Payroll advance service equipment

Abstract

To provide a payroll advance payment service device that enables employees to use the payroll advance payment service fairly. [Solution] A salary advance service device (10) that enables advance payments of regular salaries to employees from an employer's account, comprising a communication unit (13) that communicates with an employer terminal (20) and an employee terminal (30), a memory unit (12) that stores employee information, contract information, and user information, a device that sets the receivable balance, which is the total amount of the advance payment, from wages calculated based on the employee's attendance information, notifies the accessing employee terminal of the receivable balance, transfers the amount of the advance payment specified by the employee terminal, the fee in the contract information, and an amount set based on the fee bearer, from the employer's account to the employee's account, updating the receivable balance, and if the balance in the employer's account is less than the account balance warning amount included in the contract information, notifies the employer terminal of the insufficient account balance.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a payroll advance service device. [Background technology]

[0002] Services known as "payroll advance services" that allow employees of companies and other organizations to receive their salaries before the payday designated by the company are offered by service providers such as payment agents. In these payroll advance services, the service provider advances the amount of the advance salary on behalf of the employer and transfers it to the employee's account. The service provider then bills the employer for the advance payment at a later date. The following Patent Documents 1 to 3 describe computer systems for implementing payroll advance services. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6249506 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6349450 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2023-104404 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the computer systems described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the service provider advances the payment to the employee, and therefore sets an upper limit for usage within a specified period (e.g., one month) for each company. Therefore, if the usage limit is exceeded, the employee cannot use the service. In other words, if an employee needs to make a prepayment due to unexpected expenses after exceeding the usage limit, the employee cannot use the service.

[0005] The technology described in Patent Document 3 limits the number of users of the salary advance service within a specified period by the service provider, for each company, by setting the number of users based on, for example, the company's employees or employment category (full-time employee, part-time employee, etc.). This prevents the number of users from exceeding the usage limit. However, with the technology described in Patent Document 3, whether or not the service can be used varies from employee to employee, which lacks fairness among employees.

[0006] As such, it is difficult for the salary advance payment services described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 to be used fairly by all employees. For example, each employee has a different lifestyle (family structure, rent, utility costs, etc.), and so even if they receive the same salary, their need for the service may differ. Also, unexpected expenses may temporarily increase the need for the salary advance payment service.

[0007] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a payroll advance payment service device that allows employees to use the payroll advance payment service fairly. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] To achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention is a payroll advance payment service device that is configured by a computer system installed on a communication network and managed by a financial institution, and that enables a portion of a payroll that is paid periodically to an employee to be paid as an advance payment prior to the payday from an employer's account opened at the financial institution, The device includes a control unit, a communication unit, and a storage unit, the communication unit communicates with an employer terminal and an employee terminal; The storage unit, employee information, including employer identification information, employee identification information, employee personal information, and employee account information; contract information including the employer identification information, employer account information, the upper limit of the advance payment amount per employee, the closing date of payroll calculation, fees, the payer of the fees, and an account balance warning amount that specifies the minimum balance of the employee's account opened with the financial institution; User information for the employee who will be a user of the salary advance service, including the employer identification information, the employee identification information, the personal information, and account information; Remember, The control unit Calculating the employee's wages up to the present based on the employee's attendance information uploaded from the employer terminal from the calculation start date based on the closing date of the payroll calculation to the closing date; Based on the calculated labor wage, a receivable balance is set, which is the total amount of the advance payment that the employee can currently receive for a predetermined period of time; the account information received from the accessed employee terminal is compared with the employee information to identify the employee, and the receivable balance for the employee is notified to the employee terminal; When the amount of the advance payment that is less than the upper limit of the amount of receipt is designated by the employee terminal, the amount set based on the amount of the advance payment, the fee, and the person who bears the payment is sent to the employer. of Transfer the amount from the account to the employee's account and update the receivable balance, The balance of the employee's account is monitored, and if the balance falls below the account balance warning amount, a warning is sent to the employee's terminal to warn that the account balance is insufficient. death , If the employee's account is opened at the same financial institution as the employer's account, the system acquires the transaction status of the employee's account during a predetermined period in the past, calculates the employee's projected account balance at the time a predetermined period has elapsed from the present time, and displays on the employee's terminal that has accessed the system the minimum projected account balance at the time the predetermined period has elapsed from the time of the access. , It is a payroll advance service device.

[0010] Furthermore, the payroll advance payment service device may estimate future transaction amounts and transaction dates for the employee's account from the present time until the end of the specified period based on the transaction status of the employee's account acquired during the past specified period, for each summary item, and send transaction schedule information including transaction details from the time of access until the end of the specified period to the employee terminal that has accessed the device.

[0011] The salary advance payment service device may also be configured such that, upon receiving an instruction to modify some or all of the transaction details included in the transaction schedule information or an instruction to add new transaction details from the employee terminal that transmitted the transaction schedule information, the device modifies the transaction schedule information based on the instruction and transmits the modified transaction schedule information to the employee terminal.

[0012] The salary advance service device may be any of those described above, in which the contract information includes information that can be specified by the employer terminal and specifies the ratio of the receivable balance to the labor wage, and the amount obtained by multiplying the labor wage by the ratio is set as the receivable balance. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] According to the present invention, a payroll advance payment service device is provided that allows employees to use the payroll advance payment service fairly. Other advantages will be made clear in the following description. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a network configuration including a salary advance payment service device according to an embodiment. [Figure 2A] 10 is a diagram showing the contents of employee information managed by the salary advance payment service device. FIG. [Figure 2B] 10 is a diagram showing the contents of contract information managed by the salary advance payment service device. FIG. [Figure 2C] 10 is a diagram showing the contents of user information managed by the salary advance payment service device. FIG. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an upload setting screen displayed on an employer terminal included in the network configuration. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a list screen of contract information displayed on the employer terminal. [Figure 5A] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a login screen displayed by a user terminal included in the above network configuration. [Figure 5B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a usage application screen displayed on the user terminal. [Figure 5C] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a usage registration screen displayed on the user terminal. [Figure 5D] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an identity verification screen displayed on the user terminal. [Figure 6] 10 is a diagram showing the contents of the attendance information uploaded by the employer terminal to the salary advance payment service device. FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the procedure for implementing a salary advance payment service performed by a salary advance payment service device. [Figure 8A] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the home screen of the salary advance service displayed on the user terminal during the implementation of the salary advance service. [Figure 8B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an advance payment application screen displayed on the user terminal during the implementation of the salary advance payment service. [Figure 8C] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an advance payment application screen displayed on the user terminal during the implementation of the salary advance payment service. [Figure 9A] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a home screen displayed on the user terminal by the employee account prediction function of the salary advance payment service device. [Figure 9B] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a forecast details list screen displayed on the user terminal by the employee account forecasting function. [Figure 9C] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a forecast details editing screen displayed on the user terminal by the employee account forecasting function. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings used in the following description, the same or similar parts are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant explanations may be omitted. If a part designated by a reference numeral in one drawing is unnecessary, the same reference numeral may not be designated in other drawings. ===Example=== The salary advance payment service device (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the "service device") according to the embodiment is a computer system managed by a financial institution such as a bank, and an account (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the "employee account") of an employer of a company or the like is opened at this financial institution. An account (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the "employee account") of an employee may be opened at another financial institution. The service device then executes a process of transferring a salary advance payment from the employer account to the employee account based on the content of information communication between an information processing terminal (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the "user terminal") operated by an employee (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the "user") and an information processing terminal (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the "employee terminal") operated by a person in charge of the salary advance payment service (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the "advance payment service") at the employer side. <Network configuration> Below, we will take an example in which an employee belonging to a company (employer) uses a prepaid service using a service device according to an embodiment, and explain the configuration of the service device, the communication procedures between each information processing terminal in the process of providing the prepaid service, and the content of information processing at each information processing terminal. FIG. 1 shows an outline of a network configuration including a service device 10 according to an embodiment. FIG. 1 also shows a schematic configuration of the service device 10 according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the service device 10 according to the embodiment, an employee terminal 20, and a user terminal 30 are connected to the Internet 100.

[0016] The service device 10 is a computer system that functions as a server device, and has, for example, a front end as a web server and a back end that processes various information obtained through data communication via the front end with external information processing terminals such as the employer terminal 20 and the user terminal 30, and also works in conjunction with the well-known nationwide bank data communication system (Zengin System) to transfer advance payments from the employer's account to the employee's account.

[0017] The hardware of the service device 10 mainly comprises a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication unit 13. The control unit 11 is, for example, a computer main body including a CPU, RAM, and ROM, and the storage unit 12 is a large-capacity storage device (SSD, HDD, etc.). The communication unit 13 is a communication interface that complies with a predetermined standard (such as the IEEE 802.11 standard).

[0018] The memory unit 12 stores various information necessary for implementing the prepaid service, as well as various programs executed by the control unit 11. The communication unit 13 mediates data communication between the control unit 11 and external computers such as the employer terminal 20 and the user terminal 30 via the Internet 100. It also connects to an IP telephone network and answers calls from external telephones. The control unit 11 manages the various information stored in the memory unit 12 using a database function, executes predetermined programs read from the memory unit 12, processes information obtained through communication with the employer terminal 20 and the user terminal 30, and updates the information in the memory unit 12 as needed, thereby implementing the prepaid service. The employer terminal 20 can be configured as an information processing terminal such as a personal computer (PC), on which dedicated software (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a "management app") is installed to perform information processing related to the prepayment service. For example, the employer terminal 20 uses the management app to convert files such as employee list files created by the employer and attendance information files output by previously used attendance management software into file formats that can be processed by the service device 10, set the implementation conditions of the prepayment service for the service device 10, and display the implementation status of the prepayment service so that it can be viewed.

[0019] The user terminal 30 is an information processing terminal such as a smartphone installed with application software (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "usage app") for employees to use the prepayment service, or a PC equipped with a browser. If the user terminal 30 is a smartphone, the usage app can be configured, for example, as a dedicated browser with a user interface suitable for using the prepayment service. For employees who use a PC as the user terminal 30, the financial institution can simply set up a website on the Internet 100 for using the prepayment service. This allows employees to use the prepayment service via the website accessed using the PC's browser.

[0020] In the following, unless otherwise specified, the employer terminal 20 is a PC on which the management app is running, and the user terminal 30 is a smartphone on which the usage app is running. <Preparing for the implementation of the salary advance service> Next, the procedure for implementing the prepayment service by the service device 10, the flow of data communication and the contents of information processing among the service device 10, the employer terminal 20, and the user terminal 30 during the process of implementing the prepayment service, etc. will be described.

[0021] First, prior to providing the prepaid service, the service device 10 executes a process of registering basic information required for providing the prepaid service. That is, the control unit 11 of the service device 10 stores various pieces of information required for providing the prepaid service as basic information in the storage unit 12 for each employer and employee, and manages the basic information using a database function.

[0022] Figures 2A to 2C show the basic information registered in the service device 10. Figure 2A is an outline of information about employees (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as "employee information"), and Figure 2B is an outline of information about the prepayment service usage contract between the financial institution and the employer (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as "contract information"), which summarizes the implementation guidelines and settings for the prepayment service. Finally, Figure 2C is an outline of information that employees register in the service device using a user terminal (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as "user information").

[0023] As shown in Figure 2A, employee information is, for example, a company number for identifying the employer (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "company"), an employee number for identifying each employee, each item of personal information (name, date of birth, telephone number), and information (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "employee account information") relating to the employee's account into which the salary is transferred (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "employee account").The service device 10 has registered employee information for all employees who are eligible for the prepayment service at companies that provide the prepayment service.

[0024] The content of the employee information is generally included in an employee list that lists various pieces of information about the company's employees and is created by the company using a spreadsheet program or the like. Therefore, in this embodiment, the employer terminal 20 is equipped with a function for converting the employee list file created by the company into a format that can be read by the service device 10. For example, if the company has a file in a predetermined format (e.g., CSV format) corresponding to a list of personal information for each employee, data for predetermined items (employee number, employee name, date of birth, telephone number, employee account information (financial code, branch number, account code, account number)) is entered in predetermined columns. Therefore, the company's staff member can specify in the employer terminal 20 which column each item is entered. This allows the employee list created by the company to be uploaded to the service device 10. When the employer terminal 20 logs in based on account information, the service device 10, for example, identifies the corresponding company number based on the account information and associates various pieces of information uploaded from the employer terminal 20, including employee information, with the corresponding company number.

[0025] 3 shows an upload setting screen 40 for specifying the correspondence between each item of employee information displayed on the employer terminal 20. Here, an example is given in which the company's file and the file uploaded to the service device 10 are both in CSV format, and as shown in FIG. 3, the upload setting screen 40 has an input field 41 for specifying the column number in which each item is entered in the company's file.

[0026] The employer terminal 20 then creates a new CSV file by re-entering each item into a predetermined column based on the column number of each item in the company's employee list file specified on the upload setting screen 40, and uploads the file to the service device 10. Of course, the correspondence between the input columns of each of the above items may be stored in the service device 10 in advance, and the employer terminal 20 may simply upload the employer's employee list file to the service device 10, and the service device 10 may create a file of employee information based on the correspondence between the input columns of each item that has already been stored. The employee information registered in the service device 10 can be viewed on the customer terminal 20.

[0027] The contract information includes information about the company (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "company information") and various setting information for defining how the prepayment service is implemented. Note that some or all of the contract information may be predefined or set in advance through prior consultation between the employer and the financial institution, or may be set and uploaded using the employer terminal 20 in the same way as employee information. In this embodiment, some of the initially set contract information can be changed using the employer terminal.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 2B , the company information in the contract information includes, for example, the company number, company address, telephone number, and business details, as well as contact information such as the name and email address of the company's contact person for the prepayment service, account information such as an ID and password for the employee's terminal to log in to the service device, and employee account information for identifying the employee's account. The setting information in the contract information includes, for example, the usage fee paid to the financial institution each time an employee uses the prepayment service, the person responsible for paying the usage fee, the company's payroll closing date, the maximum total amount that can be prepaid to one employee from the previous payday to the next payday (total receipt limit), and the minimum and maximum prepayment amounts per employee (minimum and maximum receipt limit). Furthermore, in this embodiment, the setting information also includes an account balance warning amount, which is a minimum account balance limit to prevent insufficient funds in the employee's account. Information processing using the account balance warning amount registered in the service device 10 will be described later.

[0029] Figure 4 shows an overview of the contract information screen that is displayed on employer terminal 20 when the person in charge confirms or changes the contract information. As shown in Figure 4, a "Change" button 51 is attached to the display position of some of the contract information that is displayed as a list, allowing the person in charge to instruct the change. When the person in charge instructs this "Change" button 51 on employer terminal 20, employer terminal 20 displays a screen for changing the settings of the instructed item.

[0030] On the other hand, for employees, after their employers register employee information and contract information in the service device 10, they apply to use the prepaid service on their own user terminal 30. The service device 10 registers the information received from the user terminal at the time of this application as user information in its database. As shown in FIG. 2C , the user information includes, for example, the company number of the company to which the employee belongs, the employee number, personal information similar to the personal information in the employee information previously registered by the company (name, date of birth, telephone number), and account information (email address, password, etc.) for allowing the user terminal to access the service device when using the prepaid service.

[0031] 5A to 5D show the transition states of screens displayed on the user terminal 30 when an employee applies to use the prepaid service. It is assumed here that when the employee first launches the application to be used on the user terminal 30, the employee goes through well-known identity verification such as email authentication or SMS authentication and registers their own account information, such as an email address and password, in the service device 10. Below, the procedure for applying to use the prepaid service using the user terminal 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A to 5D.

[0032] 5A, the employee first displays a login screen 60a including input fields (61a, 62a) for an email address and a password, which are account information already registered, on the user terminal 30. When the employee inputs necessary information into the predetermined input fields (61a, 62a) on the login screen 60a and selects the "Login" button 63a on the screen 60a, the user terminal 30 transmits the account information and information instructing login to the service device 10, and the service device 10 logs in the user terminal 30, and maintains a subsequent session with the user terminal 30 using a cookie or the like.

[0033] When the user terminal 30 logs in, the service device 10 returns to the user terminal 30 an HTML document that serves as the source for generating a usage application screen for applying for registration to use the prepaid service. As a result, the usage application screen 60b shown in Fig. 5B is displayed on the user terminal 30. As shown in Fig. 5B, the usage application screen 60b displays a notice 61b for registering and a "Apply for usage registration" button 62b.

[0034] Next, when the employee selects the "Apply for User Registration" button 62b on the user application screen 60b on the user terminal 30, a user registration screen 60c for inputting various information required to use the prepaid service shown in Fig. 5C is displayed. In the example shown, the user registration screen includes input fields (61c to 64c) for the company number to which the employee belongs, the employee's own employee number, name, and date of birth.

[0035] When the employee enters the required information in the predetermined input fields (61c to 64c) on the usage registration screen 60c and selects the "Next" button 65c on this screen, the employee's phone number is obtained from the employee information corresponding to the company number entered on the usage registration screen 60c, and an identity verification screen 60d showing the procedure for identity verification, known as "phone number authentication" or the like, is displayed on the user terminal 30, as shown in Fig. 5D. Here, it is assumed that the phone number of the user terminal 30, which is a smartphone, is the phone number registered by the employer in the service device 10 as the employee information.

[0036] Then, when the employee selects the "Make a call" button 61d on the identity verification screen 60d, the user terminal 30 makes a call to the telephone number of the service device 10. When a call is received from the user terminal 30, if the caller's telephone number of the call matches the telephone number previously acquired from the employee information, the service device 10 determines that the caller's telephone number is that of a legitimate employee and registers the employee as a user of the prepaid service. The process of registering an employee as a user of the prepaid service may, for example, be performed by associating a code or the like indicating that the employee is a user of the prepaid service with the employee number of the employee.

[0037] Furthermore, once an employee is registered as a user of the prepayment service on the service device 10, when the employee information is subsequently displayed on the employer terminal 20, it will be shown that the employee is a user of the prepayment service, and the company will be able to confirm which employees have registered to use the prepayment service. In this way, the prepayment service is ready to be implemented, with the financial institution, company, and employee as the parties involved. <Procedure for implementing salary advance service> Next, we will explain the specific implementation procedure for the advance payment service. As mentioned above, once preparations for implementing the advance payment service are complete, the company sequentially uploads the attendance information for each employee, which is updated as needed by a time card-based attendance management system or the like, to the service device 10 via the employer terminal 20. As with employee information, for the attendance information, the input position (column number, etc.) for each item in a file of a predetermined format output by the company's attendance management system is specified in advance to the employer terminal 20, and the employer terminal 20 converts the attendance information created by the company into attendance information that can be processed by the service device 10 and uploads it.

[0038] FIG. 6 shows an overview of the attendance information uploaded by the employer terminal 20. As shown in FIG. 6, the attendance information associates the company number, employee information, and actual work information corresponding to the wages at the time the attendance information was uploaded. The actual work information includes payroll calculation rules and payroll calculation information, which is information necessary for payroll calculation. The service device 10 according to the embodiment supports three different calculation rules. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the payroll calculation rules are set to be amount type, hourly wage × working hours type, and hourly wage master × working hours type. Furthermore, salaries are paid monthly.

[0039] In the monetary type payroll calculation rule, the payroll calculation information includes the working days and the amount (daily wage), while in the hourly wage x working hours type, the working days, working hours, and hourly wage are included. The hourly wage master x working hours type payroll calculation rule corresponds to the case where the hourly wage and working hours are treated as separate files in the company's attendance system, and the employer terminal 20 first uploads the hourly wage as one piece of attendance information, and then uploads the working days and working hours. When the payroll calculation rule is the hourly wage master x working hours type, the service device 10 calculates the payroll by multiplying the separately uploaded hourly wage and working hours, just as in the hourly wage x working hours type.

[0040] Figure 7 is a diagram showing the procedure for implementing the prepayment service, and Figure 7 shows the procedure for data communication between the service device 10, employer terminal 20, and user terminal 30 during the implementation of the prepayment service, as well as the flow of information processing in the service device 10 and each terminal (20, 30). Figures 8A to 8C also show an outline of the screens displayed on the user terminal 30 as the prepayment service is implemented. The procedure for implementing the prepayment service will be explained below with reference to Figures 7 and 8A to 8C.

[0041] With the advance payment service, employees can receive an advance payment from their next paycheck during the advance payment period, which is, for example, the period from the most recent payday to the next payday. The service device 10 calculates and updates the maximum total amount of advance payments (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the "receivable balance") that can be received during the advance payment period for each employee based on attendance information uploaded from the employer terminal 20 as needed and the employee's use of the advance payment service. When the employer terminal 20 uploads attendance information (s21), the service device 10 receives the attendance information and calculates the receivable balance for each employee from the starting date of payroll calculation to the present (s1). For a monetary-based employee, the receivable balance is calculated by multiplying the number of days worked from the salary calculation base date to the present by the daily wage, based on the work days in the uploaded attendance information, minus the amount of salary already paid in advance during the same advance payment period. In this way, each employee's receivable balance is updated as needed.

[0042] Note that the receivable balance is updated according to the actual work performance during the period from the start date of the payroll calculation to the closing date, but work performance after the closing date is, for example, included in the receivable balance for the next receivable period. As an example, if the payday is the 10th of each month and the closing date of the payroll calculation is the 25th of each month, the start date of the payroll calculation will be the 26th of each month, and if the advance payment application is made before the next closing date of the payroll calculation, the service device 10 will determine the receivable balance based on the wages worked from the previous start date of the 26th to the present. If the application is made after the closing date of the next payroll calculation but before the next payroll payment date, the upper limit of the receivable amount will be determined based on the confirmed salary amount for the next month.

[0043] Meanwhile, when an employee registered as a user of the prepaid service inputs account information into the login screen 60a of the user terminal 30, similar to that shown in FIG. 5A, and transmits the input information to the service device 10 (s31), the service device 10 performs an authentication procedure based on the transmitted account information (s2). If the authentication is successful, the service device 10 obtains the receivable balance of the employee based on the user information linked to the account information (s2: YES → s3). Then, the service device 10 generates home screen information that serves as the basis for generating the home screen 70a of the prepaid service, as shown in FIG. 8A, and transmits this home screen information to the user terminal 30 (s4). As a result, the home screen 70a is displayed on the user terminal 30 (s32).

[0044] The home screen 70a displayed on the user terminal 30 displays the current receivable balance 71a and a "Request advance payment" button 72a, which instructs the user to make an advance payment. When this button 72a is pressed (s33), the service device 10 returns to the user terminal 30 advance payment application screen information, which is the source of the generation of the advance payment application screen 70b, which includes the receivable balance 71b, the maximum advance payment amount that can be received this time 72b, an input field 73b for the desired amount to be received, and a "Receive" button 74b, which instructs the user to receive the desired amount, as shown in Figure 8B (s5).

[0045] An advance payment application screen 70b is displayed on the user terminal 30 (s34). When the employee enters the desired amount of receipt in the input field 73b on this screen 70b and selects the "Receive" button 74b (s35), the amount of receipt and an advance payment instruction for that amount are transmitted to the service device 10. The service device 10 then executes a process to transfer the received advance payment, minus a handling fee, from the company's account to the employee's account (s6). If the employee's account is with a financial institution other than the one managing the service device 10, the advance payment is transferred to the employee's account via the Zengin System. The handling fee is transferred to a designated account managed by the financial institution. After the service device 10 has executed the account transfer process, it transmits account transfer confirmation screen information, which is the source of the account transfer confirmation screen 70c shown in FIG. 8C, to the user terminal 30 as a notification of the execution of the account transfer process (s7), and the user terminal 30 displays the account transfer confirmation screen 70c (s36). In addition, the service device 10 updates the receivable balance of the employee by subtracting the amount to be received this time from the previously acquired receivable balance of the employee (s8).

[0046] The above is the basic procedure for implementing the prepayment service. The service device 10 according to the embodiment has a function that allows employees to use the prepayment service more fairly by taking advantage of the fact that the customer's account is managed by the financial institution where the customer's account is opened. This function is described below. <Employer account balance warning function> The service device 10 according to the embodiment is configured as a computer system managed by the financial institution where the customer's account is opened, and is therefore capable of monitoring the balance of the customer's account. Therefore, the service device 10 according to the embodiment checks the balance of the customer's account, for example, each time an employee uses a prepayment service, and if the balance falls below the account balance warning amount set in the contract information (s9: YES), it sends an account balance warning notice to the customer's terminal (s10). The employee's terminal 20 displays the account balance warning notice and its contents upon startup (s22). The service device 10 also sends the account balance warning notice to the employee's terminal 20 and an email containing the contents of the notice to the email address of the company's responsible person. In this embodiment, the account balance warning amount, which is the condition for issuing an account balance warning notice, is the same as the maximum payment amount per employee (e.g., 100,000 yen), so that even if an employee makes an advance payment of the maximum amount they can receive in one go, the balance of the employee's account will never become negative.

[0047] Thus, by providing the service device 10 with an employee account balance warning function, a company that receives an account balance warning notice can prevent a customer account from running out of funds by quickly increasing the balance. In other words, the prepayment service provided by the service device 10 according to the embodiment prevents a customer account from going into the negative and becoming unable to provide the prepayment service. There is essentially no upper limit on the company's usage limit for a specified period, such as a month. Therefore, the usage limit is not used up, limiting the number of employees who can use the prepayment service, and all employees can use the prepayment service fairly. When the service device 10 sends an account balance warning notice, it temporarily suspends the prepayment service until the corresponding employee account balance reaches or exceeds the minimum amount set in the contract information. The service device 10 can display this information on the home screen or other screen of a user device that accessed the service during the suspension period. Then, once the employee's account is credited, the prepayment service can be resumed. <Employee account forecast function> Employees can use the basic functions of the prepayment service described above even if their employee accounts are not opened at the financial institution that manages the service device 10. However, some companies may specify a financial institution to which employees will have their salaries transferred. Also, some employees may have previously opened an account at the same financial institution as their employer's account. Therefore, the service device 10 according to the embodiment is equipped with an employee account prediction function that monitors the transaction status of the employee account and displays, on the user terminal 30, the predicted changes in the account balance from the present time until a predetermined period of time has elapsed, if the employee account is opened at the same financial institution as the employer's account. The employee account prediction function is described below.

[0048] The service device 10 sets a predetermined period of time (e.g., one month) from the current time as the employee account monitoring period and constantly monitors the transaction status of the employee account during that monitoring period. The service device 10 then acquires the transaction amounts and summary items related to deposits and payments during the monitoring period up to the current time as account transaction information, and predicts, for example, the balance trend from the current time to a predetermined period of time (e.g., one month) later. For example, the service device 10 subtracts from the current account balance the payment amount for the same summary items as the previous time but that have not yet been paid. Of course, for the salary to be paid on the next payday, the amount is added to the next payday. The amount of the next salary can be calculated based on the attendance information up to the current time and the amount of the advance payment made through the advance payment service. When the user terminal 30 accesses the service device 10, the service device 10 generates predicted balance information including the minimum amount and trends of the employee account balance until a specified period has elapsed based on the balance of the employee account at that time and the account transaction information from the most recent monitoring period, and sends home screen generation information reflecting the contents of the predicted balance information to the user terminal 30.

[0049] 9A to 9C show screens (80a to 80c) that the service device 10 displays on the user terminal 30 using the employee account prediction function. When the user terminal 30 is started, as shown in FIG. 9A, a home screen 80a of the application in use displays the current employee account balance 81a, an expected minimum balance 82a, which is the minimum expected balance for a predetermined period of time (e.g., one month from now), and a graph 83a showing the progress of the expected balance from the current balance until the predetermined period of time. Also included on screen 80a are a link 84a for calling up a balance forecast details screen 80b shown in FIG. 9B, which lists the details of transactions from the monitoring period until the predetermined period of time, and a "Request Advance Payment" button 85a for instructing the user to receive an advance payment.

[0050] Here, selecting the "Apply for Advance Payment" button 85a on the home screen 80a displays the Advance Payment Application screen 70b shown in FIG. 8B. Selecting the link 84a to the above-mentioned Balance Forecast Details screen 80b displays the Balance Forecast Details screen 80b, as shown in FIG. 9B. This screen displays not only the current employee account balance 81b and the expected minimum balance 82b, but also the expected transaction dates 83b for future transactions, summary items 84b for each transaction date 83b, and transaction amounts 85b, as details for the period from the present to the end of the specified period. By scrolling the Balance Forecast Details screen 80b to the past (upward in the figure), details of past transactions that occurred during the monitoring period can be viewed.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 9B, the balance forecast detail screen 80b displays an "Add" button 88b for adding a summary item 84b. Each transaction field includes a pencil icon 86b for editing the payment amount and summary items, and a trash can icon 87b for deleting the transaction itself. Selecting the pencil icon 86b for a transaction displays the forecast detail editing screen 80c shown in FIG. 9C. As shown in FIG. 9C, the forecast detail editing screen 80c includes transaction type selection buttons (81c, 82c) for selecting the type (payment or deposit) of the transaction corresponding to the pencil icon 86b selected on the balance forecast detail screen 80b, an input field 83c for the expected transaction date, an input field 84c for the summary item, an input field 85c for the transaction amount, and a "Save" button 86c. Furthermore, the details of the transaction selected on the balance forecast detail screen 80b are reflected in the selection state of the transaction type selection buttons (81c, 82c) and each input field (83c-85c) on the forecast detail editing screen 80c. The employee can then change the details entered in each input field (83c-85c) on the forecast detail editing screen 80c as needed, as well as the transaction type. On the other hand, when the "Add" icon 88b on the balance forecast detail screen 80b is selected, the forecast detail editing screen 80c is displayed with each field (83c-85c) blank. When the "Save" button 86c on the forecast detail editing screen 80c is selected on the user terminal 30, the information and type entered in each field (83c-85c) on the screen 80c are sent to the service device 10, and the service device 10 updates the forecast balance information based on the information sent.

[0052] In this way, when an employee and an employer have opened an account at the financial institution that manages the service device 10 according to the embodiment, the service device 10 can display the employee account balance trends for a predetermined period on the user terminal 30, allowing the employee to objectively recognize their own need for the prepayment service. This is expected to reduce the use of unnecessary prepayment services. For example, the above-mentioned employee account balance warning function reduces the frequency of temporary suspension of the prepayment service when the employee's account is about to run short, allowing employees who need the prepayment service to use it more reliably. ===Other Examples=== Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the above embodiment has been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to an embodiment having all of the described configurations. Part of the configuration of the embodiment can be added to, deleted from, or replaced with other configurations.

[0053] For example, in the above embodiment, the receivable balance, which is the total amount of advance payments that an employee can receive between the preceding and following paydays, is an amount equivalent to the current wages based on attendance information, as long as it is equal to or less than the upper limit set by the company in the contract information. However, in cases where tax is withheld from the salary, the upper limit may be set to an amount obtained by multiplying the current wages based on attendance information by a predetermined percentage (e.g., 70%). Of course, this percentage may be set on the employer terminal 20.

[0054] In the above example, we have used an example of a typical salary payment format where paydays are once a month. However, depending on the company and the employment status of the employees, there may be cases where paydays are twice a month. For example, the payroll calculation closing dates may be the 10th and 25th of each month, and the paydays for each payroll calculation period may be the 12th and 27th of each month. Even in such cases, it is possible to set two closing dates and paydays in the contract information. Then, for example, it is possible to make it possible to pay in advance on or before the 27th the wages for work performed up to the present time, from the 11th to the 25th.

[0055] In the employee account prediction function in the above embodiment, when an employee launches the application on the user terminal 30, the expected minimum balance from the current time until a predetermined period has elapsed is displayed. However, for example, the service device 10 may notify the employee by SMS, email, or the like when the expected minimum balance becomes negative. The employee may also be able to select whether or not to receive such a notification on the user terminal 30. Furthermore, the employee may also be able to specify a threshold value for the expected minimum balance after a predetermined period has elapsed on the user terminal 30. When the service device 10 receives information indicating whether or not to receive a notification and the threshold value from the user terminal 30, the service device 10 may include the information indicating whether or not to receive a notification and the threshold value in the user information corresponding to the employee.

[0056] In the prepayment service provided by the service device 10 according to the embodiment, the fee is paid by the employee, but it may also be paid by the company. In this case, the service device 10 transfers the entire amount of the amount to be received designated by the employee on the user terminal 30 to the employee's account as a prepayment, and transfers the fee from an account opened by the company, such as an employer's account, to a predetermined account managed by a financial institution. The service device 10 in the above embodiment checks whether the balance of the employer's account is below the account balance warning limit set in the contract information at the time the employee uses the prepayment service, but it may also monitor the balance of the employer's account at all times.

[0057] The service device 10 may use the employee account prediction function to enable the use of the prepayment service only if the employee account balance will be negative between now and a predetermined time period has elapsed, thereby ensuring that employees who desperately need a prepayment can use the prepayment service.

[0058] In the above embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, it has been assumed that employees belonging to one company are using the prepaid service, but it is of course possible to provide the prepaid service to employees of multiple companies.

[0059] In the above embodiment, the receivable amount was calculated based on the attendance information uploaded from the employer terminal 20 in accordance with three payroll calculation rules, but of course, this is not limited to the three calculation rules mentioned above. In the case of a monthly salary system, the receivable amount can be calculated based on the amount calculated by prorating the monthly salary based on the number of days worked from the starting date of the payroll calculation.

[0060] The hardware configuration of the service device 10 according to the embodiment is not limited to the one described above. For example, the service device 10 may be configured not by a single computer but by multiple computers distributed over a communication network such as the Internet 100 or a LAN. Furthermore, the storage unit 12 constituting the service device 10 may be configured by a storage device attached to a single computer, or may be configured by multiple storage devices distributed over the communication network.

[0061] The usage app does not have to be dedicated software for using the prepayment service, but may be, for example, a function integrated into software for using well-known internet banking, which allows financial transactions to be conducted online.

[0062] Of course, the account information of a company or employee is not limited to a combination of an email address and a password. It may be the MAC address of the employer terminal 20 or the user terminal 30, or, for an employee, the individual identification number (IMEI) of the smartphone. Each time a management app or a user app is installed on an information processing terminal, unique identification information such as a serial number may be assigned to the app, and this identification information may be used as the account information. The employer terminal 20 or the user terminal 30 may then send the identification information of the management app or the user app when accessing the service device 10. In any case, it is sufficient for the service device 10 to recognize which company or which employee the accessing information processing terminal (20, 30) belongs to. [Explanation of symbols]

[0063] 10 salary advance payment service device, 11 control unit, 12 memory unit, 13 communication unit, 20 Employer terminal, 30 User terminal, 40 Upload setting screen, 50 Contract information list screen, 70a, 80a Home screen, 70b Advance payment application screen, 80b Balance forecast details screen, 80c Forecast details editing screen, 100 Internet

Claims

1. A payroll advance payment service device, which is comprised of a computer system installed on a communication network and managed by a financial institution, that enables a portion of a payroll that is paid periodically to an employee to be paid as an advance payment from an employer's account opened at the financial institution before the payday of the employee, comprising: The device includes a control unit, a communication unit, and a storage unit, the communication unit communicates with an employer terminal and an employee terminal; The storage unit, employee information, including employer identification information, employee identification information, employee personal information, and employee account information; contract information including the employer identification information, employer account information, the upper limit of the advance payment amount per employee, the closing date of payroll calculation, fees, the payer of the fees, and an account balance warning amount that specifies the minimum balance of the employee's account opened with the financial institution; User information for the employee who will be a user of the salary advance service, including the employer identification information, the employee identification information, the personal information, and account information; Remember, The control unit Calculating the employee's wages up to the present based on the employee's attendance information uploaded from the employer terminal from the calculation start date based on the closing date of the payroll calculation to the closing date; Based on the calculated labor wage, a receivable balance is set, which is the total amount of the advance payment that the employee can currently receive for a predetermined period of time; the account information received from the accessed employee terminal is compared with the employee information to identify the employee, and the receivable balance for the employee is notified to the employee terminal; When the amount of the advance payment that is less than the upper limit of receivable amount is specified by the employee terminal, an amount set based on the amount of the advance payment, the fee, and the person who will bear the burden is transferred from the employer's account to the employee's account, and the receivable balance is updated; monitoring the balance of the employer's account, and if the balance falls below the account balance warning amount, issuing a warning to the employer terminal indicating that the account balance is insufficient; If the employee's account is opened at the same financial institution as the employer's account, the system obtains the transaction status of the employee's account during a specified period in the past, calculates the employee's projected account balance at the end of a specified period from the present time, and displays on the employee's terminal that has accessed the account the minimum projected account balance at the end of the specified period from the time of the access. Payroll advance service equipment.

2. A salary advance payment service device as described in claim 1, which estimates future transaction amounts and transaction dates in the employee's account from the present time until the specified period has elapsed for each summary item based on the transaction status of the employee's account during the acquired past specified period, and sends transaction schedule information including transaction details from the time of access until the specified period has elapsed to the employee terminal that has accessed the account.

3. 3. The salary advance payment service device of claim 2, wherein when an instruction to modify part or all of the transaction details included in the transaction schedule information or an instruction to add new transaction details is received from the employee terminal that transmitted the transaction schedule information, the device modifies the transaction schedule information based on the instruction and transmits the modified transaction schedule information to the employee terminal.

4. A salary advance payment service device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the contract information includes information that can be specified by the employer terminal and specifies the ratio of the receivable balance to the labor wage, and the amount obtained by multiplying the labor wage by the ratio is set as the receivable balance.

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