An aided design method for an examination and approval process

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of approval process design, in particular to an auxiliary design method based on an approval process. The method comprises the following steps: S1, determining an approval process and an iteration end condition; S2, assigning values to starting nodes; S3, calculating the document outflow density of each node and migrating the document outflow density to the next node pointed to; zeroing the document density of an approval-completed document; S4, judging whether the iteration end condition is met; if yes, entering step S5; otherwise, increasing a time step by 1, adding the document density to each starting node, and then re-entering step S3; S5, judging whether the design of the approval process is reasonable; and ending. The application can predict the bottleneck of the approval process in real time, help predict the effect of the approval process design and adjustment, help shorten the design and adjustment cycle of the approval process, and improve the user satisfaction degree of the approval process.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of approval process design, and more particularly to an auxiliary design method based on an approval process. BACKGROUND

[0002] In various management platforms, process approval is a key function. For example, borrowing of confidential documents requires multi-level approval, and each level of approval has multiple options. If the approver does not pass, the previous approver or the borrower will be returned. The approval process needs to be checked by multiple parties to ensure that each reviewer maintains a good state. This process can be very complex. For example, after the initiator's unit leader reviews the document, the type of the document is determined and sent to different approvers.

[0003] During the review process, if the review node is blocked, it means that the approval process design is not very reasonable and needs to be redesigned or improved. In the prior art, in order to obtain an optimal approval process, the designer usually adjusts the approval process according to the actual application of the approval process.

[0004] However, if problems are found during actual use, it takes a long time to constantly repair and adjust the approval process until the information between different nodes in the approval process can be transmitted in time and the workload of each node is stable. This not only leads to a long approval process design and adjustment cycle, but also affects user experience and satisfaction, and even adversely affects business. SUMMARY

[0005] To solve the above-mentioned problem that the design of the approval process in the prior art needs to be adjusted according to the actual application, resulting in a long design and adjustment cycle and affecting user satisfaction, the present application provides an auxiliary design method for an approval process, which can help the designer to predict the rationality of the approval process, shorten the approval process design and adjustment cycle, and improve user satisfaction.

[0006] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the technical solution provided by the present application is:

[0007] An auxiliary design method for an approval process, comprising the following steps:

[0008] S1: first determine the approval process, the entire approval process can be represented by a directed graph with probability weight, each approval node corresponds to a post and an approval personnel on the post; wherein the approval process includes multiple levels, the first level includes at least one initiation node, the second to the last level each includes at least one approval node; then determine the direction of the document flow of each node, the document migration probability of each node pointing to the next node and the iteration end condition; enter step S2. It should be noted that each node described in the present specification includes all initiation nodes and all approval nodes. It can be understood that if the direction of the document flow of A node is B, it means that A has a certain probability of submitting a document to B; the document migration probability of A node pointing to B node represents the probability that A will submit a document to B.

[0009] S2: assign a number greater than 0 to each of the initiation nodes as a document density, which represents the number of documents staying in the node per unit time; enter step S3.

[0010] S3: select all nodes with a document density greater than zero, calculate the document outflow density of each node for the next node it points to according to the direction of each node and the document migration probability, and migrate the document outflow density to the next node it points to, that is, the current node is reduced by a part of the document density equal to the size of the aforementioned document outflow density, and the next node it points to is increased by a part of the document density equal to the size of the aforementioned document outflow density; at the same time, the document density of the completed approval is zero; enter step S4.

[0011] S4: determine whether the iteration end condition is met, if yes, enter step S5; otherwise, increase the time step by 1, and then increase the document density of each initiation node, and then re-enter step S3.

[0012] S5: determine whether the design of the approval process is reasonable according to the current time step size, the current document density of each node or the difference between the current document density of each node and the document density of the previous time step; end. Wherein, the number of iterations is equal to the value of the current time step.

[0013] Preferably, after the step S1 and before entering the step S2, the document density of each node is assigned a value of 0, which means that all approval nodes are in an idle state before the submitter submits a document. This can avoid the influence of the document density left by the last prediction on the prediction result this time.

[0014] In one preferred scheme, the iteration end condition is that the current time step reaches the maximum time step.

[0015] Preferably, in the step S1, a document density threshold is also determined; in the step S5, it is judged whether the document density of at least one node is greater than the document density threshold, if yes, it indicates that the design of the approval process is unreasonable, otherwise, it indicates that the design of the approval process is reasonable.

[0016] In another preferred scheme, in the step S1, the iteration end condition is "in the nodes with document density greater than 0, the difference between the current document density and the document density of the last time step of at least one node is less than or equal to a certain value" or "the time step reaches a maximum time step". One of the two conditions is met to stop the iteration, which is beneficial to reduce the iteration times and improve the prediction efficiency of the approval process. If the former condition is met, it indicates that the designed approval process can converge, otherwise, it indicates that the designed approval process cannot converge. It can be understood that the non-convergence of the approval process indicates that the document density of the node is constantly changing or increasing, and the whole process cannot be stable and the specific workload of the node cannot be predicted. If the designed approval process can converge, it indicates that the approval process has reached a stable state, and each node has a fixed workload.

[0017] Preferably, in the step S5, it is judged whether the iteration times are greater than or equal to the maximum time step, if yes, it indicates that the design of the approval process is unreasonable, otherwise, it indicates that the design of the approval process is reasonable.

[0018] Preferably, in the step S1, the calculation formula of the document migration probability of the approval node for the approval node pointed by the approval node is:

[0019] P=P0×P1;

[0020] In the formula, P represents the document migration probability of the current node for the next node pointed by the current node; P1 represents the probability that the initiator of the current node saves and sends the document;

[0021] The calculation formula of the document migration probability of the approval node for the approval node pointed by the approval node is:

[0022] P=P0×P2;

[0023] In the formula, P represents the document migration probability of the current node for the next node pointed by the current node; P2 represents the probability that the next node has seen the document submitted by the current node, and the next node does not return the document.

[0024] Preferably, in the step S3, the calculation formula of the document outflow density is:

[0025] q=s×P;

[0026] In the formula, q represents a document outflow density; s represents a current document density of a current node; and P represents a document migration probability of the current node for a next node pointed to by the current node.

[0027] Preferably, in the step S1, a pressure coefficient, a merging processing advantage coefficient and a first iteration number threshold value of each of the approval nodes are determined; and in the step S3, when the iteration number is greater than or equal to the first iteration number threshold value, a calculation formula of the document outflow density of the approval node for the next node pointed to by the approval node is as follows:

[0028] q=s×P×d×h

[0029] In the formula, q represents a document outflow density; s represents a current document density of a current node; P represents a document migration probability of the current node for a next node pointed to by the current node; d represents a pressure coefficient corresponding to the current node; and h represents a merging processing advantage coefficient corresponding to the current node. The pressure coefficient is used to evaluate the busy degree and the document processing capacity of a certain approval node. If the pressure coefficient of an approval node is too high, it means that the approval personnel of the approval node need to process a large number of approval tasks. The merging processing advantage coefficient refers to a quantitative index of the advantage or efficiency improvement brought by the merging processing of multiple approval tasks in the approval process. The sizes of the pressure coefficient and the merging processing advantage coefficient are determined according to the design of the approval process. When the iteration number is greater than the first iteration number threshold value, the pressure coefficient and the merging processing advantage coefficient are included in the calculation of the document outflow density, which can more truly restore the actual proceeding process of the approval process, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of the prediction result of the approval process.

[0030] Preferably, in the step S5, if the result is that the design of the approval process is unreasonable, it is indicated that the part that cannot converge needs to be modified, that is, the node that is blocked needs to be modified. The modification manner includes increasing a parallel node or replacing a node with a slow document processing speed with a node with a faster document processing speed, that is, increasing the same post in the same approval level or replacing an approval personnel with a slow document processing speed with an approval personnel with a faster document processing speed.

[0031] Advantages of the application:

[0032] 1. The method can predict the bottleneck of the approval process in real time, help predict the effect of the design and adjustment of the approval process, and help shorten the design and adjustment cycle of the approval process and improve the user satisfaction of the approval process.

[0033] 2. Based on the stay document density of each node, the approval habits of the currently selected approval personnel of each node and the probability of the approval options calculated according to the complex logic are specified, and the document flow is simulated using the discretized time and space, so as to simulate the efficiency of the entire approval process and the document density. The simulation can give the average document density and flow rate in a period of time, which can reflect the efficiency of the approval process.

[0034] 3. The complex business logic is probabilistically modeled, the convergence of the prediction model is predicted using less calculation amount, and the state change of a single document does not need to be simulated, so the calculation speed is fast, and the application of the approval process can be quickly predicted.

[0035] 4. The method can quickly give numerical quantitative relationships during the design of the approval process, and can probabilistically model and evaluate the directed graph design of any complex approval process. The parameters given by the evaluation include the stability of the approval process, the pressure of each node of the approval process and the rationality of the approval process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0036] Figure 1 is a flowchart of an auxiliary design method of an approval process;

[0037] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a directed graph of an approval process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] The technical solutions of the present application will be further described in detail below with specific embodiments and in combination with the drawings:

[0039] Embodiment 1

[0040] This embodiment is a first embodiment of an auxiliary design method of an approval process, as shown in Figure 1 , which includes the following steps:

[0041] S1: first determine the approval process, which can be represented by a directed graph with probability weights as shown in Figure 2 , each approval node corresponds to a post and an approval personnel on the post; wherein the approval process includes multiple levels, the first level includes at least one initiation node, and the second to the last level each includes at least one approval node; then determine the direction of document flow out of each node, the document migration probability of each node pointing to the next node and the iteration end condition; enter step S2. It should be noted that each node described in this specification includes all initiation nodes and all approval nodes. It can be understood that if the direction of document flow out of A node is B, it means that A has a certain probability to submit a document to B; the document migration probability of A node pointing to B node represents the probability that A will submit a document to B.

[0042] S2: assign a number greater than 0 to each initiating node as a document density, which represents the number of documents staying in the node per unit time; enter step S3.

[0043] S3: select all nodes with document density greater than zero, calculate the document outflow density of each node for the next node it points to according to the pointing condition of each node and the document migration probability, and migrate the document outflow density to the next node it points to, that is, subtract a part of the document density equal to the size of the aforementioned document outflow density from the current node, and add a part of the document density equal to the size of the aforementioned document outflow density to the next node it points to; at the same time, set the document density of the completed approval to zero; enter step S4.

[0044] S4: determine whether the iteration end condition is met, if yes, enter step S5; otherwise, increase the time step by 1, and then increase the document density of each initiating node, and then re-enter step S3.

[0045] S5: determine whether the design of the approval process is reasonable according to the current time step size, the current document density of each node, or the difference between the current document density of each node and the document density of the previous time step; end. Wherein, the number of iterations is equal to the value of the current time step.

[0046] Further, before entering step S2 after step S1, the document density of each node is first assigned a value of 0, which represents that all the approval nodes are in an idle state before the submitter submits the document. This can avoid the influence of the document density left by the last prediction process on the prediction result this time.

[0047] Advantages of the embodiment:

[0048] 1. The method can predict the bottleneck of the approval process in real time, help predict the effect of the design and adjustment of the approval process, and help shorten the design and adjustment cycle of the approval process and improve the user satisfaction of the approval process.

[0049] 2. Based on the residence document density of each node, the approval habits of the selected approval personnel of each node and the probability of the approval options calculated according to the complex logic are specified, and the discrete time and space are used to simulate the document circulation, and the efficiency and document density of the entire approval process are simulated. The simulation can give the average document density and flow rate in a period of time, which can reflect the efficiency of the approval process.

[0050] 3. The complex business logic is probabilistically modeled, the convergence of the prediction model is predicted with less calculation amount, without simulating the state change of a single document, the calculation speed is faster, and the application situation of the approval process can be quickly predicted.

[0051] 4. The method can quickly give numerical quantitative relationship in the design of approval process, and can evaluate the probability model of the directed graph design of any complex approval process. The parameters given by the evaluation include the stability of the approval process, the pressure of each node of the approval process, and the rationality of the approval process.

[0052] Embodiment 2

[0053] This embodiment is a second embodiment of the auxiliary design method of the approval process, and further supplements steps S1 and S2.

[0054] Further, the iteration end condition is that the current time step reaches the maximum time step.

[0055] Further, in step S1, the document density threshold is also determined; in step S5, it is judged whether the document density of at least one node is greater than the document density threshold. If yes, it means that the design of the approval process is not reasonable, otherwise it means that the design of the approval process is reasonable.

[0056] The other features, working principles and beneficial effects of this embodiment are consistent with those of embodiment 1.

[0057] Embodiment 3

[0058] This embodiment is a third embodiment of the auxiliary design method of the approval process, which is similar to embodiment 2, except that, as shown in Figure 1 the iteration end condition in step S1 is that "in the nodes with document density greater than 0, the difference between the current document density and the document density of the last time step of at least one node is less than or equal to a certain value" or "the time step reaches the maximum time step". One of the two conditions can stop the iteration, which is beneficial to reduce the number of iterations and improve the prediction efficiency of the approval process. If the former condition is met, it means that the designed approval process can converge, otherwise it means that the designed approval process cannot converge. It can be understood that the non-convergence of the approval process means that the document density of the node is constantly changing or increasing, and the whole process cannot maintain stability and cannot predict the specific workload of the node. If the designed approval process can converge, it means that the approval process has reached a stable state, and each node has its fixed workload.

[0059] Further, in step S5, it is judged whether the number of iterations is greater than or equal to the maximum time step. If yes, it means that the design of the approval process is not reasonable, otherwise it means that the design of the approval process is reasonable.

[0060] The other features, working principles and beneficial effects of this embodiment are consistent with those of embodiment 2.

[0061] Embodiment 4

[0062] The third embodiment of the method for assisting the design of an approval process is based on the embodiment 3, and further supplements the steps S1 to S5. In combination with the above-mentioned embodiments, the method for assisting the design of an approval process is described in detail as follows. Figure 1 and Figure 2 In the step S1, the calculation formula of the document migration probability of the approval node for the approval node pointed by the approval node is:

[0063] P=P0×P1;

[0064] In the formula, P represents the document migration probability of the current node for the next node pointed by the current node; P1 represents the probability that the initiator of the document of the current node saves and sends the document.

[0065] The calculation formula of the document migration probability of the approval node for the approval node pointed by the approval node is:

[0066] P=P0×P2;

[0067] In the formula, P represents the document migration probability of the current node for the next node pointed by the current node; P2 represents the probability that the next node has seen the document submitted by the current node, and the next node does not return the document.

[0068] Further, in the step S3, the calculation formula of the document outflow density is:

[0069] q=s×P;

[0070] In the formula, q represents the document outflow density; s represents the current document density of the current node; P represents the document migration probability of the current node for the next node pointed by the current node.

[0071] Further, in the step S1, the pressure coefficient, the merging processing advantage coefficient and the first iteration number threshold of each approval node are determined; in the step S3, when the iteration number is greater than or equal to the first iteration number threshold, the calculation formula of the document outflow density of the approval node for the next node pointed by the approval node is:

[0072] q=s×P×d×h;

[0073] In the formula, q represents a document outflow density; s represents a current document density of a current node; P represents a document migration probability of the current node for a next node pointed by the current node; d represents a pressure coefficient corresponding to the current node; and h represents a merging processing advantage coefficient corresponding to the current node. The pressure coefficient is used to evaluate the busy degree and the document processing capacity of a certain approval node. If the pressure coefficient of an approval node is too high, it means that the approval personnel of the approval node need to process a large number of approval tasks. The merging processing advantage coefficient refers to a quantitative index of advantages or efficiency improvement brought by merging processing of multiple approval tasks in the approval process. The sizes of the pressure coefficient and the merging processing advantage coefficient are determined according to the design of the approval process. When the iteration number is greater than the first iteration number threshold, the pressure coefficient and the merging processing advantage coefficient are included in the calculation of the document outflow density, which can more truly restore the actual proceeding process of the approval process, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of the prediction result of the approval process.

[0074] Further, in step S5, if the result is that the design of the approval process is unreasonable, it is indicated that the part that cannot converge needs to be modified, that is, the blocked node is modified. The modification manner includes increasing a parallel node or replacing a node with a slower document processing speed with a node with a faster document processing speed, that is, increasing the same post in the same approval level or replacing an approval personnel with a slower document processing speed with an approval personnel with a faster document processing speed.

[0075] Other features, working principles and beneficial effects of the embodiment are consistent with those of embodiment 3.

[0076] Obviously, the above embodiments of the application are only examples for clearly illustrating the application, and are not intended to limit the implementation modes of the application. Based on the above description, other different forms of changes or variations can be made by those skilled in the art, and all the implementation modes do not need to be exhausted here. Any modification, equivalent replacement and improvement made within the spirit and principle of the application should be included in the protection scope of the claims of the application.

Claims

1. An aided design method of an approval process, characterized by, The method comprises the following steps: S1: determining an approval process, wherein the approval process comprises multiple levels, the first level comprises at least one initiating node, and the second to last level each comprises at least one approval node; then determining the direction of the document flow of each node, the document migration probability of each node to the next node, and the iteration end condition; and entering step S2; S2: assigning a number greater than 0 to each initiating node as the document density; entering step S3; S3: selecting all nodes with a document density greater than zero, calculating the document outflow density of each node to the next node according to the direction of each node and the document migration probability, and migrating the document outflow density to the next node; at the same time, setting the document density of the completed approval to zero; and entering step S4; S4: determining whether the iteration end condition is met, if yes, entering step S5, otherwise, increasing the time step by 1, increasing the document density of each initiating node, and then re-entering step S3; S5: determining whether the design of the approval process is reasonable according to the current time step size, the current document density of each node, or the difference between the current document density of each node and the document density of the previous time step; and ending.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, Before entering step S2 after step S1, the document density of each node is assigned to 0.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, In step S1, the iteration end condition is that the current time step reaches the maximum time step.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, In step S1, a document density threshold is also determined; in step S5, it is determined whether the document density of at least one node is greater than the document density threshold, if yes, it indicates that the design of the approval process is unreasonable, otherwise, it indicates that the design of the approval process is reasonable.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, In step S1, the iteration end condition is that "in the nodes with a document density greater than 0, the difference between the current document density of at least one node and the document density of the previous time step is less than or equal to a certain value" or "the current time step reaches the maximum time step".

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, In step S5, it is determined whether the current time step is greater than or equal to the maximum time step, if yes, it indicates that the design of the approval process is unreasonable, otherwise, it indicates that the design of the approval process is reasonable.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, In step S3, the calculation formula of the document outflow density is: q=s×P; wherein, q represents the document outflow density; s represents the current document density of the current node; and P represents the document migration probability of the current node to the next node.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, In step S1, the pressure coefficient, the merger processing advantage coefficient, and the first iteration number threshold of each approval node are determined; in step S3, when the iteration number is greater than or equal to the first iteration number threshold, the calculation formula of the document outflow density of the approval node to the next node is: q=s×P×d×h; wherein, q represents the document outflow density; s represents the current document density of the current node; P represents the document migration probability of the current node to the next node; d represents the pressure coefficient corresponding to the current node; and h represents the merger processing advantage coefficient corresponding to the current node.

9. The method of claim 1 to 8, wherein, In the step S5, if the result is that the design of the approval process is unreasonable, it indicates that the part which cannot converge needs to be modified, and the modification manner includes adding parallel nodes or replacing the node with slower document processing speed with the node with faster document processing speed.

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