JPH0877260A - Fault measure support system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide the fault measure support system which accurately guides and supports a series of operation procedures required to take measures against a fault occurring to a customer-side equipment. CONSTITUTION: On the basis of fault statement information reported from the customer-side equipment 1 to the fault measure support system 3, a fault measure accepting process part 31 retrieves respective information files 31a-31d and specifies the formal equipment type name of the faulty equipment on the basis of retrieval results, performs estimates the cause of the fault, e.g. a defective component and performs a preparing process for the components, and further informs relative departments 4 and 5 of them through a relative department terminal control part 34. At this time, guidance information for a person who takes measures against the fault, e.g. the introduction of operation to be done next and data to be inputted is displayed on the terminal screen etc., by a terminal display guidance process part 33 to prompt the necessary data to be inputted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention accurately guides a failure countermeasure process executed by a fault countermeasure processor in a series of fault countermeasure processing relating to fault countermeasures of electronic devices such as a computer system and an information communication system. , Support system for supporting disability measures.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a failure occurs in a computer system or an information communication system, and a customer of the system makes a phone call to report a failure, a maintenance person asks the delivered equipment, the status of the failure, and the contents. However, he took notes, referred to the customer information and delivery information databases that were decentralized and managed, and ledger one by one, and accepted the fault and confirmed the declaration contents manually. Then, when the acceptance of the fault report is completed, work for investigating the cause of the fault is started. When the maintenance personnel work together by multiple persons, the countermeasure work is carried out while writing and posting the contents of the countermeasures on the blackboard, etc., and at the same time, by handwriting the situation of countermeasures against failures, etc. by fax, etc. I was in contact with related departments such as technical support departments that provide technical support for troubleshooting.

In the work of investigating the cause of a failure, the failure site is estimated based on the content of the failure report by the customer, referring to the device drawing and the technical data for maintenance, and the inventory of the relevant estimated defective parts is stored in the parts inventory. Inquire in the management system. Presumed defective parts that are in stock in the parts warehouse of the maintenance base in charge are dispatched by the maintenance person who is dispatched. For estimated defective parts that are out of stock in the maintenance base in charge, use facsimile etc. to other parts warehouse. Then, I had to arrange the delivery of parts one by one.

On the other hand, when the customer's fault report is received at a place other than the maintenance office, when support for fault countermeasure processing is required, or when high-level technical support is required, the relevant department is contacted. On the other hand, I was informed of the dispatch request and support request by telephone. Upon receiving the notification, the related departments supported the failure countermeasure work while grasping the situation by telephone, facsimile, etc. and checking whether there was any omission of work.

As technical support, in addition to device drawings and maintenance technical materials, past case information is referred to, and with the assistance of a more advanced engineer, the cause of failure is estimated and estimated. The content was validated.

[0006]

As described above, conventionally,
Since a series of work related to failure countermeasures was artificially carried out, if a failure occurs in an electronic device that requires urgency, as work items increase or complex work contents increase, work leakage and work increase. There was a problem that it was easy to cause a poor procedure, a delay in work, a poor contact, a communication error, etc. In addition, depending on the system of the responding side, such as the difference in technical ability of engineers and the number of personnel involved in joint work, the ability to cope with failures may vary, and the difference in quality of maintenance service may be annoying to customers. There was a need for improvement, and improvement was desired.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide a failure countermeasure support system having a configuration capable of accurately guiding and supporting a series of work processes for failure countermeasures performed by a person who handles fault measures in failure countermeasure processing of electronic devices.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a first sub-device for assisting acquisition of information necessary for identifying a failure of an electronic device having a failure is provided. A failure countermeasure support system including a system, wherein the first subsystem includes an inquiry unit for acquiring the contents of a failure in a device in which an error has occurred, and the inquiry unit is provided for each device. In addition, an inquiry information storage unit that stores question items for asking questions about the failure in advance, a display unit that displays all or some of the question items stored in the inquiry information storage unit, and the displayed question items There is provided a failure countermeasure support system characterized by comprising input means for accepting an input of an answer to, and means for creating an inquiry result based on the input answer.

Further, the system of the present invention, as a first subsystem, customer specifying means for specifying a customer who has made a failure report, and device specification for specifying a device in which a failure has occurred. And means, respectively.

The customer specifying means includes information specifying a customer,
Using the customer information storage means for storing in advance one or more types of search key information corresponding to the specified information, the input means for accepting the input of the search key information, and the input search key information. A customer search means for searching the customer information stored in the customer information storage means and outputting information for specifying the customer, and a display means for displaying the output information for specifying the customer. Can be provided.

Further, the device specifying means is a device information storing means for storing in advance information specifying a device and one or more kinds of predetermined search key information corresponding to the specified information, and the search key information. A device search for searching for information identifying a device stored in the device information storage means by using an input unit that accepts the input of the device and the input search key information, and acquiring information that identifies the corresponding device. A means and a display means for displaying the information for identifying the acquired device can be provided.

According to the present invention, fault countermeasures can be more favorably supported by appropriately adding the second to eighth subsystems described below to the above-described aspect.

The second subsystem is a system for identifying the details of the failure and the cause based on the result of the inquiry, and includes information indicating the content of the failure, information on the estimated failure cause corresponding to the information, and the information about the estimated failure cause. Failure cause information storage means for storing in advance predetermined search key information corresponding to
Using information corresponding to the search key information among the information included in the inquiry result, information indicating the failure content and failure cause information stored in the failure cause information storage means are searched to find the corresponding failure. And a failure information search means for acquiring information indicating the content and cause, wherein the predetermined search key information is information corresponding to the information indicating the inquiry result.

The third subsystem is a system for narrowing down defective parts on the basis of the estimated cause of failure and the information for specifying the device, and information for specifying the estimated cause of failure and the device. , A component information storage unit that stores in advance component information that identifies a component for each device corresponding thereto, and information that identifies the estimated failure cause and the device in the component information storage unit using search key information. It is characterized by further comprising: a component information searching unit that searches the stored component information and acquires information indicating a specific component corresponding to the search key information.

The fourth subsystem is a system for arranging parts, and is a parts inventory information storage means for storing information indicating the stock status of the parts, and the parts acquired by the parts information retrieval means. For the component indicated by the information, the component inventory information searching unit that searches the component inventory information storage unit to acquire information indicating the inventory status of the component, and manages the component based on the acquired information indicating the inventory status of the component It is characterized in that it is provided with a delivery arrangement processing means for requesting the delivery arrangement processing to the department.

The fifth subsystem is a system for performing processing relating to repair of a failure, and is information for identifying a customer, information for identifying a device, and information for identifying a department in charge of maintenance of the device. Based on the information included in the related department information storage means for storing and the acquired information for identifying the customer and the information for identifying the device,
Retrieval of a device for which a fault report has been made to the relevant department based on the search means that searches the related department information storage means and acquires the information that identifies the corresponding department and the information that identifies the acquired department And a communication means for sending a command to instruct.

The sixth subsystem is a system for creating history information from failure report acceptance to completion of repair work, and receives a repair work end report including information indicating countermeasures from the department in charge. Input means, information indicating the processing executed in each of the first to fifth subsystems and their respective execution times, and information indicating the contents of the repair work completion report received by the input means and the reception thereof And a work history information creating means for creating work history information including the time.

The seventh subsystem is a system for managing the technical information about the device to be reported as a failure, and the technical information including past failure cases about the device to be reported for failure, and , A technical information database for accumulating the work history information created by the work history creating means, and a request to acquire the technical information for a specific device, and a search key from the work history information for the device. Key information extracting means for extracting information and stored information extracting means for selectively extracting related technical information from the technical information database based on the extracted search key information are provided. .

The eighth subsystem is a system for monitoring whether or not a repair measure has been executed after receiving a failure report, and repairing the failure starts from the time when the failure report information is received. The time required to complete is set in advance as the monitoring time, and when the failure report is received, it is monitored whether the repair work completion report for the report is received by the monitoring time, and the monitoring time When the restoration work completion report is not accepted before the lapse of time, a warning means for generating and outputting a predetermined warning signal is provided.

[0020]

In the failure countermeasure support system of the present invention, the inquiry means of the first subsystem acquires the information indicating the failure content of the device. For this reason, the inquiry information storage means stores in advance question items for inquiring about the contents of a failure for each device. Then, the display means displays all or a part of the question items stored in the inquiry information storage means. As a result, the processor can easily understand the matters to ask the customer. Therefore, even an unskilled person can ask the information to be acquired without omission. Then, the input is made each time an answer is received. As a result, it is possible to further ask the customer about the following question. In this way, it is possible to obtain the failure content of the device.

Further, in the first subsystem, the customer specifying means specifies the customer who is reporting the fault. For this, for example, the customer key information stored in advance is searched using the search key information such as the customer's telephone number, and the information for specifying the customer is acquired. Similarly, the device specifying means acquires the search key information about the device from the customer, searches the device information stored in advance, and specifies the target faulty device, for example, the official model name of the device. To get. Further, the inquiry means obtains information indicating the details of the failure regarding the device in which the failure has occurred from the customer.

In the present invention, the second subsystem specifies the content and cause of the failure based on the result of the inquiry. That is, the second subsystem stores in advance in the failure cause information storage means information indicating a failure content, estimated failure cause information corresponding thereto, and predetermined search key information corresponding thereto. Keep it. Then, the failure information search means uses information corresponding to the search key information among the information included in the inquiry result, and information indicating failure details stored in the failure cause information storage means and failure cause information. To obtain the information indicating the content and cause of the failure. As the predetermined search key information, information corresponding to the information indicating the inquiry result is selected.
The failure content is represented by, for example, an error code.

Further, in the present invention, the third subsystem narrows down defective parts based on the estimated cause of failure and the information for specifying the device. That is, the third subsystem stores in advance, by the component information storage means, information that identifies the estimated failure cause and the device, and component information that identifies the component for each device corresponding to this.
Then, the part information search means searches the part information stored in the part information storage means by using the search key information with the information for specifying the estimated failure cause and the device, and corresponds to the search key information. Acquire information indicating a specific part. In this case, for example, the type, lot number, or version revision of the device obtained from the error code pointed out as the cause of the failure by the second subsystem and the information identifying the failed device of the first subsystem. From the number, narrow down to the estimated defective parts that match the device.

In executing these series of processes, each subsystem is to provide guidance information for a processor (hereinafter, simply referred to as a processor) of the fault countermeasure, for example, work to be performed next, data to be input. The introduction etc. will be displayed step by step on the terminal screen. Therefore, the processor can interactively appropriately respond to various information based on the failure report information, and quick and uniform failure countermeasure processing can be performed.

Since the process execution information of each stage is useful for the same kind of work thereafter as case information, the work history information creating means creates work history information such as the failure history, work contents, work time, and countermeasures. Make it searchable if necessary. Further, after narrowing down the defective parts, using the delivery arrangement processing means, the parts inventory information of the terminal device existing in the maintenance base in charge of the electronic device in question and the parts inventory existing in the terminal device other than the maintenance base in charge. Information is retrieved, and the terminal device having the narrowed down defective parts is requested to perform the delivery arrangement processing. This speeds up the delivery procedure for defective parts.

When defective parts can be secured, communication means is used to communicate with related departments, including departments that provide technical support for repair of failures, and the departments receive certain communication. Make sure that.

Further, the technical information including the work history information is converted into a database so that it can be searched by its own device or a related department. The search key information used for searching this technical information database is the key information extracting means. Automatically extracted from the work history information without manual labor. The stored information extracting means selectively extracts related stored information from the technical information database based on the automatically extracted search key information.

The warning means sets a time required for executing each of the above processes in advance from the time when the fault report information is received, and when there is a process that has not been completed after the set time has elapsed, a predetermined warning signal is issued. Is generated and output. As a result, it is possible to prevent the work required for the failure countermeasure from leaking out, and to proceed with the countermeasure processing while confirming the degree of progress of each work.

[0029]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a support system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is
Equipment 2 at the customer's site, 2 is a receiving department for receiving customer's failure report information about the customer's machine 1, 3 is required failure solution support based on the failure report information, failure solution support of this embodiment System 4 is a support department, 5 is a dispatch department.

The customer equipment 1 includes, for example, a CPU and an I / O.
Device, communication device, other electronic device, LAN, W
It is assumed that a computer system or an information communication system that performs various services is configured including the AN and the like. When a failure occurs in a part of the components of the customer's equipment 1, the information notifying the failure peculiar to the equipment is displayed as a failure message on the display device of the customer's equipment 1. The customer informs the reception department 2 of the failure message together with the customer name by using a telephone or the like. The reception department 2 receives the failure report from the customer and acquires the information (failure report information) necessary for identifying the customer, the device and the failure content while receiving the support of the failure countermeasure support system 3. Also,
The failure countermeasure support system 3 estimates the phenomenon and cause of the failure based on the acquired failure report information, and executes processing for outputting a countermeasure against the phenomenon.

From a functional point of view, the fault countermeasure support system 3 has a fault countermeasure reception processing section 31 and a work history record management section 3
2, terminal display guidance processing unit 33, related department terminal control unit 3
4, responsible maintenance base contact confirmation unit 35, parts inventory management unit 3
6, countermeasure work automatic warning unit 37, technical information automatic search unit 3
8 and a plurality of information management files 31a to 31e, 32a, 34a, 36a, 37 that constitute the database
a, 38a. This failure countermeasure support system 3
It has a subsystem for executing fault countermeasure support using these functions. That is, for an electronic device in which a failure has occurred, a first subsystem that supports acquisition of information necessary for identifying the failure, and a second subsystem that identifies the content and cause of the failure based on the interview result. A third subsystem for narrowing down defective parts based on the estimated cause of failure and information for identifying the device, and a fourth subsystem for arranging parts.
A fifth subsystem for performing processing related to failure repair, a sixth subsystem for creating history information from acceptance of failure report to completion of repair work, and technical information about devices subject to failure report It has a 7th subsystem for managing, and an 8th subsystem for monitoring whether or not a remedial action has been taken for a fault report after it has been accepted.

The first subsystem comprises an inquiry means for obtaining the details of the failure of the device in which the failure has occurred, a device specifying means for specifying the device in which the failure has occurred, and a failure. And a customer identifying means for identifying the customer who is making the declaration.

The failure countermeasure support system 3 has, as hardware resources, for example, as shown in FIG. 14, a central processing unit (CPU) 1401, a main memory 1402, an external storage device 1403, an input device 1404, a display device 1405,
The computer system 1400 includes at least a communication device 1406. Each processing unit described above is a CP
Each is appropriately realized by the U1401 executing the flowcharts shown in FIGS. Further, each management file is provided in the external storage device 1403, and if necessary, all or part of it is provided in the main storage 1402.

As the external storage device 1403, any one kind or two or more kinds such as a magnetic disk device and an optical disk device can be used. The input device 1404 can include a keyboard and a mouse or the like. As the display device 1405, for example, a CRT display device, a panel display, or the like can be used.
In addition to this, other electronic devices can be included as necessary. The operation of each unit will be described later.

FIGS. 2A to 2I are explanatory views of the contents of information and tables managed by the fault countermeasure support system 3.

FIG. 2A shows a customer information table for identifying a formal customer name, which is stored in the customer information file 31a and is searched by using a part of the failure report information from the customer as a search key. Yes, it consists of the management number, name, common name or abbreviation of the customer who made the fault report, telephone number, address, maintenance department code.

FIG. 2B shows a delivered device information file 31.
It is a delivered device information table for identifying the formal device model name stored in b, searched based on the fault report information from the customer, of the management number of the customer and the device group of the customer's device 1. Model name, serial number, device number, common name of equipment,
It is composed of abbreviations.

FIG. 2C is an inquiry information table for guiding and supporting the processor as a series of processing steps for troubleshooting when a customer reports a failure, and is classified by device type name. It is composed of terminal display screen information that guides the inquiry. That is, it is provided with a character and / or a symbol for displaying a predetermined question item and a group of answer candidates for it. Questions are organized hierarchically. That is, the answer of the upper question is linked to the question of the lower hierarchy related to the answer. The information table is stored in the inquiry information file 31c.

FIG. 2D is a part information table for estimating the cause of failure (defective part) based on the failure report information acquired from the customer by the inquiry means. The device model name, error code, and replacement. Along with the part number and the like, the inquiry result, a message indicating the phenomenon corresponding to the inquiry result, and the estimated failure cause information for indicating the failure cause estimated correspondingly by characters and / or symbols are included. The information table is stored in the part information file 31d.

FIG. 2 (e) is a parts inventory information table for the parts inventory management unit 37 to carry out an arrangement process for searching for defective defective parts from the parts warehouse.
It consists of the part number and the number of stocks. The information table is stored in the parts inventory information file 37a.

FIG. 2 (f) shows related departments including the related department terminal control unit 34 which dispatches the customer to repair the failure and the support department 4 which provides technical support for the failure repair. It is a related department information table for specifying, and is composed of terminal numbers of contact points such as a maintenance department, a support department, and a dispatch department. The information table is stored in the related department information file 34a.

FIG. 2 (g) is a technical information table for centrally managing and searching the technical information by the technical information automatic retrieving section 38, which is composed of a device type name, an error code, case information and the like. To be done. The information table is stored in the technical information file 38a.

In FIG. 2 (h), the work history record management unit 32 records and registers a series of processing contents of failure countermeasures, for example, information such as failure reception number, progress of countermeasures, work contents, work time, countermeasures, etc. However, it is a work history information table for centralized management and is stored in the work history information file 32a. These pieces of information can be searched, referenced, and updated from the related department.

FIG. 2 (i) is a countermeasure work automatic warning condition setting information table for issuing a warning at the warning time set for each countermeasure work of fault countermeasures, and is composed of a warning time, a warning message and the like. To be done. The information table is stored in the work history information file 32a.

Next, the fault countermeasure support system 3 having the above configuration
The specific processing contents of the above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

Referring to FIG. 3, the failure countermeasure support system 3 first determines whether or not a failure report has been received from the customer (S (processing step, the same applies hereinafter) 100). This judgment is made, for example, when the processor receives a telephone call from the customer,
Recognizing that this is related to the fault report, the fault countermeasure reception processing unit 31 in the fault countermeasure support system 3
It can be determined by activating. When the failure report is received, the input of the customer name from the processor by the input device 1404 is accepted through the terminal display guidance processing section 33 and input to the failure countermeasure acceptance processing section 31 (S10).
1). In the case of the present embodiment, the customer name to be input may be any one of the common name, abbreviation and telephone number of the customer. Specifically, the terminal display guidance processing unit 3
By the display processing of No. 3, a guide message or an input format that prompts the customer to input one of the common name, abbreviation and telephone number of the customer is displayed on the screen of the display device 1405. For example, it is displayed on the screen such as "Please input the telephone number."

The failure countermeasure acceptance processing section 31 is a common name of the customer.
Of the abbreviations and telephone numbers, the customer information file 31a is searched using any of the entered information as key information (S
102), a customer management number, a formal customer name, an address, etc. are obtained from the search result and output to the terminal display guidance processing section 33 (S103: device model name specifying means). Based on the search result output to the terminal display guide processing unit 33, that is, the guide information, the processor confirms the legitimacy by telephone or the like to the customer who is the filer of the fault, and when it is legitimate, it understands. A key to the effect is selected (S104). A guide message is also displayed for this OK key. Further, various keys including the OK key, which are used for inputting selections and the like thereafter, are realized by assigning a function to a specific key in the keyboard of the input device 1404. Of course, the key input may be performed by designating the display area on the screen of the display device 1405. For example, all or part of the guide message display area may be defined as the key instruction area.

After the formal customer name can be specified in this way, the failure countermeasure acceptance processing section 31 determines that the customer information file 3
The delivered device information file 31b is searched using the customer number obtained from 1a as a key (S105), and the search result is output to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 (S106). The processor selects the device model name declared by the customer from the search result (guidance information) output to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 (S107). Usually, there are multiple types of delivered equipment and / or
Or, since there may be multiple units, they are displayed as search results. On the display screen, a guide message is also displayed to select the declared device model name. If only one device is delivered, the message will ask for confirmation. In any case, the selection input by the selection key is accepted.

The fault countermeasure acceptance processing section 31 searches the inquiry information file 31c for inquiry information corresponding to the selected device model name (S108: inquiry means), and outputs the search result to the terminal display guidance processing section 33. (109). The processor uses the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 to display the display device 1405.
The customer is asked a question according to the above inquiry information screen (guidance information), and the input device 140 is asked according to the customer's answer.
The answer result of the customer is input to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 via 4 (S110). Specifically, the display device 140
Items to be asked are displayed on the display screen of No. 5, and a group of answer candidates corresponding to the items are also displayed at the same time, and one of the answers is selected according to the answer content of the customer. Further, in this inquiry, question items and answer candidate groups are hierarchically assembled. Therefore, when a certain answer is selected for a certain question, the question of the next hierarchy related to the answer is called and displayed, and the next question is hierarchically proceeded in the same manner according to the answer. Then, the related question ends when the question necessary for specifying the failure content ends. In addition, when there is a plurality of answers to a question, the question is asked for each and the inquiry is finished.

An example of this inquiry screen is shown in FIGS. 9, 10 and 11. These inquiry screens are examples of inquiry about a facsimile, and the screen of FIG. 9 is a general question item, which is a question at the highest level. FIG. 10 shows the lower-layer question and the answer candidate group when the answer 3 is selected from the answer candidate groups 1-11. Similarly, FIG.
The question and the answer candidate group in the lower hierarchy when the answer 4 is selected from the answer candidate groups 1-11 are shown.

The failure countermeasure acceptance processing section 31 searches the site information file 31d to obtain the estimated defective site information of the failure based on the result of the inquiry with the customer. Search is the result of the interview
That is, this is performed by searching the presumed presumed fault cause information stored in advance, using the information indicating the fault content included in the fault report information as the search key. As a result of analysis, a message indicating the phenomenon and the corresponding estimated failure cause information,
It is displayed on the display screen (S111). 12 is the same as FIG.
It is an example of a screen which displays the inquiry analysis result when answer 1 is selected in 0. Similarly, FIG.
2 is an example of a screen displaying an inquiry analysis result when answer 1 is selected in 1. In these figures, the phenomena related to the faulty device are arranged and the probable causes thereof are listed.

When the processor confirms this inquiry result, the fault countermeasure acceptance processing unit 31 outputs the fault acceptance status to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 so that the fault countermeasure measures status can be grasped (S112). . The processor inputs additional information to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33, such as a reception status regarding failure countermeasures, work history information, and countermeasure information. The failure countermeasure reception processing unit 31 transfers a series of information including these additional information input to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 to the work history record management unit 32, and the work history information file 32a as the work history information of the failure countermeasure. (S113; work history information generating means).

FIG. 4 is a process procedure diagram of parts inventory management. The parts inventory management unit 36 refers to the work history information table and outputs a list of defective estimated parts necessary for troubleshooting to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 (S201). The processor is
By looking at this list (guidance information), defect estimation parts that need to be arranged for shipping are input to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 via the input device 1404 (S202). The failure countermeasure acceptance processing unit 31 searches the parts inventory information table by the part number (S203: defective part narrowing means). The parts inventory management unit 36 acquires the parts number from the parts inventory information file 36a based on the search result (S204). And
It is checked whether or not the stock of the parts to be arranged is in the maintenance base in charge (S205). If there is an inventory, the delivery arrangement parts are output to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 as a brought-in list (S206). On the other hand, for parts that are not in stock, a parts delivery request list is output to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 as missing parts (S207), inventory information that exists in the terminal devices of other departments is searched, and if there is inventory, it is issued. Make arrangements (delivery arrangement processing means).

FIG. 5 is an operation procedure diagram of the contact process. The processor issues a contact processing request from the terminal display guidance processing section 33 to the relevant department regarding fault countermeasures (301).

The related department terminal control unit 34 acquires the related department information from the related department information table (S302) and outputs the related department signature to be contacted based on the related department information to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33. Yes (S303). The processor selects a department to contact from the output related department signature, and inputs a contact request to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33. When the contact request input is confirmed (S304), the related department terminal control unit 34 causes the maintenance site contact confirmation unit 35 in charge.
A contact request process is performed (S305: communication control means). At this time, a warning, for example, a buzzer, is sent to notify the dispatching department 5 or the supporting department 4 which is a related department of the fault countermeasure (S306). It is determined whether or not the dispatching department 5 or the support department 4 that has received the alarm has responded to the effect that the contact has been accepted (S307), and if no response is made, the alarm sound of the maintenance base contact confirmation unit 35 in charge continues to ring. (S308). When the department that received the alert responded by accepting the contact,
Stop the alarm ringing of the maintenance site contact confirmation section 35 in charge (S
308).

Thereafter, the relevant department terminal control unit 34 is notified of the reception response (S309), and the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 is output a confirmation of the terminal reception (S310). The terminal display guidance processing unit 33 outputs the work history information created by the failure countermeasure reception processing unit 31 as a reception process and ends the contact process.

FIG. 6 is a procedure diagram of the technical information automatic search processing. First, the processor requests the terminal display guidance processing section 33 to acquire case information as technical information (S40).
1). In response to this request, the technical information automatic search unit 13
The work history information is acquired from the work history record management unit 32 (S402), and based on the work history information, the official device model name, part error code, phenomenon code, and failure information analysis dictionary code are obtained. The information extracted in step S1 is acquired as search key information, and the technical information file 38c is searched (S403: key information extracting means). Then, the retrieved technical information is output to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 (S404: stored information extraction means).

FIG. 7 is an operation procedure diagram in the countermeasure work automatic warning unit 37.

The countermeasure work automatic warning section 37 firstly performs periodical monitoring in accordance with the time monitoring interval of the failure countermeasure processing (S501). When the monitoring interval time is reached, the work history information is read from the work history record management unit 32 and the time monitoring interval related information is obtained (S50).
2). Then, the elapsed time is calculated for the failure for which the failure countermeasure is not completed (S503), and it is determined whether or not the current time exceeds the monitoring time (set time) included in the warning condition setting information (S504). . If some of the elapsed time has been exceeded, a warning message is read from the warning condition setting information (S505), and this warning message is output to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 together with a warning sound (S506). This warning sound continues to ring until the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 responds to the warning message (S507). When the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 responds, that is, when the processor inputs that each countermeasure work has been completed, the alarm sound is canceled (S508: above, warning means). After that, the input request of information to the necessary processing is output to the terminal display guidance processing unit 33 (S509).

As described above, according to the failure countermeasure support system 3 of the present embodiment, a series of steps for the countermeasures against the failure occurring in the customer's device 1 are guided stepwise according to the device in which the failure occurred. Therefore, the processor can accurately and promptly acquire the necessary failure report information from the customer, and based on this, the failure cause can be estimated.
Therefore, the processing can be speeded up and homogenized, and the conventional problems can be solved.

Further, since the work history concerning the failure countermeasure is accumulated in the work history information file 32a, this can be utilized as the case information. In addition, inventory of defective parts that caused the failure, inventory procedure, contact with related departments and their confirmation, and extraction of search key information from the database are performed automatically, speeding up the work and making mistakes in the work procedure. Certainly prevented.

Further, after the set time has passed for each countermeasure work,
Since the alarm is issued, the omission of the countermeasure work can be prevented, and further, the processing can be advanced while confirming the progress degree of each countermeasure work, so that the contents of the failure countermeasure processing can be made uniform and the quality can be improved.

In the present embodiment, an example of a system in which one fault countermeasure support system 3 functions in a leading manner has been described, but for example, the reception department 2, the support department 4, the dispatch department 5, and other departments, A device having the same configuration as that of the failure countermeasure support system 3 described in this embodiment may be provided to perform remote support processing for failure countermeasures or to perform distributed processing in a plurality of departments.

In the present embodiment, the failure countermeasure support system 3 is described on the assumption that it is composed of one set of hardware systems, but the invention is not limited to this. Distributed processing may be performed by a plurality of hardware systems. FIG. 8 shows an example of this.

The system shown in FIG. 8 functions as a call center that receives a fault report from a customer 1 or 2.
The workstations 200 described above, one or more workstations 300 arranged in each district and each functioning as a maintenance terminal in charge, and one or more workstations 300 functioning as a support terminal arranged in a support department that provides support. It is composed of a workstation 400 and a host computer 100 that manages the whole by connecting. Each of the workstations 200 has a failure countermeasure acceptance processing unit 231 for identifying a customer and an inquiry, and a terminal display guidance processing unit 2
And 33 are provided. Each of the workstations 300 has various work confirmation processing units 301 for confirming work history information, technical information, etc., and a terminal display processing unit 33.
3 and 3 are provided. The workstation 400 is provided with various work confirmation processing units 401 for confirming work history information, technical information, and the like, and a terminal display processing unit 433. The host computer 100 includes a failure countermeasure reception processing unit 131, a terminal display guidance processing unit 133, a related department terminal control unit 134, a responsible department contact confirmation unit 135,
Parts inventory management unit 136, automatic countermeasure work warning unit 137, technical information automatic search unit 138, and work history record management unit 13
2 is provided.

[0067]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the failure countermeasure support system of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Based on the fault report information, the fault countermeasure processor can be guided to the faulty electronic device by the optimal fault countermeasure processing procedure, and the fault acceptance process is simplified. Therefore, even an unskilled person can confirm the necessary items without omission and can make the maintenance quality uniform.

(2) Since it is possible to centrally manage the received response status of the failure and the necessary information, it is possible to improve the efficiency by joint work with the related departments regarding the failure countermeasure.

(3) It is possible to improve the efficiency of the complicated work of checking the inventory of defective parts one by one and making an arrangement for the delivery of parts to the maintenance base in charge or to another parts warehouse, and it is possible to reliably prevent omission of the arrangement.

(4) The contact work to the related departments can be simplified and the cooperation system between the related departments is strengthened.

(5) Since the search key information for searching the case information related to the failure is automatically extracted, the input error of the search key information and the variation of the search result are eliminated, and an effective and uniform search result can be obtained. .

(6) Each countermeasure work is started by the warning means,
Since it is possible to confirm the completion with certainty, it is possible to prevent delays in each countermeasure work.

As a result, in the failure countermeasure processing of the electronic device, it is possible to provide a failure countermeasure support system capable of accurately guiding and supporting a series of work processing of the failure countermeasure carried out by the failure countermeasure processor.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of functions of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of information and table contents managed by the failure countermeasure support system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the failure countermeasure support system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a parts inventory management unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of contact processing according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a technical information automatic search according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a countermeasure work automatic warning unit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a hardware system configuration constituting another embodiment of the invitation countermeasure support system of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a medical inquiry screen showing a question in the highest hierarchy.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a medical inquiry screen showing a lower hierarchy question.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the inquiry screen showing the lower hierarchy question.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen displaying an inquiry analysis result.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a screen displaying an inquiry analysis result.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware system configuration of the failure countermeasure support system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Customer equipment 2 Reception department 3 Failure countermeasure support system 31 Failure countermeasure reception processing unit 32 Work history record management unit 33 Terminal display guidance processing unit 34 Related department terminal control unit 35 Maintenance site contact confirmation unit 36 Parts inventory management unit 37 Measures Automatic work warning section 38 Technical information automatic search section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Koichi Nishiuchi, 2-14-6, Kanda, Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Within Ritsuryitsu Electronic Service Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Akira Kawasaki 2-chome, Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 14-6 No. 6 within Niritsu Electronic Service Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Kubota 2-14-6 Kanda, Uchida, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Within Niritsu Electronic Service Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toru Iwai In Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 2-14-6, Kanda, inside of Ritsuden Electronic Service Co., Ltd.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A failure countermeasure support system including a first subsystem for supporting acquisition of information necessary for identifying a failure of an electronic device in which a failure has occurred, wherein the first subsystem is a failure Is equipped with an inquiry means for acquiring the details of the failure of the device in which the problem has occurred, and the inquiry means stores in advance a question item for asking the details of the failure for each device that can be the subject of the failure report. The inquiry information storage means, the display means for displaying all or some of the questions stored in the inquiry information storage means, the input means for accepting the input of answers to the displayed questions, and the input answers. And a means for creating an inquiry result based on the failure countermeasure support system. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a second subsystem for identifying a failure content and a cause based on a result of the inquiry, wherein the second subsystem has information indicating the failure content, and Failure cause information storage means for storing in advance presumed failure cause information corresponding thereto and predetermined search key information corresponding thereto, corresponding to the search key information among information included in the inquiry result. And a fault information search unit that retrieves information indicating the fault content and fault cause information stored in the fault cause information storage unit using the information to obtain the information indicating the corresponding fault content and cause. The fault countermeasure support system is characterized in that, as the predetermined search key information, information corresponding to the information indicating the inquiry result is selected. 3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the first subsystem further comprises a device specifying unit for specifying a device in which a failure has occurred, and the device specifying unit includes information specifying a device and Using device information storage means for storing in advance one or more types of search key information corresponding to specified information, input means for accepting input of search key information, and input search key information, A device search unit that searches for information that identifies a device stored in the device information storage unit and acquires information that identifies the corresponding device, and a display unit that displays the information that identifies the acquired device. A failure countermeasure support system characterized by being provided. 4. The third subsystem according to claim 3, further comprising a third subsystem for narrowing down defective parts based on the estimated failure cause and the information for identifying the device. A component information storage unit that stores in advance information that identifies a probable cause of failure and the device and component information that identifies a component corresponding to each device, and information that identifies the estimated cause of failure and the device A failure, characterized in that the key information is used to search the component information stored in the component information storage means, and to obtain information indicating a specific component corresponding to the search key information. Measure support system. 5. The part subsystem according to claim 4, further comprising a fourth subsystem for arranging parts, wherein the fourth subsystem stores part inventory information storage means for storing information indicating a stock status of parts. , A parts inventory information searching unit that searches the parts inventory information storage unit for the parts indicated by the parts information acquired by the parts information searching unit, and acquires information indicating the stock status of the parts, and the stock status of the acquired parts A failure countermeasure support system, comprising: a delivery arrangement processing means for requesting a delivery arrangement processing to a department managing the part based on the information indicating 6. The information processing system according to claim 5, wherein the first subsystem further comprises customer identifying means for identifying a customer who has made a declaration of failure, and the customer identifying means includes information for identifying the customer. Using the customer information storage unit that stores in advance one or more types of search key information corresponding to the specified information, the input unit that receives the input of the search key information, and the input search key information. A customer retrieving means for retrieving the information for identifying the customer stored in the customer information storage means and outputting information for identifying the corresponding customer; and a display means for displaying the output information for identifying the customer. A failure countermeasure support system comprising: 7. The system according to claim 6, further comprising a fifth subsystem for performing a process for repairing a failure, the fifth subsystem including information for identifying a customer and information for identifying a device,
Related department information storage means that stores information that specifies the department in charge of maintenance of the device, and related departments based on the information that is acquired in the information that specifies the customer and the information that specifies the device Based on the search means that searches the information storage means to obtain the information that identifies the relevant department in charge and the information that identifies the department in charge that was acquired, instruct the relevant department to repair the device for which the problem was reported. A failure countermeasure support system comprising: a communication unit that sends a command to 8. The system according to claim 7, further comprising a sixth subsystem for creating history information from acceptance of a failure report to completion of repair work, the sixth subsystem indicating countermeasures from the department in charge. Input means for receiving a repair work completion report including information, information indicating processing executed in each of the first to fifth subsystems, and respective execution times, and
A failure countermeasure support system, comprising: work history information creating means for creating work history information including information indicating the content of the repair work completion report received by the input means and the reception time. 9. The device according to claim 8, further comprising a seventh subsystem for managing technical information about a device to be reported as a failure, wherein the seventh subsystem is for a device to be reported as a failure. The technical information database for accumulating the technical information including the past failure cases and the work history information created by the work history creating means.
And a request to obtain technical information about a specific device,
Key information extracting means for extracting search key information from the work history information of the device, and storage for selectively extracting related technical information from the technical information database based on the extracted search key information. A failure countermeasure support system comprising information extraction means. 10. The claim 8 according to claim 9, further comprising an eighth subsystem for monitoring whether or not a repair measure for the failure report is received, and the eighth subsystem is the failure report information. Starting from the time when the error was received, the items and time required to complete the repair of the failure are set in advance as the monitoring items and the monitoring time, and when the failure report is received, the notification is returned until the monitoring time elapses. And whether or not the repair work end report is received, and when the repair work end report is not received before the monitoring time elapses, a warning signal is generated and output in advance. Disability countermeasure support system.