JP7789136B2 - Transportation expense payment system and transportation expense payment method. - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a transportation expense payment system and a transportation expense payment method.

When companies interview students as potential employees, they often pay the students' travel expenses either in cash on the day of the interview in exchange for a receipt, or by the students applying online at a later date.

Patent Document 1 describes technology that allows payment personnel to easily determine whether the name of the financial institution, account number, and other information have been entered correctly, and that recognizes the user using a user ID converted from the company code and user email address when the user logs in to the URL of a transportation expense payment site, thereby assisting the company in paying the specified amount of transportation expenses.

JP 2014-203438 A

The technology described in Patent Document 1 supports companies in paying travel expenses at set amounts, but inappropriate applications must be checked and excluded by company or payment personnel, leaving room for improvement in administrative efficiency.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide technology that efficiently supports the payment of specified amounts of travel expenses to an unspecified number of recipients.

This application includes multiple means for solving the above problems, examples of which are as follows:

To solve the above problem, one aspect of the present invention provides a transportation expense payment system that includes a user computer operated by a user, a company computer of a company that encourages the user to use a public transportation network with a specified destination, a payment computer of a payment officer at the company who is responsible for paying transportation expenses to a designated account at a financial institution specified by the user, and a transportation expense payment device connected to the payment officer computer via a network and equipped with a processing unit and a memory unit. The user computer is operated by a user who claims transportation expenses using a public transportation network from a departure point to the destination, and the transportation expense payment device assists in the process of transferring transportation expenses from the departure point to the destination to a designated account at the financial institution specified by the user. The processing unit stores in the memory the name of the financial institution, the account number at the financial institution, and the account holder entered by the user using the user computer, accepts a payment application for specified transportation expenses based on the departure point and destination entered by the user, and, if the payment officer computer checks the application and finds that there is an error in the application, sends an email to the user urging them to resubmit the application.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned transportation expense payment system may be characterized in that, when the user computer receives one or more applications for payment of the standard transportation expense based on the departure point, destination, and date and time of use of the public transportation network input by the user, it stops accepting any input from the user that overlaps with the date and time.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned transportation expense payment system, the processing unit of the transportation expense payment device may be characterized in that, upon receiving a notification that an error occurred in the transfer process to a specified financial institution in response to the application for payment of the specified transportation expenses, the processing unit sends an email to the user urging them to resubmit the application.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned transportation expense payment system, the processing unit may be characterized in that, when it receives an application for payment of the specified transportation expense and, after checking the application against past applications from the payment computer, it receives input indicating that the application contains a duplicate, it sends an email to the user urging them to resubmit the application.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned transportation expense payment system, even if the processing unit receives input indicating that the application is a duplicate, if the previous application that the application overlaps with resulted in an error because the account had been closed or the account name had been changed, the processing unit may be characterized as not sending an email to the user urging them to reapply.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, another aspect of the present invention provides a transportation expense payment method used in a transportation expense payment system that includes a user computer operated by a user, a company computer of a company that encourages the user to use a public transportation network with a specified destination, a payment computer of a payment officer at the company who is responsible for paying transportation expenses to a designated account at a financial institution specified by the user, and a transportation expense payment device that is connected to the payment officer computer via a network and includes a processing unit and a memory unit, and the user computer is operated by a user who is claiming transportation expenses using the public transportation network from a departure point to the destination. The transportation expense payment device assists in the process of transferring transportation expenses from the departure point to the destination point to a designated account at a financial institution designated by the user, and the processing unit performs the following steps: storing in the memory unit the name of the financial institution, the account number at the financial institution, and the account holder name entered by the user using the user computer; accepting an application for payment of the specified transportation expenses based on the departure point and destination entered by the user; accepting input from the payment computer that there is an error in the application after checking the application; and sending an email to the user urging them to resubmit the application.

This invention provides technology that efficiently supports the payment of travel expenses to an unspecified number of recipients at a set amount.

Other issues, configurations, and advantages will become clear from the description of the following embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of functional blocks of a transportation expense payment system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a company master. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a list of data structures of a transportation expense master. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a business establishment master. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of a venue master. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a user master. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of a person in charge master. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of a transfer information DB. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a transportation expense payment device. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a transportation expense payment process. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a return notification process.

An example embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 shows an example of the functional blocks of a transportation expense payment system.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the transportation expense payment system 1 according to this embodiment, transportation expense payment operations are carried out using a transportation expense payment device 100, a computer of a student who is a prospective employee such as a new graduate, a company device 200 which is a computer of a company responsible for conducting company interviews when hiring students and training after a job offer is made, and a payment processing device 400 which is a computer responsible for paying the specified amount of transportation expenses to prospective employees at the company.

Transportation expense payment system 1 is connected via a network 90 such as the Internet to financial processing device 300, a device at a financial institution that transfers transportation expenses to a designated account at a financial institution designated by the student, in response to instructions from payment processing device 400, a computer responsible for paying transportation expenses. Transportation expense payment system 1 transfers the specified transportation expenses from the location requested by the student (for example, the location of the prefectural capital or the location of the school) to the interview or training venue designated by the company to the designated account at the financial institution designated by the student.

In this embodiment, transportation expenses are not actual expenses, but a set amount that takes into account the approximate cost of regular public transportation between the student's application location and the company's designated location (for example, 1,000 yen round trip for travel within the same prefecture, 2,000 yen round trip for travel within adjacent prefectures, 50,000 yen for travel from Hokkaido to Tokyo, or other amounts determined by company regulations).

The transportation expense payment device 100 according to this embodiment includes a processing unit 110 that performs various processes, a memory unit 130 that contains multiple masters and databases referenced by each processing unit, an input unit 150 that accepts input, an output unit 160 that creates screens to display output screens, and a communication unit 170 that connects to other devices via a network 90 such as the Internet. The transportation expense payment device 100 also includes a web function unit (not shown) that provides a transportation expense payment site (webpage) via the Internet to the computers of students, company representatives, and payment representatives, and a control means (not shown) that controls these.

The processing unit 110 includes multiple processing units. Specifically, the processing unit 110 includes an email sending/receiving unit 112 that sends and receives emails to and from students via the network 90; a user application unit 111 that processes the acceptance of travel expense applications submitted by students using the travel expense payment site (webpage) described below; an approval unit 114 that processes the travel expense application to obtain approval from the company representative; a payer transfer unit 115 that notifies the payment processing device 400, which is the company's computer responsible for payments, of the travel expense payment approved by the approval unit 114; a management data creation unit 113 that creates management data for travel expense payments; a transfer data creation unit 116 that creates transfer data related to transfers; and a workflow management unit 117 that manages business processes related to travel expense payments on a computer system.

The email sending and receiving unit 112 is used to send and receive emails, such as when a company representative sends a notification to a student when a student's application is returned due to insufficient approval or application, when receiving and receiving inquiry emails from students, when a student has forgotten their password or login key, when a return is made due to an account check result that is NG due to a duplicate charge, and when a return is made due to an error notified by the financial institution during the transfer process, such as when the designated account at the financial institution has already been closed or the name has been changed. If a student has forgotten their password, they apply via the user application unit 111, including the company code, user ID, and login key, and the email sending and receiving unit 112 sends an email notification. If a student has forgotten their login key, they apply via the user application unit 111 with the company code, user ID, and password, and the email sending and receiving unit 112 sends an email notification.

The memory unit 130 includes a company master 131 that stores company names corresponding to company codes, payment methods for specified amounts of transportation and accommodation expenses, and other information; a transportation expense master 132 that stores transportation expense categories and specified transportation expenses for departure points (departure) and arrival points (destination) corresponding to company codes; a business establishment master 133 that stores company establishment codes and business establishment names corresponding to company codes; a venue master 134 that stores venue codes, venue names, and location codes for interview or training locations corresponding to company codes; a user master 135 that stores the user IDs (typically email addresses) and passwords of students who are interviewing with companies; a staff member master 136 that stores staff member information corresponding to the company code for each company staff member; an application information database (hereinafter, database may be abbreviated to DB) 137 that stores application information regarding transportation expenses from users (students); and a transfer information DB 138 that stores transfer information such as payment dates and transfer amounts for past company transactions.

Figure 2 shows an example of the data structure of a company master. The company master data 131 is configured to store the following information for each item: company code, company name, payment category (distinguishing whether the company has its own payment function (system) and whether it is an agent payment), payment company code (representing the agent company's company code), login category (distinguishing whether an ID is registered or not), initial password (representing the password used at the first login), login display category (distinguishing the initial login screen), login display data (distinguishing the login screen), transportation expense payment method (representing the type of master data specifying the transportation expense payment method, such as prefecture, business establishment, route designation, or flat rate), fixed payment amount (representing the payment amount when the transportation expense payment method is a flat rate), accommodation expense payment method (representing the type of accommodation expense payment method, such as no payment, actual cost payment, or flat rate payment), fixed accommodation expense (representing the payment amount when the accommodation expense payment method is a flat rate payment), registration deadline category (representing whether there is a deadline for registration in this company master data), registration due date (representing the number of days when the registration deadline is a deadline), fee (representing the payment fee), other backups 01 to 10, and the update date and time of each item.

Figure 3 shows an example of the data structure of the transportation expense master. The transportation expense master 132 stores company codes, transportation expense categories, and standard transportation expenses. The transportation expense category is configured to classify transportation expenses as follows: transportation expenses between the prefecture and business office that is the user's (student's) departure point (departure) and the prefecture and business office that is the destination point (arrival); transportation expenses between the prefecture and business office that is the departure point and the prefecture that is the destination; transportation expenses between the prefecture that is the departure point and the prefecture and business office that is the destination; transportation expenses between the prefecture that is the departure point and the prefecture that is the destination; and transportation expenses between the prefecture that is the departure point and the prefecture that is the destination, and to store the standard amount of transportation expenses corresponding to the category.

For example, transportation expense category "1" is a category that designates transportation expenses between the departure point and destination as transportation expenses between the two business locations of the relevant company; transportation expense category "2" is a category that designates transportation expenses between the departure point only as a business location and the destination as transportation expenses between prefectures; transportation expense category "3" is the opposite of category "2," and transportation expense category "4" is a category that designates transportation expenses between the departure point and destination as transportation expenses between the prefectures where the relevant company is located. These categories are set in advance by each company.

Figure 4 shows an example of the data structure of the establishment master. The establishment master 133 is configured to store information for each item, such as the company code, the establishment code of the company, the name of the establishment where interviews and other matters are conducted at the company, other reserves 01-03, the original input date and time of each item, and the update date and time when the item was updated.

Figure 5 shows an example of the data structure of the venue master. The venue master 134 is configured to store the company code, the venue code of the venue where the company's interviews etc. are held, the venue name, the location code indicating the location of the venue, spares 01 to 03, the original input date and time of the item, and the update date and time when the item is updated.

Figure 6 shows an example of the data structure of the user master. The user master 135 stores the user ID (essentially email address) and password of students who are interviewing with companies. It is configured to store, according to the company code, the following information for each item: the user's user ID, the password used to log in using the user ID, the user's name (first and last name), the name of the school, the school's location code, the user's email address, home telephone number, mobile phone number, the transfer bank code indicating the bank to which travel expenses will be transferred, the transfer bank name, the transfer branch code, the transfer branch name, the account type, the account number, the account name, the account name in kana, the account file indicating the file name of the account file, a login key using a selection number uniquely assigned at the time of the interview, a login flag indicating whether the user has already logged in, other reserves 01-03, the input date and time, and the update date and time.

Figure 7 shows an example of the data structure of the person in charge master. The person in charge master 136 stores information about the person in charge corresponding to the company code for each person in a company, and is configured to store information for each item, including the company code to which the person in charge belongs, the establishment code to which the person in charge belongs, the person in charge's user ID, the password the person in charge uses to log in to the system, the person in charge's name, the person in charge's name in kana, the person in charge's authority, the person in charge's email address, a login flag, other reserves 01 to 03, the input date and time, and the update date and time.

Figure 8 shows an example of the data structure of the transfer information DB. Transfer information DB 138 stores transfer information such as payment dates and transfer amounts for past corporate transactions. Corresponding to a company code, it stores the following information: the payment date for travel expenses, the scheduled transfer amount, the number of scheduled transfers, the amount of transfers made, the number of transfers, the number of account errors where transfers were not made due to account number discrepancies, the confirmed transfer amount indicating the confirmed transfer amount, the number of transfer errors where transfers were not made due to factors other than account number discrepancies (differences in name, bank name, branch name, account type, etc.), the status indicating the state from transfer information creation to payment completion (transfer data created, downloaded, account uploaded, account checked, payment uploaded, paid), the payment file name used when creating transfer information, account check completion detail data indicating details of checked accounts, financial institution fees required for transfers, other reserve 01-05, input date and time, and update date and time.

The above is the configuration of the travel expense payment device 100. Like a typical computer system, the travel expense payment device 100 includes a CPU as a control means, memory as a temporary storage means, basic software (operating system), various software for executing the various functions of the system, browser software, data storage means such as a magnetic disk drive for storing data, a display unit, input/output devices such as a keyboard, and various interface devices, and the same is true for the computers of the student, company representative, payment representative, and financial institution.

The travel expense payment system 1 also includes a company device 200, which is a company's computer that conducts company interviews when hiring students and training after job offers are made; a payment processing device 400, which is a payment computer responsible for paying the specified amount of travel expenses to prospective employees at the company; and a financial processing device 300 at a financial institution that receives firm banking instructions for processing from the payment processing device 400 and actually transfers the travel expenses.

The corporate device 200 includes a processing unit 210, an input unit 240, an output unit 250, and a communication unit 260. The processing unit 210 includes an application processing unit 211. The application processing unit 211 has the functionality of a web browser, accesses the web page of the transportation expense payment device 100 via the communication unit 260, outputs a list of transportation expenses applied for by students for reference via the output unit 250, and accepts separate inputs of approval or rejection of each application via the input unit 240. In this transportation expense payment system 1, when the corporate device 200 accepts input of whether to approve payment of transportation expenses applied for by students, it passes this input to the approval unit 114 of the transportation expense payment device 100. The communication unit 260 is connected to other devices so that it can communicate with them via a network 90 such as the Internet.

The payment processing device 400 includes a processing unit 410, a memory unit 430, an input unit 440, an output unit 450, and a communication unit 460. The processing unit 410 includes a transfer request processing unit 411 and a Facebook data generation unit 412. The transfer request processing unit 411 functions as a web browser and accesses the web page of the transportation expense payment device 100 via the communication unit 460. It outputs the screen created by the payer transfer unit 115 for reference via the output unit 450. If there are any discrepancies with the account information for each application, this is accepted from the payment officer via the input unit 440 (account check). In the transportation expense payment system 1, when the payment processing device 400 accepts input indicating that there are no discrepancies between the contents of the requested transportation expense transfer process and the account information previously registered by the user application unit 111, it passes the input to the transfer data creation unit 116 of the transportation expense payment device 100.

The FB data generation unit 412 accesses the transportation expense payment device 100 via the communication unit 460, generates FB data (data for transfers in a firm banking service that allows balance inquiries and transfer requests via the Internet) in a specified format from the transfer data created by the transfer data creation unit 116, stores it in the firm banking information 431 in the memory unit 430, and delivers it to the financial processing device 300 via the network 90 on a specified date.

The storage unit 430 includes firm banking information 431. The firm banking information 431 stores FB data in a predetermined format generated by the FB data generation unit 412. The communication unit 460 is connected to other devices so that they can communicate with each other via a network 90 such as the Internet.

The financial processing device 300 includes a processing unit 310, a memory unit 330, and a communication unit 350. The processing unit 310 includes a firm banking reception unit 311 and an account transfer unit 312. The firm banking reception unit 311 accepts the FB data delivered from the payment processing device 400 and stores it in the firm banking information 331 in the memory unit 330. The account transfer unit 312 reads the FB data accepted by the firm banking reception unit 311 and processes the account transfer (transfer of funds between accounts) according to the transfer details included in the FB data.

The storage unit 330 includes firm banking information 331. The firm banking information 331 stores FB data in a predetermined format generated by the FB data generation unit 412. The communication unit 350 is connected to other devices so that they can communicate with each other via a network 90 such as the Internet.

Note that in Figure 1, one corporate device 200, one financial processing device 300, and one payment processing device 400 are connected to one transportation expense payment device 100, but the number of each device in the transportation expense payment system 1 is not limited to the example shown in Figure 1.

The transportation expense payment device 100 is an information processing device such as a server computer or a PC (Personal Computer), and is operated, for example, by a transportation expense payment service provider that uses the transportation expense payment system 1. As an example, the provider positions the transportation expense payment device 100 as a cloud server accessible via the network 90, and offers the transportation expense payment service as a cloud service.

The corporate device 200, financial processing device 300, and payment processing device 400 are each information processing devices such as a PC, smartphone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), laptop, or tablet terminal. Furthermore, the payment processing device 400 may be operated, for example, by a transportation expense payment service provider using the transportation expense payment system 1, or by another outsourcing service provider.

Figure 9 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the transportation expense payment device 100. The transportation expense payment device 100 includes a calculation device 11, memory 12, an external storage device 13, an input IF (Interface) 14, an output IF 15, a communication IF 16, and a storage medium drive device 17, with each component connected by a bus.

The arithmetic device 11 is a computing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes processing in accordance with a program recorded in the memory 12 or the external storage device 13. In the transportation expense payment device 100, processing is performed by the arithmetic device 11, which operates in accordance with a program read from the memory 12 or the external storage device 13. The processing unit 110 realizes each function by the arithmetic device 11 executing the program.

Memory 12 is a storage device such as RAM (Random Access Memory) or flash memory, and functions as a storage area from which programs and data are temporarily read. External storage device 13 is a writable and readable storage medium and storage media drive, such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable), or DVD-RAM (Digital Versatile Disk-Random Access Memory). The functions of memory unit 130 are realized by memory 12 or external storage device 13. Note that the functions of memory unit 130 may also be realized by a storage device connected via communication IF 16.

The input IF 14 is an interface for accepting input operations from the operator, and is connected to input devices such as a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, and microphone. The output IF 15 is an interface for outputting information to an output device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) built into the travel expense payment device 100.

The communication IF 16 is an interface for connecting the travel expense payment device 100 to other devices via the network 90, and is connected to a communication device such as a LAN (Local Area Network) card. The storage medium drive device 17 is a device for inputting and outputting information from portable media 18 such as a CD (Compact Disk) or DVD (Digital Versatile Disk).

The processing of each component of the travel expense payment device 100 may be executed by a single piece of hardware, or by multiple pieces of hardware. The processing of each component of the travel expense payment device 100 may be realized by a single program, or by multiple programs.

The hardware configurations of the corporate device 200, financial processing device 300, and payment processing device 400 are the same as those of the travel expense payment device 100, so explanations will be omitted.

[Operation] The transportation expense payment system 1 according to this embodiment receives transportation expense applications from students via the internet at the transportation expense payment site, the user application unit 111 processes the application, and the approval unit 114 obtains approval from a company representative for the transportation expense application. The approved transportation expense payment is then notified to the company's payment representative's computer by the payer transfer unit 115, thereby supporting the payment representative's request to transfer the transportation expenses to a financial institution. The details of this operation are explained below.

In this embodiment, when students apply for travel expenses, the company publishes a web page for travel expense applications in advance on a travel expense payment site on the company's computer. This published travel expense payment site has a function that allows students to enter their departure and arrival points to the desired interview venue (company office or a venue designated by the company) in designated fields, as well as a function to take a photo or use a camera to enter image data of the relevant page of the student's bankbook to confirm the account name and account number at the student's financial institution. The travel expense payment site is also provided via the Internet to the computers of the company's representative and payment representative.

[Login process] The process by which a student logs in to the transportation expense payment system 1 assumes that the student has already applied for an interview or other opportunity with a company and completed the interview at the venue. This explains the process by which the company registers the user's user ID in the system after the interview, and the student logs in for the first time. This is referred to as logging in using the first method.

Login processing using the first method is performed by the processing unit of the transportation fee payment device 100 by performing steps 1 to 6 described below. Furthermore, after step 6, the student's personal information can be registered after changing the password.

The first step in the login process using the first method is for the company representative to register the student information (selection number, name, email address, telephone number, address, school name, etc.) previously obtained from the student in the user master 135 of the transportation expense payment device 100.

The second step in the login process using the first method is to register the user ID converted from the student's email address received in the first step and the student information in the user master 135.

The third step in the login process using the first method is for the company to notify the student at the interview venue, etc., of the URL of the travel expense payment device 100, the company code, the user ID (the student's email address), the selection number, and instructions on how to log in by means of an information sheet or the like.

The fourth step in the login process using the first method is when the student returns home, etc., accesses the notified URL using their own computer, and enters the company code, user ID (student's email address), and selection number to access the transportation expense payment system 1.

The fifth step in the login process using the first method is to send a unique password to the student who accessed the system using the fourth step.

The sixth step of the login process using the first method is when the student logs in to the transportation expense payment site of the transportation expense payment system 1 using the password and other information (company code, user ID, password, and selection number) received in the fifth step.

In other words, the first method of logging in to the transportation expense payment system 1 when a student registers a user ID involves the company representative registering the student's user ID in the transportation expense payment system 1 using their email address based on the selection information and student information including the email address obtained from the student, and then authenticating the student using a combination of the company code, user ID, and selection number on the transportation expense payment site (webpage) for students accessed based on the student's URL. Once authenticated, a password allowing the student to log in to the transportation expense payment site is sent to the student's email address, allowing only regular students to log in to the transportation expense payment system 1 and register them.

On the other hand, another method of logging in to the transportation expense payment system 1 is also possible, in which a student has already applied for an interview with a company and registers a user ID after the interview is completed. In this case, the processing unit of the transportation expense payment device 100 performs steps 1 to 5 described below. This is referred to as logging in using the second method.

The first step in the login process using the second method is for the company to notify the student at the interview venue, etc., of the URL of the travel expense payment system 1, the company code, password, and login instructions via an information sheet.

The second step of the login process using the second method is when the student returns home, accesses the notified URL using their own computer, and enters the company code, user ID (student's email address), and password to access the transportation expense payment system 1.

The third step of the login process using the second method is when the transportation fee payment system 1 accessed in the second step sets a user ID based on the student's email address and issues a login key (e.g., a six-digit random number) for logging in to the system and sends it to the student's email address.

The fourth step in the login process using the second method is for the student to receive the login key sent in the third step.

The fifth step of the login process using the second method is when the student, who received the login key in step four, accesses the URL using their own computer and logs in using the company code, user ID (email address), password, and login key.

In other words, the second method for logging in to the transportation expense payment system 1 when a student registers a user ID involves the company notifying the student of the URL, company code, and password of the transportation expense payment site (webpage), and the student accessing the URL using the notified company code and password and their own address as a user ID. The accessed transportation expense payment system 1 then emails a login key to the email address of the received user ID, and the student is authenticated using the combination of the login key, company code, user ID (email address), and password received by email. This allows only legitimate students to log in to the transportation expense payment system 1 and register.

[Transportation Expense Payment Processing] Next, the transportation expense payment system 1 according to this embodiment executes the transportation expense payment processing based on the transportation expense application from the student.

Figure 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the transportation fee payment process. The transportation fee payment process is initiated from the student's computer.

First, the transportation expense payment system 1 website accepts access from the student's own computer, accepts input of personal information, and registers it in the user master 135 (step S101). The transportation expense payment system 1 website then accepts input of transportation expense application information (locations and prefecture addresses of departure and arrival points, and bankbook image information) (step S102). Note that during this input, the user application unit 111 may reject the input of transportation expenses for the same day and time period, i.e., duplicate input, as an error and prompt the user to re-enter. Alternatively, during input into the student's own computer, if one or more applications for payment of standard transportation expenses based on the input departure point, destination, and date and time of use of the public transportation network are received, the system may stop accepting input from the student with overlapping dates and times.

Then, the user application unit 111 stores the transportation expense application information in the application information DB 137 (step S103).

Then, the approval unit 114 accepts approval input for the travel expense application information from the company representative via the company device 200 (step S104).

Then, the management data creation unit 113 creates transfer target data for the travel expense application information stored in step S103 and approved in step S104 on a specified date (e.g., the 10th or 25th of each month), and notifies the payment person using the payment processing device 400 by email (step S105).

The payer transfer unit 115 then executes an account check (step S106). Specifically, the payer transfer unit 115 causes the transfer request processing unit 411 of the payment processing device 400 to input the check results of the transportation expense application information. This check of the transportation expense application information includes, for example, checking the student's name, address, financial institution name, branch name, savings type, and account number. In particular, in this embodiment, the transportation expense payment system 1 provides an account check screen via the Internet on the transportation expense payment website. On this account check screen, the person in charge of payment determines whether the input information displayed in the input information field is correct by comparing it with the image information of the passbook displayed in the image information field. If the information is correct, the person in charge clicks the check result "OK" button. If the input information is incorrect, the person in charge clicks the check result "NG" button to update and input the check results.

This account check, for example, takes advantage of the fact that financial institution passbooks have a standardized format for each financial institution, and determines whether the bank name, branch name, account number, savings type, and account holder name recognized from the passbook image information using an optical character recognition (OCR) function all match the bank/name, branch name, account number, and student name (account holder name) entered by the student.If it is determined that any of the information does not match, a warning or error message may be displayed on the account check screen.

In this embodiment, the travel expense payment device 100 is equipped with a storage means (temporary memory) that temporarily stores input information and image information, and when the person in charge of payment checks the account to pay the specified travel expenses based on the departure and arrival points entered by the user, it operates to display an account check screen on the display unit of the person in charge of payment computer, which includes an input information field displaying the user's name, financial institution name, account number at the financial institution, and account holder name entered by the user and read from the temporary memory, and an image information field displaying image information of the passbook on which the financial institution name, branch name at the financial institution, account number, and account holder name read from the temporary memory are printed.

For applications for which the account check result is "NG" (applications for which the result is "NG" in step S106), the transfer data creation unit 116 collects the applications for which the result is "NG," performs the return notification process described below, returns the workflow processing status, and returns control to step S102 (step S107).

For applications for which the account check result is "OK" (applications for which the result is "OK" in step S106), the transfer data creation unit 116 compiles the approved applications to create transfer data, stores this in the transfer information DB 138, and also sends it to the FB data generation unit 412 of the payment processing device 400. The FB data generation unit 412 stores this in a temporary area in the memory unit 430.

Then, the FB data generation unit 412 starts the payment process on a predetermined date (e.g., the 10th or 25th of each month) and creates FB data from the transfer data (step S108). Specifically, the FB data generation unit 412 reads the transfer data, generates FB data according to a predetermined format, and stores it in the firm banking information 431.

Then, the FB data generation unit 412 passes the FB data to the financial processing device 300 (step S109). Note that the FB data generation unit 412 may exclude any fraudulent duplicate applications if any exist. For example, the FB data generation unit 412 may compare the application with past (previous) FB data, and if there is an application from the same person for the same amount on the same day and at the same time, treat the application as a duplicate application and fail the account check, remove the application from the FB data, and return control to step S107. However, as an exception to duplicate payments, if the application overlaps with FB data in which the transfer result was "account closed" or "name changed," it will not be treated as a duplicate application.

Then, in the financial processing device 300, the firm banking reception unit 311 receives the FB data and stores it in the firm banking information 331. The account transfer unit 312 then performs a transfer process to transfer funds between accounts in accordance with the FB data (step S110). Specifically, the account transfer unit 312 transfers the specified amount (total amount of transportation expenses) to a specified account (such as an account for transferring transportation expenses, etc.) in accordance with the FB data, and notifies the person in charge of payment of the transfer results.

The transfer request processing unit 411 stores the notified transfer result in the memory unit 430 of the payment processing device 400 and uploads transfer data including the transfer result to the transportation expense payment device 100. The transfer data creation unit 116 stores the uploaded transfer data in the transfer information DB 138 and determines whether the transfer result is "NG", i.e., whether it failed, for each transportation expense application (step S111). Note that if the transfer result is unsuccessful, the information indicating the cause is likely to be "account closed" or "name changed", and therefore, even if a retry is made, the cause will not be resolved, and the transfer will not be successful unless the error in the application information is corrected.

For applications where the transfer result is unsuccessful (applications where the result is "NG" in step S111), the transfer data creation unit 116 collects all failed applications and returns control to step S107.

For applications where the transfer result is successful (applications where the result is "OK" in step S111), the transfer request processing unit 411 of the payment processing device 400 will cause the payment manager to issue an invoice to the company representative (step S112).

This completes the transportation expense payment process. This transportation expense payment process helps companies pay the specified amount of transportation expenses to students.

Figure 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the return notification process. The return notification process is performed in step S107 of the transportation expense payment process.

First, the payer transfer unit 115 notifies the applicant by email via the email sending/receiving unit 112 (step S201). Specifically, for applications where the account check was rejected or the transfer result was unsuccessful, the payer transfer unit 115 sends an automatically created email using a specified form to the user who submitted the application. This email contains at least information identifying the rejected or failed application and a URL for correcting the application.

The workflow management unit 117 then changes the workflow status of the target application to "returned," making it possible to correct the application and resubmit it (step S202).

This completes the process for sending back notifications. This process returns the workflow processing status for applications where the transfer does not function properly, allowing for resubmission.

The above is the transportation expense payment system according to the first embodiment. The transportation expense payment system according to the first embodiment supports the payment of specified amounts of transportation expenses to an unspecified number of payment recipients, thereby providing a transportation expense payment system and transportation expense payment method that is cashless, reduces the workload at the venue, and reduces the amount of pre-application work.

In the above embodiment, the service of paying travel expenses to students who have interviews with companies was described, but the present invention is not limited to paying travel expenses to students. For example, the present invention can also be applied to business models that provide travel expenses on an ad hoc basis to participants in seminars, temporary employees, temporary part-time workers, etc. Furthermore, while the above embodiment describes an example of paying a set amount of travel expenses according to company regulations, the present invention is not limited to paying a set amount. For example, the present invention can be linked to a website such as Hyperdia (registered trademark), which calculates the optimal (shortest, least expensive) travel expenses based on conditions such as the departure point (station), arrival point (station), and time, and provide travel expenses equivalent to the actual cost.

For example, the example embodiment described above has been described in detail to make the present invention easier to understand, and the present invention is not limited to having all of the configurations described herein. It is also possible to replace part of the configuration of one example embodiment with the configuration of another example. It is also possible to add the configuration of another example to the configuration of one example embodiment. It is also possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each example embodiment with other configurations. Some or all of the above configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be realized in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. The control lines and information lines in the diagrams indicate those considered necessary for explanation, and are not necessarily all shown. It can be assumed that almost all of the configurations are interconnected.

Furthermore, the functional configurations of the above-mentioned travel expense payment device 100, corporate device 200, financial processing device 300, and payment processing device 400 have been categorized according to the main processing content for ease of understanding. The classification method or names of the components do not limit the present invention. As mentioned above, the configurations of the travel expense payment device 100, corporate device 200, financial processing device 300, and payment processing device 400 can also be categorized into more components depending on the processing content. Furthermore, a single component can be categorized to perform even more processing.

1: Travel Expense Payment System, 90: Network, 100: Travel Expense Payment Device, 110: Processing Unit, 111: User Application Unit, 112: Email Sending/Receiving Unit, 113: Management Data Creation Unit, 114: Approval Unit, 115: Payer Transfer Unit, 116: Transfer Data Creation Unit, 117: Workflow Management Unit, 130: Memory Unit, 131: Company Master, 132: Travel Expense Master, 133: Business Establishment Master, 134: Venue Master, 135: User Master, 136: Person in Charge Master, 137: Application Information DB, 138: Transfer Information DB, 150: Input Unit, 160: Output Input unit, 170: Communication unit, 200: Corporate device, 210: Processing unit, 211: Application processing unit, 240: Input unit, 250: Output unit, 260: Communication unit, 300: Financial processing device, 310: Processing unit, 311: Firm banking reception unit, 312: Account transfer unit, 330: Storage unit, 331: Firm banking information, 350: Communication unit, 400: Payment processing device, 410: Processing unit, 411: Transfer request processing unit, 412: Facebook data generation unit, 430: Storage unit, 431: Firm banking information, 440: Input unit, 450: Output unit, 460: Communication unit

Claims (3)

a payment computer of a payment clerk who is in charge of paying the transportation expenses to a designated account of a financial institution designated by the user;
a transportation fee payment device connected to the payment computer via a network and including a processing unit and a storage unit;
A transportation fee payment system comprising:
The transportation fee payment device performs a process of transferring transportation fees for using a public transportation network from a predetermined departure point to a predetermined destination point from the user to a designated account of a financial institution designated in advance,
The processing unit receives from the user an application for payment of the prescribed transportation expenses based on the departure point and the destination point, and when it receives input from the payment computer that the application is duplicated as a result of checking the application against past applications, it sends an email to the user urging them to reapply, and even when it receives input that the application is duplicated, it compares the application with the result of the transfer process to the financial institution of the duplicate past application, and if the past application resulted in an error because the account had been closed or the account name had been changed, it does not send an email to the user urging them to reapply.
A transportation expense payment system. 2. The transportation expense payment system according to claim 1,
A transportation expense payment system in which, when the processing unit of the transportation expense payment device receives a notification that an error caused by the user occurred in the transfer process to a designated account of a specified financial institution in response to an application for payment of the specified transportation expense, the processing unit sends an email to the user urging them to reapply. a payment computer of a payment clerk who is in charge of paying the transportation expenses to a designated account of a financial institution designated by the user;
a transportation fee payment device connected to the payment computer via a network and including a processing unit and a storage unit;
A transportation expense payment method used in a transportation expense payment system comprising:
The transportation fee payment device performs a process of transferring transportation fees for using a public transportation network from a predetermined departure point to a predetermined destination point from the user to a designated account of a financial institution designated in advance,
The processing unit performs a step of accepting a payment application for a standard transportation fee based on the departure point and the destination point from the user, and a step of sending an email to the user urging the user to resubmit the application when the payment computer receives an input indicating that the application is duplicated as a result of checking the application against past applications;
Even if an input indicating that the application is duplicated is received, if the application is compared with the result of the transfer process to the financial institution of the duplicated past application and the past application is an application that resulted in an error because the account has been closed or the account name has been changed, an email urging the user to reapply will not be sent.
A transportation expense payment method characterized by: