JPH08305750A - Work supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce the labor and time for manual input while holding consistency and to reduce also revision omission or an error by storing only working information (work input information and work output information) and its dependence relation in a computer and automatically generating work item and working procedure. CONSTITUTION: This work supporting device is provided with a graph expressing work input and output information 1 and dependence relation 2a between these information 1 by arcs (working procedure), a means for adding a work items 3 detected and extracted from the graph to the graph, a means for collecting the work items 3 of arcs having the same node as their terminals in the added graph, a means for adding an arc (working procedure) 4 having the nodes of the work item 3 of the collected graph as start and end point, and a means for extracting only the work item 3 and the arc (working procedure) 4 from the added graph and generating a new graph.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention uses a graph in which work input information, work output information, and dependency relationships are represented by arcs.
The present invention relates to a work support device that automatically generates a graph showing a work item and an arc (work procedure).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional work support apparatus is, for example, a relation between a work and a work procedure shown in FIG. 16A, a relation between work input information and work output information shown in FIG. 16B, and a work shown in FIG. And the work input information and the work output information are independently managed on the computer. The configuration of FIG. 16 will be briefly described below.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory view of the prior art. FIG.
6A shows the work and the work procedure. Here, “design” and “program creation” represent work (work name), and arc represents work procedure (work procedure of creating a program after design).

FIG. 16B shows the relationship between work input information and work output information. Here, "specifications" represent work input information depending on the direction of the arc, and "program"
Represents work output information.

FIG. 16C shows the dependency relationship between the work and the work input information and the work output information. Here, as shown in the figure, the work output information of the work name "design" is "specifications", the work input information of the work name "program creation" is "specifications", and the work output information is "programs". Indicates that there is.

[0006]

As described above, conventionally, as shown in FIGS. 16 (a), 16 (b) and 16 (c), each is managed independently on the computer.
When the administrator changes to work input information and work output information,
Not only the corresponding work input information and work output information in FIG. 16B are changed, but also the work and work procedure in FIG.
In particular, the work procedure is often changed, and there is a problem that the work procedure must be changed accordingly. Further, when the subdivision of the work procedure of FIG. 16 (a) is manually input, the work input information and work output information of FIG. 16 (b) are often changed, which is also changed manually. There was a problem that I had to do it.

In this way, as shown in FIG.
In the case of independent management on a computer as in (b) and (c), if one is changed by manual input, the other also needs to be changed by manual input. There was also a problem that it was easy to make appropriate changes.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention holds only work information (work input information and work output information) and its dependencies on a computer, automatically creates work items and work procedures, and provides consistency. The purpose of this is to reduce the trouble of manual input while maintaining the value, and to reduce the omission of changes and errors.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems] Means for solving the problems will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, work information 1 is work input information and work output information, and work input information and work output information in a graph in which a dependency relationship 2 between them is represented by an arc (see FIG. 2).

Work item 3 is the work item in the graph representing the work procedure 4 of the work item by an arc (see FIG. 3).

[0011]

According to the present invention, a graph in which work input information and work output information which are work information 1 and dependency relation 2 between them is represented by an arc is input (S1), and the work items detected and extracted from this graph are extracted. After adding (S2), the work items of arcs that terminate the same node in the graph after this addition are summarized (S3), and the arcs that have the nodes of work item 3 of this summarized graph as the start point and end point (work procedure 4 ) Is added (S4), and only the work item 3 and the arc (work procedure 4) are taken out from the graph after this addition to generate a graph (S).
6) I am doing so.

At this time, the redundant arc (work procedure 4) is removed from the graph after the arc (work procedure 4) is added (S).
After 5), only the work item 3 and the arc (work procedure 4) are extracted from this graph to generate a graph (S6).

Also, a graph (S6) generated by extracting only the work item 3 and the arc (work procedure 4) from the graph is presented, and the work input information which is the work information 1, the work output information, or the dependency relation between them. It is reprocessed and presented again in response to the correction, addition or deletion of item 2.

Therefore, by maintaining only the work information (work input information and work output information) 1 and its dependency 2 on the computer and automatically generating the work item 3 and the work procedure 4, it is possible to maintain consistency. It is possible to reduce the time and effort for manual input and reduce changes and errors.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the construction and operation of an embodiment of the present invention will be sequentially described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, S1 fetches the work information 1 and the dependency relationship 2. As shown in FIG. 2, which will be described later, this takes in work information 1 that is information of the node when represented by a graph and dependency 2 represented by an arc (arrow).

In S2, work item 3 is detected and extracted from the arc. This is to detect the work item 1 from the arc (dependency relationship 2) of the graph of FIG. 2 fetched in S1, and to detect the work item 3 as a node (represented by an ellipse) of the graph of FIG. 4 described later at this stage. (The actual name (work name) of this work item 3 is determined by referring to the dictionary in step S7 or determined by the name (work name) input by the administrator).

The work item 3 is detected from the arc (dependency relationship 2) in the graph (work information 1 and the graph representing the dependence relationship 2) of FIG. 2 captured in S1 described above, and the graph of FIG. 4 is generated.

In S3, work items 3 of arcs terminating at the same node are put together. This is shown in FIG. 4 generated in S2.
In the graph, the work item 3 of an arc terminating at the same node, for example, the work item 3 of an arc terminating at the node “shipping content” • producer (shipping content) = consumer (program) = Consumer (specification) -producer (shipping content) = consumer (test package) are summarized as shown in Fig. 6. Where cons
The umer () is work input information as described later with reference to FIG. 4, and the producer () is work output information as described later with reference to FIG.

In step S4, an arc (work procedure 4) is added between the work items 3 of the arcs whose start and end points are nodes. This adds an arc (work procedure 4) between work items 3 of an arc having a node as a start point / end point, as shown by an arc (work procedure 4) indicated by a thick line in FIG. 6 described later.

In step S5, redundant arcs (work procedure) are removed. This removes the redundant arc (work procedure) of the dotted line, as shown in FIG. 6 described later. In S6, only the work item and arc (work procedure 4) are taken out. This takes out only the work item 3 and the arc (work procedure 4) from the graph of FIG. 6 described later, and creates a new graph shown in FIG. 7.

In step S7, the work item name is input. this is,
Work item name of the node in the graph of FIG. 7 (for example, “design”)
Is set by referring to a dictionary (not shown), and if it is not in the dictionary, the administrator is prompted to input the input work item name.

At S8, confirmation is made. As described above, it is possible to automatically generate the graph in which the work information 1 and its dependency relationship 2 are represented by arcs, and the work item 3 and its work procedure 4 are represented in arcs.

In step S9, it is determined whether it is good. This is done by displaying on the screen a graph representing the work item 3 and its work procedure 4 of FIG. If YES, the process ends (E). On the other hand, if NO, the process proceeds to S10.

In step S10, work item 3 and arc (work procedure 4) are added / deleted. This is to display on the screen a graph representing the automatically generated work item 3 and its work procedure 4 in FIG. 7 on the screen, and the administrator can add the shortage work item 3 and arc (work procedure 4), Excess work item 3 and arc (work procedure 4) are deleted (see FIG. 13).

In step S11, it is determined whether the information output in the work before the added work item is used as the input information. S12
Determines only certain information as input information, adds an arc (see FIG. 14), and repeats S8 and subsequent steps.

The above NO of S9 and S10 to S12 are repeated to correct the automatically generated work item 3 and the graph representing the work procedure by an arc. As a result, the work information 1 and its dependency 2 captured in S1 are added when there is insufficient information in the graph, and deleted when there is extra information. It is possible to easily modify the work procedure 4 into a graph having an arc. The details will be sequentially described below.

FIG. 2 shows an example of work information and dependency relationships according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, work information 1 is composed of work input information and work output information, and corresponds to a node on the graph. The work input information is, for example, a "specification document", and the work output information at that time is, for example, a "program". Similarly, the "program" is work input information, and the "shipment content" is work output information.

The dependency relationship 2 represents the dependency relationship between the work input information and the work output information, and FIG. 3 corresponding to the arc on the graph shows a work item and a work procedure example of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, work item 3 is a work name and corresponds to a node on the graph. Work item 3
, As shown in the figure, "design", "coding",
"Integration test", "test package creation", "shipping preparation", "approval" are supported.

The work procedure 4 shows the relation of the work item 3, and corresponds to an arc on the graph. FIG.
Shows an example rule of the present invention. When only the work information 1 and its dependency 2 shown in the graph of FIG. 2 are given, the following rules are used when generating the work item 3 and the work procedure 4.

According to rule 1, all work information (work input information and work output information) 1 has one work item for outputting the information and at least one work item to be used as input. Here, the output work item of the work input / output information A is prod
ucer (A), the input work item is expressed as consumer (A), and both are expressed as work information 1.

When there are a plurality of output work items P ₁ , P ₂ , ... P _n for one work input / output information A, they are combined into one output work item P ^* . The output information of P ^* is A, and the input information is all the input information of P ₁ , P ₂ , ... P _n .

Here, if some of P is work input information in P, they must be removed. Those of which P is not work input information can work even if A is not output, but there is a difference that work of which A is work input information becomes possible only after A is output. Since the timing at which work becomes possible differs depending on the presence / absence of A (whether it has been output or not), it is necessary to collect only A as work input information.

Rule 2 is prod for the work input / output information A.
When there is a work procedure such as ucer (A) → consumer (A). Rule 3 is that when there is a direct dependency of A → B on the work input information A and B, consumer (A) = producer (B)
Is.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention (No. 1, work item extraction). This is an extraction of the work item 3 described with reference to FIG. 4 based on the graph of the work information 1 and its dependency 2 in FIG. For example, with respect to work item 1 “specification” on the graph of FIG. 2, rule 1 of FIG. Generate Further, with respect to the work item (work input / output information) “specification” and “program”, rule 3 in FIG. 4C is applied, and consumer (specification) = producer (program) is generated. On the left side of the graph in Fig. 5 including them together: ・ producer (specification) → specification → producer (program)
= Consumer (specification) is generated. Similarly, it becomes possible to automatically generate work items (work input / output information) as shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 by applying any one of the rules 1, 2, and 3.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention (No. 2, work procedure addition / redundant work procedure deletion). This is shown in Figure 2.
4 to apply any one of the rules 1, 2 and 3 in FIG. 4 to extract the work item (work input / output information) 3, match the work procedure 4 indicated by the bold arrow in the rule 2 in FIG. It is extracted and shown on the graph with a bold arrow in the figure, and the redundant work procedure 4 is deleted as shown by a dotted arrow. Conceptually speaking, a work item (work input / output information) 3 is automatically generated as shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 5, and an arc is added to the work procedure 4 from the higher order to the lower order of these work items 3. Is. Further, the dotted arrow is the one deleted as the redundant work procedure 4, and conceptually, the redundant one of the work information 1 to the work item 3 is deleted.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention (No. 3, work item / work procedure extraction). This is a graph in which work item 3 (only elliptical nodes) and work procedure 4 (only arcs of thick arrows) are extracted from the graph of FIG. 6 and the work item 3 and work procedure 4 graphs are automatically generated. . At the time of this automatic generation, work item 3 of the node (ellipse)
The name of is not set. The name of work item 3 of this node is set by searching the dictionary, for example, setting it as “design”, or if it is not found even after searching the dictionary, the fact is displayed on the screen, and the administrator is prompted to enter it. , Input the input name (for example, "design").

By comparing the work item 3 graph of FIG. 7 and the work procedure 4 graph with the target graph of FIG. 3, it is found that the “integration test” is not automatically extracted and is omitted. In this "integration test", all work items 3 other than the final work "approval" are always output information. Since there was no output information in this "integration test", it was found that it was not automatically extracted, and it was insufficient at the stage of FIG. 2 for inputting the work information (work input / output information) 1 and will be described later. As shown in FIG. 8, work information 1 “test result” may be added and reprocessed.

FIG. 8 shows another operation explanatory view (1) of the present invention. This is obtained by adding the "test result" and its dependency relationship to the work information 1 and its dependency relationship 2 in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining another operation of the present invention (No. 2, work item extraction). This is a graph in which the work item 3 is automatically extracted according to the flowchart of FIG. 1 from the graph of FIG.

FIG. 10 shows another operation explanatory diagram of the present invention (part 3, work item / work procedure extraction). This is the same as in FIG. 6 described above from FIG. 9, except that the work procedure 4 indicated by the thick arrow is automatically extracted and the redundant work procedure 4 indicated by the dotted line is deleted.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining another operation of the present invention (No. 4, work item / work procedure extraction). This is a graph generated by automatically extracting only the work item 3 and the work procedure 4 from FIG. 10, as in the case of FIG. 7 described above. When this graph is compared with the graph showing the target work item 3 and work procedure 4 in FIG. 3, it is found that they match.

As described above, when the graph showing the work information 1 and its dependency 2 in FIG. 2 is input, the graph showing the work item 3 and its work procedure 4 shown in FIG. 7 is automatically generated. In the graph, "Integration test" is not automatically extracted, and it is found that the output information is insufficient on the graph in Fig. 2. Therefore, when "Test result" is input and reprocessed as shown in Fig. 8, The graph of 11 is automatically generated, the graph of FIG. 11 and the target graph of FIG. 3 match, and it is possible to obtain a desired result.

FIG. 12 shows another operation explanatory diagram (11) of the present invention. This is a graph (a graph showing work item 3 and work procedure 4) when the “integration test” is omitted due to lack of work information (work input / output information) 1 called “test result”. Producer from FIG. 6 already mentioned
The name (work name) of work item 3 is set excluding / consumer.

FIG. 13 is another operation explanatory view (12) of the present invention. This is a state in which the "integration test" is included in FIG. The existence of the work information (work input / output information) 1 becomes clear by adding the name of the work item 3 (work name) “integration test” to the graph.

FIG. 14 shows another operation explanatory view (13) of the present invention. This is the work name “Integration test” in FIG.
Regarding the above, the work procedure 4 from the other work item 3 is added as a thick arrow in the figure. At this stage,
The work information 1 of the "integration test" is still unknown, but the "program output by the coding" and the "test package output by the test package creation" can be used as the work information (work input / output information) 1. Since the sex is known, these are presented to the administrator as candidates, and it is determined whether to use the selected one or use the newly defined work information 1. Here, as shown in FIG. 15, since both of the above are selected as the work input information of the work information 1 and the “test result” is defined as the work output information thereof, the graph shown in FIG. 15 is automatically generated. .

FIG. 15 shows another operation explanatory view (14) of the present invention. This is? As a candidate for the work input information in the work information 1 of the "Integrated test" with the following items: -Program-Test package is displayed. Since both are selected, an arc is provided between them as shown in the figure. Since the “test result” is defined and input as the work output information by the administrator, the graph is automatically created with the settings and arcs as shown in the figure. At this time, the arc of the dotted arrow is redundant and is therefore deleted.

From FIG. 12 to FIG. 15 above, FIG.
The same graph as the above is obtained, and if only the work item 3 and the work procedure 4 are extracted from this, the target graph of FIG. 11 can be obtained.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Only the work information (work input information and work output information) 1 and its dependency 2 are held on the computer, and the work item 3 and the work procedure 4 are automatically generated. It is possible to maintain the consistency between the input information and the work output information and the work procedure 4, while reducing the time and effort of manual input, and to avoid the change of either of them when the conventional separate management is performed. And errors can be reduced. With these, the work information (work input information and work output information) 1 and its dependency relationship 2 are centrally managed, the work item 3 and its work procedure 4 are automatically generated, and only the work information 1 and its dependency relationship 2 are updated. By doing so, it is possible to improve the reliability of the update well and save the time required for the update work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of work information and dependency relationships according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of work items and work procedures of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a rule of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of the present invention (No. 1, work item extraction)
Is.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the present invention (No. 2, work procedure addition /
Redundant work procedure deletion).

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram of the present invention (part 3, work item / work procedure extraction).

FIG. 8 is another operation explanatory view (1) of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is another operation explanatory view (No. 2, work item extraction) of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is another operation explanatory view of the present invention (part 3, work item / work procedure extraction).

FIG. 11 is another operation explanatory view of the present invention (No. 4, work item / work procedure extraction).

FIG. 12 is another operation explanatory diagram (11) of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is another diagram (No. 12) for explaining the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is another operation explanatory view (13) of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is another operation explanatory view (14) of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Work information (work input information, work output information) 2: Dependency 3: Work item 4: Work procedure

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A graph in which work input information, work output information, and dependency relationships between them are represented by arcs, a means for adding work items detected and extracted from the graph to the graph, and a graph after the addition. Of the work items of arcs ending at the same node among them, a means of adding arcs (work procedure) whose starting points and end points are the nodes of the work items of this summarized graph, and work from the graph after this addition Items and arcs (work procedure)
And a means for generating only a graph by taking out only the work supporting apparatus. 2. A means for removing a redundant arc (work procedure) from a graph after adding the arc (work procedure) and then extracting only work items and arcs (work procedure) from the graph to generate a graph. The work support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. A graph generated by extracting only work items and arcs (work procedure) from the graph is presented to support correction, addition, or deletion of work input information, work output information, or a dependency between them. The work support apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising means for reprocessing and re-presenting.