A single, accurate view of the network

Imagine being in complete control of your network. Knowing exactly where every last cable, card and connection exists. And every logical connection, routing and configuration that runs on them. Aware of every new design for change and upgrade in the near future.

Systems with these capabilities already exist today, empowering service providers to build out their networks more efficiently and effectively, and to serve their customers more quickly and accurately.

The accurate data within empowers many parts of the organization to do a better job. Planners and designers can determine where and how best to expand and modify the network. Operational teams can quickly determine the impact and effects of outages, so they can prioritize which are most important. New services for customers can be sold based on accurate information of when and how they will be delivered.

Perhaps most importantly, the entire network operation becomes more responsive to customer needs, improving the competitiveness and efficiency of the organization as a whole.

A Technical Inventory

The term inventory is often used to describe an asset list – a record of the physical assets such as a book library or warehouse store. Sometimes the cost (or price) of each part is known and associated. A one-dimension inventory such as this has no knowledge of what the parts or equipment are used for, and often little knowledge of how they fit together and relate to each other.

What we mean by Inventory includes a whole range of rules and constraints for each item. For example, knowing which cards should be used in which slots of a rack or how many customers a single device can serve. Extensive modeling of physical, logical and technologies allows an inventory to validate the data as it is being entered and prevent inaccurate or inconsistent information being added.

The technical models should not be hard-coded or difficult to change. Meta-data models which can be updated and enhanced through simple configuration tools ensure that the system can be extended to handle new products, services and technologies.

There is a considerable difference between a one-dimension inventory and full resource management - read here for a more detailed comparison.

The operational heart of network operations

Our vision is that the technical inventory becomes the heart of the network operation. The data held within is used by many parts of the organization, whether installing equipment onsite or dealing with customer enquiries.

Once an accurate inventory exists, many of the repetitive and detailed design tasks can be automated. Adding new cellsites, DSLAMS or routers become simple menu choices with only a few critical parameters required. The design of the network itself then becomes more accurate, leading to faster rollout, shorter time to market, and quicker introduction of new technologies.

The basis for Automated Service Fulfillment

Automated, rather than manual, service fulfillment requires a high level of confidence in the technical inventory data. When tens of thousands of orders per day are going through fulfillment systems, it’s important that few will fail.

Automated fulfillment enables shorter ordering times as well as fewer staff to check and implement each order. An active inventory approach leads to greater customer satisfaction, higher revenues and ultimately an improved bottom line.

It can be complemented by an efficient and effect Service Order Management architecture.