“A function that, after application, can search for applications containing calculation errors” is an after-the-fact detection mechanism that merely finds errors once they have already entered the application documents. The cause — a person totaling the figures by hand — is left untouched, so calculation errors keep occurring, and once one is found the application still ends up being returned to the applicant for correction and resubmission. The rework loop remains exactly as it was, so the problem of approval taking a long time is not resolved. Besides, if the system can verify the total from the entered values in the first place, having it calculate automatically from the start is more reasonable than making people search for errors.
○イ
正解The correct answer is イ. Given the results of the cause analysis, this question asks which function would remove the cause itself. The causal chain revealed by the investigation is: (1) the applicant totals the figures by hand, (2) a simple calculation mistake creeps in, (3) the document is returned, (4) the applicant corrects it and resubmits it, (5) approval is delayed by exactly that round trip. The true cause of the delay lies at the very top of the chain, in (1) and (2) — the fact that a person does the calculation. Choice イ, “a function that, at the time of application, automatically performs the necessary calculations,” means that once the applicant enters the amounts or quantities, the system computes and fixes the total, so an error in totaling simply never occurs. If no error arises, there is no return, no correction and no resubmission; the rework loop of (3) and (4) disappears entirely, and the approval lead time is shortened. Automatic calculation also reduces the applicant's data entry burden at the same time. Rather than finding and fixing a defect after it has occurred, preventing it from being created at its source is the most effective form of business improvement, and it is the appropriate function for the system to have.
×Incorrectウ
The decisive weakness of “a function that lets the applicant use software with a calculator function” is that the party doing the calculation is still the applicant. Even given a calculator, simple mistakes can still occur: typing a wrong digit, forgetting to add an item, or miscopying the result onto the application form (and the cause in this question is exactly this kind of simple mistake). It is no more than a support measure that lowers the probability of error somewhat; it cannot eliminate errors, so the delay caused by returns and resubmissions remains.
×Incorrectエ
“A function that lets the supervisor who approves the application correct calculation errors” is likewise only cleanup after an error has occurred. Even if the number of return trips decreases, the supervisor takes on the work of re-checking and fixing the totals of every application, so the burden and checking time on the approver's side increase and approvals may actually back up even more. Furthermore, the content of an application is something the applicant is responsible for declaring; having the approver rewrite the application data breaks the segregation of duties between applying and approving, and is undesirable from the standpoint of internal control as well. Since the manual calculation that is the cause remains in place, it is inappropriate as an improvement measure on that count too.
ここがポイント
In questions that ask you to choose a function for solving a business problem, follow the results of the cause analysis and pick the function that removes the cause at its source. Detecting errors afterwards (searching) or fixing them afterwards (correcting) are symptomatic treatments: the rework remains, so they are not fundamental solutions. For simple mistakes that stem from manual work, the standard approach is to automate so that people no longer perform the calculation.
In business requirements definition, you identify the problems in the current operations and their causes, and from them derive the functional requirements for the new system. As in this question, once you can pinpoint the most upstream point of the causal chain behind “why does it take so long,” the necessary function (automatic calculation at the time of application) follows naturally.