Supply Chain Platform System

Abstract

To provide a platform where companies connect to each other across different supply chains.SOLUTION: A supply chain platform system performs user registration processing to register company information of multiple participant companies. Client management groups are allocated to the participant companies, and client management information is generated for each participant company. The participant companies are each provided with an invitation function to request subscription to the client management group of the company, and an approval function to accept subscription approval for the subscription request. The system registers an invitee company on the client management information, as a connected company, on the basis of a subscription approval from the invitee company for transmitting invitation information as an inviter company. The system registers the inviter company on the client management information, as a connected company, on the basis of the subscription approval to the inviter company for receiving the invitation information from another participant company, as the invitee company. A supply chain network based on the connected companies is generated.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] An embodiment of the present invention relates to a technology for connecting companies across multiple different supply chains. [Background technology]

[0002] Supply chain management (SCM) systems and supplier relationship management (SRM) systems enable centralized management of products, from the procurement of raw materials to manufacturing and sales, as well as the management of a wide range of supplier relationships, including first-tier and second-tier suppliers.

[0003] These conventional supply chains are managed by "connections" based on transaction records, and these connections take the form of a tree structure as described in Patent Document 1. A supply chain tree structure starts with a buyer, which is the source, and has many suppliers connected in a tree shape, representing a series of flows such as making things (which may also include selling the things). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2015-115016 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] To provide a supply chain platform system capable of building connections between companies across a plurality of different supply chains. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The computer system of the embodiment is a supply chain platform system capable of communicating with each terminal of a company participating in a supply chain, Input fromCorporate information for each participating company Store in a specified memory area Portal management department and each participating company To assign business partner management areas to create business partner management groups for your company and manage the companies that belong to the business partner management groups. Supplier management information By participating company A customer management unit that generates the company information is stored Generate invitation information including a request for the participating company to join the business partner management group of the inviting company as the inviting company; To the terminal of the invited company An invitation unit that transmits the invitation information and an invitation destination company's terminal Sent Please confirm your acceptance of the invitation. Receive and an approval control unit. The above Upon approval of the membership, Inviting company The invited company will be added to the business partner management information as a connected company. Link and join your company's account management group Along with, Received The invitation information for To the inviting company The above Upon approval of the membership, The invited company The inviting company is added to the business partner management information as the linked company. The supplier management unit associates the customer with the supplier and makes the customer join the supplier management group of the company. Refer to the business partner management information of the linked companies associated with the company's business partner management information, and Associated The related companies are added to the company's business partner management information as secondary related companies. The supplier management unit associates the supplier with the supplier management information and causes the supplier management information to participate in a supplier management group. Related companies that have an invitation relationship based on the invitation information with the company as the center The first information showing the relationship between , a second-level connected company that has an invitation relationship based on the invitation information established by a connected company independently of the company The second piece of information indicates the relationship between supply chain network including information Generate Here, if your company As a secondary connected company, the business partner management information of other companies Associated Self-publishing settings to set whether to allow A screen is transmitted to the terminal, and self-publication setting information is acquired via the self-publication setting screen. The public setting control unit for performing the process can be further configured to Self-publishing settings screen The options include public, anonymous, and private. fruit The business partner management unit adds the business partner management information of the inviting company to the business partner management information of the inviting company. Associated Applicable Link with the host company The above The company management unit stores the company disclosure setting information, and the company disclosure setting information In private If is selected, the correspondingThe invited company will be added to the business partner management information of other companies as the secondary connected company. Do not associate It can be controlled as follows. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram of a supply chain platform system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a supply chain platform system according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] 4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow regarding user registration, invitation, and approval of the platform of the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a supplier management screen of the supply chain platform of the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of provisional registration of a trading partner company using an external company information database in the first embodiment. [Figure 6] 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an example of a company invitation request screen and a request details screen for approval by an invitation recipient company according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a supply chain network diagram according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a map-type supply chain network diagram according to the first embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the expansion of a supply chain network in the first embodiment. [Figure 10] 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating an example of a company disclosure setting screen and an invited company disclosure setting screen according to the first embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a whitelist registration screen according to the first embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of information transmission using the supply chain platform of the first embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the provision of information regarding carbon dioxide emissions using the supply chain platform of the first embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of a supply chain platform system according to a second embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a first risk management function of the supply chain platform system of the second embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a second risk management function of the supply chain platform system of the second embodiment. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THEINVENTION

[0008] Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0009] Buyers build connections with each supplier that makes up the supply chain and manage the supply chain, but the current situation is that the connections between the companies that make up the supply chain are closed within the management of a single supply chain.

[0010] Meanwhile, buyers and suppliers are not limited to the framework of a single supply chain, but rather have their own "connections between companies," with buyers trading with other suppliers in other supply chains, and suppliers trading with buyers in other supply chains. In other words, while only chain- or tree-shaped connections are visible within the framework of each supply chain, countless supply chains form a large network in which connections between multiple companies are aggregated.

[0011] Therefore, the supply chain platform system of the present embodiment provides a platform that allows participation beyond the framework of the supply chain. By providing this platform, a supply chain network that spans multiple different supply chains with your own company at the center is constructed, and a platform that allows information transmission and information sharing based on the supply chain network is formed.

[0012] In a supply chain, buyers and suppliers have a relationship of source and destination of materials, parts, finished products, etc. (hereafter referred to as products, etc.). Therefore, in a supply chain that starts with the buyer (upstream), and connects downstream with first-tier suppliers, second-tier suppliers, if the first-tier supplier purchases products, etc. from the second-tier supplier, the first-tier supplier will be positioned as a buyer for the second-tier supplier, and each company may be in the position of both buyer and supplier. The same is true for third-tier suppliers linked to second-tier suppliers, and fourth-tier suppliers linked to third-tier suppliers, etc.

[0013] (First embodiment) 1 to 13 are diagrams for explaining the first embodiment. Fig. 1 is a network configuration diagram of a supply chain platform system 100 of the present embodiment.

[0014] A supply chain platform system 100 (hereinafter referred to as the platform system 100) is connected via a network by each company participating in the supply chain using its own terminal 200. Each company can use various functions provided by the platform system 100 through a screen displayed on its own terminal 200 via a browser.

[0015] The terminal 200 is a desktop computer, a portable tablet computer, or a notebook computer, and is equipped with a data communication function (wireless communication / wired communication) via an IP (Internet protocol) network or a mobile communication network, a calculation function (CPU, etc.), and a storage device (memory, auxiliary storage device, etc.). The terminal 200 also has a display control application such as a browser, and can control the display of a screen provided by the platform system 100. In addition, the terminal 200 is appropriately equipped with a display device (or a touch panel type display device) and input means such as a keyboard.

[0016] 2 is a functional block diagram of the platform system 100 of this embodiment. The platform system 100 is a computer system including a communication device 110, a control device 120, and a storage device 130. The platform system 100 can be configured with one or more server devices.

[0017] The communication device 110 controls data communication with the terminals 200 of each company, and also controls data communication with an external system (external server). The control device 120 includes a control unit 1210, an information management unit 1220, and a display control unit 1230, and the storage device 130 stores various information. The display control unit 1230 provides screen information to the terminals 200 of each company, and performs display control of the screens on the terminals 200 and display control in response to screen operations from the terminals 200.

[0018] The platform system 100 mainly provides the following five functions. 1) Management of your own business partners 2) Invitation function to your company's business partner management group (including approval of the invited company's membership) 3) Public settings function 4) Supply chain network visualization function 5) Information transmission and sharing function (including the function to provide information on carbon dioxide emissions)

[0019] The control unit 1210 is a functional unit that mainly provides the above functions 1) to 3), and includes a portal management unit 1211, a customer management unit 1212, an invitation unit 1213, an approval control unit 1214, a public setting control unit 1215, and a list registration unit 1216.

[0020] 3 is a flowchart showing a process flow regarding user registration, invitation, and approval for the platform of this embodiment. First, all companies participating in the platform system 100 perform user registration. Basic company information of each company that has been registered as a user is accumulated in company information 131. The portal management unit 1211 provides a user registration screen and a login authentication screen (not shown) to the terminal 200 of each company, and performs user registration processing and login authentication processing through each screen (S101, S102, S201, S103, S202).

[0021] The user registration process allows input of basic company information such as corporate number, company name (written in other languages ​​such as kanji, hiragana, katakana, English, etc.), address, contact information (telephone number, email address, etc.), country, region, etc., and the portal management unit 1211 stores the input information in the storage device 130 as company information 131. At this time, it is also possible to assign a unique company ID for login authentication, and to accept (register) or issue an authentication password. Information related to login authentication can be stored in association with the company information 131 of the relevant company.

[0022] The business partner management unit 1212 provides a business partner management function by allocating business partner management areas to each business partner, regarding the business partners registered by the user as platform participating businesses. The business partner management function is a function for managing business partners belonging to the business partner management group of the platform business companies (businesses registered in the business partner information 131) and generating business partner management information 132. As will be described later, the invitation function of this embodiment can invite a business partner that is not registered in the business partner information 131. In this case, a business partner (invited business partner) that is not participating in the platform system 100 (not officially registered in the business partner information 131) can be managed within the business partner management group.

[0023] 4 is a diagram showing an example of a supplier management screen, which is displayed on the terminal 200. The supplier management screen is configured to include a search condition input field, which is a search screen, and a display area for supplier management information 132. This search screen can provide a search function that targets all participating companies of the platform system 100 that are registered in the company information 131.

[0024] Platform participating companies invite business partners they wish to belong to their business partner management group. First, on the business partner management screen displayed on the terminal 200, they can search for companies registered in the business partner information 131, and can invite companies found in the search. The search conditions can be inputted by multiple search conditions such as a corporate number, business name, and address. The business partner management unit 1212 accepts the search conditions inputted from the terminal 200, searches the business partner information 131 using the search conditions, and extracts relevant companies (S203, S104).

[0025] For companies found in the search, basic company information is displayed on the company provisional registration screen, as shown in the right side of Fig. 4. The company provisional registration screen includes a provisional registration button and a cancel button, and when the provisional registration button is pressed, the supplier management unit 1212 provisionally registers the company in the supplier management information (supplier management group) 132 of the company as a supplier to be added (S204, S105). As shown in Fig. 4, the provisionally registered company is displayed in the supplier management information 132 of the company.

[0026] When a search of the company information 131 does not find a hit for the relevant company, the platform participating company can temporarily register the company information (basic company information) of the company that it wishes to provisionally register directly in the platform system 100. Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the temporary company registration screen and the provisional company registration screen.

[0027] The business partner management unit 1212 cooperates with an external business information database (for example, the National Tax Agency's Corporate Number Disclosure Site https: / / www.houjin-bangou.nta.go.jp / ), and when a Corporate Number is entered on the temporary business registration screen and the Corporate Disclosure Information Citation button is selected, it performs a query process on the external business information database to obtain business information linked to the entered Corporate Number, and retrieves the relevant business information from the external business information database.

[0028] The acquired company information is displayed on the terminal 200 through a company provisional registration screen similar to that shown in Fig. 4 (S205, S106). When the provisional registration button is pressed, the business partner management unit 1212 provisionally registers the company in the business partner management information (business partner management group) 132 of the platform participating company (S206, S107). A company provisionally registered through the temporary company registration process is also provisionally registered in the business partner management information 132 of the platform participating company, and can be displayed on the business partner management screen as in the example of Fig. 4.

[0029] In addition, the inquiry for company information using the external company information database can be configured so that inquiry can be made using company name, address, etc. as a key in addition to the corporate number, depending on the specifications of the external company information database. In addition, although the temporary company registration process using the external company information database has been explained as an example, the platform participating companies may directly input the corporate number, company name, address, contact information, etc., to temporarily register them, and provisionally register them in their own customer management information 132.

[0030] In addition, with regard to the provisional registration process through the temporary company registration process, the customer management unit 1212 controls the provisionally registered company so that it is not registered in the company information 131 at this point, since the provisionally registered company has not itself registered as a user in this platform system 100.

[0031] Next, the platform participating company invites the provisionally registered company to its supplier management group. For example, the inviting company can select a company in the "provisionally registered" state registered in the supplier management information 132 on the supplier management screen displayed on the terminal 200 and perform an invitation operation. In response to this invitation operation, the invitation unit 1213 provides the terminal 200 with the company invitation application screen of FIG. 6. The company invitation application screen includes items such as a destination (contact information), a subject, and a text body, in addition to basic company information such as a corporate number and a company name. The subject and text body can be input and edited by the inviting platform participating company (S207). In addition, the destination can be controlled so that an email address registered in the company information 131 is displayed by default, or can be directly input by the inviting company. In addition, the subject and text items can also be configured so that a fixed phrase prepared in advance is displayed by default.

[0032] The company invitation request screen includes an invitation request button and a cancel button, and when the invitation request button is selected, the invitation unit 1213 generates invitation information using the contents of each item on the company invitation request screen. The invitation information can be configured to include connection link information (connection URL) to the platform system 100 along with the contents of each item on the company invitation request screen. The invitation unit 1213 transmits the generated invitation information to the destination (S108). In conjunction with the transmission of the invitation information, the business partner management unit 1212 updates the status of the invitation recipient company in the business partner management information 132 from "provisionally registered" to "unapproved" (S109).

[0033] The invitation destination company receives the invitation information at the terminal 200. The invitation destination company selects the connection link information to the platform system 100 from the invitation information and connects to the platform system 100. The business partner management unit 1212 determines whether the invitation destination company is a target of the temporary company registration process described above, and if the invitation destination company is a target of the temporary company registration process, it instructs the portal management unit 1211 to execute user registration processing, and the portal management unit 1211 provides a user registration screen and performs user registration processing through the terminal 200 (S101, etc.). Furthermore, if the business partner management unit 1212 determines that the invitation destination company is not a target of the temporary company registration process described above, the portal management unit 1211 performs login authentication processing (S2001, S1110).

[0034] After the user registration process is completed or after the login authentication process, the approval control unit 1214 provides the application details screen shown in Fig. 6 to the terminal 200 of the invited company. The application details screen displays the contents of each item of the invitation information, and has buttons for Approve, Reject, and Cancel. When the Approve button is pressed, the approval control unit 1214 performs an approval process for the invitation company to join the supplier management information 132, and updates the invited company's "unapproved" status to "supplier (connected company)" status (S111, S2001).

[0035] If the cancel button is selected on the application details screen, control is performed in step S111 to maintain the "unapproved" status of the invited company in the supplier management information 132 of the inviting company, and if the reject button is selected, control is performed in step S111 to update the status of the invited company in the supplier management information 132 of the inviting company to "approval rejected." In the case of "approval rejected," control can be performed so that the invited company is excluded from the supplier management information 132 of the inviting company after a predetermined time has passed (provisional registration of the supplier management group is deleted). Also, it may be configured so that the invited company can be managed individually as a company whose approval to join has been rejected.

[0036] The above has focused on the inviting side, and explained the manner in which the invited side joins its own company's business partner management group. However, in the platform system 100 of this embodiment, the company itself is also the invited side, and upon receiving an invitation, the platform system controls the inviting company to join its own company's (the invited company's) business partner management group.

[0037] 3, the supplier management unit 1212 adds the inviting company to the supplier management information 132 of the invited company as a supplier (connected company) based on the invited company's approval of joining in response to the invitation information. With this configuration, participating companies in the platform system 100 can build a supply chain network with their own company at the center, both in the position of the inviting company and the invited company.

[0038] In this manner, the platform system 100 of the present embodiment assigns a supplier management area to each of the multiple participating companies of the platform system 100. Since the multiple participating companies participating in the platform system 100 are registered in the company information 131, it is possible to provide an opportunity to invite a company to join its own supplier management group, as well as an opportunity for the company to receive an invitation (request to join) from another company to join the supplier management group of the other company as an invited company.

[0039] That is, the business partner management unit 1212 registers the invited company as a connected company in the business partner management information 132 based on the participation approval from the invited company in response to the invitation information being sent by the invited company as the inviting company, and also registers the inviting company as a connected company in the business partner management information 132 based on the participation approval from the inviting company in response to the invitation information being received from other participating companies as the invited company, thereby generating a supply chain network based on these connected companies. Therefore, by participating in the platform system 100, a supply chain network centered on the company is constructed even if there is no direct transaction history or across multiple different supply chains.

[0040] As described above, it is possible to invite companies that have not yet joined the platform system 100, and a request to join one's own supplier management group becomes a request to join the platform system 100, thereby improving opportunities for companies to join the platform system 100.

[0041] Furthermore, the supplier management function of the platform system 100 assigns and manages each status (supplier management status) of provisional registration, unapproved, and supplier (connected company) to an invitation (request to join) to a supplier management group. The supplier management status is held in supplier management information 132. In the example of FIG. 4, the objects of each company are displayed in different display modes according to each supplier management status. For example, display control can be performed to change the color, size, shape, etc. of the object according to each supplier management status, making it easier to visually grasp the joining status to the supplier management group.

[0042] Fig. 7 is a diagram for explaining the supply chain network of this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 7, in conventional supply chain management, the cooperation of transactions is managed in a chain or tree shape, and for example, when company B belongs to three different supply chain managements, each of supply chain management 1, management 2, and management 3 is managed independently. However, by participating in and using the platform system 100 of this embodiment, company B can collectively manage these supply chain managements 1, 2, and 3 in its own supplier management group in a network structure centered on the company.

[0043] One aspect of the supplier management group, i.e. supplier management information 132, is supply chain network information based on a direct invitation relationship between the inviter and the invitee, and is also network information with the company at the center and suppliers (connected companies) as nodes. As will be described later, supplier management information 132 also has an aspect of supply chain network information that includes, in addition to connected companies, other companies that are further connected to the connected companies based on invitation relationships.

[0044] Supplier management information 132 can hold relationship information between the company and suppliers, and can be configured to include, for example, an invitation relationship with the company (inviter, invitee). In addition, supply chain relationship information for the company (buyer, first-tier supplier, second-tier supplier, etc.) can be assigned to each company that has joined the supplier management group and included in the supplier management information 132.

[0045] Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a map-display type supply chain network diagram. In the example of Fig. 4, the "Map display" can be turned on / off, and by turning on the "Map display", business partners (connected companies) registered in the business partner management information 132 can be displayed on the map based on the address information included in the company information 131.

[0046] Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining the spread of the supply chain network of this embodiment. The platform system 100 of this embodiment allows not only direct invitation relationships, but also for an invitee invited by one company to become an inviter and to be invited by another company. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 9, the supply chain built around company O can visualize relationships with companies that are not in a direct invitation relationship.

[0047] In the example of Fig. 9, business partners with a direct invitation relationship are network companies of the first degree of kinship, and outside the area of ​​network companies of the first degree of kinship, business partner companies of business partners that business partners connected in the first degree of kinship have invited or been invited by independently of the company (network companies of the first degree of kinship registered in the business partner's business partner management information 132) are connected as network companies of the second degree of kinship. Furthermore, outside the area of ​​network companies of the second degree of kinship, business partner companies of business partners that business partners connected in the second degree of kinship have invited or been invited by independently of the company (network companies of the first degree of kinship registered in the business partner's business partner management information 132) are connected as network companies of the third degree of kinship.

[0048] In this way, the customer management unit 1212 refers to the customer management information 132 of connected companies registered in its own customer management information 132, registers the connected companies registered in the customer management information 132 of the connected companies as secondary connected companies in its own customer management information 132, and can generate a supply chain network that includes connected companies having an invitation relationship based on invitation information with its own company at the center, and secondary connected companies (other customers that are not connected to its own company but are connected to customers registered in the customer management information 132) that have invitation relationships based on invitation information established by connected companies independent of its own company.

[0049] The customer management unit 1212 controls the customer management information 132 so that not only the customer (connected company) registered by the invitation function, but also another customer (secondary connected company) connected to the customer is included, and for example, when a customer is registered (added) to the customer management information 132 of the company by the invitation function, the customer management unit 1212 can refer to the customer's customer management information 132 and control so that the other customer registered by the invitation function is added (registered) to the customer management information 132 of the company. Since this chain of connections theoretically extends infinitely, for example, the range of customers to be added to the customer management information 132 of the company can be controlled by determining in advance up to the second degree of kinship and the third degree of kinship.

[0050] As a supply chain network visualization function, the display control unit 1230 can generate supply chain network diagrams as shown in Fig. 7 and Fig. 9 and provide them to the terminals 200 of participating companies. The display control unit 1230 can generate a first display object of the company, a second display object which is a company connected to the company, and lines connecting the first display object and the second display object based on the business partner management information 132, and generate a supply chain network diagram. In the example of Fig. 9, company O is displayed as the first display object as the company, and companies A, B, and P connected to company O are displayed as second display objects of first degree of kinship.

[0051] Furthermore, the display control unit 1230 can generate a third display object that is a second-degree connected company and a line segment connecting the second display object and the third display object based on the business partner management information 132, arrange the second display object around the first display object, and further arrange the third display object outside the second display object to generate a supply chain network diagram. In the example of Fig. 9, the second-degree connected companies of company O are companies D, E, F, R, and Q, which are displayed by the third display object as companies of the second degree of kinship that belong to company O.

[0052] Here, a disclosure setting function can be provided to set whether or not to disclose the company to companies other than business partners with which the company has a direct invitation relationship (other than companies connected by the first degree of kinship). Fig. 10 shows an example of a company disclosure setting screen and an invited company disclosure setting screen.

[0053] The public setting function of this embodiment includes two functions, a company public setting function and an inviting company public setting function. First, the company public setting function is a function set by the inviting company itself, and sets whether or not to disclose to participating companies on the platform system 100 other than the inviting company. As shown in FIG. 10, the company public setting screen includes each option of public, anonymous public, and private. Anonymous public is a mode in which basic company information is concealed and only the network node (only the existence) as a connection is anonymously disclosed. As shown in FIG. 3, the public setting control unit 1215 provides the company public setting screen to the terminal 200 of the inviting company that has received the invitation information and approved the joining. The public setting control unit 1215 accepts one of the public setting statuses selected through the company public setting screen, public, anonymous public, or private, and stores the accepted public setting status in association with the corresponding business partner company in the business partner management information 132 of the inviting company (S2002, S113).

[0054] The inviting company public setting function is a function set by the inviting company, and is a function for setting the invitation destination not to be disclosed to other participating companies on the platform system 100. Since the inviting company and the invited company are in a direct invitation relationship, for example, the inviting company public setting function can also be called a first-tier trading company (first-tier supplier) public setting function. The inviting company public setting screen is configured to include options of public and private. As shown in FIG. 3, the public setting control unit 1215 provides the inviting company public setting screen to the terminal 200 of the inviting company. The public setting control unit 1215 accepts one of the inviting company public setting statuses, public or private, selected through the inviting company public setting screen, and stores the accepted inviting company public setting status in association with the relevant trading company in the trading partner management information 132 of the inviting company (S208, S114).

[0055] Fig. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a whitelist registration screen. The public settings of the company public setting screen and the invited company public setting screen shown in Fig. 10 are effective for the entire platform system 100, but it is also possible to control that the settings may be made public to specific companies. Therefore, the public setting function of this embodiment can be configured to include a public setting function using a whitelist.

[0056] For example, instead of the company disclosure setting screen of Fig. 10, the list registration unit 1216 can provide the whitelist registration screen of Fig. 11 to the terminal 200 of the invited company. The list registration unit 1216 provides a search function for company information 131 via the whitelist registration screen, and displays searched companies in a whitelist candidate display field. The list registration unit 1216 then controls addition of companies from whitelist candidates to the whitelist and deletion of companies from the whitelist in response to operations on the terminal 200. The list registration unit 1216 stores the whitelist registration information in the customer management information 132 of the inviter, in association with the invited company.

[0057] The same applies to the inviting company public settings, where the list registration unit 1216 provides a whitelist registration screen to the inviting company's terminal 200 to control the whitelist registration, and stores the whitelist registration information in the inviting company's business partner management information 132 in association with the invited company.

[0058] Although the whitelist method (specific company disclosure method) has been described as an example, a disclosure setting function for a specific company non-disclosure method (not disclosed to specific companies) may be provided. In this case, the list registration unit 1216 can provide a non-disclosure company registration screen (not shown) to the terminal 200 of the invited company instead of the company disclosure setting screen of FIG. 10. The list registration unit 1216 provides a search function for the company information 131 through the non-disclosure company registration screen, and displays the searched company in the non-disclosure company candidate display field. Then, the list registration unit 1216 performs each control of adding the non-disclosure company candidate to the non-disclosure company list and deleting it from the non-disclosure company list in response to the operation of the terminal 200. The list registration unit 1216 stores the non-disclosure company list registration information in the customer management information 132 of the inviter in association with the invited company. The same applies to the inviting company disclosure settings, where the list registration unit 1216 provides a private company registration screen to the inviting company's terminal 200 to control the private company list registration, and stores the private company list registration information in the inviting company's business partner management information 132 in association with the invited company.

[0059] The disclosure settings including the whitelist can be reflected in the supplier management information 132. As described above, the supplier management information 132 of the company is controlled to include a supplier (connected company) registered by the invitation function as well as another supplier (secondary connected company) connected to the supplier, but the disclosure settings can be applied to control so that a second-order connected company that has selected non-disclosure is not included in the supplier management information (supplier management group) 132 of the company. For example, when a supplier is registered (added) to the supplier management information 132 of the company by the invitation function, the supplier management unit 1212 refers to the supplier management information 132 of the supplier and extracts another supplier registered by the invitation function. The company disclosure settings of the extracted other supplier can be referenced, and if the company disclosure status is non-disclosure, the supplier can be controlled not to be added (registered) to the supplier management information 132 of the company. The same applies to the invited company disclosure settings. In addition, in the case of the whitelist method, a whitelist of second-level connected companies is referenced, and if the company's company is included in the whitelist, it is reflected in the customer management information 132, and if not, it is controlled so that it is not reflected in the customer management information 132.

[0060] The management mode of the supplier management information 132 related to the above-mentioned disclosure setting function can be summarized as follows.

[0061] <Self-published settings> The disclosure setting control unit 1215 performs a self-disclosure setting process for setting whether or not to allow a company to be registered as a second-degree connected company in the customer management information 132 of other companies. The self-disclosure setting status includes public, anonymous, and private. The client management unit 1212 stores the company's disclosure setting information in association with the invited company registered in the inviting company's client management information 132, and can control so that invited companies whose company disclosure setting information is private are not registered as second-degree connected companies in other companies' client management information 132.

[0062] <Invited company disclosure settings> The public setting control unit 1215 performs an inviting company public setting process to set whether or not the inviting company allows the inviting company to be registered as a second-degree connected company in the supplier management information 132 of other companies. The inviting company public setting status includes public and private. The client management unit 1212 stores inviting company public setting information in association with the invited company registered in the inviting company's client management information 132, and controls so that an invited company whose inviting company public setting information is not registered as a second-degree connected company in other companies' client management information 132. <List-based publishing settings> The list registration unit 1216 can perform a whitelist (public company list) registration process that allows a company to be registered in the customer management information 132 as a second-degree connected company through the terminal 200, or a non-public company list registration process that does not allow a company to be registered in the customer management information 132 as a second-degree connected company. The client management unit 1212 can control whether or not the invited company can register its own company as a second-degree connected company in other companies' client management information 132, only for companies that the invited company has registered on the whitelist, or can control whether or not the invited company can register its own company as a second-degree connected company in other companies' client management information 132, only for companies that the invited company has registered on the private company list.

[0063] The contents of these disclosure settings and list-based disclosure settings are reflected at a predetermined timing by executing an update process of supplier management information 132 (step S115 in FIG. 3).

[0064] As described above, whether or not to make something public using the public setting function is reflected in supplier management information 132, and in the process of generating a supply chain network diagram by display control unit 1230, companies that are set to private in supplier management information 132 are excluded from the supply chain network diagram. The same applies to the process of generating a supply chain network diagram for a list-based public setting.

[0065] Furthermore, the company's own disclosure setting and the inviting company disclosure setting can be combined and reflected in the supplier management information 132 (supply chain network). For example, in the example of Fig. 7, even if inviting company C sets invited company D to "public," if invited company D sets it to private, it can be controlled so that the company is not reflected as a second-degree connected company in the supplier management information 132 of another company (company B). Also, even if invited company D sets it to public, if inviting company C sets invited company D to "private," it can be controlled so that the company is not reflected as a second-degree connected company in the supplier management information 132 of another company (company B).

[0066] 12 is an explanatory diagram of information transmission using the platform system 100. Participating companies in the platform system 100 can build a supply chain network based on the supplier management information 132, and can utilize the connections in the network as an information transmission route.

[0067] As shown in the left diagram of Fig. 12, when company B transmits information through platform system 100, the information can be provided collectively to each company registered as a business partner in company B's business partner management information 132. Also, in the right diagram of Fig. 12, when company D transmits information, if company C, which has company D registered in business partner management information 132, is registered as a business partner of company B, said company B will be able to directly receive the transmitted information from company D through platform system 100.

[0068] This information transmission and information sharing function is performed by the information management unit 1220, which receives information from the terminal 200 of each company participating in the platform to be provided to other companies participating in the platform, controls so that the received information can be viewed on the platform system 100 by each company registered as a connected company based on the business partner management information 132, and provides the received information to the terminal 200.

[0069] An expanded function of the information transmission and information sharing function is a function for providing information on carbon dioxide emission.

[0070] As shown in FIG. 13, the information acquisition unit 1221 acquires carbon dioxide emissions from the business activities of company B from an external system and stores it in the storage device 130. The external system is an external service that provides information on the carbon dioxide emissions of each company. The information acquisition unit 1221 stores the sales information of company B and transaction performance by trading partner company in the storage device 130. The sales information and transaction performance by trading partner company may be configured to be input by company B to the platform system 100, or the sales information and transaction performance by trading partner company may be acquired from the transaction management system in cooperation with the transaction management system used by company B.

[0071] The carbon dioxide emission calculation unit 1222 extracts companies A and X related to the transaction performance by trading partner company, and calculates the ratio of the transaction performance to the sales information of company B for each of companies A and X. The carbon dioxide emission calculation unit 1222 calculates the carbon dioxide emission amount by multiplying the carbon dioxide emission amount of company B by the ratio of each of companies A and X. The information management unit 1220 can control the platform system 100 so that companies A and X can view their respective carbon dioxide emission amounts for company B, and can provide the corresponding carbon dioxide emission amounts to each of the terminals 200 of companies A and X.

[0072] The information transmission and information sharing function can be controlled in conjunction with the above-mentioned disclosure setting function. In other words, if a business partner connected to you through the second degree of kinship or beyond has set their information to private, you can control the transmission and sharing of information from or to that business partner.

[0073] The first embodiment has been described above. The company information 131 on the platform system 100 accumulates not only companies invited by the company but also companies invited by other companies, and further includes companies that have registered as users themselves and participate in the platform system 100, not limited to companies that have an invitation relationship. In other words, the platform system 100 allows other companies that are not invited by the company to participate in the platform system 100 and centrally manage the supply chain in an assigned business partner management group. For this reason, the company can separately invite companies invited by other companies or companies that have participated in the platform system 100, and can add companies other than the company's supply chain-related companies to the business partner management group as new companies connected to the company through the platform system 100. Therefore, it is possible to provide a place for inter-company contact beyond the framework of the company's supply chain management, in other words, a platform that can build inter-company connections across the framework of the company's supply chain management and the framework of the other company's supply chain management.

[0074] In other words, from another perspective, both a company that has joined the platform system 100 by the invitation function and a company that has joined the platform system 100 by itself regardless of the invitation relationship can search for companies stored in the company information 131 to find new trading partners and contact the found trading partners without being limited to the supply chain management framework of the company or other companies. For example, when dispersing or changing manufacturing bases for risk hedging or efficiency, the company can search for new trading partners and make offers in the platform system 100, and can also receive offers from new trading partners as an invitee. Through the platform system 100, it is possible to activate exchanges between companies beyond the framework of the supply chain to which the company belongs. It is also possible to make offers to companies not stored in the company information 131 as described above.

[0075] To explain using the example of FIG. 7, company A has no relationship with supply chain management 2 and 3 managed by other companies. However, in this platform system 100, company A can invite company C in supply chain management 2, or be invited by company C, to join its own supplier management group. Also, if company C in supply chain management 2 is "allowed" to be disclosed as a second-degree connected company, it will automatically belong to company A's supplier management group. In this way, in addition to the multiple different supply chains to which the company belongs, the platform system 100 can provide opportunities to connect with companies in supply chains to which the company does not belong.

[0076] In addition, the above-mentioned company-specific disclosure setting function and invited company disclosure setting can be configured to include disclosure (including anonymous disclosure) / privacy within the framework of the supply chain to which the company belongs, as well as disclosure (including anonymous disclosure) / privacy within supply chain frameworks to which the company does not belong.

[0077] 9, even if the supply chain formed by company A and company E is different from the supply chain between company (our own company) O and company A, company (our own company) O can have a connection with company E as its own supply chain network on the platform system 100 of this embodiment. Through the platform system 100 of this embodiment, it is possible to obtain communication opportunities with companies outside the supply chain management of the company (our own company).

[0078] Furthermore, the function of inviting a company to its own supplier management group in the platform system 100 (including approval of the invitation company to join) is also an invitation function asking the company to join the platform system 100. Here, the platform system 100 can be configured to have an invitation function to the platform system 100 in addition to the function of inviting a company to the supplier management group. For example, the portal management unit 1211 can transmit to the terminal 200 invitation information to a company found from the company information 131, inviting the company to join the platform system 100 instead of the supplier management group. A company that receives the invitation information to join the platform system 100 can perform the above-mentioned user registration through the terminal 200 (registered in the company information 131) and use the various functions provided by the platform system 100.

[0079] Second embodiment 14 to 16 are diagrams for explaining the second embodiment. In addition to the five main functions explained in the first embodiment, this embodiment has a risk management function. FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of a supply chain platform system 100A of this embodiment. A business partner management unit 1212 is configured to include a risk management unit 1217. Note that the other functions are similar to those of the first embodiment, and therefore the same reference numerals are used and explanations are omitted, with differences being mainly explained.

[0080] This embodiment provides two risk management functions: Figure 15 is an explanatory diagram of the first risk management function, and Figure 16 is an explanatory diagram of the second risk management function.

[0081] The first risk management function performs risk assessment based on connections in the supply chain platform.

[0082] As shown in Figure 15, each company in the supply chain management is connected in a buyer-supplier relationship, and can also be understood using a traditional chain or tree-shaped supply chain relationship diagram. In supply chain management from the perspective of company A, the first-tier suppliers are company C, company E, and company G, and the second-tier supplier is company F. On the other hand, company F is the first-tier supplier for companies C, E, and G, respectively, and from the perspective of company F, companies C, E, and G are the buyers.

[0083] As can be seen in the conventional chain or tree-shaped supply chain relationship diagram, Company F is relied upon by many companies as a supplier to companies E and G, as well as Company C. However, if a company trusted as a supplier by so many companies like this experiences trouble (disaster, etc.), there is a risk that supplies will stop. For this reason, in supply chain management, it has traditionally been important to assess the risks of each linked company and consider dispersing bases and securing alternative sources to ensure a stable supply.

[0084] However, as shown in the example in Figure 15, traditional supply chain management posed a challenge in risk assessment because it was not possible to determine whether companies in one's own supply chain were doing business with companies in other different supply chains.

[0085] As described above, the supply chain platform system 100A of this embodiment can network the connections between companies across multiple different supply chains and further visualize them. Therefore, the first risk management function provides a function for performing risk assessment by visualizing the risk level of each company in the supply chain management and quantifying the risk level using the connection information between companies on the supply chain platform system 100A.

[0086] As described above, the supplier management information 132 can hold relationship information between the company and its suppliers, and in addition to the invitation relationship with the company (inviter, invitee), supply chain relationship information for the company (buyer, first-tier supplier, second-tier supplier, etc.) can be assigned to each company that has joined the supplier management group and included in the supplier management information 132.

[0087] Each company inputs supply chain related information such as buyers, first-tier suppliers, and second-tier suppliers for the relevant companies registered in its supplier management information 132 by supply chain management based on one or more supply chain managements to which the company belongs, from the terminal 200. The supplier management unit 1212 controls the registration of supply chain related information by each participating company via the terminal 200.

[0088] Taking company F as an example, in a supply chain management centered on company A, company F can register companies B and D as first-tier suppliers, and companies C, E, and G as buyers. Furthermore, if company F belongs to multiple different supply chains, it can input supply chain relationship information for each supply chain management. For example, it can register supply chain relationship information for company Y as a buyer within another supply chain management. Other companies similarly input supply chain relationship information for their own company from terminal 200 for one or multiple different supply chain managements, and register it in customer management information 132.

[0089] In this way, by adding supply chain relationship information to the supplier management information 132 of each company, it is possible to grasp how many companies the company is trading with as a supplier and how many companies the company is trading with as a buyer across multiple different supply chains. In the example of Fig. 15, it can be seen that company F is trading with six buyer companies and two supplier companies across multiple different supply chains. In a conventional chain-like or tree-like supply chain relationship diagram, it is only possible to grasp that company F is a first-tier supplier to three companies, but in the supply chain platform system 100A of this embodiment, it can be seen that the company is trading with six buyer companies across different supply chains.

[0090] In other words, it can be seen that the supply risk that can be grasped using a conventional chain- or tree-shaped supply chain relationship diagram becomes even higher when it spans different supply chain management, making it possible to evaluate supply risks that cannot be grasped using only one company's supply chain management. Note that Fig. 15 illustrates an example of a situation in which company F is a primary supplier to three companies, C, E, and G, in company A's supply chain management, but if company F is a primary supplier to one company, C, for example, the supply risk will be low in a conventional chain- or tree-shaped supply chain relationship diagram, but it can be seen that the supply risk is high when it spans different supply chain management.

[0091] Then, the display control unit 1230 of this embodiment generates a supply chain network diagram based on the supplier management information and the supply chain relationship information. For example, when generating a supply chain network diagram from the viewpoint of company A, the display control unit 1230 generates display objects representing the company itself and each company (e.g., connected companies and second-degree connected companies) registered in the supplier management information 132, and generates lines connecting the display objects according to each supply chain relationship information across multiple supply chains. The display control unit 1230 generates a supply chain network diagram including these display objects and lines.

[0092] Note that the lines connecting the display objects can also be configured as lines that represent the supply chain relationship information by the direction of the arrow for each supply chain. The display control unit 1230 can extract each piece of supply chain relationship information for each supply chain by referring to the supplier management information 132 of each company registered in the supplier management information 132 of company A, and control the lines connecting the display objects to be arrows with a direction corresponding to the supply chain relationship information of each supply chain.

[0093] For example, the supply chain relationship information includes at least buyers and suppliers, and the line segments have arrows pointing from the buyer companies to the supplier companies. For each display object in the supply chain, the display control unit 1230 generates, for each display object, a line segment with an arrow pointing from the display object to another display object as the positioning of the buyer company, and a line segment with an arrow pointing from the other display object to the display object as the positioning of the supplier company, and can generate a supply chain network diagram in which the display objects are connected by the line segments.

[0094] As shown in Fig. 15, in the supply chain network diagram from the viewpoint of company A, company F belongs to other supply chains (α, β, γ) that are different from the supply chain management of company A, and supply chain relationship information for each of these other supply chains is registered in the customer management information 132. The number of customers can be ascertained from the number of lines connecting with company F, and the number of buyer companies and supplier companies with which the company does business can be visually ascertained from the direction of the arrows. Therefore, company A can grasp the visualized risk level of each company through the supply chain network diagram, and can perform a risk assessment for each company under its supply chain management.

[0095] In addition, the supply chain network diagram of this embodiment allows risk assessment and consideration of alternative supplier proposals at the same time. As shown in FIG. 15, the supply chain network diagram spanning multiple supply chains allows understanding that company B, which is a first-tier supplier of company F, is also a first-tier supplier of company X in a different supply chain. Thus, it is possible to find alternative suppliers of company A-company C-company X-company B, and select company X as an alternative supplier of company F for company B. As shown in the example of FIG. 15, the lines connecting companies that do not belong to the supply chain management of company A, in other words, companies that are registered in the business partner management information 132 of company A but for which supply chain relationship information is not registered, can be configured to be displayed in a manner different from the lines connecting companies for which supply chain relationship information is registered.

[0096] In the supply chain network diagram of the first embodiment described above, "connections" across different supply chains are connected with lines based on supplier management information 132, but in the supply chain network diagram of this embodiment, the "connections" across different supply chains are visualized from the perspective of supply chain relationship information for the supply chains to which each company belongs.

[0097] Next, another aspect of the first risk management function will be described. In this embodiment, the supplier management information 132 of each company included in the supply chain network (supplier management information 132) is referenced, and the number of registered buyers (T-in) and the number of registered suppliers for each company (T-out) are counted, and these are used as risk indices to perform risk assessment.

[0098] That is, the risk management unit 1217 can refer to each supplier management information 132 of connected companies (including second-degree connected companies) registered in the supplier management information 132, count the number of companies registered as supplier companies across multiple different supply chains (in multiple different supply chains) for each company registered in the supplier management information 132, and perform risk assessment processing. As shown in Fig. 15, as a risk index for company A, the supplier management information 132 of each of companies C, E, G, F, B, and D in the supply chain management can be referred to, and T-in and T-out can be counted and quantified respectively.

[0099] When the number of T-ins is large, the company is relied upon by many buyer companies, as mentioned above. Here, it is the T-ins that are important as a risk indicator. A large number of T-ins indicates that they are concentrated in one company. Therefore, a company with a large number of T-ins can be evaluated as having a high supply risk in the event of trouble (e.g., disaster, etc.). For this reason, the risk management unit 1217 only needs to be configured to at least count the number of T-ins, and may be configured not to count the number of T-outs.

[0100] The risk management unit 1217 can perform risk assessment processing, for example, by using a preset threshold value to determine whether the number of T-ins exceeds the threshold value, and extract companies (risk avoidance candidate companies) whose number of T-ins exceeds the threshold value. The result of the risk assessment can be provided to the terminal 200 through the display control unit 1230.

[0101] For example, in a supply chain network diagram including display objects connected by lines generated based on supply chain relation information, the display control unit 1230 can add a specific effect to a display object of a company whose number of T-ins exceeds a threshold, or display a notification message such as "at risk" on the corresponding display object of the supply chain network diagram. The number of T-ins may also be configured to be displayed directly on the display object of the company. A list of companies in the company's supply chain management can also be generated separately, and the results of risk assessment can be displayed in the list.

[0102] Next, the second risk management function will be described.

[0103] Companies participating in the supply chain may purchase insurance such as business interruption insurance and liability insurance. This is part of the risk hedging for the company or other companies because they belong to the supply chain, and if a business partner has insurance, it provides peace of mind in case something happens. In addition, the fact that the company has insurance can be provided as a source of peace of mind to business partners.

[0104] Therefore, the second risk management function displays whether insurance has been purchased on the supply chain network diagram and provides the insurance purchase status to enable risk management. In the registration process of the company information 131, the portal management unit 1211 controls to accept input of the insurance purchase status (insured / not insured, type of insurance, etc.) from the terminal 200, and enables the insurance purchase information to be registered in the company information 131 of the company.

[0105] Then, the display control unit 1230 obtains the insurance coverage status of each company in the supply chain network diagram by referring to the company information 131 of each company registered in the business partner management information 132, and displays the insurance coverage status, such as "insured" or "not insured", in the display object of each company in the supply chain network diagram, as shown in FIG. 16.

[0106] In addition, in the second risk management function, the display control of insurance coverage status is not limited to the example of Figure 16, and for example, the company display object can be displayed with a specific effect according to whether the company is "insured" or "not insured."

[0107] As shown in Fig. 16, according to the second risk management function of this embodiment, the insurance status of companies outside the supply chain management is visualized on the supply chain network diagram in addition to the insurance status of companies within the supply chain management. For this reason, for example, company A can consider changing its business partner to company Y outside the supply chain management that has insurance, since company D within the supply chain management of the company is uninsured. The same is true from the perspective of company F, and company F can consider changing its first-tier supplier to company Y, since its first-tier supplier, company D, is uninsured.

[0108] From another perspective, the second risk management function of this embodiment allows supply chain participants such as company A and company F to contact company D through the supply chain platform system 100A to notify the company D that it has not yet purchased insurance and to recommend that the company D purchase insurance. This gives company D an opportunity to purchase insurance.

[0109] Although the second embodiment has been described above, the first risk management function may be configured to perform risk evaluation by taking into account the insurance status of the second risk management function. For example, in risk evaluation using T-in, the risk management unit 1217 can extract a company whose insurance status is "uninsured" as a risk avoidance candidate company even if T-in does not exceed a threshold.

[0110] Furthermore, the second risk management function may be applied to the above-described first embodiment, and may be configured to display the insurance subscription status on the supply chain network diagram regardless of the supply chain related information.

[0111] Each of the functions constituting the above-mentioned supply chain platform systems 100, 100A can be realized by a program, and computer programs prepared in advance to realize each function are stored in an auxiliary storage device, and a control unit such as a CPU reads the program stored in the auxiliary storage device into a main storage device, and the control unit executes the program read into the main storage device, thereby operating the functions of each unit.

[0112] The above program can also be provided to a computer in a state in which it is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. Examples of computer-readable recording media include optical disks such as CD-ROMs, phase-change optical disks such as DVD-ROMs, magneto-optical disks such as MO (Magnet Optical) and MD (Mini Disk), magnetic disks such as floppy (registered trademark) disks and removable hard disks, and memory cards such as Compact Flash (registered trademark), Smart Media, SD memory cards, and memory sticks. Also included as recording media are hardware devices such as integrated circuits (IC chips, etc.) specially designed and configured for the purpose of the present invention.

[0113] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described, the embodiment is presented as an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. This new embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0114] 100,100A Supply Chain Platform System 110 Communication equipment 120 Control device 1210 Control section 1211 Portal Management Department 1212 Customer Management Department 1213 Invitation Department 1214 Approval control section 1215 Public setting control section 1216 List Registration Department 1217 Risk Management Department 1220 Information Management Department 1221 Information Acquisition Department 1222 Carbon dioxide emission calculation section 1230 Display control unit 130 Storage device 200 terminals

Claims

1. A supply chain platform system capable of communicating with each terminal of a company participating in a supply chain, a portal management unit that stores the company information of each participating company input from the terminal in a predetermined storage area; a customer management unit that generates a customer management group for the company by allocating a customer management area to each participating company and generates customer management information for each participating company for managing companies belonging to the customer management group; an invitation unit that generates invitation information including a request for the inviting company to join the supplier management group, with the participating company having the company information stored therein as an invited company, and transmits the invitation information to the terminal of the invited company; an approval control unit that receives a joining approval for the invitation information transmitted from the terminal of the invited company; the supplier management unit, based on the joining approval from the invited company, associates the invited company as a connected company with the supplier management information of the inviting company and allows it to participate in the supplier management group of its own company, and, based on the joining approval from the inviting company for the received invitation information, associates the invited company as the connected company with the supplier management information of the invited company and allows it to participate in the supplier management group of its own company; the supplier management unit refers to supplier management information of linked companies associated with the supplier management information of the company, and associates the linked companies associated with the supplier management information of the linked companies as secondary linked companies with the supplier management information of the company and causes them to participate in a supplier management group; The business partner management unit generates supply chain network information based on the business partner management information, the supply chain network information including first information indicating a relationship between linked companies having an invitation relationship based on the invitation information with the company as the center, and second information indicating a relationship between secondary linked companies having an invitation relationship based on the invitation information established by linked companies independent of the company; a public setting control unit that transmits to the terminal a company public setting screen for setting whether or not the company is allowed to be associated with the customer management information of other companies as the second-level connected company, and performs a company public setting process for acquiring company public setting information via the company public setting screen; The self-publication setting screen includes options of public, anonymous, and private, The business partner management unit stores the company disclosure setting information in association with a corresponding invited company associated with the business partner management information of the invited company; A supply chain platform system characterized in that the trading partner management unit controls the corresponding invited company so that it is not associated with other companies' trading partner management information as a secondary connected company when private is selected in the company's public setting information.

2. A supply chain platform system capable of communicating with each terminal of a company participating in a supply chain, a portal management unit that stores the company information of each participating company input from the terminal in a predetermined storage area; a customer management unit that generates a customer management group for the company by allocating a customer management area to each participating company and generates customer management information for each participating company for managing companies belonging to the customer management group; an invitation unit that generates invitation information including a request for the inviting company to join the supplier management group, with the participating company having the company information stored therein as an invited company, and transmits the invitation information to the terminal of the invited company; an approval control unit that receives a joining approval for the invitation information transmitted from the terminal of the invited company; the supplier management unit, based on the joining approval from the invited company, associates the invited company as a connected company with the supplier management information of the inviting company and allows it to participate in the supplier management group of its own company, and, based on the joining approval from the inviting company for the received invitation information, associates the invited company as the connected company with the supplier management information of the invited company and allows it to participate in the supplier management group of its own company; the supplier management unit refers to supplier management information of linked companies associated with the supplier management information of the company, and associates the linked companies associated with the supplier management information of the linked companies as secondary linked companies with the supplier management information of the company and causes them to participate in a supplier management group; The business partner management unit generates supply chain network information based on the business partner management information, the supply chain network information including first information indicating a relationship between linked companies having an invitation relationship based on the invitation information with the company as the center, and second information indicating a relationship between secondary linked companies having an invitation relationship based on the invitation information established by linked companies independent of the company; a public setting control unit that transmits to the terminal an inviting company public setting screen for setting whether or not the inviting company allows the invited company to be associated with the business partner management information of other companies as the second-degree connected company, and performs an inviting company public setting process to acquire inviting company public setting information via the inviting company public setting screen; The invited company public setting screen includes options of public and private, The business partner management unit stores the inviting company public setting information in association with a corresponding invited company associated with the business partner management information of the inviting company; A supply chain platform system characterized in that the trading partner management unit controls the invited company so that it is not associated with other companies' trading partner management information as a secondary connected company when private is selected in the invited company public setting information.

3. The method further includes a public setting control unit that transmits a company public setting screen to the terminal and sets whether or not the company is allowed to be associated with the business partner management information of other companies as the secondary connected company, and performs a company public setting process to acquire company public setting information via the company public setting screen; The self-publication setting screen includes options of public, anonymous, and private, The business partner management unit stores the company disclosure setting information in association with a corresponding invited company associated with the business partner management information of the invited company; The supply chain platform system described in claim 2, characterized in that the trading partner management unit controls the corresponding invited company so that it is not associated with other companies' trading partner management information as a secondary connected company when private is selected in the company's public setting information.

4. a public setting control unit that transmits to the terminal an inviting company public setting screen for setting whether or not the inviting company allows the invited company to be associated with the business partner management information of other companies as the second-degree connected company, and performs an inviting company public setting process to acquire inviting company public setting information via the inviting company public setting screen; The invited company public setting screen includes options of public and private, The business partner management unit stores the inviting company public setting information in association with a corresponding invited company associated with the business partner management information of the inviting company; The supply chain platform system described in claim 1, characterized in that the trading partner management unit controls the invited company so that, when private is selected in the invited company public setting information, the invited company is not associated with other companies' trading partner management information as the secondary connected company.

5. The method further comprises a first process for receiving from the terminal whitelist information that allows the company to be associated with the customer management information as the secondary connected company, or a list registration unit for receiving from the terminal non-public company list information that does not allow the company to be associated with the customer management information as the secondary connected company, The supply chain platform system described in claim 1, characterized in that the business partner management unit controls so that the invited company is associated with other companies' business partner management information as the second-degree connected company only for companies included in the whitelist information, or so that the invited company is not associated with other companies' business partner management information as the second-degree connected company only for companies included in the private company list information.

6. The supply chain platform system of claim 1 or 2, further comprising a display control unit that generates a first display object representing the company, a second display object representing the company's related companies, and lines connecting the first display object and the second display object based on the trading partner management information, and generates a supply chain network diagram in which the first display object, the second display object, and the lines are arranged.

7. 3. The supply chain platform system according to claim 1, further comprising: a display control unit that generates, based on the trading partner management information, a first display object indicating the company, a second display object indicating the connected companies of the company, and a first line segment connecting the first display object and the second display object, and also generates a third display object that is the second-degree connected company and a second line segment connecting the second display object and the third display object, and generates a supply chain network diagram in which the second display object is arranged around the first display object and the third display object is arranged outside the second display object, and in which the first display object and the second display object are connected by the first line segment and the second display object and the third display object are connected by the second line segment.

8. The supply chain platform system according to claim 6, characterized in that the display control unit generates a map-display type supply chain network diagram in which each of the display objects is arranged on a map based on address information contained in the company information.

9. The supply chain platform system according to claim 7, characterized in that the display control unit generates a map-display type supply chain network diagram in which each of the display objects is arranged on a map based on address information contained in the company information.

10. the supplier management unit has a function of transmitting a supplier management screen to the terminal and searching for the company information based on search conditions inputted on the supplier management screen; The supplier management unit adds the company searched for through the search function to the supplier management information as a supplier to be added, The supply chain platform system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the invitation unit generates the invitation information based on an invitation operation for the supplier to be added on the supplier management screen from the terminal, and transmits the invitation information to the terminal.

11. When no company matching the search criteria is found, the supplier management unit transmits a company provisional registration screen to the terminal, and temporarily associates the company not found with the supplier management information based on company information input through the company provisional registration screen; The inviting unit generates the invitation information based on an invitation operation for the company input from the terminal through the company provisional registration screen, and transmits the invitation information to the terminal of the company input through the company provisional registration screen; The supply chain platform system described in claim 10, characterized in that the portal management unit stores in a specified memory area the company information entered from the terminal of the invited company through the company provisional registration screen when the joining approval operation for the invitation information is performed.

12. The supply chain platform system of claim 1 or 2, further comprising an information management unit that receives information to be provided from the terminal to other companies and transmits the received information to the terminal of the company associated with the trading partner management information.

13. an information acquisition unit that acquires the carbon dioxide emissions of each participating company from an external system that provides information on the carbon dioxide emissions generated by corporate activities by company; A storage unit that stores sales information of participating companies and transaction results of each trading partner company that constitutes the sales information; a carbon dioxide emission calculation unit that extracts the linked companies related to the transaction results based on the customer management information, calculates a ratio of the transaction results to the sales information for each of the extracted linked companies, and calculates the carbon dioxide emission amount for each linked company by multiplying the carbon dioxide emission amount by the ratio of each of the linked companies; The supply chain platform system of claim 1 or 2, further comprising an information management unit that provides the carbon dioxide emissions of each company registered as a linked company with which the company has a trading history to the terminal of the linked company.

14. A computer that can communicate with each terminal of companies participating in the supply chain a first function of registering the company information of each participating company input from the terminal in a predetermined storage area; A second function of generating a customer management group for the company by allocating a customer management area to each participating company, and generating customer management information for managing companies belonging to the customer management group for each participating company; a third function of generating invitation information including a request for the participating company, whose company information is stored, to join the supplier management group of the inviting company as an invited company, and transmitting the invitation information to the terminal of the invited company; A fourth function of receiving a joining acceptance for the invitation information transmitted from the terminal of the invited company; the second function, based on the joining approval from the invited company, associates the invited company as a connected company with the supplier management information of the inviting company and allows it to participate in the supplier management group of the inviting company, and, based on the joining approval from the inviting company for the received invitation information, associates the invited company as the connected company with the supplier management information of the invited company and allows it to participate in the supplier management group of the inviting company; The second function refers to supplier management information of linked companies associated with the supplier management information of the company, and associates the linked companies associated with the supplier management information of the linked companies as secondary linked companies with the supplier management information of the company and causes them to participate in a supplier management group; The second function generates supply chain network information based on the business partner management information, the supply chain network information including first information indicating a relationship between linked companies having an invitation relationship based on the invitation information with the company as the center, and second information indicating a relationship between second-order linked companies having an invitation relationship based on the invitation information established by linked companies independent of the company; a fifth function of transmitting a company disclosure setting screen to the terminal, the company disclosure setting screen being used to set whether or not the company is permitted to be associated with the customer management information of the other company as the second-level connected company, and performing a company disclosure setting process to acquire company disclosure setting information via the company disclosure setting screen; The fifth function transmits the company public setting screen including options of public, anonymous public, and private to the terminal; The second function stores the company disclosure setting information in association with a corresponding invited company associated with the business partner management information of the invited company; The second function is a program characterized by controlling so that, when private is selected in the company's public setting information, the invited company is not associated with other companies' business partner management information as the secondary connected company.

15. A computer that can communicate with each terminal of companies participating in the supply chain a first function of registering the company information of each participating company input from the terminal in a predetermined storage area; A second function of generating a customer management group for the company by allocating a customer management area to each participating company, and generating customer management information for managing companies belonging to the customer management group for each participating company; a third function of generating invitation information including a request for the participating company, whose company information is stored, to join the supplier management group of the inviting company as an invited company, and transmitting the invitation information to the terminal of the invited company; A fourth function of receiving a joining acceptance for the invitation information transmitted from the terminal of the invited company; the second function, based on the joining approval from the invited company, associates the invited company as a connected company with the supplier management information of the inviting company and allows it to participate in the supplier management group of the inviting company, and, based on the joining approval from the inviting company for the received invitation information, associates the invited company as the connected company with the supplier management information of the invited company and allows it to participate in the supplier management group of the inviting company; The second function refers to supplier management information of linked companies associated with the supplier management information of the company, and associates the linked companies associated with the supplier management information of the linked companies as secondary linked companies with the supplier management information of the company and causes them to participate in a supplier management group; The second function generates supply chain network information based on the business partner management information, the supply chain network information including first information indicating a relationship between linked companies having an invitation relationship based on the invitation information with the company as the center, and second information indicating a relationship between second-order linked companies having an invitation relationship based on the invitation information established by linked companies independent of the company; a fifth function of transmitting an inviting company public setting screen to the terminal, the inviting company setting screen being used to set whether or not the inviting company is allowed to be associated with the business partner management information of other companies as the second-degree connected company, and performing an inviting company public setting process to acquire inviting company public setting information via the inviting company public setting screen; The fifth function transmits an invited company public setting screen including options of public and private to the terminal; The second function stores the inviting company public setting information in association with a corresponding invited company associated with the business partner management information of the inviting company; The second function is a program characterized by controlling the corresponding invited company not to be associated with other companies' business partner management information as the secondary connected company when private is selected in the invited company public setting information.

16. the supplier management unit receives from the terminal supply chain relationship information for a company associated with the supplier management information, the supply chain relationship information being input for each of one or more supply chains to which the company belongs, and stores the supply chain relationship information in a predetermined storage area; a display control unit that generates a supply chain network diagram based on the supplier management information and the supply chain relationship information, The supply chain platform system of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the display control unit generates display objects representing the company itself and each company associated with the business partner management information, generates lines connecting the display objects according to each supply chain relationship information across multiple supply chains, and generates the supply chain network diagram in which the display objects and the lines are arranged.

17. The supply chain platform system of claim 16, characterized in that the display control unit generates display objects representing the company itself and each company associated with the business partner management information, and generates, for each supply chain, lines connecting the display objects representing the supply chain relationship information in the direction of an arrow, and generates the supply chain network diagram in which the display objects and the lines are arranged.

18. The supply chain relationship information includes buyers and suppliers; The line segment has an arrow pointing from the buyer company to the supplier company, The supply chain platform system according to claim 17, characterized in that the display control unit generates, for each display object in the supply chain, line segments of arrows pointing from the display object to another display object as a positioning of a buyer company, and line segments of arrows pointing from the other display objects to the display object as a positioning of a supplier company, and generates the supply chain network diagram in which the display objects are connected by the line segments.

19. The company information includes insurance coverage status; The supply chain platform system according to claim 16, characterized in that the display control unit displays the insurance subscription status in the corresponding display object in the supply chain network diagram.

20. The company information includes insurance coverage status; The supply chain platform system according to claim 17, characterized in that the display control unit displays the insurance subscription status in the corresponding display object in the supply chain network diagram.

21. The company information includes insurance coverage status; The supply chain platform system according to claim 18, characterized in that the display control unit displays the insurance subscription status on the corresponding display object in the supply chain network diagram.

22. the supplier management unit receives from the terminal supply chain relationship information for a company associated with the supplier management information, the supply chain relationship information being input for each of one or more supply chains to which the company belongs, and stores the supply chain relationship information in a predetermined storage area; a risk management unit that performs a risk assessment process based on the supply chain relationship information by referring to the supplier management information of each company associated with the supplier management information, The supply chain relationship information includes buyers and suppliers; The supply chain platform system described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the risk management department counts the number of companies registered as supplier companies across multiple supply chains for each company registered in the business partner management information, and performs the risk assessment process based on the number of companies registered as supplier companies.

23. The company information includes insurance coverage status; The supply chain platform system according to claim 22, characterized in that the risk management unit performs the risk assessment process based on the number of registered supplier companies and the insurance coverage status.

24. The company information includes insurance coverage status; a display control unit that generates display objects representing the company and each company associated with the supplier management information, generates lines connecting the display objects, and generates a supply chain network diagram in which the display objects and the lines are arranged, The supply chain platform system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the display control unit controls so that the insurance subscription status of the display object is visualized in the supply chain network diagram.

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