WO1998000786A1

WO1998000786A1 - Work flow system

Info

Publication number: WO1998000786A1
Application number: PCT/JP1996/001818
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hiroko Nishimura; Hiroshi Majima; Kazuhiro Suga; Syunsuke Akifuji
Original assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
Priority date: 1996-07-01
Filing date: 1996-07-01
Publication date: 1998-01-08

Abstract

In a work flow system which circulates electronic documents from a plurality of computer terminals mutually connected through a network, a plurality of users is defined to play a role based on their posts and the organization they belong to by using organization defining information and a person in charge of processing is automatically selected from among candidates pertinent to the role by a selecting method designated by users. Each user executes circulation by using a client (120) and conducts the circulation by using an operation server (110) constituted of an operation server definition managing section (320) storing the organization definition (180), the user definition (170), the role definition (160) which defines the candidates by using the information of the definitions (180 and 170), and the BP definition (150) which defines the order of circulation, and a circular document managing section (310) which controls electronic circular documents based on the information of the definitions (180, 170, 160 and 150) in accordance with a request received from the client (120) through a network (130).

Description

Specification

Work flow system

Technical field

The present invention relates to a workflow system for performing business by circulating digitized documents, and more particularly to a one-cuff system that determines a circulation destination of digitized documents based on organizational system information. Background art

Conventionally, a circulation route is defined according to the order in which documents are processed, and a plurality of users who perform each processing operation are defined. For example, Nikkei Computer No. 365, May 2, 1994, No. 365 (pp. 57-67), describes a workflow system that supports the group's joint work. . In addition, a method of describing rules for determining a person who executes a process and determining a circulation destination of a digitized document using organizational system information is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-191448, “E-mail sending. Pre-determined method ”.

Conventionally, in order to determine the person in charge of performing a task, it is necessary to create definitions that describe the execution order of processing by the number of combinations of the speeds of the processors, and maintenance of the definitions is difficult. there were. Therefore, even if the department or department in charge of a user in an organization is changed, it is necessary to update the user definition and to look at the routing process when the organization of the processor changes.

The “mail destination determination method” in JP-A-5-191448 describes the function and part ¾ '(which is characterized by determining the destination from this il! lj information. Definition ^ It is possible to change the destination by simply changing the report. However, 1 System information has been created in advance so that one processing person can be assigned to one processing. For this reason, if the assigned processor is absent, there is a risk that the processing will be stagnated. Even if you do, you will be sent a circulation document to be processed by the person in charge without considering the load.

In addition, it is difficult to set up a complicated processing person among multiple candidates based on the job system, such as “recursion”, which is automatically distributed to users who have previously processed the circular document. Was.

Furthermore, in this method, one person in charge of processing is assigned to one processing, so it is necessary to consider before and after the circulation order, for example, as a circular document for all departments. Therefore, it was difficult to define a cycle for all the processing candidates.

On the other hand, the recent expansion of corporate networks to networks, OA, and improved hardware performance has expanded the range of organizations that use auto-flow systems, and as a result, work-flow systems As the number of organizations using the work flow system increases, the use of multiple servers may occur, and the number of persons in charge of processing may increase. In the case of changing the user definition information of the user, the conventional technology required that the user definition information of all the servers related to the person in charge of the change be reviewed. Disclosure of the invention

(1) In this description, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a computerized electronic document is recovered by a plurality of computer terminals connected to each other via a network. In the flow system, the organization definition information that defines the organization and organization of the organization that uses the work flow system, and the users who belong to the organization It consists of a management server that has a management server definition management unit that stores user definition information, and an operation server that controls one or more circuits. The operation server includes: circulation control information defining a processing order for the circulation document in advance; organization definition information defining an organizational structure and organization; user definition information defining a user who uses a workflow system; It is composed of an operation server definition management unit that stores role definition information that defines a set based on the system and user organization, and a circulation document management unit that controls circulation documents based on the circulation control information.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a means for defining rules for processing candidates in accordance with information on the organizational structure and job organization of the user using the workflow system. By specifying this role when defining the processing order of the rounds, for example, even if the role of one user in the role is changed, the circulation processing will be performed only by changing the user definition. The user according to the organizational information after the change is selected as the candidate for processing without any change.

In addition, the method of regulating the processing of the circulation has a means for defining the candidate in charge of processing based only on the system information of the user who uses the work flow system. Be flexible.

(2) In the configuration of (1), in the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the recovery control unit automatically selects a corresponding processing person from a plurality of processing candidates. have.

() Also, in the configuration of (1), all users of the person in charge of the process designated in the first place during the round K processing are assumed to be the dimensions, and the rounding processing of the sentence dictionary under the circulation control is performed. Due to the fact that there is a means for storing the status information in the document management information n, the control unit sends the document to all of the transferable processing staff members who can be settled in one place. To make the '7 ability (4) In the configuration of (1), a means is provided for centrally managing the registered server information of the user with the management server. When the user registration server is updated, the difference information file is deployed to each operation server via a network. This allows the administrator of each operation server to update the operation server definition management unit from the difference information, so that each operation server can also have the latest user registration information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a task-related diagram in the management server according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a task-related diagram in the operation server according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of document circulation in the operation server according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of an organization definition according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6:-It is a table configuration diagram of a department information definition according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a table configuration diagram of job definition information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a table configuration diagram of user-defined information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a table configuration diagram of user job system definition information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

, 10 is a table / layout diagram of the mouth definition information of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a table configuration diagram of the circulation control information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram of the user tray and the recycled document management information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the circulation control at the time of specifying a roll, which is performed by the circulation document management unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the selection of a candidate for a processing of an organization role performed by the reference document management unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. '

FIG. 15 is a table configuration diagram of user-defined information according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a table configuration of the round control information and a conceptual diagram of the attribute values of the round K document according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a table configuration diagram of roll definition information according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a table configuration diagram of role definition information according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a first embodiment of a workflow system according to the present invention. In Fig. 1, the workflow system consists of one management server.

(loo) and multiple operational servers (no) connected by a network (130), and multiple clients (120) connected to the operational server (110) by a network (130) )

The administrator of the management server (100) can edit / delete / edit the organization settings (180) managed by the management server (100). 13P definition (150) described later, role definition (160) described later, Create user definition (170) Z Delete Z Edit is possible.

—The practitioner can create and circulate a new circulation (140) or process the circulation document (140) distributed to him.

FIG. 2 is a task-related diagram in the management server of one embodiment of the workflow system according to the present invention. The management server (100) has five processing units: an input device (260), a display device (270), a network control unit (210), a management server definition management unit (230), and an input / output control unit (250). Consists of The five processing units of the server perform the following functions respectively.

• Network control unit (2) 0): Controls communication with the management server (100) via the network (130).

• Management server definition management section (230): Manages organization definitions (180) and user definitions (190), and processes creation, deletion, Z edit / search, and Z lists for them.

In the present embodiment, the user definition (190) and the organization definition (180) describe the following information, respectively. '

• User defined (190): Defines a user that can be assigned to perform a series of tasks.

• Organization definition (180): Defines hierarchically the organization of the organization that operates the work u-system, the organization, and the users who are responsible.

'Input device (260): Receives input from the administrator of the management server (100) through the input device (260), and issues an inquiry request to the management server definition management unit (230).

'' Display device (270): Displays information obtained from the management server definition management unit (230) to the user through the display device (270).

'Human output control unit (250): Receives input from the user through the input device (260), sends a query request to the management server definition management unit (230), Display to the user through the display device (270).

FIG. 3 is a task-related diagram in the operation server of the first embodiment of the workflow system according to the present invention. The operation server (110) includes an input device (260), a display device (270), a network control unit (210), an operation server definition management unit (320), a circulation document management unit (310), and input / output. The control unit (330) consists of six processing units.

• Operation server definition management section (320): The following BP definition (150), role definition (160), and organization definition (180) and users managed centrally by the management server (100) Manage definitions (170), process edits / searches / lists for them, and create or delete information related to the operation of definition information.

The user definition (170), BP definition (150), and mouth definition (160) of the present embodiment describe the following information, respectively.

• User definition (170): Defines the operational authority of the user that can be assigned to perform the tasks defined on the management server.

• BP definition (150): BP is an abbreviation of business process, and describes the order of processing (circulation route etc.) to be performed on the K document (140).

• Role definition (! 60): Rule (business role) that determines a candidate in charge of processing that performs processing at the execution position of the processing described in BP definition (150), or affiliation described in organization definition (180) · Describe the rules (organization role) that determine the processing personnel according to the job system.

'Input / output control unit (330): Accepts input from the user through the input device (260), issues an inquiry request to the circulation document management unit (310) and the continuous server definition management unit (320), and obtains information. Is displayed to the user through the display device (270).

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of the circulation control process. It has the following three types of trays for documents (140).

. Manager Tray (410): This is a tray for inserting circular documents (140) after processing by the user.

. User tray (420): A tray provided for a user. When a new user is added, the operation server definition management unit (320) requests the circulation document management unit (310) to create a user tray (420) corresponding to the new user. The user can retrieve and process the circular document (140) in the user tray (420) associated with the user.

• Roll tray (430): A tray provided for each roll. When you add a new role, operational support ICHIBA definition management unit (320) requests by Uni creating a roll bets Rei ⁽⁴ 30) corresponding to the new role for circulation document management unit (310).

The circulation control processing of the circulation document (140) performed by the circulation document management unit (310) is described in the circulation K document (140) in the management tray (410) in the BP definition (150). Control based on “next processing information”. The “next processing information” described in the BP definition (150) includes “next processing person” and “next processing person selection type J. It is described in the BP definition (150). If a user is specified for the "Next person in charge", the document is stored in the user tray (420) of the specified user. If a role is specified, the document is stored in the specified mouth tray (430). In addition, if "Automatically distribute to one user in the role" is specified for "Next person in charge", processing is performed according to "Selection type of next person in charge" described in BP definition (150). Select a user to perform the operation and store the document in the selected user's user tray (420).

Figure 5 is, _u work off Roshisute is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the system information of the tissue used in the first embodiment of the work flow system according to the present invention In many cases, work performed by a system is performed based on organizational information, such as its system and job system, rather than individuals.

The organizational structure represented by the company that operates the workflow system is represented hierarchically, for example, by departments (5 10), such as departments and sections, and the processing personnel belonging to that department are the president. It is expressed hierarchically by the "job system" (530), such as, department manager and deputy manager. Then, the processor within the organization belongs to one of these departments with one or more functions. The administrator of the management server (100) stores the information of the organization definition in the management server (100) using a command or GUI means via the management server definition management unit (230).

FIG. 6 shows a management server definition management unit (230) and an operation server definition management unit (320) for defining department information of an organization used in the first embodiment of the desktop system according to the present invention. 3 is an example of information stored in the. · As shown in Fig. 6, the department information definition table has unique department information identifiers (610), "S000011", "S000012", "S000013", and "S000014" for each department. A department name (620) and a subordinate department information pointer (630) are stored in correspondence with the information identifier (610). The department name (620) stores the names of the departments of the organizations to which the users “General Affairs Department”, “General Affairs Section”, “Work Labor Section” and “Housing Section” belong, and the subordinate department information pointer (630) stores Information indicating the location of the department information definition table that stores information on the organizations belonging to that department is stored. NULL expresses that there is no department that belongs to the department in the hierarchical structure:

In Fig. 6, the department information pointer (630) under the department "General Affairs Department" stores information on the "General Affairs Section", "Work Labor Section" and "Documents Section" belonging to the MIC. The information indicating the position of the information definition table is stored. Also, as shown in FIG. 6, if there is no department to be assigned below, the location information information pointer (630) Will return the information NULL (, In addition, the vertical relationship within the braid is clarified.

At the time of document list control, if a role based on organization information is assigned to the processor, if there is a user of the department defined by the specified role and a subordinate department belonging to that department, , The user who meets the condition of “selection type of next processing person” from the users belonging to the lower department becomes the processing candidate.

Therefore, if the department role is defined as a reorganization person in the BP definition (150), lower-level department information is also required. As described above, the department definition information is required every time a candidate in charge of processing an organization role is searched. Therefore, the operation server definition management section (320) of each operation server (110) executes the management server ( Speed up by storing the department definition information defined in (100). When the department information of the management server (100) is updated by the administrator of the management server (100), the updated information is transmitted from the management server (100) to each operation server (110) via the network (130). Be expanded. Based on this information, the operation server definition management unit (320) updates the unit information of each operation server (110) to unify the information between the operation servers (110).

FIG. 7 is an example of the information on the organizational structure stored in the management server definition management unit (230) and the operation server definition management unit (320) used in the first embodiment of the workflow system according to the present invention: .

As shown in Fig. 7, the organizational information definition table contains the organizational information storage pointer (720) that indicates the position of the organizational information storage list that stores the organizational information of the organization that uses the workflow system. Of the job! : The upper level job definition pointer (710) indicating the point of the table, and the lower level job definition that reduces the pointer of the job information definition table of the job system that is a subordinate of the job system. With the information of a pointer (715)

The job information list contains job information. The name (740) and the job identifier (7) \ fi Has II information. The organization identifier (730) stores unique identifier information for use in the workflow system for each organization. If the job system is a higher-level job system of the organization that uses the Kokufu-Kuichi system and there is no higher-level job system, NULL (not applicable) is set in the upper-level job system definition pointer (710). ) Is set. Also, if there is no subordinate subordinate organization within the organization that uses the work flow system, the subordinate subordinate system definition pointer (715) is set to NULL (not applicable). . The organizational definition information as shown in FIG. 7 is defined in advance in the management server (100) by the administrator of the organization using the workflow system, similarly to the department information definition table in FIG. When the administrator of the management server (100) updates the organizational definition of this organization, the difference information is deployed to each operation server (110) via a network, and the operation server definition management unit ( 320) is stored in each operation server (110).

FIG. 8 is an example relating to a management server definition management unit used in one embodiment of a desktop client system according to the present invention, and user-defined information stored in the operation server definition management unit.

As shown in Fig. 8, the management server definition management section (230) stores a unique user identifier (810) for each user who uses the work flow system, a user name (820) corresponding to each user identifier, and a user name. The type (830) is stored. The user type (830) stores the user authority of the “management server administrator” and other “general users” that manage user definitions. The operation server definition management section (320) stores the server authority. In addition to the user identifier (810) and user name (820) that are centrally managed in (100), the user status (840) necessary to control the user location (830) and the pumping machine (840) The user type of the iiE server definition management unit (320) that has the information of “Operation server administrator” and “General user” times ¹ In the state (840), it is set whether or not the user is in a state of processing the recovery document (140).

The user status (840) is usually set to “Processable”. However, if a user registered in the user definition of the operation server (110) cannot perform the browsing process (140) for a long period of time due to a long business trip, etc., the operation server administrator Alternatively, the user himself changes the user status (840) of the user to “processing impossible” via the operation server definition management unit (340). When the circulation document management unit (310) determines the destination of the circulation document (MO), it determines the destination by referring to the user status (840). For example, if the destination of the circulation document (140) is defined as "automatic distribution to one user in the role", the circulation document management unit (310) processes the circulation document. One of the candidates that can be processed in the user status (840) is selected from the plurality of candidates that can be processed according to the selection conditions, and the circular document (140) is sent to the corresponding user's user tray (420). To enter.

FIG. 9 shows the management system definition management unit (230) used in the first embodiment of the workflow system according to the present invention, and the user organizational definition information stored in the operation server definition management unit (320). This is an example.

As shown in Fig. 9, the user job system definition information includes the department information identifier (910) defined for the department that uses the workflow system, and the user name (940) of the user assigned to that department. The user identifier (930) has the information of the organization identifier (920) corresponding to the organization of the user in the department indicated by the department information identifier (910). For example, if the same user is assigned to a plurality of departments, the department assigned to the same user is defined for each department and each M-skilled job system. Considering the applicability of the user's affiliation department and the circulars when the job system is changed (140), the circulars that could not be processed ^: (140) were processed by p [! Now you can do it and vice versa! The range of m that can be picked up so far Circular circulation of documents becomes impossible.

Even if the user's organization is changed in this way, if the organizational role is defined for the processor in the BP definition (150), the user organization definition defined in the management server (100) is changed. The BP definition (150) is not updated just by doing so, and the process appropriate for the user's organization is controlled by any operation server (110). User office organization definition information is centrally managed by the management server definition management unit (230), the administrator of the management server (100) Te month you update request organization information to update the office organization definition information of the user, the management server ₍₁₀₀ ) From each operation server

The information of the updated part is expanded in (110). From this expanded information, each operation server is sent via the operation server definition management section (320) of the workflow system.

The information is stored in (110) to centrally manage the information related to the user and job system.

FIG. 10 is an example of organization role definition information stored in the operation server definition management unit (320) used in one embodiment of the workflow system according to the present invention. As described above, the organization role definition information includes a unique identifier (1010) in the workflow system for identifying the role, a row / record name (1020) defined by the user, and the name of the department serving as a process assistant for the role. The department information identifier (1030), the organization identifier (1 (M0), and the organization scope specification (1050) have the _u organization scope specification (1050) that defines the scope of the organization to be rolled. If any of the following information is stored: “Designated job system”, “Designated job system or more”, or “Designated job system or less”, if “Designated job system” is set in the BS designation (1050), Department information identifier identified by role-(1030) Other parts ¾ report identifier F position department 6 stored part information identifier to search using information department information constant ¾ Te one table shown in FIG. (10 0)

(1030) Stored organization identifier corresponding to the department indicated by any of (1040) Is a candidate for processing.

When “Over the designated position” is set in the position range designation (1050), search is performed using the unit information identifier (1030) stored in the role or the information in the unit information definition table shown in Fig. 6. The department identifier (1040) that belongs to the department indicated by one of the department information identifiers (1030) of the lower departments of the stored department information identifier (1030), and is stored as shown in FIG. All users who have retrieved using the organizational definition information and have the organizational identifier (1040) that is the superior of the stored organizational identifier (1040) are targeted.

If “less than designated position” is set in the position range designation (1050), the unit information identifier (1030) stored in the cr-rule or the information in the unit information definition table shown in FIG. 6 is used. The department identifier (1040) that belongs to the department indicated by one of the department information identifiers (1030) of the lower departments of the stored department information identifier (1030) and that was stored, and was stored (1040) All users with a position identifier (1040) subordinate to the stored position identifier (1040) searched using the position definition information shown in (1) are targeted. The definition information of an organizational unit is a function or GU 1 The name of the unit and the department name and organizational structure corresponding to the organizational unit are stored manually via the operation server definition management unit (320). About the defined job system Refer to the definition information and specify the applicable name, and set the roll within the definition range.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the circulation control information stored in the server definition management unit for delay (320) used in the first embodiment of the work flow system according to the present invention.

As shown in Fig. 11, the circulation control information is used to identify whether or not to circulate based on the pre-defined multiple types of rotation control and the deviation rate. Fixed times! : Having a control information identifier (li io); : Middle rank It has information of a node information list pointer (1120) that stores node information indicating the location, and a circulation information file pointer (1130). The node information list contains a node information identifier (1121) indicating the position of the circulation route, its node type (1 2), and identification of whether the node is to be processed by a user or a role. Information (role / user) (U23), role identification when the object to be circulated is a role name (1124), and the user name to be circulated

(1126) and the role name (1125) are stored. In the node type (1122), for example, information on the node, such as “start of browsing”, “processing”, and “waiting J” is stored. If the target to be processed in a single role is a role, the role identification (1124) specifies the role of the business role that determines the candidate for processing who performs the process at the execution position of the process described in the BP definition. Responsible for processing based on centrally managed organization information. Stores either “business” or “organization” information that identifies whether the role is an organization role that determines candidates.

Circulation information file (1131) to define Achikajime users of the underlying information Ya times踅経path node information all times览information (described above which is defined using a text or editor are times ¹ Article Update instructions for attributes in management information) are stored. This file also defines the next processing person selection type for selecting a processing person from among a plurality of processing candidate candidates for the defined role. If it is clear, the control information identifier shown in Fig. 11 (1110) "Shi '000021 J, node 1 and node 2 have" random ", node 3 has" ^ return ". As specified, "recursion" is a method of distributing to the user who has processed the harm at one time on a particular node. Here, among the nodes that are ia in group 1, Circulation set to the gender of the circulation document identifier (1210) described later ^: <If there are h matching nodes in the information list (20), the processing is performed by that node. ¾ The selected user is selected as one It is. In addition, types such as “priority” and “load” can be specified as the role selection type in the circulation information file (1131). The “priority order” is a method in which a user who wants to send a document preferentially in a role is specified in advance by the person who sends the document, and that user is selected first. The designation of the priority transmission destination user is made by the document sender to the document management section (310) which refers to the setting request. “Load” searches for unprocessed documents of users in the role, selects the user with the least load, and decides on the person in charge of processing. Figure 12 shows a conceptual diagram of the relationship between the circulation document management information stored in the circulation document (140) and the user tray that inputs the circulation document.

Each K document (140) has a circulation document management information identifier (1210) for identification, and a circulation control information identifier (1230) and circulation information corresponding to the circulation document management information identifier (1210). The document file path name (1250) indicating the location of the storage list (1220) and the document (1260) and the i-first user when the user who is to be given priority distribution during automatic distribution to the role is specified Stores information of identifier (1240). The circulated information storage list (1220) stores the information of the node information identifier (1221), the processed user identifier (1223), and the role identifier (1222) that the circular document has passed so far. For example, as shown in Fig. 11, among the roles specified in the routing control information, "recursion 1" is specified for the nodes in the same group as the ill selection type of the processor. If, times ^1;! document management unit 10) searches the nodes that are registered in the same guru Ichipu Ri good list of times already information of a circulation document management information (1220), the corresponding Roh one de If there is a user identifier, the user identifier of the user who processed the node is acquired, and the circulation document list (1270) of the user unprocessed in the user tray (420) is stored in the circulation document list (1270). Use information identifiers manually

Shows the the full opening one switch Ya Bok the times ¹ E BunYu management unit (310) is ShoMukae Bruno one de in 'power sale processing steps until the user ¾ preparative circulation statement W in the first 3 Figure The circulation document management unit (O) first extracts the circulation document to be processed next from the manager tray (410) (1310). The circulation document management unit (310) searches the circulated information (1220) of the retrieved circulation document for the node information identifier (1221) processed last (1311). The circulation document management unit (310) acquires the node information identifier (1221) to be processed next via the operation server definition management unit (320) based on the acquired node information identifier (1221) (1312). ).

Based on the node information identifier (1221) obtained above, the circulation document management unit (310) obtains information on the user or the user who should process the circulation document (1313). If "user" is designated as the processor, the circulation document (140) is input to the user tray (420) of the designated user (1319). If a “role” is defined as the person who processes the node, the circulation document management unit (310) determines whether the role is a business role or an organizational role by means of a unit identification. In the case of, the user who becomes the candidate in charge of processing is selected from the users specified in the role definition, and in the case of the organizational role, from the users corresponding to the specified department job system (1316). Based on the node information identifier (1121) of the reference sentence obtained earlier, the selection type for determining the person in charge of processing the node is extracted (1317).

The circulation document management unit (310) executes the selection process for the candidate in charge of processing (1318). The circular sentence damage management unit (310) executes the user tray ( At 420) the manuscript of the circular (MO) is manually entered (1319).

FIG. 14 shows a flow chart of a processing procedure in which the circulation document management unit (310) determines the person in charge of the role processing based on the department and organizational definition information when defining the organization role. ''

The retrieving document management unit (310) uses the role definition information corresponding to the role name to obtain the information of the unit 1 '\ report identification f (1030), job jfilj identifier (1040), and job system 5 designation (1050). (1-110) Recover Document Management Department (140) specifies from department definition information Search for the department information identifier (610) of the lower department belonging to the department indicated by the specified department information identifier (1030) until the lower department information pointer (630) becomes NULL (not applicable) (1411 ).

If the job system scope designation (1050) is “designated job system” (1412), the circulation document management unit (310) returns the department information identifier (610) obtained above or the department information identifier (410) specified by the role. 1030), the user identifier (930) having the organizational identifier that matches the specified organizational identifier (1040) is extracted from the user organizational definition information, and the candidate in charge of processing is retrieved. (1413).

When the position range designation (1030) is “designated position or higher” (1 2), the document manager (310) is the manager of the position identifier (1 (M0) specified by the position definition information. The job organization identifier (730) is extracted (1414) until the upper job organization definition pointer (710) becomes NULL.

The document management department (310) has a department information identifier of either the department information identifier (610) obtained above or the department information identifier で (1030) specified by the role, and obtains the User identifier with the organizational identifier (920) that matches either the established organizational identifier (710) or the specified organizational identifier (1040)

(930) is extracted from the user job system definition information and set as a candidate for processing

(1415) _Ώ

If the position range designation (1030) is “less than or equal to the position designation” (1412), the circulation sentence (310) will place the lower position (1040) below the position identifier (1040) specified by the position definition information. Extract the identifier (730) until the lower-level organization definition pointer (715) becomes NUL (1416)

The recovery i Sff SJI section (310) has a section information identifier of either the section information identifier (610) obtained as described above or the section 1 information identifier (1030) specified by π-level, and The organization identifier (710) wrote above or the organization identification specified A user identifier (930) having a position identifier (920) that matches one of the children (1040) is extracted from the user position definition information and is set as a candidate for processing (1417).

FIG. 15 shows an example of the user definition information of the management server definition management unit (230) and the operation server definition management unit (320) used in the second embodiment of the workflow system according to the present invention. is there. Management server ( ₁₀₀₎ , each operation server

In (110), in addition to the user identifier (810), the user status (830), and the user type (840) as shown in FIG. 8, information on the affiliated server (1510) is recorded. Like the user identifier (810), the information of the affiliated server (1520) is centrally managed by the management server (100), and when the operation server (110) used by the user due to movement or the like is changed, the management server (1520) is changed. Thus, the difference information is transferred to each operation server (110) via the network (130). At this time, a certain operation server

Even the administrator of (110) is registered as a general user on other operation servers (110). In this way, by having information on the server to which each user belongs and centrally managing it with the management server (100), the organization that performs recovery control becomes large-scale and can be browsed on multiple operation servers (110). It becomes easy to update the user registration when trying to operate the control :, for example, as a result of the circular sentence management unit ( ³ 10) controlling the circular sentence (140), the designated user or specified From among the processing candidate candidates who correspond to the selected mouth, the processing person is determined using the selection type defined in the BP definition (150). At this time, if the user is registered on a server different from the server that is executing the retrieving process, the retrieving document management unit

(:? 10) obtains the information of the server where the user is recorded from the user definition information via the operation server definition management unit (320), and uses the transfer function such as mail. Tokoro厲¹ ji statement Φ a (140) Interview one tHE of time Te to Ru can be transferred to the server. The message is received by the server where the user is registered, and the message is received. The daemon expands the message into management information along with the information of the transfer source server from the message. And times 回 Input the circulation document (140) to the user tray (420) via the document management unit (310). When the user finishes updating the circulation document (140) from his / her user tray (420) and requests transmission to the next node, the transmission daemon via the circulation document management unit (310) transmits the circulation document. A message is created from the document and transferred to the server (110) that controls the retrieving document ( ₁₄₀₎ by using a transfer function such as e-mail. The server (110) that controls the circulation document (140) takes out the message received by the receiving daemon from the queue, creates a circulation document (140), and obtains the circulation document (140) from the circulation document management information identifier. to update the, enter the Manager tray (410) twice ^1! document (MO) return puppet next circulation control processing.

FIG. 16 shows an example of the circulation control information and circulation document attribute values stored in the operation server definition management unit (320) used in the third embodiment of the desktop system according to the present invention. Show.

In the node information storage list of FIG. 16, the distribution type (1620) is set in addition to the circulation control information shown in FIG. If the processing target is a role and all members are circulated, the distribution type (1620) is set to a value of “all members circulated. When all members are designated for circulation, the circulation document management shown in Fig. 12 is specified. all circulation user identifier stored list (1610) role of the user identifier to be all circulation to _u all times ¹ user information stored list of information indicating the position is set (1610) in addition to the information (16Π) and “circulated”

One of the user states (16L2) of “Curing”, “Processable”, and “Processable” has been set. All user identifiers of the selected assistant in charge of the process are stored in this list, and from the user-defined information, the processable / unprocessable status of each user is stored. : (310) is the user of the user who can process according to the user identification -F- (1611) specified in the list of all circulation user identification (1610). Insert the sentence ^ (140) into Tray (420) Power.

In the case of specifying the circulation of all members, even if one user finishes the processing and sends the circulation document (140) next, the circulation document management unit (310) stores it in the circulation user identifier storage list (1610). All the processable and unprocessed users who have been processed send the circulation document (140) to the user until the circulation is completed. When the user who processed the last request for transmission of the circulation document (140), the circulation document management unit (310) stores the information of the mouth identifiers that were all circulated in the circulated user list and circulated all members. The information indicating the order g of the user information storage list (1610) is cleared from the attribute values of the circulation document, and the circulation document (140) is input to the manager tray (410). In the case of specifying the circulation of all members, the document is circulated to all the users who are subject to the role by one node on the BP definition (150). This makes it easy to circulate the document to all users in the role, regardless of the order in which they are sent, and if the target user is changed immediately after the change, The document is circulated to all users.

FIG. 17 is an example of a conceptual diagram of role definition information of the operation server definition management unit (320) in the fourth embodiment of the workflow system according to the present invention. In FIG. 17, of the information shown in FIG. 9, NULL (not applicable) is stored in the information of the position identifier (1040). For example, in corporations, there are many notifications and documents that are circulated by users in a section or section regardless of the job system. When such a role is targeted, NULL (not applicable) is stored in the position identifier (1040) as shown in Fig. 17. If the position is not defined, the target of the role is The target user is all users having the department information identifier (1030) stored in the role. That is, in the case of the node in which this cell is defined, The person who has the department information identification -h (1030) stored in the role based on the user's job organization definition information processes all users regardless of the job organization, and becomes ^L' i Houpo person. Select a processing detention ^ Select.

The person in charge of the processing is selected in the same way as in the case of the organizational unit where the information on the organizational structure is defined as shown in the flowcharts of Figs. 13 and 14, and the circulation document management unit (310) Is determined using circular document control information, circular document attributes, and user-defined information. When the role organization is NULL, the processing candidate is searched for whether the user's department information identifier matches the department information identifier stored in the role. In addition, even when multiple users are registered in the same department due to concurrent posts, only one is selected as the user identifier of the candidate for processing. This role is also defined using the function or GUI used to define the organizational role based on the organizational structure. When defining an organizational role, select "No definition" when specifying the scope of the organizational structure in the organizational structure definition information. The work flow system provides the means to perform

Stored via (320). To specify the department information identifier (1030), refer to the department definition information and specify it in its definition range 內 1.

FIG. 18 is an example of a conceptual diagram of role definition information of the operation server definition management unit (320) in the fifth embodiment of the workflow system according to the present invention. _C FIG. In addition to the information shown in (1), the information of the proxy department information identifier (1810) is stored. For example, if there is no person in charge who can process the applicable department of the designated department, and you want to specify a department to process on behalf, the department information is stored in this proxy department information identifier (1810). . If there is no user with the corresponding organization in the department indicated by the department information identifier (1030), or even if a user with the relevant organization exists, it cannot be circulated on a business trip or the like, and If not, a search is made for a user who satisfies the conditions of the organization of the department indicated by the department information identifier from the information of the proxy department information identifier 810), and that person is regarded as a processing candidate. Industrial applicability

According to the present invention, the position information of each user is defined based on the position information of the organization, a plurality of users are associated with the role by the position, and the role is specified in the processing procedure, thereby processing with the user. Define the relationship between procedures. As a result, even if the user's organization is changed and the user's business content is changed, processing for that user's organization can be performed only by changing the definition of the user's organization without changing the portal definition or business process definition. Procedure changes. In addition, in terms of work, in some cases, it is possible for a higher-ranking organization to perform the duties of a job that should be processed by a higher-ranking agency. In many cases, the superior is absent. By coping with such a case, it is possible to associate multiple roles that recognize the hierarchical relationship of the roles with one role.

Further, according to the present invention, it is also possible to automatically distribute to users based on a selection type for selecting a user suitable for processing from among a plurality of designated processing candidate users. is there.

In addition, a document can be circulated K for all of the plurality of candidates for processing designated at one position in the processing procedure, and as a result, the circulation processing of the user whose affiliation has been changed due to this can be performed. The change can be dealt with simply by changing the definition of the user's organization without changing the processing procedure.

Further, according to the present invention, the organization server and the user information of the organization using the work flow system are centrally managed by the management server, and the registration server information in which the user is actually registered is also combined. With this, user defined information and times ¹ ! Even if the server that executes the process changes, the new information can be distributed to each server that uses the workflow system from the centralized management server to facilitate the operation of multiple servers. ,

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. Means for defining procedures for processing electronic digitized documents, means for defining organizational structures and organizational hierarchies for executing recycle processing, and relationships between users who belong to the organization and the user's organizational structure And a means for defining a processing candidate corresponding to a circulation document based on the job system and a means for determining a processing candidate for the circulation document.

2. In Claim 1, the means for selecting a user who actually performs the processing from among the processing candidates based on the processing procedure for the digitized circular document and the organizational structure within the organization is managed. A work flow system that features the dynamic determination of routing destinations.

3. A work flow according to claim 1, wherein a means for circulating the circulation document to all the processing candidates based on the job system in the processing of the electronic circulation document is enabled. system.

4. According to Claim 1, a means is provided for defining the processing candidate corresponding to the round K document and a means for determining the processing candidate for the circulation document on condition of only the system information regardless of the user's organization. Work flow system characterized by this.

5. In claim 1, if the determined processing person is registered on a server different from the server that executes the processing procedure and the circulation processing for the electronic circular document, the processing person is registered. A feature comprising a means for defining server information, a means for managing user information registered on another server, and a means for transmitting κ damage to a server in which a user has been registered. System ..