JP2005078428A - Approval system, approval program, approval method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To positively approve an approval matter by all members of interest while shortening a lead time for circulating the approval matter to all the members of interest in an electronic approval system. <P>SOLUTION: The work flow server 1 of the electronic approval system comprises: a work flow processing process 11 executing a work flow for circulating the approval matter in predetermined order to users; and an automatic approval monitoring process 14 determining whether or not the approval matter exceeds an automatic setting time limit being an approval grace period stored on an automatic approval time limit setting table from a point of time of circulating the approval matter to the user; conducting temporary approval with respect to the approval matter exceeding the automatic setting time limit; when the approval matter is finally approved by the user, deleting the automatic temporary approval flag of the user stored on an automatic approval management table; assuring no temporary approval information on all the users being circulation of interest is stored on the automatic approval management table at a point of time of circulating the approval matter to all the users involved in circulation of interest; and completing the work flow. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an approval system, an approval program, and an approval method for circulating circulation-target approval items to an approver in order, such as an electronic approval system.

  A workflow device that circulates a circulation target document to a circulation target person in order is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

In addition to the default circulation route (normal mode) for a document, this workflow device has at least one circulation route (express mode, express mode, etc.). Accordingly, when any one of the circulation routes is selected, an automatic circulation mode setting function for automatically changing the setting of the circulation route so as to become the selected circulation route is provided.
In the case of this workflow device, in the event of an emergency, the circulation lead time can be shortened by circulating the document through a circulation route different from the initial setting.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-301998 (FIG. 3)

However, in the case of the workflow device described in Patent Document 1, since documents are circulated through a circulation route other than the default circulation route in an emergency, it is originally included in the default circulation route. Documents may not be able to be sent to those who are circulated.
In this way, if the document does not turn to the person to be circulated, it will not be a problem if it is circulated to the extent of general confirmation items. However, like the electronic approval system, an item that must be approved by the approver is required. In the case of circulation, the original “approval” purpose may not be achieved.

  The present invention was made to solve such a problem, and an approval system, an approval program, and an approval program that all users who should approve can be surely approved while reducing the lead time for turning an approval item, The purpose is to provide an approval method.

  In order to achieve the above object, the approval system of the present invention is configured with a workflow execution means for executing a workflow for circulating an approval case to a user, and a user's approval grace period for distributing the approval case. An approval deadline storage unit, an approval deadline determination unit that determines whether or not an approval grace period stored in the approval deadline storage unit has passed since the approval case was circulated to the user by the workflow execution unit, Temporary approval information storage means for storing, for each approver, temporary approval information indicating that provisional approval has been made for the approval case whose approval grace period has been exceeded by the approval deadline determination means; If approved, means for deleting the temporary approval information of the corresponding approver stored in the temporary approval information storage means, and all of the circulation targets by the workflow execution means A means for confirming that temporary approval information of all approvers to be distributed is not stored in the temporary approval information storage means when the approval case is distributed to the approver and ending the workflow; It is characterized by that.

  The approval system according to the present invention includes a workflow execution unit that executes a workflow for circulating an approval case to a user, an approval deadline storage unit in which an approval grace period for the user to which the approval case is circulated is set, and the user The agent information storage means in which a substitute to perform approval is set, the authority transfer deadline storage means in which the transfer deadline for transferring the approval authority from the user to the substitute is set, and the approval matter is set by the workflow execution means as a user When the transfer time limit stored in the authority transfer time limit storage means has been exceeded since the time when the user logged in to the system, the user's Means for transferring approval authority, and when the approval matter is circulated to the agent by the workflow execution means, An approval deadline determining means for determining whether or not the stored approval grace period has been exceeded, and provisional approval information indicating that the approval matter whose approval grace period has been exceeded has been provisionally approved by the approval deadline determination means. Temporary approval information storage means stored for each approver, and means for deleting the temporary approval information of the corresponding approver stored in the temporary approval information storage means when the approval case is finally approved by the approver; The temporary approval information of all approvers to be distributed is not stored in the temporary approval information storage unit when the approval matter is distributed to all approvers to be distributed by the workflow execution unit. And a means for confirming the above and ending the workflow.

  In any one of the above approval systems, when a schedule acquisition unit that acquires a schedule registered in advance in the schedule storage unit by the user and when an approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow execution unit or when the user logs in to the system And a means for changing a status of whether to perform provisional approval automatically based on the user's schedule acquired by the schedule acquisition means or to set a substitute.

  The approval program of the present invention is an approval program for causing a user to execute a process for an approval system that circulates an approval matter to the user. An approval deadline storage means in which a user's approval grace period to which the matter is circulated is set, and an approval grace period stored in the approval deadline storage means from the time when the approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow execution means. Approval time limit determining means for determining whether or not the time limit has been exceeded, and temporary approval information indicating that the approval matter whose approval grace period has been exceeded by the approval time limit determination means has been temporarily approved is stored for each approver. When the temporary approval information storage means and the approval case are approved by the approver, the corresponding approval person stored in the temporary approval information storage means When the approval matter is circulated to all approvers to be distributed by the workflow execution unit, the temporary approval information of all approvers to be distributed is stored in the temporary approval information storage. It is characterized in that it is made to function as means for ending the workflow after confirming that it is not stored in the means.

  The approval method of the present invention is an approval method in an approval system that circulates an approval case to a user, wherein the approval system circulates the approval case to the user, and from the time when the approval case is circulated to the user in advance. The step of determining whether or not the stored approval grace period has been exceeded, and the approval system performs temporary approval for the approval matter that has exceeded the approval grace period by the determination, and stores temporary approval information for each approver Step, and when the approval case is fully approved by the approver, when the approval system deletes the temporary approval information of the corresponding approver, and when the approval case is circulated to all approvers to be circulated And the approval system confirms that temporary approval information of all approvers to be distributed is not stored, and ends the workflow. That.

In the present invention, when the approval system circulates the approval case to the user, it is determined whether or not the approval grace period stored in advance from the time when the approval case is circulated to the user, and the approval grace period is set. The approval system performs provisional approval for excess approval matters and stores temporary approval information. Thereafter, when the approval case is finally approved by the approver, the approval system deletes the temporary approval information of the approver. When the approval case is distributed to all approvers to be distributed, the approval system confirms that the temporary approval information of all approvers to be distributed has not been stored, and the workflow is ended. .
In the present invention, when the approval system circulates the approval case to the user, if the transfer case has passed since the approval case was circulated to the user or the user logged into the system, Transfer approval authority. After that, it is determined whether or not the approval grace period has been exceeded since the approval case was circulated to the agent, and the approval system performs temporary approval for the approval case exceeding the approval grace period, and temporary approval information Remember. Thereafter, when the approval case is fully approved by the approver, the approval system deletes the corresponding temporary approval information. When the approval case is distributed to all approvers to be distributed, the approval system confirms that the temporary approval information of all approvers to be distributed has not been stored, and the workflow is ended. .

  As described above, according to the present invention, all users who should approve can surely approve an approval case while reducing the lead time for passing the approval case to all the target persons.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of an electronic approval system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, this electronic approval system is configured by connecting a server computer (workflow server 1, schedule management server 2, mail server 4) and a client computer (client 5) to a network such as LAN3. .
The workflow server 1, the schedule management server 2 as a schedule storage means, the mail server 4 and the client 5 are computers including a CPU, a memory, a hard disk device, a LAN interface device, a keyboard, a display device, etc., and an operating system ( In addition to the OS, application software (programs) is stored. Application software (program) executes processing in cooperation with the OS.

  The schedule management server 2 is a server that manages a user's schedule that is accessed and registered by the user, and transmits the schedule of the user in response to a request from the workflow server 1.

  The mail server 4 receives and accumulates the electronic mail transmitted from the workflow server 1 and transmits the corresponding electronic mail in response to a request from the mail software 5b of the client 5.

  The hard disk device of the workflow server 1 stores workflow server software including a workflow processing process 11, an automatic approval monitoring process 14, a login monitoring process 16, a schedule collection process 19, and the like. The workflow processing process 11 and the automatic approval monitoring process 14 are resident processes that start processing when the workflow server 1 is activated.

  In addition, the hard disk device of the workflow server 1 includes an automatic approval management table storage unit 12 as a temporary approval information storage unit, an automatic approval deadline management table storage unit 13 as an approval deadline storage unit, a login management table storage unit 15, an agent Storage areas such as an agent setting table storage unit 17 as information storage means and an agent automatic setting period setting table storage unit 18 as authority transfer deadline storage means are provided. In addition, the hard disk device stores an e-mail address, an e-mail message, and the like transmitted by each process. The e-mail address is for notifying a corresponding person of a message corresponding to an event occurring in the workflow. The e-mail message includes, for example, that the task has been turned, that the proxy has been set, that automatic provisional approval has been made, and that this approval is required.

  The automatic approval management table storage unit 12 stores an automatic approval management table as shown in FIG. In the automatic approval management table, a start time and an automatic approval flag are set for each user in association with the task name. When the previous user approves the approval matter and the task is circulated to the next user, the workflow process 11 sets the task name, start time, and automatic temporary approval flag (OFF) in the automatic approval management table. To do. In other words, this automatic approval management table is a table for managing the time when the task is the start date and whether or not the task is automatically approved.

  The automatic approval deadline management table storage unit 13 stores an automatic approval deadline management table as shown in FIG. The automatic temporary approval deadline setting table is a table that sets how many days after the task is started, and the automatic setting deadline is how many days after the start time is set in the automatic approval management table. Set in the deadline management table. In this example, the automatic approval deadline management table is set to 3 days, for example. In other words, in this automatic temporary approval deadline setting table, the user approves the approval grace period for the approval case to be circulated and temporary approval information (temporary approval flag) indicating that the approval case has been automatically approved. It is set for each task (per user).

  The proxy setting table storage unit 17 stores a proxy setting table as shown in FIG. The agent setting table is a table necessary for automatically setting the agent, and a user having setting authority associates the information with the agent in advance in the fields such as the agent destination (agent), status, and setting conditions. By registering, approval authority can be transferred to the agent based on the setting conditions. Users and agents are called approvers. By setting the status to “not set”, the substitution destination can be kept while the substitution destination is registered. This status can be changed to “Setting” by operating the button on the agent setting screen. In this example, although the user A has registered the user Z as a proxy destination, the proxy itself has not been set. User B is setting a proxy for user Y based on the last login time in the login management table and the automatic setting deadline in the proxy automatic setting period setting table. User C is setting a proxy for user X based on user C's schedule. Note that the schedule of the user C is registered in the schedule management server 2. In addition to the schedule, for example, an identifier that can be determined to be set according to the schedule may be registered as the setting condition.

  The login management table storage unit 15 stores a login management table as shown in FIG. In the login management table, the ID of a user who has logged into the workflow server 1 (hereinafter referred to as a user ID) and the last login time of each user are set. In this example, the user A is set to log in at 2003/03/05/12: 00: 00. The user B is set to log in at 2003/03/06/10: 00: 00.

  The proxy automatic setting period setting table storage unit 18 stores a proxy automatic setting period setting table as shown in FIG. In the proxy automatic setting period setting table, if there is no login for several days after the target person of the task logs in, or if there is no login for how many days from when the approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow processing process 11 This is a table for automatically setting whether to change to a user who will be authorized by the user, that is, the automatic setting deadline after how many days after the last login time is set in the login management table . In this example, 5 days or the like is set in the substitute automatic setting period setting table. That is, in this proxy automatic setting period setting table, a time limit for transferring approval authority from the user to the proxy is set.

  Workflow information is stored in the workflow processing process 11. The workflow information is information in which a circulation route such as to which user the approval matters to be circulated are circulated in which order and the workflow processing process 11 executes the circulation processing of the approval matters based on the workflow information. To do.

  The workflow processing process 11 has an HTTP server function and a workflow management function. The HTTP server function is a function that provides a user with an approval screen for tasks related to a workflow, each table setting screen, and the like. A function for receiving a request from the client 5 through each screen and a response to the received request to the client 5. It has a function to transmit. The workflow management function is an approval circulation control function that circulates a drafting slip to the next circulation target person when it is approved / denied by a user who uses the client 5, and is a function called a workflow engine.

  The workflow processing process 11 sequentially circulates the approval cases registered in itself to the corresponding user on the LAN 3, that is, the approver. The workflow processing process 11 publishes the approval case to be circulated so that a predetermined user (such as an approver to be circulated) can view on the LAN 3, and the desired case name is displayed in the published approval case list screen. As a result of the selection operation, the contents of the approval case are displayed on the approval screen of the client 5. When an approval operation is performed on the approval item displayed on the approval screen of the client 5, the workflow processing process 11 circulates the approval item to the next user as being fully approved.

The automatic approval monitoring process 14 constantly monitors the automatic approval management table, and automatically performs temporary approval for approval matters that have passed the number of days specified in the automatic temporary approval deadline setting table after the start time is set, Set the automatic approval flag of the corresponding task row in the automatic approval management table to ON and treat it as temporary approval. That is, the automatic approval monitoring process 14 determines whether or not the approval grace period stored in the automatic temporary approval time limit setting table has passed since the approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow processing process 11. It functions as a means, performs provisional approval for an approval case that exceeds the approval grace period, and stores temporary approval information (ON as an automatic temporary approval flag) in the automatic temporary approval management table. After the automatic approval monitoring process 14 stores the temporary approval information, the automatic approval monitoring process 14 notifies the corresponding user by e-mail that temporary approval has been made. Thereafter, when the automatic approval monitoring process 14 confirms (detects) that the main approval has been performed by the user or the agent who is the corresponding approver, the instance of the corresponding task is deleted from the automatic approval management table. That is, when the approval case is finally approved by the approver, the automatic approval monitoring process 14 deletes the automatic temporary approval flag that is the temporary approval information of the corresponding approver stored in the automatic temporary approval management table.
When the approval process is circulated to all approvers to be distributed by the workflow processing process 11, the automatic approval monitoring process 14 sets the automatic temporary approval flag of all approvers to be distributed to the automatic temporary approval management table. Is confirmed, the workflow processing process 11 is notified, and the workflow is terminated.

  The login monitoring process 16 manages the time when the user logs in. For users who have not logged in for a certain period of time, the delegate designated in advance is set as the official approver, and the authorization authority to perform the task processing of the delegate is transferred (granted) . When the authorization authority is transferred (granted), an e-mail is always transmitted to the agent and the user (substitute) of the agent. In other words, the login monitoring process 16 detects the automatic setting time limit (approval authority) stored in the proxy automatic setting period setting table from the time when the approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow processing process 11 or when the user logs in to the system. It is determined whether or not the transfer deadline has been exceeded. If the automatic setting deadline (approval transfer deadline) is exceeded, the transfer of approval authority to the agent stored in the proxy setting table and approval authority Is notified to the agent and the user who is the agent (substitute) by e-mail.

The schedule collection process 19 is set to read and collect the user's schedule from the schedule management server 2 at, for example, 8:00 every morning. In other words, the schedule collection process 19 accesses the schedule management server 2 at a time determined once a day, collects information on the user's today's outings and vacations. The task processing authority is transferred (granted) to the agent set in the agent setting table.
The schedule collection process 19 checks the schedule of each user, and if an agent is set, registers an identifier that indicates that the setting is made according to “schedule” or the schedule in the setting condition of the agent setting table. As a result, it is understood that a substitute has been set based on the schedule. At this time, the schedule collection process 19 transmits an e-mail indicating that the proxy is set to the substitute and the substitute.
When collecting the schedule information, the schedule collection process 19 looks at the setting condition field of the agent setting table and sets the agent when the agent is set by the schedule and the schedule is not outing or vacation. To release.
That is, the schedule collection process 19 automatically performs provisional approval based on the user's schedule acquired from the schedule management server 2 when the approval matter is circulated to the user or when the user logs in to the system. Alternatively, the status of the proxy setting table that sets whether to set a proxy or the like is changed.

  On the hard disk device of the client 5, workflow client software 5a (hereinafter referred to as client software 5a) and mail software 5b (hereinafter referred to as mail software 5b) are installed. The client software 5a has an HTML display function for displaying HTML data received from the workflow server 1 and a request transmission function for receiving a button click in the HTML data and transmitting a request to the workflow server 1.

In the client 5, the client software 5 a is activated when the OS is activated, and a login screen to the workflow server 1 is displayed. When the user inputs login information, the workflow function of the workflow server 1 according to the user authority is used. become able to. The client software 5a may be activated by a user operation.
The mail software 5b goes to the mail server 4 to collect mail, and if there is an electronic mail addressed to the user in the mail server 4, receives it.

  The operation of this electronic approval system will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is an example of the circulation order, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the workflow server 1 in this electronic approval system.

In the electronic approval system of this embodiment, in the workflow processing process 11 of the workflow server 1, the workflow information so that approval matters are circulated in the order of user A, user B, user C, and user D, as shown in FIG. Is set.
For example, when the user A activates the client 5, the client software 5a is activated when the OS is activated and displays a login screen. When the user inputs user information for authentication such as a user ID and password, the client software 5a A login request including user information such as a user ID and a password is transmitted to the workflow server 1.
In the workflow server 1, the workflow processing process 11 waits to receive a login request from the client 5, and when there is a login request from the client 5, the workflow processing process 11 receives the login request (FIG. 8). S101).
Then, authentication processing is performed based on user information such as a user ID and password included in the received login request, and a screen corresponding to the authentication result is returned (S102). As an authentication result, for example, in the case of authentication OK, the workflow processing process 11 transmits an unprocessed approval item list screen to the user and prompts approval. In the case of authentication NG, the workflow processing process 11 transmits a message or control information to log in again to the user. The client software 5a displays the login screen again according to the received message or control information.
The workflow processing process 11 sets the login time of the corresponding user in the login management table of the login management table storage unit 15 (S103).

  In the workflow server 1, the automatic approval monitoring process 14 monitors the agent setting table in the agent setting table storage unit 17 and the agent automatic setting period setting table in the agent automatic setting period setting table storage unit 18 every predetermined time. By checking the setting conditions (“Schedule”, “Login”, etc.) in which the status of the proxy setting table is “Setting” (S104), under what conditions the proxy is set See what to do.

As a result of this check, when “schedule” is set in the setting condition of the proxy setting table (S105 schedule), the automatic approval monitoring process 14 collects the schedule of the user for the schedule collection process 19. Instruct. In response to this instruction, the schedule collection process 19 transmits a schedule acquisition request to the schedule management server 2 (S106).
When the schedule of the corresponding user is transmitted from the schedule management server 2 in response to this schedule acquisition request, the schedule collection process 19 receives this (S107), and sets the agent based on the received and collected user schedule. The table is updated (S108).
When the schedule collection process 19 collects the schedule of the user C, for example, if the schedule of the user C is “scheduled to go to work”, the schedule collection process 19 cancels the substitution setting of the user C. The status of the table 17 is changed from “setting” to “not set”.
Further, when the schedule collection process 19 collects the schedule of the user A, if the schedule of the user A is “vacation” or “going out”, the schedule collection process 19 performs the substitution on behalf of the user A. Therefore, the status of the user A in the proxy setting table 17 is changed from “not set” to “setting”.
When the schedule collection process 19 updates the information in the agent setting table 17, the schedule collection process 19 sends an e-mail to that user (the agent and the user who is the agent), so the user logs in to the mail server 4 and is addressed to himself / herself. By reading the e-mail, it is possible to know the change of the proxy setting.

On the other hand, if “login” is set in the setting condition of the proxy setting table as a result of the check in S104 (login in S105), the automatic approval monitoring process 14 determines whether or not the login monitoring process 16 has a proxy setting. Instruct confirmation.
The login monitoring process 16 changes the approval to the agent based on the information in the login management table in the login management table storage unit 15 and the information in the agent automatic setting period setting table in the agent automatic setting period setting table storage unit 18. It is determined whether or not (S109).

  As a result of the determination process of S109, when the elapsed time from the last login time of the corresponding user in the login management table to the current time exceeds the automatic setting time limit in the proxy automatic setting period setting table (Yes in S110), The login monitoring process 16 notifies the automatic approval monitoring process 14 to that effect.

  The automatic approval monitoring process 14 performs automatic temporary monitoring based on information in the automatic approval management table in the automatic approval management table storage unit 12 and information in the automatic temporary approval deadline setting table storage unit 13 at predetermined time intervals. It is determined whether to approve or to end the task (S111).

As a result of referring to the automatic temporary approval deadline setting table, if the approval deadline of the approval case of the corresponding user exceeds the automatic deadline (the automatic deadline exceeded in S111), the automatic approval monitoring process 14 automatically executes the approval case. Temporary approval is performed to notify the workflow processing process 11 that provisional approval has been made, and the automatic temporary approval flag of the automatic approval management table is set to ON (S112).
In addition, the automatic approval monitoring process 14 transmits an e-mail indicating that the provisional approval has been temporarily approved to the approver who should actually approve, thereby urging the approval. The workflow process 11 circulates the approval case to the next user when the approval case is approved.

Thereafter, when the provisionally approved matter is actually approved by the corresponding user (Yes in S113), the automatic approval monitoring process 14 deletes the corresponding temporary approval information in the automatic approval management table (S114).
In this example, the last login time of the user A is March 5, 2003, 12:00: 00, and the user A logs in even at the time of March 1, 2003, 12:00: 00 If not, the login monitoring process 16 sets the user set in the proxy setting table, that is, the user Z as a proxy. At this time, the login monitoring process 16 transmits an e-mail to the user Z indicating that the user Z is set as the substitute. By automatically setting the agent, the person in charge of the task A is changed to the user Z, and the status of the agent setting table is changed from “not set” to “setting”.
After changing the setting, the login monitoring process 16 updates the information in the login management table, that is, deletes the last login time in the login management table in order to recognize that the proxy has been set.
After setting the agent, the agent becomes the approver, so the task of the agent is newly registered in the automatic approval management table, the start time and the automatic temporary approval flag (OFF) are set, and then automatically It is the target of provisional approval processing.

  On the other hand, when the workflow processing process 11 circulates the approval matter to all users (including automatic temporary approval and substitutes) to be circulated, the automatic approval monitoring process 14 performs the determination process of S111. As a result, when it is confirmed that the temporary approval information of all users to be distributed is not stored in the automatic approval management table (no temporary approval information in S111), the automatic approval monitoring process 14 determines that the approval case is a distribution target. The workflow processing process 11 is notified that all of the users have been approved, and the workflow processing process 11 ends the workflow (S115).

As described above, according to the electronic approval system of this embodiment, by providing the automatic approval monitoring process 14 in the workflow server 1, the task for executing the circulation of the approval item is started and stayed for a certain time or more. The task is automatically provisionally approved, the automatic provisional approval flag of the automatic approval management table is turned on to advance the workflow, and the approver himself is urged to make the approval by e-mail. Then, when the main approval is performed by the principal, the information of the corresponding person whose automatic temporary approval flag is turned on in the automatic approval management table is deleted, and the task is finished only when all information is lost in the automatic approval management table. Therefore, it is possible to ensure that all approval subjects approve the approval case while preventing the task from staying for a certain period of time.
In addition, by providing the login management process 16 in the workflow server 1, if the person to be approved to whom the approval matter has been sent does not log in for a certain period from the last login time when the login was last performed, approval is performed instead of the person himself By automatically setting an agent, it is possible to prevent tasks from staying even if the company is absent due to a sudden business trip or sudden illness. In addition, when an agent is set, an e-mail to that effect is transmitted to the person and the agent, so that it is understood that an approval agent is automatically set by reading each e-mail.
Furthermore, by providing the schedule collection process 19 in the workflow server 1, the user's schedule is collected from the schedule management server 2, and the agent who performs the approval on behalf of the person automatically even when the user is out or on vacation. Therefore, even if the approver forgets to set the substitute, the substitute can be set automatically and the task can be prevented from staying for a certain period of time.
In other words, while the workflow task is executed, the approval matter that stays for a certain period of time is automatically set as temporary approval and the workflow is advanced. It is possible to prevent the task that has been staying from staying for a certain period of time by automatically setting a proxy for users who have not logged in for a certain period of time, and to pass approval matters to all target persons. All target persons can securely approve approval cases while reducing lead time.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic approval system of one Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an automatic approval management table. The figure which shows an automatic temporary approval deadline setting table. The figure which shows an agent setting table. The figure which shows a login management table. The figure which shows an agent automatic setting organization setting table. The figure which shows the circulation order in this electronic approval system. The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the workflow server of this electronic approval system.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Workflow server, 2 ... Schedule management server, 3 ... LAN, 4 ... Mail server, 5 ... Client, 5a ... Mail software, 3 ... LAN, 11 ... Workflow processing process, 12 ... Automatic approval management table storage part, 13 ... Automatic provisional approval deadline setting table storage unit, 14 ... automatic approval monitoring process, 15 ... login management table storage unit, 16 ... login monitoring process, 17 ... agent setting table storage unit, 18 ... agent automatic setting period setting table storage unit 19 ... Schedule collection process.

Claims (5)

A workflow execution means for executing a workflow to circulate an approval matter to the user;
An approval deadline storage means in which the approval grace period of the user to whom the approval matter is circulated is set;
An approval deadline determining means for determining whether or not an approval grace period stored in the approval deadline storage means has been exceeded since the approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow execution means;
Temporary approval information storage means for storing temporary approval information indicating that temporary approval has been made for the approval case that has exceeded the approval grace period by the approval deadline determination means;
Means for deleting the temporary approval information of the corresponding approver stored in the temporary approval information storage means when the approval case is finally approved by the approver;
The provisional approval information of all approvers to be distributed is not stored in the temporary approval information storage unit when the approval matter is distributed to all approvers to be distributed by the workflow execution unit. An approval system comprising means for confirming and ending the workflow. A workflow execution means for executing a workflow to circulate an approval matter to the user;
An approval deadline storage means in which the approval grace period of the user to whom the approval matter is circulated is set;
Agent information storage means in which an agent who performs approval on behalf of the user is set;
Authority transfer time limit storage means in which a transfer time limit for transferring approval authority from the user to the agent is set;
If the transfer deadline stored in the authority transfer deadline storage means has been exceeded from the time when the approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow execution means or the time when the user logs in to the system, it is stored in the agent information storage means Means for transferring the user's approval authority to the authorized agent;
An approval deadline determining means for determining whether or not an approval grace period stored in the approval deadline storage means has been exceeded since the approval case is circulated to the agent by the workflow execution means;
Temporary approval information storage means for storing temporary approval information indicating that temporary approval has been made for the approval case that has exceeded the approval grace period by the approval deadline determination means;
Means for deleting the temporary approval information of the corresponding approver stored in the temporary approval information storage means when the approval case is finally approved by the approver;
The provisional approval information of all approvers to be distributed is not stored in the temporary approval information storage unit when the approval matter is distributed to all approvers to be distributed by the workflow execution unit. An approval system comprising means for confirming and ending the workflow. The approval system according to claim 1 or 2,
Schedule acquisition means for acquiring a schedule previously registered in the schedule storage means by the user;
When the approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow execution unit, or when the user logs in to the system, the temporary approval is automatically performed based on the user's schedule acquired by the schedule acquisition unit, or An approval system comprising: means for changing a status of setting an agent. In the approval program that causes the approval system to circulate the approval matter to the user to execute the process,
The approval system,
A workflow execution means for executing a workflow to circulate an approval matter to the user;
An approval deadline storage means in which the approval grace period of the user to whom the approval matter is circulated is set;
An approval deadline determining means for determining whether or not an approval grace period stored in the approval deadline storage means has been exceeded since the approval matter is circulated to the user by the workflow execution means;
Temporary approval information storage means for storing temporary approval information indicating that temporary approval has been made for the approval case that has exceeded the approval grace period by the approval deadline determination means;
Means for deleting the temporary approval information of the corresponding approver stored in the temporary approval information storage means when the approval case is finally approved by the approver;
The provisional approval information of all approvers to be distributed is not stored in the temporary approval information storage unit when the approval matter is distributed to all approvers to be distributed by the workflow execution unit. An approval program that functions as means for confirming and ending a workflow. In the approval method in the approval system that circulates approval matters to users,
The approval system circulates an approval matter to the user;
Determining whether the approval grace period stored in advance from the time when the approval case is circulated to the user;
The approval system performs temporary approval for the approval matter that has exceeded the approval grace period due to the determination, and stores temporary approval information for each approver;
When the approval case is finally approved by an approver, the approval system deletes the provisional approval information of the approver,
A step in which the approval system confirms that the provisional approval information of all approvers to be distributed is not stored when the approval matter is distributed to all approvers to be distributed and ends the workflow. The approval method characterized by having.

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