PROGRAM, COMPUTER AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD

Abstract

To provide a new program, a computer, and an information processing method related to securement of search function.SOLUTION: A program causes a computer (management server 10) to function as receiving means 22, grouping means 28, metadata assignment means 30, and search means 32. The grouping means 28 generates groups by associating multiple pieces of voucher data received by the receiving means 22. The metadata assignment means 30 assigns metadata to the groups generated by the grouping means 28. The search means 32 outputs, when the receiving means 22 receives a search word, information on a group with metadata related to the received search word.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a program, a computer, and an information processing method. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, various processing systems for processing data of evidence such as invoices have been known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a data processing device, a data processing method, and a program that can improve the efficiency of processing invoices. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 7051168 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The Electronic Bookkeeping Law stipulates that if a person who is obligated to preserve national tax documents (excluding those specified by the Ministry of Finance Ordinance) records the matters stated in the national tax documents in electromagnetic records for all or part of the national tax documents, the preservation of the electromagnetic records may substitute for the preservation of the national tax documents under certain conditions. In addition, the Electronic Bookkeeping Law stipulates that if a person who is obligated to preserve income tax (excluding income tax related to withholding at source) and corporation tax conducts electronic transactions, he or she must preserve electromagnetic records related to the transaction information of the electronic transaction under certain conditions. Such an Electronic Bookkeeping Law requires a search function that allows search criteria such as the transaction date, other dates, transaction amount, and transaction partner.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new program, computer, and information processing method for ensuring search functionality. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The program of the present invention comprises: A program for causing a computer to function as a receiving unit, a grouping unit, a metadata assignment unit, and a search unit, The receiving means receives evidence data, the grouping means creates a group by associating the plurality of pieces of evidence data received by the receiving means; The metadata assignment means assigns metadata to the group created by the grouping means, The search means is characterized in that, when the reception means receives a search word, it outputs information about a group to which metadata related to the received search word has been added.

[0007] In the program of the present invention, the voucher data received by the reception means includes an image of the voucher and information regarding a transaction of the voucher; The grouping means may create a group by associating a plurality of types of evidence data having the same information about a transaction.

[0008] The program of the present invention comprises: causing said computer to further function as an optical character recognition means; the evidence data received by the reception means includes information regarding an image of the evidence, The optical character recognition means extracts information related to the transaction from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the acceptance means by optical character recognition; The grouping means may create a group by associating a plurality of types of evidence data having the same extracted information about a transaction.

[0009] In the program of the present invention, The voucher data received by the receiving means includes an image of the voucher, a transaction of the voucher, and information on a project consisting of one or more transactions; The grouping means may create groups by associating multiple types of supporting data for each transaction having the same information related to a project.

[0010] In the program of the present invention, The grouping means may create a group by associating the plurality of pieces of evidence data received by the reception means based on grouping instruction information received by the reception means.

[0011] In this case, the program of the present invention further causes the computer to function as an association candidate extraction unit and an input instruction unit, The association candidate extraction means extracts candidates for other types of evidence data that have been already accepted by the acceptance means and are associated with the evidence data newly accepted by the acceptance means; the input instruction means transmits a display instruction signal to the terminal to cause the terminal to display a selection screen for allowing the user to select other types of evidential data to be associated with the newly accepted evidence data by the acceptance means from candidates of other types of evidential data extracted by the association candidate extraction means; The grouping instruction information may include one or more pieces of evidence data selected by the terminal from candidates of other types of evidence data.

[0012] In addition, the input instruction means may send a second display instruction signal to the terminal or the other terminal to display an input screen for each item of the supporting data accepted by the acceptance means on the terminal or a terminal other than the terminal, and at this time, information for each item of other types of supporting data associated by the grouping means may also be sent to the terminal or the other terminal.

[0013] The program of the present invention further causes the computer to function as a storage means, The storage means stores the evidence data received by the reception means in a storage unit, The association candidate extraction means extracts candidates for other types of evidence data that have an association with the evidence data newly accepted by the acceptance means and that have already been accepted by the acceptance means from the evidence data stored in the storage unit; When the grouping means associates newly accepted supporting data by the reception means with other types of supporting data already accepted by the reception means, the storage means may store information of the group created by the grouping means in the memory unit.

[0014] In addition, the association candidate extraction means may extract candidates for other supporting data that are related to the supporting data newly accepted by the reception means, which have at least one of the same transaction amount, business partner, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the supporting data newly accepted by the reception means.

[0015] The evidence data received by the reception means includes at least an image of the evidence, the input instruction means transmits a second display instruction signal to the terminal or the other terminal so as to cause the terminal or the other terminal to display an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the acceptance means and an input field for each item of the evidence in the evidence data; The association candidate extraction means may extract, as candidates for other supporting data that are related to the supporting data newly accepted by the reception means, data that has at least one of the same transaction amount, business partner, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the supporting data entered by the terminal or the other terminal and accepted by the reception means.

[0016] The program of the present invention further causes the computer to function as optical character recognition means, the evidence data received by the reception means includes at least an image of the evidence, The optical character recognition means acquires at least one of information on the transaction amount, the customer, the item, the management number, the person in charge of registration, and the department to which the person in charge of registration belongs, from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the acceptance means through optical character recognition; The association candidate extraction means may extract, as candidates for other supporting data that are related to the supporting data newly accepted by the reception means, data that has at least one of the same transaction amount, business partner, item, management number, registered person, and department to which the registered person belongs in the supporting data acquired by the optical character recognition means.

[0017] In the program of the present invention, The metadata assigned to the group by the metadata assigning means may relate to at least one of identification information of the business partner, a date, and an amount.

[0018] In the program of the present invention, The metadata assigned to the group by the metadata assigning means may be determined based on the metadata assignment information received by the receiving means.

[0019] The program of the present invention comprises: causing said computer to further function as an optical character recognition means; the evidence data received by the reception means includes information regarding an image of the evidence, The optical character recognition means extracts metadata in the evidence data by optical character recognition from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the acceptance means, The metadata assigning means may assign the metadata extracted by the optical character recognition means to the created group.

[0020] In the program of the present invention, The types of evidence data accepted by the accepting means may include a plurality of types selected from the group consisting of estimates, purchase orders, delivery notes, inspection slips, invoices, and receipts.

[0021] The computer of the present invention comprises: A computer that functions as a receiving means, a grouping means, a metadata assignment means, and a search means by executing a program, The receiving means receives evidence data, the grouping means creates a group by associating the plurality of pieces of evidence data received by the receiving means; The metadata assignment means assigns metadata to the group created by the grouping means, The search means is characterized in that, when the reception means receives a search word, it outputs information about a group to which metadata related to the received search word has been added.

[0022] The information processing method of the present invention comprises the steps of: An information processing method performed by a computer having a control unit, The control unit receives evidence data; a step of creating a group by associating the received plurality of pieces of evidence data by the control unit; a step of the control unit assigning metadata to the created group; a step of outputting information on a group to which metadata related to the received search word is added when the control unit receives the search word; The present invention is characterized by comprising: Effect of the Invention

[0023] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a new program, computer, and information processing method for ensuring a search function. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0024] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2]1. FIG. 4 is an activity diagram showing an example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system shown in FIG. [Diagram 3] 1. FIG. 4 is an activity diagram showing another example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system shown in FIG. [Figure 4] 1. FIG. 4 is an activity diagram showing yet another example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system shown in FIG. [Diagram 5] 1. FIG. 4 is an activity diagram showing yet another example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system shown in FIG. [Figure 6] 1. FIG. 4 is an activity diagram showing yet another example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system shown in FIG. [Figure 7] 2 is an activity diagram showing the flow of information processing when searching for evidence data registered in the information processing system shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 8] 2 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on a monitor of a client terminal when information processing is performed in the information processing system shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 9] 2 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on a monitor of a client terminal when information processing is performed in the information processing system shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 10] 2 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on a monitor of a client terminal when information processing is performed in the information processing system shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 11] 2 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on a monitor of a client terminal when information processing is performed in the information processing system shown in FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0025] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 11 are diagrams showing an information processing system 1 according to the present embodiment and an information processing method by the information processing system 1. According to the information processing system 1 and the information processing method according to the embodiment, when the client terminal 60 checks the evidence data such as an invoice stored in the management server 10, the management server 10 can group a plurality of evidence data, thereby improving the convenience for the person who handles the evidence data. In addition, the management server 10 can improve the search function by adding metadata to the group created in the management server 10 and outputting information about the group to which the metadata related to the received search word is added when the management server 10 receives a search word. Here, in the present embodiment, the types of evidence include an invoice, a receipt, a purchase order, a delivery note, a contract, and the like, but other types of documents than these may be used as evidence.

[0026] The information processing system 1 according to the present embodiment includes a management server 10, an operator terminal 40, and a client terminal 60. The information processing system 1 according to the present embodiment relates to an agency service in which a management company that manages the management server 10 manages vouchers issued or received by a client company where the client terminal 60 is installed. For example, when a client company issues a voucher such as a purchase order, the issued voucher is managed by the management company, not the client company, through the management server 10. Also, when a business partner company issues a voucher such as an invoice for services provided to the client company, the voucher is sent from the business partner company to the client company and the client company processes the voucher (specifically, inputs the voucher data and creates a list of the vouchers, etc.) in the past. However, in this embodiment, the management company that manages the management server 10 processes the voucher on behalf of the business partner company. The management server 10 is a server that can be used through a network such as the Internet. The operator terminal 40 and the client terminal 60 are connected to the management server 10 via a network such as the Internet so that they can communicate with each other. Each component of such information processing system 1 will be described below.

[0027] The operator terminal 40 includes a personal computer or the like installed in the office of a management company that manages the management server 10, and an operator who is an employee of the management company operates the operator terminal 40 to send and receive information to and from the management server 10. Specifically, the operator operates the operator terminal 40 to input information for each item of the voucher (for example, information such as the billing date, details, amount, and payment due date of the invoice).

[0028] The client terminal 60 includes a personal computer or the like installed in the client company, and is operated by an employee of the client company (for example, an accountant).

[0029] The management server 10 includes a control unit 20, a storage unit 36, and a communication unit 38. The control unit 20 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, and functions as a reception unit 22, an association candidate extraction unit 24, an input instruction unit 26, a grouping unit 28, a metadata assignment unit 30, a search unit 32, an optical character recognition unit 33, a storage unit 34, and the like, by executing a program stored in the storage unit 36. The reception unit 22 receives various information from an external device (for example, an operator terminal 40, a client terminal 60). In this embodiment, the reception unit 22 receives evidence data from the client terminal 60. The association candidate extraction unit 24 extracts candidates for other types of evidence data already received by the reception unit 22 that are related to the evidence data newly received by the reception unit 22. The input instruction means 26 sends a display instruction signal to the operator terminal 40 to cause the operator terminal 40 to display a selection screen that allows the operator to select other types of supporting data to be associated with the newly accepted voucher data by the acceptance means 22 from candidates of other types of supporting data extracted by the association candidate extraction means 24.

[0030] The grouping means 28 creates a group by associating a plurality of evidence data accepted by the receiving means 22. The metadata assignment means 30 assigns metadata to the group created by the grouping means 28. When the receiving means 22 accepts a search word from the client terminal 60, the search means 32 outputs information about a group to which metadata related to the accepted search word is assigned. The optical character recognition means 33 extracts information about a transaction from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the receiving means 22 by optical character recognition. The storage means 34 stores various information in the storage unit 36. Details of the functions of the receiving means 22, the association candidate extraction means 24, the input instruction means 26, the grouping means 28, the metadata assignment means 30, the search means 32, the optical character recognition means 33, and the storage means 34 will be described later.

[0031] The group created by the grouping means 28 is, for example, a folder in which a plurality of pieces of evidence data are stored. When an employee of the client company displays a list of evidence data registered on the monitor of the client terminal 60, a folder corresponding to each transaction or each project is displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60, and when the employee of the client company clicks on a certain folder on the client terminal 60, a list of one or more pieces of evidence data stored in this folder is displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60. When an employee of the client company clicks on a certain piece of evidence data from such a list, an image of the evidence in the evidence data and information on each item entered by the operator are displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60. The folders may be set according to certain rules by the user side, such as the employee of the client company or the operator who is an employee of the management company, and the evidence data may be sorted according to these rules. As a rule, for example, sorting may be done by month or by type of evidence, and switching may be possible.

[0032] The evidence data includes at least an image of the evidence. The evidence data may include information on the transaction of the evidence in addition to the image of the evidence. In one transaction, multiple types of evidence such as a contract, an estimate, a purchase order, a delivery note, an invoice, and a receipt are issued. Then, multiple types of evidence data issued in such one transaction are grouped and stored in a folder, so that the multiple evidence data are associated with each other. Furthermore, the evidence data may include information on a project in addition to the image of the evidence. Here, a project is composed of one or multiple transactions. Furthermore, a folder corresponding to the project is created, and when an employee of the client company displays a list of evidence data registered on the monitor of the client terminal 60, the created folder is displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60. Then, when a folder related to a project is clicked, folders related to one or multiple transactions constituting this project are displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60.

[0033] The metadata is assigned to groups (specifically, for example, folders, etc.) created by the grouping means 28, and groups are searched for based on this metadata. The metadata relates to at least one of the identification information of the business partner (for example, the company name or identification number of the business partner), the date, and the amount. When a search for a group is performed in the information processing system 1 of this embodiment, if any one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount is input as a search word, information about the group to which the metadata corresponding to this search word is assigned is output as a search result.

[0034] The fact that the receiving means 22 is related to the supporting data newly accepted means that at least one of the transaction amount, customer, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the supporting data newly accepted by the receiving means 22 is the same. In this embodiment, the association candidate extraction means 24 extracts, as candidates for other supporting data related to the supporting data newly accepted by the receiving means 22, supporting data that is the same in at least one of the transaction amount, customer, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the supporting data newly accepted by the receiving means 22. Note that the fact that the receiving means 22 is related to the supporting data newly accepted may mean that items other than the transaction amount, customer, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs are the same.

[0035] The program executed by the control unit 20 is not limited to being stored in the storage unit 36. The program executed by the control unit 20 may be a program transmitted from an external device to the control unit 20 via the communication unit 38, a program stored in a storage medium such as a USB memory attached to the management server 10, or a program stored in a server (e.g., a cloud server) other than the management server 10.

[0036] The storage unit 36 ​​is composed of, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), or a solid state drive (SSD), and various information is stored in the storage unit 36. Information about the client company is pre-stored in the storage unit 36. The information about the client company includes information such as the client company's identification information, company name, department name, name of person in charge, contact information (telephone number and email address), etc.

[0037] The communication unit 38 connects the control unit 20 to an external device (e.g., an operator terminal 40, a client terminal 60, etc.) so as to be able to communicate with the external device. The control unit 20 is capable of transmitting and receiving signals to and from the external device via the communication unit 38.

[0038] Next, an information processing method by such information processing system 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 2 to Fig. 11. Fig. 2 to Fig. 6 are activity diagrams showing various examples of the flow of information processing when registering evidential data in the information processing system 1 shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 7 is an activity diagram showing the flow of information processing when searching for evidential data registered in the information processing system 1 shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 8 to Fig. 11 are diagrams showing screens displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60 when information processing is performed in the information processing system 1 shown in Fig. 1.

[0039] In this embodiment, when a client company starts using the agency service provided by the management company that manages the management server 10, the client company's identification information (specifically, information on the client company's company name) is stored in the memory unit 36.

[0040] Hereinafter, a case will be described in which the management company that manages the management server 10 manages the evidence issued or received by the client company on behalf of the client company. An employee of the client company, such as an accountant, accesses a specific website provided by the management company that manages the management server 10 using the client terminal 60. At this time, the employee of the client company inputs an ID and a password when logging in to the website provided by the management server 10. In such a website, the employee of the client company can view a list of the evidence data of the client company managed by the management server 10. In addition, the employee of the client company can upload new evidence data (specifically, an image of the evidence) to the website displayed on the client terminal 60 (step S1 in FIG. 2). When the evidence data is uploaded to this website, the evidence data is transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10, and the reception means 22 receives the evidence data. In addition, the reception means 22 receives identification information of the owner or manager of the evidence data based on the ID input when logging in to the website provided by the management server 10.

[0041] Alternatively, an employee of the client company sends a paper evidence such as an invoice to the management company of the management server 10, or sends an email with evidence data (specifically, an image of the evidence) attached to the email address of the management server 10 using the client terminal 60. At this time, when an employee of the client company sends a paper evidence to the management company of the management server 10, the paper evidence is sent to the address of the management company of the management server 10 that has been communicated to the client company in advance by the management company. Also, when an employee of a business partner company sends an email with evidence data attached to the email address of the management server 10 using the client terminal 60, the email with evidence data attached is sent to the email address of the management server 10 that has been communicated to the client company in advance by the management company.

[0042] When a paper evidence is sent by an employee of a client company to the management company of the management server 10, the paper evidence is read by a reading device such as a scanner at the management company of the management server 10. Then, the reading device transmits evidence data (specifically, an image of the evidence) to the management server 10, and the reception means 22 receives the image data of the evidence. In addition, the operator who reads the paper evidence with the reading device inputs identification information of the client company, which is the company that sent the evidence (specifically, information on the company name of the client company), into the management server 10. In this way, the reception means 22 receives identification information of the owner and manager of the evidence data.

[0043] Furthermore, when an employee of a client company uses the client terminal 60 to send an email with evidence data attached to the email address of the management server 10, the reception means 22 receives the image data of the evidence. Here, it is possible to set an email address for each client company to which an email with evidence data attached is sent from the client terminal 60 of the client company to the management server 10. In this case, the reception means 22 receives identification information of the owner or manager of the evidence data based on the email address to which the client terminal 60 sent the email to the management server 10.

[0044] When the reception means 22 receives the evidence data, the storage means 34 stores the evidence data received by the reception means 22 in the storage unit 36 ​​in association with the identification information of the owner or manager of the evidence data. In addition, when the reception means 22 receives the evidence data, a display instruction signal is transmitted to the operator terminal 40 to cause an input screen for prompting an operator to input data for each item of the evidence in the image of the evidence received by the reception means 22 to be displayed on the operator terminal 40 (step S2 in FIG. 2). When such a display instruction signal is transmitted to the operator terminal 40, an input screen for data for each item of the evidence as shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the monitor of the operator terminal 40 (step S3 in FIG. 2).

[0045] The operator inputs data for each item of the voucher into the input field while viewing the image data of the voucher displayed on the monitor of the operator terminal 40. Specifically, the operator inputs the name of the company that issued the voucher (billing source), the registration number of the company of the voucher, the date of issue of the voucher (billing date), the name of the company to which the voucher is sent (billing destination), the billing amount (total amount), the transaction date for each item, each item, the transaction amount for each item, etc., into each input field using the operator terminal 40. When the operator completes inputting the data for each item of the voucher, he or she presses the registration button displayed on the input screen. As a result, the input information input by the operator to the operator terminal 40 is transmitted from the operator terminal 40 to the management server 10, and the reception means 22 of the control unit 20 in the management server 10 receives the input information (step S4 in FIG. 2). The storage means 34 stores the input information for each item of the voucher received from the operator terminal 40 in the storage unit 36 ​​in association with the voucher data received by the reception means 22 from the client terminal 60 and stored in the storage unit 34.

[0046] When the reception means 22 receives input information for each item of the supporting data from the operator terminal 40, the association candidate extraction means 24 extracts candidates for other types of supporting data already received by the reception means 22 that are related to the supporting data newly received by the reception means 22 from the supporting data stored in the storage unit 36 ​​(step S5 in FIG. 2). As described above, being related to the supporting data newly received by the reception means 22 means that at least one of the transaction amount, business partner, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs is the same in the supporting data newly received by the reception means 22. For this reason, in this embodiment, the association candidate extraction means 24 extracts, from the supporting data stored in the storage unit 36, candidates for other supporting data that are related to the supporting data newly received by the reception means 22, those that are the same in at least one of the transaction amount, business partner, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the supporting data newly received by the reception means 22.

[0047] Then, the input instruction means 26 transmits a display instruction signal to the client terminal 60 to display a selection screen on the monitor of the client terminal 60, which allows the client terminal 60 to select from among the candidates of other types of evidence data extracted by the association candidate extraction means 24, other types of evidence data to be associated with the evidence data newly accepted by the acceptance means 22 (step S6 in FIG. 2). As a result, a list of candidates of other types of evidence data extracted by the association candidate extraction means 24 is displayed as a selection screen on the monitor of the client terminal 60 (step S7 in FIG. 2). When a certain piece of evidence data is clicked on such a selection screen, an image of the evidence in the evidence data and input information of each item of the evidence input by the operator are displayed. The employee of the client company selects evidence data to be associated with the registered evidence data while viewing the list of candidates of other types of evidence data displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60 (step S8 in FIG. 2). Information on the evidence data selected by the employee of the client company through the client terminal 60 is transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10 as grouping instruction information, and is accepted by the acceptance means 22.

[0048] In the management server 10, the grouping means 28 creates a group by associating a plurality of supporting data accepted by the receiving means 22 based on the grouping instruction information accepted by the receiving means 22 (specifically, the information of supporting data selected by an employee of the client company through the client terminal 60) (step S9 in FIG. 2). When the grouping means 28 associates the supporting data newly accepted by the receiving means 22 with other types of supporting data already accepted by the receiving means 22 (i.e., supporting data stored in the storage unit 36), the storage unit 34 stores information of the group created by the grouping means 28 (i.e., for example, information of a folder) in the storage unit 36. Thereafter, the metadata assignment means 30 assigns metadata to the group created by the grouping means 28 (step S10 in FIG. 2). As described above, the metadata relates to at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount. Such metadata is determined based on the information of each item of the supporting data input by the operator through the operator terminal 40 in step S4 in FIG. 2 described above. In the above description, a new group is created and metadata is assigned to the group, but if a group has already been created for other types of voucher data related to the newly received voucher data and metadata has been assigned to the group, the grouping means 28 places the newly received voucher data in the group to which metadata has already been assigned. Also, even if no voucher data is included in a group, metadata may be assigned.

[0049] In this embodiment, the method of assigning metadata to the groups created by the grouping means 28 is not limited to the above-mentioned method. Various other methods of assigning metadata to the groups created by the grouping means 28 will be described with reference to Figs. 3 to 5.

[0050] FIG. 3 is an activity diagram showing another example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system 1 shown in FIG.

[0051] In the example shown in FIG. 3, an employee of the client company accesses a predetermined website provided by the management company that manages the management server 10 by using the client terminal 60, and then when uploading new evidence data (specifically, an image of the evidence), also inputs information about the transaction related to the evidence data (step S11 in FIG. 3). That is, the employee of the client company inputs information about which transaction the evidence data uploaded to the website relates to into the client terminal 60. When such information is input into the client terminal 60, evidence data including the image of the evidence and information about the transaction of the evidence is transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10. When the reception means 22 of the management server 10 receives the evidence data from the client terminal 60, the grouping means 28 creates a group by associating the evidence data newly received by the reception means 22 with the evidence data already received by the reception means 22 and stored in the storage unit 36 ​​(step S12 in FIG. 3). Specifically, the grouping means 28 creates a group by associating the newly accepted supporting data with supporting data stored in the storage unit 36, which has the same transaction as the supporting data newly accepted by the accepting means 22. Furthermore, when the grouping means 28 associates the newly accepted supporting data with other types of supporting data already accepted by the accepting means 22 (i.e., supporting data stored in the storage unit 36), the storage means 34 stores information of the group created by the grouping means 28 (i.e., for example, information of a folder) in the storage unit 36.

[0052] Thereafter, the metadata assigning means 30 assigns metadata to the group created by the grouping means 28 (step S13 in FIG. 3). Such metadata may be determined based on information on each item of the evidence input by the operator through the operator terminal 40 based on the image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the reception means 22, or may be determined based on information on each item of the evidence read by the optical character recognition means 33 through optical character recognition from the image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the reception means 22. Alternatively, when an employee of the client company uploads an image of the evidence through the client terminal 60 to a predetermined website provided by the management company that manages the management server 10, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount may be input by the employee of the client company to the client terminal 60. In this case, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount is included in the evidence data transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10. Then, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount included in such evidence data is used as the metadata to be assigned to the group created by the grouping means 28. Furthermore, the above explanation describes an aspect of creating a new group and assigning metadata to this group, but if a group has already been created for other types of supporting data related to the newly accepted supporting data and metadata has been assigned to this group, the grouping means 28 will place the newly accepted supporting data in the group to which metadata has already been assigned.

[0053] FIG. 4 is an activity diagram showing yet another example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system 1 shown in FIG.

[0054] In the example shown in Fig. 4, when an employee of a client company accesses a predetermined website provided by a management company that manages the management server 10 using a client terminal 60 and then uploads new evidence data (specifically, an image of the evidence) (step S21 in Fig. 4), the evidence data including the image of the evidence is transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10. When the reception means 22 of the management server 10 receives the evidence data from the client terminal 60, the optical character recognition means 33 extracts information related to the transaction from the image of the evidence in the evidence data received by the reception means 22 by optical character recognition (step S22 in Fig. 4). The grouping means 28 creates a group by associating the evidence data newly received by the reception means 22 with evidence data already received by the reception means 22 and stored in the storage unit 36 ​​(step S23 in Fig. 4). Specifically, the grouping means 28 creates a group by associating the newly accepted supporting data with supporting data stored in the storage unit 36, the newly accepted supporting data having the same transaction extracted by the optical character recognition means 33 in the supporting data newly accepted by the accepting means 22. When the grouping means 28 associates the newly accepted supporting data with other types of supporting data already accepted by the accepting means 22 (i.e., supporting data stored in the storage unit 36), the storage means 34 stores information of the group created by the grouping means 28 (i.e., for example, information of a folder) in the storage unit 36.

[0055] Thereafter, the metadata assigning means 30 assigns metadata to the group created by the grouping means 28 (step S33 in FIG. 2). Such metadata may be determined based on information on each item of the evidence input by the operator through the operator terminal 40 based on the image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the reception means 22, or may be determined based on information on each item of the evidence read by the optical character recognition means 33 through optical character recognition from the image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the reception means 22. Alternatively, when an employee of the client company uploads an image of the evidence through the client terminal 60 to a predetermined website provided by the management company that manages the management server 10, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount may be input by the employee of the client company to the client terminal 60. In this case, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount is also included in the evidence data transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10. Then, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount included in such evidence data is used as the metadata to be assigned to the group created by the grouping means 28. Furthermore, the above explanation describes an aspect of creating a new group and assigning metadata to this group, but if a group has already been created for other types of supporting data related to the newly accepted supporting data and metadata has been assigned to this group, the grouping means 28 will place the newly accepted supporting data in the group to which metadata has already been assigned.

[0056] FIG. 5 is an activity diagram showing yet another example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system 1 shown in FIG.

[0057] In the example shown in FIG. 5, an employee of the client company accesses a predetermined website provided by the management company that manages the management server 10 by using the client terminal 60, and then when uploading new evidence data (specifically, an image of the evidence), inputs information about the project related to the evidence data (step S31 in FIG. 5). That is, the employee of the client company inputs information about which project the evidence data uploaded to the website relates to into the client terminal 60. When such information is input into the client terminal 60, evidence data including the image of the evidence and information about the project of the evidence is transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10. When the reception means 22 of the management server 10 receives the evidence data from the client terminal 60, the grouping means 28 creates a group by associating the evidence data newly received by the reception means 22 with the evidence data already received by the reception means 22 and stored in the storage unit 36 ​​(step S32 in FIG. 5). Specifically, the grouping means 28 creates a group related to the project by associating the newly accepted supporting data with supporting data stored in the storage unit 36, which is for the same project as the supporting data newly accepted by the accepting means 22. In addition, when the grouping means 28 associates the newly accepted supporting data with other types of supporting data already accepted by the accepting means 22 (i.e., supporting data stored in the storage unit 36), the storage means 34 stores information about the group related to the project created by the grouping means 28 (i.e., for example, folder information) in the storage unit 36.

[0058] Thereafter, the metadata assigning means 30 assigns metadata to the group related to the project created by the grouping means 28 (step S33 in FIG. 5). Such metadata may be determined based on information on each item of the evidence input by the operator through the operator terminal 40 based on the image of the evidence in the evidence data received by the reception means 22, or may be determined based on information on each item of the evidence read by the optical character recognition means 33 through optical character recognition from the image of the evidence in the evidence data received by the reception means 22. Alternatively, when an employee of the client company uploads an image of the evidence through the client terminal 60 to a predetermined website provided by the management company that manages the management server 10, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount may be input by the employee of the client company into the client terminal 60. In this case, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount will be included in the evidence data transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10. At least any one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount contained in such supporting data is used as metadata to be assigned to the group related to the project created by the grouping means 28. Also, in the above description, a mode of creating a new group and assigning metadata to this group has been described, but if a group has already been created for another type of supporting data related to the newly received supporting data and metadata has been assigned to this group, the grouping means 28 places the newly received supporting data in the group to which metadata has already been assigned.

[0059] FIG. 6 is an activity diagram showing yet another example of the flow of information processing when registering evidence data in the information processing system 1 shown in FIG.

[0060] In the example shown in FIG. 6, when an employee of a client company accesses a predetermined website provided by a management company that manages the management server 10 by using a client terminal 60 and then uploads new evidence data (specifically, an image of the evidence) (step S41 in FIG. 6), the evidence data including the image of the evidence is transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10. When the reception means 22 receives the evidence data, the storage means 34 stores the evidence data received by the reception means 22 in the storage unit 36 ​​in association with the identification information of the owner or manager of the evidence data. In addition, when the reception means 22 receives the evidence data, a display instruction signal is transmitted to the operator terminal 40 to display an input screen that allows an operator to input data for each item of the evidence in the image of the evidence received by the reception means 22 (step S42 in FIG. 6). When such a display instruction signal is transmitted to the operator terminal 40, an input screen for data for each item of the evidence as shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the monitor of the operator terminal 40 (step S43 in FIG. 6).

[0061] The operator inputs data for each item of the voucher into the input field while viewing the image data of the voucher displayed on the monitor of the operator terminal 40. Specifically, the operator inputs the name of the company that issued the voucher (billing source), the registration number of the company of the voucher, the date of issue of the voucher (billing date), the name of the company to which the voucher is sent (billing destination), the billing amount (total amount), the transaction date for each item, each item, the transaction amount for each item, etc., into each input field using the operator terminal 40. When the operator completes inputting the data for each item of the voucher, he or she presses the registration button displayed on the input screen. As a result, the input information input by the operator to the operator terminal 40 is transmitted from the operator terminal 40 to the management server 10, and the reception means 22 of the control unit 20 in the management server 10 receives the input information (step S44 in FIG. 6). The storage means 34 stores the input information for each item of the voucher received from the operator terminal 40 in the storage unit 36 ​​in association with the voucher data received by the reception means 22 from the client terminal 60 and stored in the storage unit 34.

[0062] Thereafter, in the management server 10, the grouping means 28 creates a group by associating the plurality of voucher data accepted by the accepting means 22 based on the input information on each item of the voucher input by the operator (step S45 in FIG. 6). Specifically, among the information on each item of the voucher in the plurality of voucher data, those that match at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount are associated. The storage means 34 stores the information of the group created by the grouping means 28 (i.e., for example, the information of the folder) in the storage unit 36. Thereafter, the metadata assignment means 30 assigns metadata to the group created by the grouping means 28 (step S46 in FIG. 6). As described above, the metadata relates to at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount. Such metadata is determined based on the information on each item of the voucher input by the operator through the operator terminal 40 in step S44 in FIG. 6 described above. Furthermore, the above explanation describes an aspect of creating a new group and assigning metadata to this group, but if a group has already been created for other types of supporting data related to the newly accepted supporting data and metadata has been assigned to this group, the grouping means 28 will place the newly accepted supporting data in the group to which metadata has already been assigned.

[0063] Next, an operation will be described when an employee of a client company searches for evidence data registered in the management server 10 (i.e., stored in the storage unit 36) using the client terminal 60. In the information processing system 1 of this embodiment, when searching for evidence data, it is possible to search for the folder in which the evidence data is stored. Such a folder search method will be described below with reference to FIG. 7.

[0064] First, an employee of the client company accesses a predetermined website provided by the management company that manages the management server 10, using the client terminal 60. Then, at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount is input as a search word on a search screen for evidential data on the predetermined website (step S51 in FIG. 7). The search word inputted to the client terminal 60 is transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10, and the reception means 22 in the management server 10 receives the search word (step S52 in FIG. 7). When the reception means 22 receives the search word, the search means 32 outputs information on a group to which metadata related to the received search word is added (step S53 in FIG. 7). The information on the group outputted by the search means 32 is transmitted from the management server 10 to the client terminal 60. As a result, the website displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60 displays information on the group outputted by the search means 32, for example, a folder. When an employee of the client company clicks on the searched folder on the screen displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60, a list of evidential data stored in the folder is displayed. When an employee of the client company clicks on a certain piece of evidence data, an image of the evidence in the evidence data is displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60. In this way, it becomes possible to display images of each type of evidence in the group output by the search means 32 on the monitor of the client terminal 60 (step S54 in FIG. 7).

[0065] The display screen of the client terminal 60 when such a folder search method is performed will be described with reference to Figs. 8 to 11. Fig. 8 is a screen showing a list of groups (folders) displayed on a specific website provided by a management company that manages the management server 10 when an employee of the client company accesses the website using the client terminal 60. When a group (folder) called "Company A October Project" is selected from among the groups on the screen shown in Fig. 8, a list of multiple types of evidence data (e.g., data on purchase orders, delivery notes, inspection slips, invoices, and receipts) stored in this folder is displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60 as shown in Fig. 9. When certain evidence data is clicked on the screen shown in Fig. 9, an image of the evidence in the evidence data and input information for each item of the evidence input by the operator via the operator terminal 40 are displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60.

[0066] In addition, in this embodiment, when new evidence data is registered, if another type of evidence data with the same transaction as this evidence data has already been registered, when inputting information on each item of the evidence in the new evidence data, information on each item of the evidence in the other type of evidence data already registered can be used. That is, when inputting information on each item of the evidence in the new evidence data, an image of the evidence and an input field for each item of the evidence as shown in FIG. 10 are displayed on the operator terminal 40, and information on each item of the evidence in the other type of evidence data already registered is automatically displayed in the input field for each item of the evidence. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, on the input screen displayed on the monitor of the operator terminal 40, the transaction date, the identification information of the business partner (specifically, the business partner's company name), and the transaction amount are entered in advance in the input field for each item of the evidence. In this case, it is possible to save the operator the trouble of inputting information on each item of the evidence through the operator terminal 40. Even if an employee of the client company, not an operator, inputs information for each item of the voucher using the client terminal 60, information for each item of the voucher in other types of voucher data that have already been registered is automatically displayed in the input field for each item of the voucher. This saves the employee of the client company the trouble of inputting information for each item of the voucher using the client terminal 60.

[0067] According to the program, computer (management server 10), and information processing method of the present embodiment configured as described above, the program causes the computer (management server 10) to function as the reception means 22, the grouping means 28, the metadata assignment means 30, and the search means 32, the reception means 22 accepts evidence data, and the grouping means 28 creates a group by associating the multiple evidence data accepted by the reception means 22. The metadata assignment means 30 assigns metadata to the group created by the grouping means 28, and the search means 32 outputs information about the group to which metadata related to the accepted search word is assigned when the reception means 22 accepts a search word. In this case, when a search word is input to search for evidence data, a group to which multiple evidence data are associated can be extracted, so that data to enable search can be assigned more efficiently than when evidence data itself related to the search word is output when a search word is input. In other words, since metadata is assigned to the group, it is not necessary to assign metadata to each evidence data.

[0068] In the program, computer (management server 10), and information processing method of the present embodiment, as described above, the supporting data received by the receiving means 22 may include an image of the supporting data and information on the transaction of the supporting data, and the grouping means 28 may create a group by associating multiple types of supporting data having the same information on the transaction. In this case, the grouping means 28 can associate multiple types of supporting data with the same information on the transaction of the supporting data received by the receiving means 22.

[0069] Furthermore, in the program, computer (management server 10), and information processing method of this embodiment, as described above, the program further causes the computer to function as optical character recognition means 33, the evidence data accepted by the accepting means 22 includes information regarding the image of the evidence, the optical character recognition means 33 extracts information regarding the transaction from the image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the accepting means 22 by optical character recognition, and the grouping means 28 may create a group by associating multiple types of evidence data for which the extracted information regarding the transaction is the same. In this case, the grouping means 28 can associate multiple types of evidence data for which the information regarding the transaction extracted by optical character recognition from the image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the accepting means 22 is the same.

[0070] In the program, computer (management server 10), and information processing method of the present embodiment, as described above, the supporting data received by the receiving means 22 may include an image of the supporting data, a transaction of the supporting data, and information on a project consisting of one or more transactions, and the grouping means 28 may create a group by associating multiple types of supporting data for each transaction having the same information on the project. In this case, the grouping means 28 can associate multiple types of supporting data for the supporting data received by the receiving means 22 having the same information on the project.

[0071] Furthermore, in the program, computer (management server 10), and information processing method of the present embodiment, as described above, the grouping means 28 may create a group by associating multiple pieces of evidential data received by the receiving means 22 based on the grouping instruction information received by the receiving means 22. In this case, the grouping means 28 can associate multiple types of evidential data based on the grouping instruction information received by the receiving means 22. At this time, the program causes the computer to further function as an association candidate extraction means 24 and an input instruction means 26, the association candidate extraction means 24 extracts candidates of other types of supporting data already accepted by the receiving means 22 that are related to the supporting data newly accepted by the receiving means 22, the input instruction means 26 transmits a display instruction signal to the terminal (specifically, the client terminal 60) to display a selection screen on the terminal for selecting other types of supporting data to be related to the supporting data newly accepted by the receiving means 22 from the candidates of other types of supporting data extracted by the association candidate extraction means 24, and the grouping instruction information may include one or more supporting data selected by the terminal from the candidates of other types of supporting data. In this case, supporting data to be grouped can be selected from the candidates of other types of supporting data already accepted by the receiving means 22 that are related to the supporting data newly accepted by the receiving means 22, and an instruction regarding this selection can be the grouping instruction information. Note that in this embodiment, the grouping instruction information is not limited to an instruction to select from the candidates of other types of supporting data already accepted by the receiving means 22. As the grouping instruction information, various other information may be used.

[0072] Further, the input instruction means 26 transmits a second display instruction signal to the operator terminal 40 to cause the operator terminal 40 to display an input screen for each item of the evidential data received by the reception means 22, and at this time, transmits information on each item of the other types of evidential data associated by the grouping means 28 to the operator terminal 40. This reduces the load of the input work of information on each item of the evidential data in the operator terminal 40. Note that, as another aspect of this embodiment, the input instruction means 26 may transmit a second display instruction signal to the client terminal 60 to cause the client terminal 60 to display an input screen for each item of the evidential data received by the reception means 22, and at this time, transmit information on each item of the other types of evidential data associated by the grouping means 28 to the client terminal 60. This reduces the load of the input work of information on each item of the evidential data in the client terminal 60.

[0073] Moreover, the program further causes the computer to function as a storage means 34, and the storage means 34 stores the supporting evidence data accepted by the receiving means 22 in the storage unit 36. Furthermore, the association candidate extraction means 24 extracts candidates for other types of supporting evidence data already accepted by the receiving means 22 that are related to the supporting evidence data newly accepted by the receiving means 22 from the supporting evidence data stored in the storage unit 36, and when the newly accepted supporting evidence data by the receiving means 22 and the other types of supporting evidence data already accepted by the receiving means 22 are associated by the grouping means 28, the storage means 34 stores information on the group created by the grouping means 28 in the storage unit 36. In this case, information on the group created by the grouping means 28 (specifically, information on folders, for example) can be stored in the storage unit 36.

[0074] Furthermore, the association candidate extraction means 24 extracts, as candidates for other supporting data related to the supporting data newly accepted by the accepting means 22, supporting data that is the same as at least one of the transaction amount, customer, item, control number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the supporting data newly accepted by the accepting means 22. In this case, supporting data that has already been accepted by the accepting means 22 and that is the same as at least one of the transaction amount, customer, item, control number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the supporting data newly accepted by the accepting means 22 can be presented as candidates for other supporting data related to the newly accepted supporting data.

[0075] As described above, the supporting document data accepted by the reception means 22 includes at least an image of the supporting document, and the input instruction means 26 sends a second display instruction signal to the operator terminal 40 to cause the operator terminal 40 to display the image of the supporting document in the supporting document data accepted by the reception means 22 and the input fields for each item of the supporting document in the supporting document data, and the association candidate extraction means 24 may extract, as candidates for other supporting document data that are related to the supporting document data newly accepted by the reception means 22, those that have at least one of the same transaction amount, business partner, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs, in the supporting document data entered by the operator terminal 40 and accepted by the reception means 22. In another aspect of this embodiment, the input instruction means 26 may send a second display instruction signal to the client terminal 60 to cause the image of the voucher in the supporting data accepted by the reception means 22 and the input fields for each item of the voucher in the supporting data to be displayed on the client terminal 60 instead of the operator terminal 40, and the association candidate extraction means 24 may extract candidates for other supporting data that are related to the supporting data newly accepted by the reception means 22, which have at least one of the same transaction amount, business partner, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs, in the supporting data entered by the client terminal 60 and accepted by the reception means 22.

[0076] In yet another aspect of this embodiment, the program further causes the computer to function as optical character recognition means 33, wherein the supporting document data accepted by the reception means 22 includes at least an image of the supporting document, and the optical character recognition means 33 acquires at least one of the following information in the supporting document data accepted by the reception means 22 by optical character recognition from the image of the supporting document in the supporting document data accepted by the reception means 22, the transaction amount, business partner, item, control number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person belongs, and the association candidate extraction means 24 may extract, as candidates for other supporting document data that is related to the supporting document data newly accepted by the reception means 22, at least one of the following information in the supporting document data acquired by the optical character recognition means 33 that is the same as the transaction amount, business partner, item, control number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person belongs.

[0077] In the program, computer (management server 10), and information processing method of the present embodiment, as described above, the metadata assigned to the group by the metadata assigning means 30 relates to at least one of the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount. However, the present embodiment is not limited to such an embodiment. As metadata, things other than the identification information of the business partner, the date, and the amount may be used.

[0078] Furthermore, in the program, computer (management server 10) and information processing method of this embodiment, as described above, the metadata assigned to a group by the metadata assignment means 30 may be determined based on the metadata assignment information received by the receiving means 22.

[0079] In addition, in the program, computer (management server 10) and information processing method of this embodiment, the program further causes the computer to function as an optical character recognition means 33, the supporting evidence data accepted by the reception means 22 includes information regarding the image of the supporting evidence, the optical character recognition means 33 extracts metadata in the supporting evidence data by optical character recognition from the image of the supporting evidence in the supporting evidence data accepted by the reception means 22, and the metadata assignment means 30 may assign the metadata extracted by the optical character recognition means 33 to the created group.

[0080] In the program, computer (management server 10), and information processing method of this embodiment, as described above, the types of supporting data accepted by the accepting means 22 may include a plurality of types selected from the group consisting of estimates, purchase orders, delivery notes, inspection notes, invoices, and receipts. Note that this embodiment is not limited to such an embodiment. As supporting data, data other than estimates, purchase orders, delivery notes, inspection notes, invoices, and receipts may be used.

[0081] The program, computer, and information processing method according to the present invention are not limited to the above-described aspects, and various modifications can be made.

[0082] For example, in the above description, the agency service in which the management company of the management server 10 performs various processes on behalf of the client company has been described, but the present invention is not limited to being applied to such agency services. When the reception means 22 receives evidence data such as an invoice sent from a business partner company, or evidence data such as a receipt photographed by an employee of the client company, the employee of the client company may input information on each item of the evidence on the client terminal 60, instead of the operator of the management company of the management server 10 inputting information on each item of the evidence on the operator terminal 40. In this case, the input instruction means 26 transmits an input instruction signal to the client terminal 60 to cause the terminal to display an input screen including an image of the evidence for inputting the evidence data. Also, the information on each item of the evidence input by the employee of the client company on the client terminal 60 is transmitted from the client terminal 60 to the management server 10, and stored in the storage unit 36 ​​in a state associated with the image of the evidence.

[0083] Also, an order management system or an order management system installed for each client company may be provided separately from the management server 10, and the data may be stored in association with the transactions managed by these order management systems or order management systems. In this case, for example, when an order is approved or an order is processed for a certain transaction, the control unit 20 may create a group (folder) for this transaction in the management server 10 by receiving an instruction from the order management system or the order management system that an order has been approved or that an order has been processed. At this time, the metadata assignment means 30 may or may not assign metadata to the created group. In addition, when metadata is assigned to the created group, all information on the identification information, date, and amount of the business partner may be assigned as metadata, or part of the identification information, date, and amount of the business partner may be assigned as metadata. After that, when the supporting data for this transaction is registered, the registered supporting data is associated with the already created group and stored in the folder. In addition, when metadata is assigned from the order management system or order management system, it is not necessarily necessary to assign it at the timing of creating a folder. Instead, a linking key between the transaction in the order management system or order management system and the folder on the management server 10 side may be stored, and the metadata may be transferred with a time lag.

[0084] Furthermore, the control unit 20 may also be configured to manage the timing at which the receiving unit 22 received the multiple pieces of supporting data associated with each other by the grouping unit 28 from a terminal such as the client terminal 60. For example, when an estimate or the like is transmitted by an employee of the client company to the management server 10 from the client terminal 60 at the timing of approval for a certain project, and then a purchase order, order certificate, etc. are transmitted by the employee of the client company to the management server 10 from the client terminal 60 at the timing of ordering for this project, the grouping unit 28 determines that it is possible to associate the multiple pieces of supporting data (specifically, the estimate, purchase order, order certificate, etc.) received by the receiving unit 22. Then, for multiple supporting document data associated with each other by the grouping means 28, the timing when the estimate and supplementary materials are registered is the time of approval, the timing when the purchase order and order certificate are registered is the time of ordering, the timing when the invoice, detailed statement, etc. are registered is the time of billing, and the timing when the payment notice is registered is the time of payment are stored in the memory unit 36 ​​of the management server 10, and when images of these supporting documents are displayed on the monitor of the client terminal 60, information on the timing of each process is also displayed. [Explanation of symbols]

[0085] 1. Information Processing Systems 10 Management Server 20 Control section 22 Reception methods 24. Method for extracting association candidates 26 Input instruction means 28 Grouping methods 30 Metadata attachment methods 32 Search methods 33 Optical character recognition means 34 Memory means 36 Memory section 38 Communications Department 40 Operator terminal 60 client terminals

Claims

1. A program for causing a computer to function as a receiving unit, an association candidate extracting unit, a grouping unit, a metadata adding unit, and a searching unit, The receiving means receives the evidence data transmitted from a user terminal possessed by a user, The association candidate extraction means extracts candidates for other types of evidence data already accepted by the reception means that are associated with the evidence data newly accepted by the reception means from the user terminal, based on information on each item of evidence read by optical character recognition from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the reception means from the user terminal, or information on each item of evidence input by a terminal other than the computer based on the evidence data accepted by the reception means from the user terminal, from the evidence data stored in the storage unit; the grouping means creates a new group including the evidence data selected by the user via the user terminal from the extracted candidates of other types of evidence data received by the receiving means from the user terminal and the evidence data newly received by the receiving means, or places the newly received evidence data in a group to which metadata has already been assigned; the metadata assignment means assigns metadata to the newly created group by the grouping means, When the reception means receives a search word from the user terminal, the search means outputs, to the user terminal, information on a group to which metadata related to the received search word is assigned and evidence data associated within the group; The program, wherein the metadata is added for the purpose of performing a group search based on a search word received from the user terminal.

2. The computer further functions as an input instruction means, The program described in claim 1, wherein the input instruction means sends a display instruction signal to the user terminal to cause the user terminal to display a selection screen that allows the user to select other types of supporting data to be grouped with the newly accepted supporting data by the acceptance means from candidates of other types of supporting data extracted by the association candidate extraction means.

3. The program described in claim 2, wherein the input instruction means sends a second display instruction signal to the user terminal or another terminal to display an input screen for each item of the supporting data accepted by the acceptance means on the user terminal or a terminal other than the user terminal, and at this time also sends information on each item of other types of supporting data grouped by the grouping means to the user terminal or the other terminal.

4. The computer further functions as a storage means, The storage means stores the evidence data received by the reception means in the storage unit, The association candidate extraction means extracts candidates for other types of evidence data that have an association with the evidence data newly accepted by the acceptance means and that have already been accepted by the acceptance means from the evidence data stored in the storage unit; The program according to claim 1, wherein when the grouping means groups newly received evidence data and other types of evidence data already received by the receiving means, the storage means stores information of the group created by the grouping means in the storage unit.

5. The program described in claim 1, wherein the association candidate extraction means extracts candidates for other supporting data that are related to the supporting data newly accepted by the reception means, which have at least one of the same transaction amount, customer, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the newly accepted supporting data by the reception means.

6. the evidence data received by the reception means includes at least an image of the evidence, the input instruction means transmits a second display instruction signal to the user terminal or the other terminal so as to cause the user terminal or the other terminal to display an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the acceptance means and an input field for each item of the evidence in the evidence data; The program described in claim 2, wherein the association candidate extraction means extracts candidates for other supporting data that are related to the supporting data newly accepted by the reception means, the supporting data having at least one of the same transaction amount, customer, item, management number, registered person in charge, and department to which the registered person in charge belongs in the supporting data entered by the user terminal or the other terminal and accepted by the reception means.

7. causing said computer to further function as an optical character recognition means; the evidence data received by the reception means includes at least an image of the evidence, The optical character recognition means acquires at least one of information on the transaction amount, the customer, the item, the management number, the person in charge of registration, and the department to which the person in charge of registration belongs, from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the acceptance means through optical character recognition; The program described in claim 1, wherein the association candidate extraction means extracts candidates for other supporting evidence data that are related to the supporting evidence data newly accepted by the acceptance means, the supporting evidence data having at least one of the same transaction amount, customer, item, management number, registered person, and department to which the registered person belongs in the supporting evidence data acquired by the optical character recognition means.

8. 2. The program according to claim 1, wherein the metadata assigned to the group by said metadata assigning means relates to at least one of identification information of a business partner, a date, and an amount.

9. 2. The program according to claim 1, wherein the metadata assigned to the group by the metadata assigning means is determined based on information of each item of the evidence data accepted by the accepting means.

10. causing said computer to further function as an optical character recognition means; the evidence data received by the reception means includes information regarding an image of the evidence, The optical character recognition means extracts metadata in the evidence data by optical character recognition from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the acceptance means, 2. The program according to claim 1, wherein the metadata assigning means assigns the metadata extracted by the optical character recognition means to the created group.

11. 2. The program according to claim 1, wherein the types of evidence data accepted by said accepting means include a plurality of types selected from the group consisting of estimates, purchase orders, delivery notes, inspection slips, invoices, and receipts.

12. A computer that functions as a receiving means, an association candidate extracting means, a grouping means, a metadata adding means, and a searching means by executing a program, The receiving means receives the evidence data transmitted from a user terminal possessed by a user, The association candidate extraction means extracts candidates for other types of evidence data already accepted by the reception means that are associated with the evidence data newly accepted by the reception means from the user terminal, based on information on each item of evidence read by optical character recognition from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted by the reception means from the user terminal, or information on each item of evidence input by a terminal other than the computer based on the evidence data accepted by the reception means from the user terminal, from the evidence data stored in the storage unit; the grouping means creates a new group including the evidence data selected by the user via the user terminal from the extracted candidates of other types of evidence data received by the receiving means from the user terminal and the evidence data newly received by the receiving means, or places the newly received evidence data in a group to which metadata has already been assigned; the metadata assignment means assigns metadata to the newly created group by the grouping means, When the reception means receives a search word from the user terminal, the search means outputs, to the user terminal, information on a group to which metadata related to the received search word is assigned and evidence data associated within the group; The metadata is added for the purpose of performing a group search based on a search word received from the user terminal.

13. An information processing method performed by a computer having a control unit, The control unit receives evidence data transmitted from a user terminal owned by a user; The control unit extracts candidates for other types of evidence data already accepted that are related to the evidence data newly accepted from the user terminal from the evidence data stored in the storage unit, based on information on each item of evidence read by optical character recognition from an image of the evidence in the evidence data accepted from the user terminal or information on each item of evidence input by a terminal other than the computer based on the evidence data accepted from the user terminal; a step of the control unit creating a new group including the evidence data selected by the user from the extracted candidates of other types of evidence data received from the user terminal and the newly received evidence data, or placing the newly received evidence data in a group to which metadata has already been added; the control unit assigning metadata to the newly created group; When the control unit receives a search word from the user terminal, the control unit outputs, to the user terminal, information about a group to which metadata related to the received search word is assigned and evidence data associated within the group; Equipped with An information processing method, wherein the metadata is added for the purpose of a group search based on a search word received from the user terminal.

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