Quotation support system

Abstract

To provide a technology for improving the degree of freedom of an enterpriser to be introduced while reducing labor and time when requesting a predetermined business to the enterpriser.SOLUTION: In the estimation support system 1, after an estimation request related to a predetermined task is received from a customer (arrow A), estimation results from one or more companies capable of performing the task can be aggregated into a list and returned (arrow B). As a result, even if the customer does not grasp what kind of business operator exists and what kind of business content can be executed by the business operator, the customer can view the quotation result of each business operator, and thus it is possible to easily determine a business operator to be a request destination without increasing time and effort even if there are many business operators to be candidates.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention is an estimate support system that mediates between customers who wish to receive estimates for predetermined tasks and businesses that will carry out the tasks. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, when requesting a business to perform a specified task, the customer requests an estimate from each business and then ultimately decides whether to request the specified task based on the estimate.

[0003] However, for customers who do not know what types of businesses exist or what types of work they can perform, they must find each potential business, request quotes individually, and then ultimately decide on a business to hire based on the quotes. The more businesses there are to choose from, the more work it takes. This problem becomes even more pronounced the more specialized and specialized the work is.

[0004] As a technology to reduce this kind of hassle, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which estimate information submitted in the past by businesses (experts) is compiled into a database, and a search is conducted for estimates that show a high degree of match with the requested content, and the relevant businesses are extracted and introduced. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-246752 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, while the above configuration can reduce the effort required to request a specific task from a business, it has the problem that the search does not include businesses that have a track record of providing estimates, so there is not necessarily a high degree of freedom in the businesses that can be introduced.

[0007] The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and aims to provide a technology that reduces the effort required to request a business to perform a specified task while increasing the freedom of the business that can be introduced. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, a quotation assistance system according to a first aspect is a quotation assistance system communicably connected to a customer terminal, which is a terminal owned by a customer who wishes to receive a quotation for a predetermined task, and a business terminal, which is a terminal owned by a business that performs the predetermined task, and includes a customer registration means for, when a quotation request, which is an instruction including the content of the predetermined task and the conditions for performing the task, being received from the customer terminal, correlating the quotation request with the customer who sent it and registering it in a customer database; and a command for requesting, on behalf of the business terminal, a quotation for performing the task under the conditions specified in the quotation request, to each of the business terminals corresponding to one or more business operators that can perform the task specified in the quotation request. a list creation means for creating a list aggregating the results of the estimates indicated in each of the estimate notifications when estimate notices indicating the results of the estimates are received from one or more of the business terminals to which the estimate requests for proxy quotation have been sent by the estimate request means; and a list sending means for sending the list created by the list creation means to the customer terminal that is the sender of the estimate request that triggered the transmission of the request for proxy quotation corresponding to the list to the business terminal, wherein the list sending means sends the list to the customer terminal of a customer registered in the customer database in association with the request for quotation that triggered the transmission of the request for proxy quotation corresponding to the list to the business terminal.

[0009] This aspect may also be modified as in the second aspect described below. In the second aspect, a page distribution means is provided for, when accessed from the customer terminal, distributing to the customer terminal a quotation request page, which is a web page for selectively inputting the content of a predetermined task and the conditions for performing the task, and for transmitting the quotation request including the input content and conditions to the quotation assistance system.

[0010] Furthermore, in this aspect, if the quotation support system is communicably connected to the customer terminal owned by the customer who desires a quotation prior to requesting various analyses, and the business terminal owned by the business that performs the work related to various analyses in response to requests from the customer, the system may be configured as in the third aspect described below.

[0011] In a third aspect, the page distribution means distributes to the customer terminal the quotation request page that allows the customer to selectively input the type of analysis as the content of the work and the conditions for carrying out the work related to that type of analysis.

[0012] With the quotation support system for each of the above aspects, after receiving a request for a quotation from a customer for a specified task, it can compile and return a list of quotation results from one or more businesses that can perform the task. This allows the customer to view each business's quotation results without having to know what businesses exist or what type of business they can perform. Therefore, even if there are many candidate businesses, it does not increase the effort and the customer can easily decide which business to entrust the work to. In this case, a proxy quotation request based on the customer's quotation request can be sent to each business's business terminal regardless of whether the business has a history of providing quotation in the past, allowing for a high degree of freedom in the business that can ultimately be introduced.

[0013] A fourth aspect for solving the above problem is a program for causing a computer to function as each of the means in any of the above aspects.

[0014] This program can constitute a part of the estimate support system in any of the above aspects. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] Block diagram showing the overall configuration of the quotation support system [Figure 2] Flowchart showing the processing procedure for page distribution processing [Figure 3] A diagram showing the web page displaying the request for quotation [Figure 4] Flowchart showing the procedure for requesting a quote [Figure 5] A screen showing each database [Figure 6] Flowchart showing the procedure for list creation processing [Figure 7] Conceptual diagram showing the interaction between the quotation request system and the customer (customer terminal) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. (1) Overall structure The quotation assistance system 1 is a server communicatively connected to customer terminals 100, which are terminals owned by customers who wish to receive quotation for specified tasks, and business terminals 200, which are terminals owned by businesses that carry out specified tasks, and is equipped with a control unit 10 that controls overall operation and processing, a memory unit 20 for storing various data, a communication unit 30 that controls communication via a communication line (the Internet in this embodiment), and a user interface (U / I) 40 consisting of a display, keyboard, etc.

[0017] Here, an example is shown in which the quotation support system 1 is communicatively connected to a customer terminal 100 owned by a customer who wishes to receive a quotation prior to requesting various analyses, and a business terminal 200 owned by a business that carries out work related to various analyses upon request from the customer.

[0018] In this embodiment, the estimate assisting system 1 is configured with a single server, but it may be configured with a plurality of computers, servers, etc. connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other.

[0019] (2) Processing by the control unit 10 The control unit 10 in the estimate assistance system 1 executes various processes in accordance with the programs stored in the storage unit 20 after the entire estimate assistance system 1 is started up.

[0020] (2-1) Page distribution process First, as shown in Fig. 2, the processing by the control unit 10 includes a page distribution process in which, when a quote request page is accessed from a customer terminal 100 (s110: YES), a quote request page, which is a web page for sending a quote request to the quote assistance system 1, is distributed to the customer terminal 100 (s120). As shown in Fig. 3, this quote request page is a web page that has the function of allowing the user to selectively input the content of a predetermined task and multiple types of conditions for performing the task, and transmitting a quote request, which is a command including the input content and conditions (items), to the quote assistance system 1.

[0021] This quotation request is configured as a web page for selectively inputting the type of analysis as the content of the work and the conditions for carrying out work related to this type of analysis.

[0022] In this embodiment, by clicking the "Confirm input contents" button in the lower area of ​​the web page (see FIG. 3), the user is transitioned to a web page indicating that the currently selected business content and conditions have been determined, and by clicking the "Submit" button on that web page, a command including the determined business content and conditions is sent as a quotation request to the quotation assistance system 1. This quotation request includes a set of data made up of each condition and the corresponding business content.

[0023] In addition, on the quotation request page, it is also possible to enter information about the customer who owns the customer terminal 100 (company name, name of person in charge, telephone number, access destination such as email address, and other requests), and this information is also included in the quotation request.

[0024] (2-2) Quotation request processing As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 10 processes a request for quotation by receiving a request for quotation from the customer terminal 100 (s210: YES), correlating the request for quotation with the customer who sent it and registering it in the customer database (s211), determining one or more businesses that can perform the work specified in the request for quotation (s220), and then transmitting a proxy quotation request, which is a command to request a proxy quotation for performing the work under the conditions specified in the request for quotation, to each of the business terminals owned by each of the determined businesses (s230).

[0025] Here, the customer database is stored in the storage unit 20, and the registered contents (quote requests for each customer) can be displayed on the display by operating the keyboard of the user interface 40 (see FIG. 5(a)).

[0026] Furthermore, each of the one or more businesses capable of carrying out the work specified in the quotation request may be specified by a person in charge on the administrator side of the quotation assistance system 1, or the control unit 10 may identify businesses that fit the work content and conditions by analyzing the business database. This business database is stored in the storage unit 20, and the registered contents (the work content and conditions for each business) can be displayed on the display by operating the keyboard of the user interface 40 (see FIG. 5(b)).

[0027] The control unit 10 may identify businesses as follows. For example, one possible processing method is to compare each data set consisting of conditions and business details with similar data sets (combinations of conditions and business details) previously set by the businesses, and select a predetermined number of businesses in descending order of overall similarity. When comparing each data set, the similarity may be determined according to a weight previously set according to the conditions and business details.

[0028] The business database also stores the access destination (specifically, email address, etc.) of the business terminal owned by each business, and the proxy quotation request is sent to this access destination.

[0029] The proxy quotation request is sent with the deadline for sending the quotation notice and the access destination (specifically, email address) of the quotation assistance system 1 clearly stated, and upon receiving the request, the person in charge at the business operator's terminal 200 that owns the terminal will send back a quotation notice indicating the results of the quotation, including the deadline and cost of the work, to the access destination of the quotation assistance system 1. The quotation notice here may be automatically generated by the business operator's terminal 200 and sent back.

[0030] (2-3) List distribution process As shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 10 performs a list distribution process in which, after a proxy quotation request is sent in the quotation request process (s310: YES), until a certain period of time (a deadline determined based on the deadline for sending the quotation notification) has elapsed (s320: NO), each quotation notification indicating the quotation results from one or more business terminals 200 that sent the proxy quotation request is accumulated (s330: YES → s340), a list is created that aggregates the quotation results indicated in each of the quotation notifications accumulated up to that point (s340: YES → s350), and the list is sent to the customer terminal 100 that sent the quotation request that triggered the creation of this list (s360).

[0031] Here, a list is created for estimate notifications from each business operator terminal 200, including only those that have been returned over a certain period of time since the proxy estimate request was sent through the estimate request process. In this list, estimate results including the delivery date and cost of the work for each business operator are arranged so that they can be viewed at a glance, allowing the estimate results for each business operator to be viewed at a glance.

[0032] The list described above is generated such that the results of estimates from businesses are arranged at the top in the order in which the estimate notices were received. Alternatively, the results of estimates from businesses may be arranged such that higher priority estimates are arranged at the top according to predetermined rules based on the deadline, cost, etc. of the work.

[0033] Each time a list is sent, the sending information (date, destination (address), business content (project name), etc.) is registered in the history database. This history database is stored in the storage unit 20, and the registered contents can be displayed on the display by operating the user interface 40 (see FIG. 5(c)).

[0034] (3) Effects With the quotation assistance system 1 of the above embodiment, after receiving a quotation request for a specific business from a customer (arrow A in FIG. 7), the quotation results from one or more businesses that can perform the business can be compiled into a list and returned (arrow B in the same figure). This allows the customer to view the quotation results from each business even if they do not know what businesses exist or what business they can perform. Therefore, even if there are many candidate businesses, the customer can easily decide which business to entrust the work to without having to go through additional work. In this case, a proxy quotation request based on the customer's quotation request can be sent to the business terminal of each business, regardless of whether the business has a history of providing quotation in the past, allowing for a high degree of freedom in the business that can ultimately be introduced. [Explanation of symbols]

[0035] 1...Estimate support system, 10...Control unit, 20...Memory unit, 30...Communication unit, 40...User interface, 100...Customer terminal, 200...Business operator terminal.

Claims

1. An estimate support system that is communicably connected to a customer terminal, which is a terminal owned by a customer who wishes to obtain an estimate for a predetermined business, and a business terminal, which is a terminal owned by a business that performs the predetermined business, a customer registration means for registering a request for quotation, which is an instruction including the content of a predetermined business and the conditions for carrying out the business, in a customer database in association with the request for quotation and the customer who sent it when the request for quotation is received from the customer terminal; a quotation requesting means for, upon receiving the quotation request from the customer terminal, transmitting a proxy quotation request, which is a command to request a quotation on behalf of the customer for the performance of the business under the conditions specified in the quotation request, to each of the business terminals corresponding to one or more business operators that can perform the business specified in the quotation request; a list creation means for creating a list that aggregates the results of the estimates indicated in the estimate notifications when estimate notifications indicating the results of the estimates are received from the one or more business terminals to which the proxy estimate requests have been sent by the estimate request means; a list sending means for sending the list created by the list creating means to the customer terminal which is the sender of the quotation request that triggered the sending of the proxy quotation request corresponding to the list to the business operator terminal; the list transmitting means transmits the list to the customer terminal of the customer registered in the customer database in association with the quotation request that triggered the transmission of the proxy quotation request corresponding to the list to the business operator terminal; Quotation support system.

2. and a page distribution means for, when accessed from the customer terminal, distributing to the customer terminal a quotation request page, which is a web page for selectively inputting the content of a predetermined business and the conditions for performing the business, and for transmitting the quotation request including the input content and conditions to the quotation assistance system. The estimate support system according to claim 1.

3. When the quotation support system is connected so as to be able to communicate with the customer terminal owned by the customer who desires a quotation prior to requesting various analyses, and the business terminal owned by the business that performs the work related to various analyses in response to requests from the customer, the page distribution means distributes to the customer terminal the quotation request page for selectively inputting the type of analysis as the content of the work and the conditions for carrying out the work related to that type of analysis; The estimate support system according to claim 2.

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