JP3913686B2 - Workflow route calculation system and route calculation method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a route calculation system and a route calculation method for calculating a route of a workflow that does not depend on a tree structure.
[0002]
[Prior art]
An organization such as a company often has an organizational hierarchy in which the head of the organization is the top, the positions are arranged in a tree structure, and the members are arranged. In such an organization, when a certain matter is settled, a workflow is established that circulates the approval items from the person in charge in the lower hierarchy to the officer in the upper hierarchy in the tree structure and communicates it to the final decision maker. It is common that
[0003]
Recently, a workflow system that stores such a workflow in a computer system and electronically transmits circulation items for settlement and reporting is also used. When the workflow is determined according to the tree structure as described above, the root of the workflow can be specifically specified by storing the tree structure in the database.
[0004]
For example, in the example of the hierarchical structure of the tree structure shown in FIG. 1, by assigning employee codes that specify the managers and persons in charge of each department, and registering the employee codes and associations at the higher ranks, The route to the hierarchy can be easily specified. In the example of the standard workflow shown in FIG. 2, the route from the person in charge 1005 to the supervising officer 1000 can be specified by sequentially tracing the employee code of the upper hierarchy.
[0005]
However, recently, the organization structure has been diversified, such as the flattening of the organization and the team structure of each project, and the number of cases in which a workflow different from the route according to the conventional tree structure is defined is increasing. For example, when cross-department projects are organized and the team leader sees from the person in charge, team leaders become managers of different departments, or managers and other managers are added to the root to check the work contents from various perspectives. In some cases, the workflow cannot be specified only from the tree structure.
[0006]
Specifically, for example, in the example of the workflow that does not depend on the tree structure shown in FIG. 3, after going through 1004 and 1003 associated with the upper level in the tree structure from 1005 belonging to the information system G (group), the joint project If the route to reach the management officer's 1000 through the accounting / business G 1011 in the count management department, and further through the IT promotion department 2001 is necessary, only the definition defined in the tree structure Can no longer be identified.
[0007]
In many current systems, such irregular roots must be set individually, apart from automatic calculations referring to the tree structure. In order to perform this setting flexibly and smoothly, for example, a route assignment person is set for each department, and in the case of a workflow different from the normal route, this route assignment person is set as a primary person, and then the route assignment person An invention in which a person sets a route in a department in consideration of circumstances in his / her department is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0008]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2002-183388 A
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As mentioned above, if you set routes individually for irregular workflows that do not depend on the tree structure, you will register various routes in a one-to-one correspondence, so the number of routes will be enormous, There is a problem that the setting becomes very complicated. Further, even if similar cases are not provided with the function of automatically calculating the route, there is a problem that registration is required for all cases and the number of registration steps is required.
[0010]
In addition, at the start and end of a project, a new route changed by the project must be registered. In such a case, all route patterns related to the project are calculated. Registration and deletion must be performed, and there is a problem that it takes time to change or delete the route.
[0011]
To solve these problems, according to the invention described in Patent Document 1, only the person in charge of route assignment of a department to be circulated is registered when it is circulated to a different department, and the route within the department is assigned to the route assignment. By setting the person in charge, irregular routes can be set flexibly, and the number of routes registered in advance can be reduced. However, since the present invention involves setting the route in the department by the route allocator at the time of specifying the route, the automation up to the final route calculation has not been achieved, and the efficiency of the route calculation is not necessarily improved. Not enough.
[0012]
The present invention has been made in response to such a problem, and provides a route calculation system and a route calculation method capable of specifying a flexible and efficient route in a route calculation of a workflow independent of a tree structure. It is for the purpose.
[0013]
In order to solve these problems, the present invention is a route calculation system for calculating a route of a workflow that does not depend on a tree structure, and an organization hierarchy to which a member belongs in a record provided for each member of the organization. About each step of 1 to n (n is a natural number of 2 or more) set as the approval order of the workflow in the member information storage means for storing another department and the records provided for each department in the organizational hierarchy , The member code of the member who is the approver if approval is required, the first flag indicating that the member specified in the high priority record that requires approval is the approver, if no approval is required Route information designating one of the second flags indicating that approval is not required is added to the record provided for each project for each of steps 1 to n. The route information designating any one of the member code, the first flag, and the second flag is added to the record provided for each member, and the member code and the first flag for each of the steps 1 to n. In order to perform route calculation of the workflow of the project for which one member is in charge, and route information storage means for storing the route information designating one of the second flags with priority for each route information. In addition, a belonging department specifying means for specifying a member's department by organizational hierarchy with reference to the member information storage means, and a belonging department specified by the belonging department specifying means for performing the route calculation The route information corresponding to the route calculation, the route information corresponding to the route calculation target project, the route calculation target member corresponding to the route calculation target Route information acquisition means for acquiring route information from the route information storage means, and for the route information acquired by the route information acquisition means, a member code designated in each route information, a first flag, a second flag Route identification means for identifying the necessity of approval and the member code when approval is required for each of the steps 1 to n in the order of 1 to n from the flag, and specifying the route of the workflow related to the project; , And the route specifying means for each of the steps 1 to n, 1st flag If the member code is specified in the route information with the highest priority, the route information with the highest priority is considered as requiring approval by the member code. Second flag Is specified, the necessity of approval in each step and the member code when approval is required are specified. Further, according to the present invention, the route specifying means does not require approval in any one of the steps 1 to n when the second flag is specified for all route information. It may be characterized by specifying. Furthermore, in the present invention, the route specifying means, in any one of the steps 1 to n, a member code to be subject to the route calculation is designated in one route information, and route information other than the route information In the case where the second flag is designated for all, the step may be specified as not requiring approval.
[0014]
In this invention, in addition to the workflow route information according to the tree-structured organizational hierarchy, workflow route information determined for each project or member is defined in advance, and the route information is extracted. By merging in this way, it is possible to automatically calculate a workflow route that takes into account the contents of the project or the hierarchical relationship determined by the belonging person into a normal route according to the organizational hierarchy. Route by project information For each project across departments, approvers are defined in advance according to the nature of the project. Route by member information In the case where a specific instructor is assigned to a certain member, the personal hierarchical relationship is defined in advance. Members include members belonging to the organization, such as corporate officers and employees, and union members.
[0016]
In the above-mentioned workflow route calculation, information on the organizational hierarchy that is the principle of the route is essential, and the route defined for each by specifying the project type or specific members here information The roots that do not depend on the tree structure can be specified exceptionally by merging them. Therefore, if information on the organization hierarchy that is the principle is registered in advance, the organization related to the member can be specified by specifying a specific member. Hierarchies can be extracted automatically.
[0018]
The present invention , The root of members who should be approved by organizational hierarchy, project, and member information Are recorded in order, and a plurality of pieces of route information are merged using the approval order as a key, whereby a route corresponding to an individual case can be easily specified.
[0020]
In the present invention, When merging multiple pieces of route information using the approval order as a key, by assigning priorities to the route information in advance, if multiple members are duplicated in the same approval order, the priority order is followed. By attaching rules to select members, it is possible to easily identify the route.
[0022]
In the present invention, If multiple route information is merged using approval order as a key, it is necessary to set the approval order of the same system for all route information. information Depending on the number of approvers, the approval order may be partially blank. When all the route information for a certain approval order is such a blank, it is possible to specify the route by merging assuming that there is no member to be approved.
[0024]
When trying to calculate the route for a certain member's project, if the member is registered as an essential member in the approval route from the end of the project, he / she will approve himself / herself. Configure route information to eliminate such inconsistencies Member If the person is included, the route can be specified by treating the person as having no approver.
[0025]
Furthermore, this invention can also be comprised as a route calculation method using each route calculation system corresponding to each structure of the said route calculation system.
[0026]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following description, a case where the route calculation system according to the present invention is used for workflow management in a company will be described. However, the following example is an example of an embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is related to this. It is not limited to the embodiment.
[0027]
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a workflow management system including a route calculation system according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an employee table having information related to the organization hierarchy. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a route table having route information of each workflow for each organizational hierarchy, each project, and each member. FIGS. 7 and 8 are first and second examples of calculating routes by merging route information acquired from the route table, respectively. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for specifying a workflow route according to the present invention. FIG. 10 shows a case where a plurality of route information is merged in the present invention. root It is a flowchart of the step which produces.
[0028]
In FIG. 4, the route calculation system 10 according to the present invention includes a route information database 11, a route registration unit 12, and a route calculation unit 13. The route information database 11 includes an employee table 111 and a route table 112. The route calculation system 10 is connected so as to be operable from the terminal device 30 and may be used as a single function system only for route calculation. However, the route calculation system 10 is an electronic circulation system included in groupware or the like. By connecting to 20, electronic circulation can be controlled according to the calculated route.
[0029]
Initial conditions for setting a route are input from the terminal device 30 and registered in the route information database 11 via the route registration unit 12. In the employee table 111, an organization hierarchy based on a tree structure is registered. In the route table 112, in addition to the member approval rank for each organizational hierarchy, the member approval rank for each project and the member approval rank for each member are registered. When it is desired to calculate a route that does not depend on the tree structure, the route calculation unit 13 is operated from the terminal device 30, and information regarding the approval order of the corresponding route from the route table 112 of the route information database 11. (Route information) Extract from multiple cuts and merge root Is calculated. Corresponding route from route table 112 information Is extracted, the employee table 111 is referred to for the organization hierarchy information of the target employee.
[0030]
FIG. 5 shows an example of the employee table 111 having information on the organizational hierarchy. Here, for each employee assigned with an employee code, the hierarchy of the organization to which the employee belongs is recorded in the order of company, head office branch, department, and group.
[0031]
FIG. 6 shows an example of a route table 112 having route information of each workflow for each organizational hierarchy, each project, and each member. Here, a record is provided for each unit for which a workflow route for each organizational hierarchy, each project, and each member should be defined, and each record has fields from step 01 to step 08 for approval in the workflow. The members to be passed and their approval order are recorded. In each step, the employee code of the member to be approved is recorded. “PASS” indicates that there is no member to be approved. “↑” record Means to follow the rules set in.
[0032]
The route table 112 includes a route that is a principle of each workflow for each organizational hierarchy, each project, and each member. information Must be defined and registered. In the organization table, the route that should be approved in principle at the level of each department or group information Is defined. In the project table, the route that should be approved in principle for each project type information Is defined. In the personal table, for each member, a route that should be approved by an individual as an educator information Is defined. The priority order of definitions to be applied between these tables or records provided in each table may be determined in any way. In the example of FIG. 6, the route defined in the organization table is used. information Based on the project and further route by project information If this is established, this will be reflected and further routed by member information If this is defined, this is reflected, and it is assumed that the lower priority record has a higher priority for identifying the members.
[0033]
For example, route by project information In the project table in which “1” is defined, the records related to the “core system construction” project are “↑, 1003, PASS, 1101, ↑, ↑, ↑, ↑” in order from step 01. In other words, it is a rule that is determined according to the organizational hierarchy, which is a principle rule. information On the other hand, in step 02, the employee code 1003 has priority, and in step 03, the route for each organizational hierarchy is given. information In step 04, the employee code 1101 has priority. In this way, the route by project or member information Is the root by organizational hierarchy information Is defined when special settings are required for the root of each organizational hierarchy information If all steps are "↑", it is not necessary to register the definition.
[0034]
A first example in which route information acquired from the route table 112 is merged in the route calculation unit 13 to calculate a route will be described with reference to FIG. This example shows a case where a workflow route is calculated when “an employee with employee code 1004 participates in an information system construction project”.
[0035]
First, referring to the employee table 111 in FIG. 5, the organizational hierarchy to which the employee code 1004 belongs is “Company X, head office, counting management unit, information system G” referring to the record shown in FIG. I understand that. Therefore, a record corresponding to “Company X, head office, counting management unit, information system G” is extracted from the organization table of the route table 112 of FIG. Next, for the project category and the target employee, a record corresponding to “information system construction” is extracted from the project table, and a record corresponding to “1004” is extracted from the personal table. The records extracted here are marked with (1) in the example of FIG.
[0036]
The table shown in FIG. 7 is an arrangement of these records. Here, the employee code recorded for each step is a member to be approved. These employee codes are merged based on the following rules.
(1) If there are multiple employee codes, the employee code set in the lower row takes precedence.
(2) No one will approve the step where only “PASS” exists.
(3) If the approver is the same as the principal, “PASS” is determined.
(4) Skip the step that was finally determined to be “PASS” root Create In order to set a rule such as (1), priorities are assigned to the records recorded in the route table 112, and the records extracted by the route calculation unit 13 are arranged using the priorities as keys. It is necessary to set it to be done. In addition, it is necessary to prepare a record for registering an approver for each step in the route table 112 by reflecting such a rule for each project or individual for which approval is defined.
[0037]
A record of “determination route” in FIG. 7 is obtained by merging employee codes of respective steps based on such rules. In other words, as “PASS” is skipped, “1005 → 1101 → 1001 → 2001 → 3003 → 1001 → 3003” root Will be determined. In this example, when corresponding to the example of the hierarchical organization in FIG. 1, 1101 is a manager of another group, and 2001 is a manager of another department. Approval is required according to the arrangement of each individual and project. It is supposed to be. In addition, receiving the check of the document manager 3003 in the general affairs department at the final stage is also incorporated into the route.
[0038]
FIG. 8 shows a second example in which the route information acquired from the route table 112 is merged by the route calculation unit 13 to calculate the route. The merge rule is the same as in the first example. This example shows a case where a workflow route is calculated when “an employee with an employee code 1005 participates in a basic system construction project”.
[0039]
First, referring to the employee table 111 in FIG. 5, the organizational hierarchy to which the employee code 1005 belongs is “Company X, head office, counting management unit, information system G” referring to the record shown in FIG. 5B. I understand that. Therefore, a record corresponding to “Company X, head office, counting management unit, information system G” is extracted from the organization table of the route table 112 of FIG. Next, with respect to the project category and the target employee, a record corresponding to “main system construction” is extracted from the project table, and a record corresponding to “1005” is extracted from the personal table. The records extracted here are marked with (2) in the example of FIG.
[0040]
The table shown in FIG. 8 is an arrangement of these records. A record of “determination route” in FIG. 8 is obtained by merging the employee codes of each step based on the same rule from this table. In other words, as “PASS” is skipped, “1003 → 1101 → 1000 → 3003 → 1001 → 3003” root Will be determined. In this example, when corresponding to the example of the hierarchical organization in FIG. 1, 1101 is a manager of another group, but approval is required according to the personal and project-specific arrangements. In addition, receiving the check of the document manager 3003 in the general affairs department at the final stage is also incorporated into the route.
[0041]
Here, as shown in step 03 of FIG. 8, for example, when “PASS” is set in step 03 in the record of “core system construction”, whatever approver is set in the lower level, the approver The route will be specified by skipping. Therefore, for example, when an approver is deleted due to a workflow change for a business, the change is reflected in all related workflows by simply setting “PASS” in the relevant part of the record for that business. become.
[0042]
In the above-described embodiment, a configuration in which one approver is registered in each workflow step has been described. However, a single step may include a plurality of approvers. In this case, the relationship between the approvers may be a council that requires the approval of all of the plurality of approvers, or may be a partial approval of the plurality of approvers. Even when multiple approvers are included in this way, each route information Can be merged with similar rules.
[0043]
Next, an outline of a flow for specifying a workflow route according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
[0044]
First, when it is desired to specify a route based on an employee for a project, the employee and the project are specified (S01). Next, referring to the employee table, the organization hierarchy information related to the employee is acquired (S02). Next, for each employee and project identified earlier from the route table, and the organizational hierarchy to which the employee is included in the organizational hierarchy information acquired earlier, the respective basic routes information The record that defines is extracted (S03). For all the extracted records, the data related to the employee requiring approval recorded in each step is merged (S04), and the merged data is used. root Is created (S05), and the process is terminated.
[0045]
Of these, merge multiple route information root The flow of the step of creating (S04) will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.
[0046]
First, the employee code recorded in the field of “Step 01” is referred to for all the extracted records (S41). It is determined whether there is an employee code identical to the principal (S42). If there is an identical employee code, the principal part is set to “PASS” (S43). Next, it is determined whether or not an employee code is recorded as data other than “PASS” in the field of “Step 01” (S44). If there is no data other than “PASS”, “ “PASS” is selected for “Step 01” (S45).
[0047]
If employee code data other than “PASS” exists, it is determined whether or not a plurality of employee codes exist (S46). If there are a plurality of employee codes, the employee code of the record set in the lower line, which is the higher priority record, is selected as the employee code of “step 01” in the decision route (S47). If a plurality of employee codes do not exist, the employee code is selected for “step 01” of the determined route (S48).
[0048]
As described above, when the employee code or “PASS” is selected in “Step 01” of the determined route, the field of “Step 02” is subsequently referred to (S49), and the same selection is repeated. In this way, by selecting the employee code or “PASS” of the determined route in each step, and finally calculating the route that skips “PASS”, a plurality of route information is merged. root Can be created.
[0049]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, a plurality of routes to be processed in workflow route calculation independent of the tree structure information By merging, it becomes possible to specify a route flexibly and efficiently. As a result, in exceptional cases such as workflows across departments, it is possible to greatly reduce the trouble of setting a route individually.
[0050]
Further, even when the approval route premise is changed in a part other than the tree structure, the setting change operation can be simplified. For example, if the person in charge of a specific project is changed, it is only necessary to change the corresponding field of the route information of the project, and it is possible to change all the registration of individual exceptional routes as in the past. It becomes unnecessary. Even when it is desired to delete a part of the approver of the route, the setting of the deletion is facilitated by using the “PASS” setting.
[0051]
In addition, if you want to add general matters such as checking the person in charge of documents to the final stage of all workflows, all routes information This setting can be easily performed by registering the person in charge at the highest approval order.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an organization having a tree structure.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a standard workflow in a tree-structured organization.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a workflow that does not depend on a tree structure in a tree structure organization;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a workflow management system including a route calculation system according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an employee table having information related to an organization hierarchy.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a route table having route information of each workflow by organization hierarchy, project, and member.
FIG. 7 is a first example of calculating a route by merging route information acquired from a route table.
FIG. 8 is a second example of calculating a route by merging route information acquired from a route table.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart for specifying a workflow route according to the present invention;
[Fig. 10] In the present invention, a plurality of route information is merged. root It is a flowchart of the step which produces.

Claims (6)

A route calculation system for calculating a workflow route that does not depend on a tree structure.
Member information storage means for storing departments belonging to each organizational hierarchy to which the members belong, in a record provided for each member of the organization,
Composition of members who are approvers when approval is required for each step of 1 to n (n is a natural number of 2 or more) set as the approval order of the workflow in a record provided for each department in the organizational hierarchy A route that specifies either the member code, the first flag indicating that the member specified in the high priority record requiring approval is the approver, or the second flag indicating that approval is not required if approval is not required In the record provided for each project, the route information specifying any one of the member code, the first flag, and the second flag for each step 1 to n is provided for each member. Route information specifying any one of the member code, the first flag, and the second flag for each of the steps 1 to n. A route information storage means for storing prioritize for all route information is,
In order to calculate the root of the workflow of the project that one member is in charge of, the belonging department specifying means for specifying the belonging department for each organizational hierarchy with reference to the member information storage means,
In order to perform the route calculation, the route information corresponding to the department identified by the department identification means is route information corresponding to the project subject to the route calculation to the members subject to the route calculation. Route information acquisition means for acquiring corresponding route information from the route information storage means,
For the route information acquired by the route information acquisition means, whether or not to approve each of the steps 1 to n from the member code, the first flag, and the second flag specified in each route information. Route identification means for identifying the member codes in the order of 1 to n when necessary and identifying the route of the workflow related to the project;
With
The route specifying means, except for the route information in which the first flag is specified, for each step 1 to n, if the member code is specified in the route information having the highest priority, the member code If the second flag is specified in the route information with the highest priority, the approval is not required for each step, and the member code when approval is required at each step A route calculation system characterized by specifying. In any one of the steps 1 to n, the route specifying means specifies that no approval is required for the step when the second flag is specified for all route information. The route calculation system according to claim 1. In any one of the steps 1 to n, the route specifying means is configured such that a member code to be subject to the route calculation is specified in one route information, and the second flag is included in all route information other than the route information. The route calculation system according to claim 1, wherein if it is specified, the step is specified as requiring no approval. A member information storage unit for storing departments belonging to each organizational hierarchy to which the members belong in a record provided for each member of the organization;
Composition of members who are approvers when approval is required for each step of 1 to n (n is a natural number of 2 or more) set as the approval order of the workflow in a record provided for each department in the organizational hierarchy A route that specifies either the member code, the first flag indicating that the member specified in the high priority record requiring approval is the approver, or the second flag indicating that approval is not required if approval is not required In the record provided for each project, the route information specifying any one of the member code, the first flag, and the second flag for each step 1 to n is provided for each member. Route information specifying any one of the member code, the first flag, and the second flag for each of the steps 1 to n. Is a route information storage unit for storing prioritize for all route information, being executed by a computer comprising, a route calculation method for calculating a route of the workflow that is not dependent on the tree structure,
A department identification step for identifying a department belonging to each organizational hierarchy of the member with reference to the member information storage means in order for the computer to calculate a route of a workflow of a project handled by one member When,
In order for the computer to perform the route calculation, route information corresponding to the department identified in the department identification step, route information corresponding to the project subject to the route calculation, and the route calculation target Route information acquisition step for acquiring route information corresponding to each member from the route information storage unit,
The route information acquired by the computer in the route information acquisition step is subject to approval for each step 1 to n from the member code, the first flag, and the second flag specified in each route information. A route specifying step for specifying the member code in the order of 1 to n and specifying the route of the workflow related to the project;
Have
In the route specifying step, for each of the steps 1 to n, except for the route information in which the first flag is specified, if the member code is specified in the route information having the highest priority, the member code If the second flag is specified in the route information with the highest priority, the approval is not required for each step, and the member code when approval is required at each step A route calculation method characterized by specifying. In the route specifying step, in any one of steps 1 to n, if the second flag is specified for all route information, the step is specified as requiring no approval. The route calculation method according to claim 4. In the route specifying step, in any one of the steps 1 to n, a member code to be subject to the route calculation is designated as one route information, and a second flag is set for all route information other than the route information. The route calculation method according to claim 4, wherein if it is specified, the step is specified as requiring no approval.

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