JP2012173936A - Information management device, program and information management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information management device, program and information management system, capable of managing a progress status of a main task and a progress status of a derived task in association with each other.SOLUTION: An information management device comprises: a print instruction section 114 for allowing a printer to print a referral business form including a document ID of an electronic business form to be printed and a content of the business form, the referral business form being a main business form used for a main task or a sub business form used for a derived task derived from the main task, the electronic business form corresponding to the main business form, including derived task identification information for identifying the derived task derived from the main task, the sub business form including derived task identification information of the derived task; a document information extraction section 116 for extracting at least the derived task identification information from the electronic form to be printed; a document information registration section 120 for registering the extracted information and the document ID in association with each other in a task data management table of the document information storage section 130; and a pass record registration section 140 for registering the document ID of the referral business form and operation history information related to the operation in association with each other in a pass record storage section 150.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information management device, a program, and an information management system.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for managing the progress of work related to a document by using an identifier attached to identify the document. In the technique described in Patent Document 1, a data table that records document identifiers and the progress of work related to the document, and a database that stores a plurality of programs related to the work to be performed on the document are referred to. Referring to the progress status recorded in the data table based on the identifier read from the document, the program related to the business according to the progress status is selected and provided to the terminal.

  In addition, for example, the progress management device described in Patent Document 2 includes derivation relationship information having a first document as a parent and a second document generated as a result of an operation on the first document as a child, and each document. Based on the record of operations performed on the document, the progress information of the work related to each document is generated and output.

  Patent Documents 3 and 4 disclose techniques for supporting creation of a document used in business or the like. In the technology described in Patent Literature 3, a form database used for various application procedures, a form database related to each of these procedures, and a form database storing data relating to attributes associated with each other are referred to. Necessary forms and related forms are searched and displayed, and operations such as entry of forms and submission of created forms are supported. In the technique described in Patent Document 4, for each event type in the workflow, the type of slip that may need to be created when the event occurs is registered in advance, and the fact that a certain type of event has occurred is registered. In response to the input to represent, a slip registered in advance corresponding to the type of the input event is presented to the operator.

JP 2004-118315 A JP 2010-170405 A JP 2000-67138 A JP 2005-122346 A

  By the way, another document may be used in a task derived from a task using a certain document. In this case, the progress of a certain business (main business) can be influenced by the progress of the business (derived business) derived from the main business. In other words, the operation to be performed on the document used in the main job may differ depending on the progress status represented by the history of operations on the document used in the derived job. For this reason, it is desired to manage the progress status of the main business and the progress status of the derived business in association with each other. However, in the management of the progress of the main business and derivative business, if the technology that records each document's operation history separately for each document with the identification information is used, the operation of the document used in the main business Since the history and the operation history of the document used in the derived business are managed separately, the progress status of the main business and the progress status of the derived business are managed separately.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an information management apparatus, a program, and an information management system capable of managing the progress status of a main business and the progress status of a derived business in association with each other.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a conversion means for converting a format of an electronic document designated by a user and generating a circulation document including document identification information of the electronic document and contents of the electronic document; Document information registration for extracting at least part of the contents of the electronic document from the designated electronic document and registering the document information as the extracted information and the document identification information of the electronic document in association with each other in the document information storage unit Means, when the document identification information included in the circulation document and the operation history information related to the operation on the circulation document are acquired, the acquired document identification information and the acquired operation history information are associated with each other History information registration means for registering in the history information storage means, and the circulation document is a document used in a main business or a derivative business derived from the main business, The electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the task includes a derivative task identification information for identifying a derivative task derived from the main task, and corresponds to the circulation document used in the derivative task. The electronic document includes derivative work identification information of the derivative work, and the document information registration unit extracts from the electronic document and is associated with the document identification information and registered in the document information storage unit. An information management apparatus including the derived work identification information.

  The invention according to claim 2 refers to the document associated with the document identification information to be processed with reference to the document information storage means when the document identification information to be processed is specified in the invention according to claim 1. Identifying other document identification information associated with the document information including the same derived business identification information as the derived business identification information included in the information, the document information associated with the identified document identification information, and the document to be processed The document information associated with the identification information is read from the document information storage means, and the operation history information associated with the identified document identification information and the operation history information associated with the document identification information to be processed are stored in the history information. Displayed by associating at least a part of the read document information with at least a part of the read operation history information. Display information generation means for generating display information to be displayed on the location, further comprising a.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 2, wherein the document information registration means further includes a circulation document generated by converting the designated electronic document as the main work and the derivative work. Is registered in the document information storage means in association with the document identification information of the designated electronic document, and the operation history information represents the type of operation for the circulation document. The display information generating means further refers to the document information storage means, and includes the document identification information to be processed and the circulation document used in the derivative work among the identified document identification information. Document identification information is identified, and the history storage means is referred to and associated with operation history information including a predetermined type of operation among the document identification information of the identified circulation document. Obtains the ratio of the write identification information, generates the display information for displaying further said display device a ratio determined.

  The invention according to claim 4 includes a conversion step of converting a format of an electronic document designated by a user to generate a circulation document including document identification information of the electronic document and contents of the electronic document; Document information registration for extracting at least part of the contents of the electronic document from the designated electronic document and registering the document information as the extracted information and the document identification information of the electronic document in association with each other in the document information storage unit When acquiring the document identification information included in the circulation document and the operation history information regarding the operation on the circulation document, the acquired document identification information and the acquired operation history information are associated with each other. A history information registration step is executed in the history information storage means by the computer, and the circulation document is used in a main business or a derivative business derived from the main business. And the electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the main business includes derived business identification information for identifying the derived business derived from the main business, and is used in the derived business. The electronic document corresponding to the supplementary document includes derivative work identification information of the derivative work, and is extracted from the electronic document in the document information registration step and registered in the document information storage unit in association with the document identification information. The document information includes at least the derivative work identification information.

  The invention according to claim 5 is a conversion means for converting a format of an electronic document designated by a user and generating a circulation document including document identification information of the electronic document and contents of the electronic document; Document information registration for extracting at least part of the contents of the electronic document from the designated electronic document and registering the document information as the extracted information and the document identification information of the electronic document in association with each other in the document information storage unit Means, input accepting means for accepting input by the user of the document identification information included in the circulation document and operation history information relating to operations on the circulation document, and the document identification received by the input acceptance means History information registration means for acquiring information and the operation history information, and registering the acquired document identification information and the acquired operation history information in the history information storage means in association with each other. The circulation document is a document used in a main business or a derivative business derived from the main business, and the electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the main business is from the main business. The electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the derivative work includes derivative work identification information of the derivative work, and the document information registration unit includes derivative work identification information for identifying the derived work to be derived. The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the document information extracted from the electronic document and registered in the document information storage means in association with the document identification information includes at least the derivative work identification information.

  According to the invention according to claim 1, 4 or 5, the progress status of the main business and the progress status of the derived business can be managed in association with each other.

  According to the invention of claim 2, information relating to a document used in a main business and information relating to a document used in a derived business derived from the main business can be displayed in association with each other.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to display on the display device the proportion of documents in which a specific type of operation has been executed among the documents used in the derived business derived from the main business.

It is a block diagram which shows the example of a structure of a system. It is a block diagram which shows the example of the outline of an internal structure of a management server. It is a figure which shows the example of a main form typically. It is a figure which shows the example of the form schema of the main form illustrated in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a subform schematically. It is a figure which shows the example of the form schema of the subform illustrated in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the printing result of a main form and a subform. It is a figure which shows the example of the content of the business data management table. It is a figure which shows the example of the content of the branch number management table | surface. It is a figure which shows the example of the content of the derivation relationship management table. It is a figure which shows the example of the data content of a passage recording memory | storage part. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of processing performed by a management server in response to a form print request. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the procedure of the process performed in a terminal at the time of registration of passage recording. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the procedure of the process performed in a management server in the case of registration of a passage record. It is a figure which shows the other example of the content of the business data management table. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the procedure of the process performed in a management server when displaying the progress of work. It is a figure which shows the example of the information displayed as a work progress. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the procedure of the process performed in a management server, when searching information from a document information storage part and a passage record storage part. It is a figure which shows the example of the information displayed as a search result. It is a figure which shows the example of the hardware constitutions of a computer.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a system that manages work using documents. 1 has a configuration in which a management server 10, terminals 20a, 20b,..., And a printer 30 are connected to each other via a network 40.

  The management server 10 manages information related to work and information related to documents used in the work. The management server 10 functions as an information management apparatus according to an example of an embodiment of the present invention. Details of the management server 10 will be described later.

  Terminals 20a, 20b,... (Hereinafter collectively referred to as “terminal 20”) are client devices that execute operations on documents and make processing requests to the management server 10 in response to user input. . The terminal 20 may be an information processing apparatus such as a general-purpose computer.

  The printer 30 is a printing apparatus that receives a print instruction from the management server 10 or the terminal 20 and prints an electronic document. The network 40 is a communication means such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet.

  The business managed by the system in the example of FIG. 1 proceeds by distributing a document related to the business to a plurality of persons in charge (users). When each person in charge receives the document, the person in charge performs the work he / she is in charge of for the document and then circulates the document to other persons in charge. The document to be circulated may be a document printed on a medium such as paper. In addition, for example, an electronic document created in a predetermined format as a file format for circulation may be distributed in an organization that performs business. In the following, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking as an example a case where a business progresses by circulation of a paper document printed on paper. In the following description, a document used for business may be referred to as a “form”.

  The management server 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example of a schematic internal configuration of the management server 10. The management server 10 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes a form schema storage unit 100, a print processing unit 110, a document information registration unit 120, a document information storage unit 130, a passage record registration unit 140, a passage record storage unit 150, and a progress information generation unit 160. A search processing unit 170 and a display control unit 180.

  The form schema storage unit 100 stores a form schema that is information representing the layout of various forms. In the example of the present embodiment, the form is created according to a format predetermined for each type. For this reason, the form schema of the example of this embodiment is defined for each type of form. For example, a form schema of a certain type of form may describe what information is arranged in which area in the type of form. The form schema is referred to when the document information extraction unit 116 of the print processing unit 110 described later extracts information from the form to be printed.

  The form schema storage unit 100 of the example of the present embodiment has two types of forms, a “main form” that is a form used in the main business and a “sub form” that is a form used in a derivative work derived from the main work. Memorize the form schema. The sub-form is distributed in an operation (hereinafter, also referred to as “derivative operation”) that is derived from the work process of the main operation that proceeds by the distribution of the main form. For example, when a business for delivering a plurality of articles ordered from one customer to the customer is a “main business”, a business for preparing each of the plurality of articles may be a “derivative business”. In the main business of this example, for example, a main form describing a list of a plurality of delivered articles is circulated. In the middle of such circulation of the main form, a derivative work corresponding to each article is started, and in each derivative work, a sub-form describing information on each corresponding article is circulated. In addition, in this example, for all items included in the list of items listed in the main form, after completing the derivative work with the circulation of the secondary form, the main work with the distribution of the main form is completed. To do. In the example of this embodiment, identification information for identifying a derived business derived from a business using the main form is described in the main form, and a business using the sub form (derived business) is described in the sub form. It is assumed that information for identification is described. Therefore, the sub-form used in the derivative work derived from the “main work” corresponding to the main form is specified by the identification information of the derived work described in the main form.

  FIG. 3 schematically shows an example of the main form. In the main form in the example of FIG. 3, character strings “form number: N1”, “customer name: Name1”, “contract number: 123”, and “contract number: 124” are described. . Among these character strings, “contract number: 123” and “contract number: 124” are identification information for identifying the derivative work of the main work corresponding to the main form. The table in the example of FIG. 4 is an example of a form schema that describes the layout of the main form in the example of FIG. The table in the example of FIG. 4 includes items of element number, area designation, attribute name, and extraction pattern. Element numbers 1, 2, and 3 in the table correspond to rectangular regions 1, 2, and 3 indicated by broken lines in FIG. “Specify area” represents a rectangular area in the form corresponding to each element number 1, 2, and 3. The value of “area designation” in the example of FIG. 4 includes the upper left coordinate value of the rectangular area and the lower right coordinate value of the rectangular area. Each coordinate value (x, y) shown in FIG. 4 has the origin (0, 0) at the upper left corner of the form, the x-axis direction from left to right, and the y-axis direction from top to bottom. This is the coordinate value for the direction. The “attribute name” represents a name given to the rectangular area corresponding to each of the element numbers 1, 2, and 3. In the example of FIG. 4, the item names “form number”, “customer name”, and “contract number” of the information described in the corresponding rectangular area in the form are used as attribute names. The “extraction pattern” represents a character string pattern extracted from a rectangular area corresponding to each element number 1, 2, 3 by the document information extraction unit 116 described later. In the example of FIG. 4, the “extraction pattern” is described by a regular expression, and a character string that matches this extraction pattern is extracted. In the extraction pattern illustrated in FIG. 4, “(. *)” Represents that a character string in which any one character continues zero or more times is extracted. Further, “g” at the end of the extraction pattern of element number 3 means that the previous pattern “/ contract number: (. *) /” Is repeatedly applied. Therefore, when there are a plurality of character strings that match the pattern “/ contract number: (. *) /” In the rectangular area represented by “area specification” of element number 3, a plurality of characters that match the pattern A column is extracted.

  FIG. 5 schematically shows an example of the sub form. Assume that the sub-form in the example of FIG. 5 is used in a derived business derived from the business using the main form in the example of FIG. In the sub-form of the example of FIG. 5, character strings of “contract number: 123”, “branch name: branch 1”, and “contract start date: 2010/8/30” are described. Among these character strings, “contract number: 123” is identification information for identifying the derived work in which the sub-form of the example of FIG. 5 is used, and the main work corresponding to the main form of the example of FIG. This represents one of the derived operations (“contract number: 123” and “contract number: 124”). The table in the example of FIG. 6 is an example of a form schema that describes the layout of the sub form in the example of FIG. The table in the example of FIG. 6 includes items of element number, area designation, attribute name, and extraction pattern. The meanings of these items are the same as those in the table of the example of FIG. The table in the example of FIG. 6 shows the region designation, attribute name, and extraction pattern values for element numbers 4, 5, and 6 corresponding to the rectangular regions 4, 5, and 6 indicated by broken lines in FIG. Has been.

  In the following description, the contents of the table of the example of FIG. 4 are stored as the form schema of the main form in the form schema storage unit 100, and the contents of the table of the example of FIG. 6 are stored as the form schema of the sub form. And

  Returning to the description of FIG. 2, the print processing unit 110 performs processing for printing the electronic form on paper in response to the electronic form print request from the terminal 20. An electronic form (hereinafter, also referred to as “electronic form”) is created in the terminal 20 according to a user instruction, for example. For example, the user creates an electronic form by writing information to a template electronic document that defines the format of a desired type of form using a document editing application provided in the terminal 20. The template electronic document is created in advance for each type of form, for example, and stored in a storage device (not shown) accessible from the terminal 20. When the user instructs printing of the electronic form at the terminal 20, the terminal 20 requests the management server 10 to print the form. It is assumed that the print request includes information indicating the type of the form as well as the electronic data of the form to be printed. The print processing unit 110 of the management server 10 that has received the print request issues a print instruction to the printer 30 to print the document ID, which is identification information of the target form of the print request, and the form. The print processing unit 110 includes a document ID assigning unit 112, a print instruction unit 114, and a document information extraction unit 116.

  The document ID assigning unit 112 generates and assigns a document ID for identifying the form to the form to be printed. The document ID may be unique identification information among the forms managed by the management server 10. For example, a UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) may be generated and used as the document ID.

  The print instruction unit 114 instructs the printer 30 to print the form to be printed and the document ID assigned by the document ID assigning part 112 to the form. At this time, in the example of this embodiment, the print instruction unit 114 instructs the printer 30 to convert the document ID into a machine-readable code for printing. Examples of the code representing the document ID include a one-dimensional code such as a barcode and a two-dimensional code such as a QR code. In accordance with an instruction from the print instruction unit 114, the printer 30 outputs a paper document (paper form) obtained by printing a form on paper together with a code representing the document ID.

  FIGS. 7A and 7B show examples of paper documents when the main form in the example of FIG. 3 and the sub form in the example of FIG. 5 are printed according to the instruction of the print instruction unit 114, respectively. A barcode bc1 representing the document ID of the main form in the example of FIG. 3 is printed on the paper form illustrated in FIG. 7A, and the paper form illustrated in FIG. A barcode bc2 representing the document ID of the example sub-form is printed.

  Referring to FIG. 2 again, the document information extraction unit 116 refers to the form schema in the form schema storage unit 100 and extracts information indicated by the form schema from the data of the form to be printed. For example, the document information extraction unit 116 reads out the form schema corresponding to the type of form to be printed from the form schema storage unit 100, and uses the information of each form described in the form schema from the data of the form. Extract. The form data to be printed is data expressed in a format suitable for the printing process by the printer 30, and is described in, for example, PDL (Page Description Language). The document information extraction unit 116 interprets form data described in, for example, PDL, and in this form, character strings arranged in each area described in the form schema and extracted in the form schema are extracted. The character string corresponding to the pattern is specified. Then, the specified character string is extracted as information on the area. The document information extraction unit 116 passes the character string extracted from each area of the form data to the document information registration unit 120 together with the document ID of the form.

  The document information extraction unit 116 of the example of the present embodiment reads the form schema of the example of FIG. 4 from the form schema storage unit 100 when the type of form to be printed is a main form. For each element number 1, 2, and 3 of the form schema, a character string represented by “extraction pattern” is extracted from a rectangular area represented by “designation of area” in the data of the form to be printed. When the form to be printed is the main form illustrated in FIG. 3, the character string “form number: N1” is extracted from the rectangular area 1, the character string “customer name: Name1” is extracted from the rectangular area 2, and the rectangular area 3, the character strings “contract number: 123” and “contract number: 124” are extracted. The document information extraction unit 116 of this example further specifies, for each extracted character string, a part corresponding to the attribute name registered in the form schema and a part representing the content of the attribute name information. For example, among the character strings extracted from one area of the form, the same character string as the attribute name corresponding to the area is specified in the form schema. Furthermore, the character string corresponding to the portion described as “(. *)” In the extraction pattern is specified as a character string representing the content of the attribute name information. In the case of the main form in the example of FIG. 3 described above, “N1” is specified as the content of the attribute name “form number”, and “Name1” is specified as the content of the attribute name “customer name”. Further, “123” and “124” are specified as the contents of the attribute name “contract number”. Information represented by the character string specified as the content of each attribute in this way is hereinafter referred to as “business data”.

  In addition, when the type of the form to be printed is a sub form, the document information extraction unit 116 of the example of the present embodiment reads out the form schema of the example of FIG. 6 from the form schema storage unit 100 and each element number of the form schema. A character string that matches each “extraction pattern” is extracted from a rectangular area in the form represented by “area specification” corresponding to 4, 5, and 6. When the sub-form illustrated in FIG. 5 is to be printed, the character string “contract number: 123” is extracted from the rectangular area 4, the character string “branch name: branch 1” is extracted from the rectangular area 5, and the rectangular area is extracted. 6, the character string “contract start date: 2010/8/30” is extracted. Further, as in the example of the main form described above with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, as business data, the content “123” corresponding to the attribute name “contract number” and the content “branch” corresponding to the attribute name “branch name” are used. 1 ”and the content“ 2010/8/30 ”corresponding to the attribute name“ contract start date ”are specified.

  Referring to FIG. 2 again, the document information registration unit 120 registers the information extracted from the form data to be printed by the document information extraction unit 116 in the document information storage unit 130. For example, the document information registration unit 120 acquires from the print processing unit 110 the document ID assigned by the document ID assigning unit 112 to the form to be printed and the information extracted by the document information extracting unit 116 from the data of the form. Then, they are registered in the document information storage unit 130 in association with each other. In the example of the present embodiment, the document information registration unit 120 associates the business data extracted and specified by the document information extraction unit 116 from the form with the document ID of the form, and stores the business data management table in the document information storage unit 130. Register with.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the contents of the business data management table. In the table of the example of FIG. 8, the values of each item of business data, form type, and last operation date / time are registered in association with the document ID of each form. One row of the table in the example of FIG. 8 is an information record corresponding to one form. In the business data item, the content of the business data extracted by the document information extraction unit 116 from the form with the corresponding document ID is registered. The item of business data includes each attribute name set in the form schema of the main form and the sub form as a lower item. In the table of the example of FIG. 8, as subordinate items of the business data, the attribute names “form number” and “customer name” included in the form schema of the main form of the example of FIG. 4 and the form schema of the sub form of the example of FIG. , “Contract number”, “branch name”, “contract start date” are registered. The value of each subordinate item is set to a character string that is extracted from the form and specified as a character string that represents the contents of each attribute name. “Form type” represents the type of form, and is set to one of “main form” and “sub form” in this example. The document information registration unit 120 acquires information indicating whether the form with the corresponding document ID is the main form or the sub form from the print processing unit 110, and sets the value of the item “form type”. “Last operation date / time” is a value registered by a later-described passage record registration unit 140, and represents the date / time when the last operation was performed on a form (printed paper form) with a corresponding document ID. At the time when the document information registration unit 120 registers business data for the processing target form of the print processing unit 110, the value of “last operation date” corresponding to the document ID of the form is set to empty (no value). This is because at this point in time, no operation has been performed on the printed paper form. The registration of the value of the last operation date will be described later in connection with the processing of the passage record registration unit 140.

  A specific example of the business data registered by the document information registration unit 120 will be described with reference to the row of the document ID “D1” and the row of the document ID “D4” in the table of the example of FIG. The form with the document ID “D1” is the main form in the example of FIG. 3 described above, and the form with the document ID “D4” is the sub form in the example of FIG. 5 described above. In the information record of the document ID “D1” in the example of FIG. 8, the values of the items “form number”, “customer name”, and “contract number” are extracted from the main form in the example of FIG. , “N1”, “Name1”, and “Nos. 123 and 124”. Since two values “123” and “124” are extracted as the contents of “contract number” from the main form in the example of FIG. 3, “contract number” in the business data management table of the example of FIG. These two values are registered in this item. For the attribute names “branch name” and “contract start date” not included in the main form, the values in the information record of the document ID “D1” are empty. Further, in the information record of the document ID “D4” in the example of FIG. 8, “No. 123” of “Contract Number”, “Branch 1” of “Branch Name”, and “2010/8/30” of “Contract Start Date”. "Is a character string extracted from the sub-form in the example of FIG. In the information record of the document ID “D4”, “N1” of the “form number” and “Name1” of the “customer name” include the main form that includes the contract number “123” of the document ID “D4” as the contract number (document The value of “form number” and “customer name” of ID “D1”) is copied. As described above, when registering the business data of the sub-form, the document information registration unit 120 specifies the main form including the same value as the contract number extracted from the sub-form in the item of the contract number in the business data management table. Then, the value of the item included in the business data of the identified main form and not included in the business data of the sub form is copied and registered in association with the document ID of the sub form.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 2, the document information registration unit 120 not only registers business data extracted from a form, but also generates information representing a relationship between a plurality of forms and stores the generated information in the document information storage unit 130. Also register. The branch number registration unit 122 and the derivation relationship registration unit 124 included in the document information registration unit 120 are responsible for generating and registering information representing the relationship between the forms.

  When the business data extracted from the main form is registered in the business data management table in the document information storage unit 130, the branch number registration unit 122 is extracted from the main form in association with the document ID of the main form. The value of “contract number” in the business data is registered in the branch number management table of the document information storage unit 130. FIG. 9 shows an example of the contents of the branch number management table. In the table of the example of FIG. 9, a set of document ID and contract number is registered. The branch number management table is a table that represents the contract number described in each main form. It can be said that the branch number management table is a table in which the document ID of each main form and identification information for identifying the derived work of the “main work” using the main form are registered.

  When the business data extracted from the sub form is registered in the business data management table of the document information storage unit 130, the derivation relationship registration unit 124 associates the sub form with the document ID of the sub form and uses the sub form. The document ID of the main form used in the main business of the derivation source is registered in the derivation relationship management table of the document information storage unit 130. When the business data of the sub-form is registered in the business data management table, the derivation relationship registration unit 124 first refers to the branch number management table and associates it with the contract number included in the business data of the sub-form. Acquires the registered document ID. Thus, the document ID acquired from the branch number management table is the document ID of the main form used in the main business from which the derived business using the sub-form is derived. Then, in the derivation relationship management table of the document information storage unit 130, the document ID acquired from the branch number management table is registered in association with the document ID of the sub-form. FIG. 10 shows an example of the contents of the derivation relationship management table. In the example table of FIG. 10, the document ID of the sub form is shown in the left column, and the document ID of the corresponding main form is shown in the right column. The derivation relationship management table represents, for each sub-form, the main form corresponding to the main business from which the derived work is derived, and represents the derivation relationship between the main form and the sub-form.

  By the processes of the print processing unit 110 and the document information registration unit 120 described above, a form with a document ID (see FIGS. 7A and 7B) is printed and extracted from the print data of each form. The business data (see FIG. 8) and the information (see FIGS. 9 and 10) representing the relationship between the forms are registered in the document information storage unit 130. A form printed by the printer 30 in accordance with an instruction from the print instruction unit 114 of the print processing unit 110 is circulated to a person in charge of each process of the business using the form. The person in charge who has received the form instructs the management server 10 to register the history of operations for the form using his / her terminal 20. For example, the person in charge first causes the code representing the document ID printed on the form to be read using a reading device (not shown) connected to the terminal 20. The reading device may be any device corresponding to the specification of the document ID code. For example, a bar code reader may be used as the reading device if the document ID code is a bar code, and a QR code reader may be used as the reading device if the document ID code is a QR code. When the document ID is read, the person in charge inputs information indicating the type of operation (or an operation to be performed) on the form to the terminal 20 and includes information indicating the type of the operation. An input for instructing registration of the operation history in the management server 10 is performed. In the example of the present embodiment, the input of the information indicating the type of operation is performed by displaying a list of work processes that can be performed in the business using the form on the display device (not shown) of the terminal 20, and from this list This is performed by receiving an input for selecting a work process corresponding to an operation by a person. In addition to information indicating the type of operation, input of additional information such as a comment regarding the operation may be accepted. When an operation history registration instruction is input, the terminal 20 transmits an operation history including the read document ID, a user ID for identifying the person who has performed the instruction, and the operation date and time to the management server 10. To do. The operation date and time may be the current time acquired from the system clock of the terminal 20, for example. If the additional information is input, the additional information is also included in the operation history and transmitted to the management server 10.

  Referring again to FIG. 2, the passage record registration unit 140 of the management server 10 receives the operation history transmitted from the terminal 20 as described above and registers it in the passage record storage unit 150. In the example of the present embodiment, the history of operations on the form is also referred to as “pass record”. In the example of this embodiment, when the operation corresponding to one work process in the business is completed for the form, the form is circulated to the person in charge of the other work process, and the other work process is performed on the form. The operation corresponding to is performed. For this reason, the history of operations on the form is regarded as a record that the form has “passed” the work process corresponding to the operation.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of the data contents of the passage record storage unit 150. One row of the table in the example of FIG. 11 is an information record representing a history of one operation for one form, that is, a passage record that one form has passed one work process. The table in the example of FIG. 11 includes items of document ID, user ID, department, operation date / time, status, and remarks. The document ID is a document ID read from the form by a reading device connected to the terminal 20. The user ID is identification information of a user (person in charge) who instructed registration of passage records. A department represents a group to which a user with a corresponding user ID belongs in an organization where business using a form is performed. The value of the department is acquired from, for example, a user information database (not shown) in which the group to which the user with each user ID belongs is stored in advance. The operation date and time is the date and time when an instruction to register passage recording is input at the terminal 20. The status is information indicating the type of operation for the form input by the user at the terminal 20. The status represents one of work processes in the business. The remarks are additional information such as comments input by the user regarding the operation when inputting an instruction to register passing records. Among the above items, the document ID, user ID, operation date / time, status, and remark values are included in the passage record transmitted from the terminal 20 to the management server 10. The department value is obtained by searching the above-described user information database using the user ID received from the terminal 20 and recorded as a pass ID as a key. When the user does not input additional information at the terminal 20, the value of the remarks item is set to be empty.

  When the passage record registration unit 140 of the example of the present embodiment receives the passage record from the terminal 20, in addition to the registration of the passage record in the passage record storage unit 150, the passage record registration unit 140 in the business data management table in the document information storage unit 130 Register (update) the operation date and time (see FIG. 8). For example, in the business data management table, the pass record registration unit 140 includes the “last operation date” value of the document ID information record included in the pass record received from the terminal 20 in the pass record received from the terminal 20. Overwrite with operation date and time.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 2, the progress information generation unit 160 refers to the data contents of the document information storage unit 130 and the passage record storage unit 150 to generate progress information indicating the progress status of the business using the form. The progress information generation unit 160 in the example of the present embodiment generates progress information indicating the progress status of a derivation task of a main task corresponding to a certain main form. For example, when the progress information generation unit 160 receives a display request for the progress information of each main form registered in the business data management table from the terminal 20, the progress information generation unit 160 displays the progress information of the sub-form derived work related to each main form. Generate. Here, the “sub-form related to the main form” means a sub-form used in a derivative work derived from the main work corresponding to the main form. For example, referring to the derivation relationship management table in the document information storage unit 130 for each document ID of the main form, the document ID of the sub form associated with the document ID of the main form to be processed is acquired and acquired. For each document ID, an information record of the business data management table in the document information storage unit 130 and a pass record including the document ID in the pass record storage unit 150 are acquired. The progress information is generated using the business data and the passage record of the sub-form acquired in this way. A procedure for generating progress information and a specific example of the generated progress information will be described later. The progress information generation unit 160 passes the generated progress information to the display control unit 180.

  The search processing unit 170 searches the data in the document information storage unit 130 and the passage record storage unit 150 according to the specified search condition. For example, when a search request including a search condition specified by the user is received from the terminal 20, the search processing unit 170 stores information that satisfies the search condition included in the received search request and the document information storage unit 130 and the passage record. Search from the storage unit 150. The search processing unit 170 passes the search result to the display control unit 180.

  The display control unit 180 controls the display device (not shown) to display the progress information generated by the progress information generation unit 160 and the search result by the search processing unit 170. For example, when the display control unit 180 acquires the progress information from the progress information generation unit 160, the display control unit 180 generates display control information for causing the display device to display the acquired progress information in a preset manner as a display mode of the progress information. To do. Further, for example, when a search result is acquired from the search processing unit 170, the display control unit 180 displays display control information for causing the display device to display the acquired search result in a preset manner as a display result display mode. Generate. The display control unit 180 transmits the generated display control information to the terminal 20 that has made a request for processing to the progress information generation unit 160 or the search processing unit 170. The terminal 20 that has received the display control information performs display according to the received display control information in its own display device.

  Heretofore, an example of the configuration of the system including the management server 10 has been described, and an outline of an example of how various types of information regarding forms are registered and used in the system of this example has been described. Hereinafter, an example of a procedure of processing executed in the system of this example will be described.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of processing performed by the management server 10 that has received a form print request from the terminal 20. When the management server 10 receives a form print request from the terminal 20, the management server 10 starts processing of the procedure illustrated in FIG. The form printing request includes electronic form data and information indicating the form type.

  Referring to FIG. 12, first, the document ID assigning unit 112 included in the print processing unit 110 of the management server 10 assigns a document ID to a form to be printed (step S10). The document ID assigning unit 112 of this example generates a UUID for the form to be printed, and uses the generated UUID as the document ID of the form.

  The print processing unit 110 identifies the type of form to be printed (step S12). In this example, the print processing unit 110 refers to information indicating the type of the form for which printing is requested, and specifies whether the form to be printed is a main form or a sub form.

  Next, the print processing unit 110 acquires a form schema corresponding to the type specified in step S12 from the form schema storage unit 100 (step S14). In this example, if the form to be printed is a main form, the form schema having the contents shown in FIG. 4 is acquired. If the form to be printed is a sub form, the form schema having the contents shown in FIG. 6 is acquired. And

  The document information extraction unit 116 included in the print processing unit 110 extracts business data from the form data to be printed in accordance with the form schema acquired in step S14 (step S16). A specific example of the business data extraction process is as described above with reference to FIGS.

  The print processing unit 110 passes the document ID assigned to the form to be printed in step S10, the form type specified in step S12, and the business data extracted in step S16 to the document information registration unit 120.

  The document information registration unit 120 associates the document ID and the business data received from the print processing unit 110 with each other and registers them in the business data management table of the document information storage unit 130 (step S18). The document information registration unit 120 of this example creates one new information record in the business data management table of the example of FIG. 8 and receives it from the print processing unit 110 as the value of the document ID in the created new information record. The document ID is registered, and the corresponding character string in the business data received from the print processing unit 110 is registered as the value of each sub-item (form number, customer name, contract number, branch name, contract start date) of the business data. . If the form to be printed is a main form, it is extracted from the form data to be printed in step S16 as the form number, customer name, and contract number values among the subordinate items of the business data in the new information record. The branch name and contract start date are set to empty. If the document to be printed is a sub-form, it is extracted from the data of the document to be printed in step S16 as the contract number, branch name, and contract start date value among the subordinate items of the business data in the new information record. The set character string is set. In the case of a sub-form, the document information registration unit 120 further searches the business data management table for an information record of the main form including the contract number extracted from the sub-form data, and the form in the searched information record The number and customer name values are set as the form number and customer name value of the information record newly created for the sub-form. The document information registration unit 120 of the present example also uses the form type (main form or sub form) to be printed identified in step S12 as the value of the form type item of the new information record created in step S18. Set. In step S18, the value of the last operation date / time of the created new information record is set to be empty.

  When the business data is registered in the business data management table, the document information registration unit 120 checks the type of the form to be printed (step S20), and if it is a main form, the processing by the branch number registration unit 122 (step S22) is performed. If it is a sub-form, processing (step S24) by the derivation relationship registration unit 124 is performed.

  In step S22 of this example, the branch number registration unit 122 associates the document ID assigned to the main form to be printed in step S10 with the contract number extracted in step S16 from the data of the main form, The information is registered in the branch number management table of the information storage unit 130. For example, if the main form illustrated in FIG. 3 is to be printed and the document ID assigned to the main form is “D1”, the contract number “123” is associated with the document ID “D1” in step S22. , “124” is registered in the branch number management table (see FIG. 9).

  In step S24 of this example, the derivation relationship registration unit 124 refers to the branch number management table in the document information storage unit 130, and the main relationship associated with the contract number extracted in step S16 from the sub-form data to be printed. Acquires the document ID of the form. Furthermore, the derivation relationship registration unit 124 associates the document ID assigned to the subform to be printed in step S10 with the document ID of the main form acquired from the branch number management table, and derives the derivation of the document information storage unit 130. Register in the relationship management table. As a specific example, the contents of the example of FIG. 9 are registered in the branch number management table, the sub-form to be printed is the sub-form illustrated in FIG. 6, and the document ID assigned to the sub-form is In the case of “D4”, the document ID “D1” registered in the branch number management table in association with the contract number “123” extracted from the sub-form data is acquired as the document ID of the main form. Then, the document ID “D4” of the sub-form and the acquired document ID “D1” of the main form are associated and registered in the derivation relationship management table (see FIG. 10).

  After step S22 or step S24, the print instruction unit 114 of the print processing unit 110 instructs the printer 30 to print with the document ID superimposed on the data of the form to be printed (step S26). For example, the print instructing unit 114 converts the document ID given to the form to be printed in step S10 into a machine-readable code such as a barcode, and superimposes this code on the data of the form to be printed on the paper. The printer 30 is instructed to print. In accordance with the instruction in step S26, the form including the document ID is printed in the printer 30. A specific example of the print result form is as described above with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B.

  After step S26, the process of the procedure in the example of FIG. When the form is printed according to the procedure of the example of FIG. 12, the document ID and the work data of each printed form are registered in the work data management table of the document information storage unit 130. When the main form is printed, the document ID of the main form and the contract number (derivative task identification information) included in the main form are registered in the branch number management table. At the time of printing the sub-form, the document ID of the sub-form and the document ID of the main form corresponding to the main business from which the derived work using the sub-form is associated are registered in the derivation relationship management table. As described above, according to the process of the example in FIG. 12, when a form is printed, registration of information included in the form to be printed and registration of a derivation relationship between the form to be printed and other forms are performed. It will be.

  The procedure in the example of FIG. 12 is an example of the processing procedure in the management server 10 that has received the form print request, and the order of execution of the processing steps S10 to S26 is appropriately changed from the order shown in FIG. Also good. For example, document ID assignment (step S10) includes registration of business data in the business data management table (step S18), registration of a contract number in the branch number management table (step S22), and document ID in the derivation relationship management table. May be executed at any time before registration (step S24) and a form printing instruction (step S26). Further, for example, the form print instruction (step S26) may be executed any time as long as the assignment of the document ID is completed.

  The form printed according to the procedure of the example of FIG. 12 is circulated to the person in charge of each work process in the business, and the operation history (pass record) for the form is registered in the management server 10 according to the instruction of the person in charge. Is called. Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14, an example of a procedure of processing performed in the system of this example at the time of registration of passing records will be described.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of processing performed in the terminal 20 at the time of registration of passing records. The terminal 20 starts the processing of the procedure in the example of FIG. 13 when receiving the user's input for registering the pass record of the form. It is assumed that the user who performs input to the terminal 20 has been previously authenticated, and the terminal 20 has acquired the user ID of the user before the start of the procedure in the example of FIG.

  With reference to FIG. 13, the terminal 20 first acquires the document ID of the form via a reading device (not shown) (step S30). For example, when a user reads a code representing a document ID printed on a form using a reading device connected to the terminal 20, the terminal 20 acquires the document ID represented by the read code from the reading device.

  Next, the terminal 20 acquires information related to the operation on the form (step S32). For example, the terminal 20 displays a list of work processes that can be performed in the business using the form on a display device (not shown), and displays information prompting the user to select one work process from the list. Display. When the user who has confirmed the display performs input for selecting a work process using an input device (not shown) such as a mouse or a keyboard, the terminal 20 acquires the selected work process. Further, the terminal 20 acquires the current time from its own system clock, and uses the acquired time as the operation date and time when the operation corresponding to the selected work process was performed on the form. In step S32, the terminal 20 of the present example also accepts input of additional information such as comments regarding the operation. The additional information may be a free description by the user, or information selected by the user from a menu including options prepared in advance. When the user does not need to input additional information, the user inputs the fact to the terminal 20, and the terminal 20 that has received this input omits reception of the additional information.

  Next, the terminal 20 transmits a passing record including the document ID acquired in step S30 and the information regarding the operation acquired in step S32 to the management server 10 (step S34). Here, the terminal 20 of the present example also includes the user ID of the user who entered in steps S30 and S32 in the passage record and transmits it to the management server 10. After step S34, the process of the procedure in the example of FIG. 13 ends.

  The management server 10 that has received the passage record transmitted from the terminal 20 in step S34 of the procedure in the example of FIG. 13 starts processing of the procedure in the example of FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 14, the passage record registration unit 140 of the management server 10 acquires the passage record received by the management server 10 from the terminal 20 (step S40). As described above, the passage record of this example includes the document ID, the user ID, and the work process selected by the user (information indicating the type of operation for the form). Further, additional information related to the operation may be further included.

  The passage record registration unit 140 registers the passage record acquired in step S40 in the passage record storage unit 150 (step S42). As a specific example, the passage record registration unit 140 creates a new information record in the table of the example of FIG. 11, and the value of each item of the created new information record is included in the passage record acquired in step S40. Set using information. For example, in a new information record, the values of the document ID, user ID, and operation date / time items are set to the document ID, user ID, and operation date / time values included in the passage record, respectively. In addition, the work process included in the passing record is set as the value of the status item of the new information record. Further, when additional information is included in the passing record, the additional information is set as the value of the remark item of the new information record. If additional information is not included in the passage record, the value of the remarks item may be left empty. Furthermore, the passage record registration unit 140 of this example refers to a user information database (not shown), identifies the department to which the user with the user ID included in the passage record belongs, and stores information representing the identified department as a new information record. Set as the value of the item of the department.

  The pass record registration unit 140 also updates the last operation date and time associated with the document ID included in the pass record acquired in step S40 in the business data management table in the document information storage unit 130 (step S44). Step S44 may be performed by the following procedure, for example. First, the passage record registration unit 140 searches the business data management table in the document information storage unit 130 for an information record of the document ID included in the passage record. Then, the value of the item of the last operation date / time in the information record of the search result is overwritten with the operation date / time included in the passage record. By the processing in step S44, the last operation date / time of each document ID in the business data management table becomes the value of the operation date / time included in the pass record last registered for the form of the document ID. After step S44, the process of the procedure in the example of FIG. 14 ends.

  When the user who operates each form printed together with the document ID according to the procedure of the example of FIG. 12 instructs registration of the passage record, and the processing of the procedure of the example of FIGS. The record storage unit 150 stores history information indicating when and who performed which work process for each form. Further, in the business data management table of the document information storage unit 130, the last operation date and time that is the date and time of the last operation performed on each form is recorded.

  FIG. 15 shows an example of the contents of the business data management table when the passage record storage unit 150 stores the contents of the table of the example of FIG. The table in the example of FIG. 15 adds the business data of the forms with document IDs “D5” to “D7” to the contents of the business data management table in the example of FIG. The last operation date and time of “D7” is registered. Referring to FIG. 11 and FIG. 15, the latest operation date and time in the passing records of the document IDs “D1” to “D7” shown in the example table of FIG. 11 is the document ID “D1” in the example table of FIG. ”To“ D7 ”is set as the last operation date and time.

  Information registered in the document information storage unit 130 and the passage record storage unit 150 by the processing of the example described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 12 to 14 is a progress information generation and search processing unit by the progress information generation unit 160. Used for search by 170.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of progress information generation processing by the progress information generation unit 160 and progress information display processing by the display control unit 180. The processing of the procedure in the example of FIG. 16 is registered in the business data management table when, for example, the management server 10 receives a request for displaying the progress information of each main form registered in the business data management table from the terminal 20. Each main form is executed as a processing target. In the following, taking the case where the business data management table has the contents of the table of the example of FIG. 15 and all the main forms registered in the business data management table are to be processed, the procedure of the example of FIG. explain. In this example, it is assumed that the contents of the table in the example of FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 16, the progress information generation unit 160 acquires the business data of the main form to be processed from the business data management table in the document information storage unit 130 (step S50). In this example, the progress information generation unit 160 uses the contents of the business data of the document IDs “D1”, “D2”, and “D3” whose form type is “main form” in the business data management table illustrated in FIG. Obtain from the data management table.

  Next, the progress information generation unit 160 acquires business data of a sub form related to the main form to be processed (step S52). In step S52, for example, the document ID of the subform registered in association with the document ID of the processing target main form in the derivation relationship management table of the document storage unit 130 is acquired, and the business data of the acquired subform document ID is obtained. Acquired from the business data management table. Alternatively, by using the contract number included in the business data of the main form acquired in step S50, the information record of the sub form related to the main form to be processed may be retrieved and acquired from the business data management table. In this example, the contract numbers {123, 124}, {125, 126}, {127 of the business data of the main forms of the document IDs “D1,” “D2,” and “D3” acquired in step S50. No. 128} as the value of the contract number item, and the business data whose form type is “sub-form” may be acquired from the business data management table. In the present example referring to FIG. 15, the document IDs “D4”, “D5”, “D6”, “D7” whose contract numbers are “123”, “124”, “125”, “126”, respectively. Business data of each sub-form.

  When the business data of the sub-form related to the main form to be processed is acquired, the progress information generation unit 160 acquires the pass record of each sub-form for which the business data has been acquired in step S52 from the pass record storage unit 150 (step S52). S54). In the present example in which the passage record storage unit 150 has the contents of the table of the example of FIG. 11, the passage of the document IDs “D4”, “D5”, “D6”, “D7” of the sub-form that acquired the business data in step S52. As records, the contents of rows L7 to L14 of the table in the example of FIG. 11 are acquired.

  Next, the progress information generation unit 160 uses the information acquired in steps S50 to S54 to generate progress information representing the progress status of the derivation work of the sub-form related to the main form for each main form to be processed. (Step S56). In step S56 of this example, the progress information generation unit 160 first refers to the passing record of the sub-form related to one of the main forms to be processed, and the sub-form that has reached the preset end status. Is identified. Whether or not the sub-form has reached the preset end status is determined based on the value of the “status” item in the pass record. In this example, it is assumed that the preset end status is “registration completed”. Further, the progress information generation unit 160 obtains the ratio of the sub-forms that have reached the end status among the sub-forms related to one main form. When the progress information generation unit 160 determines the ratio of the sub-forms that have reached the end status for each of the main forms to be processed, the progress information generation unit 160 mainly stores the calculated ratio, the main-form business data, and the sub-form business data and pass records. Progress information is collected for each form. If there is no passing record of the sub-form related to the main form to be processed, the progress information generation unit 160 generates information indicating that and includes it in the progress information.

  As a specific example of step S56, in the case of the main form with the document ID “D1”, the sub-form related to this main form has a contract number {123, 125} in the business data of the main form as a contract number. It is a sub-form of document IDs “D4” and “D5” included in the data. Referring to the pass records of these sub-forms (lines L7 to L10 in FIG. 11), for the sub-form with the document ID “D4”, there is a pass record including the end status “registration completed” (line L8 in FIG. 11). Therefore, it is determined that the end status has been reached. For the sub-form with the document ID “D5”, since there is no passing record including “registration completed”, it is determined that the end status has not been reached. Of the two sub-forms (document IDs “D4” and “D5”) related to the main form with the document ID “D1”, only one (document ID “D4”) has reached the end status. For this reason, the progress information generation unit 160 calculates the ratio 1/2 of the sub-form that has reached the end status. Similarly, in the case of the main form with the document ID “D2”, both of the two related sub forms (document IDs “D6” and “D7”) have pass records including the end status “registration completed” (FIG. 11 (L12, L14), the ratio of the sub-forms that have reached the end status is calculated as 2/2 (= 1.0). For the main form with the document ID “D3”, there is no passing record of the related sub-form, and information indicating that is generated.

  The progress information generation unit 160 passes the progress information generated in step S56 to the display control unit 180. The display control unit 180 generates display control information for causing the display device to display the received progress information in a mode predetermined as a mode for displaying the progress information (step S58). The display control unit 180 transmits the display control information generated in step S58 to the terminal 20 that has requested display of progress information, and the requesting terminal 20 performs display according to the display control information. Is called.

  FIG. 17 shows an example of display according to the display control information generated in step S58. FIG. 17 shows the progress information generated as in the specific example of step S56 described above for the main forms (document IDs “D1”, “D2”, “D3”) registered in the business data management table of the example of FIG. It is an example of the display according to the display control information based on. In the table of the example of FIG. 17, the lines including the form numbers N1, N2, and N3 represent the progress information for the main forms having the document IDs “D1”, “D2”, and “D3”. In the table of the example of FIG. 17, each item of “form number” and “customer name” displays values acquired from the business data of the main form corresponding to each row. The item “Contract Registration Status” includes the percentage of sub-forms related to the main form corresponding to each line that have reached the end status “Registration Completed” and the characters that are determined in advance corresponding to this percentage. Columns. In this example, it is assumed that the character string “partially completed” is displayed if the ratio is less than 1.0, and the character string “complete” is displayed if the ratio is 1.0. . In addition, it is assumed that when there is no passing record of the sub-form related to the main form and the above-mentioned ratio is not obtained, the character string “uncreated” is displayed in advance. For example, referring to the line of the form number N1, the ratio of reaching the “registration completed” among the sub forms related to the main form with the document ID “D1” corresponding to this line is ½. The registration status “partially completed (1/2)” is displayed. Further, referring to the line of the form number N2, the ratio of reaching the “registration completed” among the sub forms related to the main form of the document ID “D2” corresponding to this line is 2/2. The registration status “completed (2/2)” of the contract is displayed. Further, referring to the line of the form number N3, since there is no passing record for the sub form related to the main form of the document ID “D3” corresponding to this line, the registration status “not created” of the contract is displayed. ing. Further, in the item of “branch number details” in the table of the example of FIG. 17, the contract number and branch name in the business data, the status and remarks in the passing record are displayed for the sub-form related to each main form. ing. In the status item, a plurality of statuses during passing recording for one sub-form are listed. In addition, when there is no pass record of the sub-form, no value is displayed in the branch number detail item (see the line of the form number N3). With the display screen illustrated in FIG. 17, for the main business corresponding to each main form, the progress status of the business derived from the main business is presented to the user.

  In the process of the procedure of the example of FIG. 16 described above, instead of setting all main forms registered in the business data management table as processing targets, designation by the user of the processing target main forms may be accepted. For example, the user designates the main form to be processed by causing the reading device connected to the terminal 20 to read the document ID of the main form to be processed. Alternatively, the processing target main form may be specified by inputting the values of at least some items of the business data described in the processing target main form using the input device of the terminal 20. When the main form is designated by the value of the business data item, the management server 10 refers to the business data management table, identifies the main form that includes the input value acquired from the terminal 20 in the business data, and sets it as the processing target. do it. In yet another example, designation of a sub-form may be accepted, and a main form corresponding to a derivation source business of the designated sub-form derivation business may be specified and processed. The designation of the sub-form may be performed by reading the document ID, or may be performed by inputting the value of the business data item described in the sub-form. When the sub form is designated by reading the document ID, the management server 10 refers to the derivation relationship management table and sets the main form having the document ID associated with the document ID of the designated sub form as a processing target. Good. When a sub form is designated by inputting the value of the business data item, the management server 10 first refers to the business data management table and identifies the sub form including the input value in the business data. Then, the main document of the document ID registered in the derivation relationship management table in association with the document ID of the specified sub-form is processed, or the same contract number as the contract number in the business data of the specified sub-form is set. The main form included in the business data may be processed.

  Heretofore, an example of processing for generating progress information has been described. Hereinafter, an example of search processing will be described.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of search processing by the search processing unit 170 and search result display processing by the display control unit 180. 18 is started when the management server 10 receives a search request including a search condition from the terminal 20, for example. The search condition may be input by the user at the terminal 20. The search condition may include only one of the condition for the business data of the form and the condition for the passing record, or may include both conditions.

  Referring to FIG. 18, the search processing unit 170 of the management server 10 that has received the search request from the terminal 20 acquires the search conditions included in the received search request (step S60). Here, as a concrete example for explanation, the following search condition “The latest pass record status is other than“ registration completed ”among the sub-forms related to the main form whose customer name in the business data is“ Name1 ”. It is assumed that “sub-form information” is acquired in step S60. In this specific example, it is assumed that the business data management table has the contents of the example of FIG. 15, and the passing record storage unit 150 has the contents of the example of FIG.

  Next, the search processing unit 170 searches the document information storage unit 130 and the passage record storage unit 150 according to the search condition acquired in step S60 (step S62). The search processing unit 170 of the example of this embodiment collects information acquired from the document information storage unit 130 and information acquired from the passage record storage unit 150 as a result of the search in step S62 for each document ID. To the unit 180.

  In the case of the search conditions of the specific example described above, in step S62, the search processing unit 170 searches the business data management table for a sub-form related to the main form whose “customer name” value is “Name1”. As a result, a sub-form corresponding to the first half of the search condition of the above-described specific example “sub-form related to the main form whose customer name in the business data is“ Name1 ”” is searched. Referring to the business data management table in the example of FIG. 15, the sub-forms of the document IDs “D4” and “D5” whose form type is the sub-form and whose “customer name” in the business data is “Name1”. Information becomes a search result from the business data management table. Here, “customer name” is information that is not described in the sub-form (see FIG. 5), but the contract number extracted from the sub-form when the sub-form is printed (when the business data of the sub-form is registered). Note that the value of “customer name” in the business data of the main form that includes the same contract number in the business data is set in the business data of the sub-form. Next, the search processing unit 170 searches for a sub-form corresponding to the second half “sub-form whose status of the latest pass record is other than“ registration completed ”” in the search condition of the above-described specific example. For example, the search processing unit 170 refers to the passage record storage unit 150, and among the passage records of the document IDs “D4” and “D5” as the search results from the business data management table, the last registered in the business data management table. Check whether the status of the passing record that includes the same operation date and time as the operation date and time is “registration completed”. Referring to the passage record (rows L7, L8) of the document ID “D4” in the table of the example of FIG. 11, the last operation date “2010/8/31” of the document ID “D4” in the business data management table of the example of FIG. 13:11:22 ”includes the same operation date and time as the passage record in the row L8, and the status is“ registration completed ”. Therefore, the sub-form with the document ID “D4” does not correspond to “sub-form whose status of the latest pass record is other than“ registration completed ””. Referring to the passage record of the document ID “D5” (rows L9 and L10 in FIG. 11), the last operation date and time “2010/9/2 16:10:” of the document ID “D5” in the business data management table of the example of FIG. The same operation date and time as “05” includes the passage record of the row L10, and the status is “send back” and not “registration completed”. That is, the sub-form with the document ID “D5” corresponds to “sub-form whose status of the latest pass record is other than“ registration completed ””. As described above, the search processing unit 170 acquires the passing record of the row L10 including the document ID “D5” and the status “return” as the search result from the passing record storage unit 150. In this way, the search processing unit 170 passes both the pass record acquired from the pass record storage unit 150 and the business data acquired from the business data management table for the document ID “D5” to the display control unit 180.

  The display control unit 180 generates display control information for causing the display device to display the search result received from the search processing unit 170 in a predetermined manner as a display result display mode (step S64). The display control unit 180 transmits the display control information generated in step S64 to the terminal 20 that has made the search request, and the requesting terminal 20 performs display according to the display control information. For example, the business data acquired by the search processing unit 170 from the business data management table of the document information storage unit 130 and the pass record acquired by the search processing unit 170 from the pass record storage unit 150 are collectively displayed for each document ID.

  FIG. 19 shows an example of display according to the display control information generated in step S64. FIG. 19 is an example of display in the above-described specific example in which the business data and the passage record of the document ID “D5” are acquired as search results. In FIG. 19, for the document ID “D5”, the form number, customer name, and branch name values acquired from the business data management table, and the user ID, department, operation date / time, and status acquired from the passage record storage unit 150 are displayed. , And remark values are displayed together in one table.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, there may be various modifications in addition to the example of the embodiment described above. For example, in the example of the above-described embodiment, the management server 10 assigns a document ID to a form to be printed when the form is printed. In a modified example, the terminal 20 creates a document for the form when creating the electronic form. An ID may be given. In this modification, the document ID is included with the form data in the print request, and the management server 10 may perform the same processing as in the embodiment described above using the document ID included in the print request. .

  In the example of the above-described embodiment, the document ID that is printed superimposed on the form data is a machine-readable code. In the modified example, a character string (including at least one of letters, numbers, and symbols) that represents the document ID is printed on paper together with the form data in a font suitable for OCR (Optical Character Recognition, optical character recognition). May be. Alternatively, for example, an IC tag in which a document ID is recorded may be attached to a sheet on which form data is printed. When reading the document ID of a form on which a character string representing the document ID is printed, an optical character reader may be connected to the terminal 20. Further, when an IC tag in which the document ID 502 is recorded is pasted on a printed form, an IC tag reader may be used as a reading device connected to the terminal 20.

  Moreover, the specific aspect of the information memorize | stored in the various memory | storage parts of the management server 10 is not restricted to the aspect illustrated above. For example, in the tables of FIGS. 4 and 6 that are examples of form schemas stored in the form schema storage unit 100, element numbers may be omitted. Further, the form schema may be described in a format different from the table format illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6. For example, a file in which the specification of the area of the form from which a character string is to be extracted, the attribute name of the area, and the extraction pattern applied to the area are described in XML format may be used as the form schema.

  Further, for example, in the document information storage unit 130, one or both of the branch number management table and the derivation relationship management table may be omitted. The identification information of the derivative work derived from the main work corresponding to the main form ("contract number" in the above example) is extracted from the main form, registered in the work data management table together with the document ID of the main form, and the sub form If the identification information of the derived business that uses is extracted from the sub-form and registered in the business data management table together with the document ID of the sub-form, the identification information of the derived business is used without using the branch number management table and the derivation relationship management table. This is because by searching the business data management table using as a key, it is possible to specify the sub-form related to the main form.

  In the example of the above-described embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that one form schema is defined for each of the main form and the sub form. In the modification, a plurality of different form schemas may be defined for each of the main form and the sub form. In this example, identification information is attached to each form schema and stored in the form schema storage unit 100. Furthermore, for each form schema, a template electronic document as a basis for creating an electronic form is created in advance, and the identification information of the corresponding form schema is included in each template electronic document. As a result, the identification information and type of the form schema are included in the electronic form created by entering information in the template electronic document. In the management server 10 that has received such a print request for an electronic form, the form schema identification information is acquired from the form to be printed, the form schema corresponding to this identification information is read from the form schema storage unit 100, and As in the example, processing such as extraction and registration of business data may be performed.

  In the example of the above-described embodiment, when printing an electronic form on paper, business data is extracted from the data of the form to be printed, and the form is printed by superimposing the document ID. In the modified example, not only printing of electronic forms on paper media, but when converting the file format of electronic forms to generate new electronic forms, business data is extracted and registered in the same way as in the above example. Also good. For example, a file format of an electronic form created by a certain document processing application may be converted to a predetermined format as a file format for circulation, and the converted electronic form may be distributed. For example, the file format for circulation may be a file format that cannot be edited by the document processing application, and a specific example is PDF (Portable Document Format). Further, the circulation of the electronic form may be performed, for example, by transmitting an electronic mail attached with the electronic form. The document ID assigned to the electronic form for circulation may be included in the attribute information of the electronic form, for example. Using the document ID in the attribute information of the electronic form, the processes of the above-described embodiment and modification examples can be executed in the same manner as described above.

  In the example of the above-described embodiment, the main form and the main form are identified by the identification information of the derivative work described in the main form and the identification information for identifying the work (derived work) using the sub-form described in the sub-form. The secondary form corresponding to the form is specified. In the modification, the main form and the sub-form corresponding to the main form may be specified even if each form does not have the identification information of the derived work. For example, barcodes representing document IDs printed on each form may be sequentially read, and a main form and a sub form corresponding to the main form may be specified based on the read order and a predetermined rule. In this case, for example, the derivation relationship may be managed by using the form on which the first read barcode is printed as the main form, and the form on which the barcode read after that is printed as the sub form corresponding to the main form. Then, the derivation relationship may be managed by using the form on which the last read barcode is printed as a main form and the form on which the barcode read after that is printed as a sub form corresponding to the main form.

In addition, after all the barcodes are read, the document ID corresponding to each barcode is displayed on the display device, and the user selects the document ID as the main form and the document ID as the sub form so that the derivation relationship is established. You may make it manage.

  Moreover, you may provide the terminal 20 with a part of function of the management server 10 in the example of embodiment described above and a modification.

  The management server 10 exemplified above is typically realized by executing a program describing functions or processing contents of each unit of the management server 10 described above on a general-purpose computer. In the computer, for example, as shown in FIG. 20, a CPU (central processing unit) 80, a memory (primary storage) 82, various I / O (input / output) interfaces 84 and the like are connected via a bus 86 as hardware. Circuit configuration. In addition, a hard disk drive (HDD) 88, a disk drive 90 for reading various types of portable non-volatile recording media such as a CD, a DVD, and a flash memory is connected to the bus 86 via, for example, an I / O interface 84. Connected. Such a drive 88 or 90 functions as an external storage device for the memory. A program in which the processing content of the embodiment is described is stored in a fixed storage device such as the HDD 88 via a recording medium such as a CD or DVD, or via a network, and is installed in a computer. The program stored in the fixed storage device is read into the memory and executed by the CPU, whereby the processing of the embodiment is realized. The same applies to the terminal 20.

  In the above, the embodiment in which the management server 10 is realized by one computer has been described. However, the various functions of the above-described example of the management server 10 may be distributed to a plurality of computers.

  10 management server, 20 terminal, 30 printer, 40 network, 80 CPU, 82 memory, 84 I / O interface, 86 bus, 88 HDD, 90 disk drive, 100 form schema storage unit, 110 print processing unit, 112 document ID assignment Part, 114 print instruction part, 116 document information extraction part, 120 document information registration part, 122 branch number registration part, 124 derivation relation registration part, 130 document information storage part, 140 passage record registration part, 150 passage record storage part, 160 Progress information generation unit, 170 search processing unit, 180 display control unit.

Claims (5)

Conversion means for converting the format of the electronic document specified by the user and generating a circulation document including the document identification information of the electronic document and the contents of the electronic document;
Document information registration for extracting at least part of the contents of the electronic document from the designated electronic document and registering the document information as the extracted information and the document identification information of the electronic document in association with each other in the document information storage unit Means,
When the document identification information included in the circulation document and the operation history information regarding the operation on the circulation document are acquired, the acquired document identification information and the acquired operation history information are associated with each other to store history information. History information registration means for registering with the means;
With
The circulation document is a document used in a main business or a derivative business derived from the main business,
The electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the main business includes derived business identification information for identifying a derived business derived from the main business,
The electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the derivative work includes derivative work identification information of the derivative work,
The document information that the document information registration unit extracts from the electronic document and registers in the document information storage unit in association with the document identification information includes at least the derivative work identification information.
An information management apparatus characterized by that. When the document identification information to be processed is specified, the derived task identification information that is the same as the derived task identification information included in the document information associated with the document identification information to be processed with reference to the document information storage unit Other document identification information associated with the document information including the document identification information is identified, and the document information associated with the identified document identification information and the document information associated with the processing target document identification information are read out from the document information storage means. At the same time, the operation history information associated with the identified document identification information and the operation history information associated with the document identification information to be processed are read from the history information storage means, and at least a part of the read document information is read. Display information generation for generating display information to be displayed on the display device in association with at least a part of the operation history information Means, further comprising,
The information management apparatus according to claim 1. The document information registration means further includes information indicating whether the circulation document generated by converting the designated electronic document is used in the main business or the derived business. Registered in the document information storage means in association with the document identification information of
The operation history information includes information indicating a type of operation for the circulation document,
The display information generating means further refers to the document information storage means and obtains the document identification information of the circulation document used in the derivative work among the document identification information to be processed and the specified document identification information. Identifying and obtaining the ratio of document identification information associated with operation history information including a predetermined type of operation among document identification information of the identified circulation document with reference to the history storage unit Generating the display information for causing the display device to further display the ratio.
The information management apparatus according to claim 2. A conversion step of converting a format of the electronic document designated by the user and generating a circulation document including the document identification information of the electronic document and the content of the electronic document;
Document information registration for extracting at least part of the contents of the electronic document from the designated electronic document and registering the document information as the extracted information and the document identification information of the electronic document in association with each other in the document information storage unit Steps,
When the document identification information included in the circulation document and the operation history information regarding the operation on the circulation document are acquired, the acquired document identification information and the acquired operation history information are associated with each other to store history information. A history information registration step in the means;
To the computer,
The circulation document is a document used in a main business or a derivative business derived from the main business,
The electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the main business includes derived business identification information for identifying a derived business derived from the main business,
The electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the derivative work includes derivative work identification information of the derivative work,
The document information extracted from the electronic document in the document information registration step and registered in the document information storage means in association with the document identification information includes at least the derivative work identification information.
A program characterized by that. Conversion means for converting the format of the electronic document specified by the user and generating a circulation document including the document identification information of the electronic document and the contents of the electronic document;
Document information registration for extracting at least part of the contents of the electronic document from the designated electronic document and registering the document information as the extracted information and the document identification information of the electronic document in association with each other in the document information storage unit Means,
Input accepting means for accepting input by the user of the document identification information included in the circulation document and operation history information related to operations on the circulation document;
History information registration means for acquiring the document identification information and the operation history information received by the input reception means, and registering the acquired document identification information and the acquired operation history information in the history information storage means in association with each other;
With
The circulation document is a document used in a main business or a derivative business derived from the main business,
The electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the main business includes derived business identification information for identifying a derived business derived from the main business,
The electronic document corresponding to the circulation document used in the derivative work includes derivative work identification information of the derivative work,
The document information that the document information registration unit extracts from the electronic document and registers in the document information storage unit in association with the document identification information includes at least the derivative work identification information.
An information management system characterized by that.

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