Workflow system for operating and managing jobs with predicting future progress of workflow job

• US 5,918,226 A
• Filed: 01/11/1996
• Issued: 06/29/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Yoshifu, Kenji, Tarumi, Hiroyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US08/584,286
• Time in Patent Office: 1,265 Days
• Field of Search: 395/614, 395/622, 707/10, 707/102, 707/103
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A workflow system includes workflow defining portion for defining workflow information necessary for operating workflow job to be realized by a sequence of unit businesses for which a plurality of workers are involved, workflow operating and managing portion for managing progress of the workflow job according to workflow information defined by the workflow defining means and urging execution of the unit job, individual information managing portion for managing individual information relating to each worker involving each unit job, and workflow predicting and evaluating projection for obtaining the workflow information defined by the workflow defining means, progress information indicative of progress of job of the workflow job managed by the workflow operating and managing means, and individual information managed by the individual information managing means, and for predicting future progress of the workflow job.

Claims

1. A workflow system comprising:

workflow defining means for defining workflow information necessary for operating a workflow job to be realized by an order of execution of unit jobs for which a plurality of workers is involved;

workflow operating and managing means for managing progress of the workflow job according to workflow information defined by said workflow defining means and urging execution of the unit jobs;

individual information managing means for managing individual information relating to each worker involving each unit job; and

workflow predicting and evaluating means for obtaining the workflow information defined by said workflow defining means, progress information indicative of progress of the workflow job managed by said workflow operating and managing means, and individual information managed by the individual information managing means, and for predicting future progress of the workflow job.

2. A workflow system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said individual information managing means receiving definition of said unit job relating to each worker from said workflow operating and managing means and preparing a job task table as a table, as a list of unit jobs to be executed by each worker, and the individual information managed by said individual information managing means includes an appointment table indicative of a constraint time of the schedule of the worker.

3. A workflow system as set forth in claim 2, wherein said workflow predicting and evaluating means comprises:

individual information temporary storage means for collecting copy of appointment table the individual information managed by said individual information managing means;

work completion simulation means for predicting a time for completing the job task provided to each worker with reference to said job task table and appointment table temporarily stored in said individual information temporary storage means;

completion time measuring means for obtaining workflow information defined by said workflow definition and progress information managed by said workflow operating and managing means, predicting a time to complete overall job by making prediction of time to complete each unit job of the workflow job under execution or before execution, and making judgement whether the workflow job may be completed or not on the basis of said workflow information.

4. A workflow system as set forth in claim 3, wherein said completion time predicting means studies definition of workflow information enabling keeping of a deadline and modifying said workflow information according to new definition when said completion time measuring means makes judgement that the workflow job will pass said deadline.

5. A workflow system as set forth in claim 3, further comprising work completion strategical model providing means for providing strategical model determining order for completing the job in job task defined in said job task table of said individual information and constraint time defined in said appointment table.

6. A workflow system as set forth in claim 1, wherein future behavior is predicted of said workflow by said workflow predicting and evaluating means by further providing a workflow operating status reporting means for reporting a detection of obstruction to a manager of said workflow job or a worker of said unit job.

7. A workflow system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said workflow predicting and evaluating means predicts future obstruction of the workflow job and further comprises workflow operation modifying means for transferring instructions for modifying said workflow information to said workflow operating and managing means to make the latter perform modifications.

8. A workflow system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

workflow operating status reporting means for detecting failure and reporting detection of failure to a manager of the workflow job or worker on said unit business when future obstruction of the workflow job is predicted by said workflow predicting and enabling;

workflow operation modifying means for transferring instruction for modifying said workflow information to said workflow operating and managing means make the latter to perform modification when said workflow predicting and evaluating means predicts future obstruction of workflow job;

said workflow predicting and evaluating means for reporting said failure employing said workflow operating status reporting means or performing modification of workflow information employing said workflow operation modifying means.

9. A workflow system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

organization status recording and managing means for defining a target to be achieved in terms of a maximum or minimum number for the workflow jobs, receiving progress status information indicative of progress condition from said workflow operating and managing means, comparing the progress status information and said target to be achieved;

said workflow predicting and evaluating means predicting future progress further predicting whether the achievement condition of said workflow job of the organization may satisfy the condition of said target to be achieved or not.

10. A workflow system as set forth in claim 9, wherein

said individual information managed by individual information managing means includes a job task table as a list of unit jobs to be executed by each worker prepared on the basis of definition of said unit jobs relating to each worker managed by said workflow operating and managing means;

said workflow predicting and evaluating means comprises;

individual information temporary storage means for collecting copy of appointment table the individual information managed by said individual information managing means;

work completion simulation means for predicting a time for completing the job task provided to each worker with reference to said job task table and appointment table temporarily stored in said individual information temporary storage means;

completion time measuring means for obtaining workflow information defined by said workflow definition and progress information managed by said workflow operating and managing means, predicting a time to complete overall job by making prediction of time to complete each unit job of the workflow job under execution or before execution, and making judgement whether the workflow job may be completed or not on the basis of said workflow information.

11. A workflow system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

organization status recording and managing means for defining a target to be achieved in terms of a maximum or minimum number for the workflow jobs, receiving progress status information indicative of progress condition from said workflow operating and managing means, comparing the progress status information and said target to be achieved; and

said workflow predicting and evaluating means predicting whether the achievement condition of said workflow job of the organization may satisfy said target.

12. A workflow system as set forth in claim 7, wherein

said individual information managed by individual information managing means includes a job task table as a list of unit jobs to be executed by each worker prepared on the basis of definition of said unit jobs relating to each worker managed by said workflow operating and managing means;

said workflow predicting and evaluating means comprises;

individual information temporary storage means for collecting copy of appointment table the individual information managed by said individual information managing means;

work completion simulation means for predicting a time for completing the job task provided to each worker with reference to said job task table and appointment table temporarily stored in said individual information temporary storage means;

completion time measuring means for obtaining workflow information defined by said workflow defining definition and progress information managed by said workflow operating and managing means, predicting a time to complete overall job by making prediction of time to complete each unit job of the workflow job under execution or before execution, and making judgement whether the workflow job may be completed or not on the basis of said workflow information.

13. A workflow system comprising:

workflow defining means for defining workflow information necessary for operating a workflow job to be realized by an order of execution of unit jobs for which a plurality of workers are involved;

workflow operating and managing means for managing progress of the workflow job according to workflow information defined by said workflow defining means and urging execution of the unit jobs;

individual information managing means for managing individual information relating to each worker involving each unit job;

workflow predicting and evaluating means for obtaining the workflow information defined by said workflow defining means, progress information indicative of progress of the workflow job managed by said workflow operating and managing means, and individual information managed by the individual information managing means, and for predicting future progress of the workflow job;

workflow operating status reporting means for reporting detection of obstruction to a manager of said workflow job or worker of said unit job, when future behavior is predicted with said workflow by said workflow predicting and evaluating means; and

workflow operating means receiving said workflow information from said workflow defining means, receiving said progress condition information from said workflow operating and managing means for displaying both information, inputting modification command for said workflow information from a manager to transfer to said workflow operating and managing means to make modification of workflow information.

14. A workflow system as set forth in claim 13, wherein said workflow operating means comprises:

workflow current status display means for displaying current progress status of said workflow information; and

command input means receiving modification of workflow information from user by a graphical interface utilizing display of said workflow current status displaying means, deletion of workflow job, and receiving input for command for changing of person in charge of workflow job, and transferring to said workflow operating and managing means.

15. A workflow system as set forth in claim 14, wherein said command input means receives a command for modifying preferential order as a value indicative of difference of importance in comparison with other workflow job with respect to workflow job displayed in said workflow current status displaying means.

16. A workflow system comprising:

workflow defining means for defining workflow information necessary for operating a workflow job to be realized by an order of execution of unit jobs for which a plurality of workers are involved;

workflow operating and managing means for managing progress of the workflow job according to workflow information defined by said workflow defining means and urging execution of the unit jobs;

individual information managing means for managing individual information relating to each worker involving each unit job;

organization status recording and managing means for defining a target to be achieved in terms of a maximum or minimum number for the workflow jobs, receiving progress status information indicative of progress condition from said workflow operating and managing means, comparing the progress status information and said target to be achieved;

workflow predicting and evaluating means for obtaining the workflow information defined by said workflow defining means, progress information indicative of progress of the workflow job managed by said workflow operating and managing means, individual information managed by the individual information managing means, and achievement status information indicative of relationship between the performance of said workflow job managed by said organization status recording and managing means, and for predicting future progress of the workflow job; and

job performance direction editing means receiving and displaying said achievement status information from said organization status recording and managing means, inputting editing command of said target to be achieved of the workflow job from the manager to transfer to said organization status recording and managing means for making the latter perform a correction of said target to be achieved for said workflow job.

17. A workflow system as set forth in claim 16, wherein said job performance direction editing means comprises:

status display means for displaying achievement status information indicative of relationship between the performance of the workflow job and the target to be achieved; and

command input means for receiving input of editing command for the target to be achieved from the user through graphical interface utilizing display of said status display means and transfer to said organization status recording and managing means.

18. A workflow system as set forth in claim 17, wherein said status display means displays performance of workflow job and said target to be achieved in overlapping manner.

19. A workflow system as set forth in claim 17, wherein said status display means displays performance of workflow job and said target to be achieved in overlapping manner, and

said command input means recognizes modification of position of display sign as modification of the target to be achieved to transfer the corresponding command to said organization status recording and managing means when the user modifies the position of the display sign indicative of the target to be achieved, displayed by said status display means.

20. A workflow system as set forth in claim 17, wherein said status display means displays a performance of the workflow job and said target to be achieved in an overlapping manner, and said command input means recognizes a modification of display of the performance as a modification of the target to be achieved and transfers the corresponding command to said organization status recording and managing means when the user modifies the performance of said workflow job as displayed by said status display means.

21. A workflow system comprising:

workflow defining means for defining workflow information necessary for operating a workflow job to be realized by an order of execution of unit jobs for which a plurality of workers are involved;

workflow operating and managing means for managing progress of the workflow job according to workflow information defined by said workflow defining means and urging execution of the unit jobs;

individual information managing means for managing individual information relating to each worker involving each unit job;

organization status recording and managing means for defining a target to be achieved in terms of a maximum or minimum number for the workflow jobs, receiving progress status information indicative of progress condition from said workflow operating and managing means, comparing the progress status information and said target to be achieved;

workflow predicting and evaluating means for obtaining the workflow information defined by said workflow defining means, progress information indicative of progress of the workflow job managed by said workflow operating and managing means, individual information managed by the individual information managing means, and achievement status information indicative of relationship between the performance of said workflow job managed by said organization status recording and managing means, and for predicting future progress of the workflow job;

job performance direction editing device having job performance direction editing means for receiving and editing said achievement status information from said organization status recording and managing means and designating a responsible person for said workflow job and transferring information concerning the designated person;

status display means for displaying achievement status information indicative of a relationship between the performance of the workflow job and the target to be achieved;

display operating means for enabling operation of a display of the performance and target to be achieved directly on the display screen by the user by a graphical interface utilizing the status display means;

operation analyzing means for converting the operation of the screen by means of said display operating means into a modification command of the target to be achieved;

individual defining means for defining the responsible person of the workflow job; and

message transferring means for transferring a message indicative of modification command of the target to be achieved of the workflow to the person in charge determined by said individual defining means.

22. A workflow system comprising:

workflow defining means for defining workflow information necessary for operating a workflow job to be realized by an order of execution of unit jobs for which a plurality of workers are involved;

workflow operating and managing means for managing progress of the workflow job according to workflow information defined by said workflow defining means and urging execution of the unit jobs;

individual information managing means for managing individual information relating to each worker involving each unit job;

workflow predicting and evaluating means for obtaining the workflow information defined by said workflow defining means, progress information indicative of progress of the workflow job managed by said workflow operating and managing means, and individual information managed by the individual information managing means, and for predicting future progress of the workflow job; and

workflow operation modifying means for transferring instruction for modifying workflow information defined by the workflow defining means to said workflow operating and managing means to modify the workflow information when a obstruction against further progress of workflow job is predicted by said workflow predicting and evaluating means.

23. A workflow system as set forth in claim 22, wherein said workflow operation modifying means

preliminarily notifies modification of said workflow information with respect to each of responsible person of each unit job consisting said workflow job in advance of feeding the instruction for modifying the workflow information to said workflow operating and managing means,

receives answer from said responsible person whether the modified workflow information is accepted or not,

transfers the instruction for modification of said workflow information to said workflow operating and managing means only when all of responsible people accept the workflow information after modification.

24. A workflow system as set forth in claim 23, wherein said workflow operation modifying means receives acceptance condition for modification of said workflow information depending upon necessity when answer is received from each responsible person, and transfers the received acceptance condition for modification of said workflow information to said workflow predicting and evaluating means, and

said workflow predicting and evaluating means inputs said acceptance condition for modification of workflow information and newly performs prediction of future progress of workflow job according to said acceptance condition.

25. A workflow system as set forth in claim 24, which further includes modifying condition displaying means for displaying acceptance condition for modification of workflow information from said responsible person.

26. A workflow system as set forth in claim 25, wherein said modifying condition displaying means displays the acceptance condition for modification of said workflow information, performance of the workflow job and a target to be achieved in overlapping manner.