Task support device, task support method and task support program

Abstract

To easily determine the presence / absence of automatic renewal of a maintenance contract by contracting party, to reduce burden on operators and support tasks such as inputting maintenance contract information.SOLUTION: A data generation unit refers to a memory unit that stores the presence / absence of automatic renewal of a maintenance contract for a predetermined period, by type of a maintenance target device and by contracting party, and generates contract data including an automatic renewal category indicating the presence / absence of the automatic renewal of the maintenance contract and a contract period. An output control unit outputs the generated contract data to an external device. Consequently, it is possible to easily determine the presence / absence of the automatic renewal of the maintenance contract by contracting party, to reduce burden on operators. It is also possible to support tasks such as inputting maintenance contract information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a task support device, a task support method, and a task support program. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent No. 6289586) discloses a maintenance and inspection schedule optimization device that can optimize a maintenance and inspection schedule by reflecting the lifespan of electrical components according to environmental conditions.

[0003] In this maintenance and inspection schedule optimization device, an environmental parameter acquisition unit acquires environmental parameters related to the lifespan of electrical components mounted on an elevator control panel. A lifespan estimation unit estimates the lifespan of the electrical components using the environmental parameters acquired by the environmental parameter acquisition unit. Then, when a difference between the lifespan of the electrical components estimated by the lifespan estimation unit and the rated lifespan of the electrical components is equal to or greater than a first threshold value, a schedule update unit updates a maintenance and inspection schedule that defines the timing and items of maintenance and inspection work, including inspection or replacement of the electrical components. This makes it possible to optimize the maintenance and inspection schedule by reflecting the lifespan of the electrical components according to the environmental conditions.

[0004] Here, elevator equipment, which is an example of equipment subject to maintenance, has its maintenance contract automatically renewed in accordance with the Building Standards Act and the Industrial Safety and Health Act. However, in the case of elevator equipment for government agencies, the maintenance contract is for one year, and the company that will carry out the maintenance contract is decided every year through bidding. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6289586 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] When there are contract partners for which automatic renewal of maintenance contracts is possible and contract partners for which automatic renewal is not possible, an operator at the company performing maintenance on the equipment to be maintained must determine whether or not the maintenance contract will be automatically renewed for each contract partner, for example when entering maintenance contract information, which poses the problem of requiring a very tedious decision.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a business support device, a business support method, and a business support program that can reduce the burden on an operator of determining whether or not to automatically renew a maintenance contract for each contracting party, and that can assist in tasks such as inputting maintenance contract information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objectives, the business support device of the present invention has a data generation unit that references a memory unit that stores whether or not a maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed for a specified period of time, for each type of equipment to be maintained and for each contracting party, and generates contract data including an automatic renewal category indicating whether or not the maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed and a contract period, and an output control unit that outputs the generated contract data to an external device.

[0009] In addition, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objective, the business support method of the present invention has a data generation step in which a data generation unit references a memory unit that stores whether or not a maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed for a specified period of time, for each type of equipment to be maintained and for each contracting party, and generates contract data including an automatic renewal category indicating whether or not the maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed and a contract period, and an output control step in which an output control unit outputs the generated contract data to an external device.

[0010] In addition, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objective, the business support program of the present invention causes a computer to function as a data generation unit that references a memory unit that stores whether or not a maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed for a specified period of time, for each type of equipment to be maintained and for each contracting party, and generates contract data including an automatic renewal category indicating whether or not the maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed and the contract period, and an output control unit that outputs the generated contract data to an external device. Effect of the Invention

[0011] The present invention can reduce the burden on an operator of determining whether or not to automatically renew a maintenance contract for each contracting party, and can therefore support, for example, the task of inputting maintenance contract information. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a task support device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the product type master. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the automatic updating matrix master. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the product master. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the facility master. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the contract partner master. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flow of registration of a maintenance contract for a device to be maintained. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a display of a subscription entry screen. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another example of the subscription entry screen. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the term contract data. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the flow of contract renewal. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of fixed-term contract data in which the automatic renewal category is "Yes." [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of fixed-term contract data updated to a contract period and automatic renewal category corresponding to the automatic renewal termination date. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the flow of the invoice lump sum processing and the income / expense forecast processing. [Figure 15]FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of income / expense prediction data generated by the end-of-period prediction process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given of a business support device according to an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. As an example, the business support device according to the embodiment will be described as supporting the maintenance management of equipment to be maintained, such as elevator equipment, escalator equipment, and server equipment, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0014] (overview) Due to the nature of the Building Standards Act and the Industrial Safety and Health Act, elevator maintenance contracts are usually automatically renewed. However, in the case of elevators in government offices, maintenance contracts are for one year, and the company that will carry out the maintenance contract is decided by bidding every year.

[0015] Among these public agencies, there are some contracting parties, such as government management organizations or third sector parties, with whom it is difficult to determine whether or not the maintenance contract can be automatically renewed, and there is a risk that operators at the maintenance management company will make incorrect registrations regarding the maintenance contract. In the case of elevator equipment, not having a maintenance contract is a violation of the law. The third sector is a business organization (corporation) that is jointly invested in by the government or local public organizations (first sector) and private companies (second sector).

[0016] However, if a maintenance contract for elevator equipment used by government agencies, for which maintenance contracts are decided through "bidding" every year, is mistakenly automatically renewed, it could have a negative impact on operations due to erroneous billing, or the accuracy of income and expenditure forecasts could decrease, so it is important for managers to make accurate decisions.

[0017] For this reason, the business support device of the embodiment provides the contract master with a classification (government classification) indicating whether the equipment is a maintenance target device of a general company or a maintenance target device of a government agency. Also, a matrix setting is made for automatic renewal of the maintenance contract using the type related to the product (equipment) of the maintenance target device and the government classification as keys (automatic renewal matrix master 12: see FIG. 3).

[0018] Then, when registering a maintenance contract, etc., the automatic renewal matrix master 12 is referenced based on the contracting party and the product type, and it is automatically determined whether the maintenance target device is a maintenance target device for which the maintenance contract is automatically renewed or a maintenance target device for which the maintenance contract is not automatically renewed, and the automatic renewal category is set to "Yes" or "No."

[0019] Furthermore, when the equipment to be maintained is an elevator device or an escalator device, if the automatic update classification is set to "Yes", this automatic update classification cannot be changed.

[0020] In addition, for products (equipment) for which an automatic renewal end date is set, the automatic renewal category will be updated to "none" at the time of contract renewal corresponding to the final contract period.

[0021] This allows customers who have signed maintenance contracts to comply with laws and regulations, and also prevents erroneous billing.

[0022] (Hardware configuration) As shown in FIG. 1, the business support device 1 of the embodiment includes a storage unit 2, a control unit 3, a communication interface unit 4, and an input / output interface unit 5. An input device 6 and an output device 7 are connected to the input / output interface unit 5. The output device 7 corresponds to a display unit such as a monitor device (including a home television), a printing device, or a speaker device. The input device 6 may be a keyboard device, a mouse device, a microphone device, or a monitor device that cooperates with a mouse device to realize a pointing device function. The communication interface unit 4 is connected to a network such as a wide area network such as the Internet or a private network such as a LAN (Local Area Network).

[0023] The storage unit 2 may be, for example, a storage device such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), or an SSD (Solid State Drive). The storage unit 2 stores a business support program that provides support for inputting maintenance contract information and the like for equipment to be maintained. The storage unit 2 also stores a product type master 11, an automatic update matrix master 12, a product master 13, an equipment master 14, and a contracting party master 15, which will be described later. The storage unit 2 also stores fixed-term contract data, income and expenditure forecast data, and the like.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 2, the product type master 11 is configured by associating the model code and the product name of the equipment to be maintained.

[0025] The automatic renewal matrix master 12 is configured such that each product code is associated with a government agency classification, as shown in Fig. 3. The government agency classification is information indicating whether the maintenance target equipment of that product type is a maintenance target equipment of a product type for which automatic renewal of the maintenance contract is performed. In the example of Fig. 3, among the maintenance target equipment of the product type "elevator or escalator" with the model code "HIN1", the maintenance target equipment of general companies has the automatic renewal of the maintenance contract set to "1: yes", and the maintenance target equipment of government agencies has the automatic renewal of the maintenance contract set to "0: no".

[0026] In addition, in the example of Figure 3, among the maintenance target equipment of the type "building cleaning equipment or building monitoring equipment" with the model code "HIN2", the automatic renewal of the maintenance contract for maintenance target equipment of general companies is set to "0: No", and the automatic renewal of the maintenance contract for maintenance target equipment of government agencies is also set to "0: No".

[0027] In addition, in the example of Figure 3, among the maintenance target devices of the "Monitoring System" type with the model code "HIN3", the automatic renewal of the maintenance contract is set to "1: Yes" for the maintenance target devices of general companies, and "0: No" for the maintenance target devices of government agencies.

[0028] The product master 13 is configured by associating the above-mentioned product code with product names such as elevator equipment, escalator equipment, and server equipment, and product codes, as shown in Fig. 4. In the example of Fig. 4, the "elevator equipment" of the product code "HIN1" is assigned the product code "SH001". The "escalator equipment" of the product code "HIN1" is assigned the product code "SH002", and the "server equipment" of the product code "HIN3" is assigned the product code "SH003".

[0029] As shown in Fig. 5, the equipment master 14 is configured by associating the above-mentioned product code and product name with a management number and an automatic renewal stop date. The automatic renewal stop date is the date corresponding to the last day of the maintenance contract. In the example of Fig. 5, the date "December 31, 2024" is set as the automatic renewal stop date for the "server device" with the product code "SH003".

[0030] As shown in Fig. 6, the contract master 15 is configured by associating the contract code, contract name, and the above-mentioned government agency classification of each contract partner with each other. In the example of Fig. 6, the "XX corporation" with the contract code "T001" is assigned the government agency classification of "0: general" indicating that it is a general company that can automatically renew the maintenance contract. In contrast, the "△△ corporation" with the contract code "T002" is assigned the government agency classification of "1: government agency" indicating that it is a government agency that cannot automatically renew the maintenance contract.

[0031] (Functional configuration of business support device) Next, the control unit 3 executes the task assistance program stored in the storage unit 2, thereby functioning as a data generating unit 21, an output control unit 22, an extracting unit 23, and a display control unit 24, as shown in FIG.

[0032] The data generation unit 21 refers to a memory unit (automatic renewal matrix master 12 in FIG. 3) that stores whether or not the maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed for a specified period of time, by type of equipment to be maintained and by contracting party, and generates contract data (see FIG. 10) that includes an automatic renewal category indicating whether or not the maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed and a contract period.

[0033] The output control unit 22 outputs the generated contract data to an external device. Specifically, if the external device is a display unit, the output control unit 22 supplies the contract data to the display unit and controls the display. If the external device is a printing device, the output control unit 22 supplies the contract data to the printing device and prints it out. If the external device is a speaker device, the output control unit 22 supplies the contract data to the speaker device and obtains audio output for the contract data.

[0034] The extraction unit 23 extracts contract data for which the automatic renewal of the maintenance contract is set to "yes" in the automatic renewal classification. The data generation unit generates contract data in which the contract period of the extracted contract data is updated to the next contract period (see FIG. 12).

[0035] The storage unit 2 also stores an automatic renewal stop date that corresponds to the contract end date of the maintenance contract period for a specific piece of equipment subject to maintenance (automatic renewal stop date in the equipment master 14 in FIG. 5). The data generation unit 21 changes the contract end date of the contract period of the contract data in which an automatic renewal stop date is set among the contract data extracted by the extraction unit 23 to the automatic renewal stop date, and generates contract data in which the automatic renewal category of the contract data in which an automatic renewal stop date is set is changed to "no automatic renewal" (see FIG. 13).

[0036] When the display control unit 24 displays on the display unit a contract input screen for entering contract information including the automatic renewal classification and contract period of each device to be maintained (see Figs. 8 and 9), the display control unit 24 refers to the memory unit (the automatic renewal matrix master 12 in Fig. 3 and the contract partner master 15 in Fig. 6) and displays the contract input screen on which the automatic renewal classification corresponding to the entered type of device to be maintained and the contract partner has been automatically entered (see Figs. 8 and 9).

[0037] Furthermore, by referring to the memory unit (the automatic renewal matrix master 12 in FIG. 3 and the contract partner master 15 in FIG. 6), if the automatic renewal status of the maintenance contract corresponding to the type of equipment to be maintained and the contract partner input via the contract input screen (see FIGS. 8 and 9) is "yes", the display control unit 24 displays the contract input screen in which the automatic renewal category has been input in an unchangeable state (see FIG. 9).

[0038] The memory unit 2 also stores the purchase and sales category and purchase or sales amount corresponding to each maintenance target device for each past and future accounting date. The data generation unit 21 generates income and expenditure forecast data indicating profit and loss for each accounting date based on the purchase and sales category and purchase or sales amount for each accounting date. The output control unit outputs the generated income and expenditure forecast data to an external device (see FIG. 15).

[0039] At this time, for the equipment subject to maintenance for which an automatic update stop date has been set, the data generating unit 21 generates income and expenditure forecast data for the period up to the automatic update stop date.

[0040] (Maintenance contract registration for equipment under maintenance) 7 is a diagram showing a flow of a maintenance contract registration operation for a maintenance target device in the business support device 1 according to the embodiment. As shown in this Fig. 7, before a maintenance contract is concluded, first, a business negotiation is conducted between a company that performs maintenance management of the maintenance target device and a company (a general company or a government agency) that entrusts the maintenance of the maintenance target device.

[0041] On the other hand, an operator of the company performing maintenance management of the equipment to be maintained sets in advance the above-mentioned various information in the product type master 11 shown in FIG. 2, the automatic update matrix master 12 shown in FIG. 3, the product master 13 shown in FIG. 4, the equipment master 14 shown in FIG. 5, and the contractor master 15 shown in FIG. 6.

[0042] If the two parties reach an agreement through negotiation, a maintenance contract for the maintenance target device is concluded. An operator of the company that manages and maintains the maintenance target device inputs maintenance contract information corresponding to the concluded maintenance contract. Specifically, when it is time to register this maintenance contract information, the operator performs a designation operation to display a fixed-term contract input screen via the input device 6. When this designation operation is performed, the display control unit 24 displays a fixed-term contract input screen, an example of which is shown in FIG. 8, via the output device 7.

[0043] The operator inputs the contract number, contract date, contract period, contracting party code, product (equipment) code, and management number into this fixed-term contract input screen. The display control unit 24 references the contracting party master 15 shown in Fig. 6 based on the inputted contracting party code, and detects the government agency category of the inputted contracting party. The display control unit 24 also references the product master 13 shown in Fig. 4 based on the inputted product (equipment) code, and detects the product code corresponding to the inputted contracting party product (equipment) code.

[0044] Furthermore, the display control unit 24 refers to the automatic renewal matrix master 12 shown in Fig. 3 and detects the government agency category corresponding to the contracted product type and contracting party, based on the government agency category detected from the contracting party master 15 shown in Fig. 6 and the product type code detected from the product master 13 shown in Fig. 4. Then, when the government agency category detected from the automatic renewal matrix master 12 is a government agency category that sets automatic renewal of the maintenance contract to "no", the display control unit 24 displays "automatic renewal category '0' no" on the fixed-term contract input screen as shown in Fig. 8.

[0045] In response to this, when the government agency category detected from the automatic update matrix master 12 is a government agency category that sets automatic renewal of the maintenance contract as "yes", the display control unit 24 displays "Automatic renewal category "1" yes" on the fixed-term contract input screen as shown in Fig. 9. At this time, when the product type is "elevator equipment or escalator equipment" and the contracting government agency category is "0: general", the display control unit 24 maintains the display of "Automatic renewal category "1" yes" in an unchangeable state (maintains a state that cannot be changed by the operator).

[0046] In this way, the business support device 1 according to the embodiment can automatically determine the correct automatic renewal category for each contracting party based on each of the masters 11 to 15, and input the determined category into the fixed-term contract input screen.

[0047] When maintenance contract information is entered on the fixed-term contract input screen in this manner, the data generation unit 21 generates fixed-term contract data including the fixed-term contract number, sub-number, contract date, contract period, contracting party code, product (equipment) code, control number, and automatic renewal classification, as shown in Fig. 10, based on the contents of the input on the fixed-term contract input screen, and stores it in the memory unit 2. The example in Fig. 10 indicates that the automatic renewal classification for the contracting party with contracting party code "T001" is "1: yes" for automatic renewal of the maintenance contract, and the automatic renewal classification for the contracting party with contracting party code "T002" is "0: no" for automatic renewal of the maintenance contract.

[0048] Such fixed-term contract data is output to a ledger, and is then used for circulation and approval by superiors, etc., as shown in FIG.

[0049] (Maintenance contract renewal operation for maintenance target equipment) Fig. 11 is a diagram showing the flow of contract renewal operations for a maintenance contract for a device subject to maintenance in the business support device 1 of the embodiment. When it is time for contract renewal, the operator specifies, via the input device 6, an extraction process for the contract renewal target that is the subject of contract renewal. When this specification is made, the extraction unit 23 extracts the term contract data in which the automatic renewal classification is "1: Yes" from the term contract data shown in Fig. 10. The term contract data in which the automatic renewal classification is "1: Yes" extracted in this manner is shown in Fig. 12.

[0050] When the data generating unit 21 extracts the fixed term contract data with the automatic renewal classification of "1: Yes", it refers to the equipment master 14 as shown in Fig. 13(a) and detects the fixed term contract data for which the automatic renewal end date is set from among the extracted fixed term contract data. In the example of Fig. 13(a), the automatic renewal end date of "December 31, 2024" is set for the server device with the product code "SH003".

[0051] Therefore, as shown in Fig. 13(b), the data generating unit 21 changes the last day of the contract period of the fixed-term contract data of the server device with the product code "SH003" from among the extracted fixed-term contract data to "December 31, 2024", which is the set automatic renewal end date. In addition, as shown in Fig. 13(b), the data generating unit 21 also changes the automatic renewal category of the fixed-term contract data of the server device with the product code "SH003" to "0: None", which indicates that the maintenance contract will not be automatically renewed. This makes it possible to clearly indicate the maintenance target equipment and the contract period for which the maintenance contract will expire.

[0052] The fixed-term contract data extracted and changed in this manner is checked and circulated by a superior or the like, and then stored (registered) in the storage unit 2. This allows the maintenance contract for the equipment to be maintained to be automatically renewed. Since maintenance contracts with contracting parties whose automatic renewal category is "1: Yes" can be automatically renewed, it is possible to ensure that customers who have concluded maintenance contracts comply with laws and regulations.

[0053] (Bulk billing and income / expense forecast processing) Next, this fixed-term contract data is used for billing processing as a daily task, as shown in Figure 14. That is, the operator creates an invoice based on the fixed-term contract data extracted as described above for which the automatic renewal classification is "1: Yes", and performs billing processing for the maintenance contract fee to each contracting party. Fixed-term contract data for which the automatic renewal classification is "0: No", such as contracting parties of government agencies, is not extracted. This makes it possible to prevent erroneous billing by mistake, such as sending invoices to government agencies and the like for which the automatic renewal classification is "0: No".

[0054] Furthermore, when making the income and expenditure forecast shown in Fig. 14, the operator specifies the display of income and expenditure forecast data via the input device 6. The memory unit 2 stores the purchase and sales category and purchase amount or sales amount corresponding to each maintenance target device for each past and future accounting date. The data generation unit 21 generates income and expenditure forecast data indicating the profit and loss for each accounting date based on the purchase and sales category and purchase amount or sales amount for each accounting date. The output control unit 22 or the display control unit 24 outputs the generated income and expenditure forecast data to an external device (output device 7).

[0055] An example of income / expense forecast data is shown in Fig. 15. As shown in Fig. 15, income / expense forecast data includes product (equipment) code, management number, recording date, data category, amount, and profit / loss. The data category indicates the category of purchase or sales, such as equipment purchase, equipment sales, maintenance sales, maintenance purchase, etc. The amount is the amount of this purchase or sales.

[0056] That is, the example in Figure 15 shows that the profit and loss was "-5 million yen" because it cost "5 million yen" to purchase equipment, but the profit and loss was "-100,000 yen" because the equipment sales were "4.9 million yen." The example in Figure 15 also shows that the profit and loss was "+100,000 yen" because there was maintenance sales of "200,000 yen" after the equipment sales of "4.9 million yen."

[0057] Here, for the maintenance target device for which the above-mentioned automatic renewal stop date is set (see FIG. 13), the data generating unit 21 generates income and expenditure forecast data for the period up to the automatic renewal stop date. For example, for a maintenance contract target with a product (equipment) code of "PJ0002", if "December 31, 2024" is set as the last day of the maintenance contract period (=automatic renewal stop date), the data generating unit 21 generates income and expenditure forecast data up to this "December 31, 2024". This can prevent the inconvenience of generating income and expenditure forecast data outside the maintenance contract period, and can also allow the operator to recognize the last day of the maintenance contract period.

[0058] (Effects of the embodiment) As is clear from the above description, the business support device 1 according to the embodiment can prevent the inconvenience of the burden on the operator due to the determination of whether or not to automatically renew the maintenance contract for each contracting party. Therefore, it can support, for example, the input of maintenance contract information.

[0059] In addition, it is possible to ensure that customers who have entered into maintenance contracts comply with laws and regulations, and it is also possible to accurately determine whether or not a maintenance contract for each contracting party is automatically renewed, thereby preventing erroneous billing.

[0060] [Contribution to the United Nations-led Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)] This embodiment can contribute to improving business efficiency and promoting appropriate management decisions by companies, and can therefore contribute to Goals 8 and 9 of the SDGs.

[0061] Furthermore, this embodiment can contribute to reducing waste and promoting paperless and electronic systems, thereby contributing to the achievement of Goals 12, 13, and 15 of the SDGs.

[0062] Furthermore, this embodiment can contribute to strengthening control and governance, making it possible to contribute to Goal 16 of the SDGs.

[0063] [Other embodiments] The present invention may be embodied in various different embodiments other than those described above within the scope of the technical concept set forth in the claims.

[0064] For example, among the processes described in the embodiments, all or part of the processes described as being performed automatically can be performed manually, or all or part of the processes described as being performed manually can be performed automatically using known methods.

[0065] In addition, the processing procedures, control procedures, specific names, information including parameters such as registered data and search conditions for each process, screen examples, and database configurations shown in this specification and drawings may be changed as desired unless otherwise specified.

[0066] Moreover, with regard to the task support device 1, each of the components shown in the figures is a functional concept, and does not necessarily have to be physically configured as shown in the figures.

[0067] For example, the processing functions of the business support device 1, particularly the control unit 3 and each processing function performed by the control unit 3, may be realized in whole or in part by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a program interpreted and executed by the CPU, or may be realized as hardware using wired logic. The program is recorded in a non-transient computer-readable recording medium including programmed instructions for causing the information processing device to execute the processes described in this embodiment, and is mechanically read by the business support device 1 as necessary. That is, a computer program for giving instructions to the CPU in cooperation with the OS and performing various processes is recorded in a storage unit such as a ROM or HDD. This computer program is executed by being loaded into a RAM, and constitutes the control unit 3 in cooperation with the CPU.

[0068] In addition, the business support program of this business support device 1 may be stored in another server device connected to the business support device 1 via any network, and it is also possible to download all or part of it as needed.

[0069] The business support program for executing the process described in the present embodiment may be stored in a non-transient computer-readable recording medium, or may be configured as a program product. Here, the term "recording medium" includes any "portable physical medium" such as a memory card, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory, a Secure Digital (SD) card, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM (registered trademark)), a Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), a Magneto-Optical Disk (MO), a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), and a Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc.

[0070] Moreover, a "program" is a data processing method written in any language or description method, and may be in any form, such as source code or binary code. Note that a "program" is not necessarily limited to a single configuration, but also includes a distributed configuration as multiple modules or libraries, and a program that achieves its function by working with a separate program, such as an OS. Note that well-known configurations and procedures can be used for the specific configuration and reading procedure for reading a recording medium in the business support device 1 shown in the embodiment, as well as the installation procedure after reading.

[0071] The memory unit 2 is a storage means such as a memory device such as RAM or ROM, a fixed disk device such as a hard disk, a flexible disk, or an optical disk, and stores various programs, tables, databases, and web page files used for various processes and providing websites.

[0072] The business support device 1 may be configured as an information processing device such as a known personal computer device or a workstation, or may be configured as an information processing device to which any peripheral device is connected. The information processing device may be realized by implementing software (including programs or data, etc.) that realizes the processing described in this embodiment.

[0073] Furthermore, the specific form of distribution and integration of the devices is not limited to that shown in the drawings, and all or part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit according to various additions or functional loads. In other words, the above-mentioned embodiments can be implemented in any combination, or the embodiments can be implemented selectively. [Industrial Applicability]

[0074] The present invention can support the operations of companies and the like that perform maintenance work on equipment that requires maintenance, and in which the automatic renewal of maintenance contracts varies depending on the contracting party or the type of equipment or product that is the subject of the contract. [Explanation of symbols]

[0075] 1 Business support equipment 2 Storage section 3. Control Unit 4. Communication Interface Section 5 Input / Output Interface Section 6 Input Devices 7 Output Devices 11 Product Master 12 Auto-update matrix master 13 Product Master 14 Facility Master 15 Contract Master 21 Data Generation Section 22 Output control section 23 Extraction part 24 Display control section

Claims

1. a data generating unit that refers to a storage unit that stores whether or not a maintenance contract is automatically renewed for each predetermined period for each type of maintenance target device and for each contracting party, and generates contract data including an automatic renewal category indicating whether or not the maintenance contract is automatically renewed and a contract period; an output control unit that outputs the generated contract data to an external device; A business support device having the above configuration.

2. An extraction unit that extracts the contract data in which automatic renewal of the maintenance contract is set to "yes" in the automatic renewal classification, the data generation unit generates contract data by updating the contract period of the extracted contract data to a next contract period; 2. The business support device according to claim 1,

3. The storage unit stores an automatic renewal end date corresponding to a contract end date of a maintenance contract period for a predetermined maintenance target device, the data generation unit changes the contract end date of the contract period of the contract data in which the automatic renewal stop date is set among the extracted contract data to the automatic renewal stop date, and generates contract data in which the automatic renewal classification of the contract data in which the automatic renewal stop date is set is changed to "no automatic renewal"; 3. The business support device according to claim 2,

4. a display control unit that, when displaying a contract input screen on a display unit for inputting a contract including the automatic renewal classification and the contract period of each of the maintenance target devices, refers to the storage unit and displays the contract input screen on which the automatic renewal classification corresponding to the type of the maintenance target device and the contract party that have been inputted are automatically input; 4. The business support device according to claim 3,

5. the display control unit, by referring to the storage unit, displays the contract input screen on which the automatic renewal category has been input in a state in which it cannot be changed when the automatic renewal status of the maintenance contract corresponding to the type of the maintenance target device and the contracting party input via the contract input screen is "yes".

5. The business support device according to claim 4,

6. The storage unit stores a purchase / sales category and a purchase amount or a sales amount corresponding to each of the maintenance target devices for each past and future accounting date, The data generation unit generates income / expense forecast data indicating profit / loss for each accounting date based on the purchase / sales classification and the purchase amount or sales amount for each accounting date, the output control unit outputs the generated income / expense forecast data to the external device; 6. The business support device according to claim 5,

7. the data generation unit generates, for a maintenance target device for which the automatic update stop date is set, the income and expenditure forecast data for a period up to the automatic update stop date; 7. The business support device according to claim 6,

8. a data generation step in which a data generation unit refers to a storage unit that stores whether or not a maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed for a predetermined period for each type of maintenance target device and for each contracting party, and generates contract data including an automatic renewal category indicating whether or not the maintenance contract is to be automatically renewed and a contract period; an output control step in which an output control unit outputs the generated contract data to an external device; A business support method having the above-mentioned features.

9. Computer, a data generating unit that refers to a storage unit that stores whether or not a maintenance contract is automatically renewed for each predetermined period for each type of maintenance target device and for each contracting party, and generates contract data including an automatic renewal category indicating whether or not the maintenance contract is automatically renewed and a contract period; functioning as an output control unit that outputs the generated contract data to an external device; A business support program that features:

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