JP2002007231A - Information management system for operation management - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information management system for operation management which can unitedly integrate and manage information which are necessary for the operation management. SOLUTION: This information management system manages the information needed for the operation management of various systems, etc., and the necessary information is stored in a database. This database is generated by an object- oriented method and composed of respective classes of information management frameworks, management objects, items, management items, values, etc. The class of management objects is a collection of management objects for operation management; and the class of the items is a collection of items included in the respective management objects and is related to the management objects, including the items by the items. The class of the values is a collection of a values given to the respective items. The class of the management items is a collection of relations for related to the respective values and the items given the values to each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information management system for operation management that manages operation management information on computer systems and network systems in a company, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In companies and factories, various systems are operated by introducing a large number of computer terminals and connecting them to various system servers via a network. In this case, the system administrator manages the current state of the computer terminal or the network device itself, what to do when a failure occurs, and the like, which is referred to as operation management. . Usually, information necessary for such operation management is managed in a paper-based ledger. As this management ledger, for example,
Each system management ledger, information equipment management ledger, software management ledger, address management ledger, fault management ledger, vendor management ledger, and the like are available. When a failure occurs, the system administrator can manually turn over the failure management ledger to obtain necessary information,
When a new information device is introduced, necessary items are added to an information device management ledger or the like.

In actual operation management, a system administrator is determined for each system, and an overall administrator for managing the entire operation may be determined. For this reason,
When it is possible to log in to a plurality of systems with one computer terminal, one computer terminal may be managed by a plurality of system administrators.

[0004]

By the way, each system administrator has to manage the operation of the system while considering the influence on other systems. Often not sure. In addition, the general manager often does not understand the operation management of individual systems. For this reason, when an administrator is inquired about a system unrelated to himself, it takes time to search for predetermined information from the management ledger, and sometimes the administrator cannot take prompt action.

[0005] Each management ledger has many items,
Data corresponding to each item is described. However, data on the same item is often managed in duplicate in a plurality of management ledgers. Moreover, even if the data has the same content, the names of the items may be different depending on the management ledger, and at present, the consistency of the item names is not maintained in all the management ledgers. For this reason, when the administrator corrects information for one management ledger, it sometimes takes time to correct information for another management ledger.

[0006] An operation management tool for managing the operation of the system is commercially available. This is to organize and manage only information belonging to a certain category.
With such an operation management tool, for example, it is not possible to manage management ledgers including items having different names and representing the same contents, and therefore, it is necessary to collectively manage information necessary for each operation management. Not suitable for

[0007] The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an information management system for operation management capable of integrally managing information necessary for operation management. It is.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention manages a plurality of computer terminals and a predetermined system connected to the plurality of computer terminals via a network and operating on the network. One or more system servers, and one or more databases that store information necessary for the operation management of the system, and are connected to the plurality of computer terminals and the one or more system servers, and are stored in the database. An information management system for operation management having an information management server that manages the information, wherein the database includes:
As information necessary for the operation management, management target information which is a set of management targets for performing the operation management, and a set of items included in each of the management targets, and the items are included for each of the items Item information associated with the management target to be managed, value information that is a set of values assigned to each item, and a set of relationships associating the value and the item to which the value is assigned for each value. And certain relational information is stored.

It is preferable that the management target information, the item information, the value information, and the relationship information are defined as classes using an object-oriented technique.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information management system for operation management according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a relationship between a compound terminal and each server in the information management system for operation management. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the class structure of an object-oriented database in the information management system for operation management according to the present embodiment.

The information management system for operation management according to the present embodiment integrates information necessary for operation management of various systems in a company, for example, and integrally manages the information. As shown in FIG.
, An accounting system server 13, a mail system server 14, and a plurality of computer terminals. The information management server 11 stores a database 12. FIG. 1 shows only one composite terminal 15 of the plurality of computer terminals.

This example shows a case where an accounting system and a mail system are operating in a company. In the accounting system, a network (LAN) is constructed by connecting the accounting system server 13 and a plurality of computer terminals via communication lines. Also, in the mail system, a mail system server 14 and a plurality of computer terminals are connected by a communication line to construct a network (LAN). As shown in FIG. 2, the composite terminal 15 connected to both the accounting system and the mail system via the network is connected to the accounting system server 1.
3. It is possible to log in to each of the mail system servers 14 and execute each application.

The information management server 11 manages individual operation management information of the accounting system and the mail system, and information necessary for the overall operation management, such as information equipment management information, software management information, address management information, and fault information. It manages management information, vendor management information, and the like. Further, the information management server 11 also has a function of managing a workflow in which when a predetermined matter occurs, data is transferred to each person on a predetermined route and a predetermined process is executed.

The database 12 stores operation management information, information device management information, software management information, address management information, fault management information, vendor management information, and the like for the accounting system and mail system. In the present embodiment, a database is created using an object-oriented method, and the data structure of the database includes, as shown in FIG. 3, an information management framework, a management target, a management method, an item, a management item, and a value. Consists of each class.

Before describing each of these classes, the consulting work performed prior to the creation of the database will be specifically described. In this consulting work, when a customer (company) receives a consultation on the operation and management of various systems, a consultation is conducted to collect information necessary for the construction of the database and to perform the operation and management of this embodiment. It specifically shows customers the efficiency of operation management by introducing the information management system. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure of the consulting work.

In the consulting work, the person in charge first conducts a hearing survey with the customer according to the flow shown in FIG. 4 (S1). Here, it is assumed that only the accounting system and the mail system are operating in the company. That is, the information management server 11 and the database 12 in FIG. 1 are not provided in the company system at this time. In the interview survey of step S1,
Ask what kind of information management system you want to build for operational management. In addition, for each of the currently operating accounting system and mail system, the items of the operation management information (management ledger) are asked and listed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a management ledger item list obtained by a hearing survey on the accounting system and the mail system. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a terminal logical name, a terminal ID,
Each item includes a station code, a screen type, an initial menu number, a business code, a form type, and a connection server name. In addition, the operation management ledger of the mail system contains terminal logical names,
Each item includes an IP address, a user ID, a mail address, a group ID, a group name, and the number of connections. As described above, each management ledger has the same items and different items. In some cases, the names of the items themselves are different but the substance is the same.

On the other hand, a company has not only an operation management ledger for each system but also a management ledger from another viewpoint. For example, there are an information device management ledger, a software management ledger, an address management ledger, a fault management ledger, a vendor management ledger, and the like. These management ledgers are necessary for overall operation management, and are currently managed by customers using paper or personal computers. If there is a request to centrally manage each management information in the company, the items of the management ledger are also listed. FIG. 6 shows an example of an item list of the management ledger obtained by a hearing survey on these management ledgers. In this way, the items are arranged for each management ledger by conducting a hearing survey.

In addition, in this interview survey, in addition to inquiring the items of each management ledger, for example, anyone who can accurately and quickly update data can know predetermined information first. Ask about someone's matters. These items are mainly information required when defining a workflow.

Next, the person in charge prepares items for each management ledger obtained in the interview survey in a table format in the database 12.
Register with. FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrams showing an example of a table for registering items for each management ledger. In this table, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, "Ledger",
“Item”, “Category 1”, “Category 2”, “Evaluation”, “Add /
, "Automation", "reduction efficiency", and "execution". The name of each ledger is entered in the “ledger” column, and the name of an item is entered for each ledger in the “item” column.

Thereafter, the person in charge assigns management categories 1 and 2 to each item of the plurality of ledgers (S2). The management category 1 is a category when the item itself is viewed from a logical viewpoint. In the present embodiment, the management category 1 is IS
In accordance with the standard classification items of O (International Standard Organization), necessary classification items are further added. Specifically, the management category 1 includes a configuration management “C”, an asset management “R”, a user management “U”, a software management “S”, an operation management “O”, and a performance management for a system configuration change. "A", failure management "T" for handling failure occurrence, security management "E", billing management "B", facility management "L", vendor management "G" for managing equipment providers, etc., individual There are a total of 12 categories of management "Z". Here, the individual management “Z” is the other one.
It does not correspond to any one of the sections, that is, the others. On the other hand, the management classification 2 is a classification when a viewpoint is placed on a physical object managed by the item, and includes a person / organization “P”, a platform “H”, an application “S”, and a network “N”. There are a total of four divisions. The management category 2 is defined from a completely different viewpoint from the management category 1. Therefore, the items belonging to each of the twelve management categories 1 are further classified into the four management categories 2. The reason why the management classifications 1 and 2 are assigned to each item in this way is that, when the database is created, the management classification 1 and the management classification 2 display the same items on the screen so that the same contents are displayed. This is to facilitate the work of defining the class of the management item that associates the. The information on the management categories 1 and 2 is usually required only when the database is created, but may be stored as needed after the database is created.

The person in charge determines the management category 1 and management category 2 for the item based on the content of the item, and uses the results of the determination as symbols “class 1” in the table, respectively.
Input in the column of “Category 2”. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, to the logical terminal name of the accounting system management ledger, configuration management “C” is assigned as management category 1 and network “N” is assigned as management category 2. In addition, the terminal ID of the accounting system management ledger has individual management “Z” as management category 1.
However, the application “S” is assigned as the management category 2. The reason why the configuration management “C” is assigned to this terminal logical name as the management category 1 is that the terminal logical name is included not only in the accounting system management ledger but also in other management ledgers. This is because they are managed in a group called the configuration management. In contrast, terminal I
The reason that individual management "Z" was given to D as management category 1 is as follows.
This is because the terminal ID appears only in the accounting system management ledger and is individually managed in the logical object of the terminal user. The reason why the network “N” is assigned to the terminal logical name as the management category 2 is that the terminal logical name is a name assigned in the network, and thus the application “S” is assigned to the terminal ID as the management category 2. This is because the terminal ID is determined by software.

The assignment of the management classifications 1 and 2 is usually performed by a human being based on the contents of the items, but the work of assigning the classifications can be performed semi-automatically. That is,
The correspondence between the item and the management classifications 1 and 2 is determined in advance, and this correspondence is registered in a predetermined memory. Then, when the name of the ledger and the name of the item are input to the table, the computer may automatically assign the management classifications 1 and 2 to each item while referring to the correspondence. However,
If any items are not included in the correspondence,
Naturally, it is necessary to determine which management category 1 or 2 is to be assigned by a human, and to manually input it.

Here, a case has been described where the above management categories 1 and 2 are assigned to each item.
As an example, only the classification corresponding to ISO may be used. When the number of items is not so large, the management class 2 may not be assigned to each item, and only the management class 1 may be assigned.

Next, the person in charge evaluates each item of the plurality of ledgers while reflecting the policy of the company, and adds or deletes items (S).
3). Specifically, the company policy can include the company budget, the number of operation managers, the security level, and the like. Based on this policy, the person in charge determines, for each item, whether the item must be managed by the information management system for operation management according to the present embodiment, "O", or, if possible, the item to be executed, "実 行". Evaluate the item "x" that cannot be performed. This evaluation is entered in the “Evaluation” column of the table. In the examples of FIGS. 7 and 8,
The description in the column of “Evaluation” is omitted.

As a result of this evaluation, for example, for an item evaluated as unexecutable, the person in charge inputs “delete” in the “add / delete” column of the table. Adding "delete" to an item means that the item may or may not be present when managing information with this information management system. Will be done. For example, in FIG. 8, the item of management department of the information equipment management ledger is deleted. This is because the management department is an item related to a person, and thus it is not necessary to include such an item in the information device management ledger, and is an item to be managed by, for example, a user management ledger. Therefore, in this case, when the management department wants to know, the management department is checked by a user management ledger or the like for managing the user of the information device.

On the other hand, when trying to reflect this policy, it may be determined that sufficient operation management cannot be performed only with the items obtained by the interview survey.
In this case, the person in charge adds an item necessary for performing sufficient operation management to a predetermined “item” column on the table and inputs “add” in the “add / remove” column. . At this time, the above management items 1 and 2 are also assigned to the added items. For example, in FIG. 7, an item called disk capacity is added to the mail system management ledger.

The reflection of the policy is not limited to the evaluation of each item on the table and the addition / deletion of the item. Determining the frequency of performing various operation management is also one policy reflection item. For example, it is determined whether various types of operation management are to be constantly monitored, to be executed annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly or daily, or to be executed when a predetermined event occurs. For example, due to its nature, fault management must always be managed. The items related to the frequency are not described in the tables of FIGS. 7 and 8, but are information necessary for constructing the information management system for operation management of the present embodiment.

Next, the person in charge determines, for each item of the plurality of management ledgers, whether data can be automatically input for the item (S4). For items for which input can be automated, enter "OK" in the "Automation" column of the table. Items for which nothing is described in the "Automation" column cannot be input automatically. The fact that the input automation is "permitted" means that actual data on the item can be obtained without any human intervention. On the other hand, an item whose data cannot be taken into the database unless someone inputs actual data on the item is an item that cannot be automated.

For example, in the information equipment management ledger shown in FIG. 8, input of a management number, an installation location, and the like cannot be automated, and somebody must first input actual data. On the other hand, it is possible to automate the input of the model name and the administrator. For example, in the software management ledger, input automation cannot be performed for all items such as software names and managers, but in the device management ledger, input automation can be performed for items such as managers and installed software.
In the case of the software management ledger, data is entered for each item when the software is purchased, so that input cannot be automated for these items. On the other hand, in the case of the device management ledger, if information about the software is already managed by some computer terminal, the computer terminal can be inquired via the network, for example, for the administrator or the installed software. Because it is possible to take out the information of in this way,
If the same item is present in several management ledgers, whether or not the input can be automated for those items depends on the nature of the management ledger to which the item belongs.

Next, the person in charge selects an item to be systemized (S5). Then, when the selected item is systematized, and after the systemization, the labor saving efficiency is calculated (S6). Such a reduction efficiency indicates how much management effort for one item is reduced by systematizing the entire system. Here, that the reduction efficiency is 100% means that the management labor for the item does not change even if the system is implemented. Then, as the reduction efficiency becomes smaller than 100%, the management labor for the item can be reduced. For example, if the reduction efficiency is 50%,
This means that the management effort for the item is reduced by half compared to the present.

For example, among the items, those for which typical management is performed are made into a database, so that the management labor is greatly reduced. Actually, the reduction efficiency is calculated in consideration of, for example, how to manage the item. This reduction efficiency is entered in the “reduction efficiency” column of the table. In the examples of FIGS. 7 and 8, the description of the column of “reduction efficiency” is omitted. Naturally, for items for which input automation is “OK”, all processes from the collection of the data to the management of the data can be automated, so the reduction efficiency is smaller than for items for which input automation is not possible. In addition, even for items for which input automation is not possible, only the input of the data must be done manually.
For other processes, the reduction efficiency is reduced to some extent by forming a database. Generally, the value of the reduction efficiency differs for each item. For example, for items for which the input automation is “OK”, the reduction efficiency is 30% or less.
The value is in the range of 50%, and for items for which input automation is not possible, the reduction efficiency is in the range of 70% to 80%.

When the reduction efficiency is calculated for each item in this way, the person in charge presents such a table to the customer and indicates how much labor is reduced by introducing the information management system. Provide advice on rationalization. Then, when the customer decides to introduce the present information management system, the items to be actually systemized are finally determined. And about the decided item,
Put a circle in the "Execution" column of the table. Here, FIG.
In the example of FIG. 8, the description of the column of “execution” is omitted. Thus, the flow of FIG. 3 ends, and the consulting operation ends.

When the consulting work is completed, the operation shifts to a work for actually constructing an information management system for operation management according to the present embodiment. That is, in terms of hardware, the information management server 11 is connected to existing computer terminals and various servers 13 and 14 via a network. Also,
In terms of software, data is stored in the database 12 in a predetermined class structure using an object-oriented method, or a predetermined workflow is stored.

Next, the class structure of the database 12 of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, a square frame represents a class. The specific contents of this class are instances. In addition, the white arrow indicates inheritance,
Black arrows represent references. Solid lines connecting the other classes represent associations.

The database 12 includes an information management framework, a management target, a management method, an item, a management item, and a value class. The management target class is a group of management targets for performing operation management, and specifically has various management ledgers such as information equipment management ledgers as instances. The item class is a group of items included in each management target, and is associated with the management target including the item for each item. The value class is a set of values assigned to each item. The actual value in this value class may be stored anywhere, for example, on the accounting system server 13 or the mail system server 14. This is because the storage location of the actual value can be defined in the database 12.

The management item class is a group of relationships relating each value to the item to which the value is assigned, and corresponds to the related information of the present invention. This relationship can be considered as a superordinate concept of an item in which, when there are a plurality of items representing the same content even if the names of the items themselves are different, these items are put together. For example, if the item called terminal ID in the accounting system management ledger and the item called logical name in the information device management ledger represent the same content, the management item associates the terminal ID and the logical name with their values. Become a relationship. The class of the management item uniquely determines a value of the item with respect to a certain item, and also determines one or a plurality of items having the value with respect to a certain value.

The management system class is a group of systems for managing each management target, and is associated with the management target for each system. For example, when the actual information device management ledger is managed by spreadsheet software, the name of the spreadsheet software is an instance of the management method class.

The information management framework is, as it were, a semi-finished product, and serves as a common framework for realizing various purposes. This information management framework inherits the class to be managed, and has a structure in which the value class can be directly referred to. For example, in the present embodiment, the information management framework can receive a predetermined inquiry from a computer terminal, receive an answer to the inquiry, and return it to the computer terminal. Here, the answer to the inquiry is usually collected by the agent, but may be collected by the information management framework. Therefore, the user can obtain information necessary for operation management stored in the database 12 only by accessing the information management framework from each computer terminal.

In order to create a database having such a class structure, first, a person in charge manages a management object corresponding to the class diagram of FIG. 3 based on the tables of FIGS. 7 and 8 obtained by the consulting work. Define each class of item. Specifically, a class of a management item is created using the names of the management ledgers such as an accounting system management ledger, a mail system management ledger, and an information device management ledger as instances. Also, an item class is created using the names of the listed items as instances. Then, the person in charge defines the management method and the value class.

Next, the class of the management item is defined using the tables of FIGS. Specifically, the person in charge displays only items on which both the management category 1 and the management category 2 match on the screen. At this time, when there are a plurality of items having different names but the same contents, the items and their corresponding values are associated with each other to make the associated relationship an instance of the management item class. On the other hand, if there is no other item that represents the same content,
By associating the item with a value corresponding to the item, the associated relationship is set as an instance of the management item class. Finally, the information management framework is implemented in the database 12. Here, a commercially available product can be used as the database.

As described above, by creating a database by the object-oriented method, there are objects to be managed (ledgers) as objects, but there is no specific concept of each management ledger internally. , Information necessary for the operation of each system and the like can be centrally managed. For this reason, for example, even if a certain instance of a value class is modified while a certain system is operating, the association between the classes is maintained, so that when another system starts operating, that system will You can refer to the instance after the change. In addition, when a new system is introduced in a company, it is very easy to add a management ledger for operation management of the system to the database. For example, depending on the management ledger to be newly added, items that have the same contents with different names may be included. Even in this case, if the necessary definition is made in the management item class, the management ledger Can be easily performed.

Next, an operation of extracting predetermined information from the database 12 in the information management system for operation management according to the present embodiment will be described. Here, when the person in charge is running the accounting system on his own computer terminal, the screen of that computer terminal freezes, and information on the maintenance contact information of the vendor management ledger is used using another computer terminal. Will be described.

In this case, the person in charge inputs the terminal ID of the failed computer terminal on a predetermined failure inquiry screen displayed on the screen of another computer terminal. For example, assume that "A003" is input as the terminal ID. It is defined in advance in the information management framework program that the terminal ID should be input on this trouble inquiry screen and that information on the maintenance contact associated with the input terminal ID should be obtained. I have. Therefore, when the command to execute the inquiry is input, the information management framework determines that the input information is the terminal ID and the information management framework is inquired about the information on the maintenance contact associated with the terminal ID. Recognize. Then, when the information management framework sends, for example, a command to the agent to collect information about the maintenance contact, the agent searches the database 12 for information about the maintenance contact.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for dynamically explaining how to find information about the maintenance contact from the database 12 when the terminal ID is input.

First, how to read FIG. 9 will be described.
The lower part of FIG. 9 shows images of the accounting system management ledger, the information device management ledger, and the vendor management ledger. Further, three elongated rectangular frames are drawn on the upper side of FIG. 9, and these represent the management item, the item, and the value class in order from the top. Also, an ellipse in each class is an instance. Here, “terminal ID”, “logical name”, “model name”, and “maintenance contact” are shown as instances of the item class, and “A003”, “、 □ ○” are instances of the value class. ”,“ △△
Company ". In addition, “logical name”, “device name”, and “contact information” are shown as instances of the management item class. In fact, each class contains a large number of instances, only a portion of which is shown here.

The class of the management item is a set of relationships relating each value to one or a plurality of items corresponding to the value, and the instance of the management item class is not necessarily “logical” as shown in FIG. It is not defined by words such as "name." Here, the instance of the class of the management item is expressed in words to make it easy to see the relationship between the value and the item class.

Further, the instances surrounded by a square dotted line in the item class represent that they are associated with the same management target (ledger). In this example,
The instance “terminal ID” of the item class is associated with the accounting system management ledger, and the instance “logical name” and “model name” of the item class are associated with the information device management ledger. The instances “model name” and “maintenance contact” of the item class are associated with the vendor management ledger.

In FIG. 9, the solid line connecting the instances of different classes corresponds to the solid line connecting the classes in the class diagram of FIG. 3, and represents the association.
In this example, the value class instance “A003”
Is associated with the instance “logical name” of the management item class, and the instance “logical name” of the management item class is associated with the instance “terminal ID” and “logical name” of the item class. Also, the value class instance “○ □ △” is associated with the management item class instance “device name”, and the management item class instance “device name” is the item class instance “model name”. Associated with. Then, the value class instance “△△ company” is associated with the management item class instance “contact”, and the management item class instance “contact” is the value class instance “maintenance contact”. ].

The dashed line connecting the instance of the class of the item and the instance of the class of the value is linked by following the solid line connecting the instances of the different classes, that is, through the instance of the class of the management item. To indicate that they are related. A dotted line connecting instances in the value class indicates that each instance of the class of the item connected to each of the two instances by a broken line is associated with the same management target. That is, this dotted line represents the same meaning as the square dotted line surrounding the instance in the item class. Therefore, in the database 12 created by the object-oriented method according to the present embodiment, one instance of the value class is associated with the management target and the item and the association between the value and the item by the management item in FIG. Automatically associated with other instances of the value class, as shown by the dotted line.

When the agent enters the terminal ID “A”
When searching for information about maintenance contacts from the database 12 based on “003”, as shown in FIG.
In the value class, by tracing the instance connected to the instance “A003” by the dotted line in order, the data “保守 company” about the maintenance contact associated with the terminal ID
To collect. Thereafter, when the agent returns the collected data to the information management framework, the information management framework displays the result of the inquiry on the screen of the other computer terminal. The user sees the result and calls the maintenance contact to inquire about the failure of the computer terminal.

In the above example, a case has been described in which, when a specific value for a certain item is input, a specific value for another predetermined item related to the item is automatically searched for. If the contents of an inquiry are defined in advance, desired data can be automatically searched out by inputting certain data, not limited to a value. For example, it is also possible to find out all the items of the management ledger related to the item from the specific value for the item, or to find all the management ledgers related to the item from the item.

Incidentally, management of information necessary for operation management in the information management system of the present embodiment can also be performed while the workflow is running. For example, it is assumed that there is a workflow related to fault management that is started when a person in charge inputs a predetermined item on a screen of a computer terminal when an information device managed in a company breaks down. Such a workflow is created using information obtained in the consulting work, and is stored in the database 12. In this workflow, a maintenance contact is searched from the database 12 based on the input items, an e-mail about the failure is sent to the maintenance contact obtained by the search, and then an e-mail from the maintenance contact is received. Then, a flow of processing for displaying the information on the screen of the computer terminal of the person in charge is defined. Here, a case will be described in which, when the person in charge operates the accounting system on his or her computer terminal, the screen of the computer terminal freezes and a workflow related to fault management is started from another computer terminal.

In this case, the person in charge first clicks a menu called “failure management inquiry” on the menu screen of another computer terminal, and the information management server 11
A workflow related to fault management stored in the database 12 is started. Then, a predetermined inquiry screen is displayed on the display device of another computer terminal according to the workflow. Next, the person in charge inputs the terminal ID of the failed computer terminal and the details of the failure on the inquiry screen. Thereafter, when a command for executing an inquiry is input, the information management server 11 reads the information management framework, and sends the input terminal ID to the information management framework.
Inquiry about the maintenance contact related to and the mail address of the maintenance contact. When the information management framework sends, for example, a command to the agent to collect the maintenance contact information and its mail address, the agent transmits the maintenance contact information and its mail from the database 12 as described above with reference to FIG. Gather information about the address.

Thus, the information collected by the agent is transferred to the information management server 11 via the information management framework. Next, the information management server 11 creates an e-mail describing the failure content input on the inquiry screen according to the workflow, and sends the e-mail to the e-mail address of the maintenance contact received from the information management framework. Thereafter, when the information management server 11 receives an e-mail from the maintenance contact regarding the countermeasure for this failure, the information is displayed on the screen of another computer terminal currently used by the user. Thus, the user can take appropriate measures according to the contents of the mail.

In the information management system for operation management according to the present embodiment, a database is created by an object-oriented method, and a management target class, which is a group of management targets for operation management, is included in each management target. A class of items that is a set of items and is associated with a management target that includes the item for each item, a class of values that is a set of values assigned to each item, By being configured by a management item class that is a collection of relationships that associate values with items to which the values are assigned, even if there is a management target that includes items that have the same contents with different names, Information necessary for operation management can be centrally and integrally managed. For this reason, it is possible to easily perform operations of adding, deleting, and modifying data, and introducing operation management information of a new system. In addition, by managing information required for operation management while the workflow is running, more rapid operation management can be realized.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which a new database is created by an object-oriented method. However, for example, when operation management information of various systems is already stored in an RDB (relational database) or the like, the existing operation management information can be effectively used by using a persistence framework. Thus, an information management system for operation management of the present invention can be constructed.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure when an information management system for operation management of the present invention is constructed using existing operation management information. In the example of FIG. 10, the operation management information is the files 21a, 21b, 21
It is stored in the existing database as c. Here, these files 21a, 21b, and 21c are, for example, text files or table data files. In this case, the information management framework 2
2 and the persistence framework 23, and create the definition information 24, thereby constructing the information management system. The information management framework is similar to that of the above embodiment. The persistence framework is intermediate software for handling existing resources such as RDBs and files as object-oriented.
As this persistence framework, a commercially available one can be used. Further, the definition information corresponds to the class of the management item in the above-described embodiment, and the object-oriented class corresponds to the data stored in which database. The correspondence relationship is determined, such as in which database the instance is stored in which location.

By constructing the information management system using the persistence framework in this way, existing resources can be effectively used as object-oriented data without defining a class and creating a database. Can be used. For this reason, a system can be constructed more quickly than in the above embodiment.

The information management system for operation management of the present invention is constructed by creating only predetermined definition information without using the operation management framework and the persistence framework as shown in FIG. It is possible. However, in this case, it is necessary to define as the definition information more information than the information in the example of FIG. 10, for example, an information search route.

[0062]

As described above, according to the information management system for operation management of the present invention, the management object information, which is a group of management objects for operation management, is stored in the database.
Item information that is a collection of items included in each management target, and is associated with the management target that includes the item for each item, and value information that is a collection of values assigned to each item; By storing, for each value, relation information that is a collection of relations that associate the value with the item to which the value is assigned, even if the management target includes an item that has the same content with a different name, However, it is possible to centrally and integrally manage information necessary for operation management.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information management system for operation management according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a relationship between a compound terminal and each server in the information management system for operation management.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a class structure of an object-oriented database in the information management system for operation management according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a consulting operation performed prior to constructing a database.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an item list of a management ledger obtained by a hearing survey on an accounting system and a mail system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a management ledger item list obtained by a hearing survey on other management ledgers.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a table for registering items for each management ledger.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a table for registering items for each management ledger.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for dynamically explaining how to find information about a maintenance contact from a database when a terminal ID is input.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure when an information management system for operation management of the present invention is constructed using existing operation management information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Information management server 12 Database 13 Accounting system server 14 Mail system server 15 Composite terminal 21a, 21b, 21c Data file 22 Information management framework 23 Persistence framework 24 Definition information

Continuation of the front page F term (reference) 5B075 QT03 5B082 BA00 5B089 GA11 GA21 GB02 JA35 JB15 KA13 KB04

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of computer terminals, one or a plurality of system servers connected to the plurality of computer terminals via a network for managing a predetermined system operating on the network, and a system server required for operation management of the system. Information for operation management having one or more databases for storing information and an information management server connected to the plurality of computer terminals and the one or more system servers for managing information stored in the database In the management system, the database includes, as information necessary for the operation management, management target information that is a set of management targets for performing the operation management, and a set of items included in each of the management targets. And for each item, item information associated with a management target including the item, Value information, which is a set of values assigned to the item, and relationship information, which is a set of relationships associating the value with the item to which the value is assigned, for each of the values, is stored. Information management system for operational management. 2. The information for operation management according to claim 1, wherein said management target information, said item information, said value information and said relation information are each defined as a class using an object-oriented method. Management system. 3. The operation management according to claim 2, wherein a class of a framework for inheriting the management target class and realizing a predetermined purpose regarding the operation management is stored in the database. Information management system for. 4. The information management server, when a value for a predetermined item is input and an inquiry is made to retrieve a value for another predetermined item related to the item,
Finding the item associated with the value for the item by the relationship and repeating the process of tracing the item having the same management target associated with the found item as necessary, finds the other item. 4. The information management system for operation management according to claim 1, wherein values for the other items are extracted. 5. The database stores a workflow that defines the flow of a process for a case that is executed when a predetermined case occurs, and that performs the inquiry during the process. The information management system for operation management according to claim 4, wherein the information management system is included.