white paper - integrated inventory unifies network · pdf filein spite of the many sales and...
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white paper
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TELCORDIA IS NOW PART OF ERICSSONSINCE JANUARY 2012
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The traditional, stovepipe approach to network creation and network operations has lasted
for decades. A pivotal reason involves the way network inventory data is created and used.
When there is a strict distinction between engineering and provisioning systems, such that
inventory data is not automatically shared and synchronized, each function must perform its
work in a precisely ordered sequence, and resulting inefficiencies are inevitable. This white
paper argues that integrating inventory data, and establishing one, shared network view, can
transform network management and its costs, thus opening the door to innovative, unified
modes of operation.
Integrated Inventory Unifies Network Management
Abstract
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Introduction: The Strict Division of LaborBoth network creation and network operations work groups cooperate to turn an operator’s network vision into reality.
From an engineering (network creation) perspective, equipment is physical and events are long term. Design and build projects typically span months and revolve around conduit runs, buildings, HVAC equipment, fiber in underground ducts, equipment bays, telephone poles, remote terminals on concrete slabs, and radio base stations. Engineering has to worry about engineering limitations, environmental factors, and geospatial horizontal and vertical coordinates of equipment.
From a provisioning and assurance (network operations) perspective, the network is less static, more logical in nature, and events are short term. Maintenance and repair occur in real time to avoid downtime. Provisioning focuses on using available capacity to provide services, and includes network configuration, capacity activation, and service assignment, installation, testing, and billing. Operations worries about wavelengths on fiber strands, circuit packs that can be popped in and out of slots, end-to-end connectivity, and assigning equipment, paths, circuit identifiers, IP addresses, and customer numbers.
Figure 1 – Different Views Into the Same Network
For as long as anyone can remember, these groups have worked sequentially, not in parallel. The prevailing Present Method of Operation (PMO) revolves around a planned, consecutive order of activities.
It starts with network creation, and only after the physical project is complete, and construction crews have placed and connected the new equipment, does engineering pass along the as-built network information to the network operations groups so that the provisioning work can commence. Network assurance groups must also be notified of the new network build, in order to perform essential monitoring and restoration functions.
Sites
Cards
Ports
Equipment
Cable Terms
Customers
IP Ranges & Addresses
Circuit & Service Definitions
Channel Assignments
Logical Ports
Cable Runs
Outside Plant/GIS
Floor Plans
Ducts
Loss Calculation
Environmental Characteristics
Location
Engineering View Operations View
Physical Logical
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Apart from network builds, engineering and operations must readily communicate and share information on a regular basis. Network engineering must respond to on-demand requests when there are facility shortages or network failures. Network operations must periodically keep planning and engineering informed about capacity utilization and projected growth.
Necessity, Not Choice, Drives the Prevailing PMOClearly, these two areas use network data in very different ways. However, if they are equally critical to network management, and if their work depends on close interaction, why have they been traditionally separated into independent work groups?
The answer has a lot to do with the fact that the software systems on which each function relies — engineering systems for physical inventory data, and provisioning systems for assignable (a.k.a. logical) inventory data — were modeled after manual paper processes, and continue to be distinct solutions. Each system maintains a different view into the same network, and it is up to each function to keep the other informed, via data sharing, of its ongoing work status and needs.
Under these circumstances, it makes no sense, from an efficiency or cost perspective, to begin any logical work based on as-designed plans. There are too many unknowns in the field. Operations must wait to start its provisioning tasks until construction crews have been on the ground and sent redlines back to the home office, and engineering has entered those redlines into the engineering records and shared the updated, as-built information.
Figure 2 – Present Method With Serial Processes
Prov
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Fiel
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Engi
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Plan
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PrepareEngineering
Details
MakeAvailable toOperations
RecordNew Assets
Assign& DesignFacilities
ConfigureNetwork
InstallService,Turn Up,
Test
DevelopPlanningPackage
Survey,Order,
ScheduleConstruct,
Install PlantTest &Accept
Key
Network Creation
Network Operations
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The traditional PMO has been the only reasonable way to transfer information during the lifecycle of the network, and opportunity is ripe for error introduction, out-of-synch conditions, and labor-intensive, tedious, ongoing correction work. All of this leads to provisioning errors, service delays, stranding of capital assets, and unnecessary expense. In fact, with the manual give-and-take between the disparate work groups, as much as 50% of any operator’s data records are inaccurate to some degree, according to 2007 Yankee Group estimates.
This begs the question: Why not just create one system that does it all? The answer: No one system today can support carrier-class capabilities for both geospatially-oriented physical engineering design and network and service provisioning. And for good reason. Each domain is complex, with requirements that support very different needs. Any single product, at best, comprehensively supports one area, and touches on the other with limited capabilities.
In spite of the many sales and marketing pitches for all-in-one systems and product demonstrations that appear to display extensive functionality, the reality falls short. Engineering systems simply do not scale well to suit the throughput requirements of automated provisioning. And there is no getting around the fact that, in network design, things like the permissible angle of cable runs, site access, proximity to power supplies, and positioning of cable within ducts are physical attributes that cannot be managed without spatial database technology.
That said, it is also increasingly true that real-time interfacing across these domains is urgently needed for dynamic next generation provisioning.
The Power Is in a Single View, Not a Single SystemWhat if you could foster an environment where information is exchanged and updated more easily, and information technology actually enables common views of the same information? Telcordia has coined the term “integrated inventory” to represent such an environment. Integrated inventory is about supporting both domains with discrete, but complementary, engineering and provisioning systems that, together, create a holistic view and enable unified management of the physical and logical network.
The business case impacts of integrated inventory on costs and efficiency are dramatic, and that case gets stronger every day. Increased competition demands faster service delivery. For new, complex services to be profitable, business processes and interfaces between networks and organizations must be frictionless. Budget constraints also necessitate a closer look at automation and precision in inventory records.
It is important to stress that integrating inventory data does not change the fact that network engineering and network operations interact differently with the same pieces of equipment, and therefore use data in different ways, as our case examples below illustrate. In fact, integrated inventory supports the integrity of each function. At the same time, it strengthens collaboration and opens opportunities to improve costs, time-to-market, service quality, and response to trouble, because it promotes a common understanding of the equipment and capabilities in the underlying network.
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Integration in ActionThe following cases demonstrate that there can be different needs for the same data, yet powerful benefits from a common and accessible view.
1. Seamless Planning-to-Provisioning
As traffic on the MPLS core grows, network planning must forecast and plan for new capacity, but provisioning is increasing network stress by continually assigning additional IP-VPNs through the network. The key to managing the network is making sure that operations makes use of new network builds, and planning has access to the net impacts made by provisioning and maintenance.
With integrated inventory, the network build progress is seen in real time by operations. As part of day-to-day activities, network changes resulting from equipment capacity additions, network rearrangements, network grooming, or maintenance are shared across engineering and operations. The provisioning group can request design changes from engineering. And engineering can provide costing information to operations to support algorithms for least-cost routing. In addition, costing information generated during design allows procurement to order equipment more efficiently, and allows finance to update the value of plant-in-service.
2. Fiber-to-the-Premises
A Passive Optical Network (PON) is planned for a residential community to provide high-speed voice, video, and data over broadband fiber. The operator wants to consistently design the most efficient network, and enable rapid service provisioning. Integrated inventory uses local engineering rules to automate placement of outside plant cable and equipment on a map. It then automates migration of geospatial PON details into the provisioning domain for complete data flowthrough from engineering through service fulfillment, and can even be extended to include activation. Engineering can also “jump” from the engineering system into the provisioning data to monitor use of expensive optical termination equipment at the serving office and plan ahead for network additions.
3. Redundancy Provisioning
A customer order requires redundant fiber paths for network resiliency. The Service Level Agreement (SLA) stipulates that a redundant path cannot appear in the same cable sheath as the primary path. With integrated inventory, a provisioning technician selects and assigns the redundant, least-cost fiber paths from the provisioning system by viewing them on a network schematic, thus ensuring that they do not share the same cable, all without assistance from engineering.
4. Fiber Fault
A fault occurs in a community’s fiber cable. A backhoe may have dug up the buried cable sheath. The field crew uses a laptop to access the geospatial layout of the fiber run, applies reflectometry readings to locate the fault, and sees the details required to repair the cable and restore service. Meanwhile, network operations visually drills down from the fiber view on the map into the provisioning data, and, from one entry point, gets a list of all customer circuits on the fiber, so traffic can be diverted while the problem is resolved.
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Figure 3 – Integrated Inventory Streamlines Plan-to-Provision
5. Process Innovation
A next generation, IP-based service provider takes advantage of integrated inventory to launch an operation with unparalleled efficiency. Using a unified process to manage its inventory from physical implementation through assignment and fulfillment, the company is dramatically reducing provisioning intervals while ensuring data consistency. In a dramatic departure from the traditional PMO, the scope of the network project design is extended to include the logical assignment. Technicians can simultaneously execute equipment installation and network configuration, and record corrections on either front if they happen. Installation and testing of the physical network equipment, circuit cards, and parameter settings are done on the same truck roll.
Benefits Across the BoardThese cases are reminders that virtually all planned and on-demand network changes require seamless coordination between the physical and logical aspects of inventory management. That’s why an integrated solution delivers benefits that exceed those of the most sophisticated, domain-specific solutions operating alone or in parallel. Integrated inventory provides:
• Real-time federation of physical inventory (both inside and outside plant) and customer and network assignment records
• Timely notification of capacity needs and changes
• Context-sensitive GUI integration for network visualization from the user’s native system
• The ability to link logical assignments to physical locations so faults can be traced to actual sites, customer impacts can be ascertained, and accurate information can flow to all departments.
Prov
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Fiel
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Engi
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Plan
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PrepareEngineering
Details
Assign& DesignFacilities
ConfigureNetwork
DevelopPlanningPackage
Survey,Order
Materials,Schedule
Key
Network Creation
Network Operations
Construct,Install Plant& Service
Turn Up& Test
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For more information about Telcordia,
contact your local account executive,
or you can reach us at:
+1 800.521.2673 (U.S. and Canada)
+44 (0)1276 515515 (Europe)
+1 732.699.5800 (all other countries)
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Copyright ©2009 Telcordia Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Conclusion – Rethink the Business Even with integrated inventory, a rigorous data management structure is paramount, with policies and procedures to control access, safeguard security and integrity, monitor record retention, and ensure timely updates.
With this structure in place, an integrated solution can generate unprecedented efficiencies and bottom line impacts. The common network view enables:
• Savings from more efficient planning, engineering, and work order processing
• Less revenue loss from service disruptions, plus revenue advancement from faster in-service
• Timely and accurate data leading to more efficient provisioning, reduced rework, and fewer truck rolls
• IT savings from improved data center and system management
• Identification of stranded assets and reduced capital spend.
From planning to provisioning and beyond, an organization that works from one view of a network — rather than competing views — can foster consistent thinking about the physical network and its logical representation, eliminate the need to enter the same data into different systems, achieve true flowthrough, and finally have the freedom to explore a new mode of operation.
MC-COR-WP-014