JPH10326306A - Item allocation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the item processing time by making an item processing worker take over by himself the items which are allocated to his own post and its higher rank posts. SOLUTION: Organization hierarchical information 211, item data 212 and item management information 213 are all stored in a storage device contained in a server computer. A user gives instructions to the server computer from a UI part 201 consisting of an interactive terminal via a network. The user's instructions are processed by a display information generation part 202 consisting of the server computer and an item management information updating part 203. An item processing worker takes over by himself the items allocated to his own post and its hither rank posts. Thus, the relevant item processing is quickly allocated to a proper worker. Meanwhile, a person in change of every post allocates the item to his lower rank position or his follower. Accordingly, it's possible to prevent such a case where the items are not taken over by any worker and stay as they are.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a case assignment system using an information processing apparatus, and in a work process in which a plurality of workers are divided into tasks, a case assignment system for determining a worker in charge of processing a case. It is about.

[0002] The present invention also relates to improvement of work efficiency in cooperative work using a computer as a medium for the purpose of improving productivity and functionality of a human process.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional technique related to the above-mentioned case assignment method, there is the following technique.

[0004] Operations Research October 1996 issue
pp.559-568 "About the Effectiveness of the Workflow Management System" is a product that allows you to set the flow of matter processing visually.
orkflow is mentioned. In this product, a specific case can be mechanically assigned to a specific worker by using a conditional branch. If the worker in charge determines that it is difficult to process the assigned matter, the worker can be returned to the assigned department.

[0005] In the above "Effectiveness of Workflow Management System", TeamWARE Flow Ver.1.0L11 of Fujitsu Ltd. is listed as a product that can change the flow of matter processing at an arbitrary timing for each matter. ing.
In this product, not only the assignment of the case by the conditional branch but also the worker can specify the assignment destination of the case.

[0006] Lotus c at http://www.lotus.com/
c: Mail implements a bulletin board that all workers can refer to. The bulletin board makes it possible for a worker to actively undertake the processing of the case by making the matter open to all workers on the bulletin board. Also, when it is determined that it is difficult for the worker to perform the processing of the case alone, the case is returned to the bulletin board again so that another worker can take over the processing of the case. It is possible to get.

[0007]

However, the above-mentioned Groupmax
In Workflow and TeamWARE Flow V.1.0L11,
There has been a problem that the assignment work is concentrated on a specific worker, and the assignment work takes time.

Further, in the cc: Mail bulletin board, if a worker cannot assign a case to another worker, and the worker does not actively take the case from the bulletin board, the case is not displayed. There has been a problem that the information stays on the bulletin board for a long time.

[0009]

In order to overcome the above problems, the present invention employs the following method.

[0010] In addition to list information of cases to be processed, hierarchical information of an organization that processes the cases is prepared. All workers belong to any department in the organizational hierarchy. Each department has at least one person in charge. Instead of individual workers, departments can be designated as assignment destinations, and a department assigned to each department can be assigned to a subordinate department, subordinate, or himself. The worker can view not only the case assigned to himself, but also the case directly assigned to the department to which he / she belongs, and the case assigned to a higher level department. In addition, the worker can assign to himself / herself the items assigned to the department to which he / she directly belongs and the departments above it.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a processing procedure in a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 shows a system functional configuration, and FIG. 3 shows a hardware configuration. As shown in FIG. 3, the organization hierarchy information (211), the case data (212), and the case management information (213) are all stored in the storage device (302) provided in the server computer (301). The user inputs the server computer (3) from the UI unit (201) realized by the interactive terminal (304) through the network (303).
01). The instruction is sent to the server computer (30
Processing is performed by the display information generation unit (202) and the case management information update unit (203) realized by 1). Hereinafter, the processing procedure of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In step 111, the user logs in to the system from the interactive terminal (304).

In step 101, the display information generation unit (2
In 02), the user who logged in in the previous step is specified from the organization hierarchy information (211), and the department to which the user belongs, the department higher than the user, and the matter assigned to the user himself are identified from the case management information (213). Extract. FIG.
Shows an example of organization hierarchy information (211). A square indicates a department, an arrow indicates a vertical relationship between the departments, a dotted line indicates that the department belongs to the department, a double circle indicates a person in charge of the department, and a circle indicates a worker belonging to the department. Here, a department R (401) exists as a top-level department, and departments Ra (402) and R-b (403) serve as direct subordinate departments of the top-level department.
Exists. Further, the department Ra-1 (404) directly reports to the department Ra, and the departments Rb-1 (405) and R-b-2 (406) report directly to the department Rb. Respectively exist. In addition, the responsible person A (411) in the department R,
The department R-b has a manager C (412) and a worker G (413).
, Respectively. FIG. 6 shows the case management information (21
The example of 3) is shown. The case management information includes a case ID column (601) for identifying each case, a case title column (602),
There is a charge column (603) indicating the current charge status, and a return column (604) indicating the return history. FIG.
Has registered a total of 10 cases, and the case ID is 1
For the case (611), the case title is “object α
"Indicates that the person in charge is the department R (612) and has no return history. Reference numeral 613 denotes that the person in charge of the case with the case ID 7 is the worker E, and 614 denotes the case ID.
61 indicates that 10 cases have already been processed, and 615 indicates that worker J and department R-b-1 have returned the case with case ID3.
Reference numeral 6 denotes that the worker K has returned the case with the case ID 5.

For example, the organization hierarchy information (211) is in the state shown in FIG. 4 and the case management information (213) is in FIG.
In the state shown by, the manager C of the department Rb (403)
When (411) logs in to the system, the case management information shown in FIG. 7 is extracted. Reference numeral 701 denotes a case assigned to a higher department of the department to which C belongs, 702 denotes a case assigned to the department to which C belongs, and 703 denotes a case assigned to C himself.

In step 102, the case management information extracted in the previous step is displayed on the interactive terminal (304).
FIG. 8 shows an example in which the information of FIG. 7 is displayed.

In step 112, the user selects a matter of interest from among the cases displayed in the previous step. If the user has logged out, the process proceeds to an end step.

In step 103, a list of operations that can be executed on the matter selected by the user in the previous step is displayed. For example, the person in charge C of the department R-b has the case ID shown in FIG.
Screen example (menu) displayed when item 1 is selected
Is shown in FIG. The operations that can be instructed when the person in charge of each department selects a matter assigned to a higher-level department include [Detailed Display] (901), [Receive] (90
2), [assignment] (903).
Reference numeral 911 denotes a symbol indicating that a selection menu appears when [assignment] is selected.

In step 113, the user selects one of the executable operations displayed in the previous step and instructs the operation on the case. The instruction is classified by the UI unit (201) into detailed display, return, takeover, and assignment, and the next step is determined according to the type of the instruction.

For example, in FIG. 9, when the user selects [detailed display], the process proceeds to step 104, and the details of the case are displayed. If [Pick Up] is selected, the process proceeds to step 105, and the charge of the case is changed to C. When [assignment] is selected, a menu for specifying an assignment destination is displayed as shown in FIG. Here, it is shown that the case can be assigned to [own department] (1001), [subordinate department] (1002), and [subordinate] (1003). Where [own department]
If is selected, the process proceeds to step 105, where the charge of the case is changed to the department R-b, which is the department to which C belongs.
When [Lower Department] is selected, a menu for designating a lower department of the department to which C belongs is displayed as shown in FIG. Here, the department [R-b-1] (1
101) and the department [R-b-2] (1102) are displayed.
If any department is selected, step 1
Proceeding to 05, the charge of the case is changed to the selected department.
Also, in FIG. 10, when [subordinate] is selected,
Further, a menu for designating subordinates is displayed as shown in FIG. Here, [E], [F],
[G], [J], [K], and [L] 's six names (120
1) is displayed. If any worker is selected, the process proceeds to step 105, and the charge of the case is changed to the selected worker.

Next, the menu displayed when the manager C of the department R-b selects the case with the case ID 3 in FIG. 8 is shown in FIG.
3 is shown. This is an operation that can be instructed when the person in charge of each department selects an item assigned to his / her department.
[Detailed display] (901), [Receive] (902),
In addition to [Assign] (903), [Return] (130
1) is added. Here, the operation when [Detailed Display] and [Takeover] are selected is exactly the same as when the item is selected in FIG. If [Return] is selected, the process proceeds to step 105, where the department R-b is added to the return information of the case, and the charge is changed to the department R which is a direct higher department of the department. When [assignment] is selected, a menu for specifying an assignment destination is further displayed as shown in FIG. In this case, unlike the case where [Assign] is selected in FIG. 9, only [Subordinate Department] and [Subordinate] are displayed as candidates for the assignment destination, and since the case is assigned to the own department, the menu item [Automatic] is displayed. [Department] is not displayed. Here, the menu displayed when [subordinate department] or [subordinate] is selected is the same as when the menu item is selected in FIG. 10 (1501 in FIG. 15, 1601 in FIG. 16).

Next, the menu displayed when the manager C of the department R-b selects the case with the case ID 6 in FIG.
FIG. This is an operation that can be instructed when a worker (regardless of whether it is the person in charge of the department) selects an item assigned to him / her.
1) and [Return] (1301). The operation when the menu item is selected is the same as the operation when the menu item of the same name is selected in FIG.

FIG. 18 shows a menu displayed when an operator other than the person in charge of the department selects an item assigned to his or her department or a higher department. This is an operation that can be instructed when selecting the case, such as [Detailed display] (901)
[Takeover] (902). The operation when the menu item is selected is the same as the operation when the menu item of the same name is selected in FIG.

In step 104, the case designated by the user is retrieved from the case data storage unit (212), and details of the case are displayed. FIG. 5 shows an example of the case data (212). One case data (501) includes an ID (511) for identifying a case, a case title (512), an occurrence date (513), and a detailed description (514). FIG. 19 shows an example in which the details of the case with the case ID 1 are displayed. After the details of the case are displayed, the process returns to step 112.

In step 105, the case management information updating section (203) updates the case management information (213) of the case designated by the user. After updating the case management information, the process returns to step 101.

For example, the organization hierarchy information (211) is in the state shown in FIG. 4, and the case management information (213) is in the state shown in FIG.
In the state shown by, the manager C of the department Rb (403)
When (411) logs in to the system and instructs “takeover” for the case with the case ID 1, the part related to the case in the case management information is updated as shown in FIG. Specifically, the charge of the case is changed to C (2001). There is no change in information on other cases. Similarly,
When "assignment to own department" is instructed for the case, the part of the case management information relating to the case is updated as shown in FIG. Specifically, the person in charge of the case is department R
-b (2101). Similarly, when "assignment to subordinate department R-b-1" is instructed for the case, the part related to the case in the case management information is updated as shown in FIG. To be specific, the person in charge of the case is the department R-b-1
(2201). Similarly, when "assignment to subordinate E" is instructed for the case, the part related to the case in the case management information is updated as shown in FIG. Specifically, the person in charge of the case is the worker E (2301)
Is changed to Next, when C instructs “return” to the case with the case ID 3 under the above conditions, the part related to the case in the case management information is updated as shown in FIG. Specifically, the charge of the case is changed to R (2401), which is a direct superior department of the previous department R-b, and the department R-b (2401) is added to the return column.

According to the present embodiment, the worker who processes a case picks up the case assigned to the department to which the worker belongs and the higher-ranking department by himself, so that the processing of the case can be performed more quickly and appropriately. Can be assigned to workers. In addition, since the person in charge of each department can assign the matter to a subordinate department or subordinate of the person in charge, it is possible to prevent the matter from staying without being taken over by any worker. As a result, the processing of the matter can be completed more quickly.

FIG. 25 shows a processing procedure in the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the processing procedure of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. However, description of the same processing as in the first embodiment will be omitted.

In the first embodiment, the department name or the worker name is simply displayed as the operation target in step 103, but in the second embodiment, the department or the worker is simultaneously assigned to the department or the worker. Also, the total number of cases is displayed (step 2502).

In step 2501, the total number of cases assigned to each department and each worker is calculated from the organization hierarchy information and the case management information. For example, when the organization hierarchy information is as shown in FIG. 4 and the case management information is as shown in FIG. 6, the total number of cases assigned to each department and each worker is as shown in FIG. 2601 indicates a department name or a worker name, and 2602 indicates the total number of assigned cases. Here, it is shown that the total number of cases assigned to the department R (2611) is nine (2612) including those of the lower departments.

In step 2502, as in step 103, a list of operations that can be performed on the selected matter and the target of the operation are displayed. Not only is the name of the employee displayed, but also the total number of cases to which the department or the worker is assigned is displayed at the same time using the result of step 2501. FIG. 27 shows an example in which the total number of cases assigned to the department is displayed, and FIG. 28 shows an example in which the total number of cases assigned to the worker is displayed. FIG. 27 and FIG.
Reference numeral 8 denotes portions corresponding to FIGS. 11 and 12, respectively, in the first embodiment. Reference numeral 2701 denotes the own department (ie, department R-b) and subordinate departments (ie, department R-b-1 and department R-b) of the department.
-2), indicating that the total number of cases assigned to the own department and the workers belonging to the lower departments of the department is seven. Similarly, 2702 is the department R-b-1 and the department belongs to the department. This indicates that the total number of Items assigned to the worker is three. Reference numeral 2801 indicates that the total number of cases assigned to the worker E is one.

According to the present embodiment, when a person in charge of each department assigns a case to his / her own department, a lower department, or a subordinate,
By referring to the total number of cases to which the department or the subordinate is assigned, it is possible to prevent the assignment of the cases from being concentrated on a specific department or a specific worker. This makes it possible to more appropriately assign the matter to the worker.

[0032]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the worker who processes the case takes the case assigned to the department to which the worker belongs and the higher-ranking department by himself, thereby improving the processing of the case. It can be assigned to appropriate workers quickly. In addition, the manager of each department assigns the matter assigned to the own department and the superior department to the lower departments and subordinates, thereby preventing the matter from staying without being taken over by any worker. These increase the likelihood that issues to be processed will be assigned to the right workers,
In addition, since the probability that the matter stays is reduced, the time required for processing the matter can be reduced.

According to the second invention, when a person in charge of each department assigns a case to his / her own department, a subordinate department, or a subordinate, he refers to the total number of cases already assigned to the department or the worker. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the assignment of the matter from being concentrated on a specific department or a specific worker, and it is possible to more appropriately assign the matter to the department or the worker.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a processing procedure of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a functional diagram of a system.

FIG. 3 is a hardware configuration diagram.

FIG. 4 is an organization hierarchy diagram.

FIG. 5 is an example of case data.

FIG. 6 is an example of case management information.

FIG. 7 is a list of related cases extracted when an operator C logs in to the system.

FIG. 8 is a display example of a related matter.

FIG. 9 is a list of executable operations when a manager of a department selects an item assigned to a higher department.

FIG. 10 is a list of assignment destination candidates displayed when “assignment” is selected in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a list of lower-level department names displayed when [lower-level department] is selected in FIG.

12 is a list of subordinate names displayed when [subordinate] is selected in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a list of executable operations performed when a person in charge of a department selects a case assigned to his / her department.

FIG. 14 is a list of assignment destination candidates displayed when “assignment” is selected in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a list of lower part signatures displayed when [lower part] is selected in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a list of subordinate names displayed when “subordinate” is selected in FIG. 14;

FIG. 17 is a list of executable operations when an operator selects a case assigned to him / her.

FIG. 18 is a list of executable operations when a worker who is not the responsible person of a department selects an item assigned to his or her department or a higher department.

FIG. 19 is an example in which details of a case with a case ID 1 are displayed.

FIG. 20 shows a change in the case management information when the worker C has picked up the case with the case ID1.

FIG. 21 illustrates a change in the case management information when the worker C assigns the case with the case ID 1 to the own department.

FIG. 22 shows a change in the case management information when the worker C assigns the case with the case ID 1 to the lower department (department R-b-1).

FIG. 23 shows a change in the case management information when the worker C assigns the case with the case ID 1 to the subordinate E.

FIG. 24 shows a change in the case management information when the worker C sends back the case of the case ID3.

FIG. 25 shows a processing procedure of the second embodiment.

FIG. 26 shows the result of calculating the total number of cases assigned to each department and each worker.

FIG. 27 is an example in which the total number of cases assigned to each department is also displayed.

FIG. 28 is an example in which the total number of cases assigned to each worker is also displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: a step of identifying a worker from an organizational hierarchy diagram and extracting a related matter; 102: a step of displaying the extracted matter; 103: a step of displaying an executable operation for the matter and a target of the operation; 104: a matter 105: a step of updating the case management information according to the instruction; 111: a step of obtaining a worker ID from the input device; 112: a step of selecting a case from a case list; 113: an operation on the selected case; The step of selecting an operation target.

(72) Inventor Jun Shimabukuro 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd.System Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Shinobu Koizumi 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Hitachi, Ltd. Inside the system development laboratory

Claims (2)

[Claims] In an information processing apparatus having a server computer and an interactive terminal, a case assignment method for assigning a case to a worker, the step of obtaining a worker ID from an input device, and specifying the worker from organization hierarchy information. Extracting the department to which the worker belongs, all the higher-level departments of the worker, and the cases assigned to the worker from the case management information storage unit, and a list of the cases extracted in the previous step. Displaying on a terminal, the operator selecting a case from the case list, a list of operations that can be performed on the selected case, and a list of departments or workers to be subjected to the operation. Displaying on the interactive terminal; selecting from the operation list displayed in the previous step by the operator and instructing an operation; and the instruction is a detailed display of the selected matter. A step of retrieving the selected case from the case data storage unit and displaying the details of the selected case on the interactive terminal; and a step of retrieving, returning, or assigning the selected case. And updating the case management information corresponding to the instruction according to the instruction. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of calculating the total number of cases assigned to each department and each worker, wherein the total number of cases is executable for the case selected by the worker. When displaying the list of operations and the department or worker to be operated on the interactive terminal, not only the department name or the worker name is displayed but also the assigned department or worker. A case assignment method characterized by displaying the total number of cases.