Patent ID: 7596214

Claim:
A method for processing data in association with an operation performed by a technician at a customer service location in a telecommunications system, the method comprising: receiving data at a technician server from a customer service location at a location remote from the technician server and related to at least one piece of existing telecommunications equipment being used in connection with a service at the customer service location; communicating data from the technician server to a component record keeping system including at least one computer system maintaining equipment data for the telecommunications system; receiving at the technician server a communication from the component record keeping system giving at least one alternative candidate for the existing telecommunications equipment; communicating from the technician server to the customer service location at least one such alternative candidate, obtained from the communication with the component record keeping system, for the existing telecommunications equipment; generating change data including at least one new candidate selected from the alternative candidates for replacement of the existing telecommunications equipment at the customer service location; and communicating the change data from the technician server to the component record keeping system for updating the telecommunications equipment data maintained thereon.