Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Operations research or analysis
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-13
2002-12-10
Trammell, James P. (Department: 3621)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Operations research or analysis
Reexamination Certificate
active
06493675
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a system for managing a series of operations according to a predetermined work flow, and supporting the successful performance of the series of operations by a plurality of users, and also relates to a storage medium for storing a program used to direct a computer to manage the operations and support the successful performance of the operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been a system called a work flow management system for managing information about, for example, persons to be assigned to respective jobs, the term limit of each job, etc. which are necessary in performing a process based on the work flow of a series of predetermined jobs.
FIG. 1
shows the configuration of the conventional work flow management system.
In
FIG. 1
, a server
111
is provided with a work flow engine
112
for managing a work flow.
A work flow definition information storage device
121
stores a work flow of a series of operations managed by the work flow engine
112
. The work flow is stored for each a work process (for example, a series of operations such as production management, personnel management, etc.). For example, when a work process refers to production management, the work flow definition information storage device
121
stores, as a work flow, an order slip issuing operation, an operation of issuing production management information (product specification, etc.), an operation of issuing a production instruction slip, etc. Such operations forming a work flow of a work process are referred to as work activities.
A work information storage device
122
stores work information about, for example, the work flow of a work process being performed. For example, the work information storage device
122
stores the name of a person assigned to each job, a work instruction, the term limit of each job, a work history, etc.
A work database
123
is a product specification database for production management, and is a common database of the server
111
.
In this example, a client A
141
belongs to the sales department of a company.
In this example, a client B
142
belongs to the production management department of the company.
In this example, a client C
143
belongs to the production department of the company.
FIG. 2
shows the operation of the conventional work flow management apparatus shown in FIG.
1
.
FIG. 2
shows an example of the work flow of the production management work process. In this work flow, the sales department first receives from a customer a request for product delivery, and issues a product order slip to the production management department. Then, the production management department receives the slip, and issues a production request to the production department. The production department receives the production request.
The work flow engine
112
performs a work activity transfer process
114
between clients and a next work activity determining process
115
based on the progress of the work process.
The work flow definition information storage device
121
stores a table
121
′ showing the work flow for production management.
The work database
123
stores the database of the product specification (including the product specification A
130
of a product specified in a production request) of each product which can be manufactured by the production department. Furthermore, the work database
123
also stores the listing format of each slip transmitted and received among the departments in the company. The format of the slip can be individually generated and used by a user system of each client.
In this example, work information
126
stored in the work information storage device
122
includes necessary information (ordered work information
001
, a person A of the sales department as an order receiver, a person B of the production management department as a production request receiver, a person C of the production department as a person in charge of production, and Dec. 11, '99 as the term limit of production) in processing the work process by a user system, together with an order slip
127
, a production request slip
128
, and a product specification sheet A
129
.
The order slip
127
is generated by the person A of the sales department in the client A
141
.
The production request slip
128
is generated by the person B of the production management department in the client B
142
.
The product specification sheet A
129
refers to the specifications of a product specified in the production request slip generated by the client B
142
based on the product specification A
130
of the product A stored in the work database
123
.
An order slip
151
is generated by the person A of the sales department in the client A
141
by inputting data in a corresponding item in a predetermined listing form.
An ordered work item information
152
is the order slip
151
received by the client B
142
.
A production request slip
153
is generated by the person B of the production management department in the client B
142
by inputting data in a corresponding item in a predetermined listing form.
A product specification sheet A
154
is generated according to the product specification A
130
of a product A stored in the work database
123
. It is the specification of the product specified in the production request, and is generated by the client B
142
and then transferred with the production request slip
153
.
A production request slip
155
is the production request slip
153
transferred from the client B
142
and received by the client C
143
in the production department.
A product specification sheet A
156
is attached to the production request slip
155
, and transferred with the production request slip
153
by the client B
142
.
Described below are the operations shown in FIG.
2
.
In the client A
141
, the person A of the sales department generates the order slip
151
using an input tool provided in the client A
141
. After the slip has been generated, the work flow engine
112
generates the work information
126
, refers to the table
121
′ stored in the work flow definition information storage device
121
, and transfers the order slip
151
to the client B
142
based on the work flow indicated by the table
121
′. At this time, the work information
126
does not contain the production request slip
128
or the product specification sheet A
129
.
In client B
142
, the person B of the production management department generates the production request slip
153
using the input tool provided in the client B
142
according to the ordered work item information
152
obtained from the transferred order slip
151
. Furthermore, the person B generates the product specification sheet A
154
based on the product specification A
130
of the product specified in the production request stored in the work database
123
, attaches it to the production request slip
153
, and terminates the production request process.
When the production request process terminates in the client B
142
, the work flow engine
112
adds the production request slip
128
and the product specification sheet A
129
to the work information
126
stored in the work information storage device
122
, and updates them. Then, the work flow engine
112
refers to the table
121
′ stored in the work flow definition information storage device
121
, and transfers the production request slip
153
and the product specification sheet A
154
to the client C
143
based on the work flow shown in the table
121
′.
In the client C
143
, when the production request slip
155
and the product specification sheet A
156
are obtained, the person C of the production department confirms them, and notifies the work flow engine
112
of the completion of the entire production management process.
When the work flow engine
112
receives a completion notification of the production management process from the client C
143
, it terminates a series of the o
Akamatsu Hiroyuki
Ebata Tsuyoshi
Hara Hirotaka
Ikeda Junji
Kanaya Nobuyuki
Elisca Pierre E.
Fujitsu Limited
Staas & Halsey , LLP
Trammell James P.
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