Request approval system

Abstract

To provide a request approval system for appropriately determining an approval route for the approval for request according to request documents, and reducing the labor required for determining the approval route.SOLUTION: A request approval system (1) for determining a request approval route for request documents and managing progress of a request approval, includes a route selection part (12) for selecting one request approval route pattern to be applied to the request documents out of a plurality of preset request approval route patterns; a deliberator setting part (13) for setting deliberators in a deliberator frame, an approval part (14), and a progress management part (15). The respective request approval route patterns are set as such patterns that the number of deliberator frames in each route is different and a serial route has different number of parallels.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a decision-making system. [Background technology]

[0002] When approval documents are settled on an electronic settlement system, the person in charge must set the settlement route and the approver in advance, but because this pre-setting of the approval route and the approver is time-consuming, it has been proposed to automate the setting of the approval route and the approver.Patent Document 1 describes an approval route determination method in which an authority ID corresponding to the approval process is determined from a document-authentication rule table according to an approval rule ID, a user ID corresponding to the authority ID is determined from the authority table and the user table, and an approval flow processing unit determines an approval route from the approval rule table based on the approval rule, authority ID, and user ID. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2005-038145 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the approval route determination method disclosed in the above Patent Document 1, in order to determine the settlement route and the approver, various approval-related information tables such as the document-authentication rule table, the authority table, the user table, and the approval rule table must be set in advance, and each information table must be managed to be always up to date, which creates a problem that the management of the information tables is a burden. In addition, even if the settlement is for a document related to the same internal regulations revision, the scope of the settlement required is completely different depending on whether it is related to the correction of a clerical error or a major revision of the article. For this reason, there was a problem that the settlement route and the approver automatically set according to the information tables specified in advance were not appropriate according to the nature of the settlement document.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a system for approval of a request for decision-making that can appropriately determine a payment route for approval of a request for decision-making in accordance with the request for decision-making documents and reduce the effort required for determining the approval route. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A first aspect of the present invention is a request approval system that determines a request approval route for a request document and manages the progress of the request approval, and includes a route selection unit that selects one request approval route pattern to be applied to the request document from a plurality of pre-set request approval route patterns, a deliberator setting unit that sets a request approval route by setting a deliberator in a deliberator frame of the request approval route pattern selected by the route selection unit, an approval unit in which approval is performed by the deliberator, and a progress management unit that manages the progress of the request approval based on the request approval route set by the deliberator setting unit, and the request approval route pattern is a serial route, a parallel route, and and at least one of a plurality of parallel paths each having the series path, wherein the series path and the parallel path each have one or more deliberator slots, and each of the decision-making process path patterns is set as a pattern in which at least one of the number of deliberator slots in the series path, the number of deliberator slots in the parallel path, and the number of serial paths of a path having a plurality of parallel serial paths is different, and the deliberator setting unit is capable of setting any of the following for each deliberator slot of the decision-making process path pattern: setting a deliberator, adding a deliberator slot, deleting a deliberator slot, and passing through a deliberator slot.

[0007] A second aspect of the present invention is a request decision-making system according to the first aspect, characterized in that the request decision-making system further includes a route pattern setting unit that presets a plurality of request decision-making route patterns.

[0008] A third aspect of the present invention is a request for approval system according to the first aspect, characterized in that the route selection unit selects one request for approval route pattern from a plurality of pre-set request for approval route patterns based on input from an input / output device and / or calculation results in accordance with attribute information of the request for approval document.

[0009] A fourth aspect of the approval system of the present invention is characterized in that, in the third aspect of the approval system, the route selection unit displays each approval path pattern on an input / output device, and one approval path pattern from the displayed approval path patterns is selected based on input from the input / output device and / or calculation results, thereby setting one approval path pattern to be applied to the approval document from the multiple pre-set approval path patterns.

[0010] A fifth aspect of the proposal approval system of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect of the proposal approval system, the deliberator setting unit sets a deliberator in the deliberator slot based on deliberator information including information of the deliberator that has been set in advance, through input from an input / output device and / or a calculation result.

[0011] A sixth aspect of the proposal approval system of the present invention is characterized in that, in the fifth aspect of the proposal approval system, the deliberator setting unit is capable of searching for the name, position, or affiliation of the deliberator, and the searched deliberator is selected or input from an input / output device, and the deliberator is set for the deliberator slot by input from the input / output device and / or the result of calculation.

[0012] A seventh aspect of the proposal approval system of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect of the proposal approval system, the deliberator setting unit displays the deliberator slot on an input / output device, and is capable of setting at least one of the following by operating the input / output device: setting the deliberator in the deliberator slot, adding to the deliberator slot, deleting the deliberator slot, and setting to pass through the deliberator slot.

[0013] An eighth aspect of the decision-making system of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect of the decision-making system, the deliberator setting section is capable of changing the decision-making path and the approver in response to operations from a person with change authority.

[0014] A ninth aspect of the approval system of the present invention is characterized in that, in the eighth aspect of the approval system, the person authorized to make changes is registered as at least one of the system administrator, the person requesting the approval, the manager of the person requesting the approval, and the deliberators set in the deliberators slots.

[0015] A tenth aspect of the present invention is a request for approval system, characterized in that in the first aspect of the request for approval system, the number of request for approval path patterns can be narrowed down and selected from n x m patterns (where n and m are natural numbers), where n is the number of patterns for the number of reviewer slots included in the serial path, and m is the number of patterns for the number of serial paths that can be provided in parallel. Effect of the Invention

[0016] According to the first aspect of the present invention, a system for decision-making can be provided that can appropriately determine a payment path for decision-making according to a request document and reduce the effort required for determining a decision path by selecting one decision-making path pattern to be applied to the request document from among a plurality of pre-set decision-making path patterns. Since a plurality of pre-set decision-making path patterns according to the purpose are specified as frequently used, the requester can easily intuitively select a decision-making path pattern and easily set a deliberator. In addition, even when past decision-making paths are referenced, it is easy to find cases similar to the attribute information of the current request document, so that past cases can be easily referred to. Furthermore, for each deliberator frame of the selected decision-making path pattern, it is possible to add a deliberator frame, delete a deliberator frame, and set a passing deliberator frame, so that it is possible to set an appropriate path for the request document without the need to set and maintain a complex and diverse information table for various approval relationships.

[0017] According to the second aspect of the present invention, the decision-making system further includes a route pattern setting unit that sets multiple decision-making route patterns in advance in the decision-making system of the first aspect, so that it is easy to set multiple decision-making route patterns that are frequently used depending on the purpose in advance. In addition, it is easy to adaptively set multiple decision-making route patterns according to the actual situation.

[0018] According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the route selection unit, one of the multiple approval route patterns set in advance for each purpose is selected by input from an input / output device and / or the result of calculation according to the attribute information of the approval document, so that it is easy to select an appropriate approval route pattern based on the attribute information of the approval document, such as the person in charge (affiliation) of the approval document, attributes (application category, document classification 1, document classification 2, registration number, sub-number), contents (title, reason), settlement deadline (approval start date, approval deadline), etc. The selection of the approval route pattern may be manual selection according to input from the input / output device, automatic selection according to the result of calculation, or semi-automatic selection such as manual selection after displaying the result of calculation on the input / output device.

[0019] According to the fourth aspect of the approval system of the present invention, the route selection unit displays all pre-registered approval route patterns on the input / output device, making it easy for the person requesting the approval to view a plurality of approval route patterns from a bird's-eye view and select one that is suitable for the attribute information of the approval document.

[0020] According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the reviewing system can refer to the reviewing party information including the information of the reviewing party set in advance in the reviewing party setting unit, so that the reviewing party requester can easily assign the reviewing party to the reviewing party slot of the reviewing party selection route pattern. The reviewing party to the reviewing party slot may be set manually according to the input from the input / output device, automatically according to the calculation result, or semi-automatically by manually selecting the reviewing party after displaying the calculation result on the input / output device.

[0021] According to the sixth aspect of the approval system for requesting an approval of a request of the present invention, the deliberator setting section is capable of searching for the name, position, or affiliation of the deliberator, and the person requesting the approval of the request can refer to the search results of the deliberator information, making it easy to assign a deliberator to the deliberator slot of the selected approval route pattern for requesting an approval of the request.

[0022] According to the seventh aspect of the approval system for proposals of the present invention, the deliberator setting unit displays a deliberator frame on an input / output device, and by operating the input / output device, it is possible to set a deliberator in the deliberator frame, delete the deliberator frame, and set a setting to pass through the deliberator frame. Therefore, by the person requesting the proposal making input operations regarding the deliberator frame displayed on the input / output device, it is possible to set an appropriate approval route for the proposal, and it is also easy for the person requesting the proposal to make input operations.

[0023] According to the eighth aspect of the approval system of the present invention, the review board setting unit is capable of changing the approval path and the approver in response to operations from a person with the authority to make changes. This makes it possible to adaptively modify the approval path before or after the start of the approval process, and to implement appropriate approval according to the status of the approval document.

[0024] According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the approval system for decision-making is registered as a person with authority to change the approval route and the approver, and at least one of the system administrator, the requester, the manager of the requester, and the deliberator set in the deliberator slot is registered, so that not only the requester but also, for example, the deliberator can adaptively modify the approval route based on the deliberation system of the approval document. In addition, not only the requester but also the system administrator and the manager of the requester have the authority to change, so that the approval route can be modified as necessary for appropriate approval of the approval document from multiple perspectives.

[0025] According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the number of decision-making route patterns can be narrowed down to a necessary number by the route pattern setting unit 11, where n is the number of patterns of the number of reviewer slots included in the serial route and m is the number of patterns of the number of parallel serial routes (where n and m are natural numbers). By narrowing down the number of decision-making route patterns in advance, it is possible to carefully select only frequently used decision-making route patterns. If the decision-making route patterns are carefully selected only to frequently used ones, the variations of the decision-making route patterns are simplified, so that the route selection unit 12 can easily select a decision-making route pattern, and the reviewer setting unit 13 can easily set reviewers to the reviewer slots.

[0026] In addition, in the conventional route determination method, the route pattern of the approval request differs for each case, and it is impossible to assign deliberators while referring to past cases. In contrast, according to the approval request system of the tenth aspect of the present invention, if the approval request route patterns are carefully selected to only those that are frequently used, it is easy to find cases that are close to the conditions of the current approval request document when referring to past approval request routes. If past approval request documents with similar conditions can be referred to, the approval request route can be automatically set appropriately by referring to past examples. In addition, it is easy for the person requesting the approval request to assign deliberators while referring to past examples. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0027] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a decision-making system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a request for approval route pattern. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a request for approval route pattern. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a request for approval route pattern selection screen. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a discussion participant setting screen. [Figure 6]FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of manual setting of a discussant. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of automatic setting of deliberators. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a progress management screen. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a deliberation and settlement path pattern in the second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0028] Hereinafter, the decision-making system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment shown below is an example of a decision-making system for embodying the technical idea of ​​the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these, and can be equally applied to other embodiments included in the scope of the claims. In the embodiment of the present invention, the term decision-making system is used, but the term decision-making system is used to mean decision-making and / or approval, and the decision-making system means a system capable of decision-making and / or approval, and may be any system that electronically processes decision-making or approval-related processes.

[0029] [Embodiment 1] A decision-making system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0030] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the decision-making system of the first embodiment. The decision-making system 1 includes decision-making devices 10, 10A to 10N, an administrator server 21, and a personnel information server 22, and can communicate information with each other via a communication network 20. The decision-making device 10 is managed by the administrator server 21, and various management operations such as data management, progress management, and maintenance management are performed. Since the personnel information server 22 is connected to the decision-making device 10, information on all users who may be candidates for deliberations can be grasped. The decision-making system 1 only needs to include at least one decision-making device 10, and the communication network 20, the administrator server 21, the personnel information server 22, and other decision-making devices 10A to 10N, etc., can be provided as necessary.

[0031] The decision-making device 10 includes a route pattern setting unit 11, a route selection unit 12, a deliberator setting unit 13, a decision-making unit 14, and a progress management unit 15, and determines a decision-making route for the decision-making document and manages the progress of the decision-making process. The route pattern setting unit 11 sets a plurality of decision-making route patterns in advance. The route selection unit 12 selects one decision-making route pattern to be applied to the decision-making document from the plurality of decision-making route patterns set in advance by the route pattern setting unit 11. The deliberator setting unit 13 sets a deliberator in the deliberator frame of the decision-making route pattern selected by the route selection unit 12, and sets the decision-making route. The decision-making unit 14 makes the decision by the deliberator. The progress management unit 15 manages the progress of the decision-making process based on the decision-making route set by the deliberator setting unit 13.

[0032] Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram of the decision-making route pattern, and Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the decision-making route pattern. The number of decision-making route patterns can be selected from n x m (where n and m are natural numbers), assuming that the number of deliberators included in the serial route is n and the number of parallel serial route patterns is m.

[0033] Although not particularly limited, for example, in this embodiment, ten decision-making route patterns are set, which are numbered 1 to 10 in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. These decision-making route patterns are set in advance in the decision-making system 1 by the route pattern setting unit 11. (Item No. 1) Item No. 1 is used when the number of serial routes is one, the number of deliberators per serial route is five, and the number of deliberators is very small. (Item No. 2) Item No. 2 is used when the number of serial routes is two, the number of reviewers per serial route is five, and there are very few reviewers and the decision-making process needs to be expedited. (Item No. 3) Item No. 3 has three serial routes and five reviewers per serial route, and is used when there are a slightly larger number of reviewers and the decision-making process needs to be expedited. (Item No. 4) Item No. 4 is used when the number of serial routes is one, the number of deliberators per serial route is 10, and the number of deliberators is small. (Item No. 5) Item No. 5 is used when the number of serial routes is two, the number of deliberators per serial route is 10, and there are slightly more deliberators. (Item No. 6) Item No. 6 has three serial routes and 10 reviewers per serial route. It is used when there are many reviewers and the decision-making process needs to be somewhat expedited. (Item No. 7) Item No. 7 has one serial route and 15 reviewers per serial route, which is a slightly larger number of reviewers, but is used when there is no need to rush to make a decision on the request. (Item No. 8) Item No. 8 has two serial routes and 15 reviewers per serial route. It is used when there are many reviewers and the decision-making process needs to be somewhat expedited. (Item No. 9) Item No. 9 has three serial routes and 15 reviewers per serial route. It is used when there are a large number of reviewers and the decision-making process needs to be somewhat expedited. (Item No. 10) Item No. 10 has 20 serial routes and one deliberator per serial route, and is used when a request for approval needs to be made urgently.

[0034] Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a selection screen for a decision-making process pattern. Fig. 4A is an operation input screen, Fig. 4B is a decision-making document selection screen, and Fig. 4C is a document creation form screen. Fig. 4A, Fig. 4B, and Fig. 4C are screens that the route selection unit 12 displays on the input / output device 16, and the route selection unit 12 receives an input corresponding to this display from the input / output device 16, for example, a selection input for a decision-making process pattern.

[0035] The operation input screen in Figure 4A includes three operation input items for application 41: document creation, documents waiting for application, and documents for approval or rejection; three items for approval 42: documents waiting for approval, documents returned, and documents to be circulated; and three items for search 43: document list, status inquiry, and full-text search.

[0036] When "Document creation" is selected on the operation input screen of Fig. 4A, next, for example, "Company rule review request" is selected as the request content from the approval document selection screen of Fig. 4B. According to the document creation form of Fig. 4C, attribute information of the approval document is input, and one approval pattern is selected from the approval patterns displayed in the route pattern selection 46 according to the input of the approval document attribute information from the input / output device.

[0037] Corresponding to the document creation form 44 in Fig. 4C, the reception number, department, name, application category, document category 1, document category 2, registration number, sub-number, title, reason, approval start date, and approval deadline are manually input from the input / output device 16. Regarding the route pattern selection 46, one decision-making route pattern is manually selected from among the route selection candidates 47 from among a plurality of decision-making route patterns preset by the route pattern setting unit 11, which are not particularly limited, but are for example, the decision-making route patterns of items 1 to 10 in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, according to the attribute information of the decision-making document, such as the document attributes, contents, and approval deadline. The selection of this approval route pattern allows the requester of the approval of the approval document to take into consideration the purpose of each approval route pattern and select it according to the attributes, content, and approval deadline of the approval document, etc., thereby enabling the setting of an appropriate and labor-free approval route. Since the requester of the approval of the approval document is aware of the attributes, content, and payment deadline of the corresponding approval document, and can easily identify the scope of departments to which the approval document relates, the requester of the approval of the approval document can first select one appropriate approval route pattern, thereby enabling the setting of an appropriate and labor-free approval route.

[0038] Here, the requester of the decision-making process selects and inputs the decision-making process path pattern from the input / output device 16, but the present embodiment is not limited to this. For example, a function for automating the selection of the decision-making process path pattern or a function for assisting the requester of the decision-making process in selecting the decision-making process path pattern can be added. When automating the decision-making process path pattern or assisting the requester of the decision-making process in selecting the decision-making process path pattern, the path selection unit 12 queries the selection history of past decision-making process path patterns based on the attribute information of the decision-making process document, such as the person in charge (affiliation), attributes (application category, document classification 1, document classification 2, registration number, sub-number), contents (title, reason), and settlement deadline (decision-making start date, decision-making deadline), and presents the decision-making process path pattern corresponding to the decision-making process of a similar past decision-making process document as a recommended pattern. In this case, the method of determining the similarity is not particularly limited, but the attribute information of the approval document is weighted according to the priority of matching, for example, "Person in charge (department)", "Application category" and "Document category 1" are weighted as the first priority, "Document category 2", "Reason", "Approval start date" and "Approval deadline" are weighted as the second priority, and other items are weighted as the third priority, so that the similarity is quantitatively evaluated and the history information is checked for information similar to the attribute information of the current approval document. As a result, the approval path pattern can be selected in any of the following ways: manual selection according to input from an input / output device, automatic selection according to the calculation result, or semi-automatic selection such as manual selection after displaying the calculation result on an input / output device.

[0039] One or more documents can be attached to the approval document as attachments 48. In the example of FIG. 4C, the titles and file names of five attachments are input from the input / output device 16, but the number of attachments is not limited to five, and it is possible to input six or more attachments by increasing the input frame by operating the "+" icon, etc. Note that the search and reference functions within the storage device can be used to register the attachment files.

[0040] When an operation of the “save document” icon 45 from the input / output device 16 is detected, the deliberator setting unit 13 displays the deliberator setting screen of FIG.

[0041] Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the deliberator setting screen. Fig. 5A is a screen for displaying the registration contents of the approval document, and Fig. 5B is a screen for editing the route.

[0042] As an operation corresponding to the approval document in Figure 5A, the deliberator setting unit 13 selects from the operation content selection 50, and when an operation corresponding to the input from the input / output device 16, such as route editing 51, is selected, the route editing screen in Figure 5B is displayed.

[0043] The deliberator setting unit 13 automatically sets the deliberators in the pre-approval unit 55 and the deliberation in the post-approval unit 57 from the attribute information of the approval document (for example, the affiliation information of the person requesting the approval). Next, in order to set the person in charge who is in the "waiting for person in charge input" state in the deliberator slot setting deliberator slot unit 56, route editing 52 or automatic route input 53 is selected and input from the input / output device 16. The start icon 54 is an icon (see start icon 80 in FIG. 8 described below) that is operated when starting approval of the approval request after all deliberators have been decided for the deliberator slots and the approval route for the approval request has been confirmed.

[0044] When route edit 52 is selected and input in Fig. 5B, the deliberator setting unit 13 displays Fig. 6 on the input / output device 16. Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram of manual setting of a deliberator. Fig. 6A shows a setting screen, Fig. 6B shows a search screen form, Fig. 6C shows an example of search condition input, and Fig. 6D shows an example of search results.

[0045] A setting icon 60, which is an icon for confirming the setting, is located at the top of Fig. 6A. To the right of each deliberator slot, the set deliberator is displayed, and below that, a display window 61 of the selected deliberator, a user selection icon 62, a clear icon 63, and a pass icon 64 are displayed. Operating the user selection icon 62 opens the search screen of Fig. 6B. The clear icon 63 is an icon for clearing the display contents of the deliberator display window 61. The pass icon 64 is an icon for setting the corresponding deliberator slot to be passed when the deliberation is settled, in other words, for setting the corresponding deliberator slot to be effectively invalid (passed).

[0046] The "x" icon 65 on the right side of each deliberation participant slot is an icon for deleting the corresponding deliberation participant slot. By operating this "x" icon 65, it is possible to set the deliberation participant slot to be invalid, in the same manner as operating the pass icon 64.

[0047] Moreover, the "+" icon 66 is an icon for increasing the number of deliberators. By operating the "+" icon 66, the number of deliberators can be increased one by one. For this reason, although "two routes, five people" (item number 2) is selected as the deliberation and settlement path pattern in FIG. 6A, for example, it is possible to further add A6, A7, etc. as the sixth or subsequent deliberator slots to the deliberator slots A1 to A5 of one serial path. Similarly, it is also possible to further add B6, B7, etc. as the sixth or subsequent deliberator slots to the deliberator slots B1 to B5 of the other serial path.

[0048] By operating the user selection icon 62 in Fig. 6A, a window for the deliberator search screen in Fig. 6B can be opened. In the window in Fig. 6B, search criteria include division (a large group unit such as company name or division name), department, position, name, email address, etc., and text search is possible from partially entered character strings in any of these cases.

[0049] For example, as shown in FIG. 6C, when the business division "Business A", the department "Technical Management", and the job title "Group Leader" are entered and a search icon 67 is operated to perform a search, the search results shown in FIG. 6D are obtained. The decision-making system 1 of this embodiment is connected to the personnel information server 22, and therefore has information on all subjects (users) who can become examiners, making it possible to identify all users who are candidates for examiners. Note that the reset 68 is an icon used when clearing the search conditions. From the search results 69 obtained in FIG. 6D, an appropriate examiner is selected from the input / output device 16.

[0050] After all the deliberator slots have been set, the setting contents of the deliberator slots can be registered in the deliberator setting unit 13 by operating the setting icon 60 in FIG. 6A.

[0051] On the other hand, when automatic route input 53 is selected and input in Fig. 5B, the discussion participant setting unit 13 displays Fig. 7 on the input / output device 16. Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram of automatic setting of discussion participants.

[0052] At the top of Fig. 7, a setting icon 70, which is a setting confirmation icon, is displayed. To the right of each deliberator slot, the set deliberator is displayed, and below that, a deliberator display window 71 of the selected deliberator, a user selection icon 72, a clear icon 73, and a pass icon 74. By operating the user selection icon 72, as in Fig. 6, a search screen can be opened to search for the deliberator. Also, as in Fig. 6, the clear icon 73 is an icon for clearing the display contents of the deliberator display window 71 of the deliberator. The pass icon 74 is an icon for setting the corresponding deliberator slot to be passed at the time of deliberation and settlement, that is, for setting the corresponding deliberator slot to be effectively invalid (passed).

[0053] As in the case of Fig. 6, the "x" icon 75 on the right side of each deliberator slot is an icon for deleting the corresponding deliberator slot. By operating this "x" icon 75, it is possible to set the deliberator slot to be invalid, essentially in the same way as operating the pass icon 74. As in the case of Fig. 6, the "+" icon 76 is an icon for increasing the number of deliberator slots.

[0054] A recommended deliberator 77 is displayed on the right side of each deliberator frame as a result of automatic route input. Below this are a deliberator display window 71 for registering or amending the deliberator, a user selection icon 72, a clear icon 73, and a pass icon 74. When automatic route input is used, deliberator candidates are automatically registered, but if the deliberator needs to be changed, the deliberator can be modified and registered by performing a deliberator search using the user selection icon 72.

[0055] After all the deliberator slots have been set, the setting contents of the deliberator slots can be registered in the deliberator setting unit 13 by operating the setting icon 70 in FIG.

[0056] Here, the operation of the deliberator setting unit 13 when the automatic route input 53 is selected and input will be described. As attribute information of the approval document, for example, the person in charge of the approval document (affiliation), attributes (application category, document classification 1, document classification 2, registration number, sub-number), contents (title, reason), and settlement deadline (approval start date, approval deadline) are registered. The deliberator setting unit 13 checks the history of past approval requests based on the registered information related to the deliberation and settlement, and presents the deliberators selected in similar past approval requests as the recommended deliberators 77.

[0057] In this case, the method of determining the similarity is not particularly limited, but similar to the similarity matching method in the route selection unit 12 described above, the attribute information of the approval document is weighted according to the matching priority, for example, the first priority is given to "person in charge (department)", "application category", and "document classification 1", the second priority is given to "document classification 2", "reason", "approval start date", and "approval deadline", and other items are weighted as third priority, and a similarity matching method can be adopted in which the similarity is quantitatively evaluated and historical information that is close to the attribute information of the current approval document is referenced.

[0058] When multiple similar past approval document information is obtained, the approvers who frequently appear in each approval decision path are weighted as the approvers with the highest degree of recommendation, and the recommended examiners 77 are presented in descending order of the weight of the recommendation degree. Here, an example is explained in which two paths with five people are selected, so in FIG. 7, five candidates for serial 1 and five candidates for serial 2 are presented as recommended examiners 77, but this embodiment is not limited to this, and when there are multiple examiner candidates, information on the sixth and subsequent recommended examiners for each path may be presented along with the weight of the recommendation degree.

[0059] The deliberator setting unit 13 can refer to the personnel information server 22, and is therefore set to assign the latest user according to the position by referring to the latest personnel information when presenting previously selected deliberator information as a recommended deliberator 77. As explained above, the setting of deliberators in the deliberator setting unit 13 to the deliberator slots may be in any of the following modes: manual setting according to input from an input / output device, automatic setting in which a deliberator recommended by a calculation result is automatically set, or semi-automatic setting in which a recommended deliberator obtained by a calculation result is displayed on an input / output device and then manually selected.

[0060] Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the progress management screen. After the deliberators have been set by the deliberator setting unit 13, operating the start icon 80 in Fig. 8 starts the deliberation and settlement workflow. Approval requester information 81 is displayed at the top of Fig. 8, and below that a deliberation list 82 is displayed. A settlement date 83 and notes 84 are displayed to the right of the deliberation list 82. In the deliberation list 82, the columns of approvers who are waiting for settlement are displayed inverted, and the notes column displays, for example, "waiting for settlement." These displays make it possible to grasp the progress of deliberation and settlement.

[0061] The examiner can check the document for which he / she is being asked to approve and approve it by operating the "document waiting for approval" icon in the approval 42 in Fig. 4A. If the examiner finds that corrections or comments are necessary after checking the document for approval and the attached documents, he / she can use the approval system 1 to add the necessary corrections and comments to the document for approval.

[0062] The requester of the approval document can set the approval path using the approval system 1 of this embodiment, and all the deliberators included in the approval path can check the registered approval document and electronically approve it using the approval system 1 of this embodiment. Furthermore, the approval system 1 of this embodiment can grasp and manage the progress of the approval.

[0063] In the route pattern setting unit 11, the number of decision-making route patterns can be narrowed down to the necessary number, that is, the number of decision-making route patterns can be selected from n x m patterns (where n and m are natural numbers) where n is the number of patterns for the number of reviewer slots included in the serial route and m is the number of patterns for the number of parallel serial routes. By narrowing down the number of decision-making route patterns in advance, it is possible to carefully select only frequently used decision-making route patterns. If the decision-making route patterns are carefully selected only to frequently used ones, the variations in the decision-making route patterns are simplified, making it easier for the route selection unit 12 to select a decision-making route pattern and easier for the reviewer setting unit 13 to set reviewers to the reviewer slots.

[0064] 2 and 3, n=4 and m=4, so n×m=16 combinations are possible, but 10 combinations are carefully selected from these 16, and the route pattern setting unit 11 registers these 10 patterns as decision-making route patterns in advance. In this embodiment, the number of examiner slots included in a serial route is a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 15, and the number of parallel serial routes is a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 20, so the number of cases is 15×20=300, but in this embodiment, by carefully selecting only 10 decision-making route patterns, it is possible to avoid considering multiple routes and greatly reduce the effort required to set up the decision-making route.

[0065] In addition, if the approval route patterns are carefully selected to only those that are frequently used, it is easier to find cases that are similar to the conditions of the current approval document when checking past approval routes. The fewer the number of approval route patterns, the easier it is to evaluate the similarity when quantitatively evaluating the attribute information of the current approval document by matching the historical information of the attribute information of past approval documents. If there are past approval documents with similar conditions, the approval route can be automatically set appropriately by referring to past examples. In addition, it is easy to assign reviewers by referring to past examples. Therefore, whether in terms of manual setting of the deliberation and settlement path (Figure 6) or automatic setting (Figure 7), by narrowing down the number of decision-making route patterns to only the required number in the route pattern setting unit 11, the decision-making system 1 of this embodiment can appropriately determine the settlement route for decision-making in accordance with the decision-making document and reduce the effort required to determine the settlement route.

[0066] [Embodiment 2] A proposal decision-making system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 9. The same components as those in Figs. 1 to 8 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. Fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a deliberation and settlement path pattern of the second embodiment.

[0067] In FIG. 8, the approval workflow starts from “Start” on the far left, and the approval workflow progresses to the right, proceeding to pre-approval 91, serial route A series 92, serial route B series 93, additional parts of the revised approval workflow 96, and post-approval 94, and finally to “Issue” and “End” on the far right.

[0068] The deliberation and payment path pattern of this embodiment differs from that of the first embodiment in the changed part 95 of the deliberator frame A2 and the added part 96 of the revised approval workflow.

[0069] The deliberator setting unit 13 can change the decision-making route not only before the decision-making process starts, but also after the decision-making process starts. Only those with the authority to change the decision-making route can change it. The change authority can be, but is not limited to, a system administrator, the decision-making requester, the manager of the decision-making requester, and the deliberators set in the deliberator slots. The change method is the same as in the case of route editing in FIG. 6. However, if the route is edited after the decision-making process starts, the decision-making process is resumed by returning to the revised decision-making route so that no unapproved decision-making route occurs. For this reason, there are cases where a decision-making request is made to a deliberator who has already approved before the revision. In such a case, it is possible to set the approval of the repeated deliberator slots to pass automatically.

[0070] Next, the change part 95 of the deliberator slot A2 will be described. Here, a case will be described in which the deliberator α2 assigned to the deliberator slot A2 is given the authority to change the decision-making route. When the deliberator α2 considers that the approval of the decision-making document for which approval is being requested is also required from other deliberators α2-a, α2-b, and α2-c, the deliberator α2 can change the decision-making route as shown in the change part 95 of the deliberator slot A2 in FIG. 9. For example, in the example of FIG. 9, in the change part 95 of the deliberator slot A2, the deliberator slots A2-a, A2-b, and A2-c corresponding to the deliberators α2-a, α2-b, and α2-c are added in parallel, respectively, and then the deliberator slot A2-2 is provided to request the deliberator α2 to approve again.

[0071] Next, the revised approval workflow addition part 96 will be described. In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, if the examiner checks the approval document and the attached documents and finds that corrections or comments are necessary, the examiner can add the necessary corrections and comments to the approval document using the approval decision system 1. For this reason, the approval document approved by the pre-approval 91, the serial route A series 92, and the serial route B series 93 in FIG. 9 includes added corrections and comments, so in the approval requester approval b1, the approval requester may correct the approval document and the attached documents based on the corrections and comments made by each examiner. If the approval document and the attached documents are corrected, it is necessary to have the examiner make a decision on the revised approval document again. At this time, the approval decision system 1 of this embodiment can set an approval route like the revised approval workflow addition part 96.

[0072] In the revised decision-making workflow addition part 96, it is not necessary to set the decision-making route exactly the same as the serial route A series 92 and the serial route B series 93, and the examiner slots that do not require deliberation can pass through. By adding a setting function for the revised decision-making workflow addition part 96 to the examiner setting unit 13, the decision-making requester can add and set the revised decision-making workflow addition part 96 as necessary before the decision-making process starts or during the decision-making process, using the decision-making system 1 of this embodiment. Specifically, the revised decision-making workflow addition part 96 can be set by adding each examiner slot corresponding to the revised decision-making workflow addition part 96 between the examiner slots for serial 2 in FIG. 6A and the examiner slots for creator approval.

[0073] Although the decision-making system has been described above as an embodiment of the present invention, the above embodiment is an example of a decision-making system for embodying the technical idea of ​​the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these, but can be equally applied to other embodiments such as modified versions of each embodiment and combinations of each embodiment. For example, the administrator server 21 and the personnel information server 22 in Fig. 1 may be cloud servers.

[0074] The ten decision-making path patterns illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 are examples of a decision-making system, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to such decision-making path patterns. For example, the number of decision-making path patterns can be selected from n x m (where n and m are natural numbers) if the number of patterns of the number of reviewer slots included in the serial path is n and the number of patterns of the number of parallel serial paths is m. In addition, for example, if m serial paths are assigned to m business locations, the regularity of the decision-making path patterns will increase, making it easier to assign reviewers to the reviewer slots, and thus reducing the effort required to set up the decision-making path.

[0075] The display examples on the input / output device 16 in Fig. 4 to Fig. 8 are merely examples, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to such display examples. The display layout, display items, etc. can be increased, decreased, or changed as necessary. Settings of icons for selective input, settings of pull-down menus, settings of input windows and display windows, etc. can also be modified as long as the decision-making system 1 of the present invention can be implemented.

[0076] The decision-making process pattern in FIG. 9 is for illustrating an example of the decision-making process system 1 of the second embodiment, and the decision-making process system 1 of the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the decision-making process pattern in FIG. 9. The revision of the decision-making process by the examiner is not limited to the change part 95 of the examiner frame A2, and revision of other parts of the decision-making process is also possible, and the revision path pattern is not limited to that of FIG. 9, and any revision path in a serial path and / or a parallel path can be set according to the examiner's intention to change the deliberation. In addition, the additional part of the revised deliberation workflow is not limited to that of FIG. 9, and revisions necessary for the approval of the revised deliberation office can be made, such as revisions to the decision-making process pattern to obtain approval by a new examiner, upon the revisions pointed out by the examiner. [Explanation of symbols]

[0077] 1. Approval system 10. Decision-making device 11 Route pattern setting section 12 Route selection section 13 Deliberator Setting Department 14 Approval Department 15 Progress Management Department 16 Input / Output Devices 20. Communication Networks 21 Administrator Server 22 Personnel Information Server 41 Application 42 Approval 43 Search 44 Document Creation Forms 45 Document Retention 46 Route pattern selection 47 Route Selection Options 48 Attachments 50 Operation selection 51 Route Editing 52 Route Editing 53 Automatic route input 54 Start Icon 55 Pre-approval Department 56 Deliberator Quota Setting Department 57 Post-approval Department 60 Settings Icon 61 Display Window 62 User selected icon 63 Clear Icon 64 Passing Icon 65 × Icon 66+Icons 67 Search icon 68 Reset 69 Results 70 Settings Icon 71 Reviewer display window 72 User selected icon 73 Clear Icon 73 Passing Icon 74 Passing Icon 75 x Icons 76+Icons 77 Recommended reviewers 80 Start Icon 81 Approval Requester Information 82 List of Deliberators 83 Settlement Date 84 Notes 91 Pre-approval 92 Series Path A Series 93 Series Path B Series 94 Post-approval 95 Changes made by reviewer A2 96 Approval workflow additions

Claims

1. A decision-making system that determines a decision-making route for a decision-making document and manages the progress of the decision-making process, a route selection unit that selects one decision-making route pattern to be applied to the decision-making document from a plurality of pre-set decision-making route patterns; a review member setting unit for setting a review member in a review member frame of the decision-making process path pattern selected by the path selection unit, and setting the decision-making process path; An approval section in which approval by the deliberators is performed; and A progress management unit that manages the progress of the decision-making process based on the decision-making process path set by the deliberator setting unit; Equipped with The decision-making path pattern is at least one of a series path, a parallel path, and a path having a plurality of the series paths in parallel, One or more examiner slots are provided in the serial path and the parallel path, Each of the decision-making path patterns is set as a pattern in which at least one of the number of examiner slots in the serial path, the number of examiner slots in the parallel path, and the number of serial paths of a path having a plurality of the serial paths in parallel is different; The review request system is characterized in that the review participant setting unit can set any of the following for each review participant slot in the review request decision-making path pattern: setting a review participant, adding a review participant slot, deleting a review participant slot, or passing through a review participant slot.

2. The decision-making system according to claim 1, further comprising a route pattern setting unit that presets a plurality of decision-making route patterns.

3. The approval system according to claim 1, characterized in that in the route selection unit, one approval route pattern is selected from a plurality of pre-set approval route patterns according to attribute information of the approval document, based on input from an input / output device and / or a calculation result.

4. The approval system according to claim 3, characterized in that in the route selection unit, each approval route pattern is displayed on an input / output device, and one approval route pattern from the displayed approval route patterns is selected based on input from the input / output device and / or calculation results, thereby setting one approval route pattern to be applied to the approval document from among the multiple pre-set approval route patterns.

5. The decision-making system according to claim 1, characterized in that in the deliberator setting unit, a deliberator is set in the deliberator slot based on deliberator information including information of the deliberator that has been set in advance, by input from an input / output device and / or by the result of calculation.

6. The decision-making system according to claim 5, characterized in that the deliberator setting unit is capable of searching for the name, position, or affiliation of the deliberator, and the deliberator found by the search is selected or input from an input / output device, whereby the deliberator is set for the deliberator slot by input from the input / output device and / or by the result of calculation.

7. 2. The decision-making system according to claim 1, wherein the deliberator setting unit displays the deliberator slots on an input / output device, and enables at least one of the following settings to be made by operating the input / output device: setting the deliberator in the deliberator slot, adding to the deliberator slot, deleting the deliberator slot, and setting to pass through the deliberator slot.

8. The decision-making system according to claim 1, characterized in that the deliberator setting unit is capable of changing the decision-making route and the approver in response to an operation from a person with authority to change.

9. The approval system for a request for approval according to claim 8, characterized in that the person authorized to make the change is at least one of a system administrator, a request for approval, an administrator of the request for approval, and a deliberator set in the deliberator slot.

10. The number of decision-making path patterns is, if the number of patterns of the number of reviewer slots included in the serial path is n, and the number of patterns of the number of serial paths that can be provided in parallel is m, n x m ways (where n and m are natural numbers) The decision-making system according to claim 1, characterized in that the options can be narrowed down and selected from the above.

Images