JP2002288395A - Schedule accepting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a schedule accepting system capable of preventing the inconvenience of the procedure of a customer who wants to change the schedule of visit, and reducing the labor and costs of a gas selling company. SOLUTION: The date of visit of a customer is automatically decided (S1), and the customer is informed of this by a mailed leaflet (S2). When the scheduled date of visit is not convenient (S3), the customer inputs his or her ID to a designated home page (S5), and performs access. When the ID is inputted, the available dates of visit in business base points in charge of the customer are automatically presented to the customer (S7), and the customer is allowed to select and input the desired date from them (S9). The customer receives a confirmation mail from the schedule accepting system (S11, S13), and confirms that the desire of the change of the date is accepted. Moreover, the person in charge who can visit at the desired date of visit of the customer is assigned with a visit task (S15, S17). When the person in charge can visit, the scheduled date of visit managed by the portable terminal of the person in charge is automatically updated (S19).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a schedule receiving system, and more particularly to a schedule receiving system that receives a customer's request on a scheduled visit date using the Internet and changes the visit date according to the request.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Gas dealers are required by law to carry out regular security patrols every three years for all customers. It is patrol.

[0003] The scheduled visit date of the periodic security patrol is 3
Customer will be notified ~ 5 days before by mailing or mailing flyer.

[0004] Some of the customers who have received the above flyers may not be convenient, and many customers wish to change them. In such a case, the customer who wishes to change the visit date calls the contact number on the flyer directly within the stated time, makes an offer, and coordinates with the receptionist.

[0005] An operator who receives a request from a customer accepts a schedule change from the customer, and inputs the change into an existing in-house business system.

[0006]

However, a customer who wishes to change the visit date can only call the contact number on the flyer within the stated time and make a request. It is thought that some customers may find the method inconvenient.

[0007] Further, since the change of the visit day is estimated to be about 15% of all the customer households every year, the schedule change work of the person in charge and the response of the operator who receives the telephone of the change, etc.
There is a problem that a gas sales company has a great deal of trouble and cost.

Accordingly, it is a first object of the present invention to provide a schedule receiving system which can solve the inconvenience of the procedure of a customer who wishes to change the schedule of a visit.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a schedule receiving system which can reduce the labor and cost of a gas sales company.

[0010]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a schedule receiving system comprising:
A communication unit that communicates with a customer via a communication line; a surplus management data server that performs business management of a person in charge; and a creation unit that creates a workable date list based on surplus management data included in the surplus management data server And a presenting means for presenting the list of available work days created by the creating means to the customer when the customer requests the change of the scheduled work date, and the communication unit accepts the request of the scheduled work date change from the customer. And a work date changing means for changing the scheduled work date.

The presenting means may include a customer ID of a customer.
Is authenticated, and when communication with the customer is established in the communication unit, it is desirable to present the workable day list to the customer.

It is preferable that the schedule receiving system further includes storage means for predetermining and storing the scheduled work date of the customer.

The surplus management data includes a workable frame set in accordance with the schedule of the person in charge and the number of persons who can work by time on each scheduled work day. Creates a list of workable days reflecting the number of workable frames, and it is desirable that the above-mentioned work day change means receives a request to change the scheduled work date of a customer in the workable frame.

Further, the schedule receiving system further includes a work day determining means for allocating a workable frame to the customer to determine a scheduled work day, and the storage means stores the scheduled work date determined by the work day determining means. Is desirably stored.

[0015] The schedule receiving system further includes a portable terminal for business support including schedule management of the person in charge, and an extracting means for extracting a person who can work on the work day changed by the work day changing means. It is preferable to further include a transmission unit for transmitting a business instruction to the portable terminal of the person in charge extracted by the extraction unit.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a schedule receiving system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The schedule reception system shown in FIG. 1 is used for determining a visit date of a regular security patrol and changing a schedule performed by a gas sales company.

Referring to FIG. 1, a schedule receiving system includes an in-house L through a gateway server B, a firewall C, and a firewall C for communicating from a customer A via the Internet (this may be another communication line).
It consists of an in-house business system D that exchanges information with the gateway server B in the AN, a sales office E set for each district, and a staff mobile terminal F carried by a staff member belonging to the sales office E. Is done.

Further, the gateway server B includes a reception unit B1 for communicating with the customer A, and a reception data server B for managing communication information such as a record of various requests received from the customer.
2 inclusive.

The firewall C includes a protocol conversion unit C1 for converting a communication protocol.

The in-house business system D includes an inquiry section D1 for inquiring the ID and the like input by the customer A, customer information such as a customer number (customer number), a visit date determined by the gas sales company, and changes depending on the customer. And a customer data server D2 that manages the visited date and the like.

The sales office E has a surplus management data server E2 that manages a surplus management data file created based on the schedule of the person in charge, and a management that manages the schedule of the person in charge and the surplus management data server E2. Section E1.

The person-in-charge mobile terminal F has a function of receiving a business instruction and a company communication from the company business system D and transmitting a business report by connecting the person carrying the device to the company LAN. . Further, the person in charge mobile terminal F
May be provided with a function of performing business management and schedule management of the person in charge, and transmitting the management server to the management server of the sales office E. These transmission and reception functions may use a wireless communication function.

In FIG. 1, only one sales office E is connected to the in-house business system D, but a plurality of sales offices e1 to en may be connected to the in-house business system D. In addition, although only one staff portable terminal F is connected to the sales base E, a plurality of staff mobile terminals f1 to fm may be connected to the sales base E.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when a gas sales company performs a periodic security patrol for a customer based on the Gas Business Law, it accepts a change in a scheduled visit schedule according to a request of the customer. The schedule reception system will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the flow of a schedule change process performed by the schedule receiving system.

Referring to FIG. 2, first, a visit date of a periodic security patrol to customer A is determined by the gas company (S1).
The visit date determined here is stored in the customer data server D2 of the internal business system D.

The process of determining the visit date performed in step S1 will be described later.

Subsequently, the customer A is notified of the visit date determined in step S1 (S2).

In step S2, the customer A is notified of the scheduled visit date three to five days ago by posting a flyer or the like. Further, the notification may be made by e-mail.

The customer A, having received the notification, determines whether or not he / she can receive a visit on the scheduled date, taking into account the convenience of the scheduled visit date (S3).

If the customer A has convenience on the day of the visit (S
(Yes at 3), there is no need to change the schedule, and a regular security patrol is performed on the scheduled date.

If the customer A is inconvenient on the scheduled visit date (No in S3), the schedule is requested to the gas company via the Internet using a portable communication terminal such as a mobile phone or a personal computer. In order to make a schedule change request, the address of the homepage shall be described in a flyer for notifying the customer A of the scheduled visit date.

FIG. 3 shows a home page on the Internet for customer A to make a schedule change request. Referring to FIG. 3, in order to make a schedule change, customer A first
D is input (S5). The ID to be entered is a use number, which is a customer number assigned by the gas sales company for each customer, and other addresses, names, and the like. Furthermore, in order to protect personal information, in addition to the ID, the scheduled visit date written in the posted flyer may be entered. It is also conceivable that the customer is approved by the customer's fingerprint, voiceprint, palm print, taxpayer identification number, etc. instead of the customer number or the scheduled visit date.

These inputs are sent via the Internet
Reception unit B1 of gateway server B of the schedule reception system
Received at. The information on the request for the schedule change from the customer A is stored in the reception data server B2.

The input information of the customer A is the firewall C
The communication protocol is converted by the protocol conversion unit C1 and the inquiry unit D of the in-house business system D via the in-house LAN
Sent to 1. In the inquiry section D1, the input information of the customer A and the customer data managed in the customer data server D2 are collated, and the identity of the customer A is confirmed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a customer data file managed by the customer data server D2. Referring to FIG. 4, in customer data server D2, customer N of customer A
o. Personal information, such as address, mail address, telephone number, and last visit date, is managed as a customer data file for each customer.

The inquiry section D1 of the in-house business system D checks the information of the customer A input in step S5 with the customer data file, and finds the sales base E in charge of the periodic security patrol of the customer A based on the customer number of the customer A. Then, the schedule change request from the customer A is transmitted to the sales base E. The sales office E is
The input may be made by the customer A from the input screen shown in FIG. In addition, the method of inputting the sales office may be a method of inputting with a character, or a method of inputting the sales office E from a plurality of presented sales offices.
May be selected.

At the sales office E, a spare capacity management file is created based on the schedule of the person in charge, and is managed by the spare capacity management data server E2.

FIG. 5 shows a surplus management file managed by the surplus management data server E2 of the sales base E. In the spare capacity management file, the visit time zone is set to AM (9:00 to 12:00) and PM1 (13:00 to 15) for each visit day of the periodic security patrol.
Hour), PM2 (15:00 to 17:00) and EVE (after 17:00) are divided into 4 hours, and each time period can be visited according to the number of persons who can make regular security patrol visits Set the frame. By referring to the spare capacity management file, the sales office E can schedule a visit of the customer according to the number of available visitable frames. The remaining capacity management file may be a mechanism created by the manager of the sales office E based on the schedule of the person in charge. Further, even if the schedule is automatically created in conjunction with an existing schedule management system in the management server of the sales office E, which manages the schedule for each staff member input from the staff mobile terminal F, Good.

Further, a list of possible visit dates is created based on the remaining capacity management file. The list of available visit dates only indicates whether or not there is a vacancy in the available visit frame for each scheduled visit date, and indicates whether or not a visit to the regular security patrol can be made from the sales office at that time of the day. Things. The visitable day list may be created by the manager of the sales office E based on the above-mentioned remaining capacity management file, or may be automatically created in conjunction with the remaining capacity management file.

When the schedule change request from the customer A is transmitted from the internal business system D to the business base E, the management unit E1 of the business base E stores the above list of available days via the internal business system D via the home business system D. Above to the customer A (S
7). FIG. 6 shows a list of visitable days presented to customer A on the homepage. Referring to FIG. 6, on the homepage, if there is a vacant visitable frame every day,
If the visitable frame is not vacant, it is presented to the customer A with x.

In the list of available days shown in FIG. 6 presented in step S7, customer A selects a desired day to visit from among the available days in the available frame (S).
9). In the present embodiment, selection is made by clicking a circle on the visitable day list.

According to the method of selecting from the visitable day list, the customer A can also be changed to a desired day, and the gas sales company can also accept a change request of the customer A on a visitable day.

In step S9, when the customer A selects and transmits a desired visit date, the customer A confirms it in the in-house business system D,
A confirmation mail is sent to the customer A (S11). This confirmation mail has a fixed form prepared in the in-house business system D in advance, and is automatically transmitted to the customer upon receiving the selection result in step S9.

The customer A receives a confirmation mail from the schedule receiving system (S13), and confirms that the change has been received by the system.

Further, in step S11, the in-house business system D confirming the desired visit date of the customer A sends a business request corresponding to the desired visit date of the customer A to the sales base E. The sales office E, which has received the business request from the in-house business system D, distributes the periodic security patrol work to the person in charge based on the schedule of the person in charge (S15). The process of allocating the periodic security patrol work in step S15 may be performed by the manager of the sales office E, or the management unit E1 may extract a person who can be visited based on the schedule management of each person and automatically The distribution may be performed manually.

The management unit E1 transmits a business command for the periodic security patrol service to the portable terminal F of the person in charge of the periodic security patrol service in step S15.

The person in charge who has received the business instruction on the person in charge portable terminal F cannot visit the customer A (S17).
), The business order is returned as it is to the manager of the sales office E or the management unit E1. The manager or the management department E1 of the returned business base E determines an appropriate person in charge,
Perform sorting. Further, at this time, a priority may be assigned in advance to a person who can be visited, and an appropriate person may be determined by a method of automatically extracting a person with a higher priority and transmitting a business instruction.

The person in charge who has received the business instruction accepts the business instruction if it is possible to visit the customer A (possible in S17). As a result, the visit schedule of the customer A for the periodic security patrol is automatically registered in the schedule managed by the person-in-charge mobile terminal F of the person in charge of receiving the business order, and the customer A
Is updated to a schedule desired by the customer A (S19). In addition, the changed scheduled visit date is
It is registered in the customer data server D2 of the internal business system D.

The schedule receiving system changes the scheduled visit date of the periodic security patrol by using the above method.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process of determining a visit date to the customer A performed in step S1 of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 7, inquiring unit D1 of in-house business system D constantly monitors the customer data file stored in customer data server D2, and determines whether it is time to visit (S21). .

In step S21, it is determined whether or not a predetermined period set in advance has elapsed since the last visit to the customer data file shown in FIG. Also,
When there is transfer information, the determination may be made based on the information. If there is information such as an accident or occurrence of an abnormality, the determination may be made based on the information. In addition, the address information may be added on the last visit day, and not only the timing determination but also the geographic determination may be performed in a complex manner.

If it is determined in step S21 that the visit time of the customer A is approaching (Yes in S21), the inquiry unit D1 of the in-house business system D sends the inquiry to the sales office E in charge of the periodic security patrol of the customer A. Notification.

The management section E1 of the sales base E reads the remaining capacity management file shown in FIG. 5 stored in the remaining capacity management data server E2 (S23).

Based on the remaining capacity management file read in step S23, the management unit E1 determines a date for making a visit to the customer A for the periodic security patrol, and extracts a person who can visit the customer A.

The method of determining the visit date may be a method of automatically extracting a time period of a day in which the available space in the spare capacity management file is more than a preset number, or a method of manually extracting by the operator. May be used.

When the possible visit date is extracted, the management unit E1
Distributes the periodic security patrol work to the person in charge based on the schedule of the person in charge (S25), and transmits a business instruction to the person in charge mobile terminal F.

Further, in step S25, it is confirmed whether or not the person in charge who has received the business instruction on the person in charge portable terminal F can visit the site (S27), and the person to be visited is determined.

In steps S25 and S27, the periodic security patrol work is assigned to the person in charge and determined.
Are the same as those performed in steps S15 and S17, and therefore description thereof will not be repeated.

When the visit date and the person in charge are determined in the above-described processing, the customer A is automatically notified in step S2 in FIG. Further, in this way, a predetermined visit date is registered in the customer data server D2 of the in-house business system D regardless of the convenience of the customer.

By using the above-mentioned schedule reception system,
Since the visit date is automatically determined based on the last visit date and the like, the gas sales company can reduce the work of selecting the visit date for each customer.

Further, the visit date is determined in advance by the gas sales company, and the change is made only when the customer is not convenient, so that the gas sales company can quickly make a visit plan.

Also, by using the schedule reception system,
When the customer changes the scheduled visit date, the inconvenience of the procedure of having to submit a schedule change by telephone or the like within a predetermined time is eliminated. Further, in the case of a customer who feels troublesome to make an offer by telephone or the like, the troublesomeness can be eliminated.

Further, the gas sales company can reduce the trouble and cost of responding to a telephone call for changing the schedule.

Further, in this embodiment, a case has been described in which the above-mentioned schedule reception system is used for determining a visit date of a periodic security patrol carried out by a gas sales company and changing the schedule. It may be used for similar visits, determination of visit dates for home delivery services, home service, and the like, and schedule changes. In addition, change of reservation such as doctor's office or class,
It can also be used to specify a redelivery date when mail delivery is absent.

The embodiments disclosed this time are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a schedule receiving system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a schedule change process performed by a schedule reception system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a home page on the Internet for a customer A to make a schedule change request.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a customer data file managed by a customer data server D2.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a surplus management file managed by a surplus management data server E2 of a business base E;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a list of visitable days presented to a customer A on a homepage.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process of determining a visit date for a customer A, which is performed in step S1 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

A customer, B gateway server, B1 reception department, B
2 reception data server, C firewall, C1
Protocol conversion unit, D Internal business system, D1 inquiry unit, D2 customer data server, E sales office, E1 management unit, E2 spare capacity management data server, e1-en multiple sales offices, F staff mobile terminal, f1-fm multiple Reps mobile device.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A communication unit for communicating with a customer via a communication line, a surplus management data server for managing operations of a person in charge, and a workable date based on surplus management data included in the surplus management data server. Creating means for creating a list, presenting means for presenting the workable day list created by the creating means to the customer when there is a request from the customer to change the scheduled work date; and A schedule receiving system comprising: a request for changing the scheduled work date from the customer; and a work date changing unit configured to change the scheduled work date. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the presenting unit presents the workable day list to the customer when a customer ID of the customer is authenticated and communication with the customer is established in the communication unit. The schedule reception system described in. 3. The storage device according to claim 1, further comprising storage means for preliminarily determining and storing the scheduled work date of the customer.
The schedule reception system described in. 4. The surplus management data includes a workable frame set in accordance with the schedule of the person in charge and the number of persons in charge who can work by time for each scheduled work day. 4. The workable day list reflecting the number of workable frames is created, and the work day change unit receives a request for changing the scheduled work date of the customer in the workable frame.
The schedule reception system described in any of the above. 5. A work day determining means for allocating the workable frame to a customer and determining the planned work date, wherein the storage means stores the planned work date determined by the work day determining means. The schedule reception system according to claim 3 or 4. 6. An extracting means for extracting a person who can work on the work day changed by the work day changing means, further comprising a portable terminal for business support including schedule management of the person in charge, and the extracting means The schedule reception system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit a business instruction to the portable terminal of the person in charge extracted by the above.