JP2006277535A - Business process history collection and display system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a business process history collection and display system that enables the understanding of the progress of a business process without requiring the design and definition of the entire business process. <P>SOLUTION: In a task application processing device 2, after a task processing means 7 processes a task, a history sending means 8 sends history information about a business process. In a history reception device 3, a history reception means 9 receives the history information, and a history registration means 10 stores it in a history storage device 4. At the request of a terminal device 6, in a history display device 5, a history search means 11 searches the history storage device for history information, a history analysis means 12 analyzes the history information as a business process, and a history display means 13 converts the analysis results into an appropriate display format to return them to the terminal device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a business process history collection and display system that enables grasping of the progress of a business process without designing and defining the entire business process.

  An example of a conventional mechanism for managing business processes will be described (for example, see Patent Document 1). This workflow system includes a client, a storage device, a workflow server, and a workflow client. The conventional system having such a configuration operates as follows.

First, a user defines a business process with a client. The business process definition information is stored in the business process definition table of the storage device via the workflow server. The workflow server acquires business process definition information from the storage device, and instructs the workflow client to execute one step in the business process. The workflow client causes the business program to execute one step of the instructed business process.
JP-A-11-316780

  However, this conventional technique has the following problems.

  The first problem is that business processes cannot be executed or managed unless the entire business process is defined. The reason is that if there is no business process definition information, the means to control the entire business process, such as the workflow server, does not execute the business process. If the business process is not executed, it cannot be managed. It is.

  The second problem is that many man-hours are required for developing business applications. The reason is that it is necessary to consider the method of starting the business application by means of controlling the business process and the method of returning the result of the business processing to the means of controlling the business process. This is because it is necessary to test including means for controlling the above.

  In the conventional business process management system, the business process management system controls the execution of the business application of the business system based on the business process defined in advance. In addition, the entire business process must be designed, and a wide range of knowledge about the business or business system is required, and the design work tends to be delayed.

  Furthermore, in system verification, if all the business applications controlled by the business process management system in a business process management system and the business process management system in a plurality of business systems are collected and verified at the same time, a failure is detected. It was easy to delay, and a fatal problem of delaying delivery due to rework for resolving the problem was likely to occur.

  On the other hand, when preparing a means for controlling business processes and business application alternatives and building up partial verifications to perform overall verification, the additional work of developing alternatives is required and the number of personnel increases. The problem that occurred.

  In addition, the conventional business process management system only displays the history of the operations that make up the business process, but does not display information on the business data used in each business as a list. It was difficult to keep track of the progress of related business processes.

  Therefore, the present invention restores the business process based on the history information from the individual business application without designing and defining the entire business process, and displays the business process and the data used in the business process. It is an object of the present invention to provide a business process history collection and display system and method capable of grasping the progress of a business process.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the present invention, the business process history collection and display system does not have a means for controlling a business process, and only collects and displays business process history information. The business application processing apparatus performs business-related processing by the business processing means, and then transmits business process history information by the history transmission means. The history receiving device receives the history information by the history receiving means, and stores it in the history storage device by the history registration means. Upon receiving a request from the terminal device, the history display device searches the history information from the history storage device by the history search means, analyzes the history information as a business process by the history analysis means, and appropriately displays the analysis result by the history display means. Return to the terminal device.

  The first effect of the present invention is that execution and management of a business process can be started even if the entire business process is not defined. The reason is that the progress of the business process can be grasped by restoring and displaying the business process based on the historical information from the individual business applications that make up the business process, so there is no need to define the entire business process. Because.

  The second effect is that man-hours required for development of business applications can be reduced. The reason is that there is no means to control the business process, so there is no need to consider the method of starting the business application and the method of returning the result of the business process to the means of controlling the business process. This is because business applications need to be created and tested to ensure that they are done.

  Next, the best mode of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows the system configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention. The business process history collection / display system 1 stores history transmission means 8 for transmitting business process history information from each business application processing apparatus 2, a history receiving apparatus 3 for receiving history information, and history information. In response to a request from the terminal device 6, the history storage device 4 for processing, the process / instance ID storage device 15 used to determine an unused process / instance ID for the process / instance ID which is one item of the history information A history display device 5 for displaying the history information in an appropriate format.

  The business application processing apparatus 2 includes business processing means 7 and history transmission means 8, of which the history transmission means 8 is also included in the business process history collection / display system.

  The history receiving device 3 includes a history receiving means 9, a process / instance ID numbering means 14 for determining a process / instance ID, and a history registration means 10.

  The history display device 5 includes a history search unit 11, a history analysis unit 12 that analyzes the history as a business process, and a history display unit 13 that changes the analysis result to a display format.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The business application processing apparatus 2 transmits the start of business processing as history information (S21). When the business processing is performed (S22), the end of business processing is transmitted as history information (S23).

  FIG. 3 shows an example of history information transmitted from the business application processing apparatus 2 to the history receiving apparatus 3. The history information includes the system name 41 to which the business application 2 belongs, the business name 42 that is the name of the business that the business application is responsible for, the processing state 43 that is a flag for distinguishing start / error / completion of business processing performed by the business application, An input / output section 44 that is a flag for distinguishing the input or output of data to the data, a data type 45 that represents the type of data that is input or output to the business application, and a data ID 46 that is an identifier for identifying individual data, start of business processing / A time stamp 47 indicating the time of transmission of error / completion or history information, a step ID 48 for identifying business application processing, and a process instance ID 49 for identifying individual business processes.

  The history receiving device 3 receives the history information transmitted by the business application processing device 2 (S31), the business application step is identified by a pair of [system name, step ID], and the data type is [system name, data The data is identified by a set of [type], and each data is identified by a set of [system name, data type, data ID], and the matching existing history information is searched (S32).

  If there is no existing history information (S33), the process instance ID storage device 15 is searched, an unused process instance ID is determined, and the process instance ID is stored in the process instance ID storage device 15. The process instance ID is numbered (S34), and the numbered process instance ID is set in the process instance ID 49 of the received history information (S35).

  If there is existing history information (S33), the process instance ID is set to the process instance ID 49 of the received history information (S35). The history receiving device 3 registers the history information in which the process instance ID 49 is set in the history storage device 4 (S36).

  The history information stored in the history storage device 4 can be confirmed from the terminal device 6. When the history display device 5 receives the search request from the terminal device 6 (S51), the history display device 5 searches the history storage device 4 for history information that matches the search request and history information having the same process instance ID as the history information. (S52). For example, an analysis process of placing an order between history information using a set of data type 45 and data ID 46 is performed (S53), and display information is created to convert the analyzed history information into a format for display. (S54) and display information is returned to the terminal device 6 (S55). FIG. 4 shows an example of the display.

  FIG. 5 shows the system configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention. The business process history collection / display system 101 stores history transmission means 108 for transmitting business process history information from each business application processing apparatus 102, a history receiving apparatus 103 for receiving history information, and history information. In response to a request from the terminal device 106, a history storage device 104 for processing, a process instance ID storage device 115 used to determine an unused process instance ID for a process instance ID which is one item of history information A history display device 105 for displaying the history information in an appropriate format.

  The business application processing apparatus 102 is the same as the business application processing apparatus 2 in FIG.

  The history receiving device 103 includes a history receiving unit 109 and a history registration unit 110.

  The history display device 105 includes a history search unit 111, a process / instance ID numbering unit 114 for determining a process / instance ID, a history analysis unit 112 for analyzing the history as a business process, and a history for changing the analysis result to a display format. Display means 113.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The history receiving device 103 receives the history information transmitted by the business application processing device 102 (S131), and registers the history information in the history storage device 104 (S132).

  When receiving the search request from the terminal device 106 (S151), the history display device 105 searches the history storage device 104 for history information that matches the search request (S152). For example, existing history information with the same system name and matching data type and data ID is searched (S153).

  If there is no existing history information (S154), the process instance ID storage device 115 is searched, an unused process instance ID is determined, and the process instance ID is stored in the process instance ID storage device 115. The process instance ID is numbered (S155), the numbered process instance ID is set as the process instance ID of the received history information, and the history information in which the process instance ID is set is stored in the history storage device 104. (S156).

  If there is existing history information (S154), the process instance ID is set to the process instance ID of the received history information (S156). Further, an analysis process of placing an order between the history information using the combination of the retrieved data type 45 and data ID 46 is performed (S157), and the display information is converted into a format for displaying the analyzed history information. It creates (S158) and returns display information to the terminal device 106 (S159).

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, the present invention can be applied to the use of grasping the state of a business process without a business process management system or workflow system regarding the business process or workflow. Further, it can be applied to uses such as grasping the data transfer status in inter-system cooperation.

It is a system configuration figure of the 1st example of the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of 1st Example. It is a figure which shows an example of log | history information. It is a figure which shows an example of display information. It is a system configuration | structure figure of 2nd Example of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of 2nd Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Business process history collection display system 2 Business application processing device 3 History receiving device 4 History storage device 5 History display device 6 Terminal device 15 Process instance ID storage device

Claims (6)

A history transmitting means for transmitting business process history information after the business processing of the business application processing device for processing the business application;
A history receiving device for receiving business application history information;
A history storage device for storing the history information;
A history display device for displaying the history information in an appropriate format in response to a request from a terminal device;
The history receiving device has history receiving means for receiving history information, and history registration means for storing in the history storage device,
Upon receiving a request from the terminal device, the history display device is configured to search history information from the history storage device, history analysis means for analyzing history information as a business process, and an analysis result in an appropriate display format. And a history display means for returning to the terminal device. A process instance ID storage device used to determine an unused process instance ID for a process instance ID that is one item of history information;
When there is no existing history information, the history receiving device searches the process instance ID storage device, determines an unused process instance ID, and stores the process instance ID in the process instance ID storage device. 2. The business process history collection and display system according to claim 1, further comprising: a process instance ID numbering unit. A process instance ID storage device used to determine an unused process instance ID for a process instance ID that is one item of history information;
When there is no existing history information, the history display device searches the process instance ID storage device, determines an unused process instance ID, and stores the process instance ID in the process instance ID storage device. 2. The business process history collection and display system according to claim 1, further comprising: a process instance ID numbering unit. A history receiving device for receiving business application history information from a business application processing device for processing a business application, a history storage device for storing the history information, and the history information in response to a request from a terminal device A business process history collection and display method in a system comprising a history display device for displaying in an appropriate format,
After the business process of the business application processing device is completed, the business process history information is transmitted,
The history receiving device receives history information and stores it in the history storage device;
When the history display device receives a request from the terminal device, the history information is searched from the history storage device, the history information is analyzed as a business process, and the analysis result is returned to the terminal device in an appropriate display format. A business process history collection and display method comprising steps.   When there is no existing history information, the history receiving device searches a process / instance ID storage device used to determine an unused process / instance ID with respect to a process / instance ID which is one item of history information. 5. The business process history collection and display method according to claim 4, wherein the process instance ID is determined, and the process instance ID is stored in the process instance ID storage device.   When there is no existing history information, the history display device searches a process / instance ID storage device used to determine an unused process / instance ID for a process / instance ID, which is one item of history information, and 5. The business process history collection and display method according to claim 4, wherein the process instance ID is determined, and the process instance ID is stored in the process instance ID storage device.

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