JP7668166B2 - Tobacco distribution support system and tobacco distribution support method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to technology that supports tobacco distribution operations.

In the distribution of tobacco products, fair and equitable transactions are realized while complying with regulations specific to tobacco products, such as the fixed price system and sales license system stipulated by the Tobacco Business Law, as well as the obligation to pay tobacco tax. For example, a real-time payment system is adopted to ensure that tobacco tax is paid without delay, and orders are received by individual stores that are licensed for retail sales of tobacco products.
On the other hand, stores that have a retail sales license and sell tobacco products include a variety of types of stores, including so-called tobacco shops (tobacco-only stores), as well as convenience stores, train station kiosks, and liquor stores.
Tobacco distributors need to distribute tobacco products fairly and equitably to these various types and sizes of retail outlets.

Various methods have been proposed to improve efficiency in the distribution of various commercial products, not just tobacco products. For example, the following Patent Document 1 discloses a system that enables efficient storage and retrieval of products. When a product is delivered by a product supplier, this system determines whether the delivered product should be stored in a product warehouse, or whether it should be sent to the product purchaser without being stored, and outputs instruction information accordingly.

JP 2006-25054 A

As described above, tobacco distributors need to distribute tobacco products fairly and equitably to stores of various shapes and sizes. However, deciding the delivery date and payment date and notifying the store each time an order is received would be a huge effort because there are many stores. Specifically, in order to realize immediate payment, various patterns of payment methods and payment timing are set for each store, and depending on the payment pattern, there are stores where the payment date is before delivery and stores where it is after delivery. Furthermore, since orders need to be received before the payment date, the interval between the estimated order deadline (order date) and the delivery date differs from store to store. In addition, in stores where sorting is required at a distribution center, the date of sorting (sorting date) must also be taken into consideration, and factors such as the long lead time until delivery must also be taken into consideration for stores located far from the distribution center.
Since there are various distribution methods for each store, it is not possible to determine a uniform number of days (for example, one week) before the desired delivery date that the order date must be.
For individual stores, not knowing when to place an order in relation to the desired delivery date could lead to missed opportunities.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a technique for presenting distribution schedule information for tobacco products for each retail outlet that sells the tobacco products.
In this specification, the term "tobacco product" is used in a broad sense to include not only cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, snuff, and pipe tobacco, but also cartridges used for tobacco products known as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products, and further to include tobacco accessory products provided as accessories for tobacco products.

According to the present invention, there is provided a reference means capable of referencing a customer information table that stores customer information indicating at least the payment method, payment timing, and order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table that manages business days for each tobacco product order organization, a reading means that reads customer information indicating the payment method, payment timing, and order method of a target customer store from the customer information table, a specification means that specifies the delivery date of tobacco products for the target customer store, a first determination means that determines a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date, and a second determination means that determines a payment date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the specification means based on the payment method and payment timing of the target customer store read by the reading means. A tobacco distribution support system may be provided that includes a second determination means, a third determination means that reads out from the business day table the business day of the order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method based on the order receiving method of the target customer store read out by the reading means, and determines the order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the read out business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date, and an output means that outputs distribution schedule information of the target customer store including date correspondence information within the specified period specified by the specification means and information of the target customer store that respectively associates the determined payment date and order date with each of the multiple delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tobacco distribution support method executed by one or more computers capable of referencing a customer information table storing customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table managing business days for each order receiving organization for tobacco products, the method comprising the steps of: reading out customer information indicating a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method for a target customer store from the customer information table; identifying a delivery date of tobacco products for the target customer store; determining a sorting date corresponding to the identified delivery date; and determining a sorting date for the identified delivery date based on the read-out payment method and payment timing for the target customer store. a tobacco distribution support method for outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store including: determining a payment date corresponding to a specified delivery date; reading out from the business day table the business days of an order receiving organization corresponding to the order method based on the read-out order method of the target customer store; determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the earlier of the read-out business days and the determined sorting date and payment date; and outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store including date correspondence information within the specified specified period and information of the target customer store, which associates the determined payment date and order date with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified specified period.
In addition, for example, a computer program may be provided that causes one or more computers to execute the tobacco distribution support method described above, or a computer-readable recording medium having such a computer program recorded thereon may be provided.

The present invention provides a technology that presents distribution schedule information for tobacco products for each store that sells the tobacco products.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a system configuration of a tobacco distribution support system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the logistics flow of tobacco products. 1 is a diagram showing the order date, sorting date, delivery date, and payment date in the distribution flow of tobacco products. FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually showing a hardware configuration of a support server. FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of the software configuration of a support server. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a customer information table. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a delivery pattern table. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a delivery daily allocation table. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a delivery information table. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a delivery route. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an output of distribution schedule information. 4 is a flowchart showing some steps of the tobacco distribution support method according to the present embodiment.

The following describes the embodiments of the present invention. Note that the embodiments described below are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the following embodiments.

[overview]
Before describing the details of the tobacco distribution support system 1 according to this embodiment (hereinafter, may be referred to as this system), an overview of the features of this system 1 will be described.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system configuration of a tobacco distribution support system 1 according to this embodiment.
The present system 1 includes at least a support server 10, and is used at the headquarters and distribution centers of tobacco product distributors to support tobacco product distribution operations and the like.
In this specification, a store that sells tobacco products and is a customer of a distributor that uses the present system 1 may be referred to as a customer store. As described above, customer stores come in a variety of store formats, including privately owned stores such as tobacco shops and liquor stores, franchised stores such as convenience stores and supermarkets, and directly managed stores operated by businesses.
In this specification, the term "customer" refers to a business entity that is a customer of a distributor and sells tobacco products delivered by the distributor.

Here, the distribution flow of tobacco products will be described with reference to Figures 2 and 3. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the physical distribution flow of tobacco products, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing the order date, sorting date, delivery date, and payment date in the distribution flow of tobacco products.
Tobacco products manufactured by domestic and foreign tobacco manufacturers are collected and stored at distributors' distribution centers or distribution base DBs in various locations. When an order is received from a customer store ST, the tobacco products are sorted at the distribution base DB corresponding to the customer store ST and distributed (delivered) to the customer store ST. The customer pays for the tobacco products he or she ordered in a predetermined manner.
As shown in Figure 2, the logistics flow of tobacco products includes not only direct delivery from the distributor's distribution base DB to the customer store ST, but also delivery from the distribution base DB to the customer store ST via the distributor's relay base or the customer's distribution center (hereinafter collectively referred to as relay base DR), and delivery from the distribution base DB to the customer store ST via the delivery center DC of a delivery company.

In the distribution flow of tobacco products, the order date is the date that is an estimate of the deadline by which a customer store must place an order in order to receive tobacco products on the target delivery date, the sorting date is the date on which the tobacco products must be sorted at the distribution center corresponding to the customer store in order to deliver the tobacco products to the customer store on the target delivery date, the delivery date is the date on which the ordered tobacco products are scheduled to be delivered (delivered) to the customer store that placed the order, and the payment date is the date that is an estimate of the deadline by which a customer must make payment for the tobacco products to be delivered on the target delivery date.
As described above, there are various distribution forms for each customer store, such as different payment patterns and store locations, and the distributor sets transaction conditions for each customer store according to the distribution form.

The present system 1 is mainly equipped with the following means to automatically determine a distribution schedule for tobacco products for each customer store, including at least the order date, delivery date, and payment date, in accordance with the transaction conditions of each customer store, and present distribution schedule information for each customer store.

The system 1 is equipped with a reference means capable of referencing a customer information table that stores customer information indicating at least the payment method, payment timing, and order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table that manages the business days for each tobacco product order organization.
The customer information table and the business day table may be stored in the support server 10 or another server device within the present system 1, or may be stored in a device outside the present system 1. When those tables are stored in a device outside the present system 1, the reference means can access those tables via communication.

"Payment method" refers to the method of payment for tobacco products, and examples of payment methods include direct deposit, direct debit, cash, check, etc.
"Payment timing" refers to the timing of payment of the price of tobacco products, and is determined according to the credit rank of the customer. The payment timing is set within a settable range determined for each type of payment method. For example, in this embodiment, when the payment method is cash or check, the settable range of the payment timing is set to the day of delivery, when the payment method is bank transfer, the settable range of the payment timing is set to the day before the delivery date (-1 day) to the day of delivery, and when the payment method is bank transfer, the settable range of the payment timing is set to the day before the delivery date (-1 day) to 5 days after the delivery date (+5 days).
"Order method" refers to the order channel used by the customer business operator or customer store, and examples of the order method include telephone, fax, the Web, email, and electronic ordering system (EOS).
"Tobacco product order receiving organization" means an organization within a distributor that handles order receiving for tobacco products, and there is an order receiving organization for each order receiving method. For example, there is an organization that handles orders via telephone and fax, an organization that handles orders via the web or email, an organization that handles orders via EOS, etc. However, one order receiving organization may be established for all order receiving methods.

The system 1 further includes a reading means for reading out customer information indicating the payment method, payment timing, and order receiving method of the target customer store from the above-mentioned customer information table. The above-mentioned reference means and this reading means do not need to be clearly distinguished.
In addition, the present system 1 includes a determination means for determining the delivery date of tobacco products at a target customer store, a first determination means for determining a sorting date corresponding to the determined delivery date, a second determination means for determining a payment date corresponding to the delivery date determined by the determination means, and a third determination means for determining an order date corresponding to the delivery date determined by the determination means.
In this manner, in this system 1, the sorting date, payment date, and order date are determined based on the delivery date.

There are no limitations on the method by which the specifying means specifies the delivery date. The delivery date may be input by a user operation on a computer in the system 1, may be obtained from data that is predetermined and stored in an electronic file, or may be determined from information such as the delivery frequency, delivery timing pattern, and delivery route that are determined for each customer as described below.

There is no limitation on the method of determining the sorting date by the first determination means, so long as the sorting date can be determined based on the delivery date specified by the specification means.
Here, "sorting date corresponding to the delivery date" refers to the date (sorting date) on which sorting should be carried out at the distribution center in order to deliver tobacco products to the target customer store on that delivery date.
The first determination means may determine the sorting date to be the delivery date identified by the identification means minus a predetermined number of days (e.g., one day, two days, etc.), or may determine the sorting date corresponding to the delivery date based on information such as the delivery route determined for each customer, as described below.

The second determination means determines the payment date corresponding to the delivery date identified by the determination means, based on the payment method and payment timing of the target customer store read by the reading means. For example, if the payment method is cash or check, the payment date is determined to be the same as the delivery date. If the payment method is direct deposit or direct debit, the payment date is determined based on the read payment timing (the day before the delivery date, two days after the delivery date, etc.) and the delivery date.

The third determination means reads out the business days of the order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method from the business day table based on the order receiving method of the target customer store read out by the reading means, and determines the order date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the determination means based on the read out business days and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date. For example, the third determination means determines a tentative order date by subtracting a predetermined number of days (e.g., one day) from the earlier of the sorting date and payment date. At this time, the predetermined number of days may not be subtracted, or the number of days required for order fulfillment determined for each customer store may be subtracted as in the embodiment described below.
Next, the third determination means judges whether or not the provisional order date is a date on which an order can be received based on the read business day, and if the provisional order date is a date on which an order cannot be received, determines a date earlier than the provisional order date on which an order can be received as the final order date, and if the provisional order date is a date on which an order can be received, determines the provisional order date as the final order date as it is.

In this embodiment, the delivery date is first specified, and the sorting date, payment date, and order date are determined based on the delivery date. The payment date is determined based on the delivery date and the payment method and timing of each customer store, and the order date is determined as a date on which the order can be received, taking into account the sorting date and payment date, and also the business days of the order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method of each customer store.
This makes it possible to automatically determine a distribution schedule for tobacco products for a target customer store so as to conform to the trade conditions of each customer store, which are set according to the distribution format of each customer store.

Furthermore, the present system 1 is equipped with an output means for outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store including date correspondence information and information of the target customer store within the specified period identified by the identification means, which associates the payment date and order date determined as described above with each of the multiple delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period.
In the date correspondence information, it is sufficient that at least the delivery date, the payment date, and the order date are associated with each other. Specifically, for each delivery date identified by the identification means, the payment date determined by the second determination means as corresponding to that delivery date and the order date determined by the third determination means as corresponding to that delivery date are associated with each other. There are no limitations on the method of association. For example, the association may be performed in a table format separated into items for the order date, delivery date, and payment date, such as an order date contact table described later, or in another display format.
The information on the target customer store includes information that can identify the target customer store, such as the store name, the customer's name, address, etc.
There are no limitations on the form in which the distribution schedule information is output. For example, the output means may be realized by a user interface output device such as a display device or a printing device (printer), and the information may be output by display or printing. In addition, the output means may save the information as an electronic file and output it to the outside via communication, a recording medium, etc.

In this way, by outputting distribution schedule information including date correspondence information within a specified period in which delivery dates, payment dates, and order dates are associated, and information on target customer stores, it is possible to present a distribution schedule for tobacco products to target customer stores. Target customer stores that receive this information can grasp the delivery dates, payment dates, and order dates according to their own transaction conditions, and can therefore carry out ordering operations efficiently to prevent opportunity loss.

[Tobacco distribution support system]
The tobacco distribution support system (this system) 1 according to this embodiment having the above-mentioned characteristics will be described in detail below.
The present system 1 includes at least a support server 10, and can support the operations of tobacco product distributors together with, for example, a warehouse management system, a sorting support system, a delivery management system, and the like.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram conceptually showing the hardware configuration of the support server 10. As shown in FIG.
2, the support server 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a memory 12, an input/output interface (I/F) 13, a communication unit 14, etc. The CPU 11 is connected to each of the other units via a communication line such as a bus.
The CPU 11 includes not only a general CPU, but also a micro controller unit (MCU), a micro processing unit (MPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a graphics processing unit (GPU), and the like.
The memory 12 is a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), or an auxiliary storage device (such as a hard disk).

The input/output I/F 13 can be connected to user interface devices such as an output device 15 and an input device 16 .
The output device 15 is a device that performs some output to a user, such as a display device, a printing device (printer), etc. The display device is a device that displays a screen corresponding to drawing data processed by the CPU 11, etc., such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display. The input device 16 is a device that accepts input of user operations, such as a keyboard, a mouse, etc. The display device and the input device 16 may be an integrated touch panel, or may not be connected.
The communication unit 14 performs wired or wireless communication with other computers, exchanges signals with other devices, etc. Note that the communication unit 14 can also be connected to a portable recording medium, etc.

The hardware configuration shown in FIG. 4 is an example, and the hardware configuration of the support server 10 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 4. The support server 10 may have other hardware elements not shown, and the number of each hardware element is not limited to the example in FIG. 4. For example, the support server 10 may have multiple CPUs 11. The support server 10 may also be composed of multiple computers.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram conceptually showing an example of the software configuration of the support server 10. As shown in FIG.
The support server 10 has, as software elements, an identification unit 21, a first determination unit 22, a second determination unit 23, a third determination unit 24, a data reference unit 25, a data generation unit 26, an information management database (DB) 27, an output processing unit 28, etc. Each of these software elements is realized, for example, by the CPU 11 executing a computer program stored in the memory 12. In addition, the computer program may be installed, for example, from a portable recording medium such as a CD (Compact Disc) or a memory card, or from another computer on a network, via the input/output I/F 13 or the communication unit 14, and stored in the memory 12.

In addition to the customer information table and business day table described in the overview section, the information management DB27 stores a delivery pattern table, a delivery schedule table, a delivery information table, a delivery route information table, etc., as illustrated in Figures 6 to 9.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a customer information table.
The customer information table stores information for each customer store, such as store information, transaction terms, etc. The customer information table stores, for each customer store, a store ID, a store name, a store location, a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, a delivery base, a delivery route, the number of days required for order fulfillment, a payment method, a payment timing, an order method, a change flag, etc.
The store ID is information (identifier) that identifies a customer store. For example, each customer store that is a franchised store such as a convenience store or a supermarket is assigned an individual store ID.
The store name indicates the name of the customer store, and the store location indicates the location of the customer store.
The delivery frequency indicates how often tobacco products are delivered to the customer store, and is set, for example, three times a week, once a week, every other week, every four weeks, once a month, etc.
The delivery timing pattern indicates the timing of delivery of tobacco products to a customer store, and types of delivery timing patterns can be set, for example, all delivery possible days, the beginning of the month, the end of the month, every other week starting from the delivery possible day of the starting week (one week from the starting day) (represented as every other week after delivery 1 week from the starting day), every other week starting from the delivery possible day of the week following the starting week (represented as every other week after delivery 2 weeks from the starting day), every four weeks starting from the delivery possible day of the starting week (represented as every four weeks after delivery 1 week from the starting day), every four weeks starting from the delivery possible day of the week following the starting week (represented as every four weeks after delivery 2 weeks from the starting day), every four weeks starting from the delivery possible day of the week after the starting week (represented as every four weeks after delivery 3 weeks from the starting day), and every four weeks starting from the delivery possible day of the week after the starting week (represented as every four weeks after delivery 4 weeks from the starting week).
Here, the "starting date" is determined for each customer, and for example, the starting date of the customer's business year is set as the starting date. However, the method of determining this starting date may be arbitrary for each customer.
The delivery timing pattern is set according to the type of delivery frequency of the customer store. For example, for a customer store with a delivery frequency of once a month, a delivery timing pattern such as the beginning of the month or the end of the month is set, for a customer store with a delivery frequency of once a week or more, a delivery timing pattern of all possible delivery days (any of the corresponding days among all possible delivery days) is set, for a customer store with a delivery frequency of every other week, either every other week after delivery one week from the origin or every other week after delivery two weeks from the origin, for a customer store with a delivery frequency of every four weeks, either every four weeks after delivery one week from the origin, every four weeks after delivery two weeks from the origin, every four weeks after delivery three weeks from the origin, or every four weeks after delivery four weeks from the origin.

The distribution base is one of the distribution bases (see FIG. 2) owned by a distributor who is a user of the present system 1, and is the base that is the starting point of a distribution route to a target customer store.
The delivery route is a delivery route from the above-mentioned delivery base and includes the target customer store.
In this embodiment, the delivery route is indicated by a delivery route code formed of a four-digit number, and one delivery route is identified by the above-mentioned information on the delivery base and this delivery route code. In addition, the most significant digit (fourth digit) of the delivery route code can identify one day of the week on which delivery is scheduled along the delivery route. For example, the most significant digit (fourth digit) of the delivery route code is set to "1" when indicating a delivery route that can deliver on Monday, "2" when indicating a delivery route that can deliver on Tuesday, "3" when indicating a delivery route that can deliver on Wednesday, "4" when indicating a delivery route that can deliver on Thursday, "5" when indicating a delivery route that can deliver on Friday, and "6" when indicating a delivery route that can deliver on Saturday.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a delivery route.
10 shows one delivery route from a certain delivery base, and the delivery route is indicated by a delivery route code of "1011." The fourth digit "1" of the delivery route code indicates that the delivery route is for delivery on Mondays (March 1, 2021, March 8, 2021, etc.).
The delivery route illustrated in FIG. 10 includes stores A, B, X, C, and D. The delivery timing for each store is shown in parentheses, with March 1, 2021 (Monday) being the delivery date for stores A, B, X, and C, and March 8, 2021 (Monday) being the delivery date for stores A and D. Therefore, this delivery route travels from the delivery base to stores A, B, X, and C except for store D on March 1, 2021 (Monday), and travels from the delivery base to stores A and D except for store B, X, and C on the following week's Monday, March 8, 2021 (Monday).

In this way, one or more customer stores are set for one delivery route. Information on the customer stores included in the delivery route is stored in a delivery route information table, which will be described later.
As described above, the delivery routes in this embodiment are set according to the days of the week on which deliveries are possible. Therefore, for a customer store that makes deliveries twice a week or more, two or more delivery routes are set.

However, the delivery route code does not have to be formed of a four-digit number as in this embodiment, but may be formed of a code of a predetermined number of digits. Also, the digit that can identify one day of the week when delivery is scheduled along the delivery route does not have to be the fourth digit, but the code of the predetermined digit in the delivery route code may be sufficient to identify one day of the week when delivery is scheduled along the delivery route indicated by the delivery route code.
In addition, in this embodiment, the information on the delivery base and the delivery route code are set separately in the customer information table, but it is also possible to set one delivery route data that combines both pieces of information in the customer information table.

As outlined above, the number of days required for order fulfillment is the number of days subtracted from the earlier of the sorting date and the payment date when determining the order date.
The payment method, payment timing, and order method are as outlined above. In the example of Fig. 6, the payment timing is set as information based on the delivery date, and the delivery date is indicated by "-".
The change flag is set to ON when an item that affects the determination of the order date, payment date, and delivery date among the information items stored in the customer information table is changed, and is set to OFF when the order date, payment date, and delivery date are redetermined based on the information of the changed item. Setting the change flag to ON is referred to as setting the change flag, and setting the change flag to OFF is referred to as lowering or erasing the change flag.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a delivery pattern table.
The delivery pattern table manages whether each date corresponds to each delivery timing pattern. FIG. 7 shows a setting example when the starting date is March 1, 2021, in which March 1, 2021 corresponds to every other week after delivery 1 week from the starting point and every 4 weeks after delivery 1 week from the starting point, but does not correspond to every other week after delivery 2 weeks from the starting point, March 8 the following week corresponds to every other week after delivery 2 weeks from the starting point, but does not correspond to every other week after delivery 1 week from the starting point and every 4 weeks after delivery 1 week from the starting point, and March 15 the week after that corresponds to every other week after delivery 1 week from the starting point, but does not correspond to every other week after delivery 2 weeks from the starting point and every 4 weeks after delivery 1 week from the starting point, etc.
The delivery pattern table may be created for each starting date, for each customer store, or for each customer (event participant).
Note that when the delivery frequency is once a week or more, all possible delivery days (any of all possible delivery days) set as the delivery timing pattern are not set in the delivery pattern table. This is because when the delivery frequency is once a week or more, information on whether or not the delivery timing pattern applies can be obtained from the delivery schedule table described later.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a delivery schedule table.
The delivery daily allocation table manages delivery routes that can be delivered on each date. In the example of FIG. 8, it is shown that the delivery route "1000" that can be delivered from the delivery base T on Monday is available for delivery on March 1, 2021 and March 8 of the following week. In addition, it is shown that there are two delivery routes "1000" and "1001" for delivery from the delivery base T and one delivery route "1013" for delivery from the delivery base C as delivery routes that can be delivered on March 1, 2021.
The delivery daily allocation table may be formed as a different table for each delivery base, or may be formed as a single table as exemplified in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a delivery information table.
The delivery information table manages the number of delivery days for each delivery route.
The number of delivery days means the number of days required to deliver tobacco products from a delivery base to a customer store along a target delivery route. For this reason, the number of delivery days for a delivery route that allows same-day delivery is set to "0", the number of delivery days for a delivery route that allows next-day delivery is set to "1", and the number of delivery days for a delivery route that allows two-day delivery is set to "2". For example, in the logistics flow illustrated in FIG. 2, the number of delivery days for a delivery route that delivers directly from the delivery base DB to the customer store ST is set to "0", the number of delivery days for a delivery route that delivers from the delivery base DB to the customer store ST via the relay base DR is set to "1", and the number of delivery days for a delivery route that delivers from the delivery base DB to the customer store ST via the delivery center DC of a delivery company, such as when the customer store ST is on an isolated island, is set to "2".
In this manner, in this embodiment, only customer stores that can deliver within the same number of delivery days are set for one delivery route.

The business day table stores information indicating business days for each order receiving organization of the distributor, as well as information indicating business days for each distribution center. A business day for a distribution center is a day on which at least sorting operations are performed at the distribution center.
The delivery route information table indicates the delivery order of each customer store included in each delivery route. For example, the delivery route information table stores, for each delivery route, a delivery route code, the store ID of the customer store included in the delivery route, and information on the delivery order of each customer store included in the delivery route in association with each other. However, the delivery route information table may be integrated with the delivery information table described above.

Figure 5 shows an example in which the information management DB 27 is provided within the support server 10, but the information management DB 27 may be provided within another server device within the system 1, or may be provided within a server device outside the system 1.
Furthermore, some of the various tables described above stored in the information management DB 27 may be stored in another server device within the present system 1 , or may be stored in a server device outside the present system 1 .

The data reference unit 25 can refer to the various tables described above stored in the information management DB 27, and corresponds to the reference means described in the overview section.
Here, when the information management DB 27 is provided in a server device other than the support server 10 , the data reference unit 25 can access the other server device through communication and refer to the information management DB 27 .

The data reference unit 25 references the various tables stored in the information management DB 27 and reads out the necessary information from the various tables. For example, the data reference unit 25 reads out the customer information of the target customer store from the customer information table using the store ID of the target customer store. The customer information that is read out indicates the delivery frequency, delivery timing pattern, distribution base, distribution route, number of days required for order completion, payment method, payment timing, order method, change flag, etc. The data reference unit 25 also corresponds to the reading means described in the overview section.

The identification unit 21 identifies the delivery date of the tobacco product of the target customer store. In the present embodiment, when the delivery frequency of the read target customer store is less than once a week, the identification unit 21 identifies a date corresponding to the delivery timing pattern of the read target customer store in the delivery pattern table as a delivery candidate date. Next, the identification unit 21 identifies a date on which delivery is possible using the delivery base and delivery route of the read target customer store and which also corresponds to the delivery candidate date from the delivery daily allocation table, and identifies the identified date as the delivery date of the target customer store. On the other hand, when the delivery frequency of the target customer store is once a week or more, the identification unit 21 identifies a date on which delivery is possible using the delivery base and delivery route of the read target customer store from the delivery daily allocation table without referring to the delivery pattern table, and identifies the identified date as the delivery date of the target customer store.
Thus, according to this embodiment, not only the delivery frequency but also the delivery timing pattern is managed for each customer store, and in particular when the delivery frequency is less than once a week, the delivery date is determined based on a more detailed delivery timing pattern, so that a detailed distribution schedule can be created that meets the needs of the customer store.

The first determination unit 22 determines a sorting date corresponding to the delivery date identified by the identification unit 21. Therefore, the first determination unit 22 corresponds to the first determination means described in the overview section.
In this embodiment, the first determination unit 22 reads the number of delivery days for the delivery route from the delivery information table based on the delivery base and delivery route of the target customer store read by the data reference unit 25, and determines a candidate sorting date corresponding to the delivery date by subtracting the read number of delivery days from the delivery date of the target customer store identified by the identification unit 21. Next, the first determination unit 22 reads the business days of the delivery base from the business day table based on the delivery base of the target customer store read by the data reference unit 25, and determines the day that is a business day of the delivery base among the previously determined candidate sorting dates as the sorting date corresponding to the delivery date.
According to this embodiment, the number of delivery days according to the delivery route for each customer store and the business days of the delivery centers for that delivery route are managed, and by referring to this information, a sorting date that suits the trading conditions and trading type of each customer store can be determined.

The second determination unit 23 corresponds to the second determination means described in the overview section, and determines the payment date corresponding to the delivery date identified by the identification unit 21, based on the payment method and payment timing of the target customer store read by the data reference unit 25. For example, when the payment timing of the target customer store indicates the delivery date ("-"), the second determination unit 23 determines the payment date to be the same as the delivery date.
When the second determination unit 23 determines the payment date to be a date different from the delivery date, it preferably judges whether the payment date is a payment possible date based on the payment method of the target customer store, and if the payment date is a payment impossible date, it preferably retroactively sets the payment date to a payment possible date. For example, if the delivery date is determined to be Monday, March 8th, and the payment timing indicates the day before the delivery date, the payment date is determined to be Sunday, March 7th, but if the payment method is direct deposit, direct deposit on Sundays is not possible, so the payment date is determined to be Friday, March 5th.

The third determination unit 24 corresponds to the third determination means described in the overview section, and determines the order date corresponding to the delivery date identified by the identification unit 21.
In this embodiment, the third determination unit 24 selects the earlier of the sorting date determined by the first determination unit 22 and the payment date determined by the second determination unit 23 so as to correspond to the delivery date specified by the specification unit 21, and determines the tentative order date by subtracting the number of days required for order acceptance of the target customer store read by the data reference unit 25 from the earlier date selected. Next, the third determination unit 24 reads out the business days of the order acceptance organization corresponding to the order acceptance method of the target customer store read by the data reference unit 25 from the business day table, and judges whether the order can be accepted on the tentative order date previously determined based on the read out business days. If the order can be accepted, the third determination unit 24 determines the tentative order date as it is as the order date, and if the order cannot be accepted, sets the tentative order date back to the nearest date on which the order can be accepted (by subtracting one or more days) as the order date.

As described above, a distribution schedule (delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date) for tobacco products for a target customer store is determined based on the customer information of the target customer store read from the customer information table. The determined delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date are associated with the store ID of the target customer store and stored in the information management DB 27.
Here, there are cases where items of customer information stored in the customer information table that affect these distribution schedules are changed.
When the data reference unit 25 detects that an item of the customer information that affects the distribution schedule has been changed, it sets a change flag for that customer information in the customer information table. According to the customer information table illustrated in Fig. 6, the items that affect the distribution schedule include delivery frequency, delivery timing pattern, distribution base, delivery route, number of days required for order fulfillment, payment method, payment timing, and order method.
When the existence of customer information with a change flag set is detected, the identification unit 21, the first determination unit 22, the second determination unit 23, and the third determination unit 24 re-determine the delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date based on the customer information with the change flag set. After that, the data reference unit 25 sets the change flag for the store information of the target customer store for which the delivery date, etc. has been re-determined.
As described above, according to this embodiment, the distribution schedule can be automatically updated in response to changes in customer information, and the latest distribution schedule can always be presented for each customer store.

The data generating unit 26 generates a delivery daily allocation table. The data generating unit 26 updates the delivery daily allocation table when a delivery route is added, when the delivery daily allocation table is to correspond to the dates of a new year, etc. In this way, "generation of a delivery daily allocation table" includes not only creating a new delivery daily allocation table, but also adding and updating data to an existing delivery daily allocation table.
The data generating unit 26 generates a delivery daily allocation table by associating the data of each date with the delivery route code that can be delivered on that date based on the day of the week information for each date within the specified period and the code of a predetermined digit (fourth digit in this embodiment) indicating the day of the week in each delivery route code. For example, when the day of the week information and delivery route information for January 2022 are acquired, the delivery route code "1001", whose fourth digit indicates Monday, can be associated with the date January 10, 2022, since that day is a Monday.

The data generating unit 26 may obtain date information and day of the week information within the specified period based on information input on the input screen, or may receive the information from another server device. In addition, the delivery route code and delivery base information can be obtained from the delivery information table.
According to this embodiment, by indicating information about the days of the week on which delivery can be made using a code in a specific digit (fourth digit) of the delivery route code, the delivery daily allocation table can be automatically generated (automatically updated) when a delivery route is added or when the delivery daily allocation table is to be adapted to dates in a new year.

The output processing unit 28 corresponds to the output means described in the overview section, and in this embodiment, outputs distribution schedule information including date correspondence information for a predetermined period of a target customer store and information on the target customer store to the output device 15 based on the delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date stored in association with the customer ID in the information management database 27. The output form of this distribution schedule information is not limited in any way, and it is output, for example, from a printing device via a paper medium.
As described above, the sorting date, payment date, and order date are determined based on the delivery date determined by the determination unit 21, but the determination unit 21 usually determines multiple delivery dates within a predetermined period for each customer store. This predetermined period may be specified by a user of the support server 10 via an input screen or the like, or may be specified from another server device. As a result, the first determination unit 22, the second determination unit 23, and the third determination unit 24 respectively determine the sorting date, payment date, and order date so as to correspond to each delivery date within the predetermined period for each customer store.
The output processing unit 28 outputs to the output device 15 distribution schedule information including date correspondence information within the specified period and information on the target customer store, which associates the determined payment date and order date with each of the multiple delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period identified by the identification unit 21.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an output of a distribution schedule.
In the order date communication table illustrated in FIG. 11, the store location and store name are shown in the upper left corner as information about the target customer store, and multiple combinations of order date (referred to as order date), delivery date (referred to as scheduled delivery date), and payment date (referred to as payment date) are shown in associated form in a table.
In the example of Figure 11, the target customer store has a delivery frequency of six times a week, and distribution schedule information is presented with planned delivery dates from April 1, 2021 to May 14, 2021. For example, it is shown that tobacco products to be delivered on Saturday, April 17th must be ordered by Monday, April 12th, and the price must be paid by Monday, April 19th.

The output processing unit 28 can output distribution schedule information for each customer store, for each distribution base of the distribution company, in the order of the distribution route code and in the order of delivery to each customer store included in the distribution route indicated by the distribution route code, based on the customer information of each customer store and the information stored in the distribution route information table.
As a result, at each distribution base, the distribution schedule information for all customer stores included in a certain distribution route is passed to a delivery person in charge of that distribution route in the order of output, so that the delivery person can obtain the distribution schedule information while lined up in the delivery order of that distribution route, and can distribute the distribution schedule information to customer stores together with the delivery of tobacco products.

[Tobacco distribution support methods]
The tobacco distribution support method according to this embodiment (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as this method) will be described below with reference to Fig. 12. Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing some steps of the tobacco distribution support method according to this embodiment.
The processing flow shown in FIG. 12 may be executed for all customer stores whose customer information is stored in the customer information table, or may be executed only for new customer stores whose customer information has been newly added to the customer information table, or may be executed only for customer stores whose customer information has been changed and whose customer information change flag is set.
This method is executed by a computer including at least one processor and a memory, such as the above-mentioned support server 10. Note that the specific content of each step included in this method is similar to the processing content of each software element of the above-mentioned support server 10, and therefore will be omitted as appropriate.

First, the support server 10 selects a customer store to be processed (referred to as a target customer store) from among a plurality of customer stores whose customer information is stored in the customer information table (S101).
The support server 10 reads out (S102) store information of the target customer store selected in (S101) from the customer information table. The read out customer information indicates the delivery frequency, delivery timing pattern, distribution base, distribution route, number of days required for order acceptance, payment method, payment timing, order acceptance method, change flag, etc.

The support server 10 judges whether the delivery timing pattern of the target customer store read in (S102) indicates all possible delivery days (S103). This judgment may be a judgment of whether the delivery frequency of the target customer store read out indicates once a week or more.
If the delivery timing pattern indicates all possible delivery dates, i.e., if the delivery frequency indicates once a week or more (S103; YES), the support server 10 identifies from the delivery daily allocation table the dates on which delivery is possible using the delivery base and delivery route of the target customer store read out in (S102), and identifies the identified dates as the delivery dates for the target customer store (S106).

On the other hand, if the delivery timing pattern indicates a date other than all possible delivery dates, i.e., if the delivery frequency indicates less than once a week (S103; NO), the support server 10 selects a date in the delivery pattern table that corresponds to the delivery timing pattern of the target customer store read in (S102) as a candidate delivery date (S104). Next, the support server 10 identifies a date in the delivery allocation table that is possible for delivery using the delivery base and delivery route of the target customer store read in (S102) and that also corresponds to the candidate delivery date, and identifies the identified date as the delivery date for the target customer store (S105).

The number of delivery dates specified in (S105) or (S106) is one or more and is determined according to the length of the period to be processed. The length of the period to be processed may be the period stored in the delivery pattern table and the delivery schedule table, or may be a separately specified period.
The support server 10 selects one delivery date from the one or more delivery dates specified in (S105) or (S106) (S110).

Next, the support server 10 reads the number of delivery days for the delivery route from the delivery information table based on the delivery base and delivery route of the target customer store read in (S102), and determines a candidate sorting date corresponding to the delivery date by subtracting the read number of delivery days from the delivery date selected in (S110) (S111).
Next, the support server 10 reads out the business days of the distribution center from the business day table based on the distribution center of the target customer store read out in (S102), and determines (S112) the day that corresponds to the business day of the distribution center among the candidate sorting dates determined in (S111) as the sorting date corresponding to the delivery date selected in (S110).

Next, the support server 10 determines the payment date from the delivery date selected in (S110) based on the payment method and payment timing of the target customer store read out in (S102) (S113). At this time, if the payment timing of the target customer store indicates the delivery date ("-"), the payment date is determined to be the same as the delivery date, and if the payment date is determined to be a date other than the delivery date depending on the payment timing, it is determined whether the payment date is a payment possible date based on the payment method of the target customer store, and if the payment date is a payment impossible date, the payment date is retroactively determined to a payment possible date.

Next, the support server 10 selects the earlier of the sorting date determined in (S112) and the payment date determined in (S113) so as to correspond to the delivery date selected in (S110), and determines a tentative order date by subtracting the number of days required for order fulfillment of the target customer store read out in (S102) from the selected earlier date (S114).
Next, the support server 10 reads out from the business day table the business day of the order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method of the target customer store read out in (S102), and determines the order date corresponding to the delivery date selected in (S110) from the provisional order date determined in (S114) based on the read out business day (S115). At this time, it is judged whether the provisional order date determined in (S114) corresponds to the business day of the order receiving organization (whether the order can be received by the order receiving organization), and if the order can be received, the provisional order date is determined as it is as the order date, and if the order cannot be received, the provisional order date is retroactively determined to the nearest date on which the order can be received (minus one or more days) and used as the order date.

When the sorting date, payment date, and order date are determined for one delivery date selected in (S110) in this manner, the support server 10 determines (S116) whether there are any unprocessed delivery dates among one or more delivery dates identified in (S105) or (S106). If there are any unprocessed delivery dates remaining (S116; YES), the support server 10 selects one delivery date from the unprocessed delivery dates (S110) and executes (S111) and subsequent steps.

When the sorting date, payment date, and order date are determined for each of all delivery dates identified in (S105) or (S106), i.e., when there are no unprocessed delivery dates (S116; NO), the support server 10 associates the delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date determined for the target customer store selected in (S101) and stores them in the information management DB 27 (S117). For example, the support server 10 stores in the information management DB 27 the store ID of the target customer store and one or more combinations of delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date in association with each other.

Then, in response to a user operation or a specified processing schedule (not shown in FIG. 12), the support server 10 causes the output device 15 to output distribution schedule information including date correspondence information relating to one or more combinations of delivery dates, sorting dates, payment dates, and order dates within a specified period for the target customer store, and information about the target customer store.

FIG. 12 shows only one example of the flow of the present method, and the order of execution of each step shown in FIG. 12 can be changed as appropriate.
For example, the step (S111) and step (S112) of determining the sorting date may be executed in parallel with the step (S113) of determining the payment date, or may be executed after the step (S113).

[Modification]
The above-described embodiment is merely an example, and the above-described contents can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
For example, some of the steps of specifying the delivery date, determining the sorting date, determining the payment date, and determining the order date may be performed in a manner different from that in the above-described embodiment.
For example, the determination of the delivery date by the determination unit 21 and steps (S103) to (S106) may be realized by obtaining delivery date data input by user operation on a computer within the system 1, or by obtaining delivery date data that is predetermined and stored in an electronic file.
In addition, the determination of the sorting date by the first determination unit 22 and steps (S111) to (S112) may be performed by a method of determining the sorting date as the date obtained by subtracting a predetermined number of days (e.g., 1 day, 2 days, etc.) from the delivery date.
The determination of the payment date by the second determination unit 23 and the step (S113) may be set to a fixed date such as the same date as the delivery date or the day before.
In addition, when the third decision unit 24 decides the order date, it may deduct a commonly determined number of days from the order date, without deducting the number of days required for order fulfillment determined for each customer store, or it may not make such a deduction.
Furthermore, information that is not used in the above-mentioned processing may be omitted from the various tables stored in the information management DB 27 .

Some or all of the above-described embodiments and modifications may be specified as follows: However, the above-described embodiments and modifications are not limited to the following descriptions.
(1)
a reference means for referencing a customer information table that stores customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table that manages business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization;
A reading means for reading customer information indicating a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method of a target customer store from the customer information table;
A means for identifying a delivery date of tobacco products of the target customer store;
A first determination means for determining a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date;
a second determination means for determining a payment date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the determination means, based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store read by the reading means;
a third determination means for reading out from the business day table a business day of an order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method of the target customer store read out by the reading means, and determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the read out business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
an output means for outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the output including date correspondence information within the specified period identified by the identification means, which associates the determined payment date and order date with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period, and information of the target customer store;
A tobacco distribution support system equipped with:
(2)
The customer information for each customer store stored in the customer information table further indicates a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, and a delivery route;
The reference means can further refer to a delivery pattern table for managing whether each date corresponds to each delivery timing pattern and a delivery daily allocation table for managing each date as to which delivery route is available for delivery on that date;
The reading means reads out customer information indicating a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, a delivery route, a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method of the target customer store from the customer information table,
the specifying means, when the read-out delivery frequency indicates a frequency less than once a week, specifies a date corresponding to the delivery timing pattern of the target customer store based on the delivery pattern table as a potential delivery date, and specifies, from among the specified potential delivery dates, a date on which delivery is possible via the delivery route of the target customer store based on the delivery daily allocation table as a delivery date;
A tobacco distribution support system as described in (1).
(3)
A generating means for generating the delivery daily allocation table for managing delivery routes available for delivery on each date within a specified period;
Further comprising:
The delivery route is indicated by a delivery route code formed of a code of a predetermined number of digits,
A code having a predetermined digit in the delivery route code identifiably indicates one day of the week on which delivery is scheduled to be made along the delivery route indicated by the delivery route code,
When the delivery frequency of the target customer store indicates twice a week or more, two or more delivery route codes are stored as delivery routes of the target customer store in the customer information table;
the generating means generates the delivery daily allocation table by associating data for each date with a delivery route code that can be delivered on that date based on day-of-week information for each date within the specified period and the code in the predetermined digit of each delivery route code;
A tobacco distribution support system as described in (2).
(4)
The reference means can further refer to a delivery route information table indicating a delivery order of each customer store included in the delivery route,
the output means outputs, for each distribution base station of the distribution route, the distribution schedule information of each customer store in the order of the distribution route code and in the order of delivery of each customer store included in the distribution route indicated by the distribution route code, based on the read customer information and the information of the distribution route information table.
A tobacco distribution support system as described in (3).
(5)
The customer information table further stores a change flag for each customer store,
The reading means reads out the customer information of the customer store for which the change flag is set from the customer information table,
the specifying means, the first determining means, the second determining means, and the third determining means redetermine the delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date of the customer store for which the change flag is set, based on the read customer information of the customer store for which the change flag is set;
The reference means turns off the change flag of the customer store whose change flag in the customer information table is set.
A tobacco distribution support system described in any one of (1) to (4).
(6)
The customer information table further stores a delivery route for each customer store,
The business day table further stores information indicating business days for each delivery base on the delivery route,
The reference means can further refer to a delivery information table that manages the number of delivery days for each delivery route,
The reading means further reads out a delivery route of the target customer store from the customer information table,
The first determination means reads out the number of delivery days for the delivery route from the delivery information table and the business days of the delivery base of the delivery route from the business day table based on the read-out delivery route of the target customer store, and determines a sorting date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the specification means based on the read-out number of delivery days and business days.
A tobacco distribution support system described in any one of (1) to (5).
(7)
A tobacco distribution support method executed by one or more computers capable of referencing a customer information table storing customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table managing business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization, comprising:
Read out customer information indicating the payment method, payment timing, and order method of the target customer store from the customer information table;
Identifying the delivery date of tobacco products for the target customer store;
determining a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date;
determining a payment date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store that have been read;
read out the business days of the order-receiving organization corresponding to the order-receiving method from the business day table based on the read out order-receiving method of the target customer store;
determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the retrieved business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the distribution schedule information including date correspondence information within the specified period and information of the target customer store, in which the determined payment date and order date are associated with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period;
A method of supporting tobacco distribution, including:
(8)
the one or more computers can further refer to a delivery pattern table that manages whether or not each date corresponds to each delivery timing pattern and a delivery daily allocation table that manages, for each date, a delivery route that can be delivered on the date; and the customer information for each customer store stored in the customer information table further indicates a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, and a delivery route,
In identifying the delivery date, if the read delivery frequency indicates a frequency less than once a week, a date corresponding to the delivery timing pattern of the target customer store is identified as a potential delivery date based on the delivery pattern table, and from among the identified potential delivery dates, a date on which delivery is possible via the delivery route of the target customer store is identified as a delivery date based on the delivery daily allocation table.
A tobacco distribution support method as described in (7).
(9)
The delivery route is indicated by a delivery route code formed of a code of a predetermined number of digits,
A code having a predetermined digit in the delivery route code identifiably indicates one day of the week on which delivery is scheduled to be made along the delivery route indicated by the delivery route code,
When the delivery frequency of the target customer store indicates twice a week or more, two or more delivery route codes are stored as delivery routes of the target customer store in the customer information table;
generating the delivery daily allocation table by associating data for each date with a delivery route code that can be delivered on that date based on day of the week information for each date within a specified period and the code in the predetermined digit position of each delivery route code;
The tobacco distribution support method according to (8), further comprising:
(10)
The one or more computers can further refer to a delivery route information table indicating a delivery order of each customer store included in the delivery route;
In the output of the distribution schedule information, the distribution schedule information of each customer store is output for each distribution base point of the distribution route based on the read customer information and the information of the distribution route information table, in the order of the distribution route code and in the order of delivery of each customer store included in the distribution route indicated by the distribution route code.
A tobacco distribution support method as described in (9).
(11)
The customer information table further stores a change flag for each customer store,
Read out the customer information of the customer store for which the change flag is set from the customer information table;
re-determining the delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date of the customer store for which the change flag is set based on the read customer information of the customer store for which the change flag is set;
Turning off the change flag of the customer store for which the change flag in the customer information table is set
The tobacco distribution support method according to any one of (7) to (10), further comprising:
(12)
The customer information table further stores a delivery route for each customer store,
The business day table further stores information indicating business days for each delivery base on the delivery route,
The one or more computers can further refer to a delivery information table that manages the number of delivery days for each delivery route,
Read out the delivery route of the target customer store from the customer information table;
In determining the sorting date, the number of delivery days for the delivery route is read from the delivery information table based on the read-out delivery route of the target customer store, and the business days of the delivery base of the delivery route are read from the business day table, and a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date is determined based on the read-out number of delivery days and business days.
A tobacco distribution support method described in any one of (7) to (11).
(13)
A computer program that causes one or more computers to execute the tobacco distribution support method described in any one of (7) to (12).

1. Tobacco distribution support system (this system)
10 Support server 11 CPU
12 Memory 13 Input/Output I/F
14 Communication unit 15 Output device 16 Input device 21 Identification unit 22 First determination unit 23 Second determination unit 24 Third determination unit 25 Data reference unit 26 Data generation unit 27 Information management database (DB)
28 Output processing unit

Claims (11)

a reference means for referencing a customer information table that stores customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table that manages business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization;
A reading means for reading customer information indicating a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method of a target customer store from the customer information table;
A means for identifying a delivery date of tobacco products of the target customer store;
a first determination means for determining a sorting date by subtracting a predetermined number of days from the specified delivery date;
a second determination means for determining a payment date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the determination means, based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store read by the reading means;
a third determination means for reading out from the business day table a business day of an order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method of the target customer store read out by the reading means, and determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the read out business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
an output means for outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the output including date correspondence information within the specified period identified by the identification means, which associates the determined payment date and order date with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period, and information of the target customer store;
Equipped with
The identification means identifies a delivery date of the tobacco products of the target customer store input by a user operation, or identifies a delivery date of the tobacco products of the target customer store from data stored in an electronic file.
Tobacco distribution support system. a reference means for referencing a customer information table that stores customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table that manages business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization;
A reading means for reading customer information indicating a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method of a target customer store from the customer information table;
A means for identifying a delivery date of tobacco products of the target customer store;
A first determination means for determining a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date;
a second determination means for determining a payment date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the determination means, based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store read by the reading means;
a third determination means for reading out from the business day table a business day of an order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method of the target customer store read out by the reading means, and determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the read out business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
an output means for outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the output including date correspondence information within the specified period identified by the identification means, which associates the determined payment date and order date with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period, and information of the target customer store;
Equipped with
The identification means identifies a delivery date of the tobacco products of the target customer store input by a user operation, or identifies a delivery date of the tobacco products of the target customer store from data stored in an electronic file;
The customer information table further stores a delivery route for each customer store,
The business day table further stores information indicating business days for each delivery base on the delivery route,
The reference means can further refer to a delivery information table that manages the number of delivery days for each delivery route,
The reading means further reads out a delivery route of the target customer store from the customer information table,
The first determination means reads out the number of delivery days for the delivery route from the delivery information table and the business days of the delivery base of the delivery route from the business day table based on the read-out delivery route of the target customer store, and determines a sorting date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the specification means based on the read-out number of delivery days and business days.
Tobacco distribution support system. a reference means for referencing a customer information table that stores customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table that manages business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization;
A reading means for reading customer information indicating a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method of a target customer store from the customer information table;
A means for identifying a delivery date of tobacco products of the target customer store;
a first determination means for determining a sorting date by subtracting a predetermined number of days from the specified delivery date;
a second determination means for determining a payment date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the determination means, based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store read by the reading means;
a third determination means for reading out from the business day table a business day of an order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method of the target customer store read out by the reading means, and determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the read out business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
an output means for outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the output including date correspondence information within the specified period identified by the identification means, which associates the determined payment date and order date with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period, and information of the target customer store;
Equipped with
The customer information for each customer store stored in the customer information table further indicates a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, and a delivery route;
The reference means can further refer to a delivery pattern table for managing whether each date corresponds to each delivery timing pattern and a delivery daily allocation table for managing each date as to which delivery route is available for delivery on that date;
The reading means reads out customer information indicating a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, a delivery route, a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method of the target customer store from the customer information table,
the specifying means, when the read-out delivery frequency indicates a frequency less than once a week, specifies a date corresponding to the delivery timing pattern of the target customer store based on the delivery pattern table as a potential delivery date, and specifies, from among the specified potential delivery dates, a date on which delivery is possible via the delivery route of the target customer store based on the delivery daily allocation table as a delivery date;
Tobacco distribution support system. a reference means for referencing a customer information table that stores customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table that manages business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization;
A reading means for reading customer information indicating a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method of a target customer store from the customer information table;
A means for identifying a delivery date of tobacco products of the target customer store;
A first determination means for determining a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date;
a second determination means for determining a payment date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the determination means, based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store read by the reading means;
a third determination means for reading out from the business day table a business day of an order receiving organization corresponding to the order receiving method of the target customer store read out by the reading means, and determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the read out business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
an output means for outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the output including date correspondence information within the specified period identified by the identification means, which associates the determined payment date and order date with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period, and information of the target customer store;
Equipped with
The customer information for each customer store stored in the customer information table further indicates a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, and a delivery route;
The reference means can further refer to a delivery pattern table for managing whether each date corresponds to each delivery timing pattern and a delivery daily allocation table for managing each date as to which delivery route is available for delivery on that date;
The reading means reads out customer information indicating a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, a delivery route, a payment method, a payment timing, and an order receiving method of the target customer store from the customer information table,
the specifying means, when the read-out delivery frequency indicates a frequency less than once a week, specifies a date corresponding to the delivery timing pattern of the target customer store based on the delivery pattern table as a potential delivery date, and specifies, from among the specified potential delivery dates, a date on which delivery is possible via the delivery route of the target customer store based on the delivery daily allocation table as a delivery date;
The business day table further stores information indicating business days for each delivery base on the delivery route,
The reference means can further refer to a delivery information table that manages the number of delivery days for each delivery route,
The first determination means reads out the number of delivery days for the delivery route from the delivery information table and the business days of the delivery base of the delivery route from the business day table based on the read-out delivery route of the target customer store, and determines a sorting date corresponding to the delivery date specified by the specification means based on the read-out number of delivery days and business days.
Tobacco distribution support system. A generating means for generating the delivery daily allocation table for managing delivery routes available for delivery on each date within a specified period;
Further comprising:
The delivery route is indicated by a delivery route code formed of a code of a predetermined number of digits,
A code having a predetermined digit in the delivery route code identifiably indicates one day of the week on which delivery is scheduled to be made along the delivery route indicated by the delivery route code,
When the delivery frequency of the target customer store indicates twice a week or more, two or more delivery route codes are stored as delivery routes of the target customer store in the customer information table;
the generating means generates the delivery daily allocation table by associating data for each date with a delivery route code that can be delivered on that date based on day of the week information for each date within the specified period and the code in the predetermined digit of each delivery route code;
The tobacco distribution support system according to claim 3 or 4. The reference means can further refer to a delivery route information table indicating a delivery order of each customer store included in the delivery route,
the output means outputs, for each distribution base station of the distribution route, the distribution schedule information of each customer store in the order of the distribution route code and in the order of delivery of each customer store included in the distribution route indicated by the distribution route code, based on the read customer information and the information of the distribution route information table.
The tobacco distribution support system according to claim 5 . The customer information table further stores a change flag for each customer store,
The reading means reads out the customer information of the customer store for which the change flag is set from the customer information table,
the specifying means, the first determining means, the second determining means, and the third determining means redetermine the delivery date, sorting date, payment date, and order date of the customer store for which the change flag is set, based on the read customer information of the customer store for which the change flag is set;
The reference means turns off the change flag of the customer store whose change flag in the customer information table is set.
The tobacco distribution support system according to any one of claims 1 to 6. A tobacco distribution support method executed by one or more computers capable of referencing a customer information table storing customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table managing business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization, comprising:
Read out customer information indicating the payment method, payment timing, and order method of the target customer store from the customer information table;
Identifying the delivery date of tobacco products for the target customer store;
determining a sorting date by subtracting a predetermined number of days from the specified delivery date;
determining a payment date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store that have been read;
read out the business days of the order-receiving organization corresponding to the order-receiving method from the business day table based on the read out order-receiving method of the target customer store;
determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the retrieved business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the distribution schedule information including date correspondence information within the specified period and information of the target customer store, in which the determined payment date and order date are associated with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period;
Including,
In the step of identifying the delivery date, a delivery date of the tobacco product of the target customer store inputted by a user operation is identified, or a delivery date of the tobacco product of the target customer store is identified from data stored in an electronic file.
Tobacco distribution support methods. A tobacco distribution support method executed by one or more computers capable of referencing a customer information table storing customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table managing business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization, comprising:
Read out customer information indicating the payment method, payment timing, and order method of the target customer store from the customer information table;
Identifying the delivery date of tobacco products for the target customer store;
determining a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date;
determining a payment date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store that have been read;
read out the business days of the order-receiving organization corresponding to the order-receiving method from the business day table based on the read out order-receiving method of the target customer store;
determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the retrieved business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the distribution schedule information including date correspondence information within the specified period and information of the target customer store, in which the determined payment date and order date are associated with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period;
Including,
In the step of identifying the delivery date, a delivery date of the tobacco product of the target customer store is identified based on a user operation, or a delivery date of the tobacco product of the target customer store is identified based on data stored in an electronic file;
The customer information table further stores a delivery route for each customer store,
The business day table further stores information indicating business days for each delivery base on the delivery route,
The one or more computers can further refer to a delivery information table that manages the number of delivery days for each delivery route,
In the reading from the customer information table, the delivery route of the target customer store is further read,
In determining the sorting date , the number of delivery days for the delivery route is read from the delivery information table based on the read-out delivery route of the target customer store, and the business days of the delivery base of the delivery route are read from the business day table, and a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date is determined based on the read-out number of delivery days and business days.
Tobacco distribution support methods. A tobacco distribution support method executed by one or more computers capable of referencing a customer information table storing customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table managing business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization, comprising:
Read out customer information indicating the payment method, payment timing, and order method of the target customer store from the customer information table;
Identifying the delivery date of tobacco products for the target customer store;
determining a sorting date by subtracting a predetermined number of days from the specified delivery date;
determining a payment date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store that have been read;
read out the business days of the order-receiving organization corresponding to the order-receiving method from the business day table based on the read out order-receiving method of the target customer store;
determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the retrieved business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the distribution schedule information including date correspondence information within the specified period and information of the target customer store, in which the determined payment date and order date are associated with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period;
Including,
The one or more computers can further refer to a delivery pattern table that manages whether each date corresponds to each delivery timing pattern and a delivery daily allocation table that manages, for each date, a delivery route that can be delivered on that date;
The customer information for each customer store stored in the customer information table further indicates a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, and a delivery route;
In reading from the customer information table, customer information indicating the delivery frequency, delivery timing pattern, delivery route, payment method, payment timing, and order method of the target customer store is read,
In identifying the delivery date, if the read delivery frequency indicates a frequency less than once a week, a date corresponding to the delivery timing pattern of the target customer store is identified as a potential delivery date based on the delivery pattern table, and from among the identified potential delivery dates, a date on which delivery is possible via the delivery route of the target customer store is identified as a delivery date based on the delivery daily allocation table.
Tobacco distribution support methods. A tobacco distribution support method executed by one or more computers capable of referencing a customer information table storing customer information indicating at least a payment method, a payment timing, and an order method for tobacco products for each customer store, and a business day table managing business days for each tobacco product order receiving organization, comprising:
Read out customer information indicating the payment method, payment timing, and order method of the target customer store from the customer information table;
Identifying the delivery date of tobacco products for the target customer store;
determining a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date;
determining a payment date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the payment method and the payment timing of the target customer store that have been read;
read out the business days of the order-receiving organization corresponding to the order-receiving method from the business day table based on the read out order-receiving method of the target customer store;
determining an order date corresponding to the specified delivery date based on the retrieved business day and the earlier of the determined sorting date and payment date;
outputting distribution schedule information of the target customer store, the distribution schedule information including date correspondence information within the specified period and information of the target customer store, in which the determined payment date and order date are associated with each of a plurality of delivery dates of the target customer store within the specified period;
Including,
the one or more computers can further refer to a delivery pattern table that manages whether or not each date corresponds to each delivery timing pattern, a delivery daily allocation table that manages, for each date, delivery routes that can be delivered on that date, and a delivery information table that manages the number of delivery days for each delivery route;
The customer information for each customer store stored in the customer information table further indicates a delivery frequency, a delivery timing pattern, and a delivery route;
The business day table further stores information indicating business days for each delivery base on the delivery route,
In the reading from the customer information table, customer information indicating the delivery frequency, delivery timing pattern, delivery route, payment method, payment timing, and order method of the target customer store is read,
In identifying the delivery date, if the read delivery frequency indicates a frequency less than once a week, a date corresponding to the delivery timing pattern of the target customer store is identified as a potential delivery date based on the delivery pattern table, and from among the identified potential delivery dates, a date on which delivery is possible via the delivery route of the target customer store is identified as a delivery date based on the delivery daily allocation table;
In determining the sorting date , the number of delivery days for the delivery route is read from the delivery information table based on the read-out delivery route of the target customer store, and the business days of the delivery base of the delivery route are read from the business day table, and a sorting date corresponding to the specified delivery date is determined based on the read-out number of delivery days and business days.
Tobacco distribution support methods.

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