JP2005208855A - Business process design support apparatus, method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a business process design support apparatus, method and program that utilize past findings in a business process being designed. <P>SOLUTION: The business process design support apparatus 1 for designing a business process 226 by linked business process components 226a displays a special mode 227 including case structures matching case structures included in the business process 226 being designed, in a special mode display part 223. Evaluation information 228 describing situations in which the special mode 227 should be adopted and avoided is also displayed in the special mode display part 223. The designer edits the business process 226 being designed in a design part 222 according to the contents displayed in the special mode display part 223. In this case, a function allowing the designer to use special portions as resources is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a business process design support apparatus, a method thereof, and a program thereof.

  In the prior art, when designing business processes such as supply chains and work processes, the business process is created by identifying multiple activities included in the business process and creating an "activity chain" consisting of the identified activities. The method of designing is known.

  As a technology that supports the design of such business processes, there is a technology that presents patterns and templates that were effective in the past to the designer and assists the designer to design business processes that do not deviate from them. . For example, Patent Document 1 shown below discloses a technique in which a system patterns an activity chain for each business, and a designer uses this system to design a business process.

  In addition, as will be described later, in the present invention, a semantic analysis technique for analyzing the meaning of a sentence by information processing is used for the support of the designer. Fillmore's case grammar is known.

  Fillmore's case grammar captures the semantic relationship between words centered on verbs. In addition, other words for verbs in the sentence can be classified as cases listed below based on what role (deep case) they have for the verb (for example, Patent Document 2).

Action principal: The role of a person who causes an action.
Experienced personality: The role of a person experiencing a psychological event.
Tool: A role that can be a direct cause of an event or a stimulus to react in relation to a psychological event.
Target case: A role that represents the content of moving or changing objects, or the contents of psychological events such as judgment and imagination.
Source style: A role that represents the starting point of movement of an object and the initial state and shape of the state and shape change.
Target case: The end point in the movement of the object, the final state in the state change and shape change, the role that represents the result.
Placement: A role that represents where and where an event occurs.
Time Case: A role that represents the time at which an event occurs.

Using such a case, a sentence can be patterned into a structure consisting of a verb and one or more cases.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-85880 Nagao, 'Natural Language Processing', Iwanami Shoten, pp. 200-201, 1996 Charles J. Fillmore (translated by Harumi Tanaka, translated by Michio Funagi), 'Deep Case of Fillmore: Principles of Case Grammar', Sanseido, 1975

  However, the prior art described in Patent Document 1 described above has the following problems when trying to apply past knowledge about business processes to new designs.

  In other words, in technology that uses patterns and templates, the person who provides or operates the support device analyzes past knowledge from the perspective of a structure that forms part of the chain of activities, and the analysis results are supported by the support device. It is necessary to express the data in a data structure that can be handled and to incorporate the obtained data into the support device. At this time, patterns and templates obtained as a result of analysis from a certain viewpoint are associated with a specific task, classified and incorporated. However, in the prior art described in Patent Document 1, since this classification is fixed, there is a problem that even when the pattern or model is applicable in other business, it cannot be used. To do.

  In addition, in the prior art described in Patent Document 1, it is not possible to design a business process that deviates from the pattern or model prepared by the support device. There was a problem that it was not possible to support the creation of derivative forms and the design of completely different types of business processes.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a business process design support apparatus, a method thereof, and a program thereof that can make use of past knowledge in a business process being designed. There is.

  In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides, as described in claim 1, design means for designing a business process with a connection of case structural elements, storage means for storing a specialized form of the business process, Search means for searching for a specialized form including a case structure matching a case structure included in a business process being designed by the design means from the storage means, and display means for displaying the specialized form searched by the search means And is configured. By displaying a business process having a case structure matching the business process under design as a specialized form to the designer, it is possible to present past knowledge about the business process under design to the designer. Thereby, the designer can design the business process while utilizing the past knowledge.

  Further, the invention according to claim 1, as described in claim 2, of the specialized form displayed on the display means, the case structure that does not match the business process being designed by the design means is the work being designed It is preferably configured with additional means for adding to the process. By providing a case structure included in the specialized form and adding a case structure that does not match the business process under design to the business process under design, the designer can easily design past knowledge. It can be configured to be incorporated into business process components.

  The invention described in claim 1 comprises a specialized form storage means for storing the business process being designed by the design means in the storage means as a specialized form as in claim 3. It is preferable. The accumulated past knowledge can be increased by adopting a configuration in which a business process being designed can be newly registered as a specialized form. That is, the business process design support apparatus according to the present invention can be learned.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, as in the fourth aspect, the storage means stores the evaluation information related to the specialized form in association with the specialized form, and the search means includes the specialized form. It is preferable that the evaluation information associated with the specialized form is retrieved from the storage unit, and the display unit is configured to display the specialized form and the evaluation information retrieved by the retrieving unit. By presenting the evaluation information together with the specialized form to the designer, the designer can easily determine in what situation the past knowledge should be used.

  Further, the invention described in claim 4 may include a description of a situation in which the evaluation information should adopt a specialized form in which the evaluation information is associated and a situation to be avoided as described in claim 5, for example. Good. The best guide for the designer can be presented by including, in the evaluation information, a situation in which the specialized form associated with the evaluation information is to be adopted and a situation to be avoided.

  Further, the invention described in claim 1 is the case structure in which the display means is included in the specialized form searched by the search means and does not match the business process under design. It is preferable to be configured to display in a display mode different from the case structure. By displaying a case structure that does not match, i.e., a portion that is specialized for the business process being designed, the designer can easily recognize the specialized portion. That is, it is possible to realize a more visually user-friendly environment.

  The invention described in claim 1 is configured to include a client computer and a server computer as described in claim 7, and the design means and the display means are the business process and search being designed by the designer. A user interface for designing the business process may be realized while displaying the specialized form, and the user interface may be realized on the client computer. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be configured as a stand-alone type device. In addition, a network interface is mounted on a stand-alone business process design support apparatus, and this is incorporated as a peer-to-peer peer on the network, so that mutual storage means (specialized form storage unit 38 in the following description). ) May be shared.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a business process design support method using storage means in which a specialized form of a business process is stored. A second step of retrieving from the storage means a specialized form including a case structure that matches a case structure included in the business process being designed in the first step, and And a third step of displaying the specialized form retrieved in step 2. By displaying a business process having a case structure matching the business process being designed as a specialized form to the designer, it is possible to present the designer with past knowledge about the business process being designed. Thereby, the designer can design the business process while utilizing the past knowledge.

  In the invention described in claim 8, as described in claim 9, the case structure that does not coincide with the business process designed in the first step among the specialized forms displayed in the third step. It is preferably configured with a fourth step for adding to the process. By providing a function to add a case structure included in the specialized form that does not match the business process being designed to the business process being designed, the designer can easily design past knowledge It can be configured to be incorporated into any business process component.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for causing a computer that supports design of a business process to function by using a storage unit that stores a specialized form of the business process. The storage means includes a first function for designing a process with a connection of case structure elements, and a specialized form including a case structure that matches a case structure included in a business process being designed using the first function. The computer is configured to cause the computer to realize a second function for searching from the third function and a third function for displaying the specialized form searched by the second function. By displaying a business process having a case structure matching the business process under design as a specialized form to the designer, it is possible to present past knowledge about the business process under design to the designer. Thereby, the designer can design the business process while utilizing the past knowledge.

  Further, the invention according to claim 10 is a case structure as described in claim 11, which does not coincide with a business process being designed using the first function among the specialized forms displayed by the third function. It is preferable that the computer is configured to realize a fourth function for adding the function to the business process under design. By providing a case structure included in the specialized form and adding a case structure that does not match the business process under design to the business process under design, the designer can easily design past knowledge. It can be configured to be incorporated into business process components.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the business process design support apparatus which can utilize the past knowledge for the business process under design, its method, and its program are realizable.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  First, the outline of the present embodiment will be described first. The present invention relates to a technology for supporting the design of business processes, and in particular to designers, points that are likely to be problematic or should be adopted when designing a “chain of activities” composed of a plurality of activities. It is for making it possible to grasp. In order to realize this, the present embodiment provides an environment for designing a business process while analyzing and processing the “activity chain” and the specialized form of the activity and presenting it to the designer.

  In the present embodiment, the business process is an action taken by a certain user for performing the business or an action taken in the past for performing the business. In this embodiment, the user inputs the business process as a character string, that is, a sentence. By documenting the business process, it can be converted into data that can be analyzed by the information processing apparatus (the business process design support apparatus in this embodiment). In the present embodiment, the input sentence is structured in accordance with, for example, the fillmore case grammar. “Structuring a sentence” means that an element constituting the sentence is specified from the sentence and the sentence is expressed by a connection of the specified elements. For example, by following the case grammar of Fillmore, a sentence can be expressed as a connection of verb structure elements such as verbs and various deep cases.

  By structuring the business process as described above, this becomes data that can be easily processed by the information processing apparatus. The main purpose of the present embodiment is to provide an environment in which the structured business process can be effectively used. In particular, the present embodiment presents a business process having a case configuration (this is called a specialized form) that matches the business process being designed by the designer to the designer, and creates a business process based on the business process. Provide an environment. The designer can edit the business process under design using the presented specialized form in the provided environment. Thus, the designer can effectively use this as a resource while considering past knowledge such as cases and results. In this embodiment, the case structure element is called a business process component. Also, the definition of coincidence regarding business processes and specialized forms will be described later.

  Next, the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a business process design support apparatus 1 according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, the business process design support apparatus 1 realized as a stand-alone apparatus will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a user interface function unit (input unit 21 and output unit 22) for at least a designer among the function units described below is provided in the client computer, and other functions are provided. You may implement | achieve as a client server type apparatus which provided the part in the server computer. In addition to a personal computer, for example, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) or a multi-function mobile phone can be applied to the client computer. In this embodiment, the necessary functions listed below are realized by executing a predetermined program on an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer. However, the present invention is not limited to this and is dedicated. These may be realized using a designed circuit.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the business process design support apparatus 1 includes a control unit 11, a case structure element type determination unit 12, a business process component element editing unit 13, a relationship line editing unit 14, as means for executing various processes. It has an attention verb setting unit 15, a business process file operation unit 16, a case structure generation unit 17, a case structure comparison unit 18, and a specialized form registration unit 19. The business process design support device 1 includes an input unit 21 and an output unit 22 as means for providing a user interface for allowing a designer (user) to input various data and operations. Further, the business process design support apparatus 1 stores a case structure baseline storage unit 31, a display basic data storage unit 32, an operation event storage unit 33, a relational line storage unit 34, and an attention verb storage unit 35 as means for storing various data. A business process component storage unit 36, a business process file storage unit 37, and a specialized form storage unit 38.

  The input unit 21 and the output unit 22 are consoles used by the designer for operation, and as described above, realize a user interface for presenting and inputting various data and operations to the designer. For example, the input unit 21 is configured to include hardware such as a keyboard and a mouse and control firmware such as a driver, and realizes a function of receiving various data and operations in business process design from the designer. The operation information input from the input unit 21 is temporarily stored in an operation event storage unit 33 (to be described later) and then executed by the control unit 11. The output unit 22 includes a screen display unit such as a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) or a liquid crystal panel, and a drawing control firmware for drawing a user interface on the screen display unit. A function for confirming the above is realized. The operation screen of the user interface is generated by the control unit 11.

  Here, the operation screen displayed on the output unit 22 will be described with reference to the drawings. In this description, this is called a user interface. FIG. 2 is a screen diagram showing the configuration of the user interface 220. As shown in FIG. 2, the user interface 220 includes a pull-down menu 221, a design unit 222, a specialized form display unit 223, and a scroll bar 224. Each of these is a user interface specialized for a predetermined function. That is, the user interface 220 is configured by combining a plurality of user interfaces prepared for each function.

  The pull-down menu 221 is a user for providing the designer with functions such as a “file” menu for creating and saving a business process 226 and an “edit” menu for editing a business process file. Interface. The pull-down menu 221 displays these menu lists in a pull-down manner, and allows the designer to select one of these functions. For example, when the “File” menu in the pull-down menu 221 is clicked using the mouse of the input unit 21, the user interface 220 is given “Open”, “Overwrite” and “Name” as shown in FIG. A menu with “Save” appears. The designer selects a target menu from these using the input unit 21.

  Note that “Open” in the “File” menu list of the pull-down menu 221 is a menu for reading the stored business process file and drawing the business process 226 on the design unit 222 based on the description content. . “Overwrite” in the “File” menu list of the pull-down menu 221 overwrites the business process file read by the above “Open” menu with the business process file describing the business process 226 being designed by the design unit 222. This is a menu for saving. At this time, the file name specified in “Open” is used as the file name of the business process file. Further, “Save As” in the “File” menu list of the pull-down menu 221 is a menu for saving the business process 226 being designed by the design unit 222 with a new file name.

  A design unit 222 in FIG. 2 is a user interface for displaying the business process 226 being designed, and is a user interface for the designer to edit the business process 226. As shown in FIG. 2, a case structure base line 225 represented by parallel vertical lines is drawn on the design unit 222. In this embodiment, these are drawn with bold lines. In this embodiment, the number of case structure base lines 225 is six. Each of the six case structure base lines 225 is associated with a specific case structure element type, that is, either a verb or a deep case defined based on the Fillmore case grammar. In FIG. 2, corresponding to “action main case”, “verb”, “target case”, “source or tool case”, “location or time case” and “target case” in order from the case structure baseline 225 arranged on the left side. It is attached.

  In the present embodiment, the source case and the tool case, and the place case and the time case are handled without distinction. Hereinafter, the reason will be described. There are two reasons for not distinguishing between a source case and a tool case. The first is that when a verb is associated with an activity in a business process, the elements corresponding to the source case and the tool case can be considered as input resources for the activity. For example, the sentence “Make Y from material X” can be broken down into the verb structural element “Make”, the target case “Y”, and the source case “Material X”. If grasped, “material X” can be regarded as an input resource of the activity. In other words, it can be treated as equivalent to a tool case. In addition, the second reason for not distinguishing between a source case and a tool case is that in Japanese notation, it is possible to use expressions such as “to” and “to” for both the source case and the tool case. is there. The fact that the same expression can be used means that it can be handled as the same case in the business process design support apparatus 1. For these reasons, the present embodiment treats the source case and the tool case without distinction. In addition, regarding the case and the time case, these cases can be handled without distinction for the same reason as the second reason described above.

  As described above, handling in the business process design support apparatus 1 is simplified by handling the source case and the tool case without distinction, and handling the place case and the time case without distinction. Can do. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the source case, the tool case, the place case, and the time case may be handled separately. In this case, the number of the case structure base lines 225 is 7 or 8.

  Returning to the description of the case structure baseline 225. As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the case structure base line 225 is a vertical line, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be a horizontal line. Further, each case structure baseline 225 may have a different display mode for each type (verb or deep case). For example, the case structure base line 225 corresponding to the “main character of operation” may be expressed in red, and then sequentially expressed in colors such as green, blue, light purple, purple, and magenta. In addition to this, for example, the case structure base line 225 representing the “main character of action” may be a solid line, and then expressed as a dotted line, a broken line, a one-point broken line, a two-point broken line, a three-point broken line, and the like. This makes it possible for the designer to easily recognize which case structure base line 225 corresponds to which type. As a result, it is possible to realize an operation environment that is easy for the designer to visually grasp.

  Also, the business process 226 that has been read out or being designed is drawn on the design unit 222. In the following description, the read business process 226 is also a business process 226 being designed. As shown in FIG. 2, the business process 226 includes a business process component 226a and a relationship line 226b that connects them. The business process component 226a is arranged on the case structure base line 225 configured as described above. Thus, by arranging the business process component 226a on any case structure baseline 225, the business process component 226a can be incorporated into the business process 226 as a case structure element defined in a predetermined type. The predetermined type is a type of case structure element associated with the case structure base line 225. For example, when the business process component 226a is arranged on the case structure base line 225 associated with “verb”, the business process component 226a is incorporated into the business process 226 as a case structure element corresponding to a verb. Similarly, when the business process component 226a is placed in the “action main case”, “target case”, “source or tool case”, “place or time case”, or “target case”, this corresponds to the corresponding deep case. It is incorporated into the business process 226 as an element.

  The outline of one business process component 226a is expressed as an ellipse (may be a circle), for example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be expressed by a quadrangle (including a rectangle, a square, a rhombus, a trapezoid, or the like) or other polygons. In addition, in the area surrounded by the outline, words, phrases, sentences and the like indicating the contents of the case structure element are described as character strings.

  Further, in the business process component 226a incorporated in the business process 226 as described above, the business process component 226a other than “verb” is related to the business process component 226a corresponding to “verb”. This association is represented by a relationship line 226b. That is, the case structure elements corresponding to the deep case are all connected to the case structure elements corresponding to the verbs using the relationship line 226b. This is a configuration that conforms to Fillmore's case grammar.

  In addition, the case structure base line 225 in the above configuration expresses temporal elements in addition to the types of case structure elements. That is, the business process component 226 a arranged at the upper side in the case structure baseline 225 is a pre-process in the business process 226, and the business process component 226 a arranged at the lower side is a post-process in the business process 226. is there. As a result, the design unit 222 can express the “chain of activities” from top to bottom. In addition, by expressing the “activity chain” in a visually easy-to-understand manner in this way, an operation environment that is easy to understand intuitively for the designer, such as moving the position of the business process component 226a in the vertical direction, is provided. Can be realized. That is, it is possible to provide the designer with an environment in which the “chain of activities” can be easily recombined with an operation that is easy to grasp visually. However, the case structure base line 225 only needs to express the temporal order, and the time axis itself may not be expressed linearly.

  Returning to FIG. 2, another configuration will be described. A specialized form display unit 223 in FIG. 2 is a user interface for displaying the specialized form 227 and the evaluation information 228 for the business process 226 being designed displayed on the design unit 222.

  Of the specialized form 227 displayed on the specialized form display unit 223, a part that is a difference from the business process 226 displayed on the design unit 222 and is included only in the specialized form 227 (hereinafter referred to as a specialized part) Is drawn in bold in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the specialized part includes a business process component 227a and a relationship line 227b. In addition, the part drawn with the thin line in the special form 227 has the same case structure as the business process 226 displayed on the design unit 222. That is, in the specialized form display unit 223, the case structure specialized for the business process 226 of the design unit 222 is drawn with a bold line. In other words, in this embodiment, the specialized part is highlighted for the designer. The specialized form 227 displayed on the specialized form display unit 223 corresponds to the business process 226 displayed side by side in the business process 226 displayed on the design unit 222. That is, the business process 226 and the specialized form 227 that are determined to match are displayed side by side. However, when there are a plurality of specialized forms 227 corresponding to the match, these specialized forms 227 are arranged and displayed in the vertical direction, for example, as shown in FIG. At this time, the specialized forms 227 may be arranged according to the degree of matching. That is, the specialized form 227 with many matching case structure elements may be arranged at a position close to the business process 226, for example, at the top of the array. As a result, it is possible to realize an environment in which the designer can easily cite the specialized form closest to the business process 226 being designed.

  The evaluation information 228 displayed on the specialized form display unit 223 is data represented by a character string, that is, a sentence as shown in FIG. This displays the situation in which the designer should adopt and avoid the specialized form 227 (particularly the specialized part) associated with the evaluation information 228. That is, the evaluation information 228 is used as a material when the designer determines whether the specialized form 227 is adopted or not. Note that the evaluation information 228 and the specialization form 227 are in a correspondence relationship with each other arranged close to each other. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, by enclosing the evaluation information 228 with a frame, it can be displayed easily and visually.

  In such a configuration, the specialized form display unit 223 and the design unit 222 are preferably configured with a single user interface. This is because the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223 have the horizontal correspondence as described above. In this case, it is possible to improve usability by using a single or linked user interface rather than using separate user interfaces.

  A scroll bar 224 in FIG. 2 is a user interface for scrolling the display areas of the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223. A generally used configuration can be applied to this.

  Next, another configuration of the business process design support apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, each storage unit in FIG. 1 will be described. The business process component storage unit 36 shown in FIG. 1 stores data related to the business process component 226a constituting the business process 226 being designed, and the business process configuration constituting the specialized form 227 determined to match the business process 226. Means for storing data relating to the elements 226a and 227a. This data includes attribute information and the like given to the individual business process components 226a and 227a. The attribute information is data for drawing the business process components 226a and 227a. This includes, for example, data such as “identifier”, “position on the screen”, “area occupied on the screen”, “type of case structure element”, “content”, and “thick outline display”.

  In the above attribute information, “identifier” is data for uniquely identifying the business process components 226a and 227a to which the attribute information is assigned. For example, a positive integer value is stored in this.

  “Position on the screen” is the position of the business process components 226 a and 227 a in the design unit 222 or the specialized form display unit 223. When the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223 are one user interface, the “position on the screen” includes, for example, pixels in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction starting from the pixel in the upper left corner of the design unit 222. Number is stored. In this case, “position on the screen” is represented by two non-negative integer values. Reference points are defined for the business process components 226a and 227a, and “position on the screen” indicates the position coordinates thereof. For example, when the business process components 226a and 227a are expressed by an ellipse, the reference point can be the center of the ellipse. In this case, the “position on the screen” is the position coordinate on the design unit 222 or the specialized form display unit 223 at the center. The design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223 mentioned here indicate not only the area actually displayed on the screen of the output unit 22 but also the entire design unit 222 including the outside of the display area.

  “Ratio on the screen” is data indicating the shapes and sizes of the business process components 226a and 227a. For example, when the business process components 226a and 227a are represented by ellipses, this includes pixels representing the length in the horizontal direction (for example, the length of the long axis) and the length in the vertical direction (for example, the length of the short axis). Number is stored. In this case, the “area occupied on the screen” is expressed by two positive integer values.

  “Content” is data indicating the description content of the business process components 226a and 227a. Accordingly, verbs or words corresponding to the deep case, idioms, and sentences are stored as character strings.

  “Type of case structure element” is data for indicating the type of the case structure of the business process components 226a and 227a. In this, reserved words prepared for each type are stored. For example, for each reserved word, as described below, the action principal is 'subject', the verb is 'verb', the subject case is 'object', the source or tool case is 'oblique origin / tool', When the place or time case is set to “oblique space / time” and the target case is set to “oblique goal”, any of these is stored in the “type of case structure element”.

  Further, “thick outline display” is data indicating whether the outline of the business process components 226a and 227a is expressed by a thick line or a thin line. For example, a reserved word such as ‘true’ is stored in the “bold outline display” when the line is thick, and a reserved word such as ‘false’ is stored when the line is thin.

  However, data other than the attribute information described above and necessary for displaying the business process components 226a and 227a is stored in the display basic data storage unit 32 described later. For example, data common to the plurality of business process components 226 a and 227 a is stored in the display basic data storage unit 32. As a result, since the data is organized, system design, system design change, and the like are facilitated.

  Further, the relationship line storage unit 34 in FIG. 1 includes data related to the relationship line 226b constituting the business process 226 being designed, and relationship lines 226b and 227b constituting the specialized form 227 determined to match the business process 226. Is a means for storing data related to. This data includes attribute information given to the individual relationship lines 226b and 227b. The attribute information is data for expressing the relationship lines 226b and 227b. This includes, for example, data such as “identifier”, “first end point”, “second end point”, and “representation of thick line of relation line”.

  In the above attribute information, “identifier” is data for uniquely identifying the relation lines 226b and 227b to which the attribute information is assigned. For example, a positive integer value is stored in this.

  The “first end point” is data indicating one end of the relationship lines 226b and 227b. In this embodiment, all deep cases in the business process 226 and the special form 227 are related to the verbs in the business process 226 and the special form 227. Therefore, in this embodiment, the “first endpoint” can be the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb. The “first endpoint” stores the “identifier” assigned to the corresponding business process component 226a.

  The “second end point” is data indicating the other end of the relationship lines 226b and 227b. Accordingly, when the above-described “first endpoint” is the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb, the “second endpoint” is the business process component 226a, 227a corresponding to any of the deep cases. The “second end point” stores “identifier” assigned to the corresponding business process components 226a and 227a.

  “Relationship line bold display” is data indicating whether the relationship lines 226b and 227b are represented by thick lines or thin lines. For example, a reserved word such as ‘true’ is stored in the “bold outline display” when the line is thick, and a reserved word such as ‘false’ is stored when the line is thin.

  In the present embodiment, the relationship lines 226b and 227b connect the “position on the screen” in the attribute information of the business process components 226a and 227a designated by the “first endpoint” and the “second endpoint” described above. Thus, the image is drawn on the design unit 222 or the specialized form display unit 223. However, data other than the attribute information described above and necessary for drawing the relation lines 226b and 227b is stored in the display basic data storage unit 32 described later. For example, data common to the plurality of relationship lines 226 b and 227 b is stored in the display basic data storage unit 32. As a result, since the data is organized, system design, system design change, and the like are facilitated.

  Further, the case structure baseline storage unit 31 in FIG. 1 is a means for storing data related to the case structure baseline 225 to be drawn on the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223, respectively. In this embodiment, the case structure base line 225 is a set of six as described above. The case structure baseline storage unit 31 stores attribute information, which is data for expressing each case structure baseline 225. This attribute information includes, for example, data such as “type of case structure element”, “position of first end point”, and “position of second end point”.

  In the above attribute, “type of case structure element” is data for indicating either a verb or a deep case defined as described above. This stores a reserved word prepared for each case structure element, similarly to the “type of case structure element” in the attribute information of the business process components 226a and 227a.

  The “position of the first end point” is the position of one end point of the case structure base line 225 to which the attribute information is assigned. For example, the number of pixels in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction starting from the pixel in the upper left corner in the design unit 222 is stored. In this case, “the position of the first end point” is expressed by two non-negative integer values. One end point of the case structure base line 225 can be set as the start point of the case structure base line 225, for example. However, the start point is the upper end of the case structure base line 225. Further, the start point referred to here is the start point of the entire case structure base line 225 including the outside of the display area, like the start point of the design unit 222 described above.

  The “position of the second end point” is the position of the other end point of the case structure base line 225. This is expressed, for example, by the number of pixels in the vertical and horizontal directions starting from the upper left corner pixel in the design unit 222. In this case, “position of the second end point” is expressed by two non-negative integer values. The other end point of the case structure base line 225 can be, for example, the end point of the case structure base line 225. However, the end point is the lower end of the case structure base line 225. The end point here is the end point of the entire case structure base line 225 including the outside of the display area, as with the above-described start point.

  In this embodiment, the case structure base line 225 is drawn on the design unit 222 and the special form display unit 223 by connecting the “position of the first end point” and the “position of the second end point” described above. However, data other than the attribute information described above and necessary for rendering the case structure base line 225 is stored in the display basic data storage unit 32 described later. For example, data common to a plurality of case structure base lines 225 is stored in the display basic data storage unit 32. As a result, since the data is organized, it is easy to change the design of the system design system.

  Further, as described above, the display basic data storage unit 32 in FIG. 1 is data necessary for drawing the case structure base line 225, the business process components 226a and 227a, and the relationship lines 226b and 227b. It is a means for storing data other than each attribute information. Among these data, the data for drawing the case structure base line 225 includes, for example, data for designating the thickness, color, format, etc. of the line. The data for drawing the business process components 226a and 227a includes, for example, the outline shape of the business process components 226a and 227a (in this embodiment, an oval shape), the color inside the outline, and the outline. Includes data for designating the color, thickness, and font, point, color, etc. of the character described in the area surrounded by the outline. Furthermore, the data for drawing the relation lines 226b and 227b includes data for designating line thickness, color, and the like, for example. In addition, visual distinctiveness can be improved by making the display form of case structure base line 225, business process component 226a, 227a, and relation line 226b, 227b into different forms using the above data. . As a result, an environment that is easy for the designer to use can be realized. In the present embodiment, when the case structure base line 225, the business process components 226a and 227a and the relationship lines 226b and 227b are drawn, the control unit 11 appropriately refers to the display basic data storage unit 32 to obtain necessary data. However, since this operation is an incidental configuration of the present invention, it is omitted in this description.

  Further, the operation event storage unit 33 in FIG. 1 is a means for storing events generated by the mouse buttons and the keyboard of the input unit 21. For example, there are events generated by an operation using a pull-down menu 221, an operation using a scroll bar 224 on the screen, an editing operation of a business process, or the like. The various operation information stored in the operation event storage unit 33 in this way is used for the control unit 11 to appropriately perform event handling. In this embodiment, the control unit 11 acquires necessary data by referring to the operation event storage unit 33 as appropriate when executing processing for the input operation. This operation is an incidental feature of the present invention. Since this is a configuration, this is omitted in this description.

  The business process file storage unit 37 in FIG. 1 is means for storing the business process 226 being designed as a data file. This data file corresponds to the business process file described above. An example of the business process file stored in the business process file storage unit 37 is shown in FIG. Note that this business process file is created for each business process 226 as one set.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the business process file is configured to include a character string delimited by a plurality of line feeds. A line is separated by two consecutive colons (:). In these lines, the line starting from “node” describes the attribute information of one business process component 226a. The line starting from “edge” describes the attribute information of one relation line 226b.

  In the line describing the attribute information of the business process component 226a, the second value from the left indicates the “identifier” of the business process component 226a, and the third value from the left is the “screen” of the business process component 226a. The position in the horizontal direction of “upper position” indicates the vertical position in the “position on the screen” of the business process component 226a, and the fifth value from the left indicates the business process. The “case structure element type” of the constituent element 226a indicates the “content” of the business process constituent element 226a, and the seventh value from the left indicates the “contour” of the business process constituent element 226a. A thick line display ”is shown. The first value from the left is “node”. In the line describing the attribute information of the relationship line 226b, the second value from the left indicates the “identifier” of the relationship line 226b, and the third value from the left is the “first endpoint” of the relationship line 226b. The fourth value from the left indicates the “second end point” of the relationship line 226b, and the fifth value from the left indicates “the bold display of the relationship line” of the relationship line 226b. The first value from the left is “edge”. That is, the business process file describes the attribute information of the business process component 226a and the relationship line 226b that constitute the business process.

  Further, the attention verb storage unit 35 in FIG. 1 stores the “identifier” of the business process component 226a that is the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb in the business process 226 being designed and set as the attention verb by the designer. Means. The business process component 226a corresponding to the “identifier” stored in the attention verb storage unit 35 is used as a “first endpoint” when the relationship line editing unit 14 described later generates a new relationship line 226b. . However, if the attention verb has not yet been set by the designer, the attention verb storage unit 35 stores null.

  Further, the specialized form storage unit 38 in FIG. 1 is a means for storing the specialized form 227 and evaluation information 228 indicating the situation that the designer should adopt and avoid the specialized form 227. is there. Here, the data structure of the specialized form storage unit 38 is shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the data structure of the specialized form storage unit 38 is a table format. In this data, one row includes one special form 227 and evaluation information 228 corresponding thereto. In the row, when the left end is the first column, the “contents” of the case structure elements constituting the specialized form 227 are stored in the first column to the sixth column. Specifically, the first column stores the “content” of the subject, the second column stores the “content” of the verb, and the third column stores the “content” of the object case. The fourth column stores the “content” of the origin or tool, the fifth column stores the “content” of the location space / time, Six columns store the “content” of the objective goal. In the row, the seventh column and the eighth column store data relating to the evaluation information 228. Specifically, the seventh column stores “situation to be adopted” and the eighth column stores “situation to be avoided”.

  Note that character strings are stored as values in the first to eighth columns. However, nulls are stored in columns in which values are not defined in the first to sixth columns, that is, columns in which the “content” of the case structure element is not defined. When a plurality of values are defined in one column, these values are stored by being separated by a continuous colon (:). For example, if “morning” as the time case and “office” as the location case are defined in the same column, “morning :: office” is stored in the fifth column.

  Next, a configuration for displaying the business process 226, the specialized form 227, and the evaluation information 228 on the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223 will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, each part demonstrated below is called by the control part 11, and is performed.

  The business process file operation unit 16 in FIG. 1 is a means for opening and saving a business process file.

  For example, when an instruction to save the business process 226 being designed (including overwriting and saving with a name) is input using the pull-down menu 221, the business process file operation unit 16 displays the business process component storage unit 36. Based on the attribute information stored in the relation line storage unit 34, a business process file describing the business process 226 being designed is created and stored in the business process file storage unit 37. The business process file is created according to a predetermined format prepared in advance. When the business process file stored in the business process file storage unit 37 is opened and edited and then saved, the business process file operation unit 16 creates the edited business process file by the same method as described above. This overwrites the business process file before editing. At this time, the business process file to be overwritten may be backed up.

  When an instruction to open a predetermined business process file is input using the pull-down menu 221 of the user interface 220, the business process file operation unit 16 reads the target business process file from the business process file storage unit 37, Is interpreted line by line. Thereby, the attribute information described in the business process file is acquired. The business process file to be opened is designated by the designer. When the attribute information is acquired from the business process file in this way, the business process file operation unit 16 stores the acquired attribute information related to the business process component 226 a in the business process component storage unit 36. Further, the business process file operation unit 16 stores the acquired attribute information related to the relationship line 226 b in the relationship line storage unit 34. As a result, the attribute information related to the business process 226 to be displayed is stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34. When a business process file is newly read, the business process component storage unit 36 and the relational line storage unit 34 discard the already stored attribute information and store the newly stored attribute information.

  When the attribute information is stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relational line storage unit 34 as described above, the control unit 11 determines the business process 226 based on the attribute information stored in each storage unit. To draw. Here, FIG. 6 shows the configuration of the design unit 222 when the business process file shown in FIG. 4 is read and drawn. As shown in FIG. 6, by reading the business process file of FIG. 4 and drawing it on the design unit 222, two business processes 226 are displayed on the design unit 222. One of these is a business process 226 that “distributes” a verb. The other is a business process 226 whose verb is “visit”. After the attribute information is thus stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34, the control unit 11 calls the case structure comparison unit 18.

  The case structure comparison unit 18 in FIG. 1 is a means for searching the specialized form storage unit 38 for the specialized form 227 that matches the business process 226 being displayed and the evaluation information 228 corresponding thereto.

  In the present invention, various definitions of coincidence can be considered. For example, a business process 226 and a specialized form 227 that have the same “content” in each of the verbs and the same “content” of the common types among other deep cases are defined as “match”. You can also However, when defined in this way, a deep case in which either “content” is null is ignored. For example, when the action principal of the business process 226 is null, the case structure comparison unit 18 identifies a specialized form 227 in which the “content” of the deep case other than the action principal matches and the “content” of the verb matches. To do. The reason why such a definition is used is that the basic part of the business activity, “who (action case), what (target case), what (verb)”, is “based on what (source case)”, Case structural elements specializing in business activities such as “What to use (tool case)”, “Where (placement case)”, “When (time case)”, “What to do (objective case)” This is because it is configured so that it can be presented to the designer. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the business process 226 and the specialized form 227 that have the same purpose or the like are defined as “match”, and the definition may be variously changed according to the use or purpose. Is possible.

  Returning to the description of the case structure comparison unit 18. The case structure comparison unit 18 called by the control unit 11 searches the specialized form storage unit 38 for a specialized form 227 that can be determined to match based on the above definition. Thereafter, the case structure comparison unit 18 stores the “identifier” of the business process component 226 a corresponding to the verb in the target business process 226 and the special form 227 searched in the special form storage unit 38. “Number” and “column number” in which a deep case that does not match the business process 226 in this row is stored are input to the control unit 11. The line number is a position address for designating a line in the specialized form storage unit 38. The column number is a position address for designating a column in the specialized form storage unit 38.

  Thus, when “identifier”, “row number”, and “column number” are input, the control unit 11 calls the case structure generation unit 17 and inputs these data to the case structure generation unit 17. The case structure comparison unit 18 is also used when the business process component 226a is edited by the business process component editing unit 13 described later or when the relationship line 226b is edited by the relationship line editing unit 14 described later. Called by the control unit 11. The processing performed by the case structure comparison unit 18 at these times will be described later.

  The case structure generation unit 17 in FIG. 1 is a means for generating attribute information of the business process components 226a and 227a and the relationship lines 226b and 227b that constitute the specialization form 227. When the case structure generation unit 17 is called from the control unit 11, the attributes of the business process components 226 a and 227 a that configure the specialization form 227 from the input “identifier”, “row number”, and “column number”. Generate information. In addition, the case structure generation unit 17 generates attribute information of the relationship lines 226b and 227b for connecting the verb and each deep case based on the generated attribute information. Furthermore, the case structure generation unit 17 stores the generated attribute information in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34, respectively.

  Here, the operation of the case structure generation unit 17 when generating the attribute information of the business process components 226a and 227a and the relationship lines 226b and 227b will be described.

  As described above, when the “identifier”, “row number”, and “column number” are input, the case structure generation unit 17 selects “row” among the business process components 226a included in the business process 226 being designed. The portion that matches the special form 227 stored in the line designated by “number” is specified. This is performed by comparing the “type of case structure element” with the “content”. In the specialized form display unit 38, “type of case structure element” is assigned to “column number”. That is, “line number” serves as a “case structure element type”. The “content” in the specialized form display unit 38 is a character string stored in each column of tabular data. When the attribute information of the matching part is acquired in this way, the case structure generation unit 17 stores the acquired attribute information in the business process component storage unit 36. However, in this attribute information, the position in the vertical direction in “position on the screen” stores the position in the vertical direction in “position on the screen” of the business process component 226 a that matches in the business process 226. In addition, a predetermined value is added to the horizontal position in the “position on the screen” of the business process component 226 a that coincides in the business process 226 with respect to the horizontal position in the “position on the screen”. Stores the value. The predetermined value is a difference for displaying a business process component 226a that matches the business process component 226a in the business process 226 at a corresponding position in the specialized form display unit 223. For example, if the starting point of the design unit 222 is the upper right of this and the starting point of the specialized form display unit 223 is the upper right of this, the predetermined value is the difference between the starting point of the designing part 222 and the starting point of the specialized form display unit 223 It becomes.

  Next, the case structure generation unit 17 generates attribute information for drawing the business process component 227a related to the mismatched portion. At this time, the case structure generation unit 17 sets the “position on the screen” of the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb, which is the business process component 226a in the matching portion, and the “case structure element type” in the non-matching portion. Based on the above, the “position on the screen” of each business process component 227a is generated. In addition, the case structure generation unit 17 stores “true” in “bold outline display” of the generated attribute information. Thereby, the non-matching part, that is, the business process component 227a of the specialized part is displayed with a bold line. In the “area occupied on the screen” of the attribute information, a predetermined value determined in advance based on the number of characters of “content” is stored. Also, the case structure generation unit 17 stores the attribute information of the business process component 227a generated as described above in the business process component storage unit 36.

  Next, the case structure generation unit 17 connects the business process components 226a and 227a, which are other than the verbs, of the business process components 226a and 227a generated as described above to the business process components 226a corresponding to the verbs, respectively. The attribute information of the relationship lines 226b and 227b is generated. This is because the attribute information of the relationship lines 226b and 227b is connected to connect the “position on the screen” of the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb and the “position on the screen” of the other business process components 226a and 227a. It is done by generating. Also, the case structure generation unit 17 stores ‘true’ in the “relationship line bold line display” of the relationship line 227b, which is a specialized portion, of the attribute information generated as described above. As a result, the non-matching portion, that is, the relationship line 227b of the specialized portion is displayed with a bold line. Also, the case structure generation unit 17 stores the attribute information of the relationship lines 226b and 227b generated as described above in the relationship line storage unit 34.

  When the attribute information of the business process component elements 226a and 227a and the relationship lines 226b and 227b is stored in the business process component element storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34 in this way, the control unit 11 determines based on the attribute information. Then, the special form 227 is drawn on the special form display unit 223. At this time, the control unit 11 reads the evaluation information 228 from the specialized form storage unit 38 and draws it on the specialized form display unit 223.

  Next, a configuration for editing the business process 226 using the business process 226, the specialized form 227, and the evaluation information 228 displayed on the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223 will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, each part demonstrated below is called by the control part 11, and is performed.

  The attention verb setting unit 15 in FIG. 1 is a means for causing the designer to set a specific business process component 226a constituting the business process 226 displayed in the design unit 222 as a attention verb, or to cancel this setting. It is means of. The attention verb is a verb in the designed business process 226 and is a case structure element having a relationship with other case structure elements.

  When setting the attention verb, the designer uses the input unit 21 to select one of the business process components 226 a arranged on the case structure base line 225 corresponding to the verb of the design unit 222. As a procedure at the time of selection, a procedure of clicking with the mouse while pressing the shift button of the keyboard can be considered, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various changes may be made. When the business process component 226 a is selected in this way, “identifier” of the attribute information is stored in the attention verb storage unit 35. Note that the business process component 226a set as the attention verb is preferably displayed in a different manner from the other business process components 226a in the design unit 222. For example, by making the character font of the business process component 226a bold or italic, the designer can easily recognize which is the attention verb. Such a change of the display mode is performed in the control unit 11. That is, the control unit 11 refers to the display basic data storage unit 32 when drawing the business process component 226a specified by the “identifier” stored in the attention verb storage unit 35. Different for other business process components 226a.

  When canceling the setting of the attention verb, the designer again performs the above-described procedure for the business process component 226a in the set state. When the target business process component 226a is selected according to this procedure, the attention verb setting unit 15 cancels the setting of the attention verb. At this time, the “identifier” stored in the attention verb storage unit 35 is deleted. The display mode is also the same as that of the other business process component 226a.

  Furthermore, when another business process component 226a is set as the attention verb, the designer selects the target business process component 226a using the above procedure. When the target business process component 226a is selected according to this procedure, the attention verb setting unit 15 switches the business process component 226a to be set as the attention verb. At this time, the attention verb storage unit 35 deletes the stored “identifier” and stores the “identifier” of the newly selected business process component 226a. Further, the display mode of the business process component 226a newly set as the attention verb is emphasized by the control unit 11, and the display mode of the business process component 226a originally set as the attention verb is the other business process configuration. Same as element 226a.

  The case structure element type determination unit 12 in FIG. 1 is a means for determining the type of the case structure of the business process component 226a provided in the design unit 222.

  The designer can newly create, duplicate, or move the business process component 226a displayed in the design unit 222 by using the function of the business process component editing unit 13 described later. It is. When the attribute information of the business process component 226a is changed using this function, the case structure element type determination unit 12 changes the “position on the screen” of the business process component 226a and the position of the case structure baseline 225 after the change. From which relationship, it is determined to which case structure baseline 225 the business process component 226a is arranged. Further, the case structure element type determination unit 12 specifies the “case structure element type” of the specified case structure base line 225 as the “case structure element type” to be given to the business process constituent element 226a.

  There are various methods for determining which case structure base line 225 the business process component 226a is placed on. For example, an area having a horizontal width with respect to the case structure base line 225 is set, and the type of the business process component 226a is determined based on which area the reference point of the business process component 226a is arranged. Possible methods. As a result, even if the reference point of the business process component 226a is shifted to the left or right from any case structure base line 225, both can be associated. That is, the operation by the designer can be facilitated. In addition, each case structure base line 225 is arrange | positioned in the center of the said area | region. Also, adjacent areas do not overlap. In addition, the horizontal position of each case structure base line 225 is compared with the horizontal position of the business process component 226a, and the “case structure element type” of the case structure base line 225 having the closest positional relationship is determined. A method of setting the “type of case structure element” of the process component 226a is also conceivable.

  In addition, when the reference point of the business process component 226a after the change is outside the above-described region set in the case structure base line 225, when it is in the middle of the adjacent case structure base line 225, or in the margin part of the design unit 222 The case structure element type determination unit 12 returns “unknown” as the determination result. In this case, the case structure element type determination unit 12 does not change the “case structure element type” of the changed business process component 226a. That is, the “case structure element type” before the change is retained as it is in the “case structure element type” of the changed business process component 226a.

  Further, the relationship line editing unit 14 in FIG. 1 is a means for providing a relationship between the business process components 226a and 227a stored in the business process component storage unit 36 in accordance with an operation from the input unit 21 by the designer. Or a means for canceling this relationship. The relationship line editing unit 14 edits the relationship lines 226b and 227b in both the business process 226 and the specialized form 227. For this reason, in the following explanation, the explanation is clarified by focusing only on the business process 226.

  Of the two business process components 226a to be related, one is a business process component 226a corresponding to a verb. When the business process component 226a corresponding to this verb is set as the attention verb, when the designer selects another business process component 226a, the relationship line editing unit 14 relates these two business process components 226a. The attribute information of the relationship line 226b is generated, and the attribute information is stored in the relationship line storage unit 34. The “first endpoint” in the attribute information is the “identifier” of the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb, and the “second endpoint” is the “identifier” of the selected business process component 226a. Further, as a procedure for selection, a procedure of double-clicking the target business process component 226a using the mouse can be considered, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various changes may be made. Further, when the new relationship line 226 b is stored in the relationship line storage unit 34 as described above, the control unit 11 draws the new relationship line 226 b on the design unit 222.

  On the other hand, when the relationship line 226b is selected by the designer based on a predetermined procedure, the relationship line editing unit 14 deletes the attribute information of the relationship line 226b from the relationship line storage unit 34. As a procedure for selection, a procedure of clicking the relation line 226b to be deleted with the middle button (also referred to as a wheel button) of the mouse can be considered, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various changes may be made. When this procedure is performed, the relationship line editing unit 14 determines the target from the positions of both ends (first end point and second end point) of each relationship line 226b and the position of the GUI (Graphical User Interface) pointer. The relationship line 226b is specified, and attribute information related to this is deleted from the relationship line storage unit 34. Further, when the attribute information is deleted from the relationship line storage unit 34, the control unit 11 deletes the corresponding relationship line 226 b from the design unit 222.

  Further, when the relationship line 226 b is edited by the relationship line editing unit 14 as described above, the control unit 11 calls the case structure comparison unit 18.

  When the case structure comparison unit 18 is called by the control unit 11 based on the fact that the relationship line 226b has been edited, the specialized form 227 that matches the edited business process 226 in the same manner as when the business process file is read. Is specified from the specialized form storage unit 38 based on the above-described definition, and predetermined data obtained thereby is input to the control unit 11. When these data are input, the control unit 11 calls the case structure generation unit 17 and inputs these data to the case structure generation unit 17. The case structure generation unit 17 generates attribute information of the business process components 226a and 227a and the relationship lines 226b and 227b that configure the specialization form 227 based on the input data. Furthermore, the case structure generation unit 17 stores the generated attribute information in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34, respectively. Furthermore, the control unit 11 draws the specialized form 227 on the specialized form display unit 223 based on the attribute information stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34. At this time, the evaluation information 228 is also drawn.

  Further, the business process component editing unit 13 in FIG. 1 newly creates, duplicates, moves, deletes a business process component 226a in accordance with an operation from the input unit 21 by the designer. It is a means for editing such as rewriting “content”. Here, the procedure for performing various types of editing will be described below.

  When creating a new business process component 226a, the designer, for example, clicks the right button of the mouse on the input unit 21 on any of the case structure base lines 225 displayed on the design unit 222. Click. At this time, the designer clicks the mouse at a position where the pointer does not overlap the existing business process component 226a. When this operation is input, the business process component editing unit 13 newly displays a window having a field for inputting characters on the output unit 22 to prompt the designer to input characters. The designer uses the keyboard in the input unit 21 to input “content” of the business process component to be newly input in the above field and press the return key or click the “OK” button in the window. When “content” is input in this way, the business process component editing unit 13 creates a business process component 226a having the “content” as attribute information. More specifically, the business process component editing unit 13 assigns a unique value to the “identifier” of another business process component 226a included in the business process 226 being designed. It is generated as “Identifier”. Further, the business process component editing unit 13 generates the “position on the screen” as the position of the pointer when the right button is clicked in the above. Further, the business process component editing unit 13 generates an area set in advance in a form corresponding to the number of characters of the input “content” as “area occupied on the screen”. Further, the business process component editing unit 13 acquires the “case structure element type” determined by the case structure element type determination unit 12. Further, the business process component editing unit 13 generates a value of “false” which is an initial setting as “bold outline display”. When the attribute information is generated as described above, the business process component editing unit 13 stores it in the business process component storage unit 36. When new attribute information is stored in the business process component storage unit 36, the control unit 11 draws a new business process component 226a on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information and edits the relationship line. Call part 14. The called relational line editing unit 14 newly generates attribute information of the relational line 226b that links the newly created business process constituent element 226a and the business process constituent element 226a set to the attention verb, Store in the line storage unit 34. However, when the attention verb is not set, the control unit 11 does not call the relational line editing unit 14. When the attribute information of the relationship line 226b is stored in the relationship line storage unit 34 as described above, the control unit 11 draws a new relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information.

  When duplicating the business process component 226a, the designer presses the right button of the mouse in the input unit 21 on the target business process component 226a while pressing the control key (Ctrl) of the keyboard in the input unit 21, for example. Click. As a result, the target business process component 226a is duplicated at a position slightly deviated from the original business process component 226a. A value set in advance is used as the deviation amount. Therefore, the “position on the screen” of the copied business process component 226a is a value obtained by adding the above deviation amount to the “position on the screen” of the original business process component 226a. For other attribute information, the value of the copied business process component 226a is used as it is.

  The attribute information generated as described above is stored in the business process component storage unit 36. When the attribute information of the business process component 226a is duplicated in this way, the control unit 11 draws a new business process component 226a on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information, and the relationship line editing unit 14 is displayed. call. The called relational line editing unit 14 newly generates attribute information of the relational line 226b that links the duplicated business process constituent element 226a and the business process constituent element 226a set to the attention verb, and stores the attribute information in the relational line storage. Stored in the unit 34. However, when the attention verb is not set, the control unit 11 does not call the relational line editing unit 14. When the relationship line 226b is generated as described above, the control unit 11 draws a new relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information.

  When moving the business process component 226a, the designer drags the target business process component 226a using the mouse of the input unit 21, for example (refers to moving the pointer with the click button pressed). To do. When the business process component 226a is dragged in this way, the control unit 11 moves the display position of the business process component 226a in accordance with the movement of the pointer. When the business process component 226a is dropped (indicating that the drag state is canceled) after the movement, the control process component editing unit 13 sets the business process configuration at the position of the pointer when the business process component 226a is dropped. The “position on the screen” of the element 226a is updated. When the business process component 226a is moved in this manner, the control unit 11 moves the display position of the business process component 226a based on the updated “position on the screen” and calls the relation line editing unit 14. . The called relational line editing unit 14 determines the attribute of the relational line 226b that links the business process constituent element 226a set as the attention verb based on the “position on the screen” of the business process constituent element 226a after the movement. Update information. The attribute information to be updated is stored in the relationship line storage unit 34. When the attribute information of the relationship line 226b stored in the relationship line storage unit 34 is updated in this way, the control unit 11 updates the display of the relationship line 226b in the design unit 222 based on the updated content.

  When deleting the business process component 226a, the designer moves the pointer onto the target business process component 226a using, for example, the mouse of the input unit 21, and clicks the middle mouse button in this state. When this operation is input, the business process component editing unit 13 specifies the business process component 226a that includes the position of the pointer when clicked in the “area occupied on the screen”, and attribute information thereof. Are deleted from the business process component storage unit 36. When the attribute information of the business process component 226a is deleted in this way, the control unit 11 deletes the display of the target business process component 226a from the design unit 222 and calls the relation line editing unit 14. The called relational line editing unit 14 deletes the attribute information of the relational line 226b that links the deleted business process component 226a and the business process constituent element 226a set as the attention verb from the relational line storage unit 34. . When the attribute information is deleted in this way, the control unit 11 deletes the display of the relation line 226b corresponding to the deleted attribute information from the design unit 222.

  Further, the business process component editing unit 13 also realizes a function of incorporating the specialized part in the specialized form 227 displayed on the specialized form display unit 223 into the business process 226 being designed. The procedure taken by the designer and the operation of the business process component editing unit 13 will be described with reference to the drawings.

  For example, when the business process 226, the special form 227, and the evaluation information 228 are drawn based on the description contents of the business process file as shown in FIG. 4 and the data in the special form storage unit 38 as shown in FIG. The display contents of the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223 are as shown in FIG. In FIG. 11, a region filled with a broken line indicates a specialized portion 227 'having a business process component 227a and a relationship line 227b.

  In the screen as described above, when adding the specialized portion 227 ′ in the specialized form 227 displayed on the specialized form display unit 223 to the business process 226 being designed, the designer, for example, as shown in FIG. By operating the mouse of the input unit 21, the target specialized portion 227 ′ is grasped with the pointer 220 ′ and dragged to the design unit 222. When the specialized part 227 'is dragged in this way, the control unit 11 moves the display position of the specialized part 227' according to the movement of the pointer. Further, after the movement, when the specialized part 227 ′ is dropped, the control process component editing unit 13 has the position of the reference point of the business process component 227a at the time of the drop as the “position on the screen”. The attribute information of the business process component 226 a is generated and stored in the business process component storage unit 36.

  When the new attribute information is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws the added business process component 226a on the design unit 222 based on the newly stored attribute information as shown in FIG. To do. At this time, if the attention verb is set in the business process 226, the control unit 11 calls the relational line editing unit 14. The called relational line editing unit 14 generates attribute information of the relational line 226b for connecting the added business process constituent element 226a and the business process constituent element 226a set to the attention verb, and generates the relational information. Store in the storage unit 34. When new attribute information is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws the added relationship line 226b on the design unit based on the newly stored attribute information. As a result, the specialized portion 227 ′ of the specialized form 227 displayed on the specialized form display unit 223 is added to the business process 226 being designed.

  When rewriting the “content” of the business process component 226a being designed, the designer moves the pointer onto the target business process component 226a using the mouse of the input unit 21, for example. Click the right button. When this operation is input, the business process component editing unit 13 newly displays a window having a field for inputting characters on the output unit 22 and prompts the designer to input characters. The designer uses the keyboard in the input unit 21 to input the contents to be rewritten into the displayed window and presses the return key or clicks the “OK” button in the window. At this time, “content” before rewriting may be displayed in the field. Thereby, the effort at the time of changing a part can be reduced. When the “content” after rewriting is input in this way, the business process component 226a updates the original “content” in the attribute information of the business process component storage unit 36 with this “content”. If it is necessary to change the “area occupied on the screen” of the business process component 226a by rewriting the “content”, the business process component editing unit 13 selects an appropriate value for the “content” after rewriting. The “area occupied on the screen” is generated, and the “percentage occupied on the screen” in the attribute information of the business process component storage unit 36 is thereby updated. At this time, the business process component editing unit 13 generates an “area occupied on the screen” according to the number of characters of “content”. Further, the control unit 11 updates the display of the target business process component 226a as shown in FIG. 10 based on the updated “content” and “area occupied on the screen”. In FIG. 10, the case where the “content” of the business process component 226a incorporated from the specialization form 227 is edited is taken as an example.

  As described above, when the business process component 226a is newly created, duplicated, moved, deleted, specialized part 227 ′ is incorporated, or “content” is rewritten, control is performed. The part 11 calls the case structure comparison part 18.

  When the case structure comparison unit 18 is called by the control unit 11 based on the editing of the business process component 226a, the case structure comparison unit 18 matches the edited business process 226 in the same manner as when the business process file is read. The specialized form 227 is specified from the specialized form storage unit 38 based on the above definition, and the obtained predetermined data is input to the control unit 11. When these data are input, the control unit 11 calls the case structure generation unit 17 and inputs these data to the case structure generation unit 17. The case structure generation unit 17 generates attribute information of the business process components 226a and 227a and the relationship lines 226b and 227b that configure the specialization form 227 based on the input data. Furthermore, the case structure generation unit 17 stores the generated attribute information in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34, respectively. Furthermore, the control unit 11 displays the special form 227 on the special form display unit 223 based on the attribute information stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34. At this time, evaluation information 228 is also displayed.

  Further, the specialized form registration unit 19 in FIG. 1 specializes a specific case structure including the business process component 226a being designed and the relation line 226b as a specialized form 227 in accordance with an operation from the input unit 21 by the designer. It is means for registering in the conversion form storage unit 38. Here, the procedure for registering the specialized form 227 will be described below.

  In newly registering the specialized form 227, the designer first sets the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb as the attention verb. This is the same as the procedure when using the noted verb setting unit 15 described above. Next, the designer selects “Register as activity specialization” (not shown) in the “Edit” menu list of the pull-down menu 221 from the input unit 21. When such an operation is input, the control unit 11 calls the specialized form registration unit 19. The called specialized form registration unit 19 refers to the attention verb storage unit 35, the business process component storage unit 36, and the relationship line storage unit 34, and the business process component 226a set as the attention verb, The business process component 226a related by the relationship line 226b is specified. Next, the specialized form registration unit 19 sequentially stores “content” of the identified business process component 226a in a predetermined column of the specialized form storage unit 38 based on “type of each structural element”. At this time, the lines in which each “content” is written are added lines or blank lines. The columns in which each “content” is written are the first to sixth columns. As a result, the data related to the specialized form 227 is registered in the specialized form storage unit 38. Next, the specialized form registration unit 19 newly displays a window having fields for inputting “situation to be adopted” and “situation to be avoided”, which are the evaluation information 228, on the output unit 22. Prompt for these inputs. When the comments “situation to be adopted” and “situation to be avoided” are input from the designer, the specialized form registration unit 19 sets the input comments to the seventh column and the eighth column in the above row, respectively. To store. Thereby, the data regarding the evaluation information 228 is registered in the specialized form storage unit 38.

  Next, the overall operation of the business process design support apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 11 to 13 are flowcharts showing the operation of the business process design support apparatus 1.

  First, as shown in FIG. 11, the business process design support apparatus 1 draws a case structure base line 225 on the output unit 22 using a specified shape and color after activation (step S101). Specifically, at the time of activation, the control unit 11 reads the attribute information from the case structure baseline storage unit 31 and draws the case structure baseline 225 on the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223 based on the attribute information.

  Next, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether or not an end of the apparatus is instructed from the input unit 21 (step S102). Specifically, the designer instructs the end of the apparatus using a function provided in the user interface 220 or the business process design support apparatus 1. As a result of this determination, when the end is instructed (Yes in step S102), the business process design support apparatus 1 ends the process. On the other hand, when the termination is not instructed (No in step S102), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S103.

  In step S <b> 103, the business process design support device 1 determines whether an instruction to save the business process 226 is input from the input unit 21. As a result of this determination, if the saving of the business process file is instructed (Yes in step S103), the business process design support device 1 stores the attribute information stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relation line storage unit 34. Then, a business process file is generated (step S104) and stored in the business process file storage unit 37 (step S105). Specifically, the designer selects the “Save” or “Save As” function from the “File” menu list in the user interface 220. When any function is selected, the control unit 11 calls the business process file operation unit 16. The called business process file operation unit 16 refers to the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34, and attribute information of the business process component 226a and the relationship line 226b constituting the business process 226 being designed. To identify. Next, the business process file operation unit 16 creates a business process file in a predetermined format using the specified attribute information, and stores it in the business process file storage unit 37. When “Overwrite” is selected, the business process file operation unit 16 overwrites and saves the corresponding business process file based on the file name read immediately before. When “save as” is selected, the business process file operation unit 16 newly displays a window for prompting input of a file name on the output unit 22, and based on the file name input thereto. Write a new business process file. After storing the business process file in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 returns to step S102. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S103, if the business process file storage instruction has not been given (No in step S103), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S106.

  In step S <b> 106, the business process design support device 1 determines whether or not the setting of the attention verb is specified from the input unit 21. As a result of this determination, if the setting of the attention verb has been instructed (Yes in step S106), the business process design support apparatus 1 sets the business process component 226a designated by the designer as the attention verb (step S107). The business process component 226a is highlighted on the output unit 22 (step S108). Specifically, the designer inputs a predetermined operation using the input unit 21. When a predetermined operation is input, the control unit 11 calls the attention verb setting unit 15. The called attention verb setting unit 15 specifies the “identifier” of the business process component 226 a specified in the predetermined operation from the business process component storage unit 36 and stores it in the attention verb storage unit 35. When the “identifier” is stored in the attention verb storage unit 35, the control unit 11 identifies the business process component 226a to which the “identifier” is given from the design unit 222, and highlights the display mode of the business process component 226a. . After setting the attention verb in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 returns to step S102. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S106, if the setting of the attention verb has not been instructed (No in step S106), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S109.

  In step S <b> 109, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether scrolling of the screen (design unit 222 and specialized form display unit 223) has been instructed from the input unit 21. If the result of this determination is that scrolling of the screen has been instructed (Yes in step S109), the business process design support apparatus 1 scrolls the screen based on the operation amount input from the input unit 21 (step S110). Specifically, the designer operates the scroll bar 224 of the user interface 220 using the input unit 21. When the scroll bar 224 is operated, the control unit 11 scrolls the display areas of the design unit 222 and the specialized form display unit 223 based on the operation amount input by this operation. After scrolling the display area in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 returns to step S102. On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S109 is that there has been no instruction to scroll the screen (No 9 in step S109), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S111.

  In step S <b> 111, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether or not the input unit 21 has instructed reading of the business process file. If it is determined that the business process file is instructed as a result of the determination (Yes in step S111), the business process design support apparatus 1 reads the business process file designated by the designer (step S112), and the business process is performed accordingly. The process 226 is drawn on the design unit 222 (step S113). Specifically, the designer selects the “Open” function from the “File” menu list in the user interface 220. When this function is selected, the control unit 11 newly displays a window for inputting the file name of the business process file to be read on the output unit 22 to prompt the designer to input the file name. When the file name is input in this way, the control unit 11 calls the business process file operation unit 16 and inputs the input file name to the business process file operation unit 16. The called business process file operation unit 16 reads the target business process file from the business process file storage unit 37 and interprets it one line at a time. The business process file operation unit 16 stores attribute information obtained by interpreting the business process file in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relation line storage unit 34, respectively. When the attribute information is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws the business process component 226a and the relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the stored attribute information. After drawing the business process 226 described in the business process file designated in this way on the design unit 222, the business process design support device 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S111, if the reading of the business process file is not instructed (No in step S111), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S114. The operation after the transition to step S147 will be described later.

  In step S <b> 114, the business process design support device 1 determines whether or not the input unit 21 has instructed to re-enter “content” of the business process component 226 a in the business process 226 being designed. As a result of this determination, when the re-input of “content” is instructed (Yes in step S114), the business process design support apparatus 1 “content” in the attribute information of the business process component 226a designated by the designer. Is updated with “content” input by the designer (step S115). Further, the business process design support apparatus 1 updates the display of the business process component 226a in the design unit 222 based on the updated attribute information (step S116). Specifically, the designer inputs a predetermined operation using the input unit 21. When a predetermined operation is input, the control unit 11 calls the business process component editing unit 13. The called business process component editing unit 13 specifies the target business process component 226a based on the position of the pointer when a predetermined operation is input. This is performed based on the position of the pointer at the time of operation and the “position on the screen” in the business process component storage unit 36. Further, the business process component editing unit 13 newly displays a window for inputting the updated “content” on the output unit 22 and prompts the designer to input “content”. Thus, when a new “content” is input, the control unit 11 is the “content” of the attribute information stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and is a business process component 226a designated by the designer. Update the "content" in the "content" entered. When the attribute information in the business process component storage unit 36 is updated in this way, the control unit 11 updates the display of the business process component 226a being displayed on the design unit 222 based on the updated attribute information. After updating the “content” in the business process component 226a being displayed in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S114 that re-input of “content” has not been instructed (No in step S114), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S117.

  In step S117, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether or not a new creation of a business process component 226a has been instructed from the input unit 21. As a result of this determination, if the creation of a new business process component 226a is instructed (Yes in step S117), the business process design support device 1 determines that the new business process component 226a is based on an operation input from the designer. 226a is created (step S118), and this is drawn on the design unit 222 (step S119). Specifically, the designer inputs a predetermined operation from the input unit 21. When a predetermined operation is input in this way, the control unit 11 newly displays a window for inputting the “content” of the newly created business process component 226 a on the output unit 22, and displays “ Prompt for content. Thus, when “content” is input, the control unit 11 has the position of the pointer when the predetermined operation is input at “position on the screen” and generates attribute information including the input “content”. This is stored in the business process component storage unit 36. At this time, the control unit 11 also generates attribute information of “identifier”, “type of case structure element”, “area occupied on the screen”, and “display bold line of outline”. When the new attribute information is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws a new business process component 226a on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information. When the new business process component 226a is drawn in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. However, when a business process component 226a is newly created and the attention verb is set in the business process 226 being designed, the control unit 11 calls the relation line editing unit 14. The called relational line editing unit 14 generates attribute information of a relational line 226b that links the business process constituent element 226a set as the attention verb and the newly created business process constituent element 226a, and uses this to generate the relational line. Store in the storage unit 34. After storing the new attribute information in this way, the control unit 11 draws a new relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S117, if new creation is not instructed (No in step S117), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S120.

  In step S120, the business process design support device 1 determines whether or not the input unit 21 has instructed the movement of the business process component 226a in the business process 226 being designed. As a result of this determination, when the movement of the business process component 226a is instructed (Yes in step S120), the business process design support apparatus 1 is selected by the designer based on the operation input from the designer. The “position on the screen” of the business process component 226a is updated (step S121). Further, the business process design support apparatus 1 draws the business process component 226a after the movement on the design unit 222 (step S122). Specifically, when the designer moves the position of the target business process component 226 a using the input unit 21, the control unit 11 calls the business process component editing unit 13. Based on the position of the pointer (or the reference point of the business process component 226a) after the movement, the called business process component editing unit 13 displays “on-screen” attribute information stored in the business process component storage unit 36. “Position”, and “position on the screen” of the business process component 226a is updated. When the “position on the screen” is updated in this way, the control unit 11 draws the business process component 226a after the movement on the design unit 222 based on the updated attribute information. At this time, if the moved business process component 226a and the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb are connected by the relationship line 226b, the control unit 11 calls the relationship line editing unit 14. The called relationship line editing unit 14 is the attribute information stored in the relationship line storage unit 34 based on the attribute information of the business process component 226a after the update, and the relationship line 226b to which these are linked. Update attribute information. When the attribute information is updated in this way, the control unit 11 draws the updated relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the updated attribute information. After updating the business process component 226a and the relationship line 226b as described above, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S120, if the movement of the business process component 226a is not instructed (No in step S120), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S123.

  In step S123, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether or not the input unit 21 has instructed deletion of the business process component 226a in the business process 226 being designed. As a result of this determination, if deletion of the business process component 226a is instructed (Yes in step S123), the business process design support apparatus 1 uses the attribute information of the business process component 226a designated by the designer as the business process. It deletes from the component memory | storage part 36 (step S124), and deletes this display from the design part 222 (step S125). Further, the business process design support apparatus 1 deletes the attribute information of the relation line 226b connected to the designated business process component 226a from the relation line storage unit 34 (step S126), and displays this information from the design unit 222. Erasing is performed (step S127). Specifically, the designer inputs a predetermined operation using the input unit 21. When a predetermined operation is input, the control unit 11 calls the business process component editing unit 13 and the relationship line editing unit 14. The called business process component editing unit 13 specifies the target business process component 226a based on the position of the pointer when a predetermined operation is input, and the attribute information of this is specified as the business process component storage unit 36. Delete from. Further, the called relational line editing unit 14 specifies the relational line 226b associated with the business process component 226a from which the attribute information has been deleted, and deletes the attribute information from the relational line storage unit 34. When the attribute information is deleted from the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34 in this way, the control unit 11 deletes these displays from the design unit 222. After deleting the business process component 226a and the relationship line 226b in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S123 that deletion of the business process component 226a has not been instructed (No in step S123), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S128.

  In step S128, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether or not a copy of the business process component 226a in the business process 226 being designed is instructed from the input unit 21. As a result of this determination, when a copy of the business process component 226a is instructed (Yes in step S128), the business process design support device 1 determines based on the attribute information of the business process component 226a designated by the designer. The attribute information of the new business process component 226a is generated (step S129). Further, the business process design support apparatus 1 renders the copied business process component 226a on the design unit 222 based on the generated attribute information (step S130). Specifically, the designer inputs a predetermined operation using the input unit 21. When a predetermined operation is input, the control unit 11 calls the business process component editing unit 13. The called business process component editing unit 13 specifies the target business process component 226a based on the position of the pointer when a predetermined operation is input. This is performed based on the position of the pointer at the time of operation and the “position on the screen” in the business process component storage unit 36. When the business process component editing unit 13 identifies the target business process component 226a, the business process component editing unit 13 copies the attribute information to generate new attribute information and stores it in the business process component storage unit 36. To do. The “position on the screen” in the new attribute information is a value shifted by a predetermined amount with respect to the “position on the screen” in the original attribute information. When the new attribute information is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws the copied business process component 226a on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information. However, when the copied business process component 226a is related to the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb, the control unit 11 calls the relation line editing unit 14. The called relational line editing unit 14 newly generates attribute information of the relational line 226b that links the new business process constituent element 226a and the business process constituent element 226a corresponding to the verb, and stores this in the relational line storage unit 34. To do. When new attribute information is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws a new relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information. After duplicating the business process component 226a (which may include the relationship line 226b) in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S128 that copying of the business process component 226a has not been instructed (No in step S128), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S131.

  In step S131, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether or not the input unit 21 has instructed the association between the business process components 226a in the business process 226 being designed. As a result of this determination, when the association between the business process components 226a is instructed (Yes in step S131), the business process design support device 1 determines the business process component 226a designated by the designer and the attention verb. The attribute information of the relationship line 226b linking the business process component 226a set to “2” is newly generated (step S132). Further, the business process design support apparatus 1 draws a new relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the newly generated attribute information of the relationship line 226b (step S133). Specifically, the designer inputs a predetermined operation using the input unit 21. When a predetermined operation is input, the control unit 11 calls the relation line editing unit 14. The called relational line editing unit 14 uses the attribute information of the business process constituent element 226a selected by a predetermined operation and the business process constituent element 226a set as the attention verb, and the attribute of the relational line 226b that connects them. Information is generated and stored in the relationship line storage unit 34. When the attribute information is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws a new relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information. After drawing the relationship line 226b in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S131, when the association between the business process components 226a is not instructed (No in step S131), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S134.

  In step S134, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether or not the input unit 21 has instructed the deletion of the relationship line 226b in the business process 226 being designed. As a result of this determination, when deletion of the relationship line 226b is instructed (Yes in step S134), the business process design support apparatus 1 receives the attribute information of the relationship line 226b designated by the designer from the relationship line storage unit 34. Delete (step S135). In addition, the business process design support device 1 deletes the display of the relation line 226b from which the attribute information has been deleted from the design unit 222 (step S136). Specifically, the designer inputs a predetermined operation using the input unit 21. When a predetermined operation is input, the control unit 11 calls the relation line editing unit 14. The called relationship line editing unit 14 identifies the target relationship line 226b based on the position of the pointer when a predetermined operation is input. This is performed based on the positional relationship between the position of the pointer at the time of operation and the “first end point” and “second end point” of the relationship line 226b. Further, when the relationship line editing unit 14 specifies the target relationship line 226b, the relationship line editing unit 14 deletes the attribute information of the target relationship line 226b from the relationship line storage unit 34. When the attribute information is deleted in this way, the control unit 11 deletes the display of the relation line 226b represented by the deleted attribute information from the design unit 222. After deleting the relationship line 226b in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S134, if the deletion of the relationship line 226b is not instructed (No in step S134), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S137.

  In step S <b> 137, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether registration of the specialization form 227 is instructed from the input unit 21. As a result of this determination, when registration of the specialization form 227 is instructed (Yes in step S137), the business process design support device 1 specializes based on the attention verb of the business process 226 specified by the designer. The case structure corresponding to the form 227 is specified (step S138), and the “content” of the business process component 226a included therein is stored in the specialized form storage unit 38 (step S139). Further, the business process design support apparatus 1 prompts the designer to input the evaluation information 228 by displaying a window for inputting the evaluation information 228 on the output unit 22 (step S140). Furthermore, the business process design support apparatus 1 stores the evaluation information 228 input from the designer in the specialized form storage unit 38 (step S141). Specifically, the designer inputs a predetermined operation using the input unit 21. When a predetermined operation is input, the control unit 11 calls the specialized form registration unit 19. The called specialized form registration unit 19 specifies the case structure of the business process 226 to be registered as the specialized form 227 from the business process component 226a set as the attention verb when a predetermined operation is input. Of the attribute information of the business process component 226a included therein, “content” is stored in a predetermined row in the specialized form storage unit 38 in a column corresponding to each “type of case structure element”. . The specialized form registration unit 19 newly displays a window for inputting the evaluation information 228 on the output unit 22 and prompts the designer to input the evaluation information 228. When the evaluation information 228 is input from the designer, the specialized form registration unit 19 inputs the evaluation information in the above-described row in the specialized form storage unit 38 into the column allocated for the evaluation information 228. 228 is stored. After storing the specialized form 227 and the evaluation information 228 in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S137, if the registration of the specialization form 227 is not instructed (No in step S137), the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S142.

  In step S <b> 142, the business process design support apparatus 1 determines whether or not the specialized part in the specialized form 227 displayed on the specialized form display unit 223 is dragged and dropped to the design unit 222 using the input unit 21. Judging. If the result of this determination is that it has been dragged and dropped (Yes in step S142), the business process design support device 1 converts the business process component 226a included in the specialized part that has been dragged and dropped into the business process. It is added to the component storage unit 36 (step S143), and based on this attribute information, the specialized process business process component 226a is added to the business process 226 being designed (step S144). Further, the business process design support device 1 generates attribute information of the relationship line 226b that links the added business process component 226a and the business process component 226a set to the attention verb (step S145). Based on this, a new relationship line 226b is drawn on the design unit 222 (step S146). Specifically, the designer uses the input unit 21 to drag the specialized part in the specialized form 227 and drop it on the target business process 226 in the designing unit 222. When the specialized part is dropped, the control unit 11 calls the business process component editing unit 13 and the relationship line editing unit 14. The called business process component editing unit 13 generates attribute information of the business process component 226a included in the dropped specialized part and stores it in the business process component storage unit 36. When the attribute information of the specialized part is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws the business process component 226a of the specialized part on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information. Further, the called relational line editing unit 14 newly generates attribute information of the relational line 226b that links the added business process constituent element 226a and the business process constituent element 226a set to the attention verb. Is stored in the relationship line storage unit 34. When the attribute information is stored in this way, the control unit 11 draws a new relationship line 226b on the design unit 222 based on the attribute information. After adding the case structure of the specialized part to the business process 226 being designed in this way, the business process design support apparatus 1 proceeds to step S147. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S142 that the specialized part has not been dragged and dropped (No in step S142), the business process design support apparatus 1 returns to step S102.

  In step S147, the business process design support apparatus 1 compares the business process 226 displayed on the design unit 222 with the specialized form 227 stored in the specialized form storage unit 38 (step S147). Specifically, when the business process 226 is drawn, the control unit 11 calls the case structure comparison unit 18. The called case structure comparison unit 18 includes the “content” of the business process component 226a being displayed in the design unit 222 and the case structure elements stored in the first to sixth columns of the specialized form storage unit 38. To identify rows that contain case structures that can be considered matched based on the definitions described above.

  As a result of the comparison in step S147, when there is a line including the matching case structure (Yes in step S148), the business process design support device 1 generates the case structure of the specialized form 227 stored in the corresponding line. (Step S149). Specifically, when there is a line including a matching case structure, the case structure comparison unit 18 determines the “identifier” of the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb in the target business process 226 and the specialized form storage unit. The row number in which the special form 227 specified in 38 is stored and the column number in which the deep case that does not match in this row is stored are input to the control unit 11. When each data is input in this manner, the control unit 11 calls the case structure generation unit 17 and inputs each input data to the case structure generation unit 17. The called case structure generation unit 17 generates a case structure of the specialized form 227 based on each input data, and attribute information thereof is stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34, respectively. Store. As described above, when the attribute information of the business process components 226a and 227a and the relationship lines 226b and 227b constituting the specialized form 227 is stored in the business process component storage unit 36 and the relationship line storage unit 34, respectively, The design support apparatus 1 draws the specialization form 227 on the specialization form display unit 223 based on the stored attribute information, reads out the evaluation information 228 corresponding thereto from the specialization form storage unit 38, and specializes this. Drawing is performed on the form display unit 223 (step S150). This process is executed by the control unit 11. Thereafter, the business process design support device 1 returns to step S102.

  By configuring and operating as described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to grasp the points that may be a problem in a newly designed business process or points that should be adopted, and to use these points in the design. It becomes easy for the person. Specifically, a specialized form related to the business process being designed according to the match between the case structure associated with the business process being designed and the case structure associated with the business process based on past knowledge Is displayed together with the evaluation information. As a result, it is possible to present to the designer past knowledge effective for the business process currently being designed without being limited by the classification of the business process. Also provided is an environment in which the displayed specialized form can be easily reflected in the business process being designed. This makes it easy to design a derivative form or a new form of the business process. In addition, a configuration is also provided in which the business process being designed can be stored as new knowledge together with the evaluation information. Thereby, the apparatus can be learned in daily work.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted. Further, the configuration not specifically mentioned is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, the definition of coincidence between the business process 226 and the specialized form 227 is different. In the first embodiment described above, when the “content” of the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb and other deep case matches the “content” stored in each column of the specialization form 227, the business process 226 is specialized. It was considered that Form 227 matched. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, even when the respective “contents” are synonymous, or even when there is only a difference in notation, it is considered that the business process 226 and the specialized form 227 match.

  In order to realize the configuration as described above, the business process design support apparatus 1A according to the present embodiment has a configuration as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 14, the business process design support apparatus 1 </ b> A has a configuration similar to that of the business process design support apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, and a synonym storage unit 39 is added.

  The synonym storage unit 39 stores the correspondence between these notations and character strings that are synonymous. That is, with respect to a certain phrase, a phrase that is a fluctuation of the notation and a phrase that is synonymous are stored in association with each other. For example, when the phrase “distribute” is defined as a synonym for the phrase “distribute”, these are stored in the synonym storage unit 39 in association with each other.

  In this embodiment, the case structure comparison unit 18 operates as follows. That is, as shown in the first embodiment, when the business process 226 is displayed or edited, the control unit 11 calls the case structure comparison unit 18. The called case structure comparison unit 18 specifies the “content” of the business process component 226 a included in the business process 226 being displayed from the business process component storage unit 36. Next, the case structure comparison unit 18 identifies from the synonym storage unit 39 a phrase that is synonymous with the specified “contents” or a notation fluctuation. Next, the case structure comparison unit 18 specializes the row in which the specialized form 227 having the matching case structure is stored based on the “content” specified above and the specified synonym or phrase of the notation. It is specified from the form storage unit 38.

  When the matching line is identified in this way, the case structure comparison unit 18 identifies the “identifier” of the business process component 226a constituting the matching part, the line number of the identified line, and the business process 226 in this line. Are input to the control unit 11. When these data are input, the control unit 11 calls the case structure generation unit 17 and causes the case structure of the specialized form 227 to be generated, as in the first embodiment. Thereafter, the control unit 11 draws the generated specialized form 227 on the specialized form display unit 223.

  In addition, by generating the case structure of the specialization form 227 as described above, in the specialization form 227 displayed on the specialization form display unit 223, the synonym or the notation fluctuation phrase is used for the business process 226. It is replaced with “content”. For example, in the business process 226, for example, it is assumed that the “content” of the business process component 226a corresponding to the verb is “distribute”, and the specialized form 227 including “distribute” that is a synonym thereof is matched. When retrieved from the specialized form storage unit 38, in the specialized form 227 drawn on the specialized form display unit 223, the business process component 226 a corresponding to the verb is “distributed”. This is because the case structure element that matches between the business process 226 and the specialized form 227 is configured to use the business process component 226a in the business process 226. In this way, by drawing the specialized form 227 in accordance with the case structure of the business process 226, the designer can tell which part is the same between the business process 226 and the specialized form 227. Can be easily identified.

  Further, in this embodiment, the notation of the specialized form 227 may be changed according to the degree of coincidence. For example, the specialized form 227 whose “content” itself matches the business process 226 is highlighted using a highlighted color or a thick line, or is drawn closer to the business process 226 than a synonym or a phrase that shakes the notation. It is good to do. Further, depending on the number of matching case structure elements, it may be highlighted as described above, or may be placed in a prominent position. This makes it possible to appeal the matching form 227 more closely to the designer.

  Since other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted here.

  Further, the above-described Examples 1 to 2 are only examples for carrying out the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these, and various modifications of these examples are within the scope of the present invention. It is obvious from the above description that various other embodiments are possible within the scope of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the business process design assistance apparatus 1 by Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the user interface 220 by Example 1 of this invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a menu list displayed when a “file” menu in the user interface 220 shown in FIG. 2 is selected. It is a figure which shows an example of the business process file by Example 1 of this invention. It is a structure of the data stored in the specialized form memory | storage part 38 by Example 1 of this invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a design unit 222 when the business process file shown in FIG. 4 is read and drawn. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a design unit 222 and a specialized form display unit 223 when the business process file illustrated in FIG. 4 and the data illustrated in FIG. 5 are read and drawn. It is a figure which shows a mode when the specialization part 227 'displayed on the special form display part 223 shown in FIG. 7 is dragged. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state when the specialized portion 227 ′ is dragged and then dropped as shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which “content” of the business process component 226a displayed in the design unit 222 illustrated in FIG. 7 is rewritten. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the business process design support apparatus 1 by Example 1 of this invention (1). It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the business process design support apparatus 1 by Example 1 of this invention (2). It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the business process design support apparatus 1 by Example 1 of this invention (3). It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the business process design assistance apparatus 1A by Example 2 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1A Business process design support apparatus 11 Control part 12 Case structure element type determination part 13 Business process component edit part 14 Relation line edit part 15 Attention verb setting part 16 Business process file operation part 17 Case structure generation part 18 Case structure comparison Unit 19 Specialized form registration unit 21 Input unit 22 Output unit 31 Case structure baseline storage unit 32 Basic data storage unit for display 33 Operation event storage unit 34 Relation line storage unit 35 Attention verb storage unit 36 Business process component storage unit 37 Business Process file storage section 38 Specialized form storage section 39 Synonym storage section 220 User interface 220 'Pointer 221 Pull-down menu 222 Design section 223 Specialized form display section 224 Scroll bar 225 Case structure baseline 226 Business process 226a, 227a Business process component 226b, 2 27b Relation line 227 Specialized form 227 'Specialized part 228 Evaluation information

Claims (11)

Design means for designing business processes with connection of case structure elements,
Storage means for storing specialized forms of business processes;
Search means for searching the storage means for a specialized form including a case structure that matches a case structure included in a business process being designed by the design means;
A business process design support apparatus, comprising: a display unit configured to display the specialized form searched by the search unit.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an adding unit configured to add, to the business process under design, a case structure that does not match the business process being designed by the design unit among the specialized forms displayed on the display unit. The business process design support device described.   2. The business process design support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising specialized form storage means for storing the business process being designed by the design means in the storage means as a specialized form. The storage means stores evaluation information related to the specialized form in association with the specialized form,
The search means searches the storage means for evaluation information associated with the specialized form together with the specialized form,
The business process design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the specialized form and evaluation information searched by the search unit.   5. The business process design support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the evaluation information includes a description of a situation in which a specialized form associated with the evaluation information is to be adopted and a situation to be avoided.   The display means displays a case structure that is included in the specialized form searched by the search means and does not match the business process under design in a display mode different from the matching case structure. The business process design support apparatus according to claim 1. The business process design support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the business process design support apparatus is configured to include a client computer and a server computer.
The design means and the display means realize a user interface for causing the designer to design the business process while displaying the business process under design and the searched specialized form,
The business process design support apparatus, wherein the user interface is realized in the client computer. A business process design support method using a storage means storing a specialized form of a business process,
A first step for designing a business process with connection of case structure elements;
A second step of retrieving from the storage means a specialized form including a case structure that matches a case structure included in the business process being designed in the first step;
And a third step of displaying the specialized form retrieved in the second step.   4. A fourth step for adding to the business process a case structure that does not match the business process designed in the first step among the specialized forms displayed in the third step. Item 9. The business process design support method according to Item 8. A program for causing a computer that supports design of a business process to function using a storage unit that stores a specialized form of the business process,
A first function for designing business processes with connection of case structure elements;
A second function for retrieving from the storage means a specialized form including a case structure that matches a case structure included in a business process being designed using the first function;
A program for causing the computer to realize a third function for displaying a specialized form retrieved by the second function.   A fourth function for adding a case structure that does not match the business process being designed using the first function among the specialized forms displayed by the third function to the business process being designed The program according to claim 10 for causing a computer to realize the program.

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