of a task to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the processing procedure in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a to 1n: person in charge terminal device, 2: server computer, 3: network, 4: slip table, 5: responsibility table, 6: comment file, 700: slip screen, 8
00: slip screen (at the time of return), 900: return confirmation window.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Megumi Yonezawa 890 Kashimada, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture 12 Information Systems Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Yoshitsugu Morooka 12 Information Systems Division, Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for receiving and sending an electronic document, comprising: receiving means for receiving a return instruction of the electronic document; and sending processing means for sending the specified electronic document to a return destination. Document return device. 2. Display means for displaying an electronic document, instruction means for specifying an electronic document to be returned on a display screen of the display means, and selection processing means for selecting a return destination associated with the specified electronic document. The electronic document reversion device according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. Display means for displaying an electronic document, instructing means for specifying at least one item of the electronic document to be returned on the display screen of the display means, and selecting a return destination related to the specified item. The electronic document reversion apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a selection processing unit that performs the selection processing.