JP2024016246A - Programs, servers and methods - Google Patents

Abstract

[Issue] For e-mails that have been determined to require approval, provide an opportunity to receive e-mail instructions without delay, avoid situations where multiple approvers have to work together in response to instructions, and allow each approver to fulfill his or her own role. To provide a program and a server that enable efficient approval or rejection instructions in consideration of the above, and reduce business problems caused by waiting for e-mail approval. SOLUTION: When it is determined that approval of an e-mail is required, selection of one representative approver from a plurality of approvers is accepted. Notify the representative approver of the approval request. Then, if the first instruction received from one of the multiple approvers is an approval instruction, control is performed to send an e-mail, or from one of the multiple approvers. Control is performed to stop e-mail delivery when the first instruction received is a denial instruction. [Selection diagram] Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to programs and servers.

E-mail has traditionally been used as a communication tool, and there are MTAs (Mail Transfer Agents) that accept e-mails from MUAs (Mail User Agents) and process the delivery (delivery, transmission, forwarding) of e-mails. do.

Here, MUA is a client program used to send and receive e-mails on terminals on the Internet, and MTA is a program that receives and delivers e-mails on the network through SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). Refers to a mail server.

For example, in the prior art, in order to prevent the sending of inappropriate e-mails, when it is determined that an e-mail is to be sent outside the organization, the sender of the e-mail is associated with the sender. There is an e-mail sending/receiving program that displays a list of approvers stored in the list of approvers, selects the approver who approves the sending of the e-mail, and holds sending the e-mail until the approval is granted (0073 to 0076 of Patent Document 1). (see paragraph 13, FIG. 13, and paragraphs 0090 to 0091).

Patent No. 4299281

When an e-mail is delivered with the approval of at least one approver, it is preferable that there be a plurality of approvers in order to provide an opportunity for the e-mail to be approved promptly without any delay. However, the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1 , the sender (the sender's user, the sender) has to select and judge multiple approvers, which is a difficult choice for the sender. In other words, it has been difficult for the sender to select and judge appropriate approvers in order for the e-mail to be approved promptly and without any delay.

Additionally, each approver also has the following problems. For example, each approver expects that other approvers will check e-mails awaiting approval, resulting in a problem in which the responsibility for approving e-mails is neglected and approval checks are postponed. In addition, in cases where each approver focuses on quickly checking e-mails that are waiting for approval, if multiple approvers check at the same time, one approver may first instruct the approval (or reject the e-mail). If the other approvers give an approval instruction (or denial instruction) themselves, a situation arises in which time is wasted trying to give an approval instruction (or a denial instruction). In this way, a problem arises in which instructions from multiple approvers conflict with each other, resulting in wasted time for some approvers. Furthermore, if the approval or disapproval instruction itself takes time, there is also the problem that waiting for approval of e-mails causes problems in business.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides an opportunity to promptly receive an e-mail instruction for an e-mail that is determined to require approval, and allows multiple approvers to share the work associated with instructions. To provide a program and a server that can avoid situations, allow each approver to issue an efficient approval or rejection instruction considering their own role, and reduce business problems caused by waiting for email approval. be.

(1) The present invention:
A program for a server that delivers e-mail,
a reception section that accepts e-mails sent from the sender;
a determination unit that determines whether approval of the email is necessary based on predetermined conditions;
a holding unit that holds delivery of the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required;
a selection unit that accepts selection of one representative approver from a plurality of approvers when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required;
a notification unit that notifies the representative approver of an approval request;
an instruction receiving unit that receives an approval instruction or a denial instruction for the suspended e-mail from at least one of the plurality of approvers;
control for delivering the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required and the instruction received first from one of the plurality of approvers is an approval instruction; or, when the first instruction received from one of the plurality of approvers is a denial instruction, causing the computer to function as a delivery unit that performs control to cancel the delivery of the e-mail. Regarding a program featuring:

The present invention also relates to an information storage medium storing the program. The present invention also relates to a server that includes a storage unit that stores the program, and a processor that executes the program.

The present invention suspends the delivery of e-mails for which it is determined that approval is required based on predetermined conditions until the e-mail is approved, thereby making it possible to prevent the sending of inappropriate e-mails in advance. can.

In particular, the present invention has the following effects. In other words, according to the present invention, at least the representative approver is notified of an approval request (e.g., approval request email), thereby providing an opportunity to promptly give an instruction to approve or disapprove the pending email without delay. be able to. For example, since at least the representative approver will be aware of the existence of a suspended e-mail, it is possible to prevent the e-mail from being delayed.

Further, according to the present invention, for example, if there are multiple approvers A, B, and C, and the representative approver is A, the representative approver A mainly actively issues approval instructions or denial instructions. If representative approver A is unable to issue an approval or denial instruction for some reason, approvers B and C play an auxiliary role in instructing approval or disapproval instead. In other words, since it is clear that approvers B and C have auxiliary roles, they can concentrate on their own work and avoid conflicting tasks associated with instructions. As a result, the present invention can minimize business problems caused by waiting for email approval, and enable each approver to efficiently give instructions for approval or rejection in consideration of his/her own role. .

(2) Furthermore, the program, information storage medium, and server of the present invention include:
The selection section is
A selection of one representative approver among a plurality of approvers may be accepted from the sender user.

According to the present invention, since the sending user can select the representative approver, the intention of the sending user can be reflected in the selection of the representative approver.

(3) Furthermore, the program, information storage medium, and server of the present invention include:
The selection section is
The selection of one representative approver among the plurality of approvers may be accepted based on the behavior information of the plurality of approvers.

In the present invention, "accepting the selection of one representative approver among the plurality of approvers based on the behavior information of the plurality of approvers" means that the computer automatically selects the representative approver. It means that. Therefore, according to the present invention, for example, the sending user can eliminate the trouble of selecting a representative approver.

Note that the behavior information can be, for example, attendance information, location information, schedule information, etc.

(4) Furthermore, the program, information storage medium, and server of the present invention include:
The selection section is
receiving from the representative approver a selection of one approver from other approvers other than the representative approver, and making the selected approver a new representative approver in place of the representative approver;
The notification section is
The new representative approver may be notified of the approval request.

According to the present invention, if the person who approves the representative is busy or wants to decline the representative for some reason, it becomes possible to decline the representative. In addition, if a representative declines, a new representative approver will be selected and the approval request will be notified to the new representative approver, so that the pending e-mail can be promptly approved or rejected without delay. can give you the opportunity.

(5) Furthermore, the program, information storage medium, and server of the present invention include:
A control for displaying a list screen of e-mails waiting for approval that requires each approver to give an approval instruction or a disapproval instruction; causing the computer to further function as an approver display control unit that controls displaying an instruction acceptance screen for issuing an approval instruction or a denial instruction;
The approver display control unit includes:
For e-mails waiting for approval, a viewing status indicating that another approver is viewing the instruction acceptance screen may be displayed on at least one of the list screen and the instruction acceptance screen.

According to the present invention, each approver can know the viewing status of other approvers, and it is possible to avoid conflicting tasks associated with instructions from multiple approvers. As a result, the present invention can reduce as much as possible the business problems associated with waiting for e-mail approval, and enable efficient approval or rejection instructions. For example, an approver can avoid giving instructions to an email waiting for approval that is being viewed by other approvers, and can now give instructions to an email waiting for approval that no one has viewed, making it more efficient. You can judge emails that are waiting for approval.

(6) Furthermore, the present invention includes:
A program for a server that delivers e-mail,
a reception section that accepts e-mails sent from the sender;
a determination unit that determines whether approval of the email is necessary based on predetermined conditions;
a holding unit that holds delivery of the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required;
an instruction receiving unit that receives an approval instruction or denial instruction for the suspended e-mail from at least one approver of a plurality of approvers;
control for delivering the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required and the instruction received first from one of the plurality of approvers is an approval instruction; a delivery unit that performs control to cancel delivery of the e-mail when the first instruction received from one of the plurality of approvers is a denial instruction;
A control for displaying a list screen of e-mails waiting for approval that requires each approver to give an approval instruction or a disapproval instruction; causing the computer to function as an approver display control unit that controls displaying an instruction acceptance screen for issuing an approval instruction or a denial instruction;
The approver display control unit includes:
The present invention relates to a program that displays, on at least one of the list screen and the instruction acceptance screen, a viewing status indicating that another approver is viewing the instruction acceptance screen for an e-mail waiting for approval.

The present invention also relates to an information storage medium storing the program.

The present invention also relates to a server that includes a storage unit that stores the program, and a processor that executes the program.

The present invention suspends the delivery of e-mails for which it is determined that approval is required based on predetermined conditions until the e-mail is approved, thereby making it possible to prevent the sending of inappropriate e-mails in advance. can. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the troublesomeness of the sender user selecting an approver (or representative approver).

Further, according to the present invention, each approver can know the viewing status of other approvers, and it is possible to avoid conflicting tasks associated with instructions from multiple approvers. As a result, the present invention can reduce as much as possible the business problems associated with waiting for e-mail approval, and enable efficient approval or rejection instructions. For example, an approver can avoid giving instructions to an email waiting for approval that is being viewed by other approvers, and can now give instructions to an email waiting for approval that no one has viewed, making it more efficient. You can judge emails that are waiting for approval.

An example of functional blocks of the server of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an overview of server processing according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the correspondence between the sender's user ID and the approver's user ID according to the present embodiment. An example of an e-mail (notification e-mail, selection screen) for selecting a representative approver according to the present embodiment. An example of an approval request email according to the present embodiment. An example of a list screen of this embodiment. An example of an instruction reception screen according to the present embodiment. An example of a flowchart of this embodiment. An example of a flowchart of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining e-mail delivery processing according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining e-mail delivery processing according to the present embodiment.

This embodiment will be described below. In addition, this embodiment described below does not unduly limit the content of the present invention described in the claims. Furthermore, not all of the configurations described in this embodiment are essential components of the present invention.

1. Configuration FIG. 1 is an example of a functional block diagram of the server 10 of this embodiment. Note that the server 10 of this embodiment does not need to include all of the parts shown in FIG. 1, and may have a configuration in which some of them are omitted.

The storage unit 170 serves as a work area for the processing unit 100 and the like, and stores programs for causing the computer to function as each unit of this embodiment (a program for causing the computer to execute the processing of each unit). Can be memorized.

The storage unit 170 stores programs, data, etc., and its functions include RAM (VRAM), optical disks (CD, DVD), magneto-optical disks (MO), magnetic disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, or memory ( It can be realized by a computer readable information storage medium such as ROM).

The storage unit 170 of this embodiment stores a user DB 172 (DB is an abbreviation for database, the same applies hereinafter), a pending mail storage area 173, a history DB 174, and a rule DB 175.

The user DB 172 stores e-mail addresses of users (for example, employees), login passwords for user display control screens, etc. in association with user identification information (user ID).

The held mail storage area 173 stores e-mails that have been determined to require approval (held mail) in association with held mail identification information (also referred to as held mail ID or approval mail ID).

The history DB 174 stores the status of e-mails that have been processed for delivery or delivery cancellation in association with history identification information (history ID). That is, the history DB 174 accumulates and stores information about e-mails that have been delivered or whose delivery has been canceled based on an approval or denial instruction. In addition, the history DB 174 includes, in association with each e-mail, the instruction content of the e-mail (approval instruction or denial instruction), information on the representative approver when the approval instruction or denial instruction was received, and the information regarding the approval instruction or the The instruction time when the denial instruction was received, the delivery time or delivery stop time of the e-mail may be stored.

The rule DB 175 stores predetermined conditions (also referred to as rule information) for determining whether approval is required, in association with rule identification information (rule ID).

The processing unit 100 performs various processes of this embodiment based on programs (data) stored in the storage unit 170.

The processing unit 100 (processor) performs various processes using the main storage unit in the storage unit 170 as a work area. The functions of the processing unit 100 can be realized by hardware such as various processors (CPU, DSP, etc.) and programs.

The processing unit 100 includes a mail processing unit (MTA) 110, a web processing unit 120, and a database processing unit 130.

The mail processing unit 110 receives and delivers (sends) e-mail on the network via SMTP. The mail processing unit 110 of this embodiment includes a reception unit 111, a determination unit 112,
It includes an analysis section 113, a reservation section 114, a selection section 115, a notification section 116, an instruction reception section 117, and a delivery section 118.

The receiving unit 111 performs a process of receiving an e-mail sent by the MUA 211 of the terminal 20 from a sender (sender, a terminal of a user corresponding to the sender, a terminal of the sender) and in which an envelope destination is specified. The receiving unit 111 may accept e-mails with the same content but with multiple destinations specified.

The determination unit 112 determines whether or not approval of the e-mail is necessary based on predetermined conditions. That is, the determining unit 112 determines whether or not the e-mail received by the accepting unit 111 requires approval based on predetermined conditions. For example, the predetermined condition may be that the e-mail address is sent outside the organization. Alternatively, the predetermined condition may be that the e-mail message (body text or attached file) contains a specific character string such as "secret".

The determining unit 112 may determine whether or not approval of the e-mail is necessary for each e-mail address, based on predetermined conditions, for e-mails in which a plurality of recipients are specified.

Further, when an e-mail address of a mailing list is specified as an e-mail destination, the determination unit 112 determines whether an e-mail is required to be approved based on predetermined conditions for each address of a participant registered on the mailing list. It may also be determined whether or not.

The analysis unit 113 performs a process of analyzing the received e-mail. For example, processing is performed to analyze the envelope destination (envelope To), the envelope sender (envelope From), the message header, and the text portion of the message body. For example, processing is performed to extract a domain from the destination of an envelope, or to extract To, Cc, Bcc, and Subject from the header of a message. It also performs processing to extract the main text, attached files, etc. from the body of the message.

The holding unit 114 holds delivery of the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required. In other words, when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required, the holding unit 114 holds delivery of the e-mail until an e-mail approval instruction is received from at least one approver among the plurality of approvers. . Note that the plurality of approvers may be users defined in advance in association with the sender's user (for example, the sender's superior, etc.), or may be users determined based on the content of the e-mail.

In addition, the holding unit 114 holds delivery of the e-mail to a destination for which approval is determined to be required for e-mails in which multiple destinations are specified.

Further, when an e-mail address on a mailing list is specified as the e-mail destination, the holding unit 114 holds delivery of the e-mail to the destination of the participant determined to require approval.

When it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required, the selection unit 115 accepts selection of one representative approver from among the plurality of approvers.

For example, when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required, the selection unit 115 may accept selection of one representative approver from a plurality of approvers from the sender user.

Furthermore, when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required, the selection unit 115 accepts the selection of one representative approver among the plurality of approvers based on the behavior information of the plurality of approvers. You can.

Further, the selection unit 115 may accept a representative's refusal from the representative approver. For example, when the selection unit 115 receives a selection of one approver from the user A, who is the representative approver, among the approvers other than the representative approver A (for example, users B and C), It may be assumed that user A has declined to be the representative. Then, the selection unit 115 selects the selected approver instead of representative approver A as a new representative approver.

The notification unit 116 notifies the representative approver of an approval request (eg, approval request email). Note that the notification unit 116 notifies the sender of the cancellation of delivery of the e-mail whose delivery has been canceled.

In addition, when the selection unit 115 receives a selection of one approver (for example, user B) from a representative approver (for example, user A) who has requested to decline, the notification unit 116 selects the selected approver. The approval request may be notified to a new representative approver (for example, user B).

The instruction receiving unit 117 performs a process of receiving an approval instruction or a denial instruction regarding the suspended e-mail from at least one of the plurality of approvers.

The delivery unit 118 delivers the e-mail. In particular, in the case where the delivery unit 118 of this embodiment determines that approval of the e-mail is required, the instruction received first from one of the plurality of approvers is the approval instruction. or control to stop delivery of the e-mail when the first instruction received from one of the plurality of approvers is a denial instruction. conduct.

The Web processing unit 120 converts HTML (HyperText Markup) via HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) in response to requests from client software such as the Web browser 210 installed on the terminal 20.
(Language) processing for transmitting (providing) data such as documents and images, and processing for receiving data received by the Web browser 210 of the terminal. Then, the server 10 processes pending mail, updates the DB, etc. based on information received from each terminal of the administrator and users.

The administrator display control unit (administrator UI unit (UI is an abbreviation for user interface, the same applies hereinafter)) 121 displays data for management settings, etc. in response to an access request from the web browser 210 of the administrator's terminal 20. The information is transmitted (provided) to the administrator's terminal 20, and the information is received from the terminal 20.

That is, the administrator display control unit 121 performs processes such as adding, deleting, and updating each data to the DB based on input from the administrator. Note that only the administrator is authorized to access the administrator screen (web page, URL). Note that URL is an abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator). Further, the URL may also be called an inquiry address.

The user display control unit (user UI unit) 122 displays a screen related to the logged-in user (for example, a selection screen for selecting a representative approver) in response to a login process or a request from the web browser 210 of the terminal 20. screen, list screen, instruction acceptance screen, etc.) to the user.

The user display control section 122 includes a sender display control section 123 and an approver display control section 124 .

In addition, when the sender display control unit 123 receives a request to view processing information for a held email from a sender user's terminal, the sender display control unit 123 performs control to display a screen for the held email on the terminal (for example, the server However, "displaying" or "displaying control" means, for example, performing a process of transmitting web page data to a terminal, etc. (The same applies hereinafter).

The information displayed on the pending mail screen includes, for example, information such as the email message and envelope, and information indicating the status of the email (waiting for approval, delivered (approval), delivery canceled (rejected), etc.) It is. Note that in this embodiment, even if an email is sent or deleted, a copy of the email text may be stored in a storage unit (storage area) and controlled so that the user can view it later. .

Further, when the sender display control unit 123 receives a request to view a selection screen for selecting a representative approver from the sender user's terminal, the sender display control unit 123 controls displaying the selection screen on the terminal.

The approver display control unit 124 controls displaying, for each approver, a list screen of e-mails waiting for approval that requires an approval instruction or a denial instruction, and an e-mail selected by the approver from the list screen. For one e-mail, control is performed to display an instruction acceptance screen for the approver to issue an approval instruction or a denial instruction. That is, when the approver display control unit 124 receives a request to view a list screen from a terminal of a user who is an approver, the approver display control unit 124 controls displaying the list screen on the terminal. Further, when the approver display control unit 124 receives a request to view the instruction acceptance screen from a terminal of a user who is an approver, the approver display control unit 124 controls displaying the instruction acceptance screen on the terminal.

The approver display control unit 124 displays a viewing status indicating that another approver is viewing the instruction acceptance screen for the e-mail waiting for approval on at least one of the list screen and the instruction acceptance screen. do.

The database processing unit 130 performs processing for registering, updating, and deleting data stored in a database. For example, the database processing unit 130 performs a process of updating the database in the administrator display control unit 121 and the user display control unit 122 based on data received from the terminal 20.

Note that the mail processing unit 110, the web processing unit 120, and the database processing unit 130 may be executed by one device, or may be distributed to different devices to execute each process depending on the purpose of the processing. .

2. Overview FIG. 2 shows an overview of the processing flow of the server 10 of this embodiment. The server 10 of this embodiment has an MTA function that receives an e-mail consisting of an envelope destination, an envelope sender, and a message used for delivery processing, and delivers the e-mail.

First, the server 10 of this embodiment receives an e-mail sent from the MUA of the terminal 20 of sender (user of the sender) X, analyzes the received e-mail, and determines whether or not approval of the e-mail is necessary. .

If the server 10 determines that the request is not approved, it performs processing to deliver the e-mail. On the other hand, if the server 10 determines that approval is required (that is, suspending delivery), the server 10 performs a process of suspending delivery of the e-mail. That is, according to the server 10 of the present embodiment, when a predetermined condition (rule for approval) is satisfied, an approver other than sender X is given an opportunity to review the e-mail, and erroneous transmission can be prevented. Note that the approver in this embodiment is a user different from the sender.

Here, when an MTA delivers e-mail, it means the process of delivering received e-mail to another MTA via SMTP, or the process of delivering e-mail to a user who has an account within the same system where the mail server is running. This includes the process of delivering to a mail delivery agent (MDA), and the process of delivering to a user who has an account within the same system where the mail server operates without going through the MDA.

Then, the server 10 receives from the sender X the selection of one representative approver from among the plurality of approvers A, B, and C associated with the sender X. In other words, sender X selects one representative approver for the e-mail that is determined to require approval.

When the representative approver is selected, the server 10 notifies the representative approver of an approval request email. For example, if the representative approver is user A, the server 10 notifies representative approver A's terminal of an approval request email.

The server 10 delivers or cancels delivery of the e-mail according to the instruction at the earliest timing when receiving the instruction from the approver. For example, if the server 10 receives an approval instruction earliest from approver A (representative approver A) among approvers A, B, and C, the server 10 sends an e-mail at the timing of receiving the approval instruction from representative approver A. to deliver. On the other hand, if the server 10 receives a denial instruction earliest from approver A (representative approver A) among approvers A, B, and C, the server 10 sends an e-mail to Perform control to cancel delivery. Note that canceling delivery means prohibiting delivery of e-mail. The server 10 may delete the e-mail data itself whose delivery has been canceled.

In other words, the server 10 prioritizes the instruction received from the approver among multiple approvers, and if the instruction is an approval instruction, sends an e-mail, and if the instruction is a denial instruction. In some cases, we will discontinue email delivery.

In this way, according to this embodiment, the representative approver A mainly plays the role of proactively instructing approval or disapproval, and the approvers B and C are responsible for instructing approval or disapproving when representative approver A instructs approval or disapproval for some reason. If it is not possible to give an instruction, it plays an auxiliary role in giving an approval or denial instruction instead. In other words, since approvers B and C have auxiliary roles, they can concentrate on their own work.

In particular, in recent years, when there is a large amount of e-mails waiting for approval due to the increased use of e-mails, it often takes the approver time to judge each pending e-mail. According to this embodiment, the representative approver is specifically assigned the role of proactively instructing approval or disapproval, so that each approver is aware of their role and can concentrate on their own work efficiently. Can be done.

3. Approval Necessity Determination Process The server 10 determines whether or not approval of an e-mail is necessary based on predetermined conditions. For example, in this embodiment, the need for approval is determined by referring to at least one of the destination of the e-mail envelope (Envelope To), the sender of the envelope (Envelope From), the header of the e-mail message, and the body of the message. judge.

Here, the e-mail envelope refers to the e-mail envelope that is sent to the terminal (MUA
) is the destination (envelope To) sent to the server and the sender (envelope From). In other words, it is the e-mail address used by the server when delivering e-mail. Note that the envelope To may be different information from the header To, Cc, and Bcc included in the email message data, and the envelope From is different information from the header From included in the email message data. Sometimes.

For example, in this embodiment, an example of the predetermined condition is that the envelope destination is an external email address (the envelope destination is outside the organization), and if the envelope destination is an external email address (the envelope destination If the recipient of the envelope is an internal email address (if the recipient is outside the organization), then approval is determined to be necessary, and if the recipient of the envelope is an internal email address (the recipient of the envelope is within the organization), approval is determined to be unnecessary.

If the domain of the email address of the envelope destination is not a domain (or subdomain) of a network system (internal or in-house system) registered in advance, the server of this embodiment uses the email address as an "external email address". Determine as.

In addition, if the domain of the email address of the envelope destination is a pre-registered network system (internal or in-house system) domain (or subdomain), the server of this embodiment will change the email address to "internal email address". ”.

Specifically, when the domain of the network system registered in advance is "xxx.ne.jp" and the e-mail address of the e-mail destination is "abc@yyy.com", the server 10 determines that “abc@yyy.com” requires approval because it is an external email address. On the other hand, if the destination email address is "def@xxx.ne.jp", it is determined that approval is not required since "def@xxx.ne.jp" is an internal email address.

In other words, the server 10 determines whether or not the domain of the destination of the email envelope is a domain of a pre-registered network system, and if the domain of the destination of the email envelope is a domain of a network system registered in advance. It is determined that approval is not required (no hold is required), and the e-mail is immediately delivered to the recipient.If the destination domain of the e-mail envelope is not a pre-registered network system domain, the e-mail is sent to the recipient. Email approval is required and delivery will be put on hold.

The server 10 of this embodiment performs a process of storing the data of the held e-mail in the held mail storage area 173 of the storage unit 170.

Furthermore, in the server 10 of the present embodiment, pending mail that requires approval by an approver is permanently stored in the pending mail storage area until an approval instruction or a denial instruction is obtained from at least one approver.

Note that the server 10 can set various predetermined conditions for determining whether approval is necessary. For example, a predetermined condition may be set when a predetermined character string (for example, a string such as "Confidential") is present in the header or body of an e-mail message, or a predetermined condition may be set when an attached file is present. It may be a predetermined condition. For example, the server 10 determines and controls predetermined conditions for determining whether approval is necessary based on input information from an administrator or a user.

4. Selection of Representative Approver When it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required, the server 10 accepts the selection of one representative approver from among the plurality of approvers A, B, and C from the sending user X. .

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the server 10 stores in advance a plurality of approver user IDs in association with the sender's user ID for each user. In this way, the sender can avoid having to take the trouble of deciding who will approve. Furthermore, in this embodiment, by determining a plurality of approvers, even if one approver cannot approve or disapprove for some reason, the other approvers can approve or disapprove.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an e-mail (notification e-mail) 60 for the sending user X to select a representative approver. The sender user X can select a representative approver in the e-mail 60 by clicking on any of the URLs 65A, 65B, and 65C associated with each approver. Note that the notification email may be viewable as a web email. Further, the server 10 may use the web browser of the terminal 20 of the sender user X to display a selection screen for the user X to select a representative approver. Note that the URLs 65A, 65B, and 65C may be displayed using buttons.

The e-mail 60 for selecting a representative approver includes information 61 indicating that selection of a representative approver is required for a held e-mail, a held e-mail ID 62, content 63 of the message of the held e-mail, and a representative Information 64 for selecting an approver is included. Note that the e-mail 60 may include the date and time of suspension.

Further, the e-mail 60 for selecting a representative approver includes URLs 65A, 65B, and 65C corresponding to a plurality of approvers (for example, A, B, and C) associated with sender X, respectively. The server 10 creates a URL for each approver based on the identification information of the held e-mail (for example, held e-mail ID=001) and the approver ID.

Sender X can be selected by clicking the URL of the user who is desired to be the representative approver. The server 10 can determine which user has been selected as the representative approver based on the access from the user X to any one of the URLs 65A, 65B, and 65C.

For example, when the server 10 detects an access from the URL 65A, it becomes possible to specify the pending mail ID of the held e-mail and the approver selected for the held e-mail based on the access content.

The server 10 stores and manages the user ID of each approver and the user ID of one representative approver in association with the pending email ID for each pending email.

5. Notification of Approval Request Email 5.1 Description of Approval Request Email When the server 10 of this embodiment receives the selection of a representative approver, it performs a process of notifying the representative approver of an approval request email. In other words, by notifying (sending) the approval request email to the representative approver, the representative approver is at least given an opportunity to approve or disapprove the pending email. Note that the server 10 sets the date and time when the selection of the representative approver is received as the date and time when the approval request for the representative approver is generated.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the approval request email 70. Each user managed by the server 10 of this embodiment is required to give an approval instruction or a denial instruction when the user is selected as a representative approver.

For example, if user A is selected by user X as a representative approver, user A needs to promptly give an instruction to approve or disapprove user X's e-mail. In other words, if there is no problem with the content of the e-mail written by User User X's work should not be delayed.

The server 10 of this embodiment includes the user name of the representative approver (message indicating that user A himself is the representative approver) 71, the pending email ID 72 of sender's email, the content 73 of the pending email, An approval request email 70 is generated that includes instruction content 74 for issuing an approval instruction or denial instruction, and information 77 regarding other approvers. Note that the approval request email 70 may include the date and time of suspension and the date and time of occurrence of the approval request.

Then, the server 10 specifies the email address of the representative approver A (the sender is the administrator of the server 10, the system name, etc.) as the destination of the generated approval request email 70, and sends the approval request email 70 to the representative approver A. Notify (send) to person A's terminal.

Note that the server 10 may allow the approval request email 70 to be viewed as a web email.

The approval request email 70 also includes a URL 75 corresponding to the approval instruction and a URL 76 corresponding to the denial instruction. The server 10 creates a URL 75 corresponding to the approval instruction based on the identification information of the held e-mail (for example, held e-mail ID=001), the approver's user ID, information identifying the approval instruction, and the like. A URL 76 corresponding to the denial instruction is created based on the identification information of the pending e-mail (for example, pending e-mail ID=001), the approver's user ID, information identifying the denial instruction, and the like.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, user A, who is the representative approver, clicks the URL 75 of the approval instruction when approving the suspended e-mail. On the other hand, when user A wishes to issue a denial instruction for the suspended e-mail, he clicks the URL 76 for the denial instruction.

Based on the URL access from user A, the server 10 can determine whether the instruction was an approval instruction or a denial instruction.

For example, when the server 10 detects an access from the URL 75, it becomes possible to specify information such as the pending e-mail ID, approver, and approval instruction of the pending e-mail based on the content of the access. Further, when the server 10 detects an access from the URL 76, it becomes possible to specify information such as the pending email ID, approver, and denial instruction of the pending email based on the access content.

Note that the server 10 gives priority to the earliest access, so if it receives an access to URL 76 with a denial instruction after receiving an access to URL 75 with an approval instruction from the same approver A, the server 10 will not accept the approval instruction. Apply as a priority.

In addition, since the approval request email 70 includes information 77 regarding other approvers (for example, users B and C), the representative approver A is aware that users B and C exist as approvers in addition to himself. be able to recognize that there is

5.2 Change of representative approver The server 10 of this embodiment can accept a representative approver A's resignation as a representative. For example, when the server 10 detects an access from representative approver A to either the URL 78 of user B who is an approver or the URL 79 of user C who is an approver, the server 10 accepts a refusal of the representative from user A.

The URL 78 indicating approver B is created based on the identification information of the held e-mail (for example, held e-mail ID = 001), the user ID of approver B, information identifying the change of representative, etc. The URL 79 indicating the e-mail is created based on the identification information of the e-mail that was put on hold (for example, the e-mail ID=001), the user ID of the approver C, the information that identifies the change in the representative, and the like.

When the server 10 receives the selection of the approver B from the representative approver A by detecting the access to the URL 78, the server 10 makes the approver B the new representative approver. Then, the server 10 notifies the representative approver B of an approval request email. On the other hand, when the server 10 receives the selection of the approver C from the representative approver A by detecting the access to the URL 79, the server 10 makes the approver C the new representative approver. Then, the server 10 notifies the representative approver C of an approval request email.

In this way, if the representative approver A wants to decline the representative role for some reason, such as when he is busy, he can decline the representative role. In addition, if a representative declines, a new representative approver will be selected and the approval request will be notified to the new representative approver, so that the pending e-mail can be promptly approved or rejected without delay. can give you the opportunity.

Note that, when the representative approver of a pending mail (holding mail ID=001) is changed from user A to user B, the server 10 indicates that the representative approver has been changed from user A to user B. An e-mail may be created with information etc. as the main text and addressed to user X as the sender, and the e-mail may be notified to user X.

In the case where the representative approver of the pending mail (holding mail ID=001) is changed from user A to user B, the server 10, in the information 77 regarding other approvers of the approval request mail sent to the user B, Control may be performed so that user A is not selected as a new representative approver. In other words, control is performed so that approvers who are already representative approvers (who declined) are not selected. For example, in the other approver column 77 of the approval request email that the new representative approver B views, only the name of the user A is displayed without displaying the URL of the user A. In addition, in the other approver column 77 of the approval request email, a URL 79 is displayed for user C whose representative can be changed.

6. Receipt of Approval Instruction or Disapproval Instruction The server 10 receives an approval instruction or denial instruction regarding the suspended e-mail from representative approver A, but receives an approval instruction or denial instruction from approvers B and C other than representative approver A. It can also accept instructions.

That is, in this embodiment, each of the e-mail approvers A, B, and C can log in to the server 10, view the instruction acceptance screen, and issue an approval instruction or a denial instruction.

The representative approver A of this embodiment can give instructions from an approval request email or can give instructions from an instruction screen. On the other hand, approvers B and C who are not the representative approver A do not receive the approval request email on their terminals, so they log in to the server 10 themselves and issue instructions only through the instruction acceptance screen.

6.1 List screen of e-mails waiting for approval FIG. 6 shows an example of a list screen 81A, 81B, and 81C of e-mails waiting for approval by approvers A, B, and C, respectively.

In the example of FIG. 6, on the list screen 81A displayed on the terminal 20 of approver A who has logged in to the server 10, the e-mail sent by sender email) as well as other emails are displayed as pending approval. Note that the list screen 81B displayed on the terminal 20 of approver B who has logged in to the server 10 and the list screen 81C displayed on the terminal 20 of approver C who has logged in to the server 10 also show that sender In addition to the e-mail sent by .jp (e-mail with pending mail ID=001), other e-mails are also displayed as waiting for approval.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when approver A clicks the review button 83A for an e-mail from the sender "xxx@xxx.ne.jp" (e-mail with pending mail ID=001), the server 10 The selection of the e-mail is accepted, and an instruction acceptance screen for the e-mail is controlled to be displayed on the terminal 20 of approver A.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the server 10 displays the representative approver (user name, user ID, abbreviation, mark, etc. of the representative approver) of each e-mail waiting for approval on the list screen, and the "viewer" of other approvers. "Status" is displayed. The viewing status will be described later.

6.2 Instruction Acceptance Screen On the instruction acceptance screen for each of approvers A, B, and C, the content of the e-mail awaiting approval is displayed.

FIG. 7 shows an example of an instruction acceptance screen 90 displayed on the approver A's terminal 20. For example, the server 10 stores the user name 91 of the representative approver, the pending e-mail ID 92 of the e-mail from sender An instruction acceptance screen 90 is generated that includes a viewing status 97 of . Note that the instruction acceptance screen 90 may include the date and time of suspension.

Further, the server 10 creates a URL 95 corresponding to the approval instruction based on the identification information of the held e-mail (for example, held e-mail ID=001), the approver's user ID, and information identifying the approval instruction. A URL 96 corresponding to the denial instruction is created based on the identification information of the pending e-mail (for example, pending email ID=001), the approver's user ID, and information identifying the denial instruction.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, user A, who is the approver, clicks the URL 95 of the approval instruction when approving the suspended e-mail. On the other hand, when user A wishes to issue a denial instruction regarding the suspended e-mail, he or she clicks the URL 96 for the denial instruction.

Based on the URL access from user A, the server 10 can determine whether the instruction was an approval instruction or a denial instruction.

For example, when the server 10 detects an access from the URL 95, it becomes possible to specify information such as the pending e-mail ID, approver, and approval instruction of the pending e-mail based on the content of the access. Further, when the server 10 detects an access from the URL 96, it becomes possible to specify information such as the pending mail ID, approver, and denial instruction of the pending e-mail based on the content of the access.

In addition, by clicking the review button on the list screen 81B shown in FIG. 6, the other approver B can view the instruction acceptance screen for each e-mail waiting for approval, and can issue an approval or denial instruction. can. In addition, by clicking the review button on the list screen 81C shown in FIG. 6, other approvers C can view the instruction acceptance screen for each email waiting for approval, and can issue an approval or denial instruction. can.

Note that each of the URLs 95 and 96 on the instruction reception screen 90 may be displayed using a button.

Furthermore, the server 10 gives priority to the earliest access among the approval instruction URL 75 and denial instruction URL 76 of the approval request email, and the approval instruction URL 95 and denial instruction URL 96 of each approver on the instruction reception screen. Apply.

That is, when the server 10 detects the earliest access to the same e-mail (for example, pending e-mail ID=001), it applies the specified instruction preferentially based on the access content. In addition, to avoid confusion among approvers, after receiving the first instruction (approval instruction or denial instruction) of an e-mail (e.g., pending e-mail ID=001), Controls deletion from the list screen.

6.3 Viewing Status The server 10 displays, on at least one of the list screen and the instruction accepting screen, the viewing status indicating that another approver is viewing the instruction accepting screen for the e-mail waiting for approval.

Further, the server 10 may prohibit the viewing of an e-mail that is currently being viewed by another approver, depending on the viewing status of the other approver. For example, when approver A is viewing an email with pending email ID=001, the server 10 displays the email with pending email ID=001 on the list screen or instruction acceptance screen of approver B who logged in after approver A. Viewing of e-mail may be prohibited.

Further, the server 10 may control the other approvers to only view what they are currently viewing, and not to issue approval or denial instructions, depending on the viewing status of the other approvers. For example, when approver A is viewing an email with pending email ID=001, the server 10 displays the email with pending email ID=001 on the list screen or instruction acceptance screen of approver B who logged in after approver A. The control may be such that only the e-mail is viewed, the URL of the approval instruction and the URL of the denial instruction are hidden, and the approval instruction and the denial instruction are prohibited.

Here, "viewing status" means that another approver is viewing the instruction acceptance screen. For example, another approver is viewing the instruction acceptance screen that the other approver has logged in. If there are other approvers, a mark indicating the other approver is displayed in red on at least one of the list screen of one approver or the instruction reception screen. On the other hand, if the other approver is not viewing the logged-in instruction acceptance screen, a mark indicating the other approver is displayed in white on at least one of the first approver list screen or the instruction acceptance screen. .

Note that the "browsing status" does not have to be a mark identified by color. For example, the "viewing status" may be a message indicating whether or not the document is viewed in association with another approver (a message such as "viewing" or "not viewing").

For example, on the list screen 81A viewed by the representative approver A, at the display timing (or in real time) of the list screen 81A, the server 10 allows other approvers B and C to display an instruction receiving screen (instructions viewed by other approvers). (reception screen) is being viewed. Then, when approver B is viewing the instruction acceptance screen, a mark indicating approver B is displayed in red, and when approver B is not viewing the instruction acceptance screen, a mark indicating approver B is displayed. is displayed in white. Regarding approver C, the display color of the mark is similarly determined based on whether approver C has viewed the mark.

In the example of FIG. 6, on the list screen 81A of approver A, for the e-mail from the sender "xxx@xxx.ne.jp" (for example, pending e-mail ID=001), the column "viewing status of other approvers" is displayed. , user B's mark is displayed in white, and user C's mark is displayed in white, indicating that neither user B nor user C is viewing the instruction acceptance screen. Therefore, the approver A can be prompted to give instructions regarding the e-mail.

In addition, in the list screen 81B of approver B, regarding the e-mail from the sender "xxx@xxx.ne.jp" (for example, pending mail ID = 001), in the column "viewing status of other approvers", user A The mark is displayed in red, indicating that User A is viewing the page as an approver. Further, the mark of user C is displayed in white, indicating that user C is not viewing the instruction acceptance screen. Therefore, the e-mail should not give instructions to approver B. For example, user B himself is the representative approver and should not give instructions to the e-mail with pending mail ID=003 that no one has viewed. You can encourage them to do so.

In addition, on the list screen 81C of approver C, regarding the e-mail from sender "xxx@xxx.ne.jp" (for example, pending mail ID = 001), in the column "viewing status of other approvers", user A The mark is displayed in red, indicating that User A is viewing the page as an approver. Further, the mark of user B is displayed in white, indicating that user B is not viewing the instruction acceptance screen. Therefore, it is possible to urge approver C not to issue instructions via the e-mail. In addition, approver C is in a situation where other approvers are viewing all of the emails waiting for approval, and there are currently no emails waiting for approval that approver C should instruct. You can encourage them to concentrate on other tasks.

Further, the server 10 may display the viewing status of other approvers on the instruction acceptance screen of each approver. For example, on the instruction acceptance screen 90 viewed by the representative approver A, the server 10 may view the instruction acceptance screen that the other approvers B and C have logged in at the same time the instruction acceptance screen 90 is displayed (or in real time). Determine whether or not. Then, when approver B is viewing the instruction acceptance screen, a mark indicating approver B is displayed in red, and when approver B is not viewing the instruction acceptance screen, a mark indicating approver B is displayed. is displayed in white. Regarding approver C, the display color of the mark is similarly determined based on whether approver C has viewed the mark.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, in the viewing status 97 of other approvers on the instruction acceptance screen 90 viewed by approver A, there is a white mark 98 indicating that user B is not viewing the screen, and a white mark 98 indicating that user B is not viewing the screen is displayed. A white mark 99 is displayed to indicate that the

In this way, according to this embodiment, by displaying the viewing status of other approvers, it is possible to avoid conflicting tasks associated with instructions from multiple approvers, and to improve business performance associated with e-mail approval. hindrance can be reduced as much as possible, and efficient instructions for approval or denial can be made.

6.4 Changing the representative approver The server 10 of this embodiment may be controlled so that the representative approver can be changed also on the list screen and the instruction reception screen.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, on the list screen 81A viewed by the representative approver A, the representative approver A selects either the mark 98 of the approver user B or the mark 99 of the approver user C. When access is detected, a refusal of the representative is accepted from user A.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, on the instruction acceptance screen 90 viewed by the representative approver A, a mark 98 of the user B who is the approver or a mark 99 of the user C who is the approver is sent from the representative approver A. If access is detected, a request to decline the representative is accepted from user A.

Note that the mark 98 indicating approver B is a button (hyperlink) linked to the URL, and includes the identification information of the held e-mail (for example, held e-mail ID = 001), the user ID of approver B, and the representative. It is created based on information that identifies the change in person. Further, the mark 99 indicating approver C is a button (hyperlink) linked to the URL, and includes the identification information of the held e-mail (for example, held e-mail ID=001), the user ID of approver C, and the representative. It is created based on information that identifies the change in person.

When the server 10 receives the selection of approver B from the representative approver A by detecting access by the mark 98 on the list screen 81A or the instruction acceptance screen 90, the server 10 selects approver B as a new representative approver. shall be. Then, the server 10 notifies the representative approver B of an approval request email. On the other hand, when the server 10 receives the selection of the approver C from the representative approver A by detecting the access by the mark 99, the server 10 makes the approver C the new representative approver. Then, the server 10 notifies the representative approver C of an approval request email.

Note that even if the representative approver of a pending mail (holding mail ID=001) is changed from user A to user B on the list screen or instruction acceptance screen, the representative approver changes from user A to user B. It is also possible to create an e-mail with the information indicating that it has been changed to B as the main text, address the sender user X, and notify user X of the e-mail.

When the representative approver of a held email (held email ID=001) is changed from user A to user B, for example, the server 10 displays the following on the list screen or instruction acceptance screen viewed by each approver A, B, and C. Control may be performed so that user A is not selected as a new representative approver. In other words, control is performed so that approver A, who was already a representative approver (declined), is excluded from selection. For example, on the list screen 81B viewed by the new representative approver B, the user A's mark is not linked to the URL, and only the mark by which the user A's name can be identified is displayed. Note that for user C whose representative can be changed, a mark 99 linking to the URL is displayed.

7. Controlling Delivery or Delivery Cancellation of Pending E-mail The server 10 of the present embodiment controls delivery or delivery cancellation of held e-mail based on instructions from an approver. That is, the server 10 controls delivery or delivery cancellation in accordance with the instruction received first from one of the plurality of approvers (the earliest received approval instruction or denial instruction). For example, if approver A is the first user to receive an instruction among multiple approvers A, B, and C, delivery or delivery cancellation is controlled based on approver A's instructions. Further, if the user who first receives an instruction among the plurality of approvers A, B, and C is approver B, delivery or delivery cancellation is controlled based on the instruction from approver B. Further, if the user who first receives an instruction among the plurality of approvers A, B, and C is approver C, delivery or delivery cancellation is controlled based on the approver C's instruction.

For example, when an e-mail sent from the terminal of sender Assume that an instruction is received from approver A first. In such a case, if approver A's instruction is an approval instruction, the e-mail with the pending mail ID=001 will be delivered, and if approver A's instruction is a denial instruction, the e-mail with the pending mail ID=001 will be delivered. Cancel email delivery. After receiving the instruction, the server 10 deletes the instructed e-mail from the list screen of each approver A, B, and C regarding the e-mail with the pending mail ID=001. Note that if the server 10 has not received an instruction from any approver, the e-mail with the pending mail ID=001 is kept on hold.

In addition, when a pending e-mail is delivered or delivery is canceled based on an approval instruction or a denial instruction from one approver, the server 10 provides information indicating that the e-mail has been delivered or delivery is canceled. , notify sender X. Further, when the server 10 first receives an approval instruction or a denial instruction from approver A regarding the e-mail with the pending e-mail ID=001, the server 10 transmits the e-mail with the e-mail ID=001 to the other approvers B and C. Processing may be performed to notify (for example, a notification email) information indicating that an instruction has been received from approver A regarding the email.

Although not shown, the server 10 of this embodiment stores a history of pending mail processing. In other words, the status of the e-mail that has been put on hold is stored as a history in association with the identification information of the e-mail. The status of the email is ``Delivery'', which means the email was delivered based on the approval instruction from the approver, ``Delivery canceled'', where the delivery was canceled based on the rejection instruction from the approver, and ``Waiting for approval'', which means the email is waiting for approval. . Note that the server 10 stores in the history DB 174 held mails whose delivery or delivery has been canceled based on an instruction from an approver (approval instruction or denial instruction), and controls the sender or approver so that they can check the held mail later. You may.

8. Flowchart The processing flow of the server 10 of this embodiment will be described using FIGS. 8A and 8B. First, as shown in FIG. 8A, an e-mail is received (step S1). Then, it is determined whether approval is required (step S2), and if approval is required (Y in step S2), the e-mail is put on hold (step S3), and the selection of a representative approver is accepted from the sender (step S2). S4). Then, the representative approver is notified of the approval request (step S5).

On the other hand, if approval is not required (N in step S2), the e-mail is delivered (step S6).

Then, as shown in FIG. 8B, after step S5, it is determined whether an instruction has been received from the approver (step S11), and if an instruction has been received from the approver (Y in step S11), the approver's instruction is It is determined whether or not it is an approval instruction (step S12). Note that the e-mail will remain on hold until instructions are received from the approver.

If the approver's instruction is an approval instruction (Y in step S12), the e-mail is delivered (step S13). On the other hand, if the approver's instruction is not an approval instruction, that is, if the approver's instruction is a denial instruction (N in step S12), delivery of the e-mail is canceled (step S14). This completes the process.

9. Application example 9.1 E-mail with the same content and multiple destinations specified The server 10 of this embodiment receives e-mails with the same content from the terminal 20 of sender X when multiple destinations are specified. , it is determined whether predetermined conditions are met for each destination, and if the predetermined conditions are met, it is determined that approval is required.

For example, when the predetermined condition is that the envelope destination is an external mail address (the envelope destination is outside the organization), the following processing is performed. In other words, as shown in FIG. 9, the server 10 sends e-mails with the same content received from sender If a certain user K's destination (kkk@xxx.ne.jp) and a user N's destination (nnn@xxx.ne.jp), which is an internal email address, are specified, for the user K and the user N It will be delivered immediately, and the one addressed to user J will be put on hold as approval is required. In such a case, in this embodiment, user K and user N to whom the e-mail has been delivered may be the approvers. For example, if the approvers associated with sender X are users A, B, and C, users K and N may also be approvers in addition to users A, B, and C. Furthermore, instead of approvers A, B, and C associated with sender X, users K and N may be the sender's approvers. In this way, sender X has the advantage of being able to select user K or user N, who is familiar with the contents of the e-mail and has already delivered the e-mail, as the representative approver.

Note that in this embodiment, e-mails with the same content mean that the main text of the e-mail and a specific header (for example, the header Subject, Date, From, and To) are the same.

9.2 Example of using a mailing list as a destination In this embodiment, a mailing list destination may be specified as an e-mail destination, but in this embodiment, each mailing list destination or the destination of a participant belonging to a mailing list is specified. The necessity of suspension may be determined at any time.

When the envelope destination is a mailing list mail address, the server 10 uses the mailing list function (mailing list server (MTA)) to convert the mailing list mail address into the mail address of each participant and then delivers the envelope.

For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the email address of the mailing list is "patent@xxx.ne.jp," and the email address of the participant of the mailing list is user K's email address "kkk@xxx.ne.jp." ”, user N's email address “nnn@xxx.ne.jp”, the envelope address “patent@xxx.ne.jp” is changed to the participant address “kkk@xxx.ne.jp”, “nnn @xxx.ne.jp” and will be delivered.

In this embodiment, the necessity of approval may be determined based on the address of the mailing list "patent@xxx.ne.jp", or the necessity of approval may be determined based on the address of the participant belonging to the mailing list (for example, "kkk@xxx.ne.jp"). It is also possible to determine whether or not approval is required for each destination ("nnn@xxx.ne.jp").

In other words, when determining whether approval is required based on the mailing list address "patent@xxx.ne.jp", since "patent@xxx.ne.jp" is an internal email address, sending to "patent@xxx.ne.jp" It is determined that approval is not required for e-mails, and the e-mails are immediately delivered to the addresses of participants belonging to the mailing list.

In addition, it is determined whether predetermined conditions are met for each destination of participants belonging to the mailing list (for example, for each destination of "kkk@xxx.ne.jp" and "nnn@xxx.ne.jp"), and a predetermined If the following conditions are met, it is determined that approval is required.

For example, if the predetermined condition is that the envelope destination is an external email address (the envelope destination is outside the organization), "kkk@xxx.ne.jp", "nnn@xxx.ne. jp" is an internal e-mail address, so e-mails to the addresses "kkk@xxx.ne.jp" and "nnn@xxx.ne.jp" do not meet the specified conditions, are determined to not require approval, and are immediately rejected. Delivery will be made to.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, the server 10 responds to the email received from sender If the e-mail address destination (patent@xxx.ne.jp) is specified, the e-mail addresses of users K and N who are participants in the mailing list are internal e-mail addresses. The delivery will be made immediately, and the delivery to user J will be put on hold as approval is required. In such a case, in this embodiment, user K and user N to whom the e-mail has been delivered may be the approvers. For example, if the approvers associated with sender X are users A, B, and C, users K and N may also be approvers in addition to users A, B, and C. Furthermore, instead of users A, B, and C being the approvers associated with sender X, users K and N may be the sender's approvers. In this way, sender X has the advantage of being able to select user K or user N, who is familiar with the contents of the e-mail and has already delivered the e-mail, as the representative approver.

9.3 Regarding collective control The server 10 may have a plurality of destinations that meet predetermined conditions for e-mails with the same content received from the terminal 20 of sender X. For example, the server 10 may receive an email from sender If so, the messages addressed to user I and user J are held as requiring approval. In such a case, if the approvers associated with sender X are users A, B, and C, and the server 10 receives a selection from sender An approval request is notified all at once for the e-mail addressed to the user J and the e-mail addressed to the user J.

Further, the server 10 can collectively view e-mails addressed to user I and e-mails addressed to user J from representative approver A (or other approvers B and C) who respond to the approval request. It is also possible to accept instructions for approval or disapproval of e-mails addressed to user I and e-mails addressed to user J at once.

9.4 Other examples of selecting a representative approver The server 10 does not accept the selection of a representative approver from the sending user X, but automatically selects a representative approver based on computer control (CPU control). You can. In other words, when it is determined that approval of an e-mail is required, the server 10 determines whether or not to approve the e-mail based on the behavior information of the plurality of approvers (the plurality of approvers associated with the sender user X). Accept the selection of one representative approver from among the persons. In this way, the sending user X can save the effort of selecting a representative approver.

The server 10 selects a representative approver as follows. In other words, the server 10 stores (A) attendance information (work status) of each approver, (B) location information (attendance status) of each approver, and (C) schedule information (scheduled schedule information) of each approver. One representative approver is selected based on at least one piece of information. Note that the server 10 may acquire various information from an external system. For example, the server 10 may acquire attendance information using a time and attendance system, location information using a location information system, and schedule information using a schedule management system.

First, (A) Attendance information of each approver is information that can at least determine whether the approver is at work or not, and is grasped by an attendance management system or the like. For example, the server 10 determines whether each approver is at work at the time it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required.

(B) Location information of each approver is information that can at least distinguish between internal and external locations, and the location information of each approver is grasped by each approver's GPS information, human sensor of the in-house system, etc. etc. For example, the server 10 determines whether each approver is located within the company at the time it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required.

Further, (C) schedule information for each approver is work information (meeting, meeting, etc.) whose start time and end time are predetermined in association with the approver. For example, the server 10 determines the one approver who has the most available schedule information among the approvers within a predetermined period (for example, within one hour) based on the time when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required. do.

For example, if there is only one approver working at the time when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required, the server 10 determines that the approver is the representative approver.

For example, if there are two or more approvers who are at work at the time when it is determined that approval of an e-mail is required, the server 10 may select one approver who is located within the company among the two or more approvers. If so, one approver located within the company is determined to be the representative approver.

For example, if the approver who is at work is absent and there is only one approver located within the company at the time when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required, the server 10 Determine the approver as the representative approver.

For example, if there are two or more approvers who are at work at the time it is determined that e-mail approval is required, or if an approver located within the company If there are two or more approvers at work, or approvers located within the company, the e-mail will be approved within a predetermined period (e.g. Within one hour), the one approver with the most available schedule information is determined as the representative approver.

Note that if the approver who is at work is absent and the approver located within the company is absent at the time when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is necessary, the server 10 determines that approval of the e-mail is required. Within a predetermined period (for example, within one hour) from the time when it is determined that the approver has the most availability in schedule information, the approver is determined to be the representative approver.

Further, the server 10 may be configured to set in advance whether or not to accept approval requests for each user, and control users who do not accept approval requests to be excluded from the representative approver. In order to accurately determine whether or not to approve, if there is a user who does not accept the approval request among the multiple approvers set in association with the sender, the remaining users will be the users who will accept the approval request. shall be.

Note that if there is no representative approver, the server 10 may notify the sender user that there is no representative approver. In such a case, control may be performed to accept the selection of one representative approver from a plurality of approvers from the sending user.

9.5 Presentation of Representative Approver Candidates When it is determined that approval of an e-mail is required, the server 10 of this embodiment selects one representative approver from among a plurality of approvers from the sender user. Although an example in which a representative approver is accepted has been described, one representative approver candidate among a plurality of approvers may be presented to the sender user before accepting the selection of one representative approver.

For example, the server 10 presents the optimal representative approver candidate among the plurality of approvers A, B, and C in the notification email 60 for the sending user X to select a representative approver. For example, if the representative approver candidate is user A, a message such as "User A is the best representative approver candidate" is added in the representative approver selection field 64 of the notification email 60. In this way, the sender user X can easily decide which representative approver to select.

The method by which the server 10 extracts representative approver candidates is similar to the method of automatically selecting a representative approver based on computer control (CPU control) described above. That is, the server 10 extracts one representative approver candidate from among the plurality of approvers based on the behavior information of the plurality of approvers.

Note that if there is no representative approver candidate, the server 10 may notify the sender user that there is no representative approver candidate.

Further, when the representative approver is automatically selected by the computer, if there is no representative approver, the server 10 allows the sending user to select one approver from among a plurality of approvers as the representative approver. You can do it like this.

9.6 Example of one approver As shown in FIG. 3, the server 10 of this embodiment sets a plurality of approvers in association with the sender user. You may also set up one approver. If there is only one approver, the process of accepting the selection of a representative approver from the sender user is omitted, and that single approver is determined as the representative approver.

9.7 Omission of Processing to Accept Approver Selection When the server 10 of this embodiment displays the viewing status of other approvers, it is possible to avoid conflicting instructions from each approver. Therefore, when the server 10 displays the viewing status, the process of accepting the selection of a representative approver may be omitted. Also, if the selection of a representative approver is not accepted, there is no representative approver, so the process of notifying the representative approver of the approval request itself may be omitted, or the process of notifying the approval request to each approver may be omitted. You can do it like this.

9.8 Control based on rules In this embodiment, rules (predetermined conditions) are provided to determine whether approval is required, and an example of a hold process that requires approval by an approver different from the sender when the rules are met. However, various rules may be set and processing may be performed when the rules apply.

For example, the server 10 may set rules for determining the necessity of self-approval suspension (suspension for a predetermined period) and rules for determining the necessity of immediate delivery. If the received e-mail satisfies the rules for determining whether self-approval-type hold is necessary, the server 10 holds the received e-mail for a predetermined period (for example, 10 minutes) and delivers it after the elapse of the predetermined period. Furthermore, if the received e-mail satisfies the rules for determining whether immediate delivery is necessary, the server 10 delivers the e-mail immediately. Each rule may be given a priority, and the rules may be applied in order of priority.

9.9 List Screen The server 10 displays at least one of the "Accept" button, which accepts approval, and the "Reference" button, which only provides reference but does not accept approval, in place of the "Consider" button on the list screen. Good too.

For example, when the server 10 first accepts "acceptance" from one logged-in approver (for example, user A) for a held email (for example, held email ID=001), the server 10 accepts "acceptance" from one logged-in approver (for example, user A), and another logged-in approver (for example, user A) For example, a "reference" button may be displayed on the list screens 81B and 81C for users B and C, respectively, without displaying "underwriting".

Further, the server 10 may display the user who accepted the "acceptance" as the "acceptance user" in association with the pending mail ID on the list screen or the instruction acceptance screen.

Further, the server 10 may display the user who accepted the "reference" as a "reference user" in association with the pending mail ID on the list screen or the instruction acceptance screen.

Note that the "underwriting user" does not need to be the representative approver. For example, even if the representative approver is busy and it is difficult to select another approver as the representative approver for each e-mail that is waiting for approval, a user who has free time may actively You can accept instructions to approve or reject emails that are waiting for approval.

Note that if the underwriting user (the approver A who accepted the "underwriting") closes the list screen or the instruction acceptance screen without giving an approval instruction or a denial instruction (the Web connection between the server 10 and the terminal 20 (If the session on the server is interrupted), you may cancel the acceptance and return to the initial state of displaying the "Accept" button and the "Browse" button, or you may leave the acceptance as it is for a predetermined period or permanently. It is also possible to hold it in a fixed manner.

9.10 Approval Request In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. , a link (URL, etc.) to a list screen that can be viewed by Representative Approver A, and a link to a screen that accepts instructions for pending approval email 70 (Pending Email ID = 001) from Representative Approver A. An approval request email 70 including a URL (URL, etc.) may be generated.

9.11 Regarding URLs Each of the URLs (for example, URLs 75, 76, 78, 79, etc.) described in this embodiment may be replaced with various functions (hyperlinks such as buttons, text, images, etc.) using HTML. That is, the server 10 may be accessible not only by a URL but also by a link such as a button, text, image, or the like. That is, each URL may be linked to a button, text, or image, and the viewer may select the button, text, or image to access the linked URL.

10. Others The present invention is not limited to what was described in the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible. For example, terms cited as broad or synonymous terms in the description or drawings can be replaced with broad or synonymous terms in other descriptions in the specification or drawings.

The present invention includes configurations that are substantially the same as those described in the embodiments (for example, configurations that have the same functions, methods, and results, or configurations that have the same objectives and effects). Further, the present invention includes a configuration in which non-essential parts of the configuration described in the embodiments are replaced. Further, the present invention includes a configuration that has the same effects or a configuration that can achieve the same purpose as the configuration described in the embodiment. Further, the present invention includes a configuration in which a known technique is added to the configuration described in the embodiment.

As mentioned above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, but those skilled in the art will easily understand that many modifications can be made without substantially departing from the novelty and effects of the present invention. . Therefore, all such modifications are included within the scope of the present invention.

10 servers, 20 terminals,
100 processing unit, 110 mail processing unit (MTA), 111 reception unit, 112 determination unit, 113 analysis unit, 114 reservation unit, 115 selection unit, 116 notification unit, 117 instruction reception unit, 118 delivery unit, 120 web processing unit, 121 Display control unit for administrator, 122 Display control unit for user, 123 Display control unit for sender, 124 Display control unit for approver, 130 Database processing unit, 170 Storage unit, 172 User DB, 173 Pending mail storage area, 174 History DB, 175 Rule DB, 210 Web browser, 211 MUA

Claims (7)

A program for a server that delivers e-mail,
a reception section that accepts e-mails sent from the sender;
a determination unit that determines whether approval of the email is necessary based on predetermined conditions;
a holding unit that holds delivery of the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required;
a selection unit that accepts selection of one representative approver from a plurality of approvers when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required;
a notification unit that notifies the representative approver of an approval request;
an instruction receiving unit that receives an approval instruction or a denial instruction for the suspended e-mail from at least one of the plurality of approvers;
control for delivering the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required and the instruction received first from one of the plurality of approvers is an approval instruction; or, when the first instruction received from one of the plurality of approvers is a denial instruction, causing the computer to function as a delivery unit that performs control to cancel the delivery of the e-mail. A program featuring. In claim 1,
The selection section is
A program characterized in that a selection of one representative approver among a plurality of approvers is accepted from the sender user. In claim 1,
The selection section is
A program characterized in that a selection of one representative approver among the plurality of approvers is accepted based on behavior information of the plurality of approvers. In any one of claims 1 to 3,
The selection section is
receiving from the representative approver a selection of one approver from other approvers other than the representative approver, and making the selected approver a new representative approver in place of the representative approver;
The notification section is
A program characterized by notifying the new representative approver of an approval request. In any one of claims 1 to 4,
A control for displaying a list screen of e-mails waiting for approval that requires each approver to give an approval instruction or a disapproval instruction; causing the computer to further function as an approver display control unit that controls displaying an instruction acceptance screen for issuing an approval instruction or a denial instruction;
The approver display control unit includes:
A program for displaying, on at least one of the list screen and the instruction acceptance screen, a viewing status indicating that another approver is viewing the instruction acceptance screen for an e-mail waiting for approval. A program for a server that delivers e-mail,
a reception section that accepts e-mails sent from the sender;
a determination unit that determines whether approval of the email is necessary based on predetermined conditions;
a holding unit that holds delivery of the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required;
an instruction receiving unit that receives an approval instruction or denial instruction for the suspended e-mail from at least one approver of a plurality of approvers;
control for delivering the e-mail when it is determined that approval of the e-mail is required and the instruction received first from one of the plurality of approvers is an approval instruction; a delivery unit that performs control to cancel delivery of the e-mail when the first instruction received from one of the plurality of approvers is a denial instruction;
A control for displaying a list screen of e-mails waiting for approval that requires each approver to give an approval instruction or a disapproval instruction; causing the computer to function as an approver display control unit that controls displaying an instruction acceptance screen for issuing an approval instruction or a denial instruction;
The approver display control unit includes:
A program for displaying, on at least one of the list screen and the instruction acceptance screen, a viewing status indicating that another approver is viewing the instruction acceptance screen for an e-mail waiting for approval. A storage unit storing the program according to any one of claims 1 to 6;
A server comprising: a processor for executing the program.

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