appendix j - optima technical overview

Copyright ©2010 AIRCOM International - All rights reserved. No part of this work, which is protected by copyright, may be reproduced in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or storage in an information retrieval system – without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Technical Overview

AIRCOM OPTIMA Technical Overview

Release 6.2

Author: Neil Davies Date: 11 March 2010 Ref: I-SM-SR-EM-OP-004 Version: 3a Status: Approved Sec. Class: Commercial in Confidence

Commercial in Confidence

Author: Neil Davies AIRCOM OPTIMA Technical Overview of 28 Date: 28 May 2010 I-SM-SR-EM-OP-004 Copyright ©2010 AIRCOM International

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Contents

1 Document Control ...............................................................................................................3 1.1 Revision History ..........................................................................................................3 1.2 Reviewers ...................................................................................................................3

2 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................4 3 Product Positioning .............................................................................................................5 4 Benefits of OPTIMA .............................................................................................................7 5 Technical Solution ...............................................................................................................8

5.1 System Architecture ....................................................................................................8 5.1.1 Physical Architecture ..............................................................................................8 5.1.2 Central Database Server ........................................................................................9 5.1.3 Parsing/Loading Mediation Devices .......................................................................9 5.1.4 Application Server (Optional) ............................................................................... 10 5.1.5 OPTIMA Clients ................................................................................................... 10 5.1.6 OPTIMA Logical Architecture .............................................................................. 11 5.1.7 Architecture Key Features ................................................................................... 12

5.2 Vendor Interfaces .................................................................................................... 12 5.3 User Functions ......................................................................................................... 13

5.3.1 OPTIMA Inspector ............................................................................................... 13 5.3.2 Reporter ............................................................................................................... 15 5.3.3 OPTIMA Work Area ............................................................................................. 16 5.3.4 Database Explorer and Query Builder ................................................................. 17 5.3.5 OPTIMA Sandbox ................................................................................................ 20 5.3.6 Administration ...................................................................................................... 21 5.3.7 Summary and Busy Hour Calculations ................................................................ 21 5.3.8 Data Quality ......................................................................................................... 21 5.3.9 Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Mapping .......................................................... 22 5.3.10 Archiving .......................................................................................................... 23 5.3.11 Performance Alarm Management .................................................................... 23 5.3.12 Performance Alarm Technical Implementation ................................................ 23 5.3.13 ETL Alarms ...................................................................................................... 25

5.4 Server and Data Loading Platforms ........................................................................ 26 5.5 Client ........................................................................................................................ 26 5.6 Supported Data ........................................................................................................ 26 5.7 Data Storage ............................................................................................................ 27 5.8 Report Output Formats ............................................................................................ 27 5.9 Report Output Types ............................................................................................... 27 5.10 Report Scheduling ................................................................................................... 27 5.11 Graph Types ............................................................................................................ 28 5.12 Graph Output Formats ............................................................................................. 28



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1 Document Control

1.1 Revision History

Revision Number

Date Name Revision

1a 12/12/2008 Neil Davies First Draft

1b 15/12/2008 Craig Ledger Review

1 15/12/2008 Neil Davies Final

2 23/10/2009 Neil Davies Final

3a 11/03/2010 Neil Davies Updated draft

1.2 Reviewers

Reviewer Date Feedback

Craig Ledger 15/12/2008 Slight amendments – ok for release

Priya Nair



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2 Introduction

AIRCOM OPTIMA is an advanced network performance monitoring tool, developed for operators of mobile and fixed networks who require a fully integrated application with the ability to manage data from multi vendor, multi domain and multi technology networks. The OPTIMA performance solution provides an integrated environment allowing an operator to proactively ensure that customers receive good quality service over the networks. The solution supports the analysis and reporting requirements for all functions within the organisation including:

Day-to-day operational monitoring and problem identification.

Network System Optimisation (network planning and development).

Network benchmarking.

Network Performance Management Reporting – KPI and key data.

Support of decision making activities.

Performance data management and network correlation across different network technologies and elements e.g. BSS, NSS, RAN, PS-CORE, VAS, IN

Generation and management of performance related alarms. The OPTIMA tool allows easy integration into northbound and southbound interfaces, such as fault management and inventory management. OPTIMA has unprecedented flexibility, powerful functionality and an ease of use that make it the ultimate tool for any operator looking to improve or enhance the performance of its network. OPTIMA is perfectly suited to mobile and fixed network operators progressing to the next generation of mobile and fixed technologies. OPTIMA fully supports 2G, 2.5G, 3G, including HSPDA, 4G networks, including WiMAX, NGN and IP. The solution‟s open and configurable architecture means that it is readily configured for new technologies. The success of an operator‟s organisation depends on Quality of Service targets being met. OPTIMA provides the tool to ensure that this is done. It is a truly cost effective, valuable enhancement to an operator‟s information system.



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3 Product Positioning

OPTIMA‟s product position is represented on the Tele Management Forum (http://www.tmforum.org), Telecoms Operations Map (TOM) model in the diagram below. The green coloured portion shows where OPTIMA sits with typical outputs servicing wider business functions indicated via the yellow arrows and orange boxes.

Figure 1: OPTIMA Positioning In an increasingly competitive telecommunications market, it is vital that superior levels of service and quality are provided to end subscribers, thereby attracting new customers, reducing churn and simultaneously minimising costs. It is only possible to effectively manage and introduce change into the operational network if a complete understanding of the current and past performance of your system is established. OPTIMA monitors, logs and stores the network performance management information. This enables any employee, if granted with the relevant permissions, to gain a complete understanding of the current and past performance of the network. For example, knowing the past three months dropped call statistics for a cluster of cell sites in a particular city can help benchmark engineering modifications. Daily and weekly dropped call completion can be used after operational changes (for example change of frequency plan) to the same cell sites to understand the improvements, or other, within the city. By easily accessing and analysing invaluable performance data, it is possible to:

Identify poor network performance before this becomes customer affecting.

Proactively resolve problems before customers become aware of them.

Identify and respond quickly to change.

http://www.tmforum.org/



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Pinpoint accurately extra capacity requirements.

Deploy network enhancements in a timely and cost effective manner.

Predict future trends in the network or at any part of the network.

Some typical uses of OPTIMA for network operation and performance management are:

Daily reporting of network performance across all network elements including the radio and switching networks, transmission, IN, VAS and service platforms.

Daily reporting of any cluster of cell sites or network elements covering particular cities, roads or other geographical regions.

Drill down, up and across to determine root cause analysis for network degradation or performance problems.

Identification of performance anomalies across network regions.

Overall monitoring of performance and generation of alarms when thresholds are exceeded.

Identification and strategic reporting of traffic hotspots and network locations generating high traffic and revenues.

Data Quality reporting to ensure that evaluations being made are based on accurate and complete data.

Not only can you access information across the whole network, but also regional staff can access all data appropriate to them and can monitor network elements within a region and fine tune localised performance.



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4 Benefits of OPTIMA

Key Technical Features of OPTIMA include:

A powerful data „warehouse‟ which is able to maintain and retrieve network system

performance counter data and trends for the largest networks over many years.

Robust and scalable IT platform architecture with a choice of PC or UNIX servers to suit IT policy and existing IT investments.

Windows PC based client application requires minimal specialist user training.

True client/server architecture with the ability to support “thick” client and “thin” (web based) multi concurrent user access.

Full Integration with AIRCOM‟s market leading PC-based ENTERPRISE tools suite allowing performance data to be seamlessly integrated with design and configuration information.

Complete flexibility to mix counter and KPI information with coverage and planning data, including geographical mapping.

Ability to query and retrieve PM statistics by selecting network elements on a geographical map.

Ability to combine configuration parameter values with performance data.

Out of the box functionality with interfaces and report and module libraries available for 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G networks and beyond.

Ability to interface to a wide range of equipment types of different vendors and technologies e.g. GERAN, CS-CORE, PS-CORE, VAS, IN, WiMAX, IP etc

Highly configurable vendor interface architecture allows rapid configuration to specific customer requirements.

In-built KPI mapping across vendors allows quality on different vendor networks to be compared easily.

Complete flexibility for the user to create new KPIs, report templates and modules via very flexible report and module designers.

Ability to define and generate Performance Alarms. Alarm events can either be forwarded to Fault management systems or engineers alerted via e-mail or SMS using the OPTIMA alarm handling module.

Full user security with the ability to manage which reports and modules users or groups of users have the ability to access.

Intuitive Data Explorer with the ability to define database queries via a user friendly drag and drop interface.



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5 Technical Solution

5.1 System Architecture

5.1.1 Physical Architecture

Figure 2: Physical Architecture of an OPTIMA implementation An overview of the typical physical architecture of an OPTIMA installation is shown in Figure 2. Data is generally exported in a file format from the network Element Managers or OMCs and stored on a local server. When a new file is detected then this is transferred to an OPTIMA Mediation workstation where it is parsed and loaded into a central OPTIMA data warehouse and is immediately available for end-user clients. For some vendor systems, PM data may be available in a network or OMC database. In this case, a special OPTIMA database parser is deployed, which regularly accesses the network database to retrieve data. In this case there is no requirement to transfer files. There may also be links configured from the OPTIMA data warehouse to other databases. This allows end users to access and combine data from multiple sources in reports. This mechanism may also be used to enrich the PM data loaded – for example a link to a planning or configuration database (as illustrated by, but not limited to, ENTERPRISE in Figure 2) may be used to retrieve network topology or planning information. There are a number of physical elements in the OPTIMA solution as described in the following sections.



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5.1.2 Central Database Server

This is the critical component for the operation of OPTIMA as it has a direct impact on data load, storage and retrieval performance of the system. Any type of workstation that supports Oracle 10G or 11G can be used. AIRCOM provides a number of recommended hardware solutions with both Windows and UNIX (HP, Sun and LINUX) options supported depending on operator preference and the size of system required. Solutions are always proposed that provide cost effective upgrade options to accommodate future expansion of the system. For large installations or where system availability is particularly critical, a clustered server solution, or an Oracle RAC solution can be deployed. The server would be dimensioned as part of the solution development depending on the number of network elements, data storage requirements and expected use of the system. Memory requirements for the server are calculated based on the number of users and data loading processes that need to be supported, plus an overhead for the database application and the OS. Disk storage requirements will depend on the following factors:

Number and type of performance counters to be stored.

Granularity of counter measurement.

Size of network.

Archiving requirements.

Summary tables and Indexes. AIRCOM provides tools that calculate database growth based on the actual database schema to provide specific and exact predictions for an individual customer on the disk space requirements. Generally RAID disk arrays or external SAN solutions are deployed to provide resilience in the case of hard disk failure.

5.1.3 Parsing/Loading Mediation Devices

Although it is technically possible to have the database loaders and parsers running on the central server, this is generally not recommended and within the typical OPTIMA architecture, these processes are run on separate loading/parsing machines (or mediation devices). This architecture has a number of important advantages:

Performance: separating the parsing and loading processing from the server ensures that these activities do not significantly impact the end user performance.

Scalability: if required low cost workstations can be used for the mediation devices. This provides a very cost effective scalable solution. For example the addition of new interfaces can be added without significant server upgrade requirements.

Reliability: this architecture ensures that any problems that may occur when parsing or loading files do not impact the end user. Also additional mediation devices can be provided for standby purposes. For example it is possible to split a particular interface across two mediation devices. In the case of a hardware problem with one machine then the other can continue to load (perhaps with reduced performance) whilst the failed device is repaired.

Flexibility: for example a temporary mediation device can be deployed to load backlogged data.

Maintenance: it is possible to perform maintenance and upgrade of the loading processes and interface components without impacting the central server and hence end users.

Both Windows and UNIX (HP and SUN) workstations can be used for mediation devices. Rack mounted units are recommended where space is a premium.



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The required specification and number of mediation devices will be determined during customer specific solution design.

5.1.4 Application Server (Optional)

The application server provides the ability to support on-line access to OPTIMA. The recommended solution is to use Citrix

TM that provides the full OPTIMA client functionality to

end users within a standard Web browser. AIRCOM also provides a full web based solution called WEBWIZARD, which allows access to key data and reports on-line. This also allows the ability to display performance statistics geographically over a map. All reports within OPTIMA can be scheduled to run at a future point or at regular intervals via a configurable report scheduler. This may be run on any client, however for regular reporting would tend to be hosted on a dedicated machine or the Web Server. Reports can be exported to HTML and automatically published via WEBWIZARD.

5.1.5 OPTIMA Clients

Three client options are available for OPTIMA: Integrated with ENTERPRISE; The OPTIMA application appears as part of the toolbar within the ENTERPRISE tool suite. This option allows performance analysis to be integrated with planning functions. For example, performance data can be “replayed” on the geographical map overlaying coverage information. OPTIMA Standalone; The OPTIMA client can be run independently from the ENTERPRISE tool suite. For example this may be the preferred access method for Operational Engineers who do not need the full planning integration. OPTIMA Online: This allows access to the application via a browser over the company intranet (or internet if enabled). Two options are available:

Access to the full client application can be supported using CitrixTM. This is suitable for users who require full access to all OPTIMA functionality.

AIRCOM‟s WEBWIZARD application can be deployed to provide access to key data and reports. This also allows the ability to display performance statistics geographically over a map. This is useful for more casual users who only need access to specific data or reports



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5.1.6 OPTIMA Logical Architecture

NETWORK

DATA SUMMARY

DATA QUALITY

ARCHIVE &

MAINTENANCE

JO

B S

CH

ED

UL

AR

MONITOR

SCHEDULE

CONFIGURE

MAINTAIN

SYSTEM

LOGGING

FILE ARCHIVE

OPTIMA

Mediation / ETL

CONFIGURATIONRAW COUNTERSSYSTEM LOGS

DATA

Layer

KPIs

SUMMARYFILTERSDATA

DICTIONARY

ABSTRACTION DATABASE PROCESSES

OPTIMA Data Warehouse

Windows Clients

OPTIMA ClientENTERPRISE Client

OPTIMA Application

Windows Clients

(Administration)

OPTIMA ClientENTERPRISE Client

Web Server

REPORT

SCHEDULING

Application

Server

Fault Management

Application

On-line Clients

Alarm Monitor

PERFORMANCE

MONITOR

SYSTEM MONITOR

ALARM

INTERFACE

Alarm Handler

HANDLER

External Data

Repositories

ENTERPRISE

Database

EXTERNAL DATA

PLANNING

AND CM

DATA

LOAD

VALIDATE

INTERACE

SPECIFIC PARSER

TRANSFER

Figure 3: Logical Architecture of an OPTIMA implementation

The diagram above shows the logical architecture of an OPTIMA installation. The network equipment or OMC is configured to output performance data at regular reporting intervals and the parsers will automatically process this data when it is made available. The typical process for loading data is illustrated in the figure above and is as follows:

1. The network logs PM data and regularly outputs data in a file into a defined directory on the OMC or network management device. For most network equipment the file creation interval is user configurable and would typically be between 5 and 60 minutes. Each file may typically contain data for a number of different network elements and different types of measurement classes.

2. An OPTIMA Transfer component will regularly poll the network management device directory. When a new file is detected it will be automatically transferred to the parser input directory on a mediation device. The original file may (optionally) be deleted.

3. An OPTIMA Parser component monitors the parser input directory and parses any files that are detected. Specific parsers are developed to match the file format for a particular interface. The parser converts the PM data in the input file into a common OPTIMA file format; comma separated variable (csv). Where the input file contains a number of different measurement classes, a csv file may be produced for each class.



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4. If the input file is successfully parsed then it is (optionally) moved to an archive directory or deleted. If there is a problem in the file (for example it is corrupted) then it is moved to an Error directory and the Error details logged.

5. For PM data, an OPTIMA Loader component monitors the parser output directory. When a new csv file is detected this is loaded into the appropriate database table. The Loader component may also combine or apply formulas to individual counters if required during the loading process.

6. If the csv file is successfully loaded then it is deleted or archived. Otherwise, it is moved to an Error directory and the Error details logged.

In order to effectively manage the volume of data in the OPTIMA database, there are programs that maintain and summarise the data. A summary program regularly summarises data and calculates busy hours, allowing raw data to be deleted when it is no longer useful at that granularity. This program (optionally) handles re-summarisation when data arrives late. A maintenance program handles the deletion of old data and maintenance of current data, including storage maintenance, data statistic collection and index maintenance to ensure optimum performance. These programs are provided in an administrator configurable subsystem. A Data Quality subsystem also regularly monitors the completeness of data loaded providing user friendly reports to system administrators. All OPTIMA data collection programs are scheduled and monitored by an OPTIMA scheduler program. This not only allows programs to be scheduled at regular intervals or overnight but also monitors all services and restarts these if necessary in the case of a failure.

5.1.7 Architecture Key Features

The OPTIMA architecture and system components are designed to support the exacting system requirements for a PM data collection, storage and analysis system:

The system is designed to load data continuously – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Data is loaded as soon as it is available in the network.

Data is made available to all users as soon as it is in the database.

The system is scalable to cost effectively accommodate increases in network size and the introduction of new interfaces.

The system is designed for very high reliability and is able to operate in an unsupervised mode. A process monitor is deployed that monitors all components via a heartbeat function and automatically restarts any failed process.

The system is able to store very large volumes of data without degradation of loading or end-user performance.

The data loading architecture minimises overheads on the database server, ensuring that the maximum resources are available for end-user queries and access.

The system automatically handles late arriving and out of sequence data and provides user friendly system reports on the completeness of data statistics from the monitored network elements.

The system automatically diverts data into a holding area during database outages to prevent files flooding the operational areas. This is reintroduced automatically once the system returns to normal.

5.2 Vendor Interfaces

OPTIMA supports multi-vendor, multi-technology networks and AIRCOM can provide interfaces for each vendor in an operator‟s network. Depending on the operator set-up, the data may either be made available from the network in data files or in an OMC database. AIRCOM can provide a vendor specific parser for either arrangement.



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Each interface is provided with a comprehensive library of KPIs, reports and modules which allows out of the box analysis and reporting functionality.

5.3 User Functions

The following figure illustrates the main components of the OPTIMA system. Raw PM counters and configuration data is loaded from the network and stored within the data layer. From this data Summary Information and KPIs are derived within the Abstraction layer. Data from both of these layers is made available to the user within the Client and Administrator functions.

Figure 4: OPTIMA Software Architecture The key user modules illustrated in the above Figure are described in the following sections.

5.3.1 OPTIMA Inspector

OPTIMA Inspector enables users to select data modules from a module library and combine these, as required, to display specific information. Modules are used in the same way that you would use a template, to customise the information you want to display. Using this user friendly method it is possible for users to build up complex specific analysis functions and easily correlate data from different network elements. With OPTIMA Inspector you can:

Manage modules and module combinations.

Define your own modules and module combinations to display any network data.



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Retrieve, filter and chart large volumes of data.

Run similar modules on different levels of aggregation (time and element) to quickly identify areas requiring further analysis.

Drill down, up and across on date and on elements between modules to pinpoint issues and perform root cause analysis.

Use filters to select data for specific network elements. For example define filters to show only problem cells or select a set of cells geographically on a map.

Define counter thresholds, e.g. display all MSC‟s with processor load over 90%.

Load data from other ENTERPRISE tools, e.g. ASSET, DATASAFE, RANOPT.

Share data modules with other users or groups of users.

Figure 5: A typical OPTIMA Module The powerful functionality provided by OPTIMA Inspector within the modular approach ensures that users can be confident in their ability to correctly display and view information in a way that will improve problem solving, which will ultimately enhance the performance of the network. Data can be displayed in both a data grid, or graphically on a number of user specified chart types. Standard Excel-like features are provided for sorting, filtering, grouping and summarising data. In addition you can link modules to provide powerful drill down functions. In this way for example you can click on a problem cell and immediately display the key KPIs for that cell for the time period in question.



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Figure 6: Example of Grid functions in Inspector

5.3.2 Reporter

OPTIMA Reporter provides a flexible and user friendly environment for creating, organising and managing the distribution of reports. User friendly wizards and templates are provided to simplify ad-hoc report creation. Advanced features such as sub-reports and cross-tabs provide the functions to accommodate even the most complex reporting requirements. All report templates can be stored within the data warehouse for ease of distribution and access. Users can view or modify (if granted rights to do so) a report by selecting from an explorer based folder structure.

Figure 7: OPTIMA Reporter



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OPTIMA Report Designer allows users full flexibility to specify the network data to be included in a report. With OPTIMA Reporter, users in an organisation have the ability to decide what information will be viewed and in the desired format, a powerful tool for any organisation. OPTIMA will allow the user to define run time parameters for a report which can be configured using filters and conditions. When the report is run the user is prompted for inputs for these parameters ensuring only the desired data is generated. For full details on run time parameters please refer to the data explorer section. OPTIMA will also allow users to create Excel based reports where the output is stored in a user defined Excel template. Multiple queries can be created in OPTIMA and entered into user defined positions in the Excel template. This option gives the user the ability to use Excel‟s powerful analytical functionality on data generated directly from the database, ranging from simple formatting and graphing to complex data manipulation and macros. Users can always rely on having the latest relevant information, knowing that they are saving time and money by automating the complex process of generating quality reports. A key area of OPTIMA Reporter is the scheduling functionality, which allows for flexible automatic report distribution to any type of output device, e.g. PC, printer, e-mail, web site. Run time parameters that have been created within a report can be configured in a schedule, ensuring only the relevant information is selected for each recipient. Multiple schedules with different configurations can be created for one report. An advanced feature allows the user to provide a condition to the report generation. For example a condition could be set to generate a report which is triggered when, for example Congestion by Cell on a particular BSC indicates dropped calls over 4%. The scheduler allows users to set up reports for their areas of interest, then to schedule these reports to run at a convenient time.

5.3.3 OPTIMA Work Area

The OPTIMA Work Area gives users the flexibility to organise their user environment to match the particular activity being undertaken. Inspector combinations, reports and even external web pages can be docked into a common working area and are available as tabbed pages. This means that all relevant information for a particular task can be quickly accessed and correlated greatly increasing working efficiency. Key modules and reports can also be added to a favourites toolbar for instant access. The OPTIMA Work Area can also be used to identify and display information about key aspects of your network that are under performing. It can monitor the values of specified performance counters, such as dropped call rates, call set-up failures, high congestion, etc. Options are provided to automatically update the information so that the latest recorded state of the network is always displayed.



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Figure 8: OPTIMA Work area.

5.3.4 Database Explorer and Query Builder

The database explorer provides a user friendly overview of all data within the OPTIMA data warehouse and allows both advanced and occasional users to quickly retrieve any set of information. The module supports the following features:

The ability to browse all data in the database using a simple tree structure. Data is organised into Raw Counters, KPIs, Configuration Information, System information or User Defined categories all configurable by the system administrator. A search facility is provided to allow the user to quickly find a counter or KPI. Counter values can be displayed in a grid or exported to Excel etc.

Database objects not required, or unavailable to the users can be excluded from the Database Explorer.

The ability to define a database query via a user friendly drag and drop interface without the need for SQL entry. This provides the following features:

Drag and drop tables from the Data Explorer.

Drag and drop KPIs into an SQL query.

Define table joins by graphically linking fields.

Define data fields to be extracted, filter criteria, functions and grouping via user friendly input screens.

Preview and edit SQL created.

Preview data returned.

Define filter fields for OPTIMA date-time selector and network selection filters.

Optimise the query via Explain Plans



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The data explorer can be run standalone for ad-hoc data queries. It is also used throughout OPTIMA to define any SQL queries used by the system, including modules, dynamic filters, alarms and hierarchies.

Figure 9: Data Explorer A drag and drop expression builder is provided to simplify the addition of complex expressions in queries and to simplify the definition of custom counters or KPIs. The expression builder provides the following features:

Add counters from a context sensitive list by dragging onto the design area.

Select available functions from categorised lists.

Prompts for function arguments.

Simple entry of mathematical and date functions.

Ability for administrators to add custom functions.



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Figure 10: Expression Builder It is possible to define run time parameters and filters in data explorer that will prompt the user for inputs and apply these conditions on the query as it is executed.

Figure 11: Run Time Parameter Configuration These parameters and filters can be applied in the following ways:

Element filters – can be configured on the elements in the query and applied at runtime using hierarchies or manual input.



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Date filters – can be configured on date fields and applied using user friendly date and time input.

Parameters – Conditions can be configured on any combination of fields in the query using expression editor. Inputs can then be entered at run time for these parameters.

Parameters are created in data explorer by first defining the field to apply them to using the expression editor. Parameters enable the user to pinpoint the data they require rather than sift through a large set of data, without having to create multiple reports for each scenario. At run time the user will be prompted for inputs for all the parameters defined, along with any date and element filters. The option to override the parameter and show all is also available. Figure 12: Run Time Parameter Application For reports it is possible to configure these parameters in report scheduler for automatically generated reports. By configuring multiple schedules using different parameters one report can be used to provide different data sets depending on a user‟s needs.

5.3.5 OPTIMA Sandbox

Within the Data Explorer a “Sandbox” environment allows users to store a query and its returned data within a dedicated area of storage that has been allocated to them. A user can either store the query as a view that is run to generate the data desired, or they can materialise the view and have the result stored within their storage allocation.



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The amount of storage allocated is configured by the administrator and can vary according to individual users needs. The option to have an item that is stored in the sandbox expire after a configurable period of time is also provided to the administrator. This ensures that users do not rely on items in their sandbox for regular work, if a user feels something they have created is useful then the administrator should be asked to promote this to the published data model permanently.

5.3.6 Administration

Administration functions are provided in the tool to allow system administrators to configure the application to match the specific customer requirements. The following functions are supported:

Add and edit custom counters or KPIs that apply specific formula(s) to collected performance data.

Define common KPIs that map across different vendors. For example a common user KPI such as Call Drop can be defined that utilises different vendor counters for each vendor within OPTIMA.

Define and edit thresholds for counters to enable performance data exceeding such thresholds to be highlighted in OPTIMA or exported as an alarm event.

Specify country specific holidays.

Add and administer users and groups of users.

Configure which groups of users have access to which reports and modules through a user friendly security system.

Configure links to external databases.

Allocate storage to users for their Sandbox.

5.3.7 Summary and Busy Hour Calculations

The data generated by the Network and parsed and loaded into the OPTIMA database is likely to be of a high granularity, i.e. short intervals between samples. OPTIMA is designed to store this information for any period of time but this can lead to significant storage requirements for the database. For this reason many operators choose to archive old data and store a summary only. For example the operator may be interested in a granularity of 15 minutes for data up to a month old but any data older, they would like to see summarised to an hour and any data older than a year they would like to see summarised to a day, week, month and so on. OPTIMA provides a fully configurable summary program that achieves this and can be scheduled to run at user specified times. When the data has been summarised to a table with a lower time resolution it can then be archived from the higher resolution table. The Summary program can also be configured to re-summarise data stored in the summary tables if the raw data changes. This is done by monitoring the raw data and identifying if any changes have occurred that affect the summary data. If changes are seen then a re-summary process is carried out as part of the normal summary process. Network planning and performance engineers are usually mostly interested in the behaviour of the network when it is experiencing its greatest load. This is termed the busy hour and operators will be interested in keeping a copy of the performance data during this hour longer than the other hours of the day. Tables can also be generated that hold data for the busiest hours of the week or month and kept for longer periods than daily busy hour data. Multiple busy hours can also be defined.

5.3.8 Data Quality

OPTIMA includes a Data Quality program that monitors the quality of the data in the database tables. It can be configured to produce different reports based on the type of information requested:



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Availability – the percentage of elements that are completely missing for the time period.

Completeness – the percentage of available data for the period loaded.

Last Load Status – the last data a table loaded, i.e. maximum date.

Nullness – the number of null entries in the table for the time period.

5.3.9 Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Mapping

OPTIMA stores all raw performance counters generated by the network. However for reporting purposes it may be more useful to aggregate the raw counters into higher level KPIs, e.g. call drop, connection rate. OPTIMA provides flexible solutions that allow an administrator to define KPIs that are then available for all users, groups of users or individual users. In addition to this users can create their own personal KPIs, if these prove useful then the administrator can publish them to all users. Administrators have the ability to perform bulk operations on the KPIs stored in the data warehouse through KPI Manager, including security, the base table and aggregation options. It is also possible to export and import KPIs through KPI manager and to upload large volumes of KPI definitions from file. Through the OPTIMA KPI Manager it is possible to configure a KPI equation that can be used in any query where it is valid, for example a KPI created on a raw table can also be used on its summary tables without the need of creating a new KPI definition. It is also possible to see where in OPTIMA‟s reporting tools KPIs are being utilised from the KPI Manager.

Figure 13: KPI Manager All KPIs are displayed in the Data Explorer under the tables that they are valid on by selecting the KPI tab. It is also possible to drag KPIs directly into the query from a drop down list when creating a query. The performance counters and what they measure are different across different vendors therefore the formula for a KPI for one network may look very different to that on another. In addition, a KPI formula may be composed of a very large number of counters and sub



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counters. It is for this reason that AIRCOM provide a KPI mapping facility between vendors. With this option users can use a single KPI (e.g. call drop) for all cells within a multi-vendor network. This can greatly simplify the creation of reports and modules.

5.3.10 Archiving

An operator may want to keep a copy of the data longer than they want to store it in the OPTIMA database. This could be for the purpose of re-investigating previous anomalous behaviour on the network that has re-occurred. This may be achieved by writing the relevant data files to a tape or separate disk. This is achieved via Oracle RMAN or other third party backup and restore solutions.

5.3.11 Performance Alarm Management

The OPTIMA Alarm module provides the ability to define thresholds and conditions on performance data that can generate alarm events for internal reporting as well as feeding the data into a fault management system. This provides significant user benefits:

It allows an operator to be pro-active rather than re-active to network alarms. For example an alarm can be generated based on a trend in average traffic before hard capacity thresholds are triggered on a network element.

By immediately alerting engineers to problems it provides the opportunity for faster response to potential service affecting performance issues, increasing network quality and customer satisfaction.

It provides the ability to automatically monitor many performance KPIs for the whole network and only respond to the critical issues. This can provide significant cost savings in optimisation and OSS engineers.

It allows an operator to have common procedures for performance related and network related alerts, for example in out-of-hours support and trouble-ticketing, resulting in improved efficiency and cost reduction.

It gives the operator the ability to monitor abnormal behaviour in the network. For example alarms can be generated when the performance of a KPI on a cell changes significantly from the normal behaviour even though the performance may remain within operational thresholds.

It provides the ability to correlate performance related alarms with network generated alarms to aid in root cause analysis. For example if traffic increases on one cell this may be due to a failure in a neighbouring cell.

Provides the operator with the potential to supplement the standard network alarms that a vendor supports and potentially overcomes any limitations in these.

5.3.12 Performance Alarm Technical Implementation

The implementation of the OPTIMA Alarm module is illustrated in the following figure.



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Figure 14: Optima Alarm Module A user friendly Alarm GUI allows an administrator to define and administer alarms. All alarm definitions are stored within the OPTIMA data warehouse. A separate alarm service polls the database at user defined intervals and tests all active alarm definitions against data that has been loaded from the network. All alarm set and clear events are stored in the OPTIMA data warehouse and made available to FM systems via a defined interface.

Figure 15: Alarm Explorer Key Features:

User friendly GUI for an administrator to specify and manage alarm definitions.

Complete flexibility for an administrator to define trigger thresholds including:

Multiple thresholds per counter



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The ability to define thresholds on any raw counters, KPIs or combinations of counters including formulas.

Complex thresholds e.g. deviation from average.

Threshold on summary data including busy hour.

The ability to define different thresholds for different time periods e.g. weekends, out-of-hours etc.

The ability to define different thresholds for set and clear, allowing the ability to provide hysteresis on alarm thresholds.

The ability to define a ripple count for each alarm definition. This means that the alarm is not triggered until the threshold has been crossed for the specified number of samples, or time period. The network element may remain alarmed until the performance falls back inside user defined clear thresholds for a user defined period of time.

Ability to set thresholds for any granularity of source data with a user defined poling interval per alarm definition.

A fully scalable architecture with separation of the alarm definition from the alarm processing. For the most demanding requirements there is also the ability to distribute the alarm processing across multiple workstations.

A full audit log for alarm definition – records all changes to alarm definitions, when and by whom.

Full flexibility to define which network elements are monitored for each alarm definition – the administrator can select all, groups, or individual network elements (e.g. cells) to be included.

Full flexibility to define the alarm description including user defined options for:

Alarm severity

Vendor description

Element type

Technology Type

Alarm Description

An advanced feature is that the alarm description can also include any counter value or formula. This allows dynamic messages to be created based on real counter values derived when the alarm is triggered. This allows for very informative alarm messages.

All alarm events are stored in the OPTIMA database for reporting and analysis.

OPTIMA provides a configurable and flexible alarm handler that allows users or groups of users to be alerted to specified alarms via e-mail or SMS.

Alternatively an interface can be provided to third party fault management systems. SNMP forwarding is often used for this, although other interfaces can be developed as required.

5.3.13 ETL Alarms

In addition to the ability to define thresholds and conditions on performance data stored in the data warehouse it is also possible to check that counters are within acceptable thresholds during load. The checks form part of the loading process and log alarms directly into the data warehouse as the data under consideration is loaded. These alarms are then handled in the same way as the performance alarms.



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Figure 16: ETL Alarm Configuration

5.4 Server and Data Loading Platforms

Oracle 10g or 11g with Partitioning Option

Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Enterprise Edition

UNIX: Sun Solaris 10 and HP-UX 11.23i

Citrix PS4.5, 5.0/Xenapp

Full hardware and software redundancy options supported

Support for RAID 0+1 & RAID 5. RAID 0+1 is the preferred option, RAID 5 will be considered upon customer request.

5.5 Client

Pentium III or higher

XP Pro and Vista

Integrates with Microsoft Office 2003 or higher

5.6 Supported Data

Any counter type:

Peg

Gauge

Accumulator

Scanner

Discrete distributed measurements

PDF measurements

Custom

Generic Data interfaces:

ASCII

CSV

XML

ASN.1

ODBC

SNMP

Direct Oracle Link

Custom



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Vendors Supported: OPTIMA is highly configurable and can be integrated with any pre-defined interface. Vendors supported include the following among many others:

Ericsson

Nokia, Siemens and NSN

Motorola

Nortel

Alcatel, Lucent and Alcatel-Lucent

Huawei

Interwave

Cisco

ZTE

5.7 Data Storage

Data storage options support the following:

Unlimited raw counter storage (dependent only on disk allocation)

Any data granularity supported

Administrator defined data storage and archiving periods

Administrator defined summary options including daily, weekly, monthly, busy hour.

Complete flexibility to define summary and rollup functions per counter including sum, average, max, min, user defined

User defined busy hours including multiple busy hours per element

5.8 Report Output Formats

Reports can be outputted in the following formats:

Report Archiving Format (*.RAF)

Comma Separated Values (*.CSV)

Acrobat Reader File (*.PDF)

XHML

Rich Text Format (*.RTF)

Hyper Text Markup Format (*.HTML)

Excel File (*.XLS)

Bitmap File (*.BMP)

JPEG File Interchange Format (*.JPEG)

Tagged Image File Format (*.TIFF)

5.9 Report Output Types

Reports can be outputted to the following locations or methods:

Printer

File

zipped-file

e-mail

5.10 Report Scheduling

Report scheduling provides the following functionality:

Ability to schedule any report by date and time

All output options supported



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Conditional scheduling

Run time parameters can be configured in the schedule

5.11 Graph Types

Over 100 standard chart types including:

Line

Area

Bar

Point

Pie

Bubble

Arrow

Gantt

Shape

5.12 Graph Output Formats

Metafile

Enhanced Metafile

Bitmap

JPEG

PNG

GIF

PCX

appendix j - optima technical overview

Documents

benefits of optima

optima clients

optima inspector

optima logical architecture

optima work area

aircom international

system architecture

technical solution