OSS (Operational Support Systems) are involved in a wide range of different functions throughout the lifecycle of communication network build and operations. Regardless of the technology – wireline, mobile, cable, – there are a common set of functions which apply. We’ve classified these as a set of OSS Domains and identified the common capabilities that apply for each one.

When we look at the lifecycle of a network, an initial planning stage is required to determine the location, type and configuration of each new piece of equipment. The logical connections between each must also be defined, including any redundant routes and standby/load-shared capacity to ensure high availability and network resilience. OSS Network Planning and Design tools are essential to ensure this is done quickly, accurately and efficiently.

Once deployed, operational teams will require fault management to track outages and drill down to the root cause of individual problems. An accurate understanding of the current network topology allows rapid prioritization of faults through impact analysis, and enables planning of engineering work to minimize disruption. This Service Assurance function may also be used to link network reported faults with customer issues, allowing communication to individual customers about the progress and resolution of faults which affect them.

With a live commercial network ready to deliver service, customers can be signed up and authorized to use the services they are contracted for. Service Fulfillment enables dealers, customer care representatives and even customers directly (through web self service and other means) to turn on and off individual services and features. Latency is becoming ever more important in this function, with customers expecting changes to be applied within seconds rather than the hours or even days in the past.

Performance management is a wide ranging topic involving measuring and analyzing the utilization of the network, allowing both short term configuration changes and longer term network capacity expansion to be planned and executed. These tools may provide detailed information on the coverage, capacity, uptime and data throughput achieved for individual customers or geographic areas.

Let’s look more deeply into each of these areas and consider how OSS transformation affects them, starting with Network Planning and Design.