Document management device, document management system, document management method, and program

Abstract

To provide a document management apparatus capable of supporting decision of a person in charge of management of documents at entity conversion, a document management system a document management method, and a program.SOLUTION: In a document management system 1 including an input / output unit 10, a document management apparatus 20, and a storage apparatus 30, the document management apparatus 20 includes: a document management unit 21 configured to receive an operation on a document from the input / output unit 10 to hold and update a document and document attribute information; a management information determination unit 22 which determines the necessity of updating a document manager of the documents held in the document management apparatus 20 and document management organizational structure; an organizational constitution determination unit 23 which determines whether to modify an organizational constitution and persons belonging to the organizational structure; and a management organization estimation unit 24 which extracts candidates of new document management organizational structure, for the documents held in the document management apparatus.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a document management device, a document management system, a document management method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] With the spread of computers and networks, the digitization of documents is progressing. Unlike paper documents, digitized documents can be viewed by many people at the same time, and there are no restrictions on where you can view them as long as you have access to them, so they have many advantages over paper documents. Patent Document 1 discloses a related technique relating to document management. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-099736 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When electronic documents are used in organizations such as companies, the documents are managed by a document manager or management organization who is responsible for updating and disposing of the documents. In this case, if there is an organizational restructuring or personnel change, the document manager or management organization may be absent, which may result in documents not being managed properly. Therefore, there is a need for a technology that can assist in determining who will be in charge of managing documents when organizational changes occur.

[0005] An object of each aspect of the present invention is to provide a document management device, a document management system, a document management method, and a program that can solve the above-mentioned problems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, a document management device includes: a processor that determines whether or not the document manager needs to be updated based on the current and past configurations of at least one of the organization and the members belonging to the organization, and if it is determined that the document manager needs to be updated, estimates the current role of the organization based on the past role of the organization, and identifies a candidate for the current organization who will take over the document manager role, which is one of the past roles of the organization, based on the estimated current role of the organization. .

[0007] To achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, a document management system includes the above document management device and a storage device that stores the documents.

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, a document management method includes: A processing method executed by a document management device having a processor, the method including: determining, by the processor, whether or not a document manager needs to be updated based on current and past configurations of at least one of an organization and members belonging to the organization; estimating, if the processor determines that the document manager needs to be updated, a current role of the organization based on past roles of the organization; and identifying, by the processor, a candidate for the current organization who will take over the document manager role, which is one of the past roles of the organization, based on the estimated current role of the organization. .

[0009] To achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, a program includes: The computer of the document management device, which is equipped with a processor, is caused to determine whether or not updating of the document manager is necessary based on the current and past configurations of at least one of the organization and the members belonging to the organization, and when the processor determines that updating of the document manager is necessary, estimate the current role of the organization based on the past role of the organization, and identify a candidate for the current organization who will take over the document manager role, which is one of the past roles of the organization, based on the estimated current role of the organization. . [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to each aspect of the present invention, it is possible to assist in determining who will manage a document when an organizational change occurs. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a document management system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of document attributes held in a document attribute storage unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] 3A to 3C are diagrams illustrating an example of current organization information and current member information stored in an organization information storage unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 3 is a diagram showing an example of past organization information and past member information stored in an organization structure history storage unit according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. [Figure 5] 1 is an example of an organizational chart showing the current organizational structure of a company exemplified in the first embodiment of the present disclosure and the current members of each organization. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an organizational structure one generation before the current organizational structure and members of the organization in the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7]FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first processing flow of the document management device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating an example of organization information and organization member information stored in an organization structure history storage unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second processing flow of the document management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a list of documents to be updated by a document manager and a document management organization in the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a third processing flow of the document management device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a list of current organizations to which members of a previous document management organization belong in the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a fourth processing flow of the document management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a list showing new document management organizations and document manager candidates presented to a user in the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 15] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a document management system according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first processing flow of a document management apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of document information held in a document attribute storage unit of a document management system according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of user information stored in a user storage unit of a document management system according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 19] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the definition of a characteristic score to be assigned to a user when the user operates a document in the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 20] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of user information after viewing a document according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 21]FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second processing flow of the document management apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 22] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of user information of a document management device stored in a user storage unit according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 23] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of extracted information indicating characteristics of each tissue shown in FIG. 3. [Figure 24] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a third processing flow of the document management apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 25] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list of documents generated by a management organization inferring unit according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure by executing the process illustrated in FIG. 9. [Figure 26] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of candidates for document management organizations obtained by extracting information indicating organizational characteristics for a document ID “DOC1” in the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 27] 27 is a diagram showing an example in which new document management organization candidates are extracted from the administrator update target document list shown in FIG. 26. FIG. [Figure 28] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a fourth processing flow of the document management apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 29] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a list of new document manager candidates extracted for the document "DOC1" in the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 30] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a fifth processing flow of the document management apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 31] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a list of candidates for new document management organizations and document managers presented to a user in the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 32] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a document management device with a minimum configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 33] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of a document management apparatus having a minimum configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 34] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the configuration of a computer according to at least one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment (Document management system configuration) A document management system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a document management system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 1, the document management system 1 includes an input / output unit 10, a document management device 20, and a storage device 30.

[0013] The input / output unit 10 outputs information about documents managed by the document management device 20 to a system staff member. The input / output unit 10 also accepts operations on documents from the system staff member and passes the operations to the document management device 20. Examples of the input / output unit 10 include a personal computer and a tablet terminal device.

[0014] The document management device 20 includes a document management unit 21, a management information determination unit 22 (an example of a determination means), an organizational structure determination unit 23, and a management organization estimation unit 24 (an example of an estimation means, an example of a specification means, and an example of a determination means). The document management unit 21 receives operations on documents from the input / output unit 10, and stores and updates documents and document attribute information. The document management unit 21 also generates a document information screen to be displayed to the system administrator. The document management unit 21 also issues instructions for various processes to the management information determination unit 22, organizational structure determination unit 23, and management organization estimation unit 24.

[0015] The management information determination unit 22 determines whether it is necessary to update the document manager and document management organization of documents held in the document management device 20. The organizational structure determination unit 23 determines whether there have been any changes to the organizational structure and the members of the organization. The management organization estimation unit 24 extracts candidates for a new document management organization for documents held in the document management device 20.

[0016] The storage device 30 includes a document attribute storage unit 31, an organizational information storage unit 32, an organizational structure history storage unit 33, and a user storage unit 34. The document attribute storage unit 31 stores multiple document attributes for each document. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of document attributes stored in the document attribute storage unit 31 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 illustrates multiple document attributes stored in the document attribute storage unit 31 for each document. FIG. 2 illustrates that for each document identifiable by a document ID, the document attribute storage unit 31 stores the following attributes: revision, file name, title, version, last update date, document manager, document management organization, and organizational revision. The organizational revision is a number that changes each time the settings of the document manager or document management organization are changed. The multiple document attributes stored in the document attribute storage unit 31 for each document indicate different information for each identifiable document, and therefore can also be considered a list of documents managed by the document management device 20.

[0017] The organizational information storage unit 32 stores the latest (i.e., current) organizational structure information (hereinafter referred to as "organization information") and the latest (i.e., current) information on organization members (hereinafter referred to as "member information"). FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the current organizational information and current member information stored in the organizational information storage unit 32 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the organizational information storage unit 32 stores information associating the current organization, the upper organizations of each current organization, and the members belonging to each current organization as an organizational information list. In the organizational information list, index numbers corresponding to organization names are assigned. In the organizational information list shown in FIG. 3, the organization name "Organization R" is assigned index number "#1," the organization name "Organization A" is assigned index number "#2," the organization name "Organization B" is assigned index number "#3," and the organization name "Organization C" is assigned index number "#4." Note that iterative processing of a list (in this case, the organizational information list) in ascending order of index numbers is a standard function (algorithm) of programming languages such as the Java language. By using this function, it is possible to determine whether there are unprocessed elements in the list without using the processed flag.

[0018] The hierarchical structure of an organization can be determined from the current organization and the organizations above each current organization. In other words, information indicating the current organization and the organizations above each current organization corresponds to organizational information. Information indicating the members currently belonging to each organization corresponds to member information. The current organizational information and current member information stored in the organizational information storage unit 32 shown in FIG. 3 are the current organizational information and current member information of a virtual company E, which will be described later.

[0019] The organizational structure history storage unit 33 stores past organizational information and past organization member information. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of past organizational information and past organization member information stored in the organizational structure history storage unit 33 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the organizational structure history storage unit 33 stores information associating past organizations, upper organizations of each past organization, and members who belonged to each past organization as an organizational information list. In the organizational information list, index numbers corresponding to organization names are assigned. In the organizational information list shown in FIG. 3, the organization name "Organization R" is assigned index number "#1," the organization name "Organization A" is assigned index number "#2," the organization name "Organization B" is assigned index number "#3," and the organization name "Organization X" is assigned index number "#4."

[0020] 4 is the past (for example, one generation before the current) organizational information and past member information of a hypothetical company E described later. The user storage unit 34 stores information on users who use the document management device 20.

[0021] (Document Management System Operation) Next, the operation of the document management system 1 will be described with reference to Figs. 5 to 14. In the first embodiment, the document management system 1 executes four processes, Process 1 to Process 4. Process 1 is a process for determining whether or not there is a change in the organizational structure. Process 2 is a process for determining whether or not it is necessary to update the document manager and document management organization. Process 3 is a process for extracting candidates for the document management organization. Process 4 is a process for updating the document manager and document management organization.

[0022] The document management device 20 first determines whether there has been a change in the organizational structure or the members of the organization (Process 1). If it determines that there has been a change, the document management device 20 determines whether the document manager and document management organization of each document stored in the document management device 20 need to be updated (Process 2). Next, the document management device 20 extracts candidates for new document management organizations for documents whose document managers and document management organizations need to be updated (Process 3). The document management device 20 updates the document management organization and document manager (Process 4). Each of Processes 1 to 4 will be described below. Note that, to make the processes easier to imagine, each of Processes 1 to 4 will be described using a fictitious company E as an example. FIG. 5 is an example of an organizational chart showing the current organizational structure of company E and the current members of each organization, as exemplified in the first embodiment of the present disclosure. It is assumed that company E currently has an "organization R" as its top-level organization, and that it has three subordinate organizations: "organization A," "organization B," and "organization C." Also, as members of each organization, "Organization R" includes "User R1" and "User R2," "Organization A" includes "User A1" and "User A3," "Organization B" includes "User B1" and "User B2," and "Organization C" includes "User A2," "User B3," and "User C1." FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the organizational structure of one generation before the current organizational structure and the members of the organizations in the first embodiment of the present disclosure. "Organization R" is the top-level organization, and "Organization A," "Organization B," and "Organization X" exist as subordinate organizations. Also, as members of each organization, "Organization R" includes "User R1" and "User R2," "Organization A" includes "User A1" and "User A2," "Organization B" includes "User B1," "User B2," and "User B3," and "Organization X" includes "User X1."

[0023] (Process 1) FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first processing flow of the document management device 20 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. First, a process 1 for determining whether or not there has been a change in the organizational structure or organizational members at company E will be described with reference to FIG. 7. In the document management device 20, the organizational structure determination unit 23 acquires current organizational information and organizational member information of company E from the organizational information storage unit 32 (step S1). For example, the organizational structure determination unit 23 reads out a list of current organizational information from the organizational information storage unit 32. The organizational structure determination unit 23 acquires organizational information and organizational member information of company E from the organizational structure history storage unit 33 one generation before (step S2). For example, the organizational structure determination unit 23 reads out a list of organizational information of one generation before from the organizational structure history storage unit 33.

[0024] The organizational structure determination unit 23 determines whether or not there is an unprocessed organization in the current organizational information list acquired in the processing of step S1 (step S3). For example, the organizational structure determination unit 23 processes each index number in ascending order of the index numbers and determines whether or not there is an unprocessed organization. If the organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that there is an unprocessed organization in the current organizational information list (YES in step S3), it determines whether or not the organization currently being processed existed in the organizational structure of one generation before acquired in the processing of step S2 (step S4).

[0025] When the organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that the organization currently being processed existed in the organizational structure of one generation before (YES in step S4), it determines whether all members of the current organization existed as members of the organization of one generation before (step S5).When the organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that all members of the current organization existed as members of the organization of one generation before (YES in step S5), it returns to the processing of step S3.

[0026] Furthermore, when organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that there is no unprocessed organization in the current organizational information list (NO in step S3), it determines whether there is an unprocessed organization in the organizational information list of one generation before acquired in step S2 (step S6). When organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that there is no unprocessed organization in the organizational information list of one generation before (NO in step S6), it terminates the processing. When organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that there is an unprocessed organization in the organizational information list of one generation before (YES in step S6), it determines whether the organization of one generation before that being processed exists in the current organizational information acquired in step S1 (step S7).

[0027] When the organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that the organization of the previous generation being processed exists in the current organizational information (YES in step S7), it determines whether all members of the organization of the previous generation exist as members of the current organization (step S8).When the organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that all members of the organization of the previous generation exist as members of the current organization (YES in step S8), it returns to the processing of step S6.

[0028] Furthermore, when the organizational structure determination unit 23 determines that the organization currently being processed does not exist in the organizational structure of one generation ago (NO in step S4), when it determines that at least one of all the members of the current organization does not exist as a member of the organization of one generation ago (NO in step S5), when it determines that the organization of one generation ago being processed does not exist in the current organizational information (NO in step S7), or when it determines that at least one of all the members of the organization of one generation ago does not exist as a member of the current organization (NO in step S8), that is, when it determines that there has been a change in the organizational structure or members, it stores the current organizational information and the member information of the current organization in the organizational structure history storage unit 33 (step S9). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of organizational information and member information of the organization stored in the organizational structure history storage unit 33. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the organizational information and the member information of the organization are stored in the organizational structure history storage unit 33 for each revision. Specifically, the organizational information and organizational user information of the previous generation are stored as revision "oRev.1" in the organizational structure history storage unit 33 according to the embodiment of the present invention, for example, as shown in Fig. 8. Furthermore, the current organizational information and organizational user information are stored as revision "oRev.2" in the organizational structure history storage unit 33, for example, as shown in Fig. 8. Then, the management information determination unit 22 determines whether or not the document manager and management organization of the documents managed by the document management system 1 need to be updated (step S10).

[0029] As described above, in process 1 for determining whether or not the organizational structure has changed, the organizational structure determination unit 23 first determines whether or not the current organization and its members existed as organizations and members of the organization one generation before, that is, whether or not they are new organizations or new members, by performing the processes of steps S3 to S5. Then, in process 1, the organizational structure determination unit 23 next determines whether or not the organization and its members of the organization one generation before exist as organizations and members of the organization current, that is, whether or not deleted organizations or deleted members exist, by performing the processes of steps S6 to S8.

[0030] (Process 2) 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second processing flow of the document management device 20 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. Next, the processing of step S10 for determining whether it is necessary to update the document manager and document management organization of each document, i.e., processing 2 in which the management information determination unit 22 determines whether it is necessary to update the document manager and document management organization of each document stored in the document management device, will be described with reference to FIG. 9. In the document management device 20, the management information determination unit 22 acquires current organization information and organization member information from the organization information storage unit 32 (step S21). The management information determination unit 22 acquires, for example, organization information and member information shown in FIG. 3 from the organization information storage unit 32. The management information determination unit 22 acquires a list of documents managed by the document management device 20 from the document attribute storage unit 31 (step S22).

[0031] The management information determination unit 22 determines whether there is an unprocessed document in the document list acquired in step S22 (step S23). For example, like the organizational information list, an index number is assigned to each document in the document list, and the management information determination unit 22 processes each index number in ascending order to determine whether there is an unprocessed document. If the management information determination unit 22 determines that there is no unprocessed document in the document list (NO in step S23), it terminates the process. Furthermore, if the management information determination unit 22 determines that there is an unprocessed document in the document list (YES in step S23), it acquires the attribute information "document management organization" of the currently processed document and determines whether the document management organization set in the document exists in the current organizational structure (step S24).

[0032] If the management information determination unit 22 determines that the document management organization set in the document exists in the current organizational structure (YES in step S24), it acquires the attribute information "document manager" of the document currently being processed and determines whether the document manager set in the document still belongs to the document management organization set in the document (step S25). For example, in the case of the document with document ID "DOC1" in Fig. 2, "Organization A" set in the document management organization exists in the current organizational structure shown in Fig. 3, so the process proceeds to step S25.

[0033] Furthermore, if the management information determination unit 22 determines that the document management organization set in the document does not exist in the current organizational structure (NO in step S24), it determines that the document manager or document management organization of the document needs to be updated. If the management information determination unit 22 determines that the document manager or document management organization of the document needs to be updated, it generates a list of documents to be updated for document managers and document management organizations, and adds the document being processed to the list of documents to be updated (step S26). For example, in the case of a document with document ID “DOC2” in FIG. 2, “Organization X” set as the document management organization does not exist in the current organizational structure shown in FIG. 3, and the document management organization needs to be updated. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S26. Then, the management information determination unit 22 returns to the process of step S23. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a list of documents to be updated for document managers and document management organizations in the first embodiment of the present disclosure. In the list of documents to be updated shown in FIG. 10, document IDs are stored as elements of the list of documents to be updated. Note that the list of documents to be updated may be stored in a memory provided in the document management device 20 or in the storage device 30. The list of documents to be updated is used in Process 3, which will be described later, which is a process for extracting candidates for document management organizations.

[0034] Furthermore, if the management information determination unit 22 determines that the document manager set in the document still belongs to the document management organization set in the document (YES in step S25), the process returns to step S23. For example, in the case of a document with document ID "DOC1" in Fig. 2, "User A1" set as the document manager still belongs to "Organization A" set in the document management organization, so the process returns to step S23.

[0035] Furthermore, if the management information determination unit 22 determines that the document manager set in the document does not currently belong to the document management organization set in the document (NO in step S25), it determines that the document manager and document management organization of the document need to be updated, and proceeds to step S26. For example, in the case of a document with document ID "DOC3" in Fig. 2, "User B3" set as the document manager does not currently belong to "Organization B" set in the document management organization, and the document manager needs to be updated, so the process proceeds to step S26.

[0036] (Process 3) FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a third processing flow of the document management device 20 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. Next, a process 3 for extracting candidates for document management organizations to be set for each document stored in the document management device 20 will be described with reference to FIG. 11. When it is necessary to update the document management organization due to organizational restructuring, personnel transfer, or the like, the newly set document management organization is generally set to an organization with the same role as the original document management organization. For example, when two organizations are merged due to organizational restructuring, the merged organization combines the roles of the two organizations before the merger and is appropriate as a document management organization. Furthermore, when an organization is divided into two or more organizations, one of the divided organizations inherits a role suitable for managing documents of the divided organization, and therefore the divided organization is appropriate as a document management organization.

[0037] The document management device 20 extracts candidates for document management organizations using the roles of the organizations. In the first embodiment, the roles of an organization are determined by the members of that organization, and the document management device 20 extracts document management organizations. In other words, organizations that are to be joined after the organizational restructuring by members of an organization that was set as a document management organization before the organizational restructuring and that have a large number of members of the set organization are more likely to be candidates for new document management organizations.

[0038] In the document management device 20, the management organization estimation unit 24 acquires the list of documents to be updated by the administrator generated in the process of step S26 (step S31). The list holds the document IDs of documents for which the document administrator or document management organization should be updated, and in the example of the list of documents to be updated by the administrator shown in Fig. 10, the document IDs "DOC2" and "DOC3" are stored in the list of documents to be updated by the administrator.

[0039] Next, the management organization inference unit 24 determines whether there are any unprocessed documents in the manager update target document list (step S32). For example, like the organizational information list, an index number is assigned to each document in the manager update target document list, and the management organization inference unit 24 processes each index number in ascending order to determine whether there are any unprocessed documents. If the management organization inference unit 24 determines that there are no unprocessed documents in the manager update target document list (NO in step S32), it terminates the process. If the management organization inference unit 24 determines that there are any unprocessed documents in the manager update target document list (YES in step S32), it acquires the document management organization set in the document being processed and acquires a list of members of that organization when the document management organization was set (step S33). Here, the list of members of the organization when the document management organization was set is referred to as the "member list at the time of setting the previous document management organization." Here, the processing of the management organization inference unit 24 will be described using an example in which a document with a document ID of "DOC3" shown in FIG. 10 is being processed. 2, a document with a document ID of "DOC3" has "Organization B" set as the document management organization, and "oRev.1" set as the "organization revision" indicating the organizational structure when the document management organization was set. The management organization estimation unit 24 acquires the organizational structure of organizational revision "oRev.1" from the organizational structure history storage unit 33. For example, the management organization estimation unit 24 acquires information on the organizational structure history information shown in FIG. 8 where the revision is "oRev.1." When the revision is "oRev.1," "User B1," "User B2," and "User B3" belong to "Organization B," which is the document management organization for document ID "DOC3." The management organization estimation unit 24 acquires "User B1," "User B2," and "User B3" as a list of members at the time of setting the previous document management organization.

[0040] The management organization estimation unit 24 determines whether there are any unprocessed members in the member list at the time of setup of the previous document management organization (step S34). For example, as with the organizational information list, an index number is assigned to each member in the member list at the time of setup of the previous document management organization, and the management organization estimation unit 24 processes each index number in ascending order to determine whether there are any unprocessed members. If the management organization estimation unit 24 determines that there are no unprocessed members in the member list at the time of setup of the previous document management organization (NO in step S34), the process returns to step S32. Also, if the management organization estimation unit 24 determines that there are any unprocessed members in the member list at the time of setup of the previous document management organization (YES in step S34), the organizational structure determination unit 23 uses the member list at the time of setup of the previous document management organization to generate a list of current organizations to which members of the previous document management organization belong (step S35). Hereinafter, this list of current organizations and members will be referred to as the "current organization list of members of previous document management organization." For example, the organizational structure determination unit 23 acquires, from the organizational information storage unit 32, an organizational information list, which is information associating the current organization, upper organizations of each current organization, and members belonging to each current organization. Next, the organizational structure determination unit 23 sequentially processes the members (in the example shown in the first embodiment, "User B1," "User B2," and "User B3") included in the "List of Members at the Time of Setting of Previous Document Management Organization" acquired by the processing of step S33. Specifically, the organizational structure determination unit 23 searches for User B1 from the organizational information list acquired from the organizational information storage unit 32, extracts information of index "#3," and acquires "Organization B," which is an element of index "#3." This "Organization B" is the current organization to which User B1 belongs. Similarly, the organizational structure determination unit 23 acquires "Organization B" from the current organization information of User B2 and "Organization C" from the current organization information of User B3. The organizational structure determination unit 23 generates a "List of Current Organizations of Members of Previous Document Management Organization," which is a list of pairs of members and organizations acquired in this way. Then, the organizational structure determination unit 23 returns to the process of step S34.

[0041] 12 is a diagram showing an example of a list of current organizations to which members of a previous document management organization belong in the first embodiment of the present disclosure. Regarding "User B1," "User B2," and "User B3," who belonged to "Organization B" in revision "oRev.1" in FIG. 8, if the current revision is "oRev.2," then "User B1" and "User B2" belong to "Organization B," and "User B3" belongs to "Organization C." Therefore, the list of current organizations to which members of a previous document management organization belong is a list indicating that "User B1" and "User B2" belong to "Organization B," and "User B3" belongs to "Organization C," as shown in FIG. 12.

[0042] The management organization estimation unit 24 extracts organizations from the list of current organizations of the previous document management organization member as candidates for the newly set document management organization. For example, if the list of current organizations of the previous document management organization member is the list shown in Fig. 12, the management organization estimation unit 24 extracts "organization B" and "organization C" as candidates for the newly set document management organization.

[0043] (Process 4) Fig. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a fourth processing flow of the document management apparatus 20 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. Next, a fourth processing flow for setting a new document management organization and a document manager for a document stored in the document management apparatus 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 13. Here, an example will be described in which a new document management organization and a document manager are set for a document with document ID "DOC3" in the document management organization update target list shown in Fig. 10.

[0044] In the document management device 20, the management organization estimation unit 24 acquires (step S41) the list of current organizations to which members of the previous document management organization belong, which is generated by the processing of step S35 shown in Fig. 11. For example, the management organization estimation unit 24 acquires the information shown in Fig. 12 as the list of current organizations to which members of the previous document management organization belong for the document with document ID "DOC3" shown in Fig. 10.

[0045] Next, the management organization estimation unit 24 generates a list of new document management organizations and candidate document managers (step S42). This is performed by the following operation. The candidates for new document management organizations are the organizations in the list of current organizations to which members of the previous document management organization obtained in step S41 currently belong. This list of organizations is called the "candidate list of new document management organizations." Next, the candidates for new document managers are the current members of each organization in the candidate list of new document management organizations. This list of members is called the "candidate list of new document managers." To generate the candidate list of new document managers, the organizational structure determination unit 23 reads out information about the current organizations and members from the organizational information storage unit 32. Here, it is assumed that the current organizational structure and member information shown in the example of FIG. 5 has been read out. The management organization estimation unit 24 extracts information about each organization in the candidate list of new document management organizations from the information about the current organizational structure and members, and obtains information about the current members. The list of new document management organizations and their current members obtained in this way becomes the list of candidate new document management organizations and document managers. An example of this is the "organization" column and the "member" column in the list of new document management organizations and document manager candidates shown in FIG.

[0046] Next, the management organization estimation unit 24 adds information indicating whether the candidate belonged to the previous document management organization to the list of new document management organizations and document manager candidates (step S43). In this operation, the management information determination unit 22 first reads out management organization information set for the document being processed from the document attributes stored in the document attribute storage unit 31. This organization is called the "previous document management organization." Here, from the document attribute information shown in FIG. 2, "Organization B," which is the document management organization for document ID "DOC3," is read out as the "previous document management organization." Next, the organizational structure determination unit 23 reads out a list of members of the previous document management organization from the organizational structure history storage unit 33. Here, it is assumed that the list of members of "Organization B" has been read out from the information on the organizational structure and organizational members from one generation ago shown in the example of FIG. 6. In the example of FIG. 6, "User B1," "User B2," and "User B3" are read out as the list of members of the previous document management organization. If a member included in the list of members of the previous document management organization is included in the list of candidates for the new document management organization and document manager, the management organization estimation unit 24 adds information indicating whether the member was a member of the previous document management organization to the list of candidates for the new document management organization and document manager. An example of this is the "Members of previous document management organization" column in the list of candidates for the new document management organization and document manager shown in Figure 14.

[0047] Next, the management organization estimation unit 24 adds information indicating whether the previous document manager was the previous document manager to the list of new document management organizations and document manager candidates (step S44). In this operation, first, the management information determination unit 22 acquires the document manager of the document being processed from the document attribute storage unit 31. For example, if the document attribute information shown in FIG. 2 is stored in the document attribute storage unit 31, "User B3" is acquired as the document manager of document ID "DOC3". Next, if the previous document manager is included in the list of new document management organizations and document manager candidates, the management organization estimation unit 24 adds information indicating whether the previous document manager was the previous document manager to the list of new document management organizations and document manager candidates. An example of this is the "Previous Document Manager" column in the list of new document management organizations and document manager candidates shown in FIG. 14.

[0048] The management organization estimation unit 24 outputs the generated information to the document management unit 21, and the document management unit 21 presents candidates for a new document management organization and document manager to the system staff via the input / output unit 10 (step S45).

[0049] The system administrator sets a new document management organization and a document administrator from the presented candidates through the input / output unit 10 (step S46). For example, suppose the previous document administrator was "User B3," but User B3 was transferred and no longer served as an administrator. Also, assume that document "DOC3" is still a document managed by Organization B (i.e., a document management organization has already been set). In this case, the management organization estimation unit 24 presents the document management organization "Organization B." The system administrator may then select "Organization B" as the new document management organization and either "User B1" or "User B2," both of whom belong to Organization B, as the new document administrator. In this case, the document management system 1 sets "Organization B" as the new document management organization and either "User B1" or "User B2" as the new document administrator. It is also possible for the user to select a document administrator before selecting a new document management organization. If the management organization estimation unit 24 presents the document managers "User B1," "User B2," and "User B3," and the system administrator selects, for example, "User B3" as the new document manager, the document management system 1 sets the selected "User B3" as the new document manager, and, by referring to oRev.2 in Figure 8, sets "Organization C," to which "User B3" belongs, as the new document management organization.

[0050] Also, suppose that the previous document manager, "User B3," moves to "Organization C" while still in possession of the document with document ID "DOC3." In this case, by selecting "User B3" as the new document manager, the management organization estimation unit 24 identifies "Organization C," which is associated with "User B3," in the list of current organizations of members of the previous document management organization shown in Fig. 12. Then, the management organization estimation unit 24 sets the identified "Organization C" as the new document management organization.

[0051] As described above, the document management device 20 disclosed herein detects changes in organizational structure and organizational members, determines the need to update the document management organization and document manager for documents held by the document management device 20, extracts candidates for the newly set document management organization and document manager, and sets an appropriate document management organization and document manager.

[0052] The document management system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure has been described above. In the document management device 20, the management organization estimation unit 24 estimates the role of the organization based on the current and past characteristics of at least one of the organization and the members belonging to the organization, and identifies candidates for document management personnel based on the estimated role.

[0053] This will help determine who will be in charge of managing the documents when there is an organizational change.

[0054] Second Embodiment Next, a document management system 1 according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. In the document management system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure, the document management device 20 determines the role of an organization based on the characteristics of its members. An organization brings together people who fulfill the roles that the organization plays. Therefore, there is a correlation between the characteristics of an organization's members and the characteristics of the organization. Therefore, the characteristics of the organization can be extracted based on the characteristics of the organization's members. In other words, the role of an organization can be determined based on the characteristics of the organization's members.

[0055] A user's characteristics are assigned based on the work performed by the user himself / herself. This is realized by process 5, which will be described later, in which the characteristics set in a document are assigned to the user when the user operates the document. The user can change the characteristics set for himself / herself at any time. For example, the document management device 20 may have a function for editing user characteristics, and the user may change the user's characteristics using the editing function of the document management device 20.

[0056] It is assumed that information indicating document characteristics is set in advance in the document management device 20. The document characteristics correspond to the "XX" in "documents related to XX," and for example, in the case of "documents related to Windows" and "documents related to Linux (registered trademark)" operating systems, the document characteristics are "Windows" and "Linux." Also, in the case of "documents related to Java" and "documents related to Python" programming languages, the document characteristics are "Java" and "Python." Note that the information indicating document characteristics may be set, for example, when a new document is created, and may be updated at any time, such as when the document is updated.

[0057] (Document management system configuration) 15 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a document management system 1 according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. The document management system 1 according to the second embodiment differs from the document management system 1 according to the first embodiment in that it includes a management organization estimation unit 24X instead of the management organization estimation unit 24, a document attribute storage unit 31X instead of the document attribute storage unit 31, a user storage unit 34X instead of the user storage unit 34, and further includes a characteristic determination unit 25 (an example of a characteristic determination means).

[0058] The characteristic determination unit 25 assigns information indicating the document characteristics set in the document to the user who operated the document.The characteristic determination unit 25 also extracts the characteristics of the organization from the information indicating the characteristics of the organization's members.The characteristic determination unit 25 also extracts candidates for a new document manager from the information indicating the document characteristics and the information indicating the characteristics of the organization's members.

[0059] The management organization estimation unit 24X extracts new management organization candidates for the document based on information indicating the document characteristics, information indicating the user characteristics, and information indicating the organization characteristics extracted by the characteristic determination unit 25. The document attribute storage unit 31X has a function of storing information indicating the document characteristics. The user storage unit 34X has an additional function of storing information indicating the user characteristics and information indicating the user's proficiency with those characteristics.

[0060] Next, the processing performed by the document management system 1 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 8, 9, 13, and 15 to 31. In the document management system 1, the document management device 20 assigns information indicating characteristics to the user who performed the document operation (process 5), determines whether there has been a change in the organizational structure or the members of the organization (process 6), and, if there has been a change, determines whether the document manager and document management organization of each document held by the document management device need to be updated (process 7). Next, the document management device 20 extracts appropriate candidates for the new document management organization for documents whose document manager and document management organization need to be updated (process 8), extracts candidates for the new document manager (process 9), and updates the document management organization and document manager (process 10). Below, processes 5 to 10 performed by the document management device 20 will be described.

[0061] (Process 5) FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first processing flow of the document management apparatus 20 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. First, a process 5 executed by the document management apparatus 20 for assigning information indicating characteristics to a user when the user operates a document will be described with reference to FIG. 16. The characteristics set in the document operated by the user are assigned to the user as the user's characteristics. For example, a user who views a document in which "Windows" is set as the document characteristic is assigned the same characteristic as the document, "Windows." Next, a detailed description of process 5 will be given.

[0062] The user performs an operation to view a document on the input / output unit 10. The input / output unit 10 displays the document in response to the user's operation (step S51). For example, the input / output unit 10 displays a document held by the document management device 20 in response to the user's operation.

[0063] Furthermore, the property determination unit 25 acquires information indicating the property set for the operated document in response to the user's operation to view the document (step S52). FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of document information stored in the document attribute storage unit 31X of the document management system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Compared to the document information shown in FIG. 2 stored in the document attribute storage unit 31 according to the first embodiment, the document information illustrated in FIG. 17 includes an additional document attribute "Property." The document attribute "Property" stores information indicating the property of the document. In the example of document attributes illustrated in FIG. 17, "Property 1" and "Property 2" are set for the document with document ID "DOC1" as property information. Therefore, when the user operates the input / output unit 10 to view the document with document ID "DOC1," the property determination unit 25 acquires "Property 1" and "Property 2" as property information for the document "DOC1."

[0064] Next, the characteristic determination unit 25 updates the information indicating the user's characteristics (step S53). FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of user information stored in the user storage unit 34X of the document management system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. A list of users of the document management device 20 and "characteristics" and "characteristic scores" are stored as the user's attribute information. The "characteristics" in the attribute information stores information indicating the user's characteristics. The "characteristic score" indicates the user's proficiency in the characteristic, and a high characteristic score indicates that the user has a strong characteristic. For example, user 1 has "characteristic 1" as information indicating the characteristic, and a characteristic score of "45" is stored as the proficiency in that characteristic.

[0065] The proficiency level is updated when a user uses the system to perform an operation on a document. The system administrator can set the initial value of each user's proficiency level, but in this example, the initial value of the user's proficiency level is simply set to "0." The value added to the characteristic score when the user next operates on a document is assumed to be predefined by the system administrator and registered in the system.

[0066] FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the definition of a characteristic score to be assigned to a user when the user operates a document in the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Here, the characteristic score value to be added when the user operates a document is held. Here, it is assumed that "User A1" views document "DOC1." When the user views document "DOC1," "Characteristic 1" and "Characteristic 2," which are information indicating the characteristics of document "DOC1" acquired in the processing of step S51, are assigned to the user. The characteristic score assigned is "5" for "Document Viewing." FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of user information after document viewing in the second embodiment of the present disclosure. "5" has been added to the score of "Characteristic 1," information indicating the characteristic of "User A1," and "Characteristic 2" has been newly added. As described above, the information indicating the user's characteristics is updated in response to document operations.

[0067] (Process 6) Process 6 for determining whether or not there has been a change in the organizational structure is the same as process 1 for determining whether or not there has been a change in the organizational structure in the first embodiment. Therefore, a description of process 6 for determining whether or not there has been a change in the organizational structure will be omitted.

[0068] (Process 7) Process 7 for determining whether the document manager and document management organization need to be updated is the same as process 2 for determining whether the document manager and document management organization need to be updated in the first embodiment. Therefore, a description of process 7 for determining whether the document manager and document management organization need to be updated will be omitted.

[0069] (Process 8) Fig. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a second processing flow of the document management device 20 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Next, process 8 for extracting candidates for document management organizations to be set for each document stored in the document management device will be described with reference to Fig. 21. Process 8 for extracting candidates for document management organizations to be set for each document stored in the document management device determines the characteristics of an organization from information indicating the characteristics of the organization's members, and extracts candidates for new management organizations for the document using the information indicating the organization's characteristics.

[0070] For example, if an organization has a user who has "Windows" set as a characteristic, the organization can be said to have knowledge and know-how about "Windows," and therefore the organization is determined to have "Windows" as a characteristic.

[0071] In the document management device 20, the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires current organizational structure information and organizational member information from the organizational information storage unit 32 (step S61). For example, the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires the organizational structure and member information shown in FIG. 3 from the organizational information storage unit 32.

[0072] The characteristic determination unit 25 determines whether or not there is an unprocessed organization in the current organization information list acquired in the processing of step S61 (step S62). If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that there is no unprocessed organization in the current organization information list (NO in step S62), it terminates the processing. If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that there is an unprocessed organization in the current organization information list (YES in step S62), it acquires a list of members of the organization being processed (step S63). For example, when processing "Organization A," the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires "User A1" and "User A3" as a list of members from the organization information shown in FIG. 3.

[0073] Next, the characteristic determination unit 25 determines whether there are any unprocessed organization members (step S64). If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that there are no unprocessed organization members (NO in step S64), the process returns to step S62. If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that there are any unprocessed organization members (YES in step S64), the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires information indicating the characteristics of the user currently being processed from the user storage unit 34X (step S65). FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of user information of the document management device 20 stored in the user storage unit 34X according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. The user information stored in the user storage unit 34X illustrated in FIG. 22 includes, as user attribute information, "characteristics" indicating the user's characteristics and "characteristic scores" indicating the user's proficiency in the characteristics. In the case of the user information illustrated in FIG. 22, the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires "characteristic 1" and its characteristic score "50" and "characteristic 2" and its score "5" as information indicating the characteristics of the "user A1" currently being processed. Furthermore, the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires "characteristic 1" and its characteristic score "15", and "characteristic 2" and its score "50" as information indicating the characteristics of "user A3" currently being processed.

[0074] Next, the characteristic determination unit 25 adds the characteristic and characteristic score of the member currently being processed, acquired in the process of step S65, to the characteristic and characteristic score of the organization currently being processed (step S66).Then, the characteristic determination unit 25 returns to the process of step S64.

[0075] Through the processing of steps S64 to S66 by the characteristic determination unit 25 described above, the sum of the characteristics and characteristic scores of the members of an organization is extracted as information indicating the characteristics of that organization. FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of extracted information indicating the characteristics of each organization shown in FIG. 3. For example, the characteristic of "Organization A" shown in FIG. 3 is the sum of the characteristics of its members, "User A1" and "User A3," and the sum of the characteristic scores of "User A1" and "User A3," and thus "Character 1" and its score "65," and "Character 2" and its score "55" are extracted as in the example shown in FIG. 23. The characteristic determination unit 25 extracts information indicating the characteristics of all organizations and terminates the processing.

[0076] Fig. 24 is a diagram showing an example of a third processing flow of the document management device 20 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Next, process 8 for extracting candidates for a new document management organization for documents held by the document management device 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 24. Note that before process 8 shown in Fig. 24 is started, it is assumed that the management organization estimation unit 24X has already executed the process shown in Fig. 9 to generate a list of documents to be updated between the document management organization and the document manager (administrator update target document list). Note that the process shown in Fig. 9 has already been described in the first embodiment, so a description thereof will be omitted.

[0077] Fig. 25 is a diagram showing an example of a document list generated by the management organization estimation unit 24X according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure by executing the process shown in Fig. 9. The document list shown in Fig. 25 includes two documents with document IDs "DOC1" and "DOC3". Here, it is assumed that the document list shown in Fig. 25 has been generated as the administrator update target document list.

[0078] In the document management device 20, the management organization estimation unit 24X acquires the manager update target document list (step S71). Here, it is assumed that the management organization estimation unit 24X acquires the manager update target document list shown in FIG.

[0079] Next, the management organization estimation unit 24X determines whether there is an unprocessed document in the manager update target document list (step S72). If the management organization estimation unit 24X determines that there is no unprocessed document in the manager update target document list (NO in step S72), it terminates the process. If the management organization estimation unit 24X determines that there is an unprocessed document in the manager update target document list (YES in step S72), it acquires information indicating the characteristics set for the document being processed from the document attribute storage unit 31X (step S73). It is assumed here that the document information shown in FIG. 17 is stored in the document attribute storage unit 31X. Here, if a document with document ID "DOC1" is being processed, the management organization estimation unit 24X acquires "characteristic 1" and "characteristic 2" as information indicating the document characteristics.

[0080] The management organization estimation unit 24X determines whether the acquired information indicating characteristics includes any unprocessed characteristics (step S74). If the management organization estimation unit 24X determines that the acquired information indicating characteristics includes no unprocessed characteristics (NO in step S74), the process returns to step S72. If the management organization estimation unit 24X determines that the acquired information indicating characteristics includes any unprocessed characteristics (YES in step S74), the process extracts an organization having the same characteristics as the information indicating the characteristics of the document being processed (step S75). Then, the management organization estimation unit 24X returns to step S74.

[0081] 24, the management organization inference unit 24X extracts information indicating the characteristics of the organization shown in FIG. 23, for example. If "Characteristic 1" of the information indicating the characteristics of the document is currently being processed, "Organization A," "Organization B," and "Organization C," which are organizations having "Characteristic 1," are extracted. If "Characteristic 2" of the information indicating the characteristics of the document is currently being processed, "Organization A" and "Organization B," which are organizations having "Characteristic 2," are extracted. When the management organization inference unit 24X processes all the characteristics set in the document currently being processed, new candidates for the management organization of the document are extracted. FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of candidates for document management organizations obtained by extracting information indicating the characteristics of the organization for the document ID "DOC1" in the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0082] The management organization estimation unit 24X extracts new document management organization candidates for all manager update target documents in the processes of steps S72 to S75, and then ends the process. Fig. 27 is a diagram showing an example in which new document management organization candidates are extracted for the manager update target document list shown in Fig. 26. As shown in Fig. 27, in this example, "organization C" of document ID "DOC3" is extracted as a new document management organization candidate.

[0083] (Process 9) Fig. 28 is a diagram showing an example of a fourth process flow of the document management device 20 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Process 9 for extracting candidates for document managers to be set for each document stored in the document management device 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 28. Process 9 for extracting candidates for document managers extracts members who have information indicating the same characteristics as the characteristics set in a document from among the members of organizations that are candidates for new document management organizations extracted by executing the process shown in Fig. 24.

[0084] The processing flow shown in Fig. 28 is performed for each document in the list of documents to be updated by the administrator, which is generated by executing the processing flow shown in Fig. 9. Here, an example will be described in which the list of documents to be updated by the administrator, shown in Fig. 25, is generated and processing is performed on the document with document ID "DOC1" in that list.

[0085] In the document management device 20, the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires a list of new document management organization candidates extracted by executing the process shown in Fig. 24 (step S81). Here, since the document ID "DOC1" is the document to be processed, the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires information about "DOC1" from the document management organization candidate list shown in Fig. 27. In other words, the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires the document management organization candidates shown in Fig. 26.

[0086] Next, the characteristic determination unit 25 determines whether there is an unprocessed organization in the acquired list of organizations (step S82). If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that there is no unprocessed organization in the acquired list of organizations (NO in step S82), it ends the process. If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that there is an unprocessed organization in the acquired list of organizations (YES in step S82), it obtains a member list of the organization being processed from the organization information storage unit 32 (step S83).

[0087] Next, the characteristic determination unit 25 determines whether there is an unprocessed member in the acquired member list (step S84). If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that there is no unprocessed member in the acquired member list (NO in step S84), the process returns to step S82. If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that there is an unprocessed member in the acquired member list (YES in step S84), the characteristic determination unit 25 acquires information indicating the characteristics of the member being processed from the user storage unit 34X (step S85). It is assumed that the user information shown in FIG. 22 is stored in the user storage unit 34X. Here, for example, when processing "Organization A," which is a candidate for the document management organization of document ID "DOC1," the characteristic determination unit 25 executes the process of step S83 to acquire "User A1" and "User A3" as members of "Organization A." When the characteristic determination unit 25 is processing "User A1" in the processing of step S84, it acquires "Characteristic 1" and its characteristic score "50", and "Characteristic 2" and its characteristic score "5" as information indicating the characteristics of "User A1" in the processing of step S85.

[0088] Next, the characteristic determination unit 25 determines whether information indicating the characteristics of the member currently being processed is included in the information indicating the characteristics of the document (step S86). If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that the information indicating the characteristics of the member currently being processed is not included in the information indicating the characteristics of the document (NO in step S86), the process returns to step S84. If the characteristic determination unit 25 determines that the information indicating the characteristics of the member currently being processed is included in the information indicating the characteristics of the document (YES in step S86), the process adds the member currently being processed to the list of candidates for a new document manager of the document (step S87). Then, the characteristic determination unit 25 returns to the process of step S84.

[0089] For example, in the case of a document with document ID "DOC1" and belonging user "User A1," the information indicating the characteristics of "User A1" is "Characteristic 1" and "Characteristic 2." On the other hand, the information indicating the characteristics of document "DOC1" is "Characteristic 1" and "Characteristic 2" in the example shown in Figure 17. Therefore, since all of the information indicating the characteristics of user A1 is included in the information indicating the characteristics of document "DOC1," processing proceeds to step S87. Note that if the information indicating the characteristics of "User A1" were only "Characteristic 10," document "DOC1" would not have "Characteristic 10," and processing would return to step S84.

[0090] 29 is a diagram showing an example of a list of candidates for new document managers extracted for document "DOC1" in the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Here, for each candidate for new document management organization, a score is stored for the information indicating the characteristics set in the document being processed, among the information indicating the characteristics held by the candidate for new document manager and each candidate. By storing the score for the information indicating the characteristics set in the document, it becomes easier to determine the new document manager.

[0091] (Process 10) Fig. 30 is a diagram showing an example of a fifth processing flow of the document management apparatus 20 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Process 10 for setting a new document management organization and document manager for a document will be described with reference to Fig. 30. Here, an example will be described in which the document management organization and document manager of a document with document ID "DOC1" in the document management organization update target list shown in Fig. 25 are updated.

[0092] In the document management device 20, the management organization estimation unit 24X acquires a list of candidate document management organizations and document managers for the document being processed (step S91). Here, it is assumed that the list of candidate document management organizations and document managers shown in Fig. 29 is acquired for the document with document ID "DOC1".

[0093] The management organization estimation unit 24X acquires the document manager of the document being processed from the document attribute storage unit 31X (step S92). For example, if the document attributes shown in Fig. 17 are stored in the document attribute storage unit 31X, the management organization estimation unit 24X acquires "User A1" as the document manager of the document ID "DOC1".

[0094] Next, the management organization estimation unit 24X generates a list of new document management organizations and candidate document managers, and presents it to the system staff (step S93). Fig. 31 is a diagram showing an example of the list of new document management organizations and candidate document managers presented to the system staff in the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Here, candidate document managers are shown for each candidate new document management organization, and a score for information indicating the characteristics set in the document being processed, among the information indicating the characteristics held by each candidate, and whether or not the candidate is the current document manager are presented.

[0095] The management organization estimation unit 24X outputs the generated information to the document management unit 21, and the document management unit 21 presents the new document management organization and candidate document managers to the system staff via the input / output unit 10. The system administrator sets a new document management organization and document manager based on the presented organization, members, and characteristic scores (step S94).

[0096] As described above, the document management device 20 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure determines the role of an organization by extracting the characteristics of the organization from information indicating the characteristics of the organization's members. Then, for a document whose document manager and management organization need to be updated, the document management device 20 estimates and extracts candidates for a new document management organization based on the organization that should manage the document. The document management device 20 accomplishes this by extracting organizations that have the same characteristics as the document. This allows the document management device 20 to extract appropriate candidates for document management organizations and document managers without the system administrator being aware of the need, thereby assisting the system administrator in determining the document management organization and document manager.

[0097] The document management system 1 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure has been described above. In the document management device 20, the management organization estimation unit 24 estimates the role of the organization based on the current and past characteristics of at least one of the organization and the members belonging to the organization, and identifies candidates for document management personnel based on the estimated role.

[0098] This will help determine who will be in charge of managing the documents when there is an organizational change.

[0099] A document management device 20 with a minimum configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 32, the document management device 20 with the minimum configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an estimation unit 201 (an example of an estimation means) and an identification unit 202 (an example of a measurement means).

[0100] The estimation unit 201 estimates the role of an organization based on current and past characteristics of at least one of the organization and the members belonging to the organization. The identification unit 202 identifies candidates for document managers based on the role estimated by the estimation unit.

[0101] Next, the processing of the document management device 20 with a minimum configuration will be described with reference to Fig. 33. The estimation unit 201 estimates the role of the organization based on the current and past characteristics of at least one of the organization and the members belonging to the organization (step S101). The identification unit 202 identifies candidates for document management personnel based on the role estimated by the estimation unit (step S102).

[0102] This will help determine who will be in charge of managing the documents when there is an organizational change.

[0103] The order of the processes in the embodiments of the present invention may be changed as long as the processes are performed appropriately.

[0104] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described, the document management system 1, document management device 20, and other control devices may each include a computer device. The above-described processing steps are stored in the form of a program on a computer-readable recording medium, and the computer reads and executes this program to perform the above processing. Specific examples of computers are shown below. FIG. 34 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the configuration of a computer according to at least one embodiment. As shown in FIG. 34, the computer 5 includes a CPU 6 (including a processor), a main memory 7, a storage 8, and an interface 9. For example, the document management system 1, document management device 20, and other control devices described above are each implemented in a computer 5. The operations of the above-described processing units are stored in the form of a program in storage 8. CPU 6 reads the program from storage 8, loads it into main memory 7, and executes the above-described processing in accordance with the program. Furthermore, CPU 6 allocates storage areas in main memory 7 corresponding to the above-described storage units in accordance with the program.

[0105] Examples of storage 8 include a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc read-only memory (DVD-ROM), and a semiconductor memory. Storage 8 may be an internal medium directly connected to the bus of computer 5, or an external medium connected to computer 5 via interface 9 or a communication line. In addition, when this program is distributed to computer 5 via a communication line, computer 5 that receives the program may load the program into main memory 7 and execute the above-mentioned processing. In at least one embodiment, storage 8 is a non-transitory tangible storage medium.

[0106] The program may also implement some of the functions described above. Furthermore, the program may be a file that can implement the functions described above in combination with a program already stored in the computer device, a so-called differential file (differential program).

[0107] Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the invention. Various additions, omissions, substitutions, and modifications may be made to these embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0108] 1. Document Management System 5. Computer 6 CPU 7. Main memory 8. Storage 9. Interface 10...Input / output section 20. Document management device 21 Document Management Department 22...Management information judgment unit 23...Organizational Structure Determination Department 24, 24X... Management Organization Estimation Department 25. Characteristics determination section 30...Storage device 31, 31X...Document attribute storage section 32...Organization information storage unit 33. Organizational structure history storage section 34, 34X...User memory section

Claims

1. determining whether or not a document manager needs to be updated based on the current and past configuration of at least one of the organization and the members belonging to the organization; If it is determined that the document management person needs to be updated, a current role of the organization is estimated based on a past role of the organization; a processor for identifying a candidate for the current organization to take over management of a document that is one of the past roles of the organization based on the estimated current role of the organization; A document management device comprising:

2. The processor: determining an organization that will take over the management responsibility for the document from among the current candidate organizations based on the identified current candidate organizations and the members of the identified current candidate organizations; The document management device according to claim 1 .

3. The processor: determining an organization to take over the management of the document from among the current candidate organizations based on a score indicating the proficiency level of the characteristics of the members of each of the identified candidate organizations; The document management device according to claim 2 .

4. The processor determining whether or not a change of the person in charge of managing the document in the current organization is necessary based on whether or not the organization set for the document is included in the current organizational structure; The document management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The processor: Identifying the characteristics of the member according to the characteristics set in the document operated by the member; Predicting a new manager of the document in the current organization based on the identified characteristics of the person in charge. The document management device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. The document management device according to any one of claims 1 to 5; a storage device for storing the document; A document management system comprising:

7. A processing method executed by a document management device having a processor, comprising: The processor determines whether a document manager needs to be updated based on current and past configurations of at least one of an organization and members belonging to the organization; If the processor determines that the document manager needs to be updated, estimating a current organizational role based on past organizational roles; Identifying a candidate for the current organization to take over management of a document that is one of the past organizational roles based on the estimated current organizational role by the processor; A document management method including:

8. A computer of a document management device having a processor, determining whether or not a document manager needs to be updated based on the current and past configuration of at least one of the organization and the members belonging to the organization; If the processor determines that the document manager needs to be updated, estimating a current organizational role based on past organizational roles; Identifying a candidate for the current organization to take over document management responsibility, which is one of the past roles of the organization, based on the estimated current role of the organization; A program that executes the following.

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