[DESCRIPTION]
[Title of Invention]
BUSINESS INFLUENCED PART EXTRACTION METHOD AND BUSINESS
INFLUENCED PART EXTRACTION DEVICE BASED ON BUSINESS VARIATION
[Technical Field]
[0001]
The present invention relates to a business process design technique in enterprise
information system development, and particularly relates to a method and a system
capable of extracting other business processes that are influenced when a business
designer revises a business process.
[Background Art]
[0002]
A technique of expressing business requirements as business processes and
implementing system design/development based on such business processes for
attaining higher quality and efficiency in enterprise information system development is
being adopted. A business process is a series of task groups that is structured for
achieving a business purpose (creation, referral, update, or deletion of information to
be utilized in a certain type of business), and expresses who will perform the task
(business operation) in what order and by using which information.
[0003]
Meanwhile, in enterprise information system development, business requirements are
frequently changed due to changes in the business environment and modifications in
the business operation. In order to prevent the reworking of subsequent processes in
the course of implementing the system design/development based on business
processes, it is important to efficiently and accurately revise the business process by
following the changes in the business requirements, and maintain the accuracy of the
business processes. Nevertheless, generally speaking, the revision of one business
process will influence the other business processes. In particular, when dealing with
large-scale and complicated business such as financial services, the business
processes also become large-scale and complicated, and the other business
processes are influenced considerably when one business process is revised. Thus,
desired is a technique of accurately extracting the other business processes that may
need to be revised (hereinafter referred to as the "influenced business processes")
when one business process is revised.
2
[0004]
PTL 1 discloses a technique of searching for similar business processes with a certain
business process as the search condition, and presenting business processes in
ascending order from the most similar business process. Similarity is calculated
based on the degree of coincidence of the task name, the actor name, and the task
order configuring that business process.
[0005]
Moreover, PTL 2 discloses a technique of searching for business processes having
the same purpose, calculating the similarity with the business process between node
(task and branch) groups, and displaying the search result according to the similarity.
In searching for business processes having the same purpose, a business process is
determined to have the "same purpose" based on any one of the following
determination conditions; namely, "(1) same business process ID", "(2) similarity of
the business process name", and "(3) search based on a correspondence table of the
business processes having the same purpose defined in advance".
[Citation List]
[Patent Literature]
[0006]
[PTL 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-243268
[PTL 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-176288
[Summary of Invention]
[Technical Problem]
[0007]
With the technique of PTL 1, by using the revised business process as the search
condition, business processes having a similar task, actor, and task order can be
extracted as the influenced business processes. Nevertheless, there is a problem in
that PTL 1 is unable to extract the variations in the business processes that have the
same business purpose, but have a different task, actor, and task order.
[0008]
In order to specifically illustrate the foregoing problem, considered is an example of
the two business processes of "create notification" and "create medical certificate" in
the new contract business of life insurance. The former "create notification" is the
business process of a person insured creating a notification describing the health
information of such person insured, which will be used as information for screening
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the underwriting risk of life insurance. Meanwhile, "create medical certificate" is the
business process of a physician creating a medical certificate describing the diagnosis
information of the person insured, which will be used as information for screening the
underwriting risk of life insurance in cases where a huge sum is insured. When
comparing the two business processes, while the business purpose of creating
information for screening the underwriting risk of life insurance is the same, since the
sets of business information; namely, "information of notification" and "information of
medical certificate", used in the respective business processes are different, the task
and task order of processing the business information will differ in the two business
processes. Needless to say, the actors are also different with one being the person
insured and the other being the physician. In this kind of case, even if similar business
processes are searched with the technique of PTL 1 by using the business process of
"create notification" as the search condition, it will not be possible to extract the
business process of "create medical certificate". Meanwhile, since the business
purpose of the two business processes is the same, it is likely that the revision of one
will influence the other.
[0009]
For example, in the business process of "create notification", let it be assumed that a
new business requirement of delivering a copy of the notification to the person insured
has been added in order to avoid troubles regarding the duty of notification. In this
case, it is likely that the delivery of a copy of the medical certificate will similarly be
required in the business process of "create medical certificate".
[0010]
With the technique of PTL 2, a business process is determined to have the "same
purpose" based on any one of the following determination conditions; namely, "(1)
same business process ID", "(2) similarity of the business process name", and "(3)
search based on a correspondence table of the business processes having the same
purpose defined in advance". Since an influenced business process will differ from the
revision source business process, it will have a different business process ID and the
business process name may not necessarily be similar. While it will be possible to
extract the business process having the same purpose based on determination
condition (3), since it is necessary to manually create a correspondence table in
advance, much time and labor are required, and there is also the risk of creating an
erroneous correspondence table.
4
[0011]
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system capable
of extracting business variations having the same business purpose by including such
business variations in the influenced business processes upon revising a business
process.
[Solution to Problem]
[0012]
In order to attain the foregoing object, the present invention extracts business
variations by using the logical relation between sets of business information. This is
explained in detail below.
[0013]
Since a business purpose is the creation, referral, update or deletion of business
information to be utilized in a certain business operation, when there are business
variations having the same business purpose, the tasks utilizing the business
information of the respective business variations will be performed alternatively
(logical relation of XOR) in the utilization business. Note that, when the series of tasks
utilizing the business information of the respective business variations is the same,
the business information will be utilized alternatively. For example, in the example
shown in Fig. 20, there are the business processes of "create notification" and "create
medical certificate" as the business variations, but the respective business purposes
are to create "notification information" and "diagnosis information" to be utilized in the
subsequent business process of "medical screening". Moreover, the utilization
business of "medical screening" will be the business process in which the task will be
performed by alternatively utilizing "notification information" and "diagnosis
information" as shown in Fig. 23. Consequently, the business variations having the
same business purpose can be extracted based on the XOR relation of the task or
business information.
[0014]
In order to resolve the foregoing problems, the system of the present invention for
extracting influenced business processes adopts the following configuration.
[0015]
A logical relation (AND, OR, XOR) between sets of business information used for a
task in the business process is stored in advance. An input device receives a revision
of the business process, extracts a difference between pre-revision business process
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information and post-revision business process information based on the pre-stored
business process information, and stores the difference information as revision history
information of the business process to be revised. A processing category as a
processing type of the business information is analyzed of a pair of task and business
information as constituent elements of the post-revision business process, and the
information is stored in a storage device. The influenced business processes from the
business process information are extracted based on an XOR relation between the
sets of business information or an XOR relation of the series of tasks, and an output
device displays the influenced business process information. The input device
receives a selection of a business process among the influenced business processes,
and the output device displays the business process information and the revision
history information of the business process to be revised. Note that, while it has been
described that the logical relation is stored in advance, the logical relation may also be
calculated when it needs to be used.
[Advantageous Effects of Invention]
[0016]
According to the present invention, it is possible to yield an effect of being able to
more efficiently extract business processes. The other objects, configurations and
effects will become apparent from the ensuing explanation of the embodiments of the
present invention.
[Brief Description of Drawings]
[0017]
[Fig. 1]
Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the influenced business process extraction system in one
embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 2]
Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a typical hardware configuration of a computer used
in the business process information management system in one embodiment of the
present invention.
[Fig. 3]
Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the registration of the business
information logical relation, registration of the business process information and
influence extraction in one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 4]
6
Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of extracting difference information of the
business process in one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 5]
Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of analyzing the processing category of the task
and business information in one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 6]
Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of extracting the influenced business process in
one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 7]
Fig. 7 is a table configuration of the task information storage unit in one embodiment
of the present invention.
[Fig. 8]
Fig. 8 is a table configuration of the business information information storage unit in
one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 9]
Fig. 9 is a table configuration of the business information dictionary storage unit in one
embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 10]
Fig. 10 is a table configuration of the department/actor list information storage unit in
one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 11]
Fig. 11 is a table configuration of the branch information storage unit in one
embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 12]
Fig. 12 is a table configuration of the connection information storage unit in one
embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 13]
Fig. 13 is a table configuration of the processing name list information storage unit in
one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 14]
Fig. 14 is a table configuration of the revision history information storage unit in one
embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 15]
Fig. 15 is a table configuration of the business variation information storage unit in one
7
embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 16]
Fig. 16 is a business process editing screen example in one embodiment of the
present invention.
[Fig. 17]
Fig. 17 is a business information editing screen example in one embodiment of the
present invention.
[Fig. 18]
Fig. 18 is an influence extraction result screen example in one embodiment of the
present invention.
[Fig. 19]
Fig. 19 is a conceptual diagram of the partial processing of the influenced business
process extraction in one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 20]
Fig. 20 is a conceptual diagram of the general process in one embodiment of the
present invention.
[Fig. 21]
Fig. 21 is a conceptual diagram of the business process (create notification) in one
embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 22]
Fig. 22 is a conceptual diagram of the business process (create medical certificate) in
one embodiment of the present invention.
[Fig. 23]
Fig. 23 is a conceptual diagram of the business process (medical screening) in one
embodiment of the present invention.
[Description of Embodiments]
[0018]
One embodiment of the present invention is now explained. In this embodiment,
explained is an influenced business process extraction system capable of extracting
business variations having the same business purpose by including such business
variations in the influenced business processes upon revising a business process. Fig.
1 shows the influenced business process extraction system. As shown in Fig. 1, the
influenced business process extraction system is configured from a business process
development terminal 1 comprising a business process development unit 101 and a
8
terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 which sends and receives
business process information, and a business process information management
system 2 which receives an input of a logical relation of business information,
registers the edited business process, and extracts the influenced business
processes.
[0019]
In this embodiment, while examples of business processes related to insurance are
described as the category of business, the present invention is not limited thereto, and
may also be applied to cases of designing business processes in enterprise
information system development irrespective of the category of business.
[0020]
A business process is foremost explained. There are numerous notation methods of a
business process, and, for instance, there is BPMN (Business Process Model and
Notation) formulated by the international standards body OMG. In this embodiment,
while the explanation will be provided by adopting BPMN as the notation method, the
present invention may be applied without limitation to BPMN so as long as business
information, I/O relation of business information, and logical relation between sets of
business information are included in the business process information.
[0021]
A business process is now explained in detail with reference to Fig. 20 to Fig. 23. Fig.
20 is a diagram which expresses the general process of a new contract business
based on BPMN. The constituent elements of the general process include a business
process, business information, I/O relation of business information, branch and
branch condition, sequence flow, start event, and end event. Moreover, the business
process may also adopt a hierarchy structure. For example, details of "create
notification" in Fig. 20 are expressed as the business process of Fig. 21. In the
business process of "create notification" in Fig. 21, task, pool, and lane are described
in addition to the constituent elements of the general process. Fig. 22 and Fig. 23 are
each a detailed diagram of "create medical certificate" and "medical screening" in Fig.
20, and have the same constituent elements as "create notification". Note that the
shapes and meanings of the symbols used in the diagrams are in compliance with
BPMN, and the explanation thereof is omitted since they are not the features of the
present invention. Moreover, while a processing category (for instance, Category: C,
etc.) is described in the business information, this is automatically determined in
9
processing S204 described later. The influenced business process extraction system
that is operated based on the foregoing background is now explained in detail.
[0022]
===Overview of embodiment===
In this embodiment, foremost, the business process development terminal 1 makes
an inquiry to the business process information management system 2 regarding a
business process in which the logical relation of business information is undefined,
and the business process information management system 2 extracts the business
process which coincides with the inquired condition and sends the extracted business
process to the business process development terminal 1, the business process
development terminal 1 receives an input of the logical relation of the business
information that is undefined and sends the input logical relation of the business
information to the business process information management system 2, the business
process information management system 2 registers the logical relation of the
business information, the business process development terminal 1 subsequently
receives a revision input of the business process from the business process
developer, the business process information management system 2 registers the
revised business process, the business process information management system 2
extracts the influenced business processes according to the influence extraction
instruction received by the business process development terminal 1, and the
business process development terminal 1 displays the influenced business processes
to the business process developer.
[0023]
In this system, the business process development terminal 1 and the business
process information management system 2 are connected via a communication
network 3. Note that a plurality of business process development terminals 1 may also
be connected to the communication network 3. Moreover, the business process
development terminal 1 and the business process information management system 2
may also be installed within a single computer system without going through a
communication network. Furthermore, the business process information registration
function group within the business process information management system 2 may
also be installed in a separate computer system. In this embodiment, explained is a
case where the business process development terminal 1 and the business process
information management system 2 are each installed in a different computer system,
10
and operated by being installed at remote locations. The communication network 3 is
a LAN, internet, or any other arbitrary wired or wireless network. The business
process development terminal 1 and the business process information management
system 2 are each a computer comprising a CPU for performing arithmetic processing,
a storage device (for example, RAM, ROM, hard disk, etc.) for storing data and
programs, and a communication device for communicating with external equipment
via the network 3.
[0024]
===Hardware configuration===
Fig. 2 shows the typical hardware configuration of a computer used as the business
process information management system 2. The computer configured as shown in Fig.
2 is also used as the business process development terminal 1. As shown in Fig. 2,
the business process information management system 2 comprises a CPU 2001, a
memory 2002, a storage device 2003, a communication interface 2004, a recording
medium reading device 2005, a recording medium 2006, an input device 2007, and an
output device 2008.
[0025]
The CPU 2001 realizes various functions by executing programs 2009 of the business
process information management system 2 stored in the memory 2002. The recording
medium reading device 2005 is a device for reading the programs and data recorded
in the recording medium 2006. The read programs and data are stored in the memory
2002. Accordingly, for instance, the programs 2009 stored in the memory 2002 may
be read from the recording medium 2006 by using the recording medium reading
device 2005, and then stored in the memory 2002. As the recording medium 2006,
used may be, for example, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a hard disk, a flexible disk, a
semiconductor memory, a magnetic tape or the like. The recording medium reading
device 2005 may be built into the business process information management system
2, or may be provided outside the business process information management system
2. The input device 2007 is used by an operator to input data and the like into the
business process information management system 2. As the input device 2007, used
may be, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone or the like. The output
device 2008 is a device for externally outputting information. As the output device
2008, used may be, for example, a display, a printer, a speaker or the like. The
communication interface 2004 is a device for connecting to the communication
11
network 3 to enable communication with the business process development terminal
1.
[0026]
A processing name list information storage unit 208, a revision history information
storage unit 209, a business variation information storage unit 210, a task information
storage unit 211, a business information information storage unit 212, a business
information dictionary 213, a department/actor list information storage unit 214, a
branch information storage unit 215 and a connection information storage unit 216
shown in Fig. 1 are provided in the storage device 2003. Moreover, a system-side
information sending/receiving unit 201, a processing category analyzing unit 202, a
difference extraction unit 203, an influence extraction unit 204, a business information
logical relation extraction unit 205, a business process information registration unit
206 and a business process information reading unit 207 are stored in the memory
2002, and realized as programs that are executed by the CPU 2001. Moreover, data
is input to the respective computers via the input device 2007.
[0027]
===Work process development terminal 1===
In the business process development terminal 1 of Fig. 1, the business process
development unit 101 comprises a business process development function and
comprises, as shown in Fig. 16 to Fig. 18, the functions of displaying a screen for
editing the business process, displaying a screen for editing the business information,
displaying a screen of the influence extraction result, and displaying a screen showing
the reception of the influenced business process selected by the business process
developer and the revision history of the revision source business process.
[0028]
The terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 comprises a function of
sending newly developed or revised business process information (including business
information information) to the system-side information sending/receiving unit 201 of
the business process information management system 2, and receiving, from the
system-side information sending/receiving unit 201 of the business process
information management system 2, business process information in which the logical
relation of business information is undefined, influenced business process information,
and revision history information of the revision source business process.
[0029]
12
===Work process information management system 2===
In the business process information management system 2 of Fig. 1, the processing
name list information storage unit 208 stores, as shown in Fig. 13, the processing
name of the task and the processing category corresponding to the processing name
as the constituent elements of the business process. Here, the processing category
shows the relation between the business process and the task and business
information, and will be one among "Create", "Read", "Update", and "Delete"
according to the forms or processing performed to the business system (file, DB)
based on the business process and the task. "Create" means creating or adding new
business information, "Read" means reading existing business information, "Update"
means updating existing business information, and "Delete" means deleting existing
business information. The processing name list information is used for commonalizing
the processing name of tasks and for the processing category analysis of processing
S204 described later. As the task of processing business information, a name
configured from "business information" + "processing name" may be assigned, and
the business process developer is caused to select the processing name from the
processing list information in the course of defining the tasks for commonalizing the
"processing name". In this embodiment, the processing name list information is
retained in advance, but the processing name and the processing category may be
edited as needed.
[0030]
The revision history information storage unit 209 stores, as shown in Fig. 14, a
revision ID, a business process name, a changed element, a pre-revision attribute, a
post-revision attribute, a revision operation, and a difference extraction date/time.
Here, revision operation is one among addition, change, and deletion performed to
the constituent element of the business process.
[0031]
The business variation information storage unit 210 stores, as shown in Fig. 15, a
business variation ID, a business variation, and a business purpose. Here, business
purpose is one among creation, reference, update, and deletion of business
information to be utilized in a certain business operation. For example, the business
purpose of the business variation of "create notification" having a business variation
ID of "V001" is to "Read" (refer to), as the processing category, the business
information of "notification information" to be utilized in the utilization business of
13
"medical screening".
[0032]
The task information storage unit 211 stores, as shown in Fig. 7, a business ID, a
general process, a business process, a task, a reference business information ID, a
reference department ID, and a reference actor ID.
[0033]
The business information information storage unit 212 stores, as shown in Fig. 8, a
business ID, business information, and a processing category (CRUD). Note that the
business information is configured from a logical relation (AND, OR, XOR) between
sets of business information, a reference business information ID, and an I/O relation
(I/O).
[0034]
The business information dictionary 213 is the dictionary information of business
information and stores, as shown in Fig. 9, a business information ID, and business
information name. The business information dictionary 213 is used for commonalizing
the business information in the business process. For example, the diffusion of
business information is prevented by selecting the business information among the
business information names stored in the business information dictionary upon
defining the business information. Moreover, in this embodiment, while the business
information dictionary is retained in advance, the business information ID and the
business information name may be edited as needed.
[0035]
The department/actor list information storage unit 214 stores, as shown in Fig. 10, a
department ID, a department name, an actor ID, and an actor name. The
department/actor list information storage unit 214 is also used for commonalizing the
department name and the actor name in the same manner as the business
information dictionary 213, and can be edited as needed.
[0036]
The branch information storage unit 215 stores, as shown in Fig. 11, a business
process, a branch ID, a branch name, a branch condition, and a transition connection
flow ID.
[0037]
The connection information storage unit 216 stores, as shown in Fig. 12, a business
process, a connection flow (connection flow ID, sequence (S))/message (M)), a
14
connection source business/branch ID (From), and a connection destination
business/branch ID (To).
[0038]
Note that the data stored in the task information storage unit 211, the business
information information storage unit 212, the business information dictionary 213, the
department/actor list information storage unit 214, the branch information storage unit
215 and the connection information storage unit 216 is data of the table structure
configuring the business process, but it may also be retained as data of a tree
structure as represented by XML.
[0039]
The system-side information sending/receiving unit 201 comprises a function of
receiving, from the business process development terminal 1, an inquiry regarding the
business process information in which the logical relation of business information is
undefined, information concerning the logical relation of business information, revised
business process information, influence extraction instruction information of the
business process, and selection information of the business process selected by the
business process developer, and sending, to the business process development
terminal 1, business process information in which the logical relation of business
information is undefined, influence extraction result information, and revision history
information of the revision source business process.
[0040]
The processing category analyzing unit 202 comprises a function of analyzing the
processing category from the I/O relation and the processing name list information
storage unit 208 based on the combination of the task and business information as
the constituent elements of the business process sent from the business process
development terminal 1.
[0041]
The difference extraction unit 203 comprises a function of extracting the difference
between the pre-revision business process and the post-revision business process of
the business process information sent from the business process development
terminal 1.
[0042]
The influence extraction unit 204 comprises a function of extracting the influenced
business processes based on the business information to be used in the business
15
process to be revised.
[0043]
The business information logical relation extraction unit 205 comprises a function of
extracting the task and business information in which the logical relation between the
sets of business information is undefined in the business process for which an inquiry
was received from the business process development terminal 1.
[0044]
The business process information registration unit 206 comprises a function of storing
the business process information sent from the business process development
terminal 1, processing category of the business information and information
concerning the logical relation in the task information storage unit 211, the business
information information storage unit 212, the branch information storage unit 215 and
the connection information storage unit 216, and storing the revision history
information in the revision history information storage unit 209.
[0045]
The business process information reading unit 207 comprises a function of reading
the required business process information from the task information storage unit 211,
the business information information storage unit 212, the branch information storage
unit 215 and the connection information storage unit 216 in response to inquiries
concerning various types of business process information.
[0046]
===Overview of system processing===
Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the registration of the business
information logical relation, registration of the business process information and
influence extraction in the influenced business process extraction system. Moreover,
the processing shown in Fig. 3 is realized by the CPU executing programs in the
business process development terminal 1 and the business process information
management system 2, respectively.
[0047]
Processing S101 to processing S107 are processes that are executed by the
business process development terminal 1, and processing S201 to processing S209
are processes that are executed by the business process information management
system 2, respectively.
[0048]
16
===Processing of business information logical relation registration===
The business process information of a standard specification such as BPMN does not
include the logical relation of business information which is required in the influence
extraction processing described later. In this processing, a business process in which
the logical relation of business information is undefined is extracted, and information
of the logical relation of business information that was input by the business process
developer for the business process is registered.
[0049]

Processing S101 is now explained with reference to Fig. 3. The terminal-side
information sending/receiving unit 102 of the business process development terminal
1 receives an inquiry instruction from the business process developer regarding a
business process in which the logical relation of business information is undefined,
and sends the inquiry of the corresponding business process to the business process
information management system 2.
[0050]

The business information logical relation extraction unit 205 of the business process
information management system 2 scans the "logical relation" and the "reference
business information ID" of the business information information storage unit 212,
extracts the business ID in which the logical relation of business information is
undefined, and sends the business process including the task of the corresponding
business ID to the terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 of the
business process development terminal 1.
[0051]

The information sending/receiving unit 101 of the business process development
terminal 1 receives the business process information in which the logical relation of
business information is undefined from the business process information
management system 2, the business process development unit 101 receives an input
of the logical relation of business information from the business process developer,
and the terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 sends the information
concerning the logical relation of business information to the system-side information
sending/receiving unit 201 of the business process information management system
17
2.
[0052]

The business process information registration unit 206 of the business process
information management system 2 registers, in the business information information
storage unit 212, the information concerning the logical relation of business
information sent from the business process development terminal 1.
[0053]
===Processing of business process information registration===
The processing of receiving business process information that was revised by the
business process developer, extracting the difference before and after the revision,
analyzing the processing category of business information, and registering the
business process information, difference information and processing category
information is now explained. Here, the difference information is intended for
suggesting the contents of revision when the business process developer revises the
influenced business processes and supporting the revision of the business process,
and the processing category information is information that is required in the influence
extraction processing.
[0054]

The business process development unit 101 of the business process development
terminal 1 receives the revision of the business process pursuant to changes in the
business requirement made by the business process developer, and the terminal-side
information sending/receiving unit 102 sends the revised business process
information to the business process information management system 2. In this
embodiment, for example, on the business process editing screen 501 shown in Fig.
16, the additional input of a framed section 5012 including the task of "confirm
notification (copy)" and other tasks is received in the business process editing area
5011 of the displayed business process of "create notification" according to the
revision requirement of "deliver copy of notification to insured person based on 'create
notification'", and the revised business process information is sent to the business
process information management system 2. The timing of sending information shall
be, for instance, when the "Register" button of Fig. 16 is pressed. Note that, when the
business information is to be revised, for instance, by selecting the task in which the
18
business information is to be edited, displaying a right-click menu, and selecting "edit
business information", the business information editing screen 502 shown in Fig. 17 is
activated, the required editing of business information is received, the screen is
closed by the "Select" button being pressed, and the screen thereafter returns to the
business process editing screen 501.
[0055]

Returning to the explanation of Fig. 3, the difference extraction unit 203 of the
business process information management system 2 receives the business process
information sent from the terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 of the
business process development terminal 1, and executes the processing for extracting
the difference between the pre-revision business process and the and post-revision
business process.
[0056]
Details of processing S203 will be the processes of processing S2031 to processing
S2037 in the flowchart shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing
flow of extracting difference information of the business process in the business
process information management system 2.
[0057]

The business process information reading unit 207 of the business process
information management system 2 reads pre-revision business process information
from the task information storage unit 211, the business information information
storage unit 212, the branch information storage unit 215, and the connection
information storage unit 216. In this embodiment, the business process information
reading unit 207 reads the task information of business ID "B1-2-1" to business ID
"B1-2-7" from the task information storage unit 211, reads business information
information of business ID "B1-2-1" to business ID "B1-2-7" from the business
information information storage unit 212, reads branch information included in the
business process of "create notification" from the branch information storage unit 215,
and reads connection information included in the business process of "create
notification" from the connection information storage unit 216.
[0058]

19
When the revision of the business process is a new addition or deletion of a business
process, processing S203 is ended. Meanwhile, when the revision of the business
process is not a new addition or deletion of a business process; that is, when it is a
change in the business process, processing S2033 is executed. This is because,
when the revision is a new addition or deletion of a business process, the business
process information will become the difference information even without extracting the
difference. The processing can thereby be optimized by minimizing the execution of
subsequent processing only when necessary.
[0059]

The difference extraction unit 203 of the business process information management
system 2 compares the task information of the pre-revision business process and the
post-revision business process, and extracts the task name as the pre-revision
attribute and the post-revision attribute, and "Add", "Change" or "Delete" as the
revision operation. In this embodiment, "-" is extracted as the pre-revision attribute
which means "not applicable, "confirm notification (copy)" is extracted as the
post-revision attribute, and "Add" or the like is extracted as the revision operation.
[0060]

The difference extraction unit 203 of the business process information management
system 2 compares the branch information of the pre-revision business process and
the post-revision business process, extracts the branch name as the pre-revision
attribute and the post-revision attribute, and extracts "Add", "Change" or "Delete" as
the revision operation. In this embodiment, the branch information is not revised.
[0061]

The difference extraction unit 203 of the business process information management
system 2 compares the business information information of the pre-revision business
process and the post-revision business process, and extracts the business
information name as the pre-revision attribute and the post-revision attribute, and
extracts "Add", "Change" or "Delete" as the revision operation. In this embodiment, "-"
is extracted as the pre-revision attribute, "notification (copy) information" is extracted
as the post-revision attribute, and "Add" is extracted as the revision operation.
[0062]
20

The difference extraction unit 203 of the business process information management
system 2 compares the reference department ID and the reference actor ID of the
task information of the pre-revision business process and the post-revision business
process, extracts the department and actor name as the pre-revision attribute and the
post-revision attribute, and extracts "Add", "Change" or "Delete" as the revision
operation. In this embodiment, information concerning the department and actor is not
revised.
[0063]

The difference extraction unit 203 of the business process information management
system 2 compares the connection information of the pre-revision business process
and the post-revision business process, extracts the connection source
business/branch name and connection destination business/branch name of the
pre-revision attribute and the post-revision attribute, respectively, and extracts "Add",
"Change" or "Delete" as the revision operation. In this embodiment, "enter notification
date and insured person information -> end" is extracted as the pre-revision attribute,
"enter notification date and insured person information -> confirm notification (copy)"
is extracted as the post-revision attribute, and "Change" or the like is extracted as the
revision operation.
[0064]

Returning to the explanation of Fig. 3, the processing category analyzing unit 202 of
the business process information management system 2 implements processing for
determining the processing category from the I/O relation and the processing name
list information storage unit 208 based on the combination of the task and business
information as the constituent elements of the edited business process.
[0065]
Details of processing S204 will be the processes of processing S2041 to processing
S2049 in the flowchart shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing
flow of analyzing the processing category in the business process information
management system 2.
[0066]

21
The processing category analyzing unit 202 of the business process information
management system 2 acquires the business process information to be revised. In
this embodiment, the information of the business process of "create notification" is
acquired.
[0067]

The processing category analyzing unit 202 of the business process information
management system 2 executes processing S2043 when processing category
analysis is required according to the revision, and ends processing S204 when
processing category analysis is not required. Here, revisions that require the
processing category analysis are the addition of a business process, addition of a task
or business information, and change to the I/O relation of the business information or
the processing name. Meanwhile, revisions that do not require the processing
category analysis are all other cases; that is, deletion of a task or I/O information, or
deletion of a business process. Based on the foregoing processing, it is possible to
optimize processing S204 by executing the processing category analysis only when
the processing category is added or changed. In this embodiment, since the task and
business information are added in the business process of "create notification" to be
revised, this corresponds to a revision which requires the analysis of the processing
category.
[0068]

The processing category analyzing unit 202 of the business process information
management system 2 extracts the I/O relation of the pair of task and business
information. In this embodiment, for example, the I/O relation of the pair of the task of
"enter past medical history information" and the business information of "notification
information" is "output", and the I/O relation of the task of "confirm notification
information" and the business information of "notification information" is "input".
[0069]

When the I/O relation of the pair of task and business information is an output relation,
processing S2045 is executed, and the I/O relation is an input relation, processing
S2047 is executed.
[0070]
22

The processing category analyzing unit 202 of the business process information
management system 2 extracts the processing name of the task. In this embodiment,
for example, "Enter" is extracted as the processing name of the task of "enter past
medical history information".
[0071]

The processing category analyzing unit 202 of the business process information
management system 2 compares the extracted processing name of the task and the
processing name list information of the processing name list information storage unit
208, and determines whether the processing category is "Create", "Update", or
"Delete". In this embodiment, for example, the processing category of "Create"
corresponding to the extracted processing name of "Enter" of the task of "enter past
medical history information" is read, and the processing category is thereby
determined as "Create".
[0072]

The processing category analyzing unit 202 of the business process information
management system 2 determines the processing category as "Read" when the I/O
relation of the pair of task and business information is an input relation since this will
be the processing of reading existing information. In this embodiment, since the I/O
relation of the pair of the task of "confirm notification information" and the business
information of "notification information" is an input relation, the processing category is
determined as "Read".
[0073]

When the processing category analysis of each piece of business information linked
to the task is complete, processing S2049 is executed, and when the processing
category analysis is not yet complete, processing S2043 is executed.
[0074]

When the processing category analysis of each task in the business process is
complete, processing S204 is ended, and when the processing category analysis is
not yet complete, processing S2043 is executed.
23
[0075]

Returning to the explanation of Fig. 3, the business process information registration
unit 206 of the business process information management system 2 stores the
revised business process information in the task information storage unit 211, the
business information information storage unit 212, the branch information storage unit
215, and the connection information storage unit 216, stores the difference
information extracted in processing S203 in the revision history information storage
209, and stores the processing category determined in processing S204 in the
processing category (CRUD) of the business information information storage unit 212.
[0076]
===Processing of influence extraction===
The processing of extracting influenced business process information based on the
business process information to be revised, and displaying the business process
information which was selected and received among the influenced business
processes, together with the revision history information of the business process to be
revised, to the business process developer is now explained.
[0077]

The business process development unit 101 of the business process development
terminal 1 receives an influence extraction instruction from the business process
developer, and the terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 sends the
revised business process information and the influenced business process extraction
instruction information to the business process information management system 2.
The timing of sending information shall be, for example, when the "influence
extraction" button of Fig. 16 is pressed.
[0078]

Returning to the explanation of Fig. 3, the influence extraction unit 204 of the business
process information management system 2 receives the revised business process
information and the influence extraction instruction instruction information sent from
the terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 of the business process
development terminal 1, and extracts the influenced business processes.
[0079]
24
Details of processing S206 will be the processes of processing S2061 to processing
S2069 in the flowchart shown in Fig. 6.
[0080]

The influence extraction unit 204 of the business process information management
system 2 acquires the business information ID and the business information to be
used in the business process to be revised. In this embodiment, the business
information of "notification information" of the business information ID of "D002" to be
used in the business process of "create notification" to be revised is acquired.
[0081]

The influence extraction unit 204 of the business process information management
system 2 scans the reference business information ID of the business information
information storage unit 212, identifies the business ID holding the business
information ID extracted in processing S2061, and extracts the business process
including the corresponding business ID. In this embodiment, the business ID of
"B1-2-2" or the like holding the business information ID of "D002" extracted in
processing S2061 is identified, and the business process of "create notification"
including the corresponding business ID is extracted. Similarly, the business
processes of "medical screening" and "correct notification" are extracted.
[0082]

The influence extraction unit 204 of the business process information management
system 2 scans the logical relation and the reference business information ID of the
business information information storage unit 212, extracts the other business
information ID having a logical relation of XOR with the business information ID
extracted in processing S2061, identifies the business ID holding the corresponding
business information ID, extracts the business process including the corresponding
business ID, and thereby determines the extracted business process as the utilization
business of the business variation. In this embodiment, the other business information
ID of "D003" having a logical relation of XOR with the business information ID of
"D002" extracted in processing S2061 is extracted, the business ID of "B1-5-1" or the
like having the business information ID of "D003" is identified, the business process of
"medical screening" including the foregoing business ID is extracted, and determined
25
as the utilization business of the business variation. Note that the shape of the
business process to be subject to this processing, for example, corresponds to the
shape shown in "Image of processing S2063" at the upper part of Fig. 19. The upper
part of Fig. 19 represents the flow that the business will be conducted of either the
flow of task 1 and task 2 using information A or the flow of task 1 and task 2 using
information B.
[0083]

The influence extraction unit 204 of the business process information management
system 2 extracts the business information of the series of tasks using the business
information ID extracted in processing S2061 as well as of the other tasks branching
therefrom, and the business process using such business information, and
determines the extracted business process as the utilization business of the business
variation. Note that the shape of the business process to be subject to this processing,
for example, corresponds to the shape shown in "Image of processing S2064" at the
lower part of Fig. 19. The lower part of Fig. 19 represents the flow that the business
will be conducted of either the flow of task A1 and task A2 using information A or the
flow of task B1 and task B2 using information B. Note that processing S2063 and
processing S2064 are performed in parallel for the optimization of the processing, and
each processing advances to processing S2065 after it is completed. The term
"parallel" used herein refers to processing that is performed with a different device or
a different function, and the processing flows do not have to coincide temporally.
Moreover, the processing may also be performed in a time series, rather than in
parallel.
[0084]

The influence extraction unit 204 of the business process information management
system 2 extracts the business process that is linked to the business information ID
extracted in processing S2063 and processing S2064. In this embodiment, the
business process of "create medical certificate" linked to the business information ID
of "D003" extracted in processing S2063 and processing S2064.
[0085]

The influence extraction unit 204 of the business process information management
26
system 2 identifies the processing category of the business process from the
processing category of the pair of task and business information included for each
business process with regard to the business process extracted in processing S2062
to processing S2065. In this embodiment, for example, since there are the task of
"Create" and the task of "Read" in the processing category of the business information
of "diagnosis information" in the business process of "create medical certificate" of Fig.
22, the two tasks of "Create" and "Read" as the processing category of the business
process of "create medical certificate" and the business information of "diagnosis
information".
[0086]

When the identification of the processing category of each of the extracted business
processes is complete, processing S2068 is executed, and when the identification of
the processing category is not yet complete, processing S2066 is executed.

When the influence extraction of each piece of business information used by the
business process to be revised, processing S2069 is executed, when the influence
extraction is not yet complete, processing S2062 is executed.
[0087]

The influence extraction unit 204 of the business process information management
system 2 deduplicates the business processes extracted in processing 2062 to
processing 2068, creates a business variation ID, and stores the deduplicated
business process in the business variation information storage unit 210. In this
embodiment, the business processes of "create notification", "medical screening", and
"correct notification" extracted in processing S2062 and the business process of
"create medical certificate" extracted in processing S2066 are stored in the business
process variation, the business process of "medical screening" extracted in
processing S2063 and processing S2064 as the business purpose of each business
process are stored in the utilization business, and the business information for each
business process and the processing category of the business process identified in
processing S2066 are stored.
[0088]

27
Returning to the explanation of Fig. 3, the system-side information sending/receiving
unit 201 of the business process information management system 2 sends the
influenced business process information, in which the business process to be revised
is excluded from the business variation information, to the business process
development terminal 1. This is because the business process to be revised itself is
not an influenced business process.
[0089]

The terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 of the business process
development terminal 1 receives the influenced business process information from
the business process information management system 2, and the business process
development unit 101 displays this in the influence extraction result display area 5031
of the influence extraction result screen shown in Fig. 18. Note that, in this
embodiment, while the display order of the influence extraction result display area
5031 is the order of appearance of the business processes in the general process
shown in Fig. 20, for instance, the business process having the same processing
category as the business process to be revised may be displayed at a higher position;
that is, the business process of "create medical certificate" having the same
processing category as the processing category "Create" or "Read" of the business
process of "create notification" to be revised may be displayed at a higher position.
[0090]

The business process development unit 101 of the business process development
terminal 1 receives from the business process developer the selection of the business
process information to be displayed among the extraction result of the influenced
business processes, and the terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102
sends the selection reception information to the business process information
management system 2. The timing of sending information shall be, for example, when
the "display" button of Fig. 18 is pressed. In this embodiment, let it be assumed that
the "display" button of the influenced business process of "create medical certificate"
has been pressed.
[0091]

The influence extraction unit 204 of the business process information management
28
system 2 receives the selection reception information of the business process from
the terminal-side information sending/receiving unit 102 of the business process
development terminal 1, and acquires the revision history information of the business
process to be revised from the revision history information storage unit 209.
[0092]

The system-side information sending/receiving unit 201 of the business process
information management system 2 sends, to the business process development
terminal 1, the selected and received business process information and the revision
history information of the business process to be revised acquired in processing S208.
In this embodiment, the selected and received business process of "create medical
certificate" and the revision history information of the business process of "create
notification" to be revised are sent to the business process development terminal 1.
[0093]

The business process development unit 101 of the business process development
terminal 1 receives, from the business process information management system 2,
the selected and received business process information, and the revision history
information of the business process to be revised acquired in processing S208, and,
as shown in Fig. 18, and displays the selected and received business process
information in the business process editing area 5032, and displayed the revision
history information of the business process to be revised acquired in processing S208
in the revision history display area 5033. The business process developer discusses
with the person in charge of the business (for instance, person in charge of the
business at the client corporation) regarding whether to revise the displayed business
process, and revises the business process as needed.
[0094]
According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide a method and a system
capable of efficiently and accurately extracting the other business processes which
may need to be revised due to the influence from the revision of a certain business
process. It is thereby possible to optimize the development and revision of business
processes. Moreover, by developing a high-quality business process which can avoid
the omission of reflecting a modified business requirement, it is possible to inhibit the
reworking of the system design and development of subsequent processes.
29
[0095]
The foregoing explanation was provided for facilitating the understanding of the
present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. It goes without
saying that the present invention may be modified and improved without deviating
from the gist of this invention, and also covers all equivalents of the present invention.
[Reference Signs List]
[0096]
1: business process development terminal, 2: business process information
management system, 3: communication network, 101: business process development
terminal, 102: terminal-side information sending/receiving unit, 201: system-side
information sending/receiving unit, 202: processing category analyzing unit, 203:
difference extraction unit, 204: influence extraction unit, 205: business information
logical relation extraction unit, 206: business process information registration unit,
207: business process information reading unit, 208: processing name list information
storage unit, 209: revision history information storage unit, 210: business variation
information storage unit, 211: task information storage unit, 212: business information
information storage unit, 213: business information dictionary, 214: department/actor
list information storage unit, 215: branch information storage unit, 216: connection
information storage unit.
30
[CLAIMS]
[Claim 1]
A business influenced part extraction method based on a business variation related to
a business process, the business influenced part extraction method comprising the
steps of:
associating in advance a logical relation between sets of business information used
for a task in the business process;
receiving a revision of the business process;
extracting a difference between pre-revision business process information and
post-revision business process information based on the received revision;
storing the difference information as revision history information of the business
process to be revised;
identifying a processing category as a processing type of the business information of
a pair of task and business information as constituent elements of the post-revision
business process;
extracting influenced business processes from the business process information by
using the revision history information, the processing category and the logical relation
between the sets of business information; and
outputting the business process information of the selected business process among
the extracted influenced business processes and the revision history information of
the business process to be revised.
[Claim 2]
The business influenced part extraction method according to claim 1, further
comprising the steps of:
extracting business information in which the logical relation is undefined; and
receiving an input of a logical relation of the extracted business information, and
storing the business information which has been associated with the logical relation.
[Claim 3]
The business influenced part extraction method according to claim 1, further
comprising the steps of:
extracting a difference for each constituent element of the business process including
task, branch, business information, department/actor and task order in a process of
comparing and extracting a difference between the pre-revision business process
information and the post-revision business process information; and
31
extracting a pre-revision attribute value and a post-revision attribute value of the
constituent elements as the revision history information with regard to each of the
extracted differences.
[Claim 4]
The business influenced part extraction method according to claim 1, further
comprising the steps of:
determining the processing category as "Read" when an I/O relation of a pair of the
task of the business process and the business information is an input relation; and
determining the processing category as "Create", "Update", or "Delete" from
processing name list information storing a correspondence relation of a processing
name and the processing category of the task in advance when the I/O relation is an
output relation.
[Claim 5]
The business influenced part extraction method according to claim 1, further
comprising the steps of:
receiving a business process to be revised, and identifying business information to be
used in the business process;
extracting business information having a predetermined logical relation with the
identified business information or business information to be used in a task having a
predetermined logical relation with the series of tasks using the identified business
information;
extracting a business process and a business variation to utilize the extracted
business information;
determining whether the processing category of the extracted business process is the
processing category including the pair of task and business information; and
extracting and outputting the influenced business processes by associating the
influenced business processes with business process, business information, and
processing category of a utilization business as the business purpose.
[Claim 6]
A business influenced part extraction device, comprising:
means of storing task information, business information information, business
information dictionary, department/actor list information, branch information, and
connection information as business process information;
means of associating in advance a logical relation between sets of business
32
information used for a task in the business process;
means of receiving a revision of the business process, and extracting a difference
between pre-revision business process information and post-revision business
process information based pre-stored business process information;
means of storing the difference information as revision history information of the
business process to be revised;
means of analyzing a processing category as a processing type of the business
information of a pair of task and business information as constituent elements of the
post-revision business process;
an influence extraction unit for extracting influenced business processes from the
business process information based on the predetermined logical relation between
the sets of business information or the predetermined logical relation of the series of
tasks;
means of storing influenced business process information;
an input device for receiving a selection of a business process among the influenced
business processes; and
means of outputting the business process information and the revision history
information of the business process to be revised.
[Claim 7]
The business influenced part extraction device according to claim 6, further
comprising:
means of extracting business information in which the logical relation is undefined
based on the business information information including the logical relation between
the sets of business information used in a predetermined task.
[Claim 8]
The business influenced part extraction device according to claim 6, further
comprising:
means of extracting a difference for each constituent element of the business process
including task, branch, business information, department/actor and task order in a
process of comparing and extracting a difference between the pre-revision business
process information and the post-revision business process information.
[Claim 9]
The business influenced part extraction device according to claim 6, further
comprising:
33
means of determining the processing category as "Read" when an I/O relation of a
pair of the task of the business process and the business information is an input
relation for both, and determining the processing category as "Create", "Update", or
"Delete" from processing name list information storing a correspondence relation of a
processing name and the processing category of the task in advance when the I/O
relation is an output relation.
[Claim 10]
The business influenced part extraction device according to claim 6, further
comprising:
means of receiving a business process to be revised, and identifying business
information to be used in the business process;
means of extracting business information having a predetermined logical relation with
the identified business information or business information to be used in a task having
a predetermined logical relation with the series of tasks using the identified business
information;
means of extracting a business process and a business variation to utilize the
extracted business information;
means of automatically determining the processing category of the extracted business
process from the processing category including the pair of task and business
information; and
means of extracting and outputting the influenced business processes by associating
the influenced business processes with business process, business information, and
processing category of a utilization business as the business purpose.