JP2001125997A - Work flow defining method, work flow system and storage medium in which work flow definition program is stored - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten flow definition time by a user or a manager in a work flow system such as a plan sanction system. SOLUTION: All pieces of information to specify plural concerned persons to be destination of circulation of a computerized document are inputted or information to specify one of the plural concerned persons to be the destination of circulation of the computerized document and information to specify a concerned person to be the last of circulation of the computerized document among the plural concerned persons are inputted and the plural concerned persons to be the destination of circulation are decided from the pieces of information. Regarding the plural concerned persons, attribute information to indicate attributes of each concerned person is acquired and an order of circulation among the plural concerned persons is generated based on the acquired attribute information. The generated order of the concerned persons is outputted as work flow definition information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a workflow definition method, a workflow system,
More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique capable of reducing a work load when defining a processing order in a workflow.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, workflow systems are used in various types of business and business. The workflow system is a system for performing a task while circulating a predetermined digitized document in a predefined order. In a workflow system, it is necessary to define a document flow in advance. For example, in the Decision-making system for making decisions,
It is necessary to define in advance the approval decision flow that determines the order of the approval decision. However, performing such a flow definition imposes a heavy load on a user or an administrator. In particular, in order to perform various tasks on the decision making and approval system, the flow must be defined for all of the tasks, so that the load is particularly high. Therefore, as a method of reducing such a load, an electronic document circulation system capable of automatically extracting a circulation destination from the contents of an electronic document and controlling the circulation destination has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8-263481). issue).

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional approval / decision-making system, since a flow must be defined for each case, a very large load is imposed on a user or an administrator. On the other hand, there is no system that can present an expected flow on the system side when a user or an administrator attempts to define a flow. Further, the system of the above publication is based on automatically extracting a circulation destination from the contents of an electronic document, and a flow expected when a user or an administrator attempts to define a flow is described. It is not something to present.

An object of the present invention is to enable a user or an administrator to perform a flow definition that can reduce a flow definition time in a workflow system such as a decision making and approval system.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a workflow system for creating workflow definition information for determining the order of circulation of a digitized document in a workflow system for performing tasks while circulating the digitized document. A definition method, which is a step of inputting all information for specifying a plurality of participants as circulation destinations of an electronic document, and acquiring attribute information representing attributes of the respective participants with respect to the plurality of input participants. A step of generating a circulation order of the plurality of participants based on the acquired attribute information; and a step of outputting the generated order of the participants as workflow definition information.

Further, the present invention is a workflow definition method for creating workflow definition information for determining the order of circulation of an electronic document in a workflow system for performing operations while circulating the electronic document. Inputting information that specifies one of a plurality of participants that will be the information, and information that specifies the person who will be the final person in circulation of the electronic document among the plurality of the participants,
A plurality of participants as circulation destinations of the digitized document are determined based on information for specifying one of the participants and information for specifying a participant who is the final person of the circulation of the digitized document. Obtaining the attribute information representing the attribute of each participant for the determined plurality of participants, determining the order of circulation of the plurality of participants based on the obtained attribute information, generating Outputting the order of the involved participants as workflow definition information.

[0007] The information for specifying the participant is, for example, an identifier and / or name of an individual for specifying the participant.
Information on at least one of job title, year of hiring, and age. Further, the step of displaying the output workflow definition information, and the step of performing a correction by the user on the displayed workflow definition information,
It may be further provided. The workflow definition information output by the workflow definition method according to the present invention is stored for each case, and when the same case occurs next, the order of the participants defined in the workflow definition information is reused. It is good practice to circulate electronic documents.

Further, according to the present invention, in a workflow system in which business is performed while circulating an electronic document, all information for specifying a plurality of participants as circulation destinations of the electronic document is input, or Information for specifying one of a plurality of participants to be circulated and information for specifying a participant who is the last person to circulate the digitized document among the plurality of participants are input, and electronic information is obtained from the information. Means for determining a plurality of participants as circulation destinations of the structured document, means for acquiring attribute information representing attributes of each of the plurality of participants, and the plurality of participants based on the acquired attribute information. A means for generating the order of circulation of the participants and a means for outputting the generated order of the participants as workflow definition information are provided.

[0009] A storage medium storing a workflow definition program for creating workflow definition information for determining the order of circulation of the digitized document in a workflow system for performing business while circulating the digitized document, The definition program inputs all the information that specifies a plurality of participants who are to circulate the electronic document, or the information that specifies one of the plurality of participants that is to circulate the electronic document and Inputting information specifying a participant who will be the final part of circulation of the digitized document among the plurality of participants, and determining a plurality of participants to be a circulation destination of the digitized document from the information; Acquiring attribute information representing the attribute of each participant for the plurality of participants involved, based on the acquired attribute information, Characterized in that it comprises the steps of generating a sequence of circulation, and outputting the sequence of the generated participant as a workflow definition information.

Normally, for example, in a workflow for making a decision on a decision, a decision is made from a lower rank to a higher rank in the organization where the decision was made, and then, in another organization, the rank is changed from a lower rank to a higher rank. Approval is often made to higher-ranking people. Therefore, in the present invention, in a workflow system for various types of business, for example, a decision making system, one or a plurality of decision making participants input by a user or an administrator, and a decision making participant stored in personnel information. At least one or more of the attribute information such as affiliation department, affiliation section, job title, year of joining, age, etc. is used to present the participants and the order of the decision that the user or the administrator is trying to define, and the flow definition Time can be reduced.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an example of a system configuration diagram of a decision making and approval system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includes a decision making system 101 in which a user or an administrator performs decision making and a flow definition relating to the decision making, a flow definition information storage device 106 which stores flow information of decision making executed by the decision making system 101. ,
A personnel information storage device 107 for storing personnel information of an individual belonging to an organization that makes a decision on approval.

The approval decision system 101 includes a approval decision program 102 for controlling the approval decision based on the flow definition information 106, a flow definition auxiliary program 103 for performing an auxiliary process when defining the flow of the approval decision, and a flow A work area 104, which is a work area of the definition auxiliary program 103, and a control program 105 for performing processing such as synchronizing the approval decision program 102 and the flow definition auxiliary program 103 are provided. Details of the processing of the flow definition auxiliary program 103 will be described later.

FIG. 2 shows a table of participants involved in the approval / decision making generated on the work area 104 when a user or an administrator defines a flow. The row name 201 for identifying each row of the table, the personal ID 202, , Name 203 and department 2
04, affiliation section 205, job title 206, and employment year 20
7 and age 208. Hereinafter, the table of participants involved in the approval and decision making is represented by X, and each row thereof is represented by X (i) (i = 1, 2,.
...). The Participants table in the Decision
The information about the persons involved in the approval decision obtained based on the information input by the user or the administrator is stored in no particular order.

FIG. 3 shows a flow definition work table generated on the work area 104 when a user or an administrator defines a flow, and a row name 3 for identifying each row of the table.
01, personal ID 302, name 303, and department 30
4, affiliation section 305, position 306, and annual 307
And age 308. Hereinafter, the flow definition work table is represented by Y, and each row thereof is represented by Y (i) (i = 1, 2,...)
It is represented by It is necessary to rearrange the participants involved in the decision making and approval gathered in the table of participants involved in the decision making and approval in FIG.
Use the table as a work area.

FIG. 4 is a flow definition table showing the flow definition for each case stored in the flow definition information 106. The row name 401 of each row of the table and the personal ID 402
And the name 403. The row name 401 is information for determining each row of this table, and is information indicating the order of the approval decision in the case and the order of the approval decision in the case. Hereinafter, the flow definition table is represented by Z, and each row is represented by Z (i) (j) (i = 1, 2,..., J = 1, 2,...). “i” is a serial number for specifying one case of the approval decision, and “j” is a serial number representing the order of approval of the persons involved in the approval / decision. For example, Z (1) indicates one case for approval, and Z (1) (1) to Z (1) (6) indicate that the case for approval Z (1) is executed in that order. I have.

FIG. 5 shows a position definition table for defining the position relationship, which is composed of an order 501 in which the position relationship is expressed by ascending numbers and a position name 502. It is conceivable that each organization such as a company or a municipal government using the present system may have different names for positions and hierarchical relationships.
Have a table ready.

FIG. 6 is a personnel information table stored in the personnel information 107. The personnel information table includes a personal ID 601 and a name 60.
2, affiliation department 603, affiliation section 604, and position 605
606, and the age 607. Many companies and municipalities often hold electronic information of personnel information, and use that information.

The symbol "*" in the above table
Is assumed to be processed as being equal to all values in the comparison processing of the department, department, position, job entry year, and age.

The operation of creating flow definition information by the flow definition auxiliary program 103 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

Referring to FIG. 7, a procedure for creating flow definition information as shown in FIG. 4 in the system of FIG. 1 will be described. When defining a flow, the user or administrator can manually enter all of the multiple participants in the decision making process, or enter a single participant in the decision making process and automatically display other participants in the decision making process. Is selected (step 701). If the user selects to manually input a plurality of participants involved in the approval decision, the user or the administrator inputs all the personal IDs and names of the plurality of participants involved in the approval decision (step 70).
2). Various methods and methods can be used for the method of inputting the personal ID and name, such as manual input by an administrator or a user, selection with a mouse or the like from personnel information. Based on the input personal ID and name, the approval / decision approval system 101 obtains information on the affiliation unit 603, affiliation section 604, job title 605, joining year 606, and age 607 of the personnel information table as shown in FIG. With reference to FIG. 2, a table of participants involved in the approval / decision making as shown in FIG. 2 is created (step 703).

In step 701, when a single decision-making and decision-making participant is inputted and the other decision-making and decision-making participant is selected to be automatically displayed, the user or the administrator decides on the decision-making and decision-making participant involved in the decision-making decision (Step 704), and selects the highest position of the person involved in the approval / decision to be displayed (Step 70).
5). The decision making and approval system 101 refers to the information of the affiliation unit 603, affiliation section 604, position 605, joining year 606, and age 607 of the personnel information table of FIG. A decision making participant table (FIG. 2) is created which includes persons who belong to the same department as the participant and includes the top position selected in step 705 and lower ranks (FIG. 2). 706). Steps 704 to 706 are automatically performed by designating any one of the plurality of participants involved in the approval decision and selecting the highest position to perform the approval decision, instead of manually inputting all the participants involved in the approval decision. The purpose is to decide who is involved in the approval decision. In many cases, the approval decision is circulated to a person in a certain section or lower who has a certain job rank or lower. Therefore, in steps 704 to 706, the labor involved in the input can be omitted and all the participants involved in the approval decision can be input.

Next, the created participant table for approval / decision (FIG. 2) is stored in the section 204, the section 205, and the position 20.
6. At least one of 207, 207, and age 208
Then, the flow is rearranged in the order of the approval decision to create a flow definition, and written in the flow definition work table of FIG. 3 (step 707). This flow definition creation processing will be described later in detail.

Next, the contents of the flow definition work table (FIG. 3) are displayed on the screen, and if necessary, the user or the administrator corrects the flow definition (step 708). Finally, the contents of the flow definition work table (FIG. 3) determined by the correction of the user or the administrator are written in the flow definition table (FIG. 4) (step 709). The flow definition table stores the flow definition for each matter, and is called when the matter occurs next time, and can be reused.

With reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the flow definition creation process (step 707) for creating a flow definition from the input decision making participant will be described in detail. First, the number of lines in the table of decision-making and decision-related participants (FIG. 2) is substituted into a variable n (step 801). It is substituted into Y (1) which is the first line of FIG. 3 (step 802).

Next, the following processing is performed for i = 2,.
, And j = 1,.
.., I−1.

First, the belonging section 204 of X (i) and Y (j)
(Step 8)
03), if equal, proceed to step 804; if not, proceed to step 808. If not, Y
The belonging unit 304 of (j) is compared with the belonging unit 304 of Y (j-1) (step 808).
Go to step 12 if not equal. In step 803, if the belonging unit 204 of X (i) is equal to the belonging unit 304 of Y (j), the belonging unit 205 of X (i) is
It is determined whether or not the affiliation section 305 of (j) is equal (step 804). If they are equal, the process proceeds to step 805;

At step 805, the position 20 of X (i)
6 is determined to be equal to the position 306 of Y (j) (step 805).
If they are not equal, the process proceeds to step 809. Step 80
9, the position 206 of X (i) and the position 306 of Y (j)
Is determined (step 809), and the position 2 of X (i) is determined.
If 06 is lower than the position 306 of Y (j), the process proceeds to step 813; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 812.

At step 806, it is determined whether the entry year 207 of X (i) is equal to the entry year 307 of Y (j) (step 806).
If not equal to 07, the process proceeds to step 810. In step 810, X (i) joining year 207 and Y (j)
(Step 81)
0), if the year of entry 207 of X (i) is smaller than the year of entry 307 of Y (j), the process proceeds to step 812; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 813.

At step 807, the age of X (i) 20
8 is determined to be equal to the age 308 of Y (j) (step 807).
If they are not equal, the process proceeds to step 811. Step 81
1, the age 208 of X (i) and the age 308 of Y (j)
(Step 811). If the age 208 of X (i) is smaller than the age 308 of Y (j), the process proceeds to Step 813; otherwise, the process proceeds to Step 812.

In step 812, 1 is added to the variable j. If the value exceeds i-1, the process proceeds to step 813. If not, the process returns to step 803 to repeat the processing. After the above processing, the writing processing to the flow definition work table is performed (step 813). This writing process will be described later in detail. Next, 1 is added to i (step 814). If the value exceeds n, the flow definition creation processing ends and the process returns. If not, the process returns to step 803.

Referring to FIG. 10, a detailed description will be given of the writing process (step 813) performed when writing the participants involved in the approval / decision making in the flow definition work table (FIG. 3). First, it is determined whether i and j are equal (step 901). If not equal, proceed to step 902,
If they are equal, the process proceeds to step 904. The processing of step 902 and step 903 is as follows: k = i, i−1,.
Repeat for +1. First, Y (k-1) is substituted for Y (k) (step 902), and 1 is subtracted from k (step 9).
03). After performing the above-described repetitive processing, X is added to Y (j).
(I) is substituted (step 904), and the write processing ends and the routine returns.

Next, an embodiment will be described based on a specific case.

An embodiment in which a manager inputs a plurality of persons involved in the approval and decision making and defines a flow will be described. First,
The administrator starts the process and selects either manual input or automatic display (step 701). In this case, manual input is selected. The administrator inputs the personal IDs and names of all the participants involved in the approval decision (Step 7).
02). FIG. 11 shows the contents input by the administrator. When the input is completed, the department 60 of the participant (FIG. 11) of each input approval decision is referred to by referring to the personnel information table of FIG.
3. Acquire the affiliation section 604, job title 605, joining year 606, and age 607, and create a table of participants involved in the approval and decision making (step 703). FIG. 2 is a table of the participants involved in the approval / decision making created in this way.

Next, the flow proceeds to flow definition creation processing (step 707 in FIG. 7, FIGS. 8 and 9). First, 6 which is the number of rows in the approval decision making participant table of FIG. 2 is substituted for n (step 8).
01), X (1) which is the first line of the approval decision making participant table of FIG. 2 is substituted for Y (1) which is the first line of the flow definition work table of FIG. 3 (step 802). The contents of the flow definition work table at this point are as shown in FIG.

Next, the following processing is performed for i = 2 and j = 1. The affiliation section of X (2) is compared with the affiliation section of Y (1) in FIG. 12 (step 803). ) Is compared with the section (step 804). Both sections belong to “Technology 2
Section ", so the position of X (2) is" Chief "and Y (1)
Is compared with the position "section manager" (step 805). Here, since they are not equal, the position of X (2) and the position of Y (1) are compared (step 809). The magnitude relation of the positions is defined in ascending order in the position definition table of FIG. In this case, if the position “section chief” of X (2) is Y
Since the job title “section manager” of (1) is smaller, the writing process to the flow definition work table (FIG. 12) (step 81)
3. Proceed to FIG.

In the write processing of FIG. 10, i = 2 and j =
Since 1 is not equal (step 901), Y (1) is substituted into the second row Y (2) of the flow definition work table in FIG. 12 (step 902), and 1 is subtracted from k = 2 to set k = 1. (Step 903) X (2) is substituted for Y (1) (Step 904). FIG. 13 shows the contents of the flow definition work table at this point.

Thus, the writing process (step 813) is completed, 1 is added to i = 2, and i = 3 (step 8).
14). Next, for i = 3, X (3) and Y (1) are compared by the same processing as described above, and writing processing to the flow definition work table in FIG. 13 is performed. FIG.
The contents of the flow definition work table at this point are shown.

Next, the following processing is performed for i = 4. X
The department “General Affairs Department” belonging to (4) is compared with the department “Technical Department” belonging to Y (1) (step 803). Since they are not the same, whether the departments belonging to Y (1) and Y (0) are equal or not. It is determined whether it is (Step 808). Y (0) does not exist,
If they do not exist, they are always determined to be equal.
Therefore, 1 is added to j to make j = 2 (step 81
2). Similar comparisons are made for Y (2) and Y (3), and j = 4. In the writing process, i = 4 and j
= 4 are equal (step 901), so that Y (4)
(4) is substituted (step 904). FIG. 15 shows the contents of the flow definition work table at this point.

Next, the following processing is performed for i = 5. X
The part belonging to (5) is compared with the part belonging to Y (1) (step 803). Since both are equal in the “technical department”, the section “*” belonging to X (5) and the part belonging to “Y (1)” The second technical section is compared (step 804). Since * is a value equal to all the values input to the attribute value, X (5) and Y (1)
Are determined to be the same, and then the position “manager” of X (5) is compared with the position “charge” of Y (1) (step 8).
05). According to the position definition table (FIG. 5), X (5)
Is higher than the position in charge of Y (1), 1 is added to j = 1 to j = 2 (step 8).
12). At this point, since i = 5 and j = 2, the process returns to step 803.

Next, the section belonging to X (5) is compared with the section belonging to Y (2) (step 803). Since both are equal in the “technical department”, the section “*” belonging to X (5) and the Y The affiliation section “technical section 2” of (2) is compared (step 804). Since * is a value equal to all the values input to the attribute value, the divisions belonging to X (5) and Y (2) are equal, and the job title “Manager” of X (5) and Y (2) The job position “chief” is compared (step 805). According to the position definition table (FIG. 5),
Since “Manager” is higher than “Manager”, j =
1 is added to 2 to j = 3 (step 812). At this point, since i = 5 and j = 3, the process returns to step 803.

Next, the section belonging to X (5) and the section belonging to Y (3) are compared (step 803). Since both are equal in the “technical department”, the section “*” belonging to X (5) and Y The affiliation section “technical section 2” of (3) is compared (step 804). Since * is a value equal to all the values input to the attribute value, the departments belonging to X (5) and Y (3) are equal, and the job title “manager” of X (5) and Y (3) The position “section manager” is compared (step 805). According to the position definition table (FIG. 5),
Since “Manager” is higher than “Manager”, j =
1 is added to 3 to make j = 4 (step 812). At this point, since i = 5 and j = 4, step 803 is executed.
Return to

Next, the department “technical department” belonging to X (5) and Y
Compare the “General Affairs Department” belonging to (4) (Step 80)
3) Since they are not equal, the department “General Affairs Department” belonging to Y (4) is compared with the department “Technical Department” belonging to Y (3) (step 80).
8). In this case, since they are not equal, a write process is performed (step 813).

In the writing process (FIG. 10), i = 5 and j
Since = 4 is not equal (step 901), Y (4) is substituted for Y (5) (step 902), and 1 is subtracted from k = 5 to make k = 4 (step 903). X in Y (4)
(5) is substituted (step 904), and the process returns. Next, 1 is added to i = 5 to make i = 6 (step 81).
4). FIG. 16 shows the contents of the flow definition work table at this time.

Next, the following processing is performed for i = 6.
The department “general affairs department” belonging to X (6) and the department “technical department” belonging to Y (1) are compared (step 803), but because they are not equal, the department belonging to Y (1) and the department belonging to Y (0) are compared. It is determined whether the parts are equal (step 808). Y (0) does not exist, but if it does not exist, it is always determined that they are equal, so 1 is added to j to j = 2 (step 812).
Similar comparisons are made for Y (2), Y (3), and Y (4), and j = 5.

The section belonging to X (6) is compared with the section belonging to Y (5) (step 803), and since they are equal, the section “Accounting Section” of X (6) and the section “Accounting” of Y (5) are equal. The section is compared (step 804). X (6)
It is determined whether or not the job position “section manager” of Y is equal to the job position “in charge” of Y (5) (step 805). In this case, since the positions are not equal, a comparison is made between the position "section manager" of X (6) and the position "charge" of Y (5) (step 809). According to the position definition table (FIG. 5), since "section manager" is a position higher than "charge", 1 is added to j = 5 to j = 6 (step 812).

Next, the process proceeds to the writing process (step 81).
3) Since i = 6 and j = 6 are equal in FIG. 10 (step 901), X (6) is substituted for Y (6) (step 904). FIG. 3 shows the contents of the flow definition work table at this point.

The writing process is completed, and 1 is added to i = 6 to make i = 7 (step 814). This completes the flow definition creation process, and the flow definition work table (FIG. 3)
Is displayed on the screen, and the administrator can correct the contents of the flow if necessary (step 708). Here, it is assumed that there is no correction. After the contents of the flow are determined, the contents of the flow definition work table (FIG. 3) are written into the flow definition table (FIG. 4) (step 709), and all the processing ends.

In the flow definition table, a flow definition is stored for each case and can be reused. That is, assuming that the case name here is Z (1), for the case Z (1) in FIG. 4, Z (1) (1) to Z (1)
The flow definition (6) is stored, and when the case of Z (1) occurs next, the flow definition stored here is called by the approval decision program 102 and can be reused.

Next, a description will be given of an embodiment in which an administrator inputs a single participant in the approval and decision making and defines a flow.

The administrator starts the process and selects whether the input is manual input or automatic display (step 701).
In this case, it is assumed that the automatic display is selected, and the personal ID and the name of the single person involved in the approval / decision decision are entered (step 70).
4). FIG. 17 shows the contents input by the administrator. When the input is completed, the highest position of the person involved in the approval / decision to be displayed is selected (step 705). Here, it is assumed that the display up to the manager is selected. Next, a person belonging to the same department and section as the input single decision-making and decision-making participant is searched from the personnel information table (FIG. 6), and a decision-making decision-making participant table is created (step 706). FIG. 18 shows the contents of the created Participation in Decision Making Table.

Based on the table of the participants involved in the approval and decision making,
In the flow definition creation processing (step 707), a flow definition work table is generated. The detailed processing is almost the same as the above-mentioned processing, and thus the description is omitted. FIG.
Shows the contents of the generated flow definition work table.

With the above, the flow definition creation processing is completed, and the contents of the flow definition work table (FIG. 19) are displayed on the screen.
The administrator can modify the contents of the flow if necessary (step 708). Here, the administrator determines that it is not necessary to make a decision by “Hitachi Shichirou” and “Hitachi Hanako”, and makes a correction to delete Y (2) and Y (3). FIG. 20 shows a flow definition work table in which the contents of the flow are determined. After the contents of the flow are determined, the contents of the flow definition work table (FIG. 20) are written in the flow definition table (step 709), and all the processing ends.

In the flow definition table, a flow definition is stored for each case and can be reused. That is, assuming that the case name here is Z (2), for the case Z (2) in FIG. 4, Z (2) (1) to Z (2)
The flow definition (4) is saved, and when the case Z (2) occurs next, the saved flow definition is called by the approval decision program 102 and can be reused.

FIG. 20 shows a main screen example when the administrator performs the above-described embodiment. The screen 1 is an example of a screen when the administrator inputs the personal ID and the name of a single person involved in the approval / decision making (step 704 in FIG. 7). Screen 2 is an example of a screen in which a flow definition is created and displayed in conjunction with the personnel information table (step 708). The screen 3 is an example of a screen when a shaded portion that is an unnecessary participant in the approval decision is deleted (step 708). Screen 4 is an example of a screen when the flow definition is confirmed and confirmed (step 709).

In the above embodiment, the organizational structure is divided into two levels, namely, a department and a section.
It is possible to easily cope with an organization having a plurality of hierarchies. Further, in the above embodiment, the order of the approval is determined based on the department, affiliation section, job title, year of joining the company, and age of the person involved in the approval / decision decision, but it is also possible to use only some of these attributes. Alternatively, the ordering may be performed based on other attributes without being limited to these attributes.

[0057]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When a user or an administrator defines a flow, an expected flow is automatically presented from the system side, so that the flow definition time can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration diagram for realizing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a table of participants involved in a decision on approval and decision held in a work area.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow definition work table held in a work area;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow definition table held in the approval decision making system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a position definition table that defines the rank of positions.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a personnel information table stored in personnel information;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the entire processing procedure according to the embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating a procedure of a flow definition creation process;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating a procedure of a flow definition creation process;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a writing process.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a table of participants involved in a decision on approval and approval in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a transition image (part 1) of the flow definition work table in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a transition image (part 2) of the flow definition work table in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a transition image (part 3) of the flow definition work table in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a transition image (part 4) of the flow definition work table in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a transition image (part 5) of the flow definition work table in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of input data according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table of participants involved in a decision on approval and approval according to the second embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow definition work table according to the second embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a flow definition work table after correction by an administrator according to the second embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a screen display example according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 decision making and approval system 102 decision making and decision making program 103 flow definition auxiliary program 104 work area 110 flow definition information 111 personnel information

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A workflow definition method for creating workflow definition information for determining the order of circulation of an electronic document in a workflow system for performing business while circulating the electronic document, comprising: Inputting all the information specifying the participants of the plurality of participants; acquiring attribute information representing the attributes of each of the plurality of participants involved in the plurality of input participants; A workflow definition method comprising: a step of generating a circulation order of a participant; and a step of outputting the generated order of the participants as workflow definition information. 2. A workflow definition method for creating workflow definition information for determining the order of circulation of a digitized document in a workflow system for performing operations while circulating the digitized document, the method comprising: Inputting information that specifies one of the participants and information that specifies the participant who is the final person in the circulation of the electronic document among the plurality of participants; and A step of determining a plurality of participants as circulation destinations of the digitized document based on the information for specifying one person and the information for specifying the participant who is the final person in the circulation of the digitized document; Acquiring the attribute information representing the attribute of each participant for the participants, and determining the order of circulation of the plurality of participants based on the acquired attribute information; Workflow definition method characterized by comprising the step of outputting the sequence of forms were participants as a workflow definition information. 3. The workflow definition method according to claim 1, wherein the information specifying the participant is an identifier and / or a name of an individual specifying the participant, and the attribute information is a participant. A workflow definition method characterized in that the information is at least one of a department, a department, a position, a joining year, and an age. 4. The workflow definition method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the output workflow definition information is executed, and the displayed workflow definition information is corrected by a user. A workflow definition method, further comprising: 5. The workflow definition information output by the workflow definition method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is stored for each case, and when the same case occurs next,
A workflow execution method for executing the circulation of an electronic document by reusing the order of the participants defined in the workflow definition information. 6. A workflow system for proceeding with business while circulating an electronic document, wherein all information for specifying a plurality of participants who are to circulate the electronic document is entered, or And information for identifying a participant who is the last person of the circulation of the digitized document among the plurality of participants, and inputting the information of the digitized document from the information. Means for determining a plurality of participants to be circulated; means for the plurality of participants, means for acquiring attribute information representing attributes of each participant; and, based on the acquired attribute information, A workflow system comprising: means for generating a circulation order; and means for outputting the generated order of participants as workflow definition information. 7. A storage medium storing a workflow definition program for creating workflow definition information for determining the order of circulation of the digitized document in a workflow system for proceeding with business while circulating the digitized document, The definition program may enter all the information that specifies a plurality of participants to which the electronic document is to be circulated, or may include information that specifies one of the plurality of participants to which the electronic document is to be circulated, and Inputting information for specifying a participant who is the final person of circulation of the electronic document among the plurality of participants, and determining a plurality of participants to be a circulation destination of the electronic document from the information; Acquiring attribute information representing the attribute of each participant for the plurality of participants involved, based on the acquired attribute information, A storage medium storing a workflow definition program, comprising: a step of generating a circulation order; and a step of outputting the generated order of the participants as workflow definition information.