JP2019175168A - Trouble management system, trouble management device, trouble management method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent trouble-ticket information with respect to a trouble caused by the same factor from being generated plurally.SOLUTION: A trouble management system comprises: retrieval means for, when trouble information on a trouble having occurred in an apparatus is input, retrieving trouble-ticket information on a trouble caused by the same factor with the trouble having occurred in the apparatus from a storage unit in which trouble-ticket information for managing troubles is stored; creation means for, if the trouble-ticket information on a trouble caused by the same factor with the trouble having occurred in the apparatus is not retrieved by the retrieval means, creating trouble-ticket information on the trouble having occurred in the apparatus by using the trouble information; and update means for if the trouble-ticket information on a trouble caused by the same factor with the trouble having occurred in the apparatus is retrieved by the retrieval means, updating the retrieved trouble-ticket information by using the trouble information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a failure management system, a failure management device, a failure management method, and a program.

  2. Description of the Related Art A help desk system that manages a failure that has occurred in a device as failure slip information is conventionally known. In such a help desk system, for example, a failure slip information is created by a user who detects a failure occurring in a device or a person in charge of a help desk who has received a notification of the occurrence of a failure by inputting various information related to the failure. . The trouble ticket information is also referred to as a ticket, trouble ticket, incident ticket, trouble ticket, and the like.

  In addition, there is a known technique for preventing a situation in which trouble ticket information is created redundantly by displaying a predetermined message on the device when trouble ticket information of a trouble that has occurred in the device is created. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  Further, a technique is known in which failure slip information related to incidents having the same cause is grouped, and failure slip information belonging to the same group is provided to provide more detailed information about the incident to the user (for example, Patent Literature) 2).

  However, in the above-described conventional technology, for example, when troubles of the same cause occur in different devices, trouble ticket information may be created redundantly. For example, in a system in which a plurality of devices and a server device operate in cooperation, when the server device fails, the failure slip information is duplicated for a failure of the same cause that occurs in each of the plurality of devices. Will be created.

  For this reason, for example, in a help desk system in which a fee is charged for a user according to the number of pieces of failure slip information created, a lot of failure slip information for failures of the same cause is created, resulting in a high fee. There is a case.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to prevent a large amount of failure slip information for the failure of the same cause from being created.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, when failure information related to a failure that has occurred in a device is input, the device is configured to store the failure slip information for managing the failure from the storage unit. Search means for searching for fault form information of a fault having the same cause as the fault that has occurred, and when the fault means information of a fault having the same cause as the fault that has occurred in the device is not searched by the search means, the fault information is used. When the failure means information of the failure having the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is searched by the creating means for creating failure ticket information of the failure that has occurred in the device and the search means, the failure information is used. Updating means for updating the searched failure slip information.

  It can be prevented that a lot of failure slip information for the failure of the same cause is created.

It is a figure which shows an example of the whole structure of the failure management system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of the failure management apparatus and apparatus monitoring apparatus which concern on this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration when a device according to the present embodiment is an image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of a function structure of the failure management system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of failure vote information. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the creation or update process of trouble ticket information. It is a figure which shows an example of search condition information. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram (part 1) illustrating an example of overall processing when a failure of the same cause occurs in a plurality of devices. It is a figure which shows an example of display information. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram (part 2) illustrating an example of overall processing when a failure of the same cause occurs in a plurality of devices.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “present embodiments”) will be described. Hereinafter, the failure management system 1 that creates failure ticket information for managing failures that have occurred in devices will be described. Note that the trouble ticket information is also referred to as a ticket, a trouble ticket, an incident ticket, a trouble ticket, and the like as described above. In this embodiment, the term “failure slip information” is used. However, the object managed by the failure slip information is not limited to a failure, for example, failure, abnormality, incident, trouble, malfunction, etc. Also good.

<Overall configuration>
First, the overall configuration of the failure management system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a failure management system 1 according to the present embodiment.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the failure management system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a failure management device 10, a device monitoring device 20, and a plurality of devices 30. Further, the failure management device 10, the device monitoring device 20, and the device 30 are communicably connected via a network N such as the Internet.

  The failure management apparatus 10 is a computer or computer system that creates failure slip information for managing failures that have occurred in the device 30. The failure management device 10 receives information about a failure (hereinafter referred to as “failure information”) from the device monitoring device 20 or the failure information is a user (for example, a person in charge of a help desk or a user of the device 30, a failure If the information is input by the discoverer of the device 30 or the administrator of the device 30, the trouble ticket information is created.

  At this time, the failure management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment newly creates failure slip information only when failure slip information for a failure having the same cause as the failure that has occurred in the device 30 does not exist. On the other hand, the failure management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment updates existing failure slip information without creating new failure slip information when failure slip information for a failure of the same cause exists. Thereby, for example, when troubles of the same cause occur in a plurality of devices 30, one piece of trouble form information is created for a plurality of troubles caused by the same cause, and duplicate trouble form information is created. Can be prevented.

  The device monitoring apparatus 20 is a computer or a computer system that monitors whether or not a failure has occurred in the device 30. When the device monitoring device 20 detects that a failure has occurred in the device 30, the device monitoring device 20 transmits information about the failure (failure information) to the failure management device 10.

  The device 30 is various electronic devices in which the occurrence of a failure is managed. Examples of the device 30 include various image forming apparatuses such as an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral), a printing apparatus, a scanner apparatus, and a FAX apparatus. However, the device 30 is not limited to an image forming apparatus, and may be any electronic device such as a PC (personal computer), a server device, a router, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a projector, an electronic blackboard device, a digital signage device, and a video conference device. It may be. Hereinafter, when each of the plurality of devices 30 is distinguished and represented, they are represented as “device 30-1”, “device 30-2”, and the like.

  The configuration of the failure management system 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and other configurations may be used. For example, the failure management system 1 according to the present embodiment may not include the device monitoring device 20.

<Hardware configuration>
Next, the hardware configuration of the failure management device 10, the device monitoring device 20, and the device 30 according to the present embodiment will be described.

<< Fault management device 10 and device monitoring device 20 >>
The hardware configurations of the failure management apparatus 10 and the device monitoring apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the failure management apparatus 10 and the device monitoring apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. Since the failure management device 10 and the device monitoring device 20 have the same hardware configuration, the hardware configuration of the failure management device 10 will be mainly described below.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the failure management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes an input device 101, a display device 102, an external I / F 103, and a communication I / F 104. The failure management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 105, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 106, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 107, and an auxiliary storage device 108. Each of these hardware is connected by a bus 109.

  The input device 101 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, or the like, and is used for a user to input various operations. The display device 102 is a display or the like, for example, and displays a processing result by the failure management device 10. Note that the failure management device 10 and the device monitoring device 20 may not include at least one of the input device 101 and the display device 102.

  The external I / F 103 is an interface with an external device. The external device includes a recording medium 103a. The failure management apparatus 10 can read and write the recording medium 103a through the external I / F 103. Examples of the recording medium 103a include a USB memory, an SD memory card, a flexible disk, a CD, and a DVD.

  The communication I / F 104 is an interface for connecting the failure management apparatus 10 to the network N. The failure management apparatus 10 can communicate with other apparatuses via the communication I / F 104.

  The ROM 105 is a non-volatile semiconductor memory that can retain programs and data even when the power is turned off. The ROM 105 stores programs and data such as BIOS (Basic Input / Output System), OS (Operating System) settings, and network settings that are executed when the failure management apparatus 10 is started. The RAM 106 is a volatile semiconductor memory that temporarily stores programs and data.

  The CPU 107 is an arithmetic device that realizes control and functions of the entire failure management apparatus 10 by reading a program and data from the ROM 105, the auxiliary storage device 108, and the like onto the RAM 106 and executing processing.

  The auxiliary storage device 108 is, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), or the like, and is a non-volatile storage device that stores programs and data. The programs and data stored in the auxiliary storage device 108 include an OS that is basic software for controlling the entire failure management apparatus 10, an application program that provides various functions on the OS, and one or more programs that implement the present embodiment. There is. The auxiliary storage device 108 manages stored programs and data by a predetermined file system or DB (database).

  The failure management apparatus 10 and the device monitoring apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment can implement various processes as described later by having the hardware configuration shown in FIG.

<< Device 30 >>
A hardware configuration when the device 30 according to the present embodiment is an image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration when the device 30 according to the present embodiment is an image forming apparatus.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the device 30 according to the present embodiment includes a controller 301, an operation panel 302, an external I / F 303, a communication I / F 304, and an image processing engine 305. The controller 301 includes a CPU 311, a RAM 312, a ROM 313, an NVRAM 314, and an auxiliary storage device 315.

  The ROM 313 is a non-volatile semiconductor memory that can retain programs and data even when the power is turned off. The RAM 312 is a volatile semiconductor memory that temporarily stores programs and data. The NVRAM 314 is a non-volatile semiconductor memory that stores setting information and the like, for example. The auxiliary storage device 315 is, for example, an HDD or SSD, and is a non-volatile storage device that stores programs and data.

  The CPU 311 is an arithmetic unit that realizes control and functions of the entire device 30 by reading programs, data, setting information, and the like from the ROM 313, the NVRAM 314, the auxiliary storage device 315, and the like onto the RAM 312 and executing the processing.

  The operation panel 302 is an input / output device that includes an input unit that receives input from a user and a display unit that performs display. The external I / F 303 is an interface with an external device. The external device includes a recording medium 303a. The device 30 can read and write the recording medium 303a via the external I / F 303.

  Examples of the recording medium 303a include an IC card, a USB memory, an SD memory card, a flexible disk, a CD, and a DVD.

  The communication I / F 304 is an interface for connecting the device 30 to the network N. The device 30 can communicate with other devices via the communication I / F 304.

  The image processing engine 305 is, for example, a plotter, a scanner, or the like, and is an apparatus that performs various types of image processing such as printing processing and scanning processing.

  The device 30 according to the present embodiment has the hardware configuration shown in FIG.

<Functional configuration>
Next, the functional configuration of the failure management system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the failure management system 1 according to the present embodiment.

<< Fault management device 10 >>
The failure management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes an operation reception unit 401, a failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402, a display information creation unit 403, and a display information output unit 404. These units are realized by processing executed by the CPU 107 by one or more programs installed in the failure management apparatus 10.

  In addition, the failure management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a failure slip information storage unit 405. The failure slip information storage unit 405 can be realized using the auxiliary storage device 108, for example. The failure slip information storage unit 405 may be realized by using a storage device connected to the failure management apparatus 10 via the network N.

  The operation accepting unit 401 accepts an operation for inputting failure information by a user (for example, a help desk person in charge, a user of the device 30, a discoverer of a failure, an administrator of the device 30). The operation accepting unit 401 may accept an operation of inputting failure information performed using the input device 101 of the failure management device 10, a terminal device connected to the failure management device 10 via the network N, or the like. An operation for inputting fault information performed in step 1 may be accepted.

  The failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 performs processing for creating and updating failure slip information from the failure information. The failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 includes a failure information reception unit 411, a search unit 412, a failure slip information creation / update unit 413, and an information management unit 414.

  The failure information reception unit 411 receives failure information input by the input operation received by the operation reception unit 401 or failure information transmitted from the device monitoring apparatus 20.

  When the failure information receiving unit 411 receives the failure information, the search unit 412 searches the failure ticket information storage unit 405 for the failure ticket information 1000 that satisfies the search condition using the search condition indicated by the search condition information 2000. Here, the search condition includes at least a condition that the failure codes indicating the cause of the failure are the same. Therefore, the failure slip information 1000 satisfying the search condition is failure slip information 1000 having at least the same failure code as the failure information received by the failure information receiving unit 411. Details of the failure slip information 1000 and the search condition information 2000 will be described later. The search condition information 2000 is stored in the auxiliary storage device 108, for example.

  The failure slip information creating / updating unit 413 creates failure slip information from the failure information received by the failure information receiving unit 411 when the search unit 412 does not search the failure slip information 1000 satisfying the search conditions. On the other hand, when the failure slip information 1000 satisfying the search condition is searched by the search portion 412, the failure slip information creation / update unit 413 uses the failure information received by the failure information reception unit 411 to search for the failure slip information. Information 1000 is updated.

  The information management unit 414 manages the failure slip information 1000 stored in the failure slip information storage portion 405. That is, the information management unit 414 acquires the failure slip information 1000 from the failure slip information storage unit 405 or stores the failure slip information 1000 in the failure slip information storage unit 405.

  The display information creation unit 403 creates display information when the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 creates or updates the failure slip information. The display information is information for displaying a message indicating that a failure has occurred on the operation panel 302 of the device 30.

  The display information output unit 404 transmits the display information created by the display information creation unit 403 to the device 30 where the failure has occurred.

  The failure slip information storage unit 405 stores failure slip information 1000 for managing a failure that has occurred in the device 30. Note that the failure slip information storage unit 405 stores one or more pieces of failure slip information 1000.

  Here, an example of the failure slip information 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the failure slip information 1000.

  In the failure slip information 1000 shown in FIG. 5, fields (data items) include “failure slip ID”, “draft date”, “device ID”, “failure code”, “customer ID”, “state”, And “priority” and the like.

  In the “failure slip ID”, identification information (failure slip ID) for identifying the failure slip information 1000 is set as a field value. For example, a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) can be used as the failure card ID.

  In the “draft date”, the date when the trouble slip information 1000 is drafted (created) is set as a field value. In the “device ID”, identification information (device ID) for identifying the device 30 in which the failure has occurred is set as a field value. As the device ID, for example, an IP (Internet Protocol) address, a host name, a manufacturing unique number, or the like of the device 30 can be used.

  In the “failure code”, identification information (failure code) for identifying a failure that has occurred in the device 30 is set as a field value. As the failure code, for example, an error code of a failure that has occurred in the device 30 can be used.

  In the “customer ID”, identification information (customer ID) for identifying a customer who owns the device 30 in which the failure has occurred is set as a field value. As the customer ID, for example, an arbitrary character string, company name, department name, or the like given to each customer can be used.

  In the “status”, a status of a failure that has occurred in the device 30 is set as a field value. The status includes, for example, an open status indicating that a failure has occurred and no response has yet been made to the failure, progress indicating that the failure is being handled, and a response to the failure. There is a close indicating that the process has been completed.

  The “priority” is a field value that is set as a priority in the case of handling a failure.

  As described above, the failure slip information 1000 includes various fields and field values for managing failures that have occurred in the device 30. The failure slip information 1000 may include, as a field, for example, “response content” in which a response content for a failure is set.

<< Device Monitoring Device 20 >>
The device monitoring apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment includes a device monitoring unit 501 and a failure information output unit 502. Each of these units is realized by processing executed by the CPU 107 by one or more programs installed in the device monitoring apparatus 20.

  The device monitoring unit 501 monitors whether a failure has occurred in the device 30. When the device monitoring unit 501 detects that a failure has occurred in the device 30, the device monitoring unit 501 acquires failure information including a device ID, a failure code, and the like from the device 30. Here, the device monitoring unit 501 may monitor whether or not a failure has occurred in the device 30 by, for example, polling the device 30 every predetermined time. The failure information includes at least “device ID” and “failure code” as fields, but may include, for example, “customer ID” in addition to these.

  The failure information output unit 502 transmits failure information acquired from the device 30 where the failure has occurred to the failure management apparatus 10.

<< Device 30 >>
The device 30 according to the present embodiment includes a display information receiving unit 601 and a display control unit 602. Each of these units is realized by processing that one or more programs installed in the device 30 cause the CPU 311 to execute.

  The display information receiving unit 601 receives display information from the failure management apparatus 10. The display control unit 602 displays the display information received by the display information receiving unit 601 on the operation panel 302.

<Details of processing>
Hereinafter, details of processing of the failure management system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

≪Creation or update processing of failure slip information 1000≫
First, a process for creating or updating failure slip information when the failure management apparatus 10 receives failure information will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the process for creating or updating the failure slip information.

  The failure information reception unit 411 of the failure ticket information creation / update processing unit 402 receives the failure information input by the input operation received by the operation reception unit 401 or the failure information transmitted from the device monitoring apparatus 20 (step S101). As described above, the failure information includes at least a device ID and a failure code.

  Next, the search unit 412 of the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 uses the search condition indicated by the search condition information 2000 to search the failure slip information storage unit 405 for the failure slip information 1000 that satisfies the search condition ( Step S102).

  Here, an example of the search condition information 2000 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 (a) to 7 (c). As shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C, the search condition information 2000 includes “first operand”, “operator”, “second operand”, and “connector”. It is.

  In the “first operand”, a field to be searched among the fields of the trouble ticket information 1000 is set. On the other hand, a failure information field or a fixed value is set in the “second operand”. In the “operator”, an operator for comparing the first operand and the second operand is set. In the “connector”, a logical operator between the next record included in the search condition information 2000 is set. Each record included in the search condition information 2000 represents one condition, and a condition obtained by combining these conditions with a connector is a search condition.

  In the first record (first condition) of the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7A, the first operand is “fault code”, the operator is “=”, the second operand is “fault code”, and the connector. “AND” is set. Also, in the second record (second condition) of the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7A, the first operand is “state”, the operator is “≠”, and the second operand is “'closed” ( (Fixed value), the connector “−” is set. At this time, the “first condition and second condition” is the search condition. This indicates that failure card information 1000 satisfying both the first condition and the second condition is retrieved from the failure card information 1000 stored in the failure card information storage unit 405.

  That is, in the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7A, the failure slip information 1000 that satisfies both the following (a-1) and (a-2) is searched.

  (A-1) The field value of the field “failure code” in the failure slip information 1000 matches the field value of the field “failure code” in the failure information.

  (A-2) The field value of the field “status” in the failure ticket information 1000 is “closed”.

  As a result, the failure form information 1000 having the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device 30 in the past (that is, the same failure code) and not yet closed is retrieved.

  In the first record (first condition) of the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7B, the first operand “fault code”, the operator “=”, the second operand “fault code”, the connector “AND” is set. In the second record (second condition) of the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7B, the first operand is “customer ID”, the operator is “=”, the second operand is “customer ID”, The connector “AND” is set. Furthermore, in the third record (third condition) of the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7B, the first operand is “state”, the operator is “≠”, and the second operand is “'closed” ( (Fixed value), the connector “−” is set. At this time, “first condition and second condition and third condition” is the search condition. This indicates that failure card information 1000 satisfying all of the first condition, the second condition, and the third condition is retrieved from the failure card information 1000 stored in the failure card information storage unit 405. .

  That is, in the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7 (b), failure slip information 1000 that satisfies all of the following (b-1), (b-2), and (b-3) is searched.

  (B-1) The field value of the field “failure code” of the failure slip information 1000 matches the field value of the field “failure code” of the failure information.

  (B-2) The field value of the field “customer ID” of the failure slip information 1000 matches the field value of the field “customer ID” of the failure information.

  (B-3) The field value of the field “status” of the failure ticket information 1000 is “closed”.

  As a result, the failure slip information 1000 that has the same cause as the failure that occurred in the past in the device 30 owned by the same customer (that is, the failure code is the same) and has not been closed is retrieved. As described above, the failure condition information 1000 can be managed for each customer by making the search condition that both the failure code and the customer ID match.

  For example, when a plurality of devices 30 of a plurality of customers are operating in cooperation with a service provided as SaaS (Software as a Service), a server that provides the service as SaaS may be stopped. Conceivable. Even in such a case, it is possible to manage the failure slip information 1000 for each customer by using the search condition that both the failure code and the customer ID match. This is particularly useful when the customer's confidential information or the like is included in the failure slip information 1000.

  In the first record (first condition) of the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7C, the “first draft” is the first operand, “≧” is the operator, and “2018/1/1” is the second operand. "(Fixed value) and the connector" AND "are set. In the second record (second condition) of the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7C, the first operand is “fault code”, the operator is “=”, the second operand is “fault code”, The connector “AND” is set. Furthermore, in the third record (third condition) of the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7C, “state” as the first operand, “≠” as the operator, and “'closed” (as the second operand) ( (Fixed value), the connector “−” is set. At this time, “first condition and second condition and third condition” is the search condition. This indicates that failure card information 1000 satisfying all of the first condition, the second condition, and the third condition is retrieved from the failure card information 1000 stored in the failure card information storage unit 405. .

  That is, in the search condition information 2000 shown in FIG. 7C, the failure slip information 1000 that satisfies all of the following (c-1), (c-2), and (c-3) is searched.

  (C-1) The field value of the field “draft date” of the failure ticket information 1000 is “2018/1/1” or later.

  (B-2) The field value of the field “failure code” of the failure slip information 1000 matches the field value of the field “failure code” of the failure information.

  (B-3) The field value of the field “status” of the failure ticket information 1000 is “closed”.

  As a result, the failure form information 1000 that has the same cause as the failure that occurred on or after January 1, 2018 in the device 30 (that is, the same failure code) and has not been closed is searched.

  As described above, the search condition information 2000 includes one or more search conditions as records. As the field value of the field “connector” included in each search condition, various logical operators such as OR, NAND, and XOR can be set in addition to AND. Further, as the field value of the field “operator” included in each search condition, various comparison operators such as ≦,>, <, etc. can be set in addition to =, ≠, ≧.

  Returning to FIG. Subsequent to step S102, the search unit 412 of the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 determines whether or not the failure slip information 1000 satisfying the search condition is searched from the failure slip information storage unit 405 (step S103).

  If the failure slip information 1000 is not searched in step S103 (that is, if the failure slip information 1000 that satisfies the search condition does not exist), the failure slip information creation / update unit 413 of the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 is performed. Creates failure slip information from the failure information received by the failure information receiving unit 411 (step S104). The failure slip information creation / update unit 413 generates the failure slip ID and sets the failure date information by setting the draft date, device ID, failure code, customer ID, status, priority, etc. in each field, for example. 1000 is created. At this time, as the device ID and the failure code, the device ID and the failure code included in the failure information are set. When the customer ID, status, priority, etc. are included in the failure information, these customer ID, status, priority, etc. are set. For example, when the state, priority, etc. are not included in the failure information, the state “open”, the priority “medium”, etc. may be set as default values.

  The priority may be set according to a failure code, for example. For example, the priority “high” is set for a failure code indicating a failure with a high degree of urgency, and the priority “low” is set for a failure code indicating a failure with a low degree of urgency.

  On the other hand, when the failure slip information 1000 is retrieved in step S103, the information management unit 414 of the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 uses the failure slip information 1000 retrieved in step S102 as the failure slip information storage unit. It acquires from 405 (step S105).

  Next, the failure slip information creation / update unit 413 of the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 updates the failure slip information 1000 acquired in step S105 (step S106). At this time, the failure slip information creating / updating unit 413 adds the device ID included in the failure information received in step S101 as the field value of the field “device ID” of the failure slip information 1000.

  For example, it is assumed that the field value of the field “device ID” of the failure slip information 1000 is “device 001” and the device ID included in the failure information received in step S101 is “device 002”. In this case, the failure slip information creation / update unit 413 adds the device ID “device 002” to the field “device ID” of the failure slip information 1000 and stores the field “device ID” of the failure slip information 1000. The field value is “device 001, device 002”. As a result, a failure that has occurred in a plurality of devices 30 due to the same cause is managed by a single failure slip information 1000. It can also be said that a plurality of devices 30 in which a failure has occurred due to the same cause are managed by a single failure slip information 1000.

  The failure slip information creation / update unit 413 may update fields other than the field “device ID”. For example, when the number of device IDs included in the field “device ID” exceeds a predetermined number, the failure slip information creation / update unit 413 updates the field “priority” to increase the priority. You may do it. Accordingly, when a failure occurs due to the same cause in a predetermined number of devices 30 or more, the failure priority can be increased.

  In step S102 described above, a plurality of pieces of trouble ticket information 1000 may satisfy the search condition. In this case, in step S106 described above, the information management unit 414 may acquire the plurality of pieces of failure slip information 1000, or obtain only one piece of failure slip information from the plurality of pieces of failure slip information 1000. You may do it. When only one of them is acquired, the information management unit 414 may acquire, for example, the failure ticket information 1000 having the latest draft date.

  As described above, in the failure management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, when a failure occurs in a plurality of devices 30 due to the same cause, the failure that has occurred in each of the plurality of devices 30 is represented by one failure slip information 1000. Can be managed. Thereby, in the failure management apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent a situation in which duplicate failure form information 1000 is created for a failure that has occurred for the same cause.

<< Overall Process (No. 1) When Same Failure Occurs in Multiple Devices 30 >>
Next, an overall process when a failure having the same cause occurs in a plurality of devices 30 and a user inputs failure information of the failure to the failure management apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram (part 1) illustrating an example of overall processing when a failure of the same cause occurs in a plurality of devices 30. Hereinafter, as an example, a case will be described in which a failure for which the failure slip information 1000 has not been generated has occurred in the device 30-1, and then a failure having the same cause as the failure has occurred in the device 30-2.

  When a failure occurs in the device 30-1 (step S201), the user who detects the occurrence of the failure performs an operation for inputting failure information. As described above, the user may perform an operation of inputting failure information using the input device 101 of the failure management apparatus 10, or may connect a terminal device or the like connected to the failure management apparatus 10 via the network N. It is also possible to use it to input fault information. Further, the person who detects the occurrence of the failure and the person (user) who performs the input operation of the trouble information may not be the same person. For example, a user of the device 30 may detect the occurrence of a failure, and a call center operator or the like who receives a notification from the user may perform an operation for inputting failure information.

  When the failure information input operation is performed, the operation reception unit 401 of the failure management apparatus 10 receives the input operation (step S202).

  Next, the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 performs failure slip information creation or update processing (FIG. 6) to create failure slip information 1000 for managing the failure that occurred in step S201 described above. (Step S203). At this time, in step S101 of FIG. 6, the failure information input by the input operation received by the operation reception unit 401 is received by the failure information reception unit 411.

  Next, the display information creation unit 403 displays a value (for example, “open” or “progress”) indicating that the field value of the field “status” of the failure slip information 1000 created in step S203 is a failure. Etc.), display information is created (step S204).

  Next, the display information output unit 404 converts the display information created in step S204 described above into the device 30 having the device ID included in the failure information received by the failure information reception unit 411 in step S203 (that is, the device 30). -1) (step S205).

  When the display information receiving unit 601 receives display information, the display control unit 602 of the device 30-1 displays the display information on the operation panel 302 (step S206). Here, FIG. 9 shows display information displayed on the operation panel 302 of the device 30-1. The display information G100 shown in FIG. 9 includes a message indicating that a failure has occurred and that the help desk has been contacted. Thereby, the user of the device 30-1 can know that a failure has occurred and that the help desk has been contacted. In particular, by displaying that the help desk has been contacted as the display information G100, it is possible to prevent a situation in which contacts to the help desk are duplicated.

  Next, when a failure having the same cause as the failure that has occurred in the device 30-1 occurs in the device 30-2 (step S207), the user who has detected the occurrence of the failure performs an operation for inputting failure information.

  When the failure information input operation is performed, the operation reception unit 401 of the failure management apparatus 10 receives the input operation (step S208).

  Next, the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 performs failure slip information creation or update processing (FIG. 6) to update the failure slip information 1000 created in step S203 (step S209). That is, in step S209, for example, the device ID of the device 30-2 is added to the field “device ID” of the failure slip information 1000 created in step S203.

  Next, the display information creation unit 403 creates display information when the field value of the field “state” in the failure slip information 1000 updated in step S209 is a value indicating that a failure is present ( Step S210).

  Next, the display information output unit 404 converts the display information created in step S210 described above into the device 30 having the device ID included in the failure information received by the failure information receiving unit 411 in step S209 (that is, the device 30). -2) (step S211).

  When the display information receiving unit 601 receives the display information, the display control unit 602 of the device 30-2 displays the display information on the operation panel 302 (step S212). Accordingly, for example, the display information G100 illustrated in FIG. 9 is also displayed on the operation panel 302 of the device 30-2. At this time, the display information displayed on the operation panel 302 of the device 30-2 includes, for example, information that a failure having the same cause as the failure that has occurred in the device 30-2 has occurred in the device 30-1. May be included.

≪Overall process when the same failure occurs in a plurality of devices 30 (part 2) ≫
Next, the overall processing when the device monitoring apparatus 20 detects a failure of the same cause that has occurred in a plurality of devices 30 and the device monitoring apparatus 20 transmits the failure information to the failure management apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG. Will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram (part 2) illustrating an example of overall processing when a failure of the same cause occurs in a plurality of devices 30. Note that the processing in step S201, step S204 to step S207, and step S210 to step S212 in FIG. 10 is the same as that in FIG.

  The device monitoring unit 501 of the device monitoring apparatus 20 detects a failure that has occurred in the device 30-1 (step S301). When the device monitoring unit 501 of the device monitoring apparatus 20 detects the occurrence of a failure, the device monitoring unit 501 acquires failure information from the device 30-1 (step S302). The device monitoring unit 501 may acquire the failure information as a response to this request, for example, by requesting the device 30-1 to acquire a failure information acquisition request.

  The failure information output unit 502 of the device monitoring device 20 transmits the failure information acquired from the device 30-1 to the failure management device 10 (step S303).

  Next, the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 performs failure slip information creation or update processing (FIG. 6) to create failure slip information 1000 for managing failures that have occurred in the device 30-1. (Step S304). At this time, the failure information transmitted from the device monitoring apparatus 20 is received by the failure information receiving unit 411 in step S101 of FIG.

  Further, following step S207, the device monitoring unit 501 of the device monitoring apparatus 20 detects a failure that has occurred in the device 30-2 (a failure having the same cause as the failure that has occurred in the device 30-1) (step S305). When the device monitoring unit 501 of the device monitoring apparatus 20 detects the occurrence of a failure, the device monitoring unit 501 acquires failure information from the device 30-1 (step S306).

  The failure information output unit 502 of the device monitoring device 20 transmits the failure information acquired from the device 30-2 to the failure management device 10 (step S307).

  Next, the failure slip information creation / update processing unit 402 performs failure slip information creation or update processing (FIG. 6), and updates the failure slip information 1000 created in step S304 described above (step S308). At this time, the failure information transmitted from the device monitoring apparatus 20 is received by the failure information receiving unit 411 in step S101 of FIG.

<Summary>
As described above, in the failure management system 1 according to the present embodiment, when the failure of the same cause occurs in a plurality of devices 30, it is possible to prevent a situation where the failure slip information 1000 is created redundantly. . For this reason, for example, when a fee is charged to the user according to the number of pieces of failure slip information 1000 (number of drafts), a lot of failure slip information 1000 for the failure of the same cause is created and the fee is high. It becomes possible to prevent such a situation.

  In addition, as a case where a failure of the same cause occurs in a plurality of devices 30, for example, as a result of a failure occurring in a server (for example, a print server, a scan server, a file server, etc.) linked to the plurality of devices 30, these A case where a failure also occurs in a plurality of devices 30 is exemplified. Alternatively, for example, there is a case where there is a defect in a program that is commonly installed in a plurality of devices 30.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments specifically disclosed, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Failure management system 10 Failure management apparatus 20 Equipment monitoring apparatus 30 Equipment 401 Operation reception part 402 Failure form information creation / update process part 403 Display information creation part 404 Display information output part 405 Failure form information storage part 411 Failure information reception part 412 Search Unit 413 Failure form information creation / update unit 414 Information management unit 501 Device monitoring unit 502 Failure information output unit 601 Display information reception unit 602 Display control unit 1000 Failure form information 2000 Search condition information

JP2015-215639A JP 2017-173941 A

Claims (11)

When failure information related to a failure that has occurred in a device is input, failure slip information for a failure having the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is retrieved from a storage unit that stores failure slip information for managing the failure. Search means;
If the search means does not search the failure slip information of the failure of the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device, using the failure information, creating means for creating failure slip information of the failure that occurred in the device;
When the failure means information of the failure having the same cause as the failure that has occurred in the device is searched by the search means, the update means for updating the searched failure vote information using the failure information;
A failure management system comprising: The failure information includes device identification information for identifying a device in which the failure has occurred,
The updating means includes
Update to add the device identification information to the searched trouble ticket information,
The fault management system according to claim 1. The failure card information includes information indicating the priority of response to the failure,
The updating means includes
When the number of pieces of device identification information included in the failure slip information to which the device identification information is added is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, the information indicating the priority included in the failure slip information is updated so as to increase the priority. To
The failure management system according to claim 2. The failure information includes owner identification information for identifying the owner of the device,
The search means includes
It is failure slip information of a failure of the same cause as the failure that has occurred in the device, and retrieves failure slip information including the owner identification information from the storage unit,
The fault management system according to claim 1, wherein the fault management system is a fault management system. The search means includes
Further, search for failure card information including information indicating that the response to the failure is not completed from the storage unit,
The fault management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein Receiving means for receiving failure information input by a user or failure information input from a monitoring device that monitors whether a failure has occurred in a device;
The search means includes
6. The fault management system according to claim 1, wherein the search is performed when fault information received by the receiving unit is input. A display for creating display information for causing the device to display information indicating that a failure has occurred when the failure slip information is created by the creation means or when the failure slip information is updated by the search means Information creation means;
Transmitting means for transmitting the display information created by the display information creating means to the device;
The failure management system according to claim 1, comprising: The failure management system further includes the device,
The equipment is
Receiving means for receiving the display information transmitted by the transmitting means;
Display control means for displaying the display information received by the receiving means on a display device;
The failure management system according to claim 7, comprising: When failure information related to a failure that has occurred in a device is input, failure slip information for a failure having the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is retrieved from a storage unit that stores failure slip information for managing the failure. Search means;
If the search means does not search the failure slip information of the failure of the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device, using the failure information, creating means for creating failure slip information of the failure that occurred in the device;
When the failure means information of the failure having the same cause as the failure that has occurred in the device is searched by the search means, the update means for updating the searched failure vote information using the failure information;
A failure management device comprising: When failure information related to a failure that has occurred in a device is input, failure slip information for a failure having the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is retrieved from a storage unit that stores failure slip information for managing the failure. Search procedure and
If the failure procedure information of the failure of the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is not retrieved by the search procedure, using the failure information, creating the failure slip information of the failure that occurred in the device;
When the failure procedure information of the failure having the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is retrieved by the retrieval procedure, an update procedure for updating the retrieved failure slip information using the failure information;
A failure management method characterized in that the computer executes When failure information related to a failure that has occurred in a device is input, failure slip information for a failure having the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is retrieved from a storage unit that stores failure slip information for managing the failure. Search procedure and
If the failure procedure information of the failure of the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is not retrieved by the search procedure, using the failure information, creating the failure slip information of the failure that occurred in the device;
When the failure procedure information of the failure having the same cause as the failure that occurred in the device is retrieved by the retrieval procedure, an update procedure for updating the retrieved failure slip information using the failure information;
A program that causes a computer to execute.

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