Patent ID: 7017071

Claim:
A device managing apparatus for managing a device via a network, said device managing apparatus comprising: failure detection means for receiving data indicating an occurrence of a failure in the device; first generating means for generating data indicating a request for a service operation in accordance with reception of the data by said failure detection means; selection means for selecting a company among a plurality of companies which should perform the service operation for the device; transmission control means for transmitting the data indicating the request for the service operation generated by said first generating means to the selected company assigned to perform the service operation for the device; management means for managing the status of the service operation corresponding to the request; count information acquisition means for acquiring count information associated with the device; and second generating means for generating data indicating a device operation report associated with the device, in accordance with the count information acquired by said count information acquisition means, wherein, in accordance with the status of the service operation corresponding to the request managed by said management means, said second generating means describes, in the device operation report, device information indicating which device corresponds to the request for the service operation which has not been completed or which device corresponds to the request for the service operation which has been resolved.