JP2003331096A - Electronic document circulation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system capable of circulating electronic documents in a company by utilizing a computer network instead of the circulation of paper media. <P>SOLUTION: The system is provided with a circulation management server 1 and a plurality of clients 2a to 2d for transmitting/receiving data to/from the server 1. When connection with the server 1 is permitted, data concerned with the authority of circulation processing are transmitted to individual clients, which can perform circulation processing on the basis of the received data. Upon receiving circulation completion reports from the individual clients together with an electronic document, the server 1 records the circulation history information of the electronic document and updates the contents of the previously stored electronic document in accordance with the contents of the received electronic document. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for circulating electronic documents on a computer network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, business processing in a company is performed by sequentially circulating documents to relevant persons, obtaining approval from a predetermined approver, and storing the circulation-completed documents. In general, a document is circulated within a company by sequentially passing a paper-based document to a reader while leaving a circulation or approval sign or seal stamp on the document, and when the circulation is completed, the document is circulated. Was done by storing. However, in circulating a paper-based document, since the document itself is directly passed to each reader, there is a risk that the circular document will be left on the desk when the reader is absent. Circulation documents that are prohibited to be browsed by anyone other than the concerned persons may be easily browsed by unspecified persons, and if they are mishandled, the documents may be damaged during circulation. Further, the paper medium document after the circulation has a problem in storage such as requiring a considerable storage space and being easily changed over time.

Various office processing softwares are commercially available in order to improve efficiency of various office processing such as accounting, customer management, and product sales management. Data input by distributed processing using a server / client system. And data processing is possible. However, in this case, the document in which the data to be input is described is circulated in the company in advance, and the data is input to the system after receiving the predetermined confirmation and approval.

Furthermore, in recent years, by using an electronic filing system to convert in-house documents into electronic data, it has become possible to improve the efficiency of business processing and facilitate storage thereof. In-house L
It is becoming widespread to build an AN and exchange e-mail. Therefore, it is conceivable to circulate documents in-house using e-mail, and to convert all in-house documents into electronic data using various filing systems and various office processing software using server / client systems. .

However, although electronic mail is suitable as a means for exchanging information between general individual users, it is not suitable for application to document circulation within a company.
In the circulation of documents within the company, the circulation range and circulation order may differ depending on the type of document, and depending on the difference of posts within the company, the circulation processing authority for the same circulation document may be changed. Although they are different (for example, general employees and section managers can confirm circulation, department managers can approve circulation, and circulation storage personnel can store documents after circulation). This is because it is not possible to automatically manage the transmission range and transmission order of emails and automatically grant the processing authority for emails.

[0006] Thus, although various means for converting in-house documents into electronic data have been developed and introduced so far, circulation of in-house documents must still be done by paper media. Therefore, conversion of all documents in the company into electronic data has not been realized yet.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the object of the present invention is to use a LAN instead of circulating a paper medium in a company.
It is to provide a system that can circulate electronic documents (including materials that need to be attached to the electronic documents and are digitized) using a computer network such as.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a circulation management server is connected to the circulation management server via a communication line to transmit and receive data to and from the circulation management server. A system for circulating an electronic document between the clients under the control of the circulation management server, comprising: a plurality of clients, wherein the circulation management server is a participant identification in which IDs and passwords of circulation participants are recorded. An information storage unit, an electronic document storage unit in which electronic documents are stored, at least a circulation-processable electronic document name for each circulation participant, and a type of circulation processing authority given to each circulation-processable electronic document. Circulation management information storage section in which data regarding the circulation order is recorded, and circulation order in which data regarding the circulation order of each electronic document stored in the electronic document storage section is recorded. The information storage unit, the circulation history recording unit in which data regarding the circulation processing history of each electronic document stored in the electronic document storage unit, and the ID and password of the circulation participant when received from the client are stored. It is checked whether a combination of ID and password is recorded in the participant identification information storage unit, and if it is not recorded, the connection with the client is rejected, but if it is recorded, the connection with the client is permitted. The circulation permission / prohibition determination unit and the circulation management information storage unit transmits data about the corresponding circulation participant to the client permitted to connect, and stores the circulation order information when a circulation start request is received from the client. Section, the circulation history recording section, and the data recorded in the circulation management information storage section, and the electronic document A circulation control unit that extracts a related electronic document from a storage unit and transmits the electronic document to the client, wherein the client is configured to execute the circulation based on the data received from the circulation management information storage unit of the circulation management server. Circulation processing can be executed based on the circulation processing authority given in advance for each electronic document received from the circulation control unit of the management server. The circulation control unit of the circulation management server notifies the circulation end from the client. When the electronic document is received together with the electronic document, the circulation history information regarding the electronic document is recorded in the circulation history recording unit, and the content of the electronic document stored in the circulation document storage unit is updated with the content of the received electronic document. There is provided an electronic document circulation system characterized by the above.

In order to solve the above problems and according to the present invention, a circulation management server and a plurality of clients connected to the circulation management server via a communication line and transmitting and receiving data to and from the circulation management server. A system for circulating an electronic document between the clients under the control of the circulation management server, wherein the circulation management server includes a participant identification information storage unit in which IDs and passwords of circulation participants are recorded. , An electronic document storage unit in which an electronic document is stored, and at least data of the circulation-processable electronic document name and the type of circulation processing authority given to each circulation-processable electronic document for each circulation participant are recorded. Circulation management information storage section and circulation order information storage section in which data relating to the circulation order of each electronic document stored in the electronic document storage section is recorded , A circulation history recording unit in which data relating to circulation processing history of each electronic document stored in the electronic document storage unit and an ID and password of the circulation participant when received from the client are stored. It is checked whether or not the combination is recorded in the participant identification information storage unit, and if it is not recorded, the connection with the client is rejected, but if it is recorded, the circulation approval / disapproval determination unit that permits the connection with the client When a circulation start request is received from the client permitted to connect, the data recorded in the circulation order information storage unit, the circulation history recording unit, and the circulation management information storage unit is checked to determine the electronic document storage unit. Related electronic document is extracted from the client and transmitted to the client, and the client receives the electronic document. When a circulation processing request is received, based on the data recorded in the circulation management information storage unit, a circulation control unit that grants or refuses to grant the processing authority for the circulation processing to the client, The client, for each electronic document,
The circulation control unit of the circulation management server can execute only the circulation processing to which the processing authority is given, and the circulation control unit of the circulation management server receives the circulation end notification together with the electronic document from the client, Circulation history information relating to the electronic document is recorded in the circulation history recording unit, and the contents of the electronic document stored in the circulation document storage unit are updated with the contents of the received electronic document. An electronic document circulation system is provided.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of an electronic document circulation system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a circulation management server of the system of FIG. . As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic document circulation system of the present invention includes a circulation management server 1 and a plurality of clients which are connected to the circulation management server 1 via a communication line 3 to transmit / receive data to / from the circulation management server 1. 2a to 2d. Under the control of the circulation management server 1, the clients 2a ...
The electronic document is circulated between 2d.

As shown in FIG. 2, the circulation management server 1
Is a participant identification information storage unit 4 in which IDs and passwords of circulation participants are recorded, an electronic document storage unit 5 in which electronic documents are stored, at least a circulation-processable electronic document name for each circulation participant, A circulation management information storage unit 6 in which data regarding the type of circulation processing authority given to each circulation-processable electronic document is recorded.

In this embodiment, the circulation participants are shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the president, department manager, section manager, employee ~
, And the person in charge of the storage (the person who stores the electronic document after the circulation in the specified storage location) and the person in charge of the execution (the circulation of the electronic document that satisfies the conditions (the approval of the circulation has been completed) is terminated and designated. The person who stores it at the designated storage location). In addition, a participant code is given to each circulation participant in order to identify them.

Further, in this embodiment, the system uses the "continuous circulation" in which each circulation participant sequentially circulates according to a predetermined circulation order, and the "simultaneous circulation" to the circulation participants up to the person who approves the circulation. It is possible to execute three types of circulation methods: "continuous compound circulation" and "group / continuous compound circulation" in which a "continuous circulation" is performed after circulation to a pre-registered group at the same time. In this embodiment, the circulation participants are divided into groups when executing the "group / continuous combined circulation" as shown in FIG. 3 (B). As can be seen from FIG. 3B, the employees ~ are registered in the group A, and the employees ~ are registered in the group B.

In this embodiment, the circulation processing authority is the following 8
It consists of types. (1) "Confirm": Confirm the created electronic document or the circulated electronic document to be circulated to the designated next circulation participant. (2) "Approval": Approves the created electronic document or the circulated electronic document for circulation to the designated next circulation participant. (3) "Execution": The circulation of the electronic document satisfying the conditions is completed, and the electronic document is stored in the designated storage location. (4) “Approval / execution”: The created electronic document or the circulated electronic document is approved, and if the conditions are satisfied, the electronic document is executed and stored in the designated storage location. (5) "Return": The electronic document is returned to the previous circulation participant or the designated circulation participant. (6) "Send": The electronic document is sent to the designated circulation participant. (7) “Store”: Stores the electronic document being created or the electronic document that has been circulated. (8) "Browse": Display and browse electronic documents created by other participants. In the system of the present invention, the electronic document circulated is
The circulation process is not considered to have been completed without the approval by at least one circulation participant who is given the “approval” right for the electronic document. The type of circulation processing authority is not limited to this embodiment, and may be determined in advance according to the type of circulation processing scheduled by the system. For example, "Create" to create an electronic document
It is also possible to include the authority and the “modify” authority for changing or deleting the contents of the electronic document in the circulation processing authority. Further, in this embodiment, the circulation processing authority is electronically documented as a “circulation processing authority setting document” for each circulation participant and for each electronic document, and the circulation management information storage unit 6 and the circulation order information storage unit 7 are provided.
It can be recorded in. In this way, the circulation processing authority is electronically documented as a “circulation processing authority setting document” for each circulation participant and each electronic document, so that, for example, when a circulation participant newly occurs, a new circulation participant is created. Is
After creating the "Circulation processing authority setting sheet" by himself and circulating it to the already registered circulation participants and obtaining the predetermined approval, it is stored in the circulation management information storage unit 6 and the circulation order information storage unit 7 By recording the information in the above, it becomes possible to create the information on the circulation processing of oneself and register it in the system. Also, regarding registered circulation participants,
It is possible to update the already registered information about the circulation processing of oneself by myself (circulation to other circulation participants and after obtaining approval from the approver).

4 to 10, the circulation management information storage unit 6 is shown.
An example of the data recorded in is shown. FIG. 4 shows data relating to the president (participant code 1001).
Is data relating to the manager (participant code 1002), FIG. 6 is data relating to the section manager (participant code 1003), and FIG. 7 is employee (participant code 1004).
8 is data relating to employees (participant codes 1005 to 1008), and FIG.
Is data relating to the person in charge of storage (participant code 1901), and FIG.
It is data regarding 2). As shown in FIG. 4 to FIG. 10, in this embodiment, the circulation management information storage unit 6 is assigned to the circulation-processable electronic document name for each circulation participant and each circulation-processable electronic document. Data about the type of circulation processing authority, the name of the circulation group to which it belongs, the next circulation destination, and the circulation approver, executor, and storage destination are recorded.

For example, as can be seen from FIG. 4, regarding the president, "confirmation" regarding the electronic document "business partner registration slip",
Granted the circulation processing authority of “approval”, “approval / execution”, “return”, “send” and “storage”, and “view”,
It is recorded that the next circulation destination is the department manager, there are two approvers of this electronic document (the president himself and the department manager), the executor is the person in charge of execution, and the storage location is the person in charge of storage. ,
As can be seen from FIG. 6, the section manager is also given the circulation confirmation authority of “confirmation”, “return”, “send” and “storage”, and “browsing” regarding the electronic document “registration slip for business partners”, It is recorded that the next circulation destination is the department manager, the number of approvers of this electronic document is two (the president and the department manager), the executor is the execution manager, and the storage destination is the storage manager.

FIG. 11 shows a circulation of all the circulation participants of the electronic document “Vendor Registration Sheet” which can be formed based on the data (see FIGS. 4 to 10) recorded in the circulation management information storage unit 6. A list of processed data is shown.

The electronic document stored in the electronic document storage unit 5 is defined by using an existing format electronic document having an existing format provided by the system of the present invention, a user's commercially available word processor software, spreadsheet software, or the like. The user-defined electronic document and the program electronic document created by documenting the data input screen of various application software (for example, accounting software and business management software) are included.

The user-defined electronic document is created by the circulation creator after creating a document that is not included in the ready-made format electronic document, and is circulated to the circulation participants in advance to obtain confirmation and approval. It is additionally registered in the document storage unit 5. As described above, the user-defined electronic document can be stored in the electronic document storage unit 5 and can be circulated, so that any document in the company (paper medium document) can be converted into electronic data, circulated and stored.

When the program electronic document is circulated, the data input screen of the application software related to the program electronic document is sequentially circulated to each circulation participant together with the data input through the screen,
After the circulation of the program electronic document is completed, it is stored in the electronic document storage unit 5. Thereby, as in the past, a document in which data to be entered is circulated in the company in advance, and after predetermined confirmation and approval, without using the application software to input data to the system, After the program electronic document is directly circulated, it is stored in the electronic document storage unit 5 so that data can be input by application software. And "view"
The authorized circulation participant browses the program electronic document stored in the electronic document storage unit 5,
You can easily see the data entered by the application software.

The circulation management server 1 also stores a circulation sequence information storage unit 7 in which data relating to the circulation sequence of each electronic document stored in the electronic document storage unit 5 is recorded, and each circulation document information stored in the electronic document storage unit 5. It has a circulation history recording unit 8 in which data relating to the circulation processing history of an electronic document is recorded. Figure 1
2 shows the data recorded in the circulation order information storage unit 7 in this embodiment, and (A) to (C) respectively show the case where the employee creates the electronic document “registered customer etc.”. , Data relating to the circulation order of "continuous circulation", data relating to the circulation order of "simultaneous / continuous composite circulation", and data relating to the circulation order of "group / continuous composite circulation". As can be seen from FIG. 12, in the case of “continuous circulation” of the electronic document “Business Partner Registration Voucher”, the “Business Partner Registration Voucher” created by the employee is confirmed by the employee and the section manager. After being approved by the department manager and approved by the president, it is then executed by the person in charge of execution or stored by the person in charge of storage. In the case of "simultaneous / continuous compound circulation" of the electronic document "Business Partner Registration Voucher", the "Business Partner Registration Voucher" created by the employee was circulated and confirmed by the employee and the section manager at the same time. After that, the department manager approves, and the president approves.
Or it is stored by the person in charge of storage. In addition, in the case of the "Group / Continuous Compound Circulation" of the electronic document "Business Partner Registration Voucher", the "Business Partner Registration Voucher" created by the employee
Will be circulated to employees, employees and groups consisting of employees at the same time, and after confirmation, confirmation by employees, confirmation by section manager, then approval by department manager and approval by president, and then execution Performed by personnel or archived by archive personnel.

At least the names of the participants who have completed the circulation processing and the date and time when the circulation processing has been completed are recorded in the circulation history recording unit 8.

FIGS. 13 to 15 show "creation" of an electronic document when an employee has created the electronic document "registration slip for business partners".
From processing to "execution" processing of electronic documents,
It is a flowchart of a "continuous circulation", a "simultaneous / continuous composite circulation", and a "group / continuous composite circulation". Note that FIG.
15, "confirmation", "approval", "approval / execution"
Of the circulation processing authority, etc., the shaded items represent the circulation processing authority given to the circulation participant.

When the circulation management server 1 receives the circulation participant's ID and password from the clients 2a to 2d, the circulation management server 1 further checks whether or not the combination of the ID and password is recorded in the participant identification information storage unit 4. If it is not recorded, the connection with the clients 2a to 2d is refused, but if it is recorded, the client 2
The circulation approval / disapproval determination unit 9 that permits connection with a to 2d and the data regarding the corresponding circulation participant from the circulation management information storage unit 6 to the clients 2a to 2d that are permitted to connect to the clients 2a to 2d. When the circulation start request is received from, the data recorded in the circulation order information storage unit 7, the circulation history recording unit 8 and the circulation management information storage unit 6 is checked,
The circulation control unit 10 extracts the relevant electronic document from the electronic document storage unit 4 and transmits it to the clients 2a to 2d.

The clients 2a to 2d, based on the data received from the circulation management information storage unit 6 of the circulation management server 1, the circulation processing authority given in advance for each electronic document received from the circulation control unit 10 of the circulation management server 1. It is possible to execute the circulation processing based on the. Further, the circulation control unit 10 of the circulation management server 1 uses the clients 2a-2
When the circulation end notification is received from d together with the electronic document,
Circulation history information about the electronic document is stored in the circulation history recording unit 8
The content of the electronic document stored in the circulation document storage unit 5 is updated with the content of the received electronic document.

Next, an operation method of the electronic document circulation system according to the present invention will be described. First, the circulation participant accesses the circulation management server 1 from an appropriate client, for example, the client 2a in FIG. When the client 2a is connected to the circulation management server 1, a screen for inputting the circulation participant's ID and password is displayed on the display of the client 2a. When the ID and password are input through this screen, the circulation management server 1 determines whether or not the combination of the ID and password is registered in advance.
When the combination of the ID and the password is registered, a list of circulation documents related to the circulation participant is displayed on the display of the client 2a.

When the circulation participant selects one circulation document from the list, a screen as shown in FIG. 16 is displayed on the display of the client 2a. Figure 1
In FIG. 6, an area 20 is a circulation processing unit, in which buttons 22 for executing various circulation processings are arranged, and a circulation name display column 23, a circulation method display column 24, and a circulation history display column 25 are included. Various display columns are provided for displaying information necessary for processing. Further, the area 21 is a document portion, and the contents of the circulation document selected by the circulation participant are displayed.

In this case, regarding the circulation processing to which the authority is not given to the client 2a, the corresponding circulation processing button is not displayed on the display screen shown in FIG. 16 or is operated even if it is displayed. It is not possible to do (press) it.

Then, when the circulation participant completes the circulation processing of the circulation document in the client 2a, the circulation completion notification is transmitted from the client 2a to the circulation control unit 10 of the circulation management server 1 together with the circulation document.
This circulation end notification is a circulation process equivalent to the end of circulation,
When a button such as "hold", "confirm", "approval", "approve / execute", or "execute" is pressed, it is transmitted together with the circulation document. In this way, the circulation control unit 10 of the circulation management server 1 records the circulation history information regarding the circulation document in the circulation history recording unit 8 and the content of the circulation document received from the content of the electronic document stored in the circulation document storage unit 5. To update by.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the configuration of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications can be considered.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, when the connection with the circulation management server is permitted, the data regarding the circulation processing authority is transmitted to each client, and each client can perform the circulation processing based on the received data. However, instead of such a configuration, data regarding the circulation processing authority for each client is always held on the circulation management server side, and each time the client executes the circulation processing, It may be configured to inquire about the circulation processing authority.

In-house documents include documents that need to be circulated to obtain the confirmation and approval as described above, and documents that do not need to be circulated. And, of course, even for a document that does not need to be circulated to obtain confirmation or approval, it is necessary to convert the document into electronic data. In this case, according to the electronic circulation system according to another embodiment of the present invention, a format or function specialized for only the circulation participants who should send the email is added to the email. By giving this e-mail a special format or function, efficient electronic documenting, sending, and storage of documents that do not need to be circulated for confirmation and approval can be realized.

That is, according to this embodiment, a format that has a frame for pasting documents created by word processing software or spreadsheet software in an e-mail or a file that can display attached files in a list format It is possible to select a format such as a format having an attachment function according to the purpose when creating an electronic document.

For documents such as meeting information and questionnaires that require confirmation of a reply, the sender of the e-mail sends reply confirmation items (absence / absence of meals, questionnaire totalization) for each document that requires confirmation of a reply. Items, etc.) and corresponding reply options (when the reply confirmation item is “Absent”, “attendance” or “absent”; when the reply confirmation item is “necessity of meal”, “necessary” or If the answer is "No" and the reply confirmation item is "Questionnaire summary item", "Options for item" is set, and it is sent (distributed) after being incorporated into the email as a part of the email data. It should be sent to participants who should circulate. At the same time, it consists of a reply confirmation item embedded as a part of the data of the e-mail and a space for recording the corresponding reply content in a specific location of the client's storage device used by the sender. Destination list data is recorded. When the e-mail is received by the client of each circulation participant, the client selects or inputs the corresponding reply content for each reply item of the e-mail, and sends the reply to the client of the sender of the e-mail.

When the client of the electronic mail sender receives the reply mail from each client of the destination,
The data returned from each of the other clients is automatically recorded in the space for recording the reply contents in the destination list data recorded in the storage device of the client of the electronic mail sender. Further, according to this embodiment, the circulation management server is further provided with a public document data storage unit,
Circulation participants can freely browse the electronic document stored in the public document data storage unit from the client.

As described above, according to the electronic document circulation system of the present invention, the in-house LAN or the like can be used to
The electronic document can be automatically circulated while giving the circulation processing authority according to the difference of the post in the company, and the stamp (confirmation mark, approval stamp) at the time of circulation by the conventional paper medium is unnecessary, Electronic approval may be possible. Further, according to the electronic document circulation system of the present invention, an arbitrary document can be digitized and automatically circulated, so that all the documents in the company can be converted into electronic data. Furthermore, the data input screen of application software for accounting, customer management, product sales management, etc. is converted into an electronic document, and along with the data input through that screen, it is circulated as a program electronic document in the same way as other electronic documents, and given approval After it is obtained, it can be programmed and automatically stored as the data of the application software and stored at the same time.Therefore, it is necessary to circulate the required documents and obtain approval before data input by the application software as before. Therefore, the data input work can be performed more efficiently than before.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of an electronic document circulation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a circulation management server of the system of FIG.

FIG. 3A is a list of circulation participants, and FIG. 3B is a table showing grouping of circulation participants.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of data recorded in a circulation management information storage unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of data recorded in a circulation management information storage unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of data recorded in a circulation management information storage unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of data recorded in a circulation management information storage unit.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of data recorded in a circulation management information storage unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of data recorded in a circulation management information storage unit.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of data recorded in a circulation management information storage unit.

FIG. 11 is a list of circulation processing data for all circulation participants of an electronic document created based on the data examples shown in FIGS. 4 to 10;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of data recorded in a circulation order information storage unit.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an example of “continuous circulation” from “creation” processing of an electronic document to “execution” processing of an electronic document.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an example of “simultaneous / continuous compound circulation” from “creation” processing of an electronic document to “execution” processing of an electronic document.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an example of “group / continuous compound circulation” from “creation” processing of an electronic document to “execution” processing of an electronic document.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the display of the client during the circulation processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

1st circulation management server 2a-2d clients 3 communication lines 4 Participant identification information storage 5 Electronic document storage 6 Circulation management information storage 7 Circulation order information storage 8 circulation history recording section 9th circulation approval / disapproval judgment section 10 circulation control section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A circulation management server, and a plurality of clients which are connected to the circulation management server via a communication line and transmit and receive data to and from the circulation management server, wherein the circulation management server manages the data. A system for circulating an electronic document between clients, wherein the circulation management server includes a participant identification information storage unit in which IDs and passwords of circulation participants are recorded, an electronic document storage unit in which an electronic document is stored, A circulation management information storage unit, in which at least a circulation-processable electronic document name for each circulation participant and data relating to the type of circulation processing authority given to each circulation-processable electronic document are recorded, and the electronic document storage Circulation order information storage unit in which data regarding the circulation order of each electronic document stored in the electronic document storage unit, and each electronic text stored in the electronic document storage unit A circulation history recording unit in which data relating to a circulation processing history of a book is recorded, and when the circulation participant's ID and password are received from the client, a combination of the ID and password is recorded in the participant identification information storage unit. If it is not recorded, the connection with the client is rejected, but if it is recorded, a circulation permission / prohibition determination unit that permits the connection with the client, and a client that is permitted the connection When data about a corresponding circulation participant is transmitted from the circulation management information storage unit and a circulation start request is received from the client, the data is recorded in the circulation order information storage unit, the circulation history recording unit, and the circulation management information storage unit. Examine the data
A circulation control unit for extracting a related electronic document from the electronic document storage unit and transmitting the electronic document to the client, wherein the client is based on data received from the circulation management information storage unit of the circulation management server. The circulation processing can be executed based on the circulation processing authority given in advance for each electronic document received from the circulation control unit of the circulation management server. The circulation control unit of the circulation management server further includes: When a circulation end notification is received together with an electronic document from a client, circulation history information regarding the electronic document is recorded in the circulation history recording unit, and the contents of the electronic document stored in the circulation document storage unit are received in the electronic document. An electronic document circulation system characterized by being updated according to the contents of. 2. A circulation management server, and a plurality of clients which are connected to the circulation management server via a communication line and transmit and receive data to and from the circulation management server, wherein the circulation management server manages the data. A system for circulating an electronic document between clients, wherein the circulation management server includes a participant identification information storage unit in which IDs and passwords of circulation participants are recorded, an electronic document storage unit in which an electronic document is stored, A circulation management information storage unit, in which at least a circulation-processable electronic document name for each circulation participant and data relating to the type of circulation processing authority given to each circulation-processable electronic document are recorded, and the electronic document storage Circulation order information storage unit in which data regarding the circulation order of each electronic document stored in the electronic document storage unit, and each electronic text stored in the electronic document storage unit A circulation history recording unit in which data relating to a circulation processing history of a book is recorded, and when the circulation participant's ID and password are received from the client, a combination of the ID and password is recorded in the participant identification information storage unit. If it is not recorded, the connection with the client is refused, but if it is recorded, a circulation permission / prohibition determination unit that permits connection with the client, and circulation starts from the client permitted to connect. When a request is received, the data recorded in the circulation order information storage unit, the circulation history recording unit, and the circulation management information storage unit is examined, and the related electronic document is extracted from the electronic document storage unit to the client. To the circulation document when the circulation request for the electronic document is received from the client. Based on the data recorded in the information storage unit, and a circulation control unit to reject that the processing authority for the circulation processing for imparting or applying to said client,
The client is capable of executing only the circulation process for which the processing authority is given by the circulation control unit of the circulation management server, for each electronic document, and the circulation control unit of the circulation management server further includes When a circulation end notification is received from the client together with the electronic document, circulation history information regarding the electronic document is recorded in the circulation history recording unit, and the content of the electronic document stored in the circulation document storage unit is received. An electronic document circulation system characterized by being updated according to the contents of the electronic document.