Page 345 - Handbook of Modern Telecommunications

3-136 CRC Handbook of Modern Telecommunications, Second Edition

FAB is an attempt to show the process groups that are usually needed to support the three major
customer service functions. In truth, both FAB and FCAPS provide valid ways of understanding what
goes on in carrier environments. Yet no conceptual model had yet tied together day-to-day operational
processes with fast-emerging service provider requirements around their business processes and objec-
tives. The Next-Generation OSS (NGOSS) of TMF (the TeleManagement Forum), and its Enhanced
Telecom Operations Map (eTOM), is a sophisticated conceptual framework in terms of mapping the
totality of a service provider’s business and operations processes and understanding the synergies and
linkages between the two.
3.6.2.7 Fulfillment (Order/Service Fulfillment)
The fulfillment: this vertical process grouping is responsible for providing customers with their requested
products in a timely and correct manner. It translates the customer’s business or personal need into a solu-
tion, which can be delivered using the specific products in the enterprise’s portfolio. This process informs the
customers of the status of their purchase order, ensures completion on time, as well as a delighted customer.
Service fulfillment refers to the complete process from receiving the customer order (e.g., for broad-
band or business VPN [virtual private network], Internet, VoIP, etc.) to activating and testing the service
in the network. The fulfillment process is initiated predominantly by the customer. Thus, fulfillment
systems are those systems that are used to receive and handle orders, provision service, and create/
update information for customer billing.
The value of service fulfillment systems is in helping Communications Service Providers (CSPs) turn
new orders into active subscriber support rapidly and efficiently. This involves tracking the steps of order
fulfillment, allocating resources, and configuring the service serving networks and applications. It also
involves installing and configuring the network equipment and applications. The inventory portion of
service fulfillment is becoming a significant factor in nearly all service fulfillment deployments.
Service Fulfillment processes start with order entry (located on the CRM level), either through Sales
Force Automation (SFA) tools, or through Web-based customer order entry portals. Either way, orders
must be entered, validated, and inserted into order management workflows.
The Design and Assign function is the part of the provisioning process when circuits and services
are designed and assigned to available physical/logical inventory. These systems typically interact with
network inventory systems.
The primary engineering system that most carriers employ is a network inventory system. These
systems support inventory entry and tracking of both physical and logical inventory. An ideal inventory
system also integrates tightly with Design and Assign systems, and produces capacity threshold events
and detailed inventory tracking reports.
Other engineering-related systems include traffic analysis and planning systems. These systems pro-
vide Network Engineering with software tools for performing sophisticated trend analysis and forecast-
ing of capacity requirements.
Workforce Management Systems (WMS) are used in the service fulfillment process for scheduling
and routing field technicians to perform physical provisioning activities, such as cross-connecting sub-
networks at peering points, installing Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), deploying probes for sur-
veillance, etc. The primary data these systems work with are work orders, skills of technicians, truck
inventory, and schedules. It is important to note that WMS systems have a role in service assurance, as
well; technicians are also dispatched to repair network problems that cannot be solved from the NOC
(Network Operating Center). Gateway systems are used for two primary purposes: to order capacity on
a trading partner’s network, and to provision nonnetwork resources from third-party providers.

3.6.2.8 Assurance (Service Assurance)
Once a service is operational, the telecommunications service provider’s primary responsibilities are to
ensure that the service stays operational, to provide data to the customer on the performance of their
service, and to provide customer support in the use of the service.