JPH11143940A - Purchase information supply system and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the commodity purchase processing efficiency. SOLUTION: The information on the commodities to be purchased, the dealers, etc., are registered in an HTML in an information supply server 12 included in an internet 11. Every client 13 refers to those information via a browser to decide its purchasing commodities. The server 12 contains a retrieval screen where the commodity purchasers can retrieve and extract their necessary information. Furthermore, the purchasers can refer to the inside or outside home page information of the internet 11 that is linked to a hyperlinked text by clicking this text included in a displayed home page.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a system for facilitating purchase (including lease) of goods (including services) in an organization such as a company.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an organization such as a company, when purchasing equipment and the like, conventionally, paper catalogs are collected for each company and each product, and they are examined and purchased through a purchasing department or the like.

[0003]

However, the articles to be purchased are diverse, and the work of collecting, organizing, and managing catalogs is quite complicated, and it is extremely difficult to maintain catalogs and the like in an appropriate state. Work. In addition, in the case of a large organization, it is necessary to collect catalogs individually in each section, each section, and the like, which is a heavy burden. Information such as discounts and delivery dates had to be individually confirmed by telephone or the like.

As described above, conventionally, it has been difficult to purchase optimal equipment and the like with a small amount of labor. On the other hand, the purchasing department had to respond individually to such individual inquiries from each department, and the burden was large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and provides a system capable of appropriately providing information on purchases and leases of goods (including services) and improving the efficiency and appropriateness of purchase processing. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, a purchase information providing system according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises: an intranet; a server for providing information on a purchase target via the intranet; The server stores information on the article to be purchased and links the first information providing means for providing the stored information with a server of the provider of the article to be purchased on the Internet. A second information providing means for displaying, a search means for searching for information provided by the first information providing means and the second information providing means, and registering information in the first or second information providing means Registration means.

According to the present invention, information on articles is provided on the server, and each client can refer to the information by using a browser or the like. Therefore, the maintenance of information
It only needs to be performed on the server, and the labor conventionally required separately for each department can be reduced. In addition, according to the type of information, the first information providing means may provide a product name, performance,
The content itself including information such as price and delivery date may be provided, or an address or the like of a linked homepage may be provided along with a brief description to enable access to the address. In addition, the search means enables you to search for products from multiple companies with the same specifications, search for products with a fixed price or less, and improve work efficiency compared to using a paper-based catalog. I do. The search method is arbitrary such as a keyword search and a full-text search. It is desirable to attach a keyword for search also to the address of the external homepage provided by the second information providing means.

It is preferable that the first information providing means and the second information providing means provide information provided in a form of a homepage. In this case, the registration unit registers a homepage on which purchase information is posted in the first information providing unit and the second information providing unit.

A first information providing means for storing information on an article to be purchased and providing the stored information to a computer connected to an intranet, and a server of a provider of the article to be purchased on the Internet A second information providing means for linking and displaying information; a means for searching for information provided by the first information providing means and the second information providing means; and a first information providing means for providing the first or second information providing means. A program for functioning as a server including a registration unit for registering information is stored and distributed in a recording medium such as an MO or a CD-ROM, and the program is installed on a computer and operated on an OS or the like. Thereby, the above-described function may be realized. It is not necessary to store the program of the part where the OS or the like bears the function on the recording medium, and it is sufficient to record only the part substantially necessary for realizing the function on the recording medium.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A purchase information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The purchase information providing system according to the present invention includes an intranet 11, an information providing server 12 connected to the intranet 11, and a client group 13 connected to the intranet 11. The intranet 11 is located in the company A and is connected to the Internet 15 via the firewall 14. The intranet 11 can access the Internet 15 from the intranet 11, but an unauthorized outsider accesses the intranet 11. That is preventing. In addition, various servers, for example, a supplier server (supplier information providing server) 16 are connected to the Internet 15.

The information providing server 12 is installed, for example, in a purchasing department such as the purchasing department of Company A, and as shown in FIG.
The CPU 21 and the R connected to each other via a bus 28
AM 22, storage unit 23, display unit 24, input unit 25
, A data input unit 26, and a communication unit 27.

The CPU 21 operates according to a program stored in the storage unit 23 and controls the entire information providing process. The RAM 22 is composed of a semiconductor memory or the like,
Used as a main storage area of the PU 21. Storage unit 23
Is composed of a magnetic disk device and the like, is created in the HTML sentence format together with the operation program of the CPU 21, and stores a plurality of homepages or a plurality of documents in the HTLM format in which information on articles to be purchased is posted.

The display section 24 is composed of a CRT or the like.
The input unit 25 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. The data input unit 26 includes an MO driver, a floppy disk driver, and the like, and reads out a homepage stored in the information recording medium under the control of the CPU 21. The communication unit 27 exchanges information with the client via the intranet.

The home page registered in the storage unit 23 includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 3A, a classification, a product name, specifications, a regular price, a discount rate (or a discounted price) of a product along with a company name and the like. ), A type that publishes contents such as a delivery date, and a type that publishes a button linked to a key point and a location value of detailed information, as shown in FIG. As shown, there are a button linked to a key point and a location value of detailed information, a button for posting a password for accessing a linked home page, and the like.

The home page registered in the storage unit 23 includes, for example, a search screen shown in FIG.
A homepage created by the Purchasing Department, such as a list of companies registered as business partners of Company A shown in (b), is also included.

Next, the operation of the purchase information providing system having such a configuration will be described. Here, with reference to the operation conceptual diagram of FIG. 5, the procedure from the examination of a normal purchased product to the actual purchase will be described from both the user and system operations. First, a person who plans to purchase a product in the company A (hereinafter, an operator) accesses the information providing server 12 from an arbitrary client 13 in the same manner as when accessing a normal Internet homepage, and a browser. Thus, the homepage of the product information providing system itself (for example, the homepage of the purchasing department) is opened.

Next, the operator instructs to display a search screen on the homepage in order to search for information on the article to be purchased. In response to this instruction, the CPU 21 reads out the search screen stored in the storage unit 23 and transmits the search screen to the client 13. This search screen is displayed, for example, in FIG.
As shown in (a), there are provided a field for inputting a keyword, a hypertext-based selection item indicating a classification of a product, and the like.

When an appropriate keyword is input, the CPU 21 communicates via the intranet 11, the communication unit 27, and the bus 28.
(Step S1 in FIG. 5, FIG. 5), the CPU 21 searches for the corresponding information from the information registered in the storage unit 23 (S2), and notifies the retrieved information to the client 13 (S3). . By clicking the hyperlinked text information of the product name or the trader name among the displayed information, the user can jump to the linked homepage and acquire the information.

Further, for example, when a selection button such as "business tool" is clicked on the search screen of FIG. 4A, the page jumps to a page linked to each selection item, and, for example, the page shown in FIG. As shown in ()), the product name and price of the product classified as the business tool are displayed together with the name of the trader. By clicking the hyperlinked text information of the product name or the trader name among the displayed information, the user can jump to the linked homepage and acquire the information.

As shown in FIG. 3 (a), among the retrieved information, the contents of the home page of the handling company are displayed as shown in FIG. 3 (a). As shown, the key point (or keyword) and the link destination (such as a homepage on the information providing server 16 outside the intranet) may be shown.
As shown in (c), when a key point (or keyword) and a link destination (a homepage or the like on the information providing server 16 outside the intranet) indicating an external dedicated page and an ID and a password for accessing the link destination are indicated. Etc.

When the hyperlinked text is clicked on the page shown in FIG. 3B, the user jumps to the linked home page to obtain more detailed information (S4). Further, as shown in FIG. 3C, when the user accesses the dedicated homepage, the user can obtain the information dedicated to the company A by inputting the ID and the password (S5). Since the general homepage of the trader can be accessed by any number of people, there are cases where it is not desirable to post discount information and the like. Therefore, a specific supplier (in this case, A
This is effective when services such as discounts and shortened delivery times are provided only to the company.

The transition state of the screen changes freely according to the way of linking between homepages and the like. Therefore, what is necessary is just to design suitably what suits the application.

In order to prevent unauthorized access from the outside, a firewall 14 is provided between the intranet 11 and the Internet 15,
When the user accesses the outside of the intranet 11, the user cannot return to the intranet 11 again.
In this case, it is possible to return to the previous screen and continue the processing.

In this way, the operator obtains information on necessary products by searching for information in the intranet 11 or by referring to linked information, etc., and provides information for purchasing. It can be.

Next, a method of registering information in the information providing server 12 will be described. A company that wants to deliver products to Company A
A home page on which company information, product information, and the like are posted is created by itself, recorded on a recording medium such as an MO, and handed over to a system administrator (S6). The administrator sets this MO in the data input unit 26, operates the input unit 25, and
Then, the homepage is read out and registered in the storage unit 23 (S6).

When a new homepage is registered, the operator starts a predetermined update program. CPU 21
Follows this program to add and link the company to the list of registered companies on the homepage,
Further, a link is provided between the product and a corresponding product such as a product list screen. In addition, a page such as new arrival information may be created.

In this way, the administrator can register new information in the storage unit 23 and provide it to the client 13 without much burden. Also, when updating information,
The information can be easily updated by simply overwriting the updated portion of the homepage provided by the trader over the existing homepage.

It is desirable that the person in charge of the information providing server 12 performs maintenance such as linking with reference to each homepage as appropriate. A trader having a predetermined authority in which an ID and a password are set may directly access the server and upload a homepage in the storage unit 23.

If the format of the homepage created by each trader is standardized in advance, the visibility of information can be improved. By standardizing each home page, the work of linking to another home page becomes easy.

Further, the purchase processing itself may be performed using such a server system. in this case,
For example, a homepage for inputting data for purchase, for example, a homepage as shown in FIG. 6 is created, and based on the information obtained as described above, a purchaser (trader), a purchase target product, and the like. , Quantity, delivery date, settlement information, etc. are registered.

When a person having predetermined authority of the purchasing department sets "OK" in the check box, the CPU 21
The mail address of the purchaser is read from the storage unit 23 or the like,
The information (product name, price, unit price) of the purchased article specified by the input data and the like are set in the mail address, and an e-mail is transmitted. In response to the e-mail, the trader can take appropriate measures.

In the above description, an information providing system for purchasing an article has been described. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to lending of an article, provision of a service, and the like. Also,
This server system is not limited to companies, but also government offices, schools,
It can be used as a system that assists in purchasing (including lending and leasing) the goods (including services) of any organization such as a local government. In addition, registration of information in the information providing server 12 may be charged.

The ordering method and the like are arbitrary.
By electronic commerce using so-called E-cash etc.,
Products may be ordered.

Further, the present invention can be realized using a normal computer (server) connected to the intranet 11 without using a dedicated system. That is, a process of registering the homepage on which the above-mentioned product information is posted in the storage unit 23, a process of transmitting the homepage when the client 13 in the intranet 11 accesses the homepage including the product information, a process of transferring to a link destination, etc. When search information such as a keyword is input, a program for performing a process of searching each homepage and displaying a list of searched homepages, information, and the like is stored in a computer-readable program recording medium. The server may be realized by distributing the program, installing the program on a computer, and executing the installed program on an OS or the like.

When the OS achieves a part of the above processing or functions, or when the OS and the application realize the functions in cooperation, only the program parts other than the OS are stored in the recording medium and distributed. do it.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, merchandise information and the like can be centrally managed, necessary information can be quickly collected when needed, and the efficiency of purchasing operations can be increased. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a purchase information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of the information providing server shown in FIG.

FIGS. 3A to 3C are diagrams illustrating examples of a company and a homepage for introducing handled products registered in a storage unit 23. FIGS.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating examples of search and supplier list homepages registered in a storage unit 23, respectively.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining processing from access to an information providing server to provision of information;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a product ordering screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 Intranet 12 Information providing server 13 Client (terminal) 14 Firewall 15 Internet 16 Information providing server 21 CPU 22 RAM 23 Recording unit 24 Display unit 25 Input unit 26 Data input unit 27 Communication unit 28 Bus

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An intranet and a server for providing information on a purchase target to a client via the intranet, wherein the server stores information on an article to be purchased and provides the stored information. A first information providing means, a second information providing means for displaying a link on a server of a provider of the article to be purchased on the Internet, a first information providing means, and a second information providing means. A purchase information providing system, comprising: a search unit that searches for information provided by a user; and a registration unit that registers information in the first or second information providing unit. 2. The information providing means according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said first information providing means and said second information providing means provides information provided in the form of a home page, and said registration means comprises: said first information providing means. The purchase information providing system according to claim 1, wherein information is registered in a homepage format in the second information providing means. 3. The first information providing means provides contents relating to purchase information, and the second information providing means accesses a button for accessing a linked server and a linked home page. The purchase information providing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein information for displaying the purchase information is displayed. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said search means includes means for performing keyword search or full-text search on the information provided by said first and second information providing means. Purchasing information providing system. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the registering means stores the information stored in the medium from the provider of the article to be purchased and / or the information provided from the provider of the article to be purchased via the first information. The purchase information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising means for registering with the supply means or the second information providing means. 6. A computer connected to an intranet, for storing information relating to an article to be purchased and providing the stored information, and a server of a provider of the article to be purchased on the Internet. A second information providing means for linking and displaying information; a means for searching for information provided by the first information providing means and the second information providing means; and a first or second information providing means. A recording medium that records a program for causing the server to function as a server including: a registration unit that registers information;