Web based capacity management (WBCM) system

The disclosure generally relates to a system and method of processing and presenting data associated with telecommunication elements. In a particular embodiment, the system includes a first input to receive a first set of element management system data from a first element management system, a second input to receive a second set of element management system data from a second element management system, and integration logic to produce a combined set of data based on the first set of element management system data and the second set of element management system data. The system also includes data reformatting logic to produce a combined set of data having a common data format.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present application relates generally to a system and method of managing a network having telecommunication system elements

2. Description of the Related Art

Telecommunication system management and operations involve many activities that are time-consuming, tedious, manual, and inefficient. Examples of such activities include service provisioning and inventory management of the many telecommunication elements involved in providing service to a large geographic region. Current techniques to manage inventory and to determine network deployment use databases and other operational support systems that are constructed based on manually inputted and updated engineering job orders as each telecommunication element is deployed or modified. With such systems, the status of network equipment is based on equipments lists, such as from purchase orders. With the large number of telecommunication elements and the manual and tedious nature of data input, the system, data inaccuracies and the costs of maintaining such a system is high. In addition, the data needed to monitor and manage the network, such as traffic and performance data, is provided by different legacy systems from different vendors, resulting in additional difficulties with maintenance and operations of the telecommunication systems.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method of managing a network having telecommunication system elements.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure is generally directed to a system and method of processing and presenting data associated with telecommunication elements. In a particular embodiment, the system comprises a first input to receive a first set of element management system data from a first element management system, a second input to receive a second set of element management system data from a second element management system, and integration logic to produce a combined set of data based on the first set of element management system data and the second set of element management system data.

In another embodiment, the method includes receiving a first set of element management system data from a first element management system, the first element management system associated with a first set of telecommunication elements; receiving a second set of element management system data from a second element management system, the second element management system associated with a second set of telecommunication elements; and producing a combined set of data based on the first set of element management system data and based on the second set of element management system data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring toFIG. 1, an illustrated embodiment of a system is shown. The system includes central telecommunications offices110, a telecommunication regions102,104,106, interconnecting core devices70, support databases270, and operations and support data210. The central offices110include generic switch devices191, such as telephony switches, generic host devices192, such as central office terminals, and generic aggregation devices193, such as optical concentrator devices (OCD). The central offices110also include generic access devices120that service telecommunication customers100. An example of a generic access device120is a remote terminal located near a plurality of customers where the remote terminal is coupled to a far-end optical concentrator device via a fiber-optic or other data transport communication line.

The example serviced geographic region102includes a plurality of different element management systems (EMS)20,30, and40. The different EMS systems support a different group of telecommunication elements. For example, the EMS system20may support a first group of generic access devices and associated host devices. Similarly, the EMS system40may support a second group of generic access devices and associated generic host devices. The EMS system30may support a group of other devices, such as a group of generic aggregation devices. The example region102is a particular geographic telecommunication service coverage region for the Midwest portion of the United States. Other illustrated regions include a Southwest region104and a Pacific region106. The illustrated regions may be associated with different brands. For example, the region102is associated with the Ameritech brand, the Southwest region104is associated with the Southwestern Bell brand, and the Pacific region106is associated with the Pacific Bell and the Nevada Bell brand. The system disclosed herein is applicable to other telecommunication service coverage regions, whether smaller or larger than the illustrated geographic regions described.

Referring toFIG. 2, a general diagram is provided to demonstrate how the various EMS systems20,30,40may be interconnected with various other telecommunication elements. As shown, a sample system configuration includes a first central office facility111and a second central office facility112. The first central office facility111includes a telecommunications switch51, a central office terminal (COT)23, and an optical concentrator device (OCD)31. The OCD31is coupled to an external data network, such as an ATM network70.

The COT23is coupled to a first remote terminal21by a first telecommunication line and to a second remote terminal22by a second telecommunication line. The OCD31is similarly coupled to both the first remote terminal21and the second remote terminal22via data links. The first remote terminal21is coupled through a plurality of different telecommunication lines to a plurality of customers, such as residential/business facilities10,11. The second remote terminal22is coupled through a plurality of different telecommunication lines to a plurality of different customers, such as other residential/business facilities12,13.

The second central office facility112includes a telecommunications switch61, a central office terminal (COT)41, and an optical concentrator device (OCD)32. The OCD32is coupled to the ATM network70. The COT23is coupled to a third remote terminal21by a third telecommunication line and to a fourth remote terminal22by a fourth telecommunication line. The OCD32is coupled to the third and fourth remote terminals41,42by data lines. The third remote terminal41is coupled through a plurality of different telecommunication lines to a plurality of customers, such as residential/business facilities14,15. The fourth remote terminal42is coupled through a plurality of different telecommunication lines to a plurality of different customers, such as other residential/business facilities16,17.

In this particular illustrative configuration, the first EMS20supports the first remote terminal21, the second remote terminal22, and the COT23. The second EMS30supports the OCDs31and32. The third EMS40supports the COT41, the third remote terminal41, and the fourth remote terminal42. The EMS systems20,30,40are typically provided by the same vendors/manufacturers of the associated supported telecommunication elements. Thus, a vendor of the first and second remote terminals21,22provides a specific EMS20that communicates data and can be used for operations, monitoring, and maintenance of the supported remote terminals21,22. Within a particular geographic region that includes many different telecommunication elements provided by different vendors, a plurality of different EMS systems, each with different vendor-specific interfaces may be deployed. An example of a representative EMS system is the Access Management System (AMS) provided by Alcatel, Inc.

Referring toFIG. 3, a functional description of a system that provides certain telecommunication actions with respect to the systems ofFIGS. 1 and 2is disclosed. The illustrated system includes EMS data205, OSS data210, and integrated EMS/OSS data module215. The EMS data205is data that is provided by an EMS, such as EMS20,30, and40. The OSS data is data from an operations and support system associated with a telecommunication system, such as a telephony switch or group of switches. The integrated EMS/OSS data module215is a combination of vendor-specific EMS data from different vendor EMS systems and generic OSS data from operations support systems. The combined EMS/OSS data215is formatted in a vendor-transparent common format for enhanced service provider use. An example of the common data format is comma delimited ASCII, which may be stored in a central database according to a defined business model.

The data may be organized and presented using a network systems engineering-defined rule base combining desired business and presentation models. In a particular illustrative embodiment, configuration data is extracted separately from each vendor's type of network element at least once per week. As a specific example, performance and statistical data maybe extracted daily for one hour or fifteen minute time intervals with five minute peaks, according to the level of detail needed to assess proper performance. The specific time intervals for data collection can vary. The central database is then updated with this information. The user interface may be a web browser interface that includes a number of different view levels, ranging from a summarized company level view down to a specific port level view. Additional examples of view levels are regional level, market level, wire center level, system level, terminal level, distribution area level, channel bank level, card level, and virtual interface group level. Each view level includes different ways to display the data. For example, at the company level, a user may want to see the total number of network elements deployed, the total number of customers in service, the total number of outages, or the average data speeds being provided to customers. Other data view types include an overview, specific details of identified network elements, routes, and channel banks. The presentation data can also be viewed for a selected region or distribution area. The same type of data presentation may be viewed for voice and data service.

Once the EMS data205and OSS data210has been integrated and provided in a useable format, the integrated EMS/OSS data215has many uses. For example, the integrated EMS/OSS data215may be used to provide a real-time capacity management function220, inventory management230, network traffic/performance240, and customer diagnostics and measurement250. In addition, based on the common inventory management and network traffic performance monitoring that is provided for different vendor equipment within a selected region, capacity prediction and management260may also be provided for such region. Further, based on suitable engineering guidelines and policies271, overall system diagnostics280may also be performed on telecommunication elements within the region.

Rules can be applied to the integrated data to characterize the data and to define appropriate thresholds. Examples of data characterization include defining the number of ports in service or calculating a customer's loop length. Thresholds specify that a certain configuration, traffic, or performance number has been reached, and are defined and customized to fit the needs of a particular user. For example, a planner may need to know when a channel bank reaches 50% capacity to allow time to order more equipment. An engineer may need to know when that same channel bank reaches 90% capacity in order to study its performance. Users of the system can be notified via email or other notification methods when a particular threshold has been exceeded (e.g. bandwidth utilization, VCC exhaust, DA exhaust, bit error rates, line characteristics, etc.). When a monitored threshold is exceeded, a red or yellow alarm may be displayed to provide a visual indication to a system user, resulting in efficient provisioning and monitoring of network elements.

For example, the first set of EMS data includes information about the Network Elements that it is associated with. The available data includes the system name, the IP address, the administrative state, the configuration type, and the version of that telecommunication element. In addition, the detail information about all the banks in the unit are provided, including all the cards in each slot of the system and each port of each card. The name, the type, the CLEI code, the serial number, its primary service state, and secondary service name is the type of additional information that is available per card and per port.

A second set of data can be available from other EMS systems, or an OSS system. For example, from an internal OSS system, information is collected that is associated with the customer in each port of the telecommunication element described above. The OSS data can provide the Circuit ID of the customer, its telephone number, the date the service that the customer requested was activated, the profile of the service that was requested, etc

Referring toFIG. 4, an embodiment of a method of producing and using the integrated ESS/OSS data is shown. A first set of EMS data from a first EMS system associated with a first set of telecommunication elements is received, at402. A second set of EMS data from a second EMS system associated with a second set of telecommunication elements is received, at404. A combined set of data based on the first set of EMS data and based on the second set of EMS data is produced, at406. The combined set of data is then used to perform telecommunication system actions, such as display of capacity management metrics, inventory data, diagnostics, and network performance metrics, at408. While the above method refers to the combined set of EMS data from two or more EMS systems, it should be understood that other data may also be combined with the EMS data to produce an integrated data set, such as data from supporting telecommunication systems, such as the OSS data from OSS systems and other support databases described herein. In addition, the combined set of data may be reformatted into a common data format that may be different than the data format of the first set of EMS data and the second set of EMS data. The reformatted data may be more easily used as a platform to perform the various desired telecommunication system actions. The reformatted data may be presented to users in a user-friendly format, such as via a web browser.

The disclosed method of collecting inventory and other equipment data using EMS systems directly provides a more accurate view of inventory and service provisioning compared to the alternative of deducing network deployment from engineering construction job orders. The disclosed method also reduces user training and saves time and costs of accessing information from a variety of separate legacy support systems. In addition, data accuracy is improved by querying the equipment installed in the network rather than inferring status of network equipment based on equipment lists from purchase orders. In addition, by combining data from different vendor equipment, the network operator is provided an integrated view of a heterogeneous multi-vendor network and an end-end view of circuit elements.