Method and apparatus for defining enterprise information flow

A data processing apparatus for displaying an enterprise information flow comprising:

• displaying means for displaying a display area in four quadrants formed by crossing vertical and horizontal axes;
• assigning means for assigning activity elements of first and second enterprise activities in each of said vertical and horizontal axes, respectively, said first enterprise activity including line application activities which are a series of application activities which manufacture at least one of products and services in an enterprise, and said second enterprise activity including staff application activities which are a series of application activities which maintain and control the manufacture of the products and services;
• acquiring means for acquiring information flows established between said line application activities and said staff application activities;
• and
• displaying means for displaying said acquired information flows in areas in which the activity elements on the vertical axes and the activity elements on the horizontal axes are crossed in one of said four quadrants.

A computer implemented method for displaying an enterprise information flow to be interactively executed by a computer comprising the steps of:

• displaying a display area in multiple quadrants formed by crossing vertical and horizontal axes;
• designating the vertical axis and the horizontal axis to arrange, on the display area, names of line application activities which are a series of application activities which manufacture at least one of products and services in an enterprise, names of staff application activities which are a series of application activities which maintain and control the manufacture of the products and services, and names of external organizations related to the accomplishment of the activities of the enterprise;
• arranging the names of line application activities and the names of external organizations, as viewed from a center axis defined at a crosspoint of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis, together sequentially along an ascending order of the vertical axis and a right-to-left direction of the horizontal axis and arranging the names of the staff application activities together sequentially along a descending order of the vertical axis and a left-to-right direction of the horizontal axis to form a matrix capable of defining an information flow;
• and
• inputting information for defining information flows between the application activities and between the application activities and the external organizations on the matrix, formed for each of the items of the line application activities, the staff application activities and the external organizations.

A computer implemented enterprise information flow format apparatus comprising a plurality of frames formed to arrange names of line application activities which are a series of application activities which manufacture at least one of products and services in an enterprise, names of staff application activities which are a series of application activities which maintain and control the manufacture of the products and services, and names of external organizations related to the accomplishment of the activities of the enterprise;

• displaying means for producing a display area in multiple quadrants formed by crossing vertical and horizontal axes;
• arranging means for arranging the names of line application activities and the names of external organizations, as viewed from a center axis defined at a crosspoint of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis, together sequentially along an ascending order of the vertical axis and a right-to-left direction of the horizontal axis and arranging the names of the staff application activities together sequentially along a descending order of the vertical axis and a left-to-right direction of the horizontal axis to form a matrix capable of defining an information flow;
• and
• each of said frames including a matrix for defining information flows between the application activities and between the application activities and the external organizations on the matrix, formed for each of the items of the line application activities, the staff application activities and the external organizations.