Management apparatus, control method thereof and information processing system

A method of controlling a management apparatus that acquires operating information from a network device and manages an operating history, the method comprising:

• determining whether the operating information acquired from the network device is usage frequency information for each identifier associated with a user who uses the network device, the usage frequency information being information regarding a function of the network device;
• storing a first table, a second table and a third table, the first table storing, for each identifier, first information indicating a time when the usage frequency information was first acquired and second information indicating a time when the usage frequency information was last acquired, the second table storing the usage frequency information per identifier acquired from the network device, and the third table storing, as history information, information indicating a time when the usage frequency information per identifier acquired from the network device was acquired as well as the usage frequency information per identifier;
• updating, when it is determined in the determining step that the operating information is the usage frequency information per identifier, the first table and the third table using the usage frequency information per identifier and the information indicating the time when the usage frequency information was acquired;
• receiving a request to acquire information for a designated tally period;
• tallying up, in response to the acquisition request, a usage frequency per identifier during the tally period based on the first table and the third table;
• and
• outputting tally results obtained in the tally step,
• wherein in the update step, in a case where new usage frequency information per identifier is acquired from the network device, the acquired usage frequency information is compared with the previously acquired usage frequency information per identifier stored in the second table, and update is performed by storing, in the third table, usage frequency information of an identifier whose usage frequency has been changed without storing information regarding an identifier whose usage frequency remains the same, and
• in the tally step, even in a case where information regarding an identifier whose usage frequency information has been acquired during the tally period is not stored in the third table with reference to the first table, tallying is performed so as to include the information regarding the identifier in the tally results.

An information processing system including a network device, a management apparatus that manages operating information acquired from the network device, and a user apparatus that requests information managed by the management apparatus,

• the network device comprising
• a transmitting unit that transmits operating information to the management apparatus,
• the management apparatus comprising:
• a determining unit that determines whether the operating information acquired from the network device is usage frequency information for each identifier associated with a user who uses the network device, the usage frequency information being information regarding a function of the network device;
• a storage unit that stores a first table, a second table and a third table, the first table storing, for each identifier, first information indicating a time when the usage frequency information was first acquired and second information indicating a time when the usage frequency information was last acquired, the second table storing the usage frequency information per identifier acquired from the network device, and the third table storing, as history information, information indicating a time when the usage frequency information per identifier acquired from the network device was acquired as well as the usage frequency information per identifier;
• and
• an update unit that, when it is determined by the determining unit that the operating information is the usage frequency information per identifier, updates the first table and the third table using the usage frequency information per identifier and the information indicating the time when the usage frequency information was acquired, and
• the user apparatus comprising:
• a request unit that makes a request to acquire information for a designated tally period to the management apparatus;
• and
• a display unit that, in response to the acquisition request, acquires and displays results obtained from the management apparatus tallying up the usage frequency per identifier during the tally period based on the first table and the third table,
• wherein in a case where new usage frequency information per identifier is acquired from the network device, the update unit compares the acquired usage frequency information with the previously acquired usage frequency information per identifier stored in the second table, and performs update by storing, in the third table, usage frequency information of an identifier whose usage frequency has been changed without storing information regarding to an identifier whose usage frequency remains the same, and
• even in a case where information regarding an identifier whose usage frequency information has been acquired during the tally period is not stored in the third table with reference to the first table, the management apparatus performs tallying so as to include the information regarding the identifier in the tally results.