JP2017045232A - Management system and management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for enabling a serviceman to easily grasp a process of a problem by performing unitary management of onsite maintenance and remote maintenance.SOLUTION: A remote monitoring server includes: a history DB capable of storing device information as the use situation or generated error information of an image forming apparatus and service information as maintenance content performed to the image forming apparatus by a serviceman in association with an identifier and time as a history; a remote monitoring part for remotely monitoring the image forming apparatus, and for collecting and storing the device information in the history DB; and a history management part for collecting the service information from a service terminal, and for causing the history DB to store the service information, and for, when receiving an inquiry request of the history related to the specific image forming apparatus, acquiring the history of the specific image forming apparatus from the history DB, and for returning the history to a request source of history inquiry. The service terminal is configured to, when the inquiry of the history related to the specific image forming apparatus is instructed from the serviceman, return the inquiry request of the history to the remote monitoring server, and to present the returned history to the serviceman in time series.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a management system and a management method for managing maintenance of an image forming apparatus (MFP, Multifunction Peripheral).

  It is important to improve the operating rate (ratio of available time) of image forming devices installed at customer sites by reducing the period during which they cannot be used due to breakdowns, etc., so as not to hinder customer operations. .

  Therefore, on-site maintenance by a service person such as a sales company or remote maintenance via a network has been performed.

  For example, in the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, information on devices connected to a network of a customer site visited by a service person is efficiently acquired on-site and analyzed from the viewpoint of TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). It is carried out.

JP 2007-219618 A

  As a system for managing maintenance work for image forming devices installed at customer sites, a service management system has been used for service personnel who have traveled to customer sites, performed maintenance on site, and reported and managed maintenance work contents. (Service Management System, hereinafter referred to as SMS) and a remote monitoring / examination system for remote maintenance that allows service personnel to perform maintenance remotely without going to the customer site, made possible by recent network development .

  The SMS has information related to the user (customer) who uses the image forming apparatus, and also manages information such as communication with the customer at the call center. However, only the static information such as the serial number of the image forming apparatus is managed regarding the usage status of the image forming apparatus.

  On the other hand, the remote monitoring / examination system directly and centrally manages each image forming apparatus via the network, and can dynamically grasp the usage status of the image forming apparatus. It was not possible to manage information about the activities performed by Man and information obtained through the call center.

  As described above, these systems have different purposes and are generally constructed as separate systems.

  Therefore, when on-site maintenance and remote maintenance are performed on one image forming apparatus, the contents of the maintenance work on these two routes are managed by another system, or the contents of the maintenance work The state of the image forming apparatus is managed by another system, and it is difficult for a service person who solves the problem to grasp the history of the image forming apparatus in which the problem has occurred.

  In addition, since the history is managed separately by another system, it is difficult to calculate the service cost for a specific image forming apparatus and to determine the appropriateness of the maintenance procedure.

  In view of the circumstances as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a management system and a management method capable of centrally managing the contents of on-site maintenance and remote maintenance and easily grasping the background of a problem that has occurred by a service person. .

  To achieve the above object, a management system according to an aspect of the present invention includes a remote monitoring / examination server and a service terminal, and the remote monitoring / examination server includes the service terminal and one or more under management. The first communication unit that can communicate with the image forming apparatus, the information on the usage status of the one or more image forming apparatuses, the error that has occurred, the apparatus information that is warning information, and the service person are assigned to the one or more image forming apparatuses. Service information, which is the content of maintenance work performed on the device, can be stored as a history in association with an identifier capable of uniquely identifying the one or more image forming apparatuses, the device information, and the time when the service information is generated. Remote monitoring and remote maintenance of the database and the one or more image forming apparatuses, collecting the apparatus information and storing it in the history database. A remote monitoring / examination unit that collects the service information from the service terminal, stores the service information in the history database, and receives the history inquiry request for a specific image forming apparatus. A history management unit that acquires the history of the apparatus and returns the acquired history to the requester of the history inquiry, and when the service terminal is instructed to inquire about the history of a specific image forming apparatus by a serviceman The history inquiry request is sent to the remote monitoring / examination server, and the returned history is presented to the service person in time series. Therefore, the contents of on-site maintenance and remote maintenance can be centrally managed and the background of the problem that the service person has occurred can be easily grasped.

  To achieve the above object, a management system according to an aspect of the present invention further includes a service management server, wherein the service management server is capable of communicating with the remote monitoring / examination server and the service terminal. A customer maintenance database storing customer information related to maintenance, a service management unit for collecting the service information from the service terminal and storing it in the customer maintenance database, and customer information in the customer maintenance database. A remote monitoring / examination server linkage unit that provides the remote monitoring / examination server, and the remote monitoring / examination server includes a service management server linkage unit that acquires customer information managed by the service management server from the service management server. Furthermore, the structure provided may be sufficient.

  In order to achieve the above object, in a management method according to an aspect of the present invention, a remote monitoring / examination unit of a remote monitoring / examination server remotely monitors and remotely maintains the one or more image forming apparatuses. The information on the usage status of the image forming apparatus, the error that has occurred, the apparatus information that is warning information, and the service information that is the content of the maintenance work performed on the one or more image forming apparatuses by the serviceman, The remote monitoring / examination server stores the collected device information in a history database that can be stored as a history in association with an identifier capable of uniquely identifying an image forming device and the time when the device information and the service information are generated. The history management unit collects the service information from the service terminal of the service person and stores it in the history database. When the service terminal is instructed to inquire about the history of a specific image forming apparatus by a serviceman, the service terminal sends the history inquiry request to the remote monitoring / examination server, and the history management unit of the remote monitoring / examination server Acquires the history of the specific image forming apparatus from the history database, returns the acquired history to the requester of the history inquiry, and the service terminal returns the returned history in time series to the serviceman. To present.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the contents of the on-site maintenance and the remote maintenance can be centrally managed, and the background of the problem that has occurred by the service person can be easily grasped.

It is a figure showing the whole management system 100 outline concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram in case the remote monitoring / examination server 10 is comprised by a general computer. It is a block diagram in case SMS server 20 is comprised by a general computer. 7 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow in the management system 100 from when a call from a customer enters the call center 50 to before a service person visits the customer. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the flow of a process in the management system 100 until the service person assigned the maintenance work completes the maintenance work. It is a figure which shows the example of the log | history recorded when it records in log | history DB17b and is referred by the service person.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Overview]
First, an overall overview of a management system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall outline of a management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The management system 100 includes a remote monitoring / examination server 10, an SMS server 20, one or more image forming apparatuses 30, and a service terminal 40.

  The remote monitoring / examination server 10 monitors and examines an image forming apparatus 30 installed at a customer site (customer A, customer B, customer C, and customer D in the figure) via a network such as a WAN (Wide Area Network). And perform remote maintenance.

  The SMS server 20 (service management server) is connected to the service terminal 40 carried by the service person by radio or the like, and inputs the contents of maintenance performed on the image forming apparatus 30 of the customer by the service person, Information about the image forming apparatus 30 to be maintained is acquired from the SMS server 20.

  The place where the service person accesses the SMS server 20 may be the customer's site or other place.

  The service terminal 40 is a tablet computer or the like carried by a service person, and is used when accessing the remote monitoring / examination server 10 and the SMS server 20.

  The call center 50 receives a call from a customer (user) regarding the occurrence of a failure related to the image forming apparatus 30, raises the received content as incident information, and inputs it to the SMS server 20.

  The remote monitoring / examination server 10, the SMS server 20, and the call center 50 are connected via a network.

In the management system 100, the remote monitoring / examination server 10 and the SMS server 20 cooperate to perform processing.
The overall outline of the management system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

[Configuration of remote monitoring / examination server]
Next, the configuration of the remote monitoring / examination server 10 will be described. The remote monitoring / examination server 10 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram when the remote monitoring / examination server 10 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the remote monitoring / examination server 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an operation input unit 14, and a communication unit 15 (first unit). Communication unit), a display unit 16, and a storage unit 17, and these blocks are connected via a bus 18.

  The ROM 12 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 13 is used as a work area for the CPU 11 and temporarily holds an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 17 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a flash memory, or other nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 17 stores an OS, various applications, various data, an image forming apparatus DB (Database) 17a, and a history DB 17b.

  In the image forming apparatus DB 17 a, information regarding the image forming apparatus 30 for monitoring and examining the image forming apparatus 30 under management includes an identifier that can uniquely identify the image forming apparatus 30 for each image forming apparatus 30. Stored in association.

  In the history DB 17b, in addition to information on the usage status of each image forming apparatus 30, errors that have occurred, and warning information (hereinafter referred to as apparatus information), a line for each image forming apparatus 30 acquired from the SMS server 20 is stored. The contents of the maintenance work (hereinafter referred to as service information) are stored for each image forming apparatus 30 in association with an identifier capable of uniquely identifying the image forming apparatus 30 and the information generation time.

  The communication unit 15 is connected to a network for exchanging information with the SMS server 20, the image forming apparatus 30, and the service terminal 40.

  The CPU 11 develops a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 14 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12 or the storage unit 17 in the RAM 13, and the display unit 16 and the storage unit according to the expanded program. 17 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 14 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 16 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 11 will be described.

  The functional blocks realized in the CPU 11 of the remote monitoring / examination server 10 are a remote monitoring / examination unit 11a, an SMS cooperation unit 11b, and a history management unit 11c.

  The remote monitoring / examination unit 11a uses the image forming apparatus DB 17a to monitor, examine, and maintain the image forming apparatus 30 under management via the network. The processing contents and processing results of monitoring, screening, and maintenance are stored in the history DB 17b.

  The SMS cooperation unit 11b executes processing performed in cooperation with the SMS server 20. Specifically, customer information managed by the SMS server 20 is acquired from the SMS server 20.

  The history management unit 11c stores the content of maintenance work of the image forming apparatus 30 input from the service terminal 40 in the history DB 17a. Further, the history management unit 11c manages the history DB 17a, and when there is a history reference request from a serviceman or the like, the history management unit 11c acquires the history regarding the corresponding image forming apparatus 30 from the history DB 17b and transmits it to the request source.

  The configuration of the remote monitoring / examination server 10 has been described above.

[Configuration of SMS server]
Next, the configuration of the SMS server 20 will be described. The SMS server 20 may be configured by dedicated hardware or software, or may be configured by a general computer. FIG. 3 shows a configuration diagram in the case where the SMS server 20 is configured by a general computer.

  As shown in the figure, the SMS server 20 includes a CPU 21, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, an operation input unit 24, a communication unit 25 (second communication unit), a display unit 26, and a storage unit 27. They are connected via a bus 28.

  The ROM 22 stores a plurality of programs and data such as firmware for executing various processes. The RAM 23 is used as a work area for the CPU 21 and temporarily holds an OS (Operating System), various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

  The storage unit 27 is, for example, an HDD, a flash memory, or other nonvolatile memory. The storage unit 27 stores an OS, various applications, various data, and a customer maintenance DB 27a.

  In the customer maintenance DB 27a, customer information, image forming apparatus information installed on the customer site (model name, serial number, etc.), incoming call history from the customer to the call center 50 (date and time of incoming call, customer name, requirement, incident information) Link), case status, person in charge name, time, history, etc. are stored.

  The communication unit 15 is connected to a network for exchanging information with the remote monitoring / examination server 10, the service terminal 40, and the call center 50.

  The CPU 21 develops a program corresponding to an instruction given from the operation input unit 24 among the plurality of programs stored in the ROM 22 or the storage unit 27 in the RAM 23, and the display unit 26 and the storage unit according to the expanded program. 27 is appropriately controlled.

  The operation input unit 24 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, and other operation devices.

  The display unit 26 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an EL display, a plasma display, or the like.

  Next, functional blocks realized by executing a program in the CPU 21 will be described.

  The functional blocks realized in the CPU 21 of the SMS server 20 are a service management unit 11a and a remote monitoring / examination system cooperation unit 11b.

  The service management unit 11a records the details of incoming calls to the call center 50 and the details of maintenance of the image forming apparatus 30 acquired from the service person via the service terminal in the customer maintenance DB 27a.

  The SMS cooperation unit 11b executes processing performed in cooperation with the remote monitoring / examination server 10. Specifically, the customer information stored in the customer maintenance DB 27a is provided to the remote monitoring / examination server 10.

  The configuration of the SMS server 20 has been described above.

[Processing flow 1]
Next, a flow of processing in the management system 100 from when a call from a customer enters the call center 50 to before a service person visits the customer will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a processing flow in the management system 100 from when a call from a customer enters the call center 50 to before a service person visits the customer.

  First, the operator of the call center 50 receives a call from a customer (step S1).

  Next, the operator accesses the SMS server 20, issues a case (incident information), inputs a customer name and a requirement, and the service management unit 21a accepts it (step S2).

  Next, the remote monitoring / examination system cooperation unit 21b of the SMS server 20 and the SMS cooperation unit 11b of the remote monitoring / examination server 10 cooperate to form an image formed at the site of the customer who has received power in the remote monitoring / examination server 10. A list of devices 30 is acquired (step S3).

  Next, the service management unit 21a presents the operator with a list of the image forming apparatuses 30 installed at the customer's site that has received power (step S4).

  Next, the operator selects the image forming apparatus 30 to be a work target from the list (step S5).

  Next, an operator determines the service person who performs maintenance work (step S6).

  Next, the remote monitoring / examination system linkage unit 21b of the SMS server 20 and the SMS linkage unit 11b of the remote monitoring / examination server 10 cooperate to determine the details of the case and the service person in charge to the remote monitoring / examination server 10. Notification is made (step S7).

  Next, the SMS cooperation unit 11b of the remote monitoring / examination server 10 receives the work schedule of the service person and registers it as a history in the history DB 17b (step S8).

  The flow of processing in the management system 100 from when a call from a customer enters the call center 50 to before the service person visits the customer has been described.

[Processing flow 2]
Next, the flow of processing in the management system 100 until the service person assigned the maintenance work completes the maintenance work will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing in the management system 100 until the service person assigned with the maintenance work completes the maintenance work.

  First, the service person assigned with the maintenance work logs in to the remote monitoring / examination server 10 using the service terminal 40 (step S10).

  Next, the remote monitoring / examination unit 11a of the remote monitoring / examination server 10 presents the contents of the assignment item (schedule of visited site, list of image forming apparatuses 30 to be maintained, etc.) (step S11).

  Next, the service person checks the state of the image forming apparatus 30 performing the maintenance work (step S12).

  When the status of the image forming apparatus 30 is confirmed by the service person, the remote monitoring / examination unit 11a of the remote monitoring / examination server 10 displays the detailed information and the maintenance history of the image forming apparatus 30 (step S13).

  Next, the service person determines whether or not remote maintenance is possible (step S14).

  When remote maintenance is possible (Yes in step S14), the service person selects a remote treatment (remote maintenance) function and instructs execution (step S15).

  Receiving the instruction, the remote monitoring / examination unit 11a performs a procedure for the target image forming apparatus 30 (step S16).

  Next, the remote monitoring / examination unit 11a notifies the treatment result to the SMS server 20 and the service terminal 40 (step S17).

  The SMS server 20 notified of the treatment result records the treatment result in the remote maintenance in the customer maintenance DB 27a.

  The service person notified of the treatment result via the service terminal 40 instructs to check the status of the treated image forming apparatus 30 and update the status of the item (end processing) (step S19).

  The remote monitoring / examination unit 11a instructed to update the status updates the case information and ends the process (step S20).

  When remote maintenance is possible (No in step S14), the service person visits the site and performs maintenance work on the image forming apparatus 30 (step S21).

  Next, the service person inputs the treatment content to the remote monitoring / examination server 10 via the service terminal 40 (step S22).

  The processing flow in the management system 100 until the service person assigned with the maintenance work completes the maintenance work has been described above.

[Example of history]
Next, an example of a history recorded in the history DB 17b and presented when referred to by a serviceman will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a history recorded when recorded in the history DB 17b and referred to by a serviceman.

  As shown in this figure, the maintenance contents for each customer input to the SMS server 20, the device information and service information collected by the remote monitoring / examination server 10 are arranged in time series and displayed as a history.

  For example, in this case, the first paper JAM (paper jam) occurs twice (lines e1 to e3), the customer calls the call center 50 (line e4), and the firmware (FW) is scheduled to be upgraded. (Line e6), the upgrade is started (line e7), and is completed normally (line e8).

  After that, a paper jam occurred again (line e10), and there was an incoming call to the call center 50 (line e12), so the service person visited the customer again, replaced the roller in the cassette 1 (line e13) and the glass Cleaning (line e14) is performed.

  The example of the history recorded in the history DB 17b and presented when referred to by the service person has been described above.

[Additional notes]
As described above, the management system 100 of the present invention includes the remote monitoring / examination server 10 and the service terminal 40, and the remote monitoring / examination server 10 includes the service terminal 40 and one or more images under management. The first communication unit 15 capable of communicating with the forming apparatus 30, the information on the usage status of the one or more image forming apparatuses 30, the error that has occurred, the apparatus information that is warning information, and the serviceman can form the one or more images. The service information that is the content of the maintenance work performed on the apparatus 30 is linked as an identifier that can uniquely identify the one or more image forming apparatuses 30, the apparatus information, and the time when the service information is generated as a history. Remotely monitor and maintain the storable history database 17b and the one or more image forming apparatuses 30, and store the apparatus information. The remote monitoring / examination unit 11a that collects and stores it in the history database 17b, collects the service information from the service terminal 40, stores it in the history database 17b, and receives the history inquiry request for a specific image forming apparatus 30 A history management unit 11c that acquires the history of the specific image forming apparatus from the history database 17b and returns the acquired history to a requester of the history inquiry. The service terminal 40 includes a serviceman When an inquiry about a history related to a specific image forming apparatus 30 is instructed by the user, the history inquiry request is sent to the remote monitoring / examination server 10, and the returned history is presented to the service person in time series.

  In addition, this invention is not limited only to the above-mentioned embodiment, Of course, various changes can be added within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

10 ... Remote monitoring / examination server 11 ... CPU
11a ... Remote monitoring / examination unit 11b ... SMS cooperation unit 11c ... History management unit 12 ... ROM
13 ... RAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Operation input part 15 ... Network interface part 16 ... Display part 17 ... Memory | storage part 17a ... Image forming apparatus DB
17b ... History DB
18 ... Bus 20 ... SMS server 21 ... CPU
21a ... Service management unit 21b ... Remote monitoring / examination system cooperation unit 22 ... ROM
23 ... RAM
24 ... Operation input section 25 ... Network interface section 26 ... Display section 27 ... Storage section 27a ... Customer maintenance DB
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 28 ... Bus 30 ... Image forming apparatus 40 ... Service terminal 50 ... Call center 100 ... Management system

Claims (3)

Including a remote monitoring / examination server and a service terminal,
The remote monitoring / examination server is
A first communication unit capable of communicating with the service terminal and one or more image forming apparatuses under management;
Information on the usage status of one or more image forming apparatuses, generated errors, apparatus information that is warning information, and service information that is content of maintenance work performed by the serviceman on the one or more image forming apparatuses, An identifier that can uniquely identify the one or more image forming apparatuses, and a history database that can be stored as a history in association with the time when the apparatus information and the service information occur;
Remote monitoring and remote maintenance of the one or more image forming apparatuses, collecting the apparatus information and storing it in the history database;
The service information is collected from the service terminal and stored in the history database, and when the history inquiry request for a specific image forming apparatus is received, the history of the specific image forming apparatus is acquired from the history database, A history management unit that returns the acquired history to the requester of the history inquiry, and
The service terminal
A management system for sending a history inquiry request to the remote monitoring / examination server and presenting the returned history to the serviceman in time series when an inquiry for a history about a specific image forming apparatus is instructed by a serviceman . The management system according to claim 1,
The management system further includes a service management server,
The service management server is
A second communication unit capable of communicating with the remote monitoring / examination server and the service terminal;
Customer maintenance database that stores customer information related to maintenance,
A service management unit for collecting the service information from the service terminal and storing it in the customer maintenance database;
A remote monitoring / examination server linkage unit that provides customer information in the customer maintenance database to the remote monitoring / examination server;
The remote monitoring / examination server is
A management system further comprising a service management server linkage unit that acquires customer information managed by the service management server from the service management server. The remote monitoring / examination unit of the remote monitoring / examination server performs remote monitoring and remote maintenance of the one or more image forming apparatuses, and includes information on usage status of the one or more image forming apparatuses, information on errors that have occurred, and warning information. Device information and service information that is the content of maintenance work performed by the serviceman on the one or more image forming apparatuses, an identifier that can uniquely identify the one or more image forming apparatuses, the apparatus information, and the service information The collected device information is stored in a history database that can be stored as a history linked to the time when
The history management unit of the remote monitoring / examination server collects the service information from the service terminal of the serviceman and stores it in the history database,
When the service terminal is instructed by a service person to inquire about the history of a specific image forming apparatus, the service terminal sends the history inquiry request to the remote monitoring / examination server,
The history management unit of the remote monitoring / examination server acquires the history of the specific image forming apparatus from the history database, and returns the acquired history to the requester of the history inquiry,
A management method in which the service terminal presents the returned history to the service person in time series.

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