JP2003256627A - Workflow extract method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To individually or integrally flow-display business items, staffs in charge and related resources in defining a workflow. <P>SOLUTION: In a business flow generating processing 110, business flow data 150 is generated from a business directive data 140. In the business attribute extract processing 120, business attribute data 160 is extracted from the business directive data and business flow data, and in a business actual result display and correcting processing 130, a business flow, staff and resource are individually or integrally flow-displayed. Thus, the individual flows of the business item, the staff and the resource or mutual relation thereof can be glanced through. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a business support apparatus for guiding the timing and procedure of business operations of companies and public offices, and in particular, a workflow extraction method for the business support apparatus to create a business support flow. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a workflow (hereinafter referred to as W
(Abbreviated as F) system is used. The WF system has a function of defining predetermined work procedures and the like as WF data, and providing guidance on when and how to carry out work based on the defined data. The WF creation support system is a system that creates this WF data. In addition, WF, which is officially said by the industry group (WfMC), is the automation of the entire business process or part of it,
This allows documents, information and tasks to be passed from person to person.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-249024 discloses a WF creation support system.
No. JP-A-8-287157 and the like, work items, work execution conditions, work execution orders can be defined, and the definition method differs depending on the system. A work item is a node and a visual method is used to connect the nodes with an arrow to represent the execution order (method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-287157), or a list of work items to order the items (special feature). Kaihei 7-2490
No. 24) etc.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-40104 discloses a part of the WF execution system having a WF creation support function.

[0005]

In the conventional WF creation support system such as JP-A-7-249024 and JP-A-8-287157, it is necessary to manually perform the WF description work, and the description method is used for the description work.・ Learn the rules. However, the person in charge of writing the WF and the person in charge of business who actually perform the task are often different persons.

The person in charge of WF description is familiar with the WF description method, but does not know the work content (described as WF). There arises a situation in which the person in charge of business knows the work contents well, but does not know the WF description method. Therefore, in order to actually describe the WF, it is necessary to have a discussion and a meeting between the business person in charge and the person in charge of the WF description. There is also a WF creation support system that aims at WF description by the person in charge of business, but the person in charge of business must learn the description method in addition to performing the original task.

As a method for solving these problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-40104 has realized a method of defining a WF by utilizing the history of electronic mail. However, in this method, the WF definition that has been defined (= written by hand) is compared with the mail flow pattern, and the WF definition is performed according to the similarity. Although the accuracy of workflow extraction from emails can be improved, there is a problem that the WF definition to be compared with emails must be manually written in advance.

[0008] In addition, in order to carry out the actual work, in addition to the work and its execution sequence (flow) information, the staff (person or organization) in charge of the work and the resources used in the work (for example, document format, Information and systems used for business execution must be closely linked. This is because it is a person or an organization that carries out the work supported by the WF system, and something or information is processed by the work.

However, since the conventional WF creation support system cannot simultaneously display / edit these "business and its flow", "staff related staff", and "resources related to business", the contents of the business can be grasped. There was a problem that it was difficult. Furthermore, it is difficult to understand problems such as work delays because the work flow between staff members and the work flow between resources cannot be displayed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a workflow extracting method and apparatus that does not require a workflow definition in advance and can be easily used by a person in charge of business in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a workflow extracting method and apparatus which can display a business flow between staffs or resources, or a business flow in which a business is associated with a staff or resource, and easily grasp a problem in business. is there.

Further, by extracting the time information required for performing the work and displaying it in association with the work flow information, the staff flow information, and the resource flow information, work performance information which is a standard for work improvement is provided.

Further, it enables a service in which work instruction data from a customer is input to define a workflow and the defined workflow is provided to the customer.

[0014]

The workflow referred to in the present invention is not limited to the definition in the above-mentioned industry group, and is intended for all flows composed of work items and work execution orders.

The present invention that achieves the above object is, in a method of extracting a work flow composed of work items and a work execution sequence, a work title, related instruction information indicating a relation between issuance and receipt of a work instruction, Inputting work instruction data including issuer information and person-in-charge information, a plurality of staffs, who are the instructors and the instructed persons of the work, and flow information indicating the order in which the staffs are in charge of the work (the order in the embodiment). (Referred to as information), and if there is the same staff, they are integrated into one, and the staffs are connected and displayed using the flow information.

Alternatively, the work instruction data also includes related material information, and a plurality of resources processed by the work and flow information indicating the processing order of the work among the resources are created from the work instruction data, and the same resource is created. If there is, it is integrated into one, and the resources are connected and displayed using the flow information.

In the workflow extracting method of the present invention, any one of a work item, staff, and resource is extracted as a node, flow information indicating a work flow is created between the extracted nodes, and the same node name is set. If there is any, it is integrated into one and connected between the nodes using the flow information to be displayed, and the actual time for each node is totaled and displayed in association with the node. The node mentioned here indicates a work item, staff or resource.

The business instruction data is electronic mail data or minutes data.

According to the above invention, it is possible to display the staff or the resource, which has not been seen in the prior art. In addition, when the same staff performs multiple work items or the same resource is processed by multiple work items, those staffs are integrated into one, and the work time for each staff or the processing time for each resource is also aggregated. Therefore, it is possible to easily understand the problem in the workflow. The "same" here has a width as shown in the embodiment.

Further, the workflow extracting method according to the present invention is such that the staff and / or resource for each work item from the work instruction data, and the order of the work among the staff and / or the work between the resources from the flow information. And the flow information indicating the processing order of the work item, the work item, the staff, or the resource is selected as a node, the node is connected by the flow information, and the work item, the staff, and the resource. At least one of the nodes not selected as the node is displayed in association with the node.

According to this, it is possible to display either a process view connecting business items as nodes, a staff view connecting staff as nodes, or a resource view connecting resources as nodes. Further, among the work items, staff, and resources, the selected node can be displayed and the other items not selected by the node can be displayed in association with the node. Note that the association with the node is performed, for example, by the link information of the embodiment.

As a result, it becomes possible to list the relevance of the work flow information, the staff information and the resource information regarding the work. In addition, the work flow information, the staff information, the resource information together with the work execution time,
It becomes possible to list the work time for each staff member and the processing time for each resource, which can be used as a guide for work improvement.

The workflow extracting apparatus according to the present invention extracts a plurality of business item names and flow information indicating the flow of business among the business items from the business instruction data to create business flow data. And the work instruction data and the work flow data, the work for creating the work attribute data by extracting the staff data that is the instructor and the instructed person of the work corresponding to the work item and the resource data processed in the work. Attribute generation means, storage means for storing created business flow data and business attribute data, process view showing the flow of the business item by calling the business flow data and the business attribute data from the storage means, the staff Business results table that displays a staff view showing the flow of resources or a resource view showing the flow of resources Characterized in that it has a means.

The work attribute generation means totals at least one of the work time for each work item, the work charge time for each staff, and the processing time for each resource from the work instruction data, and the work result display means Display the aggregated time.

The work record display means displays the process view, the staff view and the resource view,
It has a switching button for switching and displaying on the screen.

The data structure of the workflow extracting device is as follows. The function of the computer is a business flow generation process for generating business flow data based on the business instruction data and a business attribute extraction process for extracting business attribute data, and business performance data from the business flow data and the business attribute data. Realized by a workflow extraction program including a business performance display process to be generated, the business instruction data includes a subject of a business, related instruction information indicating a relationship between issuance and receipt of a business instruction, issuer information, and person in charge information. The work flow data includes related material information, work items and flow information indicating a work execution order, the work attribute data includes staff information and resource information corresponding to the work items, and the staff information is the It has a work item and related information (link information) between staffs, and the resource information is the work item and the resource. With related information of and.

According to the present invention, since it is not necessary to define a workflow in advance, it can be easily used by a person in charge of business who has little knowledge about workflow description.

The storage medium for storing the workflow extraction program has a step of creating flow information indicating a plurality of work items and work flows among the work items from the work instruction data, and the work information from the work instruction data. A plurality of staffs and / or resources for each item, and a step of creating flow information (order information) indicating a job charge order between staffs and / or a job processing order between resources from the flow information; As a node, one of the work item, the staff, or the resource,
A workflow extraction program including a step of connecting the nodes using the flow information and displaying other items not selected by the node in association with the node.

The service or support system according to the present invention is configured as follows. In a workflow extraction method that uses a computer that provides a workflow extraction service in response to a request from a customer, a flow that indicates the business flow between multiple business item names and business items from the business instruction data received from the customer. It is characterized by creating business performance information including information and providing it to the customer.

Further, at the time of maintenance, the n-th job performance information is created from the n-th job instruction data received from the customer, and the job analysis is performed based on the comparison between the n-th job performance information and the n-th job performance information. It is characterized by creating data and providing it to customers.

Further, in a workflow creation support system for connecting with a customer through a network and extracting a workflow in response to a request from the customer, a plurality of work item names and work items are obtained from the work instruction data received from the customer via the network. It is characterized in that business performance information including flow information indicating the flow of business between the two is created and provided to the customer via the network.

According to the present invention, the computer or system can provide the defined business flow to the customer and can also provide the maintenance information only by receiving the business instruction data from the customer.

[0033]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a workflow extraction system according to the present invention will be described in detail below. Figure 1
1 shows a processing configuration of a workflow extraction system according to an example (Example 1). Workflow extraction program 100
Is a business flow generation process 110 and a business attribute extraction process 12
It has 0 and a work result display / correction processing 130.

The business flow generation processing 110 generates business flow information from the business instruction data 140 and outputs the result to the business flow data 150. Business attribute extraction processing 120
Is the work instruction data 140 and the work flow data 150.
Business attribute information is extracted from the result, and the result is business attribute data 1
Output to 60. The work result display / correction processing 130 integrally displays the work flow data 150 and the work attribute data 160, receives a correction operation from the user, and outputs the work result data 170.

According to this embodiment, since the workflow definition is not required in advance, the person in charge of business can easily extract the workflow, which is convenient.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the data in the work instruction data 140 is stored in advance before the workflow extraction program 100 is executed.

First, in the business flow generation processing 110, the business instruction data 140 is input, the order relationship (flow information) between the business items and the business instructions is extracted to generate business flow data, and the result is stored in the business flow data 150. Output. Details of the business flow generation processing 110 will be described later.

Next, in the work attribute extraction processing 120, the work instruction data 140 and the work flow data 150 are input, staff information, resource information, and work execution time information for each work item are extracted, and the result is the work attribute data. 1
Output to 60. Details of the business attribute extraction processing 120 will be described later.

Finally, the business performance display / correction processing 130
Then, the business flow data 150 and the business attribute data 160
Is displayed based on the display format designated by the user, the data correction from the user is accepted, and the business performance data 170 that is the final output data is output. Business performance display
Details of the correction process 130 will be described later.

As described above, the work flow data and the work attribute data are generated from the work instruction data by the processing of steps 110 to 130, and the work flow data and the work staff information and the resource information relating to the work are related by integrally displaying them. This has the effect of listing the sexes. Further, there is also an effect that the business execution time can be listed together with the business flow information, the staff information, and the resource information.

In this embodiment, the work instruction data 14
Although 0 is read in steps 110 and 120, other reading procedures may be used. For example, the work instruction data 140 is read only once in step 110, and the data read in step 110 is used in step 120.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the workflow extracting device. The workflow extracting apparatus 200 on which the workflow extracting program 100 is executed includes an information processing apparatus 210, a display device 220, an input device 230, a storage device 240, and a storage medium 250.

The display device 220 executes the process related to the display for the user 260 among the processes performed by the workflow extraction program 100. Specifically, the display of a process display screen 1100, the display of a staff display screen 1200, the display of a resource display screen 1300, and the like, which will be described later, are processed.

The input device 230 executes the process related to the input from the user 260 among the processes performed by the workflow extraction program 100. Specifically, an input to a process display screen 1100, an input to a staff display screen 1200, and a resource display screen 130, which will be described later, are performed.
It processes the input for 0 and mainly modifies the data on the display screen.

The information processing apparatus 210 reads and executes the workflow extraction program 100 stored in the storage medium 250. However, the workflow extraction program 1
Of the processes performed in step 00, processes other than the processes performed in the display device 220 and the input device 230 are performed.

The work instruction data 14 is stored in the storage device 240.
0, business flow data 150, business attribute data 160,
The business performance data 170 is stored. For each data, information processing device 210, display device 220, input device 2
In each processing in 30, processing, display, and input are executed.

The work instruction data 140 includes, for example, mail data and meeting minutes, and is stored in the work instruction data 140 area of the storage device 240 via a floppy (registered trademark) disk or the like. Further, when mail data is used as the work instruction data, a communication device that is connected to the network and transmits / receives to / from another device is provided in this device, and the mail data from this communication device is stored in the storage device 240 as the work instruction data 140. You may do it.

In the present embodiment, the storage device 240 and the storage medium 250 are treated as different storage devices, but they may be the same device. For example, the workflow extraction program 100 may be stored in the storage device 240.

With the above apparatus configuration, the workflow extraction program 100 executes the process in response to the input of the work instruction data from the user, and the workflow and its related data are extracted and displayed.

FIG. 3 shows the data format of the work instruction data 140. In the present embodiment, log data of an electronic mail (hereinafter abbreviated as mail) is used as an example of the business instruction data, and in the present embodiment, the business instruction data and the electronic mail data are used in agreement.

The work instruction data 140 includes mail transmission data 300 and reception data 310 corresponding to the transmission data 300. The transmission data is composed of a plurality of mail data 301, 302, 303. Each mail data has a reference ID (Re
fID), transmission date and time, From indicating the sender, T indicating the receiver
Includes o, email subject, attachment to email, and email body. The reference ID indicates the relationship between issuing and receiving the business instruction. Also, in the drawings, the table is divided for convenience of space, but the actual data structure is connected.

The received data is MsgID which is the identifier of the received mail, RefID which indicates the reference of other mail data, reception date and time, From which indicates the sender, To which indicates the recipient, subject of the mail, attachment to the mail and mail. Including the text of.

In FIG. 3, A sends a mail with the subject "Orders" to B and C (301), and sends it to B and C.
Respectively received (311, 312), B sent to D
(302), C is also transmitting to D (303). D is an example of data that one mail (313) from B and one mail (314) from C were received.

In this embodiment, the table structure is used as the method of holding the work instruction data, but other methods may be used. For example, a method may be used in which one piece of mail data is held as a node and the data is held in a net structure in which a reference relationship based on MsgID or RefID is used as a link.

Next, a detailed processing procedure of the business flow generation processing 110 will be described. 4 and 5 show flowcharts of the business flow generation process. First, the mail data is read (step 400), and the work item corresponding to the transmitted / received mail data is generated (steps 410 to 490).

First, the mail is divided into threads (step 410). Here, a thread is a series of emails that are exchanged in relation to a specific job, and refers to a group of emails that are grouped according to the subject or reference relationship of the emails. In this embodiment, if the subject contains the same character string or is designated by RefID, it is determined that the emails are in the same thread. The transmission / reception data illustrated in FIG. 3 are all emails in the same thread. Generally, multiple threads are included in mail data.

Next, for the sent mail in the thread,
Generate a business item corresponding to the mail (step 430)
~ 450). Next, for the received mail in the thread, a work item corresponding to the mail is generated only when there is no sent mail that refers to the received mail (step 4).
60-490). These business items are generated from the sender / receiver name and the mail subject. As described above, the generation of the work item is completed in steps 430 to 490. At this time, at the same time as generating the business item, a business ID and auxiliary data for each business to be described later are set.

With the above processing, the mail data 301,
Work items corresponding to 302, 303, 313, and 314 are generated. Subsequently, a business execution order relationship (business flow) is defined between the generated business items (step 500-).
555).

In the work execution sequence relationship definition, first, the work item selected in step 500 (this work item is defined as Ax
The mail data corresponding to (the call will be called) is selected (step 505). If the selected mail is a sent mail (step 510), the following processing is performed for all recipients (To) of the mail (steps 515 to 550).

First, the received mail corresponding to the sent mail is selected (step 520), and the sent data is searched for a sent mail referring to the received mail (step 525). As a result of the search, if there is a sent mail that refers to the received mail, the work item corresponding to the sent mail is selected, and if not, the work item corresponding to the received mail is selected (steps 530, 535, and 540). The work item selected here is called Ay.

Next, a work flow from the work item Ax selected in step 500 to the work item Ay selected in step 535 or 540 is set (step 54).
5). By performing the processing up to this point (steps 500 to 555) for all generated work items, the flow between work items is set.

The definition of the work execution order relationship will be described using the data in FIG. 3 as an example. For convenience of explanation, mail 301,
Job items corresponding to 302 and 303 are A1, A2, and A3.
I will call it. Hereinafter, the work item A1 will be described as an example.

The mail corresponding to the work item A1 is 301 (step 505), and the selected mail is a send mail (step 510). Therefore, all the recipients of the mail B and C are received.
Then, the processes of steps 515 to 550 are performed.

First, regarding B, the receiver B of the mail 301
The mail 311 which is the received mail corresponding to is selected (step 520). Next, the transmitted data that refers to the received mail 311 is retrieved from the transmitted data (step 52)
5). When the mail 302 is found, the work item A2 corresponding to the sent mail 302 is selected (step 535) via the sent mail presence / absence determination (step 530).
Then, the flow information is set for the work items A1 to A2 (step 545). In other words, the mail 301 is A
The work flow is set for the work items A1 and A2 so as to correspond to the data sent from the work item to the work item B. Similarly, by performing steps 520 to 545 for the recipient C as well, the business flow for the business items A1 to A3 is changed so as to correspond to the data that the mail 301 is sent from A to C. Is set.

The above processing (steps 430 to 555)
Is repeated for all threads (step 42
0 to 560), work items corresponding to the sent and received mails are generated, and the flow information is set between the work items.

Finally, the business flow data 150 is output (step 565) and the business flow generation processing 110 is ended.

By the above processing, the work instruction data 14
The work item corresponding to the mail data in 0 is generated, the work flow is set so as to correspond to the mail transmission / reception flow, and the work flow data is output.

FIG. 6 shows the data format of the business flow data 150. The work flow data 150 includes flow data 600 that represents the order in which work is performed, and attached data 610 that corresponds to each element in the flow.

The flow data 600 includes a work item, a flow showing the execution order between the work items, and a work ID for identifying the work item. Specifically, it is composed of the work ID and the work item information generated when the work item is generated (steps 440 and 480) in the work flow generation process 110, and the flow information set when the flow is set (step 545). It

The actual flow data storage format is a list structure having pointer data pointing to other work items in the work item data, or a work item and index data for other work items as a set. Often has an array structure.

The attached data 610 includes a work ID, a work item name, a link to mail data corresponding to the work item, a type of the corresponding mail data, and a description of the work. Specifically, the business ID generated when the business item is generated in the business flow generation process 110 (steps 440 and 480), the business item name (generated from the sender / receiver name and the mail subject), the link to the mail, the transmission / reception of the mail It is composed of the type and description (generated from the email body).

The link to the mail is for associating the work item with the mail data which is the source of the work item. In this embodiment, it is the data address of the work instruction data itself, and is represented by reference numerals 301 to 303 and reference numeral 3 in FIG.
11 to 314 are stored as mail links in the attached data in FIG.

When the work instruction data of FIG. 3 is actually arranged in the memory of the computer, the work instruction data itself is allocated in the memory space. The address value of the assigned data is not included in the work item data. This is because in the case of high-level programming languages such as C and Java which are widely used at present, programmers do not explicitly specify the place to allocate work item data. The OS dynamically determines the arrangement, and when accessing the work item data, the data is specified by the name or ID instead of the address value.

In this embodiment, a flow diagram is used as the flow data expression format, a table is used as the auxiliary data expression format, and a data address is used as the mail link expression format (in this embodiment, reference numerals 301 to 303 and reference numeral 311 in FIG. 3).
˜314) are used respectively. Other formats are acceptable.

With the above data format, work items, flow information between work items, and auxiliary information for each work item are secured.

FIG. 7 shows a detailed processing procedure of the work attribute extraction processing. In the work attribute extraction processing 120, first, the mail data and the work flow data are read (step 70).
0), the work attribute corresponding to the work item is extracted (steps 710 to 780).

First, the mail data corresponding to the selected work item is selected (step 720), the mail sender / receiver is acquired (step 730), and registered as staff data corresponding to the work item (step 740). Here, if the selected mail is transmission data, specify the sender,
In the case of received data, each receiver is registered as staff data.

Next, the attached data and the link data are acquired from the selected mail data (step 750) and registered as resource data (step 760). Here, the resource data is a general term for documents and files used at the time of carrying out the work and related systems necessary for carrying out the work. Related systems include, for example, a mail system used in communication / reporting business, an ordering system and a deposit / withdrawal system used in purchasing business, and the like.

The link data is the link data indicating the related resource to be referred to in the execution of the job from the text (= instruction itself) in the job instruction data. For example, in the text of the ordering work instruction, "please write the order specification. The specification is here (htt
p: //www.hitachi.co.jp/haccyuu/siyousyo.doc). If there is a sentence "", this URL character string is called link data. From an implementation point of view, it can be said to be original data for extracting a resource from the work instruction data.

That is, the address character string written in the body of the mail is "http: //" on the Internet.
If it is a character string beginning with ", drive name:
It is a character string in a specific format such as "directory name \ ... \ file name" or "\\ file server name \ directory name \ ... \ file name". The link data is obtained by text search from the body of the email.

Subsequently, the work implementation time is extracted from the selected mail data (step 770). Details of the work execution time extraction process will be described later. Steps 700-780
Finally, the work attribute data 160 is output (step 790), and the work attribute extraction processing 120 is ended.

As described above, by the processing of steps 700 to 790, for each work item of the work flow data 150,
Related staff data, related resource data, and work execution time data for each work item are extracted and output as work attribute data.

FIG. 8 shows a detailed processing procedure of the work execution time extraction processing 770. In the task execution time extraction process 770, first, it is determined whether the selected mail is a transmission mail (step 800) and whether the selected mail refers to another mail (step 810).

As a result of the judgment, if the selected mail is not the sent mail or if the sent mail does not refer to another mail, the information on the work execution time cannot be obtained (only the work start time or the end time is obtained. I can't). Therefore, after registering the work execution time as a variable (step 850), the process returns to the process 780 of the work attribute extraction process 120.

As a result of the judgment, the selected mail is the sent mail,
If another mail is referenced, the referenced mail is selected (step 820) and the transmission / reception time difference between the sent mail and the reference mail is calculated (step 83).
0).

As an example, when calculating the time difference of the outgoing mail 302 in FIG. 3, it is judged from the RefID of the mail 302 that the mail 311 is the reference source. Next, email 31
The time difference from one reception time to the mail 302 transmission time is calculated. In the case of this example, the time difference is 12: 05-9: 0.
5 = 3 hours.

Subsequently, the time difference is registered as the work execution time (constant value) (step 840) and the process returns to the work attribute extraction processing 120.

In other words, in the work execution time extraction processing 770, the processing from the time when a mail of a certain work instruction is received to the time when a reply (or transfer) related to the work instruction is performed is registered as the work execution time. .

As described above, the processing of steps 800 to 850 has the effect of extracting the work execution time data for each work item for each work item in the work flow data 150.

FIG. 9 shows the data format of the work attribute data 160. The job attribute data 160 includes staff data 900 indicating the relationship between job items and staff, resource data 910 indicating the relationship between job items and resources, and job execution time data 920 indicating execution time for each job item.

The staff data includes work items 901, flow information 902 indicating the flow of work, and staff information 903.
And the link information 904 indicating the relation between the work item 901 and the staff information 903, the data registered when the staff data is registered in the work attribute extraction processing 120 is held.

The link information 904 mentioned here refers to related information between the work item 901 and the staff 903.
The link information 904 is registered as a part of the staff data corresponding to the work item in the staff data registration (740) of FIG. 7.

The resource data includes a work item, flow information, resource information 911, and link information 912 indicating the relation between the work item and the resource information 911, and at the time of resource data registration of the work attribute extraction processing 120 (step 76).
The data registered in 0) is retained.

Regarding the above staff data and resource data, since a plurality of work items may be related to one staff or resource, one staff or resource may have related data for a plurality of work items. is there. In the example of FIG. 9, staff “D” and resources “document (1) .txt” and “document (2) .txt” correspond. As described above, when there are the same staff or the same resource related to a plurality of work items, they are grouped as one staff or resource as described later.

The reverse is also true, and one business instruction mail is
When sent to more than one person, a work item will be assigned to multiple staff members. Further, when a certain work instruction mail has two or more attached files, one work item is assigned to a plurality of resources.

The work execution time data includes work items, flow information, and work execution time information 921, 92 for each work item.
The job execution time including 2 is held in the job execution time extraction process (step 770). When the work execution time can be calculated, it is held as a constant value 921, and when it cannot be calculated, it is held as a variable 922.

In FIG. 9, work flows (flow information) connecting work items are indicated by arrows, and work item and staff, resource, and work execution time link information 904 are work item, staff, resource, and work execution, respectively. It is represented by a straight line connecting time.

In this embodiment, pointers (arrows and straight lines) are used for the flow data format and the link data format, but other formats may be used. For example, a table format using a business ID as a key may be used.

With the above data format, the relevance information for each work item, staff related to the work, resources, and execution time for each work is held.

FIG. 10 shows a detailed processing procedure of the business performance display / correction processing. In the business result display / correction processing 130, first, the business flow data and the business attribute data are read (step 1000), and the operation from the user is accepted (step 1005). Process view display (steps 1010 to 1025), staff view display (steps 1029 to 1045), and resource view display (1049 to 1065) are performed according to the operation content. Further, the data correction (step 1070) and the business performance data output as the end processing are output (step 1075).

In the case of the process view display, the work flow chart is displayed (step 1010), and the staff figure is displayed so as to correspond to the work item figure in the work flow (step 1015). Similarly, the resource graphic is displayed (step 1020), and the execution time for each work item is also displayed (step 1025). The staff graphic and the resource graphic may be omitted in some cases.

In order to clearly indicate the relation between the work item, the staff, and the resource, the work item graphic, the staff graphic, and the resource graphic are connected by the link information (straight line) described in FIG. That is, the straight line connecting the work item figure and the staff figure is drawn based on "related information between work item and staff = link information" included in the staff data of FIG. 9 (1). A straight line connecting the work item graphic and the resource graphic is drawn based on "related information between work item and resource = link information" included in the resource data of FIG. 9B. Further, the straight line connecting the staff and the resource can be obtained from two pieces of information, the work item and the staff related information and the work item and the resource related information.

In the case of the staff view display, first, the same staff is integrated (step 1029). here,
The integration of the same staff means that when a certain staff is assigned to a plurality of work items, the staff data is integrated so as not to be duplicated. For example, the staff D in FIG. 9 has two work items A
Since it is assigned to A4 and A5, it shows that it is an integrated staff.

This “same staff” has a range. That is, there are various cases in which a person's name is described in Chinese characters or alphabets, or as a full name or an abbreviation. Here, a name dictionary is prepared, a plurality of names that belong to the same staff are registered in advance, and the same staff is integrated by referring to the name dictionary during the staff integration process (1029). In addition, even when the organization name is used for the staff, it is processed in the same manner as the case of the personal name.

Subsequently, the staff figure is displayed (step 1030). Here, the staffs are connected with an arrow as work order information between the staffs. The work order information is acquired from the work attribute data 160 as follows.

For example, in the case of the staff B to the staff D, first, the staff data from the staff data of FIG.
Obtain data and draw Staff B. Next, Staff B
From the data, work A2, which is work related to staff B
A4, which is the work to be performed next to the work A2
To get. Next, the staff D who is the staff related to the work A4 is acquired. By the processing so far, Staff B
Is determined to be the start point of the arrow to be drawn, and the staff D is also the end point of the arrow. Finally, Staff D
Is drawn, and the arrow from staff B to D is drawn.

Next, the work item figure is displayed in correspondence with the staff figure (step 1035), and similarly the resource figure is also displayed (step 1040). The display of the work item graphic and the resource graphic may be omitted.

Subsequently, the work charge time for each staff member is totaled (step 1041). Here, when the staff is in charge of only one work item, the time in charge of each staff becomes equal to the execution time of the work item. If you are in charge of two or more tasks, it is the sum of those task item implementation times. Next, the total time in charge for each staff member is displayed (step 1045). Note that, in order to clearly show the relation between the staff, the work item, and the resource, the process of connecting each of them with a straight line by the link information is the same as the case of the process view display.

In the case of the resource view display, first, the same resources are integrated (step 1049). here,
The integration of the same resource means that when a certain resource is assigned to a plurality of work items, the resource data is integrated so as not to overlap. For example, the resource “document (1) .txt” in FIG. 9 is assigned to two work items “A2” and “A4”, and therefore is integrated or a source. In the case of “integration of the same resource”, a resource dictionary is prepared in advance and the same dictionary is referred to as in the case of the same staff.

Subsequently, the resource diagram is displayed (step 1050). Here, the resources are connected by an arrow as the processing order information between the resources. This processing order information is acquired from the work attribute data 160, as in the case of the staff view display. Next, the work item figure is displayed so as to correspond to the resource figure (step 1055), and the staff figure is also displayed (step 1060).

Next, the processing time for each resource is totaled (step 1061). The processing time for each resource is equal to the execution time of the work item when the resource is processed by only one work item. However, when processing is performed with two or more work items, the sum is the sum of the work item execution times. Then, the total processing time for each resource is displayed (step 1065). Also, resources and work items,
In order to clearly show the relation of the staff, the process of connecting each with a straight line by the link information is the same as in the process view display.

In the above three types of views, any method may be used to control the display coordinates of each figure. For example, one figure of a work item, staff, and resource is arranged, and its coordinates are used as reference coordinates, and the remaining two figures are relative coordinates from the reference coordinates (for example, one is lower right X and Y dots). , The other is the lower left X, Y dots, etc.). Alternatively, the origin coordinates of the windows to be arranged may be used as the reference coordinates, and all the figures may be arranged with the relative coordinates from the reference coordinates.

In the case of data correction, the data selected by the user is corrected (step 1070). The user selects the data to be modified using an input means such as a mouse pointer, and modifies the value of the selected data using an input means such as a keyboard. For example, if you want to modify the item name of the above-mentioned work item “A_Orders”, select the item with the mouse pointer and then use the keyboard to enter the new name.
Enter (for example, "Order Request"). As a result, the work item name data included in the attribute data 610 of the work flow data 150 is updated to the corrected value.

In the case of the end processing, the business performance data is output (step 1075), and the business performance display / correction processing 13
0 ends.

As described above, by the processing of steps 1000 to 1075, the relevance of each work item, staff, and resource is displayed at the same time, and their order (flow) relationship is also displayed at the same time. In addition, since it is possible to change the subject of display with the work item, staff or resource, it is easy to relate the staff who executes the work in the staff view display and the relationship of the resource that executes the work in the resource view display. I can figure it out. Further, since the time (actual result) spent by each work item, staff, and resource is also displayed, it is possible to grasp the problem in executing the work.

FIG. 11 shows the business performance display / correction processing 130.
The example of a screen of the process view display of is shown. On the process display screen 1100, a work item figure (1101), its flow (arrow), and an execution time (1102) for each work item,
Furthermore, the staff figure (1103) and the resource figure (11
04) is displayed in association with the work item figure (1101).
The work execution time is arranged in the vicinity of the corresponding work item, and the work item graphic, the staff graphic, and the resource graphic are connected by a straight line (link information) indicating the relationship. Also,
A name is displayed on each figure.

To end the display, click "Close" at the bottom right of the screen.
The button 1120 is used. When this button is pressed, the business performance data output processing (step 1075) of the business performance display / correction processing 130 is executed and the display is terminated.

The display switching button at the lower left of the screen is used to instruct the display switching. At present, the process button 1130 is being pressed. Pressing the staff button 1140 switches to staff display, and pressing the resource button 1150 switches to resource display.

When the displayed data is corrected, the data to be corrected is selected by using the input means such as the mouse pointer 1110 and the corrected data is input through the input means such as the keyboard. If you want to correct data that is not displayed (for example, data that is attached to a work item),
Perform the correction work after displaying the data you want to correct. For example, when modifying the attributes of a work item, when the user double-clicks on the work item, the work item is displayed in a table format like the attached data 610 in FIG. 6, and the user selects and corrects the modification point in the table.

From the above screen example, it is possible to list the work items and their flows, the staff, resources, and work execution times corresponding to the work items, and to correct the data as necessary. It is also possible to instruct display switching and display termination on the screen.

FIG. 12 shows the business performance display / correction processing 130.
The example of a screen of the staff view display of is shown. On the staff display screen 1200, a staff figure, the order in which it is in charge of work (arrow), the time in charge for each staff, a work item graphic, and a resource graphic are displayed. The assigned time is arranged in the vicinity of the corresponding staff member, and the work item graphic, the staff graphic, and the resource graphic are connected by straight lines (link information) representing the relationships. A name is displayed on each figure.

The display ending method, the display switching method and the data correcting method are the same as those of the process display screen 1100. Further, the staff display screen may have various modifications. For example, the resource display may be omitted.

With the above screen examples, it is possible to obtain an effect that the staff and the order in which the staff is in charge, the work item, the resource, and the work charge time corresponding to the staff can be listed, and the data can be modified as necessary.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the resource view display of the work record display / correction process. Resource display screen 1300
A resource graphic, its processing sequence (arrow), processing time for each resource, work item graphic, and staff graphic are displayed. The processing time is arranged in the vicinity of the corresponding resource, and the work item graphic, the staff graphic, and the resource graphic are connected by a straight line (link information) indicating the relationship. Also,
A name is displayed on each figure.

The display ending method, the display switching method and the data correcting method are the same as those of the process display screen 1100. Further, in the resource display of FIG. 13, the display of staff may be omitted.

With the above screen example, it is possible to list resources and their processing order, work items corresponding to the resources, staff, and processing time, and to obtain the effect that data can be modified as necessary.

FIG. 14 shows the data format of the business performance data 170. The business performance data 170 includes business flow data 150 and business attribute data 160, and the respective data formats are the same as those shown in FIGS. 6 and 9.

With the above data format, it is possible to hold work items, flow information between work items, and auxiliary information for each work item. In addition, work items and staff related to work,
It is possible to obtain the effect that it is possible to retain the relevance information for each resource and the execution time for each work.

Next, another embodiment (second embodiment) of the workflow extracting system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. In the second embodiment, the overall processing configuration and apparatus configuration are in accordance with the first embodiment, and the meaning of data is different.

FIG. 15 shows the difference in meaning between the data in the first embodiment and the data in the second embodiment. The format of e-mail data (1502, 1512) that is an example of the business instruction data in the first embodiment and the format of minutes data (1503, which is an example of the business instruction data in the second embodiment)
1513) and a generalized form of these examples (1501,
1511) is shown. In each case, one row of the table shows one unit of data, and one column of the table shows the corresponding item.

For example, regarding the work instruction issue data 1500, the mail transmission date and time in the first embodiment corresponds to the meeting data creation date and time in the second embodiment, and also corresponds to the work instruction issuance date and time in a generalized format. The same applies to other items such as the work instruction reception data 1510.

FIG. 16 shows the data format of the work instruction data 140 in the second embodiment. In this embodiment, the minutes data is used as an example of the work instruction data. The business instruction data 140 includes the meeting preparation data 1600 and the meeting receipt data 1610, each of which is the mail transmission data 3
00 and the mail reception data 310, and their data formats are the same (only the meaning of the data is different).

Next, a detailed processing procedure of the business flow generation processing 110 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In the second embodiment, “e-mail data” and “mail” shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are replaced with “agenda data”, and “mail thread” and “thread” are replaced with “agenda item”. Also, change the "sent mail" to "procedure data"
, "Received email" to "Meeting receipt data", "Recipient"
"(To)" is read as "person in charge". As a result, the business flow generation processing 110 according to the second embodiment can be realized.

Next, the data format of the business flow data 150 in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the “mail link” and the “corresponding e-mail type” shown in FIG. 6 are replaced with “proceeding data link” and “corresponding proceedings data type”, respectively. The effect of can be realized.

Next, a detailed processing procedure of the work attribute extraction processing 120 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the operations in the second embodiment are performed by replacing “e-mail” and “mail” in FIG. 7 with “meeting data” and “mail sender / receiver” with “issuer / person in charge”. The attribute extraction processing 130 can be realized.

Next, the detailed processing procedure of the work execution time extraction processing 770 in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the “mail” and the “transmission / reception” shown in FIG. 8 are replaced with “agenda data” and “creation / receipt”, respectively.
0 can be realized.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained by inputting the minutes data instead of the electronic mail data in the first embodiment.

Next, an embodiment (third embodiment) of the workflow extraction service using the workflow extraction system of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 17 shows the structure of a workflow extraction support system for implementing the workflow extraction service. In this embodiment, the company A, which is a business execution company, and the company B, which is a company that defines the business flow (and maintenance) of the business executed by the company A, are connected by a network. In response to a request from Company A, Company B performs business flow definition and maintenance, and performs business performance data and business analysis data including business flow data from Company B
The company pays the price.

Business instruction data 1 and n (17) in FIG.
10, 1730) has the same data format as the work instruction data 140 in the first embodiment. Similarly, the business performance data 1 and n (1720, 1740) have the same data format as the business performance data 170 in the first embodiment.

First, Company A uses the workflow system 17
00, the business instruction data 1 (17
10) is provided. This is the business analysis staff 178 of Company B.
0 is input to the workflow extracting apparatus 200 to be operated, work result data 1 (1720) is generated, and delivered to the company A.

The company A, which has received the business performance data 1 (1720) from the company B, inputs the data into the workflow system 1700 and supports the business person in charge 1770 with the business. The process up to this point is called the workflow introduction phase.

Next, the company A provides the company B with the business instruction data n (1730) accumulated during the maintenance of the business flow from the workflow introduction phase to the maintenance. This is the business analysis staff 178 of Company B.
0 is input to the workflow extraction system 200 operated to generate work performance data n (1740).

Then, for the work performance data 1 (1720) and the work performance data n (1740), the work analysis procedure 17
Carry out 50.

In the business analysis procedure 1750, among the plurality of business performance data (1720, 1740) to be analyzed,
Extracts matching parts, different parts, and appearance frequency of matching parts of the business flow. Further, for each work item, staff, and resource in the work flow, the execution time for each work item, the time in charge for each staff, and the processing time for each resource are compared. These analysis results are put together and output as business analysis data 1760.

As an example of the analysis method, it is conceivable to divide a work item in a work flow having a high appearance frequency into a work item having a long assigned time for each staff member, and increase the number of persons in charge.

Next, the generated work performance data n (17
40) and business analysis data 1760 are delivered to Company A.
The company A that has received the business performance data n (1740) and the business analysis data 1760 from the company B has the business performance data n (17).
40) is directly input to the workflow system 1700. Alternatively, after the work performance data n (1740) is corrected based on the work analysis data 1760, the work performance data n (1740) is input to the workflow system 1700 and the work execution staff 17
Business support for 70. The process up to this point is called the workflow maintenance phase. Company B may perform the work result data correction work based on the work analysis data.

By repeating the above workflow maintenance phase, the business flow maintenance of the company A is realized. That is, the company A provides the business instruction data 1, 2, 3, ... N generated every certain maintenance period to the company B, and the company B produces the business result data 1, 2 corresponding to the respective business instruction data. , N are generated and at the same time, the business performance data 1, 2, 3, ... N are analyzed to realize maintenance of the business flow.

At this time, the company B may charge the data to be delivered to the company A or the analysis work etc. (the charging method and the charging target are not limited). .

As described above, according to the third embodiment, the company A receives the work flow definition and the maintenance (the work flow is updated and the work flow improvement is proposed) by providing the work instruction data (e-mail log, etc.). be able to. Also, B
The company can charge for the definition of business flow and maintenance work.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above.
In the present invention, in view of the computer environment for executing the processing according to the present invention, any one processing step in the above embodiments may be subdivided into two or more processing steps. Further, two or more arbitrary processing steps may be integrated and implemented by one processing step, and the implementation form is not limited unless the functions provided by the present invention are impaired.

[0152]

According to the workflow extraction system of the present invention, it is possible to list the work flow information, each of the staff information and the resource information related to the work, or their relation, so that the problem can be easily grasped. effective.

Further, it becomes possible to list the execution time for each work, the work charge time for each staff, or the processing time for each resource together with the work flow information, the staff information, or the resource information, which can be used as a guideline for work improvement. There is.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the functions of a workflow extraction program according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a workflow extraction device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a data configuration diagram showing a format of work instruction data.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure (first half) of a business flow generation process.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure (second half) of a business flow generation process.

FIG. 6 is a data configuration diagram showing a format of business flow data.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure of business attribute extraction processing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a work implementation time extraction process.

FIG. 9 is a data configuration diagram showing a format of work attribute data.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a procedure of business performance display / correction processing.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a process display screen.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a staff display screen.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a resource display screen.

FIG. 14 is a data configuration diagram showing a format of business performance data.

FIG. 15 is a data configuration diagram showing the difference between the work instruction data in the first embodiment and the second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a data configuration diagram showing work instruction data according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram of a workflow extraction support system according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Workflow extraction program, 110 ... Business flow generation processing, 120 ... Business attribute extraction processing, 130 ... Business performance display / correction processing, 140 ... Business instruction data, 15
0 ... Business flow data, 160 ... Business attribute data, 17
0 ... Work performance data, 200 ... Workflow extraction device.

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Shunsuke Minami             7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture             Inside the Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A method of extracting a workflow comprising work items and a work execution order, wherein a work subject, related instruction information indicating a relationship between issuance and receipt of a work instruction, issuer information, and a person in charge. By inputting work instruction data including information, a plurality of staffs who are work instructors and instructees, and flow information indicating the order of charge of work among staffs are created, and if there is the same staff, one A method for extracting a workflow, characterized in that the staffs are integrated and displayed by connecting the staffs using the flow information. 2. A method of extracting a workflow, which comprises work items and a work execution sequence, wherein a work subject, related instruction information indicating a relationship between issuance and receipt of a work instruction, issuer information, and a person in charge. Inputs work instruction data including information and related material information, creates multiple resources to be processed in a work, and flow information indicating the processing order of the work between resources, and if there is the same resource, one A method for extracting a workflow, which is characterized in that the resources are integrated and displayed by connecting the resources using the flow information. 3. A method of extracting a workflow comprising work items and a work execution sequence, wherein a work subject, related instruction information indicating a relationship between issuance and receipt of a work instruction, issuer information, and a person in charge. Input work instruction data including information and related document information,
Either staff or resource is extracted as a node, flow information showing the flow of work is created between the extracted nodes, and if there is the same node name, it is integrated into one and the flow information between the nodes is used. A method for extracting a workflow, characterized in that the actual time is summed up and displayed for each node, and the node and the actual time are displayed in association with each other. 4. The plurality of work items and the order relation of the work instructions are extracted from the work instruction data according to claim 3, and the order relations among the work items are extracted from the order relation.
A method of extracting a workflow for creating the flow information between the staffs or the resources. 5. A method for extracting a workflow, which comprises a work item and a work execution sequence, wherein a work subject, related instruction information indicating a relationship between issuance and receipt of a work instruction, issuer information, and a person in charge. Information and work instruction data including related material information are input, and a plurality of work item names and flow information indicating a work flow between work items are created. /
Alternatively, a resource and flow information indicating the order in which the tasks are handled by the staff and / or the processing order of the tasks between the resources are created from the flow information, and any one of the task item, the staff, or the resource is created as a node. As a method for extracting a workflow, the flow information connects the nodes, and at least one of the work item, the staff, and the resource other than the node is displayed in association with the node. 6. The workflow extracting method according to claim 1, wherein the business instruction data is electronic mail data or minutes data. 7. A workflow extraction device configured by a work item and a work execution order, wherein a work subject, related instruction information indicating a relationship between issuance and receipt of a work instruction, issuer information, and person in charge information. And a work flow generating means for creating work flow data by extracting flow information indicating a work flow between a plurality of work item names and work items by using work instruction data including related material information as input data, A work attribute that creates work attribute data by extracting from the work instruction data and the work flow data the staff data that is the instructor and the instructed person of the work corresponding to the work item, and the resource data processed in the work Generating means; storage means for storing the business flow data and the business attribute data; and the business flow data and the business attribute from the storage means. Extraction of a workflow, comprising: a process view that calls data and displays a process view showing the flow of the business item, a staff view showing the flow of the staff, or a resource view showing the flow of the resource. apparatus. 8. The job attribute generation unit according to claim 7, totaling at least one of an execution time for each work item, a work charge time for each staff, and a processing time for each resource from the work instruction data, The workflow extraction device, wherein the record display means displays the totaled time. 9. The workflow extraction device according to claim 7, wherein the work result display means has a switching button for switching and displaying the process view, the staff view, and the resource view on a screen. 10. An apparatus having a computer for extracting a workflow composed of a business item and a work execution sequence, wherein the function of the computer is a business flow generation process for generating business flow data by inputting business instruction data. And a work attribute extraction process for extracting work attribute data, and a work result data creation process for generating work result data from the work flow data and the work attribute data. Includes a business title, related instruction information indicating a relationship between issuance and receipt of a work instruction, issuer information, person in charge information, and related material information, and the work flow data includes the work item and the work The work attribute data includes flow information indicating an execution order, and the work attribute data includes staff information corresponding to the work item. Workflow information, the staff information has relation information between the work item and the staff, and the resource information has relation information between the work item and the resource. . 11. A storage medium for storing a workflow extraction program executed by a computer, comprising: a subject of a business; related instruction information indicating a relationship between issuance and receipt of a business instruction; issuer information; A step of creating a plurality of work items and flow information indicating a flow of work between work items by using work instruction data including related material information as input data, and a plurality of steps for each work item from the work instruction data. Creating staff and / or resources, and flow information indicating, from the flow information, the order in which the tasks are handled by the staff and / or the order in which the tasks are processed by the resources, the task item, the staff, or Any of the resources is used as a node, the nodes are connected by the flow information, and the work item, the staff, and And a step of displaying the resources other than the nodes in association with the nodes, and displaying the workflow extraction program. 12. A workflow extraction method using a computer for servicing a workflow extraction in response to a request from a customer, wherein a plurality of business item names and business operations among business items are extracted from business instruction data received from the customer. A method for extracting a workflow, characterized in that it creates business performance information including flow information indicating the flow of, and provides it to the customer. 13. The n-th job performance information is created from the n-th job instruction data received from the customer at the time of maintenance, and the n-th job performance information and the n-th and previous job performance information are created. A workflow extraction method characterized in that business analysis data is created based on the comparison of and provided to the customer. 14. A workflow creation support system for connecting a customer with a network and servicing a workflow extraction in response to a request from the customer, wherein a plurality of work item names and jobs are obtained from business instruction data received from the customer via the network. A workflow creation support system characterized by creating work performance information including flow information indicating the flow of work between items and providing it to a customer via a network.