JP2007072500A - Document management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically select a work flow suitable to a document based on characteristics of the document by solving the problem of poor efficiency in a system for generating a work flow every time the documents are browsed. <P>SOLUTION: In this system, a plurality of work flows are preliminarily stored, and work flow is automatically determined based on document attributes. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a document management system.

In a conventional document management system, multiple workflows operated by multiple users who require approval of each user for each step transition are defined, and the user selects an arbitrary workflow from the workflows defined for the document to be managed Document management systems that can be applied in the past have been proposed.
JP 2003-50905 A

  However, in the conventional document management system described above, the user must select a required workflow from a plurality of defined workflows, the user must know the workflow required for each document, and There was a problem that the selection might be wrong.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described conventional problems, and an object thereof is to automatically select a workflow suitable for a document based on the characteristics of the document.

  As means for achieving the above object, there is provided means for defining a plurality of workflows operated by a plurality of persons who require the approval of each user for the transition of each step, and extracting means for extracting features from the document to be managed And having corresponding means for associating the extracted document characteristics with the defined workflow, and applying the workflow to the document to be managed, using the document characteristics extracted by the extracting means It has a determining means for determining a corresponding workflow from a plurality of defined workflows by the corresponding means.

  Since the workflow is automatically determined according to the document attribute according to the present invention, the work efficiency can be improved.

Example 1
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration according to the first embodiment of the present invention. First, the system configuration in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  The document management system in this embodiment is an application 1000 that runs on the OS of a computer.

  Reference numeral 1001 denotes a user interface unit. The system receives a user operation via the user interface unit, and a workflow definition request is transmitted to the 1002 workflow definition unit, and a workflow application request for a document is transmitted to the 1003 document management control unit.

  When a workflow definition request is received from the user interface unit, the workflow definition unit 1002 defines the workflow. A plurality of workflows can be defined.

  When a workflow application request to a document is received from the user interface unit, the 1003 document management control unit performs workflow application to the document in cooperation with the 1004 feature calculation unit and the 1005 workflow selection unit. Details of this will be described later with reference to FIG.

  Reference numeral 1004 denotes a feature calculation unit that acquires features of a designated document.

  A workflow selection unit 1005 selects a corresponding workflow from a specified feature.

  A document storage unit 1006 stores the document data itself.

  The flow of processing in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in Fig. 1 and 1002, the approval of the applicant is required for the transition to the first step, the approval of the section manager is required for the transition to the second step, and the approval of the general manager is required for the transition to the third step. Workflow WF101 that requires the approval of the director for the transition to the 4th step, the approval of the applicant is required for the transition to the 1st step, the approval of the section manager is required for the transition to the 2nd step, and the third step The workflow WF102 that requires the approval of the general manager for the transition and the workflow WF103 that requires the approval of the applicant for the transition of the first step and the approval of the section manager for the transition of the second step are defined. Assume that there is a correspondence (FIG. 3) in which a document name or a part of the document name is associated as a document feature.

  Upon receiving the workflow application request 1003, 1004 performs document name acquisition S 2001.

  When the acquired document name is notified to 1005, 1005 determines the document name with reference to FIG.

  If the document name includes an approval document or an approval document, a workflow corresponding to S2003 and WF101 is selected.

  If the document name includes a budget plan or a budget plan, a workflow corresponding to S2004 and WF102 is selected.

  If the document name includes a purchase request or purchase request, a workflow corresponding to S2004 and WF103 is selected.

  Then, the workflow selected in S2006 is applied.

  According to the present embodiment, a corresponding workflow can be determined from a plurality of defined workflows based on the document name of the document.

(Example 2)
In the above embodiment, the document name or a part of the document name is used for the document feature, and FIG. 3 is used for the correspondence between the workflow ID and the feature. Workflow WF201 that requires the approval of the general manager for the transition of the second step, the approval of the applicant for the transition of the first step, the approval of the chief for the transition of the second step, Workflow WF202, which requires the approval of the section manager for the transition to the third step, and the approval of the general manager for the transition of the second step, and the approval of the applicant for the transition of the first step, and the transition of the second step Requires the approval of employee A, requires the approval of employee B for the third step, requires the approval of employee C for the fourth step, and requires the approval of employee D for the fifth step To the workflow WF203 Document content as a feature of Kufuro the document or a part of the document content may correspond as shown in Figure 4. The flow of processing in that case is as shown in FIG.

  In this case, the corresponding workflow can be determined from a plurality of defined workflows based on the document content.

(Example 3)
In the above embodiment, the document name or a part of the document name is used for the document feature, and FIG. 3 is used for the correspondence between the workflow ID and the feature. Workflow WF301 that requires approval, requires Watanabe's approval for the second step, and requires Applicant's approval for the first step, and Sugiyama's approval for the second step WF302 and the workflow WF303 that requires the approval of the applicant for the transition of the first step and the approval of Fujikichi for the transition of the second step, and the creator or the A part of the creator may correspond as shown in FIG. In this case, the processing flow is as shown in FIG.

  In this case, the workflow corresponding to the document attribute can be determined from a plurality of defined workflows.

Example 4
In the above embodiment, the document name or a part of the document name is used for the document feature, and FIG. 3 is used for the correspondence between the workflow ID and the feature. Approval is required, the approval of the chief is required for the transition to the second step, the approval of the section manager is required for the transition to the third step, the approval of the general manager is required for the transition to the fourth step, and the transition to the fifth step Workflow WF401 that requires the approval of the director for the transition, the applicant's approval is required for the transition of the first step, the approval of the chief is required for the transition of the second step, and the approval of the section manager is required for the transition of the third step The workflow WF402, which requires the approval of the general manager for the transition to the fourth step, the approval of the applicant for the transition of the first step, the approval of the chief for the transition of the second step, and the third Needs manager approval to transfer steps The workflow may be defined as a workflow WF403, and the importance or a part of the importance may correspond to the workflow and the document as shown in FIG. The processing flow in that case is as shown in FIG.

  In this case, the corresponding workflow can be determined from a plurality of defined workflows based on the importance of the document.

The system block diagram of the document management system in 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart figure of the workflow application part in 1st Embodiment of this invention Correspondence diagram of workflow ID and feature in the first embodiment of the present invention Correspondence diagram of workflow ID and feature in the second embodiment of the present invention The flowchart figure of the workflow application part in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. Correspondence diagram of workflow ID and feature in the third embodiment of the present invention The flowchart figure of the workflow application part in 3rd Embodiment of this invention. Correspondence diagram of workflow ID and feature in the fourth embodiment of the present invention The flowchart figure of the workflow application part in 4th Embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

1001 User interface
1002 Workflow definition part
1003 Document management control unit
1004 Feature calculator
1005 Workflow selector
1006 Document storage

Claims (5)

A means to define multiple workflows operated by multiple people who require the approval of each user for each step transition,
Extracting means for extracting features from the document to be managed;
A corresponding means for associating the extracted document features with the defined workflow;
And a determining unit that determines a corresponding workflow from a plurality of defined workflows by using the feature of the document extracted by the extracting unit when the workflow is applied to a document to be managed. Document management system.   The document management system according to claim 1, wherein the feature of the document is the document name or a part of the document name.   The document management system according to claim 1, wherein a feature of the document is the document content or a part of the document content.   2. The document management system according to claim 1, wherein the document features are document attributes such as an index arbitrarily defined by a creator or creation date of the document or a user, or a part of the document attributes.   2. The document management system according to claim 1, wherein the document feature is defined as an importance level of the document defined by a reciprocal of the number of days from the last access date of the document or a part of the importance level.

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