EP1348189A2

EP1348189A2 - Fully integrated service manager with automatic flow-through interconnection

Info

Publication number: EP1348189A2
Application number: EP01987495A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Christopher J. Selwood
Original assignee: Wisor Telecom Corp
Current assignee: Wisor Telecom Corp
Priority date: 2000-12-27
Filing date: 2001-12-21
Publication date: 2003-10-01
Also published as: EP1348189A4; GB2387944A; GB0315955D0; NZ527154A; WO2002052380A3; IL156668A0; GB2387944A8; CA2433152A1; WO2002052380A2

Abstract

A system for management of an integrated communications provider comprising a means of automatically retrieving customer service records and preparing sales proposals therefrom. The invention further comprises components for pre-ordering management functions (20), circuit management (40), design management (50), service management (30), and gateway (2) to incumbent local exchange carriers and trading partners (4). The system incorporates features that automate comparisons between existing services and proposal services, alarming of failures of confirmations, optimizing on-net and off-net services, creation of cutover reports (203(e)) and issuance of service requests to local exchange carriers (3) and trading partners (4).

Description

Title: FULLY INTEGRATED SERVICE MANAGER WITH

AUTOMATIC FLOW-THROUGH INTERCONNECTION

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.

60/176,571 , filed Jan. 18, 2000, entitled "Fully Integrated Service Manager With

Automatic Flow-Through Interconnection " and naming David C. Curtis as inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telecommunications service providers are entering the age wherein new

service offerings and technological changes occur on a frequent basis. In order to

maintain a competitive edge, providers need the ability to easily provide proposals

that cover a customer's existing service for voice, data, video and Internet networks in

terms of their own products. Presently the creation of such proposals is a

semi-manual system that is costly and often inaccurate.

With the passage of the Telecommunications Act ("the Act") of 1996, the

United States telecommunications industry is in a state of radical change. Among

other things, the Act requires that Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILEC), the

regulated entity that owns and administers an existing access network, provide to any

requesting telecommunications carrier (hereinafter referred to as "Competitive Local

Exchange Carriers" (CLEC), Integrated Communications Provider (ICP), or

Competitive Service Provider (CSP)) nondiscriminatory access to network elements

on an unbundled basis and to allow CLECs, ISPs or CSPs to combine such network

elements in order to provide telecommunications service. ILECs also have a duty to

provide to CLECs interconnection with their network for the transmission and routing of telephone exchange service and exchange access. The interconnection

contemplated by the Act provides nondiscriminatory access or interconnection to such services or information as are necessary to allow the requesting CLEC to implement local dialing parity, including nondiscriminatory access to telephone numbers, operator service, directory assistance, and directory listing, with no unreasonable

dialing delays. The provisions of the Act have demonstrated a need for competing

exchange carriers to be interconnected so that customers can seamlessly receive calls

that originate on another carrier's network and place calls that terminate on another's

carrier's network without performing additional activities, such as dialing extra digits,

etc. A CLEC can offer multiple types of services, including basic POTS, IXC long

distance carrier service, ISP Internet Service Provider, VPN (virtual private network),

VoIP (voice over internet), VoDSL (voice over DSL access), video, etc. Many of the

more advanced services require access to broadband services.

Recent adoption of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology allows customer

access to these broadband services over their existing copper wire connection to the

ILEC. With DSL, subscribers only need to purchase (or lease) a comparatively

inexpensive DSL modem and connect it to the existing copper wire connection. Other

advances in broadband data services can be combined with DSL service to provide the

subscriber with additional connectivity options. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are

also seeing explosive growth, especially in the remote-office and tele-commuter

environments. VPNs and DSL allow a subscriber to connect to a private corporate

network over a public infrastructure securely, while maintaining high bit-rate

transmissions. Subscribers are also beginning to test the waters with Voice Over DSL

(VoDSL) deployments. This technology allows subscribers to run multiple phone and data connections over a single copper line, using just one customer premise xDSL

modem.

The opportunities for CLECs, IXCs, and ISPs (collectively identified from this

point on as Integrated Communications Providers or ICPs) offering these services are

immense. Data transport demands have opened up a whole new set of revenue

generating opportunities for ICPs. However, the growth rate and myriad of convergent

offerings make it difficult for companies to establish themselves in any one market.

To be successful, ICPs need to remain flexible, customer focused, and establish a

continual set of value propositions and competitive advantages within the

marketplace.

ILECs have developed different methods to allow ICPs to electronically place

orders with the ILEC for wholesale products and services. For example, U.S. Patent

6,104,999 to Gilles et al. and incorporated by reference herein, discloses that LECs

use Internet browser forms, proprietary protocols and electronic data interchange

(EDI).

In one embodiment, the Gilles patent discloses methods of using EDI for

telecommunication provider retrieval of customer service records and electronic

services ordering. An authorized ICP or reseller utilizes EDI to request from the ILEC

the present services being provided to a particular customer. The ILEC uses EDI to

transfer the customer service record to the ICP. In a separate embodiment, the ICP

uses EDI to electronically order revisions or additions to service.

During electronic services ordering, a number of pre-ordering steps are

required. For example, if a telephone number, Internet domain name or Internet

Protocol (IP) address is available it is reserved as part of the pre-ordering function. In

addition, due date of initiation of new service is transmitted and either confirmed or revised. Also, certain validation steps are required, including customer service

address. Various uses have been made of electronic access to customer service records

(CSR). For example, U.S. Patent 6,032,132 to Nelson discloses using the CSR to

validate billing between an ICP and an ILEC. Similarly, U.S. Patent 5,416,833 to

Harper et al. and U.S. Patent 5,920,846 to Storch et al. disclose an ILEC using the

CSR to process changes to service provided by the ILEC and to respond to CLEC

requested changes.

However, the customer service record (CSR) is also independently useful to

ICPs. As the CSR often identifies both ILEC provided services as well as services of

competing ICPs and resellers, it is convenient for ICPs and resellers to retrieve a

customer service CSR in preparing a sales proposal. Following retrieval, the CSR is

interpreted and ICP competing service offerings are identified. The sales proposal is

based upon this analysis and a final proposal is presented to the customer. Up to now,

the CSR has been printed then manually compared to an ICP's service offerings. This

manual process is labor intensive and prone to errors. As a result, a method of

automating the sales proposal function based on CSR is needed.

Once a customer accepts a sales proposal for ICP services, it must be

provisioned and appropriate request for service orders issued to ILECs. Presently

these requests are manually originated. By automating the activation and provisioning

process, ICPs will be able to significantly reduce the overhead that is associated with

manual provisioning processes. Additionally, the error rate associated with manual

activation will be reduced significantly as well.

Of course, an ICP must be successful in obtaining customers and also capable

of adequately servicing those customers at a competitive price. Historically, telecommunication service customers dealt with a single ILEC that was responsible

for all aspects of the customers needs, including service interruptions. ICPs are in the

difficult situation of dealing with customer demands for single point service contact

while bundling services from multiple telecommunication providers. When a

customer reports interruptions in service, an ICP must determine which service

provider or providers are involved and "decompose" the trouble sources thereby

identifying sub-components and their ownership. Next, the ICP must initiate trouble

ticket controls, which refer trouble reports/work steps systems/organizations involved

in testing and repair of the service impairment. The referrals then need to be

monitored closely, through closeout of the impairment.

Once repaired, the ICP must ensure that any rebate or credit defined by

contractual relationships is honored by the billing system when the report is closed.

Finally, it is advantageous for the ICP to maintain a history of service failures in order

to determine the areas in which it needs to improve, as well as how well and how

quickly it responds to customer situations.

In order to stay competitive, ICPs typically use a hybrid network with the ICP

providing only a portion of the network equipment. As a result, an ICP may have

multiple trading partners that fulfill different components of their network offerings.

The ICP may own some pieces required to service the customer, such as a local

switch, while they may lease others, such as the local loop. Finally, they may need to

resell certain parts of a convergent order, such as a cable or wireless portion, from

wholesalers or other trading partners. Components owned by the ICP are termed "on-

net", while leased components or resold services are termed "off-net."

Depending upon the technology available for a customer's location and the

components available from the ICP, an optimal mix of on-net and off-net resources are selected. This selection process is key to an ICP's ability to offer competitively

priced services. Manual selection of the optimal mix is expensive and prone to errors. As a result it is desirable that an ICP use an automatic means of selecting the optimal mix of components to fulfill a customer's service requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method for retrieving customer service

records and preparing sales proposals from these records. It is an object of the present

invention to automate the sales proposal cycle for integrated communication providers

(ICP).

It is a further object of the present invention to incorporate present customer

service into sales proposals by parsing and interpreting customer service records

(CSR) that are electronically retrieved from incumbent local exchange providers

(ILEC) and communications trading partners.

It is a further object of the present invention to utilize an optimization

algorithm to select preferred sub-model components for a given sales proposal.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an automated means

to aid an ICP in providing single point-of-contact for its customers' service

interruptions. Such aid decomposes a customer service into on-net and off-net

components with appropriate contacts for receipt of trouble tickets.

One embodiment of the invention comprises a system for supporting the

management of an ICP including a computer processor means for inputting and

processing information necessary to the management of an ICP as well as hosting a

gateway and graphical user interface. The gateway, comprises a means of transferring

information to and receiving information from telecommunication service providers, preferably in an electronic format such as electronic data interchange (EDI), more preferably in conformance to order and billing forum (OBF) requirements, and further

preferably provides validation checking of transmissions in conformance with local

service ordering guidelines and access service ordering guidelines established by

telecommunications providers. The processing of information comprises software instructions grouped into a pre-order management component, a service management component, a design management component and a circuit management component.

The pre-order management component comprising an automatic means of

retrieving customer service records from telecommunication service providers and

parsing said customer service records into reports containing equivalent ICP services.

The service management component comprises an automatic means of creating and

tracking work plans that are comprised of a set of work activity events for performing

installation or troubleshooting of each sub-model component of a telecommunications service provided by the ICP to a customer.

The circuit management component comprising a means of automatically

creating a hierarchal list of ICP on-net circuit assignments and a means of

automatically creating a cutover work plan for service provisioning and activation.

The circuit management component further comprises an automatic means of

receiving requests from trading partners of the ICP; such requests from trading

partners are either rejected or inserted into said hierarchal list.

The design management component comprises a means for automatically

selecting a communications service or network model, preferably using an optimizing

algorithm; decomposing said service model into sub-model components and creating a communications design therefrom. It further comprises a means of automatically issuing service requests to ICP trading partners. In a further embodiment of the invention, the computer processor is replaced

with a hosting processor further comprising a processing means, hosting of a gateway, graphical user interface and network connectivity means such as a connectivity means

to a local area network, Internet, intranet, wireless network, or wireless local loop

network. Preferably the hosting processor utilizes hypertext markup language for its

graphical user interface displays.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a system for managing sales proposals of an ICP including a computer processor means for inputting and

information to and receiving information from telecommunication service providers,

preferably in an electronic format such as electronic data interchange (EDI), more

preferably in conformance to order and billing forum (OBF) requirements, and further

telecommunications providers.

The processing of information comprises software instructions grouped into a

pre-order management component, a service management component, a design

management component and a circuit management component.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the invention provides a system for

managing sales proposals of an integrated communications provider, hereinafter an

integrated communications provider is referred to as an ICP, said system for managing

sales proposals of an ICP comprising: a computer processor means for inputting and processing information

necessary to the management of an ICP; a gateway means of transferring information to and receiving information from telecommunication service providers; a pre-order management component comprising an automatic means of

retrieving customer service records via hypertext markup language (HTML),

electronic data interchange (EDI) and common object request broker (CORBA)

protocols, from telecommunication service providers and parsing said customer

service records into reports containing equivalent ICP services;

a design management component comprising a means for automatically

selecting a communications service model; decomposing said service model into sub-model components and creating a communication services sales proposal

therefrom;

wherein subsequent versions of said sales proposal are automatically created

subsequent to a request from a human operator for alternate communication service

models.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 schematically illustrates a process diagram of the system of the present

invention;

Figure 2 schematically illustrates the Pre-Order Management component of the

present invention;

Figure 3 schematically illustrates the Service Management component of the present

invention;

Figure 4 schematically illustrates the Circuit Management component of the present

invention;

Figure 5 schematically illustrates the Design Management component of the present

invention;

Figure 6 schematically illustrates an embodiment of the present invention adding the

feature of network access.

Figure 7 schematically illustrates an embodiment of a sales proposal cycle utilizing

the present invention;

Figure 8 schematically illustrates an embodiment of a Network Model Management

System of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a system useful to integrated communications

providers (ICPs) and resellers of ICP services for providing sales proposals based

upon customer service records. As used in this description, the following definitions

apply: ANSI—American National Standards Institute —United States-based organization that develops standards and defines interfaces for telecommunications.

ASR « Access Service Request — A request for service covered under the FCC's

access tariffs, as described by Order and Billing Forum.

ATM— Asynchronous Transfer Mode— An international ISDN high-speed, high-

volume, packet switching transmission protocol standard. ATM uses short, uniform,

53 -byte cells to divide data into efficient, manageable packets for ultra-fast switching

through a high-performance communications network.

CLEC— Competitive Local Exchange Carrier

CORBA— Common Object Request Broker Architecture— an architecture neutral,

object oriented client-server solution. With CORBA you can abstract an object by its

services and publish these using the IDL (Interface Definition Language). A client can

then connect to and use these services.

CMIS/CMIP— Common Management Information Services and Protocol—

international standard for network management protocol.

CSR — Customer service record

DSL— Digital subscriber line— allows broadband communication services over copper

telephone lines

DD— Due Date-The date in which a communication service request is scheduled to be

completed.

DLR - Digital Line Request — Request for digital communication services.

EDI— Electronic data interchange-An industry standard (ANSI XI 2, X.400) for direct

computer-to- computer information exchange.

FID— Field IDentifier-Used on service orders that indicates more data will follow. A

label on a service order that prefaces service order information. FIDs are alpha or alphanumeric codes that identify retained information on an account, indicate physical

or record activity, generate or negate non-recurring charges, specify recurring charges,

document work done'by various departments and identify facilities used to provide

service.

FOC — Failure of Confirmation — A form of error message created when a request for

communication services is either not received by or accepted by the services provider.

Frame Relay— Industry-standard, switched data link layer protocol that handles

multiple virtual circuits using HDLC encapsulation between connected devices.

ICP— Integrated communications provider

ILEC— Incumbent local exchange carrier

ISDN— Integrated Services Digital Network. Communication protocol, offered by

telephone companies, that permits telephone networks to carry data, voice, and other

source traffic.

ISP— Internet Service Provider— a company that provides individuals and other

companies access to the Internet and other related services.

IXC—Inter-exchange Carrier-A carrier authorized by the Federal Communications

Commission (FCC) to provide interLATA, interstate and/or international long

distance communications services; a carrier authorized by a state Public Utility

Commission (PUC) to provide long distance communications service but not local

exchange service within state boundaries. Also referred to as "IC", "1EC", or "IXC".

LATA-- Local Access and Transport Area.

LCC-Line Class Code-Identifies to the switch a particular class of service. It can be

identified by a USOC, FID, or some combination of the two. The FID would modify

the USOC by qualifying the class of service with specific attributes such as 700/900 blocking.

LEC— Local exchange carrier

LSR — Local Service Request —A request for service covered under the Local utility

commission's tariffs, as described by Order and Billing Forum.

LST— Line and Station Transfer-Rearrangement of outside network facilities to

support service activation.

NAAR - Network Address Assignment Request — Request for a network address

assignment such as phone number or Internet protocol addresses (IP address).

OBF-Order and Billing Forum

POTS— Plain Old Telephone Service— Basic telephone service for the transmission of

human speech.

SONET-Synchronous Optical Network- 1984 ANSI standard for optical fiber

transmission on the public network. 52Mbps to 13.22Gbps. standard for

communications over a fiber optic network.

TN— Telephone Number— A ten digit number comprised of an area code (NPA), an

exchange (NXX), and an extension.

USOC-Universal Service Order Code— An alphanumeric coding scheme that

identifies products and services that have been ordered by a customer.

VOD- Video On Demand.

VoDSL- Voice over DSL. The ability to carry normal telephone-style voice over a

digital subscriber line (DSL) with POTS-like functionality, reliability, and voice

quality.

VoIP- Voice over IP. The ability to carry normal telephone-style voice over an IP-

based Internet with POTS-like functionality, reliability, and voice quality. VPN-Virtual Private Network -Switched network with special services like

abbreviated dialing. A customer can call between offices in different area codes

without having to dial all eleven digits.

As shown in figure 1, the invention comprises four major components

designed to automate manual and semi-manual tasks that are performed by ICPs in

pursuit of and providing support and service order management for customers. The

Pre-order management component 20 is used to access a customer service record,

develop summary of services and create sales proposals. The service management

component 30 provides an integrated approach to order and trouble tickets wherein a

consistent user interface is provided for both on-net and off-net communication

services. The circuit management component 40 maintains an inventory of ICP

owned circuits (on-net asset), their related equipment and the customer to which any

circuit is assigned. The design management system 50 is used to design new services

for customers and issue electronic requests for services to trading partners. Although

depicted separately, all components are seamlessly integrated to perform as an

integrated ICP operations support system (OSS).

Figure 2 illustrates the Pre-order Management component 20 that supports

pre-order functions such as sales proposal generation, customer service record (CSR)

retrieval and analysis. Communication to the incumbent local exchange carrier 3

(ILEC) is established in a gateway sub-component 2. This gateway is available

directly to all components of the invention and is depicted on figures 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The gateway is preferably an OBF and EDI standards compliant

interconnection gateway providing automated electronic access to ILEC and ICP

trading partner order systems. User-definable configuration files are used to

compensate for individual ILEC or trading partner variations to these standards. The gateway allows an ICPs internal order management system to transfer and share relevant information including customer service record (CSR) retrieval, order

fulfillment requests, and order status updates with ILEC or ICP trading partner systems. In addition, the gateway preferably handles data translations for EDI, CORBA, CMIP/CMIS, as well as translating coded information from foreign systems

(including proprietary protocols).

More preferably, the gateway provides a validation check to ensure compliance with

basic usage rules contained in Local Service Ordering (LSOG) and Access Service

Ordering (ASOG) guidelines set forth by ILECs.

Referring to figure 2, Pre-Order component 20 comprises sub-process 201 that

allows an ICP sales representative to initiate CSR retrieval from an ILEC or ICP

trading partners. Once retrieved, the CSR is then "parsed" at sub-process 202,

wherein certain information contained in product and service codes (universal service

ordering codes (USOC)/feature identifier codes (FID) codes) is summarized and a

report of present customer service is generated at sub-process 203 and displayed to the

user at 204. Similarly, sales proposals are automatically generated at 205 and

displayed to the user at 206. Sales proposals are generated by selecting from a

database of ICP services comparable to CSR reported services. The generated sales proposals preferably compare features and costs of ICP provided services in

comparison to existing customer received services. The initial sales proposal is

designated version 1.

ICP sales representatives are able to revise the sales proposal by issuing

instructions at 207 to add or delete available services. In a preferred embodiment, the

various revisions of the sales proposals are saved electronically as separate versions.

This allows comparison between proposal versions during sales discussions with the customer. The ICP sales representative selects which proposal to print for

presentation to the potential customer at 210.

Another feature of the pre-order component is the ability to validate requested

services against availability of those services as well as reserving telephone numbers

and IP addresses at sub-process 209. Validation also occurs during CSR retrieval and

parsing, when the codes received from the ILEC are validated against validation tables

(for example, USOC, switch, equipment, LATA information etc).

Additionally, the pre-order component automatically creates service orders at

211 from accepted sales proposals. The service orders are then routed to the service

management component 30 and design management components 50.

Figure 3 illustrates the Service Management 30 component of the invention.

In general, the Service management component is useful in managing the

implementation of new service to customers, revisions to customer services and

resolving service interruptions. The successful ICP is often required to provide single

point of contact to the customer. A customer may inquire as to service interruption

304, status report 310, or recent bill 312.

In the event of service interruption, a trouble report is issued at 304 that creates

a trouble ticket 305. The service management component accesses an internally

stored customer file to identify which assigned communication circuit or circuits are

suspect at sub-process 306. The service management component accesses the circuit

management component 40 that decomposes the suspect circuit at 307 into its on-net

and off-net assets and identifies the responsibilities for repair of each asset at 308,

termed work events. The service trouble ticket is then converted into a service work

plan 309 which requests repair services from the appropriate service group of the ICP via the circuit management component 40 or via the gateway 2 to for example an ICP

trading partner 4 or ILEC 3.

All service work plans comprise a status field or fields. These fields are

updated as identified events on the plan are completed. For example, a work plan may

include service personnel from the ILEC traveling to the customer premises to inspect

suspect interface gear or broken wiring as well as ICP performing network

transmission tests. The work plan would then contain two identified events, each of

which has a status field that is updated as the work is performed.

For new ICP customers, the service work plans are created from the accepted

customer sales proposal created by the pre-order management component 20. The

sales proposal identifies the quantity and location of different communication

products 301 the customer has ordered from the ICP and requests appropriate service

models 302. The service management component retrieves a service model for each

communication product, based in part, upon the location and ILEC or ICP trading

partner involved. The design management component 50 is automatically accessed to

decompose the service model into individual work events at 303. Service work events

are identified 308 and a service work plan is then created and comprises the sum of all

of the work events 309.

The service management component treats service work plans created from a

trouble ticket or an accepted sales proposal in the same manner. As a result, the status

of new customer services is tracked and can be retrieved at any time. When a new

service is functioning properly, a "complete order" notification 314 is automatically

transmitted to the ICP's billing system 60 and charges for the service to the customer

is initiated. Customers often inquire as to interpretation of bills they receive from the ICP. The service management component allows ICP personnel to make a bill inquiry 312

to access customer information and recent customer billing at 313. Such bills are stored by customer account number for rapid retrieval.

Figure 4 illustrates the Circuit Management component 40 of the invention.

This component maintains an inventory of ICP owned circuits (on-net asset) and the

customer to which any circuit is assigned. A data line request (DLR) 409 is received

either from a trading partner 4 or from the design management component 50. For

example, during creation of a sales proposal, the design management component may

request a particular on-net circuit. This request is relayed to the circuit management

component for processing.

The DLR is processed by determining if the request conforms to ICP product

offerings at 403. It is then reviewed to determine if an on-net asset is available to

satisfy the request by creating the required circuit state at 402. If the on-net circuit is

available, it is placed on reserve in a hierarchal list 408. The purpose of the list is to

reserve circuits based upon criteria such as quality of service requested, availability of

alternates, and source of the request. When two or more individual circuits are to be

combined the design of the combined circuit is confirmed for compatibility. When a

requested circuit or circuit design cannot be satisfied, an error notification 404 is

generated and transmitted to the service management component 30 or to the trading

partner 4 via the gateway 2, when the trading partner originated the DLR. A

separately generated notification message 410 is used for matching trading partner

formats.

The circuit management component also comprises a circuit testing means.

This testing means can place any selected circuit into a desired state at 402 and the resultant data flow through the circuit tested. Testing can be done on an automatic

basis with results reported as a trouble record 407 and transmitted to the service

management component 30.

For new or revised customer services, a cutover request is generated at 407 and

placed into the circuit hierarchal list 408. This cutover request manages both

additions and deletions to circuit assignments.

An alternate source of cutover request can occur subsequent to service

interruption or trouble ticket creation 406 by the service management component 30.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the circuit management component may

place physical groupings of circuits into a "suspect" status when more than 1% error

rate from a member circuit is reported at 406. This may be initiated from the user

directly, or automatically from trouble history reports 405. The threshold error rate

may be set higher or lower depending upon the quality of service associated with that

circuit. For example, voice feature lines are able to accept a higher error rate as

compared to data transmittal features. Such errors can also be set to initiate the search

for alternate communication circuits via the link to the circuit creation sub-process

401.

Figure 5 illustrates the Design Management component 50 of the invention.

Design Management is used to design the optimum mix of on-net and off-net

components to satisfy a customer service requirement. Based upon criteria established

by the ICP, a design proposal is automatically formulated.

A request for a circuit design is originated from the service management

component 30, the pre-order component 20 or by an ICP employee's request 501 via

the processor 1. The request selects a model for the type of communications service

requested at 502. An ICP may offer a large number of services. Each of the service offerings is described in a service model that identifies in sub-model fashion 504, the

type of service, the interconnections required, distance charges, interface equipment

and software. The ICP employee is allowed to enter a request for a particular service

model 502 at 501 or a particular service sub-model 504 at 503. The sub-models are

compiled into the complete design at 515.

In order to create and maintain service model, the ICP employee can access a

service model management component 80. Figure 8 illustrates one embodiment of a

service model for an example product XYX at 800. The service model contains

agreements from service providers 801a through 801d associated with that product.

The product is further associated with a network model 810 comprising an equipment

model 811, a transport model 812, an access model 813 and a control model 814.

Based upon the service model 502 and sub-models 504 selected, the design

management system 50 preferably applies an optimizing algorithm 514, shown in

figure 5 that determines the origin of supply of the various sub-model components.

Optimizing criteria include cost factors, availability, quality of service requested,

on-net vs. off-net services, recurring vs. non-recurring services and trading partner

preferences. For example, one network may be optimized for quality of service,

another network optimized for lowest cost to the ICP and another network optimized

to meet trading partner sales quotas. As a result, the optimizing algorithm provides

the important link between ICP management objectives and resulting network design.

From the completed design at 515, the design management

sub-component automatically decomposes the sub-model components and identifies

domains for off-net components and on-net components at 505. For off-net

components the trading partner is determined at 506 and appropriate trading partner

codes are determined at 507. On-net component requests do not require these two intermediate steps. Next the interface and version are determined at 508 and service

request orders are generated at 509. In general service request orders include Access

Service Request 511, Local Service Request 512 and other service requests 510.

Service requests for on-net components are transferred to the circuit management

component 40 for processing. Off-net component requests are then forwarded to the

trading partner 4 for confirmation or reservation.

One type of service request 509 is the Network Address Assignment Request

(NAAR). A NAAR may require going out to an ILEC or trading partner to reserve

and port a particular phone number or Internet protocol addresses (IP address). The

system will create an OBF standard (ASR/LSR) request to be sent to the trading

partner to acquire the address. The trading partner will either accept the request or

issue a failure of confirmation (FOC) notification 542. Any FOCs received, are

transferred to the service management component 30 for resolution.

For clarity, figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 depict a single processor 1. However, a

typical ICP has numerous employees, each of which may require simultaneous use of

the invention. As a result, the invention is preferably used in a client-server

arrangement as illustrated in figure 6. A hosting processor 600 operates the

management components and attaches to a system 610 that provides for network

connectivity between users 601 through 604 and the hosting processor. Various forms

of network connectivity are possible including Internet, intranet (including local area

network), wireless, and wireless local loop.

When the hosting processor is used in an environment providing intranet or

Internet connectivity it is preferable that compatibility with common web-browsers be

incorporated. For example, if hypertext markup language (HTML) is used, the hosting processor can be compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer as well as

Netscape.

EXAMPLE

An example of using the invention during a sales proposal by an ICP is

illustrated in figure 7 and comprises the following:

1. A request from a sales representative or trading partner of the ICP is received. 2. Using the Pre-order management component 20, a request 201a for the potential customer's CSR is entered. The Pre-order management component sends a request through the gateway to the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) for the CSR. 3. The Pre-order management component, receives the CSR then parses it at 202 into recognizable codes and prepares as summary reports: CSR summary 203a, Account summary 203b, Broadband network summary 203c, consolidated reports 203d and cut-over report 203e. The consolidated reports feature combines the summaries from multiple customer locations. 4. The Design management component 50 is then used to analyze further the CSR summary and select communication service models that satisfy present customer communication services. The optimizing algorithm 514 available in the design management selects the preferred sub-model components from the ICP's on-net product catalog 207c and off-net trading partner product catalogs 207b. The resultant network design and prices are combined into an initial proposal at 207a. When multiple customer sites are involved, the invention preferably creates a consolidated summary of the individual proposals. 5. The sales representative then reviews the initial proposal and enters revisions or creates separate versions for comparison 207a. For example, alternate versions may be created using different technology choices such as frame relay or DSL. 6. The resultant versions of the sales proposal are then presented to the potential customer for acceptance 211a. If the proposal is not accepted, the sales representative can create additional versions of the proposal to present later. 7. Once the customer has accepted a sales proposal, the design management component prepares a cut-over report, confirms availability of sub-model components, issues appropriate orders for customer communication services and creates a workplan in the service management component 509. 8. The service management component 30 is utilized by the sales representative to track implementation progress and respond to failure of confirmations (FOC) from ICP trading partners. Alarms are preferably programmed to notify the sales representative when target completion dates are in jeopardy of being missed.

While the present invention has been described in the context of the preferred

embodiment thereof, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that other

modifications and variations can be made therein without departing from the spirit or

scope of the present invention. For example, a system limited to the modules and

functions identified in figure 7 is claimed as part of the invention. Accordingly, it is

not intended that the present invention be limited to the specifics of the foregoing

description of the preferred embodiment, but rather as being limited only by the scope

of the invention as defined in the claims appended hereto.

Claims

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A system for supporting the management of an integrated communications

provider (ICP), said system comprising:

a computer processor means for inputting and processing information necessary to

the management of an ICP;

wherein the computer processor further comprises a graphical user interface for

displaying information or data entry prompting requests to a human operator;

a pre-order management component comprising instructions for retrieving

customer service records from telecommunication service providers and

parsing said customer service records into reports containing equivalent ICP

services;

a gateway for transferring information to and receiving information from

telecommunication service providers;

a service management component comprising instructions for creating and

tracking work plans;

wherein said work plans comprise a work activity event for performing installation

or troubleshooting of each sub-model component of a telecommunications

service provided by the ICP to a customer;

a circuit management component comprising instructions for creating a hierarchal

list comprising ICP on-net circuit assignments and off-net circuit assignments;

wherein said circuit management component further comprises instructions for

creating a cutover work plan;

wherein said circuit management component further comprises an automatic

means of receiving requests from trading partners of the ICP; wherein said requests from trading partners are either rejected or inserted into said

hierarchal list;

a design management component comprising instructions for automatically

selecting a communications service model; decomposing said service model

into sub-model components and creating a communications design therefrom

and;

wherein said design management component further comprises instructions for

automatically issuing service requests to ICP trading partners.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the customer service records are retrieved using

electronic data exchange with said telecommunication service providers.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the gateway conforms to order and billing

forum requirements for electronic data exchange.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the gateway comprises instructions for

validation checking in conformance with local service ordering guidelines and

access service ordering guidelines established by telecommunication service

providers.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the design management component further

comprises an optimizing algorithm.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor comprises a hosting processor

means and a network connectivity means, said network connectivity means

further comprising connectivity to a network selected from the group of

networks including a local area network, the Internet, an intranet, a wireless

network, a wireless local loop network, or a network comprised of

combinations of local area networks, the Internet, intranets, wireless networks,

and wireless local loop networks.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the graphical user interface is displayed using

hypertext markup language.

8. A system for managing sales proposals of an integrated communications

provider (ICP), said system comprising:

the management of an ICP;

a gateway for transferring information to and receiving information from

telecommunication service providers;

a pre-order management component comprising instructions for retrieving

customer service records from telecommunication service providers and

parsing said customer service records into reports containing equivalent ICP

services;

a design management component comprising instructions for selecting a

communications service model; decomposing said service model into

sub-model components and creating a communication services sales proposal

therefrom;

wherein subsequent versions of said sales proposal are automatically created

subsequent to a request from a human operator for alternate communication

service models;

wherein said design management component further comprises instructions for

issuing service requests to ICP trading partners;

wherein such requests to ICP trading partners comprise requests for local service

request, assignment of telephone number request, assignment of Internet

protocol address, and requests for data broadband services; wherein said design management component further comprises instructions for

creating cutover reports subsequent to acceptance of a sales proposal by a

customer;

a service management component comprising instructions for creating and

tracking work plans;

or troubleshooting of each sub-model component of a telecommunications

service provided by the ICP to a customer and;

list of ICP on-net circuit assignments.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the customer service records are retrieved using

electronic data exchange with said telecommunication service providers.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the gateway conforms to order and billing

forum requirements for electronic data exchange.

1 1. The system of claim 8 wherein the gateway comprises instructions for

validation checking in conformance with local service ordering guidelines and

access service ordering guidelines established by telecommunication service

providers.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the design management component further

comprises an optimizing algorithm.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the processor comprises a hosting processor

means and a network connectivity means, said network connectivity means

further comprising connectivity to a network selected from the group of

networks including a local area network, the Internet, an intranet, a wireless

network, a wireless local loop network, or a network comprised of combinations of local area networks, the Internet, intranets, wireless networks, and wireless local loop networks.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the graphical user interface is displayed using hypertext markup language.

15. A system for managing sales proposals of an integrated communications

provider (ICP), comprising:

the management of an ICP;

a gateway for transferring information to and receiving information from

telecommunication service providers; a pre-order management component comprising instructions for retrieving customer service records from telecommunication service providers and

parsing said customer service records into reports containing equivalent ICP

services;

a design management component comprising instructions for selecting a

communications service model; decomposing said service model into

sub-model components and creating a communication services sales proposal

therefrom; wherein subsequent versions of said sales proposal are automatically created subsequent to a request from a human operator for alternate communication

service models.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the design management component further

comprises instructions for compiling sales proposals from multiple customer

locations into a single consolidated sales proposal.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the created sales proposals comprise a comparison between existing communication services and ICP provided

services.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the customer service records are retrieved using electronic data exchange with said telecommunication service providers.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the gateway conforms to order and billing

forum requirements for electronic data exchange.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the gateway comprises instructions for

validation checking in conformance with local service ordering guidelines and

access service ordering guidelines established by telecommunication service

providers.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the design management component further

comprises an optimizing algorithm.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the processor comprises a hosting processor means and a network connectivity means, said network connectivity means

further comprising connectivity to a network selected from the group of

networks including a local area network, the Internet, an intranet, a wireless

network, a wireless local loop network, or a network comprised of

and wireless local loop networks.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the graphical user interface is displayed using

hypertext markup language.