1.  Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a method of evaluating the effects of a system for enhancing the business processing ability of a human and proposing a system configuration suitable to a business process and a (support) tool based on the method.  More particularly, the invention relates to a system configuration evaluation and proposal supporting method of supporting a preliminary estimation of the effects of a system and a configuration proposal at a planning stage of construction/improvement of an information system, an SI (System Integration) support tool based on the method, a method of evaluating a functional suitability between a business process and an information system, and method and tool for proposing a system configuration based on the evaluation method. 
2.  Description of the Related Art
At the planning stage of construction/improvement of an information system, a system configuration evaluation/proposal supporting method for supporting preliminary estimation of the effects of a system and the configuration proposal and an SI (System Integration) support tool based on the method are necessary.  Specifically, in a system improvement proposal, that is, system configuration proposal such as fitting, expansion, and shift of an existing system based on a business process analysis at a planning stage of an information system in an information system department of a company or the like, or in a system proposal when a solution provider provides consultation on configuration or an SI service for an information system based on a business process analysis to a customer, especially, consultation on configuration or an SI service not only for a conventional system for realizing rationalization and reduction in the number of workers by automatization but also for a business supporting type information system for realizing improvement in the performance of a business process using groupware, intranet/internet, CTI (Computer Telephony Integration), and the like, in order to support the introduction and proposal of an information system configuration having high investment effects by selecting and combining platforms and tools adapted to a business process whose configuration is to be proposed and the ability of a person in charge of the business from platform and tool groups having various functions, a method of evaluating the functional suitability between the business process and the information system and a system configuration proposal support tool based on the method are necessary. 
In order to support the work at the planning stage of the configuration/improvement of an information system, various system planning methods and supporting tools are conventionally used, especially, the technique for supporting analysis and evaluation of a process by modelling a business process to be systemized as a process map by the expression of a hierarchical flowchart or network to simulate response time throughput, costs, and the like of the process has been proposed.  The technique is described in literature such as xe2x80x9c. ,IEEE transactions on systems, man and cyberneticsxe2x80x9d, Vol.  26, No.  5, September, pp 572-582, 1996 and xe2x80x9cWorkgroup Computing Reportxe2x80x9d, Vol.  18, No.  6, pp 3-15, 1996.  The technique for supporting an upstream design process of the system from a business process definition is described in xe2x80x9cNikkei BP, An introduction to CIS database designxe2x80x9d, June, 1996.  Further, the technique for evaluating the suitability of the function provided by a simulator to a task carried out by a driver during driving in an educational scene by using fuzzy relationship in order to support the design of the simulator for safety driving education of a vehicle, a two-wheeled vehicle, and the like is described in xe2x80x9cIATSS Researchxe2x80x9d, Vol.  17, No.  1, 1993. 
The conventional techniques for supporting the analysis/evaluation of the business process or upstream design, however, perform quantitative evaluation of response time, throughput, costs, and the like by paying attention to only the evaluation of the configuration of a process or the process itself and do not analyze/evaluate influences on an information system as a means for executing the process and the process of the human processing ability.  That is, in order to realize the present business process, it is indispensable to support the information technique and information system.  However, there is no means for evaluating what effects supposed to be obtained by executing which support of arrangement of human resources and computerization to which part of the process and for evaluating if the support is sufficient.  Consequently, even if a bottleneck on the process is found and the configuration of the process can be improved or reformed, association to a specific realization means depends on the ability of a person who analyzes and designs.  It is therefore difficult to perform proper association and a work load is heavy. 
In the association, from the necessity of a computerization support which can immediately deal with a change in a business strategy, present information systems are not developed as a ready-made product but rather a flexible system is constructed by combining a plurality of general tools as components.  It is, however, difficult to effectively and efficiently select tools suited to a business process from a group of candidate tools having various features.  Especially, in a future business environment which requires provision of original items and service oriented to a customer, competitiveness largely depends on a value obtained from a knowledgeable worker and depends on how successfully a system using groupware and intranet/internet for effectively supporting business communication, coordination, and collaboration of the workers can be realized. 
The trend is being shifted from the conventional computerization support for rationalization and reduction in the number of workers by automatization to the computerization support for improving the business processing ability of a worker.  It is therefore an important subject to evaluate the suitability among the process, the ability of the worker, and the information system and to configure a system on the basis of the evaluation. 
According to the conventional techniques, since the support is insufficient and the techniques are not suitable for an effect evaluation of a new type of computerization support, there are problems such that information investment effects cannot be seen and it is difficult to perform effective tool selection, system configuration, and optimum arrangement of human resources. 
On the other hand, the conventional technique of the simulator design support can evaluate the suitability between the task and system providing function.  Since a system called a simulator for simulating a substance is used, necessary, support functional items can be presumed and evaluation regarding the functional items can be performed.  The technique has, however, a problem such that the technique cannot be sufficiently applied to an object which requires one to systematically add new necessary functions having support effects like a case of evaluating a system in which although components of utilized tools exist, information, such as an information system configuration and arrangement of human resources for supporting a business process, does not exist. 
That is, since the conventional system planning method and support tools are used to plan a system for rationalization and reduction in the number of workers by automatization, the method and tools cannot evaluate the effects and suitability of computerization support with respect to a support for planning of a support type information system at present and for improving the business processing ability using groupware and the like in the future.  As a result, there is a problem such that the information investment effects do not appear, and it is difficult to effectively and efficiently select the tools and components of the system configuration elements suitable for the business process and to configure the system. 
It is an object of the invention to provide a system configuration evaluation/proposal support method which can quantitatively evaluate the influences of a support information system and the ability of a related worker on a business process and system configuration proposal method and tool for SI support based on the method in order to evaluate the effects of a support system for enhancing the business processing ability of a human and to propose the system configuration suitable to a business process. 
In order to achieve the object, according to the invention, there are provided a system configuration proposal method and tool in an information processing system, comprising the steps of:
defining a business process model expressing a business process whose system configuration is to be proposed, by a combination of functional processing items defined within an information frame and storing the business process model in an information storage;
setting the degree of importance of each of the functional processing items of the business process model;
defining a candidate of a system resource for carrying out the business process by a combination of functional items provided by the system resource and storing the candidate in the information storage;
setting the degree of functional sufficiency of each functional item provided by the system resource;
setting the degree of relationship between each of the functional processing items of the business process model and the functional items provided by the system resource;
calculating the degree of functional suitability of the candidate of the system resource on the basis of the degree of relationship, the degree of importance of the functional processing items of the business process model, and the degree of functional sufficiency of the functional items provided by the system resource; and
determining the system configuration proposal by the candidate of the system resource on the basis of evaluation indices including the functional suitability, and/or generating an evaluation window in a display mode designated on the basis of the evaluation indices and outputting the window by an input/output device. 
More specifically, according to the invention, there are provided system configuration proposal method and tool in an information processing system, comprising the steps of:
defining a functional process model expressing a functional processing item of a business process whose system configuration is to be proposed, by a combination of items in a basic function element unit of information processing and storing the functional process model in an information storage, said items in a basic function element unit being defined within an information frame;
setting the degree of importance of each of the basic function element items of the functional process model;
defining a candidate of a system resource for carrying out the functional process by a combination of functional items provided by the system resource and storing the candidate in the information storage;
setting the degree of functional sufficiency of each functional item provided by the system resource;
setting the degree of relationship between each of the basic function element items of the functional process model and the functional items provided by the system resource;
calculating the degree of functional suitability of the candidate of the system resource on the basis of the degree of relationship, the degree of importance of the basic function element items of the functional process model, and the degree of functional sufficiency of the functional items provided by the system resource; and
determining the system configuration proposal by the candidate of the system resource on the basis of evaluation indices including the functional suitability, and/or generating an evaluation window in a display mode designated on the basis of the evaluation indices and outputting the window by an input/output device. 
Embodiments of the above will be described as follows. 
In order to achieve the object, according to a first embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of supporting an evaluation of effects of a support system for enhancing the business processing ability of a human and a system configuration proposal suited to a business process, comprising:
a step of defining a functional process model expressing functional processing items of the business process whose system configuration is to be proposed, in a basic function element unit of information processing;
a step of receiving and defining a setting of the degree of importance of each of the function element items in the functional process;
a step of defining a candidate of an information system which is used as a means for carrying out the functional process by receiving designation of the functional items provided by the utilized information system and a human information processing function of human resources and combining the designated functional items;
a step of receiving and defining a setting of the degree of functional sufficiency of the provided functional items;
a step of receiving a setting for associating the element items of each functional process with the functional items provided by each system configuration candidate and defining the setting of the degree of relationship;
a step of executing an operation for obtaining an index for evaluating the degree of functional support suitability of the system configuration candidate by a predetermined function using the degree of relationship between the functional process item and the related functional item provided by the system configuration candidate, the degree of importance of the functional process item, and the degree of functional sufficiency of the provided functional item;
a step of generating and displaying an evaluation window in a designated display mode by using the calculated index; and
a step of determining a system configuration to be proposed from the defined system configuration candidates. 
With respect to all of the degrees of relationship between the functional process item and the related functional item provided by the system configuration candidate, the degree of importance of the functional process item, and the degree of functional sufficiency of the provided functional item, the setting contents can be defined by numerical values. 
In the step of executing the calculation for obtaining indices for evaluating the functional support suitability of the system configuration candidate, the degree of attainment of the element item of each functional process is calculated as one of the indices by a mapping operation of a mapping function using the degree of functional sufficiency and the degree of relationship.  The degree of necessity of each provided functional item can be calculated as one of the indices by a mapping operation of a reverse mapping function using the degree of importance of the element item of each functional process and the degree of relationship. 
In the step of generating and displaying the evaluation window, an evaluation window showing the suitability of the support to the element item of each functional process of the provided support function to the business process is generated by the difference between the calculated degree of attainment and the degree of importance with respect to the element item of each functional process, and an evaluation window showing the degree of functional excessiveness/deficiency of each provided functional item by the difference between the calculated degree of necessity and the degree of sufficiency with respect to each provided functional item can be generated. 
The degree of relationship between the functional process item and the functional item provided by the system configuration candidate can be defined as an association matrix of the functional process items and the functional items provided by the system configuration candidate. 
In the step of defining the functional process model, the function element can be set in accordance with an information frame in which conceptual levels of languages are unified by a language configuration of 5W1H.
According to a second embodiment of the invention, there is provided a system configuration proposal tool for supporting an evaluation of effects of a supporting system for enhancing the business processing ability of a human and a system configuration proposal suited to a business process, comprising:
means for defining a functional process model expressing functional items of the business process whose system configuration is to be proposed in a basic function element unit of information processing;
means for receiving and defining a setting of the degree of importance of each of function element items in the functional process;
means for defining a candidate of an information system which is used as a means for carrying out the functional process by receiving designation of the functional items provided by the utilized information system and human information processing functions of human resources and combining the designated functional items;
means for receiving and defining a setting of the degree of functional sufficiency of the provided functional items; means for receiving a setting for associating the element items of each functional process with the functional items provided by each system configuration candidate and defining the setting of the degree of relationship;
means for executing an operation for obtaining an index for evaluating the degree of functional support suitability of the system configuration candidate by a predetermined function using the degree of relationship between the functional process item and the related functional item provided by the system configuration candidate, the degree of importance of the functional process item, and the degree of functional sufficiency of the provided functional item;
means for generating and displaying an evaluation window in a designated display mode by using the calculated index; and
means for determining a system configuration to be proposed from the defined system configuration candidates. 
The means for defining the functional process model comprises: a first function means of defining a status process model expressing a status transition of each processing item of the business process from the business process model as a lower layer of the business process model; and a second function means of hierarchically defining in detail the processing items executed in the statuses of the status process model and its transition as a functional process model and as a lower layer of the status process model.  By the second function means executing after execution of the first function means, the functional process model is supported so as to be inductively and systematically lead. 
The means for determining a system configuration to be proposed from the candidates can determine the system configuration in which preference of the system introducer is reflected by providing means for using the business support suitability, the degree of excessiveness/deficiency of the provided function, and a system introducing cost as criteria for selecting the system configuration and for interactively setting a relative weight of each criterion by the user of the tool. 
The means for generating and displaying the evaluation window has the function of visually displaying the degree of functional support suitability by a graph and can identify and display the particulars of the degree of excessiveness/deficiency of the provided function by a bar graph by grouping the results of the business support suitability and the degree of excessiveness/deficiency of the provided function in accordance with the difference between a necessary level and an attainment level.  The means for generating and displaying the evaluation window has the function of visually displaying the functional support suitability by a graph and displays the excessiveness/deficiency by a broken line graph expressing the results of the business support suitability of each functional process element item and the degree of excessiveness/deficiency of the provided function of the system providing function item by a necessary level and an attainment level.  Further, the means for generating and displaying the evaluation window has the function of visually displaying the functional support suitability by a graph and can display the evaluation result of the support suitability of each of the type and level of information processing and the type of interactive processing by a broken line graph using axes of the types. 
According to a third embodiment of the invention, as in the second embodiment, there is provided a system configuration proposal support tool having a database server in which process model/system configuration candidate information as shared sample information in the event of the system configuration proposal is classified into the business process types and is registered,
wherein the sample information is used or re-used as a sample by connecting a plurality of system configuration proposal tools to the server via a network. 
According to a fourth embodiment of the invention, there is provided a recording medium in which process model/system configuration candidate information which is data used for the foregoing system configuration proposal support tool when the system configuration is proposed in each of the tools is classified into business process types and recorded as shared sample information. 
More specifically, the configuration proposal support tool of the invention comprises:
means for inductively breaking down the business process to a basic function element unit of information processing and visually interactively defining each element as a network-structured functional process model in accordance with an information frame in which conceptual levels of languages are unified by a language expression configuration of 5W1H (when, where, who, why, what, how);
means for visually and interactively defining a combination of functional items of an information system used as a means for carrying out each functional process and human information processing functional items of a related worker as a system configuration candidate in accordance with an information frame;
means for visually and interactively defining the degree of importance expressing the degree of importance of the defined each functional process by numerical values and the degree of sufficiency expressing the degree of functional sufficiency of each of functional items provided by the system configuration candidate by numerical values;
means for visually and interactively defining a relationship matrix constructed by association of each of the functional items (means) provided by the system configuration candidate to each of the items (target) of the functional process and the degree of relationship expressing the degree of the relationship by numerical value;
means for executing an evaluation operation for calculating the degree of attainment of each functional process by executing a mapping operation of a mapping function using the relationship matrix to the degree of functional sufficiency of each of the functional items provided by the system configuration candidate and for obtaining the support suitability of the provided support function to the business process by the difference between the degree of attainment and the degree of importance of each functional process; a means for executing an evaluation operation for calculating the degree of necessity of each provided functional process by executing the mapping operation of a reverse mapping function using the relationship matrix to the degree of importance of each functional process and obtaining the excessiveness/deficiency of the provided function by the difference between the degree of necessity and the functional sufficiency of the provided functional item;
means for grouping the functional processes into types of individual work, group communication, group coordination, and group collaboration and mutual action (interactive loop) types of human and information systems to business processes of a human loop, a machine loop, a human-GUI loop, and a human machine loop and totalling and normalizing the support suitability of each functional process on the group unit (process type, information process level, and interactive loop type) basis;
means for visually displaying the results of the evaluation operations for the functional suitability by a graph;
means for determining the system configuration as optimum providing function items to the business process on the basis of the evaluation results of each of the system configuration candidates; and
means for visually displaying the result by a graph. 
The foregoing and other objects, advantages, manner of operation and novel features of the present invention will be understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.