JP4909811B2 - Dynamic integrated monitoring system for business processes - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a dynamic integrated monitoring system for business processes that dynamically monitors the operating status of a business system that is systematized by modeling business processes using BPM (Business Process Modeling) in order to visualize the business processes. Is.

  The Companies Act, which mandates internal control of large corporations, has been enforced, and it is necessary for each company to visualize all business processes and to monitor the operational status. In order to visualize business processes, attention is paid to BPM that models business as a process flow. In BPM, KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is set for the process you want to monitor, systemized by some method, and the process operation status is collected and displayed by BAM (Business Activity Monitoring). Understand the operational status of

In modeling in BPM, UML (Unified Modeling Language) and BPMN (Business
Visualize business processes as process flow charts using Process Modeling Notation. In the modeling process, first, the current business form is drawn as an “AsIs” model, and the “AsIs” model is brought closer to the “ToBe model” that should be, without considering systematization factors.

  SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is attracting attention as a way of thinking about systematizing the process flow modeled by BPM. In SOA, the process flow modeled in BPM is subdivided into “services”, which are implementation units corresponding to each process, and converted into a process execution description language such as BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) to execute the process. Run on the engine. The process execution engine works in conjunction with the BAM and monitors the operation status of the process.

  However, the process flow diagram such as BPMN created by the “ToBe model” from the viewpoint of the user is a diagram that is described without considering the systematization elements. In actual systematization, the process execution description such as BPEL is described. There is a drawback that it is not easy to convert to a language. For example, there are a process that is systematized by linking with a business system of another department that is already systematized and operating, and a process in which a person manually processes a slip without being systematized. The main factor that causes differences in systematizing the process flow chart is the difference in the purpose between the language for modeling and the language for process execution control. Differences occur.

  FIG. 6 is an example showing a flow chart of a process created from the user viewpoint using BPMN. Business personnel are composed of an operator 101, a business system 102, and another department system 103. When the business system 102 is constructed, the business system 102 performs a business process in cooperation with the operator 101 and other department systems 103 while exchanging messages. Among these, the operator 101 is a process performed by a human and is a non-systemized area. The other department system 103 is a black-boxed system area that has already been constructed and is operating and cannot be renewed. The messages 121, 122, 123, and 124 indicate messages that are exchanged asynchronously between business parties. Message waiting 111, 115, 118, 119 is a process of waiting for each message as an asynchronous event. The business process includes a confirmation response 112, initial processing 113, processing request 114, business processing 116, confirmation request 117, processing request 120, and processing result notification 121.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which the flow chart of the user viewpoint described in BPMN in FIG. 6 is systematized using BPEL. The range to be systemized is only the business system 102. The business system 102 is expanded to a service granularity and is converted into a business system process flowchart 201. 6 differs from FIG. 7 in that the business process 116 in FIG. 6 is different from the condition determination 205, service B in FIG.
206, service C 207, and service D 208. In general, a process flowchart created from the user's viewpoint has a different granularity from the process flowchart created when systematizing, and includes non-systematized elements such as other systems in which internal processing cannot be grasped and human systems.

  As shown in Patent Document 1, a method for realizing BAM in the case of cooperation with other systems or including non-system elements of a human system, as shown in Patent Document 1, by placing an agent, messages exchanged between the Web screen and the system, A method of monitoring the operation status of systemization by monitoring human key operations and acquiring a KPI value is known.

For the difference in the process flow diagram due to the difference in purpose, as shown in Patent Document 2, the correspondence between the process flow diagram created from the user's viewpoint and the systemized process execution flow diagram is defined as mapping logic. In addition, a method for generating source code including logic capable of returning a KPI value to a process flowchart created from the viewpoint of a user when the process is executed is known.
JP 2006-189960 A JP 2005-166038 A

  By the way, in BPM, KPI should be set from the user's viewpoint, the operational status of the business process should be monitored, and the process should be improved. For this purpose, the KPI value from the BAM needs to be fed back to the process flowchart created from the user's viewpoint.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a difference between a KPI value feedback cycle required when business improvement is performed from the user's viewpoint and a case where the KPI value is fed back from the process execution history collected from the process execution engine. Due to the difference between FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, there is a difference between the process flow diagram 301 created from the user's viewpoint and the process flow diagram 302 created at the time of systemization, but the process execution log collected by the BAM 305 Since it is the execution result of the executed process, the BAM 305 can feed back the KPI value from the process execution log to the process flowchart 302 created at the time of systemization (arrow 314). There was a problem that it was not possible to feed back to the process flow diagram 301 (arrow 315).

  In FIG. 8, when there is a change in the flow of the business process, first, the process flowchart 301 created from the user's viewpoint is changed, and the change affects the process flowchart 302 created at the time of systemization. It is necessary to investigate the affected area and make changes corresponding to the affected area. Due to such a change, it is necessary to investigate the range of influence on the program code embedded in each process in order to obtain the KPI value, and if necessary, the program code etc. need to be changed. It was.

In view of the above situation, the present invention goes to the process flowchart created from the user viewpoint without writing the program code for obtaining the KPI value when the process flowchart created from the user viewpoint is systematized. It is an object of the present invention to provide a dynamic integrated monitoring system for business processes that can feed back KPI values.
In addition, the present invention provides a KPI without writing a program code for acquiring a KPI value even in a case where other systems in which internal processing cannot be grasped when systematized or a non-systemized element such as a human system is included. The purpose is to feed back the value.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following configurations.
The invention according to claim 1 is a modeling support mechanism for supporting creation of a process flow chart created from a user viewpoint, and a process of converting the process flow chart created from the user viewpoint into a systemized process flow chart An execution description languageization support mechanism, a process execution mechanism for executing a systemized process, a process execution log output mechanism for outputting a process execution log, a BAM mechanism for collecting the operation status of the process, and the process execution log Dynamic integration of business processes with a process execution log storage means for storing the process execution log output by the output mechanism, a repository mechanism for storing process information, and a process operation status display mechanism for displaying the operation status of the process A monitoring system,
The modeling support mechanism includes means for registering in the repository mechanism a KPI assigned to an element of a process created from the user's viewpoint;
Means for registering, in the repository mechanism, process activity information including a unique process identifier assigned to an element of a process created from the user's viewpoint and related information associated with the KPI;
The process execution description verbalization support mechanism includes means for adding subprocess information to the process activity information when there is a subprocess to be expanded when the process created from the user viewpoint is systemized,
The BAM mechanism has means for obtaining a process identifier of a process flow diagram created from the user perspective;
Means for obtaining process activity information matching the process identifier from the repository mechanism;
Means for obtaining an execution log of a process stored in the process execution log storage means;
When the sub-process information of the process execution log is present in the process activity information and the KPI corresponding to the process identifier is set in the process activity information, the process activity information includes the process execution log. Means for adding related KPI values,
The process operation status display mechanism includes means for displaying, as a process operation status, a KPI value of a process that matches the process identifier in a process flowchart created from the user's viewpoint. It provides a dynamic integrated monitoring system for processes.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the process execution description verbalization support mechanism includes at least one of reuse as a process of another department system and an existing system, correspondence with a human process, and addition of a non-functional process. 2. The dynamic integrated monitoring system for business processes according to claim 1, further comprising means for converting as a flow chart of a systemized process having a service granularity that can be executed by the process execution mechanism. It is.

According to the dynamic integrated monitoring system for business processes according to the present invention, when a process flow chart created from a user perspective is systemized, it is created from a user perspective without writing a program code for acquiring a KPI value. The KPI value can be fed back onto the process flow diagram.
In addition, the present invention provides a KPI without writing a program code for acquiring a KPI value even in a case where other systems in which internal processing cannot be grasped when systematized or a non-systemized element such as a human system is included. The value can be fed back.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings showing examples.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a dynamic integrated monitoring system for business processes according to an embodiment of the present invention. The BPM is systematized by proceeding from the top down, monitoring the operating status of the system, and using the results, the cycle process of returning to modeling and improving the work requires a plurality of mechanisms corresponding to each process. .

  As shown in FIG. 1, the dynamic integrated monitoring system for business processes according to the present embodiment is created from a modeling support mechanism 401 for supporting creation of a process flow chart created from the user's viewpoint, and created from the user's viewpoint. BPEL support mechanism 402, which is a process execution description languageization support mechanism that converts the process flow diagram into a systemized process flow diagram, a process execution mechanism 403 that executes the systemized process, and a process execution log is output A process execution log output mechanism 404, a BAM mechanism 405 that collects the operation status of the process, a process execution log storage means 406 that stores the process execution log output by the process execution log output mechanism 404, a repository mechanism 407 that stores process information, Process operating status table that displays the operating status of processes It is constituted by the mechanism 410. The repository mechanism 407 includes a KPI information storage unit 408 and a process mapping information storage unit 409. The BPEL support mechanism 402 is an example when a process execution mechanism 403 corresponding to BPEL is used. When a process execution mechanism corresponding to another language is used, the BPEL support mechanism 402 becomes an editor for the language.

  In FIG. 1, mechanisms having an interface related to a user are a modeling support mechanism 401, a BPEL support mechanism 402, and a process operation status display mechanism 410. The modeling support mechanism 401 takes the form of an editor capable of editing graphics, for example, and supports the creation of a process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint. The format of the process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint includes BPMN and UML.

  The difference between the modeling support mechanism 401 and the so-called “drawing” editor is that a unique process identifier assigned to each process element in the process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint as a modeling result is stored in the repository. The point is that it is registered in the process mapping information storage unit 409 in the mechanism 407. Another difference is that the KPI assigned to each process element is registered in the KPI information storage unit 408 in the repository mechanism 407. Normally, the process identifier and KPI are included in the output result of the modeling support mechanism 401 and are used for systemization. However, in the present invention, the repository mechanism 407 is centrally managed.

  A process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint created by the modeling support mechanism 401 is transferred to the BPEL support mechanism 402 via BPMN, XPDL (XML-Based Process Definition Language), coarse BPEL, etc. The BPEL support mechanism 402 converts the process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint into a systemized process flowchart 412. The process flow chart 411 created from the user's perspective is created without considering systemization, so it can be reused as a process of other department systems or existing systems, compatible with human processes, non-functional systems This is re-expressed as a flow chart 412 of a systemized process of service granularity that can be executed by the process execution mechanism 403, such as addition of a process.

  The difference between the BPEL support mechanism 402 and a general BPEL editor is that the BPEL support mechanism 402 registers the process flow details and change operations in the process mapping information storage unit 409 in the repository mechanism 407. is there. The presence of the process mapping information storage unit 409 maintains the correspondence between the systemized process flowchart 412 and the process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint.

  After implementing a service called from the BPEL output by the BPEL support mechanism 402, the system is executed according to the BPEL. At the time of execution of BPEL, the execution log output mechanism 404 attached to the process execution mechanism 403 accumulates the execution status of each service in the process execution log storage unit 406. Among the services called from BPEL, when the other department system or the existing system is reused as a part of the process, or the process execution log of the human system process, the corresponding execution log output mechanism 404 is prepared, and the execution status Are stored in the process execution log storage means 406.

  An object of the present invention is to feed back the operating status of a system to a process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint. In order to realize the object, a KPI information storage unit 408 and a process mapping information storage unit 409 are installed in the repository mechanism 407 of FIG.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the data structure of the KPI information storage unit 408 and the process mapping information storage unit 409 in the repository mechanism 407.
Process activity information 501 is created for each process element in the flowchart 411 of the process created from the user's viewpoint. The process activity information 501 is used as a basic unit for KPI setting and process operation status monitoring. The process activity information 501 is distinguished from other process activity information by a unique process identifier (BPID).

  Further, the process activity information 501 has a KPI information array 502 composed of entries in which KPI information and KPI values are paired with respect to the KPI set for the process element. The KPI information array 502 is stored in the KPI information storage unit 408, and the process activity information 501 stored in the process mapping information storage unit 409 has a pointer to KPI information associated with the KPI information array 502. When no KPI is set for the process element, the KPI information array 502 is empty. Further, the process activity information 501 is a sub-process information array 503 configured by entries of sub-process information (SPID) for identifying the sub-process when the process is detailed as a sub-process or the like at the time of systemization. It has. The sub-process information array 503 further has a sub-process information array 504 having the same format when sub-processes that are array elements are hierarchized and detailed. The same applies to the case where a plurality of hierarchies are used.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart when a process is added in the process of creating a flowchart 411 of a process created from the user's viewpoint using the modeling support mechanism 401.
In FIG. 3, a business process 612 is added in a part 611 of the process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint. The flow in this case is as follows.
A unique process identifier is assigned to the business process 612, and an entry of process activity information is created and registered in the repository mechanism 407 (step 601).
It is determined whether there is a KPI to be set for the business process 612 (step 602). If there is a KPI set in step 602, an entry for KPI information is added to the KPI information array 502 and registered in the repository mechanism 407 (step 603).
If there is no KPI set in step 602, the process ends.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart in the case of using the BPEL editor to refine the process when creating a flowchart for systematization. In FIG. 4, a business process 712 (corresponding to the business process 612) in a part of the flow chart 711 (corresponding to the flowchart 611) created from the user's viewpoint is detailed and systematized. The flow in the case of developing in the flowchart 713 created at this time is as follows.
An entry of the process activity information 501 corresponding to the process to be refined is acquired from the repository mechanism 407 using the process identifier as a key (step 701).
It is determined whether there is a sub-process to be developed by refining the process (step 702).
If there is a subprocess to be expanded in step 702, an entry of subprocess information is added to the subprocess information array 503 and registered in the repository mechanism 407 (step 703).
If there is no subprocess to be set in step 702, the process is terminated.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart in the case of displaying the process operation status on the process flowchart 411 from the user's viewpoint.
A process identifier corresponding to one process in the flowchart 411 of the process created from the user viewpoint is obtained (step 801).
Using the process identifier obtained in step 801 as a key, an entry of process activity information 501 corresponding to the process to be refined is acquired from the repository mechanism 407 (step 802).
It is checked whether or not the process execution log is stored in the process execution log storage unit 406. If the process execution log is stored, the process proceeds to step 804. If not stored, all the stored process execution logs are stored. When processing 804 to 807 described later is completed, the process proceeds to step 808 (step 803).
If the process execution log is stored in step 803, one process execution log is sequentially acquired from the process execution log storage means (step 804).
It is checked whether or not the sub-process information that is the output source of the process execution log acquired in step 804 exists in the sub-process information array 503 in the process activity information 501, and if the sub-process information exists in the sub-process information array 503 The process proceeds to step 806, and if it does not exist, the process returns to step 803 (step 805).
In step 805, if the sub-process information exists in the sub-process information array 503, it is checked whether there is a KPI setting corresponding to the process identifier. If there is a KPI setting, the process proceeds to step 807. The process returns to step 803 (step 806).

If there is a KPI setting in step 806, the KPI value related to the process execution log is added in the KPI information array 502 in the process activity information 501, and the process returns to step 803 (step 807).
If it is determined in step 803 that all stored process execution logs have completed the processes 804 to 807, a process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint is displayed on the screen of the process operation status display mechanism 410. Then, the KPI values obtained in steps 801 to 807 are displayed as the KPI values of process elements on the process flowchart 411 created from the user's viewpoint (step 808).

It is the schematic of the dynamic integrated monitoring system of the business process concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a data structure figure of the repository mechanism concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure in the case of adding a process to the flowchart of the process produced from the user viewpoint concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure in the case of refining a process at the time of preparation of the flowchart at the time of systematization concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure in the case of displaying the process operating status concerning embodiment of this invention on the flowchart of the process from a user viewpoint. It is an example figure of the flow of the process from a user viewpoint created using BPMN. It is an example figure of the flow of the systematized process created using BPEL. It is explanatory drawing which shows the feedback destination of the KPI value using BPM and BAM.

Explanation of symbols

401 Modeling Support Mechanism 403 Process Execution Mechanism 404 Process Execution Log Output Mechanism 405 BAM Mechanism 406 Process Execution Log Storage Unit 407 Repository Mechanism 410 Process Operation Status Display Mechanism 411 Flowchart of Process Created from User Viewpoint 412 Flowchart of Systemized Process 501 Process activity information

Claims (2)

A modeling support mechanism for supporting creation of a process flow diagram created from a user perspective, a process execution description languageization support mechanism for converting the process flow diagram created from the user perspective into a systemized process flow diagram, A process execution mechanism that executes a systemized process, a process execution log output mechanism that outputs a process execution log, a BAM mechanism that collects an operation status of the process, and a process execution log output by the process execution log output mechanism A process execution log storage means for storing process information, a repository mechanism for storing process information, and a process operation status display mechanism for displaying the operation status of a process.
The modeling support mechanism includes means for registering in the repository mechanism a KPI assigned to an element of a process created from the user's viewpoint;
Means for registering, in the repository mechanism, process activity information including a unique process identifier assigned to an element of a process created from the user's viewpoint and related information associated with the KPI;
The process execution description verbalization support mechanism includes means for adding subprocess information to the process activity information when there is a subprocess to be expanded when the process created from the user viewpoint is systemized,
The BAM mechanism has means for obtaining a process identifier of a process flow diagram created from the user perspective;
Means for obtaining process activity information matching the process identifier from the repository mechanism;
Means for obtaining an execution log of a process stored in the process execution log storage means;
When the sub-process information of the process execution log is present in the process activity information and the KPI corresponding to the process identifier is set in the process activity information, the process activity information includes the process execution log. Means for adding related KPI values,
The process operation status display mechanism includes means for displaying, as a process operation status, a KPI value of a process that matches the process identifier in a process flowchart created from the user's viewpoint. Dynamic integrated monitoring system for processes.   The process execution description language support mechanism can execute at least one of the reuse of processes in other departmental systems and existing systems, compatibility with human processes, and addition of non-functional processes by the process execution mechanism. 2. The dynamic integrated monitoring system for a business process according to claim 1, further comprising means for converting as a flow chart of a systemized process having various service granularities.

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