TABLE OF CONTENTS The emergence and growth of numerous new telecommunications companies raises the question of what OSS can do to enhance their competitive position against their counterparts [1]. As most hard events (fault events) are well managed by all operators, we propose that soft events (performance events) and the associated management mechanisms hold the key to this advantage. The amazing part about this solution is that new values are created through the collation and presentation of data that has always existed within the network. With its efficiency and transparency, this new method may bond a customer to a specific service like electronic glue and become an enabler of new levels of customer satisfaction.
To explain how an integrated, model-driven architecture can fully support ongoing service assurance functionality, we first examine the traditional OSS operations of fulfillment and billing. It is important to paint the entire operational picture before we present a detailed discussion of the service model implementation in Chapter 5. In this chapter, we will examine the OSS processes and flows in the following order:
OSS definitions, business requirements, and architecture;
OSS infrastructure, flows, and life cycle considerations;
The hierarchy of OSS components and their functionalities, including fulfillment, assurance, billing, and revenue support processes;
The future direction of OSS.
OSS is a set of software that helps a telecommunications service provider install, monitor, control, analyze, sell, and manage telecommunications-related services. This collection of functionalities might include equipment inventory, service ordering, usage tracking,...
