JP2004288009A - Data exchange and management method, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data exchange and management method capable of performing unitary data management without having to prepare a format conversion program for each customer in data exchange with a plurality of customers whose data formats are partially different. <P>SOLUTION: A format table 23 for defining a different data format for each customer is prepared in advance, data 21 received from a customer by an EDI are divided for each item according to the format table 23 of the customer to generate item unit data, item information including a date, the opposite party code and a data type is attached to each of the item unit data, and the item unit data attached with the item information is registered in a common database 18. The item unit data obtained from the data 21 received from a plurality of customers are made to be mixed in the common database 18 and managed unitarily. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a data exchange and management method with a plurality of business partners having different data formats, and a computer program. In particular, the present invention relates to a data exchange and management method and a computer program for reducing the burden of computer processing in a company when a wholesaler exchanges electronic data with a plurality of retailers.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, when exchanging transaction data between a retailer and a wholesaler, data exchange is conventionally performed in a standardized format called EDI (Electronic Data Interchange or Electronic Data Exchange). On the other hand, when processing data in an internal computer system of a retailer or wholesaler, a data format suitable for each business is often used.
[0003]
Therefore, a data format conversion process between the EDI format and the internal processing format is required. Such a data format conversion process is described in, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-319811
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-222382
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in practice, in data exchange between a retailer and a wholesaler, the data format is often determined by the retailer. Retailers often wish to exchange data with wholesalers in addition to data defined in a standardized EDI format, including additional information that is convenient for in-house processing.
[0007]
In this case, the wholesaler performs a data format conversion process for each retailer who is a customer. That is, it is necessary to create a format conversion program for each retailer. As the number of customer (customer) retailers increases, a format conversion program must be created each time.
[0008]
Further, a system for each business partner that manages business data for each of a plurality of business partners having partially different data formats is required, and this has been an obstacle to streamlining operations.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and in data exchange with a plurality of business partners having different data formats, there is no need to create a format conversion program for each business partner. It is an object of the present invention to provide a data exchange and management method and a computer program capable of effective data management.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A data exchange and management method according to the present invention (claim 1) is a data exchange and management method for a plurality of business partners having different data formats, and a format table that defines a different data format for each business partner is prepared in advance. In accordance with the format table of the supplier, the data received by EDI from the supplier is decomposed for each item to generate item-based data, and the item-based data includes a date, a partner code, and a data type. Information is added, the item-based data to which the item information is added is registered in a common database, and the item-based data obtained from data received from a plurality of suppliers is mixed in the common database.
[0011]
A computer program according to the present invention (claim 3) is a program to be executed by a computer for executing data exchange and management with a plurality of business partners having different data formats. Decomposing the data received by the EDI from the supplier for each item according to the format table to be defined to generate item-based data; and item information including a date, a partner code and a data type in each of the item-based data. And a step of registering the item-based data to which the item information is added in a common database, and mixing the item-based data obtained from data received from a plurality of suppliers in the common database. It is characterized by.
[0012]
According to such a data exchange and management method, it is not necessary to create a format conversion program for each business partner, and unified data management becomes possible. When a new supplier is created, it is only necessary to prepare a format table for decomposing the received data of the data format specified by the supplier for each item. Similarly, the case where multi-format data is received from one supplier can be handled by preparing the respective format tables.
[0013]
In a preferred embodiment, a data exchange and management method (claim 2) and a computer program (claim 4) according to the present invention extract desired data from the common database using a date, a destination code and a data type as keys. The method further includes using the extracted data as a virtual data file. According to such a configuration, data can be centrally managed by using a virtual order data file extracted from the common database without storing the actual order data file. .
[0014]
The recording medium of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM in which the above-described computer program is recorded. By installing the computer program from such a recording medium into a computer, the data exchange and management method of the present invention can be executed on the computer.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer system for executing a data exchange and management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, a computer system 1 of a wholesaler connected to a computer system (PC) 2 of a plurality of business partners (retailers) by a communication line 3 executes the data exchange and management method according to the embodiment of the present invention. .
[0016]
In FIG. 1, dedicated software (computer program) for data exchange and data management is installed and executed in a computer system 1. The dedicated software is supplied in a state recorded on a recording medium 6 such as a CD-ROM (optical disk), and is installed in an auxiliary storage device (HDD) 13 of the computer 1 via a reading device 7. The dedicated software installed in the auxiliary storage device 13 is loaded into the main memory 12 and executed by the processing device (CPU) 14. Alternatively, it is also possible to download and install the dedicated software from another computer such as a server connected to a network to the computer 1, or execute the software while downloading.
[0017]
The computer system 1 includes an input processing unit 15a, a display processing unit 16a, and a communication unit 11 in addition to the main memory 12, the auxiliary storage device 13, and the processing device 14. An input device 15 such as a keyboard and a mouse is connected to the input processing unit 15a, and a display device 16 such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) and an LCD (liquid crystal display device) is connected to the display processing unit 16a. The communication unit 11 is used for communication with the computer systems 2 of a plurality of retailers via the communication line 3.
[0018]
The auxiliary storage device 13 stores an operating system, various application programs, and a database. These include dedicated software for data exchange and data management described above, and a format table 23 and common database 18 described later.
[0019]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the concept of a data exchange and management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The received data (order data) 21 received from the supplier's computer system 2 is decomposed for each item by the data decomposing module 22, and the generated item unit data is added with item information such as date, partner code and data type. Then, it is registered in the common database 18. Item unit data obtained from data received from a plurality of business partners is registered in the common database 18 so as to be mixed.
[0020]
The order data 21 itself is not stored, but the virtual order data 25 can be generated as needed by data extracted from the common database 18 using the date, the destination code and the data type as keys. Also, virtual shipping data (sales data) 26 can be generated by copying virtual order data 25 and changing the type.
[0021]
As for the billing data, virtual billing data 27 can be similarly generated from data extracted from the common database 18. As described above, the process of generating a virtual data file based on the data extracted from the common database 18 is controlled by the virtual format generation module 24. From these virtual data files, the second virtual format generation module 28 generates virtual shipping data 29 and billing data 30 conforming to the format of the supplier system. That is, data transmission to the supplier system 2 is also performed via the virtual data file.
[0022]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data flow in the system of FIG. The received data 21 received from the client computer system 2 is decomposed for each item by the data decomposing module 22. At this time, a format table 23 that defines a different data format for each supplier is referred to. The format table 23 has item information 23a, and the position (order and data length) of each item can be known from the format table 23.
[0023]
Item information including a date, a destination code, and a data type is added to each item-based data obtained by the decomposition, and registered in the common database 18. An example of item unit data to which item information is added is shown in 18a. FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of the data registration structure of the common database.
[0024]
As described above, the virtual format generation modules 24 and 28 extract desired data from the common database 18 and generate virtual data files (virtual data) 25 to 27, 29 and 30 based on the extracted data. At this time, the format table 23 is referred to, and desired virtual data is generated according to the data format.
[0025]
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of data format conversion. In this example, data 21 is received from two business partners, one received data 21a (from business partner 1) includes data items a, b, and c, and the other received data 21 (from business partner 2) The data 21b includes data items a ', b', and c '. Although both the reception data 21a and the reception data 21b conform to the EDI format, it is assumed that the reception data 21a and the reception data 21b have partially different data formats.
[0026]
The received data 21a and 21b are decomposed for each item by the data decomposing module 22 in accordance with the format table of each supplier, and the item information is added to generate the set data 33 of the item unit data. This is stored in the common database 18 in a mixed manner.
[0027]
For example, when an order data file from the supplier 1 becomes necessary, virtual data (order data) 25 is generated using the virtual format generation module 24. In the illustrated example, the order of the data items in the order data 21a from the supplier 1 is a, b, c. After the data items are once disassembled, a, c , B is generated and displayed on the display device 16.
[0028]
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the order of processing performed by the virtual format generation module. In this example, input of extraction condition data and output of extraction results (virtual data) are performed using the display device 16 of the computer system 1 of the wholesaler. First, the virtual format generation module 24 receives extraction conditions (customer, date, data type, etc.) from the screen or the application program (step # 101). Next, the format table 23 that matches the received extraction condition is referred to (step # 102).
[0029]
Subsequently, the virtual format generation module 24 extracts data matching the extraction condition from the common database 18 (Step # 103). Then, the extracted data is output to the display device 16 via the virtual data 25 while sequentially reconstructing (format conversion) according to the format table 23 (step # 104).
[0030]
The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be implemented in various forms.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the data exchange and management method and the computer program of the present invention, it is not necessary to create a format conversion program for each business partner, and unified data management becomes possible. When a new supplier is created, it is only necessary to prepare a format table for decomposing the received data of the data format specified by the supplier for each item. Similarly, the case where multi-format data is received from one supplier can be handled by preparing the respective format tables.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a computer system for executing a data exchange and management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a concept of a data exchange and management method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data flow in the system of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of a data registration structure of a common database.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of data format conversion.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an order of processing executed by a virtual format generation module.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Computer System 6 Recording Medium 7 Reader 16 Display 18 Common Database 22 Data Decomposition Module 23 Format Table 24 Virtual Format Generation Module

Claims (5)

A data exchange and management method with a plurality of business partners having different data formats,
Prepare a format table that defines different data formats for each business partner in advance,
Data received by EDI from a business partner is decomposed for each item according to the format table of the business partner to generate item-by-item data,
Add item information including date, destination code and data type to each of the item unit data,
A data exchange and management method, wherein the item-based data to which the item information is added is registered in a common database, and the item-based data obtained from data received from a plurality of suppliers is mixed in the common database. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of extracting desired data from the common database using the date, the destination code and the data type as keys, and using the extracted data as a virtual data file. Data exchange and management methods. A program to be executed by a computer for executing data exchange and management with a plurality of business partners having different data formats,
According to a format table that defines a different data format for each customer, the data received by EDI from the customer is decomposed for each item to generate item-by-item data;
A step of adding item information including a date, a destination code and a data type to each of the item unit data;
Registering the item unit data to which the item information is added in a common database, and mixing the item unit data obtained from data received from a plurality of suppliers in the common database. . 4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of extracting desired data from the common database using a date, a destination code, and a data type as keys, and using the extracted data as a virtual data file. Computer programs. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program to be executed by a computer for executing data exchange and management with a plurality of business partners having different data formats is recorded,
A recording medium on which the computer program according to claim 3 or 4 is recorded.

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