JPH07115477A - Service order operation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten a time from the reception of an order to the start of service by coupling plural electronic computer system which perform the stock control of resources hierarchically, arranging a resource stock managing means and a stock information data base at every system, and providing a simulation means at the resource stock managing means. CONSTITUTION:When an order for a communication service item arrives. a customer operation means 11 in a front-end system 1 specifies the characteristic of the communication service item, and informs it to a communication service item stock managing system 2. The system 2 retrieves a communication service item stock information DB, and informs the presence of adaptive stock to the system 1 when it exists. When a contract with a customer is set, the activation of the system 2 is instructed. In this way, the system 2 performs the activation by activating subscriber network/node facility/subscriber line facility operation systems 3, 4, and 5, and performs every kind of setting for required facility, and updates the DB by calculating the increment/decrement of the stock.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to the establishment of a new communication service,
The present invention relates to a service order operation system for receiving orders for transfer, change, removal, etc., contracts, construction, testing, and delivering services to customers, and particularly to the configuration of the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Service order operation in the field of telecommunications is the ordering, contracting, construction of telecommunications equipment, such as new establishment, transfer, change and removal of telecommunications services.
It is a business that carries out testing and delivery of communication services to customers. The first characteristic of the service order operation business in such a communication service is that the variety of resources, for example, the types of devices, tracks, parts, etc. used in the communication service are diverse, so inventory is grasped and order contents are The point is that it is difficult to provide tailored services. Specifically, a device forming a communication service,
There are many types of resources that form communication services such as physical parts such as lines and logical parts such as telephone numbers, service logics, memory spaces, and logical channels. Moreover, one telecommunication service item is realized as a combination of these various resources. Therefore, when providing communication service items, it is necessary to grasp the inventory of many and various resources prior to that, select communication resources according to the order contents from customers or other departments, and make adjustments. In order to do so, you must always continue to study resources professionally. The second characteristic of the service order operation business in the communication service is that the resources forming the communication service have a hierarchical structure. For example, "telephone service", which is a typical communication service item, is composed of resources such as a telephone service office and a subscriber network whose end points are subscriber networks, telephone numbers, and node terminals. In addition, the subscriber network is a wiring board,
It consists of subscriber line equipment consisting of cable core wires, telephone poles, connection terminal boxes, etc., a subscriber transmission network, and a line termination device. Further, the subscriber transmission network is composed of transmission wireless devices and transmission media (optical fiber, coaxial cable, antenna, radio wave of assigned frequency) and the like at both ends.

A third characteristic of the service order operation business in the communication service is that reservation is permitted, so that it may take a long time from when an order is received to when the service is actually provided. As described above, among the first to third characteristics, with respect to the diversity of the first resource and the second hierarchy, the characteristic points have been further strengthened due to the recent sophistication of services and technological progress. . An electronic computer system for supporting service order operation work is called a service order operation system, but in the conventional operation system,
The database of subscriber line facilities, node facilities, etc. and the reception work, equipment allocation work, and equipment construction work in the service order were managed by separate systems.
That is, the database of subscriber line equipment, node equipment, etc. is deployed and managed in the operation system corresponding to each equipment, while the system that supports acceptance work, equipment allocation work, and equipment construction work in service orders (this The front-end system) retains a copy of these equipment databases, and the allocation device in the front-end system uses this copy information to allocate the equipment to the service order. Note that as a conventional document relating to the service order operation system, for example, NTT BUSINESS '93. May issue, p. 24-27 "Creation of total system, CUST
Background of OM introduction and business characteristics ”.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration and function sharing of a conventional front end system, subscriber line operation system, and node equipment operation system. A subscriber line facility operation system 9 and a node facility operation system 10 are connected under the front end system 8, and a node facility 13 is provided under the subscriber line facility operation system 9.
Further, subscriber line facilities 12 are connected under the node facility operation system 10, respectively. First,
The front-end system 8 obtains a copy of a necessary part from the equipment databases 91 and 101 of the operation systems 9 and 10 of the subscriber line / node equipment at regular intervals and stores the copies in the databases 83 and 84. (Arrows [1], [2]). Next, when an order for a communication service item occurs, the front end system 8
Accepting means 81 identifies the characteristics of the communication service item,
This is given to the communication service item allocating means 82 (arrow [3]). The characteristics specified by the reception means 81 include communication service item types such as telephone, ISDN, and leased line, line end point address, line speed, presence / absence / type of additional service,
There is a required period. The communication service item allocation means 82 is
Determine the conditions of subscriber line equipment and node equipment that match the characteristics of the instructed communication service item, and [1] in advance.
The database copies 83 and 84 of the respective resources acquired via [2] are searched to select the resources that meet the conditions. After that, work is carried out to provide the selected resources to the service. The communication service item allocating means 82 instructs the operation systems 9 and 10 to execute the construction (arrows [4] and [5]). The subscriber line facility operation system 9 and the node facility operation system 10 are provided with respective management means 92, 10.
Among the facilities managed by 2, the designated facility construction is performed, and the communication service item is completed when the construction is completed (arrows [6], [7]). The front-end system 8 reports information about the used subscriber line equipment and node equipment to the subscriber line equipment operation system 9 and the node equipment operation system 10 at an appropriate period (arrow [8],

[9]). In the subscriber line facility operation system 9 and the node facility operation system 10, the facility databases 91 and 101 are updated according to this information (arrows [10], [1
1]).

[0005]

In the service order operation business of the conventional communication service having such characteristics, there are the following problems. (A) Since the design of the subscriber line is started after receiving the order, it takes a long time from receiving the order to delivering the communication service item. Moreover, it was not possible to give an immediate answer as to whether or not the service could be provided at the date and time required by the customer. (B) Even if the subscriber line facility or node facility registered as a usable resource is unavailable due to a failure or the like after being registered, the front end system 8 does not know this fact. The allocating means 82 may allocate an unusable resource. This makes it impossible to deliver normal communication service items to the caller on the scheduled opening date. As a result, the customer's trust may be lost, and in that case, allocation and service order construction must be redone. (C) Since the equipment information of the subscriber line and node equipment and the corresponding inventory information are managed by different systems, it is difficult to maintain the consistency of the equipment status information between the systems. As a result, an error (double allocation) that allocates the same resource to different orders may be induced, and allocation and service order work may be redone, or responsiveness to customer orders may be impaired. . (D) Every time a new facility to which a new technology is applied to the subscriber line facility or the node facility is introduced, it is necessary to add the allocation logic for the new facility and the facility database to the existing front-end system side. As a result, the frequency of changes to the software on the running front-end system is increased,
The cost for maintaining the system increases significantly. In particular,
Since subscriber line facilities are in the direction of complexity, such as the use of optical media, service sharing, and coexistence with existing metallic media, it becomes extremely complicated and troublesome when assigning allocation logic and facility database. Becomes

(E) In the conventional basic services such as telephone calls, service order processing was possible if there were resources of the terminals of the exchange and the core wire of the subscriber line. However, in the future, as it will be expanded to advanced telephone services,
It is considered that the resources to be managed extend to a large number of facilities in the network, and the types are significantly increased from physical resources such as intelligent trunks to logical resources such as memory, files and message boxes. As a result, the service order operation work is also complicated and sophisticated. (F) When allocating equipment to an order, since the absolute address of the equipment is specified and allocated, if an order takes a long time from ordering to opening, that equipment will be provided to the service during the opening. Without doing so, it results in an increase in non-profitable inventory equipment, as it is suspended from being available to other customers and other services. In addition, when the order contents such as the number of lines are changed from the time of receiving an order to the opening of the line, it is necessary to reallocate the absolute address of the equipment each time, so that the processing amount of the system increases. The object of the present invention is to solve these conventional problems, to shorten the time from the ordering of a service to the opening of a service, to prevent the unusable resource from being erroneously allocated, and to update the inventory information quickly. I,
Furthermore, it is necessary to provide a service order operation system capable of improving the serviceability to customers, since the change of the front end system in operation may be relatively minor.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, when a service order operation system of the present invention receives an application for a service using telecommunications equipment, it determines the state of the telecommunications equipment according to the service specifications. In a computer system that supports service order operation services that are changed and have the required service specifications and are provided to customers as communication service items, communication service items and their parts such as node equipment, subscriber line equipment, and other logical and physical The computer systems for allocating and managing resources are hierarchically connected to each other, and each connected system manages resource request means (141 in FIG. 3) for requesting resources, communication service items, and the stock quantity of resources. Resource inventory management means (151),
And a database that stores resource inventory information (1
52), and the resource inventory management means (151) is provided with a simulation means (1512) for calculating the required resource type and quantity from the communication service item requested by the customer or the attribute value of the resource. Inventory information of communication service items or resources composed of a combination of resources is accumulated in one database, and the service is provided from the information of the database (152) storing the result calculated by the simulation means (1512) and the inventory information. Whether or not the service is possible, the number of resources is subtracted when the service is possible, and an instruction to associate the number of resources with the physical equipment is sent to a lower database.

[0008]

In the present invention, a plurality of computer systems for managing the inventory of resources are hierarchically connected, and the resource requesting means, the resource inventory managing means, and the resource inventory information database are arranged in each hierarchical system.
Since the allocation and design of each resource can be designed in advance according to the service type, the result is reported to the front-end system, and the service allocation means selects the resource that matches the conditions from the reported, It is only necessary to instruct the lower system to activate. As a result, the time from the ordering of the service to the opening of the service can be shortened. Further, even if a resource that is a lower system fails, these unusable resources are hidden in the front-end system, so that the unusable resources are not allocated to the service. Further, since the resource inventory information of each layer is held in each system, the inventory information is updated quickly and accurately, and as a result, the service to the customer is improved. Further, even if a new technology is introduced into the system, since the new allocation logic and equipment database are installed in the lower system, it is not necessary to change the existing front end system. Further, the resources and resource allocation means in each hierarchy can be shared for the fault management work and the service order work, so that the cost can be reduced in the equipment design. Further, since the inventory management of communication service items and upper resources is performed by the corresponding operation system, the front-end system can be specialized in the function of receiving and order management only, and the configuration can be simplified. .

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a service order operation system showing an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1
1, 1 is a front-end system, 2 is a communication service item inventory management system, 3 is a subscriber network operation system, 4 is a node equipment operation system,
Reference numeral 5 is a subscriber line facility operation system, 6 is a node facility, and 7 is a subscriber line facility. The subscriber network operation system 3 includes a node equipment operation system 4 and a subscriber line equipment operation system 5.
Similarly to, the inventory management means 31 and the inventory information database 32 are connected to the lower level. As is apparent from this, in this embodiment, in order to hide the complicated internal structure of the subscriber line equipment configured as a pipe (subscriber network) for delivering the service to the customer's house, a new subscriber network operation system 3 is provided. Is provided. Besides, in the present embodiment, it can be realized as light, metallic, wireless, or a combination thereof. The subscriber network operation system 3 is a front-end system based on the inventory information of the lower resources acquired by connecting to the inventory management means 31 of the lower resources such as the main distribution board, the line equipment, the line termination device, and the transmission line. 1 is provided with a pipe for delivering a service from a specific exchange to a specific terminal installation location, that is, inventory management means 31 of a "subscriber network" which is a virtual logical resource. As a result, the front-end system 1 can be configured as a system separated from the equipment configuration, that is, a system specialized in functions such as reception and order management. Inventory management means 31, 41 for the subscriber network and node equipment are provided in the respective operation systems 3, 4. In addition, the inventory management means 31, 41 of the subscriber network and node equipment refers to the equipment information of the subscriber network / node equipment itself to provide an inventory of resources that can be provided as parts constituting communication service items. Created and updated in real time according to the condition of the equipment. Therefore, internal consistency is maintained between each piece of equipment information and resource inventory information. In this embodiment, the systems are hierarchically structured, and an inventory management interface exists between the systems (see * mark). Further, the subscriber network operation system 3 and the plurality of subscriber line facility operation systems 5 are connected in parallel (see # mark).

Next, the operation of the service order operation system in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
Each of the "order receiving" and "activation" operations is activated each time an order for a communication service item is issued. As in the conventional case, the communication service item inventory information is previously fetched from the inventory information databases 32 and 42 of the subscriber network operation system 3 and the node equipment operation system 4 and stored in the communication service item inventory information database 22. deep. (Order) First, when an order for a communication service item arrives (arrow [1]), the customer operation means 11 in the front-end system 1 determines the characteristics of the communication service item (position of line end point, line speed, presence / absence of additional service). /
(Type, required time, etc.), and notifies the communication service item inventory management system 2 (arrow [2]). The communication service item inventory management system 2 searches for “communication service item inventory information” acquired in advance in order to know whether there is a communication service item inventory that matches the characteristics of the instructed communication service item (arrow [[ 3]). If there is a communication service item inventory that matches the customer's request as a result of the search, the communication service item inventory management system 2 notifies the front end system 1 of that (arrow [4]). When the operator receives the notification that there is stock, the operator informs the customer that the desired service can be provided (arrow [5]). When the contract with the customer is established for the service, the operator instructs the communication service item inventory management system 2 to activate the communication service item (arrow [6]). Intercommunication with the customer ends at this point.

(Activation) The front end system 1 is
After reporting to the operator that the communication service item can be provided to the customer, the operator instructs the communication service item inventory management system 2 to activate the communication service item. The communication service item inventory management system 2 instructs the subscriber network operation system 3 and the node equipment operation system 4 to activate the resources constituting the communication service item (arrows [7], [8]). The subscriber network operation system 3 instructs the subscriber line equipment operation system 5 to activate the subscriber line equipment constituting the subscriber network (arrow).

[9]). Node equipment operation system 4 and subscriber line equipment operation system 5
When the activation of the resource is instructed, each performs various settings on the equipment side necessary for activating the resource (arrows [10], [11], [12], [13],
[14]). The operation systems 3, 4 and 5 for managing the stock of resources are the operation systems 2 and 4 for managing the stock of higher-level resources or communication service items when the quantity of stock resources changes due to the activation of the resources.
3 is notified (arrows [15], [1
6], [17], [18]). The communication service item inventory management system 2 calculates an increase / decrease in the inventory of communication service items caused by a change in the number of lower resources that can be held, and updates the communication service item inventory information database (arrow [19]). .

Next, "communication service item inventory generation" and "communication service item inventory management" will be described. The "communication service item inventory generation" and "communication service item inventory management" operations are operations that are always performed in the background in preparation for both the on-demand ordering and activation operations. (Communication Service Item Inventory Generation) The communication service item inventory management means 21 of the communication service item inventory management system 2
The demand of communication service items is predicted to estimate the quantity and required time of communication service items for each communication service item type (arrow [20]). The communication service item inventory management system 2 refers to "communication service item inventory information" in the internal communication service item inventory information database 22 for the excess or deficiency of the communication service item inventory amount necessary to satisfy the demand forecast result. Determined by When there is an excess or deficiency in the inventory of communication service items, the inventory amount of each resource is managed in order to adjust the inventory of the resources (subscriber network, subscriber line equipment, node equipment, etc.) that make up the communication service item. The operation system, here, the subscriber line equipment operation system 5 and the node equipment operation system 4 are instructed to increase or decrease the resource inventory amount to be held (arrows [21], [2]
2], [23]). The system for managing the inventory of resources, that is, the communication service item inventory management system 2 and the subscriber network operation system 3 is different from the system for managing the inventory of lower resources, that is, the subscriber line facility operation system 5 and the node facility operation system 4. Indicating the amount of inventory to be held (arrows [24], [25]). The lowest resource, that is, the system that manages the inventory of facilities, that is, the subscriber line facility operation system 5 and the node facility operation system 4, detects that there is an excess or deficiency in the amount of the lowest resource, that is, the amount of the facility itself. Then, the operator who performs the equipment maintenance is requested to increase or decrease the equipment (arrow [2
6], [27]).

(Communication service item inventory management) The operation system for managing the inventory of resources, that is, the subscriber line equipment operation system 5 and the node equipment operation system 4 can be held due to equipment increase / decrease, resource failure, etc. If the quantity of the appropriate resource changes (arrows [28] and [29]), the operation system for managing the inventory of the higher-level resource or the communication service item, that is, the subscriber network operation system 3 and the communication service item inventory management system 2 is notified to that effect. Is notified (arrows [30], [31], [32], [33]). When the communication service item inventory management system 2 receives the notification of the change in the number of lower resources, the communication service item inventory management system 2 calculates the increase or decrease in the inventory of the communication service items caused by the change in the number of the lower resources, and updates the communication service item inventory information. (Arrow [34]). As a result, the inventory quantity held by the communication service item inventory management system can always be kept in the actual state of the equipment, and the quantity can be accurately reflected.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the inventory management interface and related means in the present invention. The inventory management interface is an interface between the computer system of the system (A) 14 on the manager side and the system (B) 15 on the agent side. In this case, the system (B (1)) 15 is used as an electronic computer system on the agent side, that is, on the side that manages inventory of communication service items and resources and performs payout processing for systems that require the communication service items and resources. ~ System (B
(N)) is installed, these systems are on the manager side,
In other words, the computer system (A) that requests payment of communication service items or resources and receives the payment.
Fourteen resource requesting means 141 are connected in parallel. When new communication service items, subscriber line equipment, node equipment, etc. enter this system, they shall follow the inventory management interface. As shown in FIG. 3, the manager side has a resource requesting means 141, and the agent side has a resource inventory managing means 151. The agent-side system (B) 15 has a resource inventory management means 15
1 and a resource inventory information database 152 are included. Further, the resource inventory management means 151 includes a resource payout management means 1511, a resource inventory simulation means 1512, a resource status management means 1513, and a database management means 1514.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system according to the present invention, and is a connection diagram when a system having an inventory management interface is hierarchically configured. The present embodiment is characterized by a hierarchical system as shown in FIG. Accordingly, even for resources having a complicated structure, inventory management through hierarchical logical resources can realize inventory management that is organized and easy to understand. The system (A) 14 of FIG. 4 is the front-end system 1 of FIG. 1, the system (B) 15 of FIG. 4 is the communication service item inventory management system 2 of FIG. 1, and the system (C2) 17 of FIG. 1 to the node equipment operation system 4, the system (C1) 16 of FIG. 4 to the subscriber network operation system 3 of FIG. 1, and the system (Dn) 18 of FIG. 4 to the subscriber line equipment operation system 5 of FIG. It corresponds. There is an inventory management interface between each system (see *), agent side means is built in the lower hierarchy, and manager side means is built in the upper hierarchy. System (C1) 16
And the plurality of systems (D1 to n) are connected in parallel. In the system (C2) 17 and the systems (D1 to n) that connect or incorporate real resources, maintenance personnel are requested to add or remove real resources (see * marks).

FIG. 5 is a format diagram showing a structural example of the resource inventory information database built in the agent side system, and FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart of the service order operation system of the present invention. The resource inventory information database includes a resource payout management table 1521 as shown in Table 1 of FIG. 5 and a resource quantity-based inventory quantity management table 152 as shown in Table 2.
2 and, as shown in Table 3, the inventory management table 1523 for lower resources. The resource payout management table 1521 has columns of payout number, resource type, and status (reservation, blocking, in use, under construction), and the resource quantity-based inventory quantity management table 1522 includes resource type, payout number, and characteristics 1 to 1. It has columns of characteristic n, inventory quantity, and insufficient resource, and the inventory management table 1523 of lower resources has columns of resource type, lower resource type, inventory quantity, and lower resource agent name. As shown in FIG. 3, the resource inventory information database 152 in the agent side system in the inventory management interface
Provides the resource inventory management means 151 with resource inventory information. The resource inventory management unit 151 acquires from the resource inventory information database 152 the information on the inventory quantity and structure of the lower resources acquired by the resource status management unit 1513. Then, based on the acquired information, the resource inventory simulation means 1512 performs an allocation simulation of the lower resources corresponding to the characteristics of the resources expected to be requested, and calculates the inventory quantity (step 104 in FIG. 6). The calculation result is stored in the resource information database 152 through the database management means 1514. Further, the resource inventory simulation means 1512 subtracts from the resource characteristic-based inventory quantity management table 1522 when a resource becomes unusable due to a failure of a lower resource or the like, and adds it when it becomes available. Resource inventory management means 151
By this operation, manages the number of resources that currently meet the specific conditions.

Resource payout management means 15 shown in FIG.
11 refers to the inventory management table 1522 for each resource characteristic of the resource inventory information database 152 through the database management means 1514 and selects the resource having the characteristic that matches the payout request (steps 105, 10).
6) The payout number is added and recorded in the resource payout management table 1521 (step 109), the payout number is notified to the manager side (step 110), and the number of reserved resources is managed by the resource characteristic inventory management table 152.
Subtract from the stock in 2. Further, when the resource activation instruction is received from the manager side (step 111), the resource status management means 1513 updates the resource payout management table 1521 in the resource inventory information to bring it into the “in use” status, By referring to the inventory number management table 1523, the lower resource agent is instructed to activate the lower resource (step 11).
2). The activation of the lower resources is completed (step 11
3) When the provision becomes possible, the fact is reported to the request source (step 114). The resource stock simulation means 1512 recalculates the stock status of the already paid out resources according to the notification from the resource status management means 1513. As a result, when the already-delivered delivery is not established, the resource inventory delivery means 1511 reports the fact to the resource requesting source (step 10).
6). The database management means 1514 manages updating, addition, and deletion of the contents of the resource inventory information database 152.

The upper resource inventory management means 151 performs demand forecasting of the upper resources and inventory remaining quantity management. When the inventory shortage / excess is detected with respect to the predicted demand, the resource requesting means 141 causes the inventory management means 15 of the lower resources.
It automatically requests the addition / removal of the higher-level resource to 1 (step 107). Then, that effect is answered to the request source (step 108). When the lower resource stock management means 151 receives a lower resource allocation request from the upper resource request means 141, the lower resource stock management means 151 calculates the amount of resources required to satisfy the request, and the resource stock simulation means 1512 calculates the insufficient resources. Judge,
The resource requesting unit 141 makes an allocation request to the resource inventory managing unit 151, which is a lower layer. When the resource is equipment level (communication equipment, track equipment, etc.), the allocation request is output as increase / decrease requirement information that should be reflected in the next construction work plan to the construction department in charge of each equipment. To be done.

7 to 11 are sequence charts of detailed operations of order receiving, activation, product inventory generation, and product inventory management in the present invention. The numbers in brackets [] correspond to the numbers in brackets [] attached to the arrows in FIG. 1. (Ordering Sequence) See FIG. 7. First, when a customer orders a product, the operator orders the product from the front end system [1]. The front-end system, which has received the product order, refers to the product inventory management system for the product inventory [2], and the management system retrieves the product from the product inventory information database [3]. Notifying the front end of the result of inventory inquiry [4], displaying the inventory result [5],
The operator gives a contract instruction. The front end system issues an activation instruction to the product inventory management system [6].

(Activation Sequence) See FIG. 8 and FIG. 9. When the commodity inventory management system issues a resource activation instruction to the subscriber network operation system and the node equipment operation system [7] [8], each system , Access the management information database and perform activation registration [10] [12]. As a result, the node equipment operating system deactivates the node equipment [14]. Furthermore, by issuing an instruction to activate the subscriber line equipment from the subscriber network operation system to the subscriber line equipment operation system.

[9] The subscriber line facility operation system also accesses the inventory management information database and performs activation registration [11]. Furthermore, the facility activation for the subscriber line facility is performed from the subscriber line facility operation system [1
3]. When the subscriber line facility operation system notifies the subscriber network operation system of the inventory quantity change [15], the subscriber network operation system further notifies the commodity inventory management system of the resource quantity change. [18]. On the other hand, the node equipment operation system also notifies the product inventory management system of a resource quantity change [17]. As a result, the product inventory management system changes the number of stocks in the product inventory information database [19].

(Merchandise Inventory Generation Sequence) See FIG. 10. First, the merchandise inventory management system predicts the demand of communication service items [20] and searches the merchandise inventory information database to check the inventory quantity [21]. Then, the excess or deficiency of the communication service item inventory amount required to satisfy the demand forecast result is determined, and an inventory increase / decrease instruction is given to the subscriber network operation system and the node facility operation system [22] [23]. Next, the commodity inventory management system instructs the node equipment operation system to store the inventory quantity [25], and the node equipment operation system requests the operator to increase or decrease the equipment [27]. On the other hand, the subscriber network operation system also requests the operator to increase or decrease the equipment by instructing the subscriber line equipment operation system as to the inventory amount to be held [24]. [26].

(Merchandise Inventory Management Sequence) See FIG. 11. When the subscriber line facility operation system and the node facility operation system that manage the resource inventory detect equipment increase / decrease / equipment failure, respectively, the database is accessed and the inventory quantity is obtained. Change [28]
[29], [30] [32] [33] is notified of the change in the resource quantity to the subscriber network operation system and the product inventory management system that perform inventory management. The subscriber network operation system and the product inventory management system each access the database to change the stock quantity [31] [34].

Thus, in this embodiment,
In the operation system that manages the resources of each layer, the allocation and design of each resource is designed in advance according to the service type, and the result is reported to the front-end system. Since resources that match the conditions are selected from the list, it is possible to perform the work for providing the resources to the service simply by instructing the activation, and therefore it is possible to shorten the time from the ordering of the service to the opening of the service. it can. Also, because the resource allocation means for each tier is located in each operating system, if the resources in each tier become unavailable due to a failure, etc., each operating system will be affected by the equipment that has failed. Hide resources that are no longer available to the front-end system. As a result, processing such as allocating unusable resources to services is eliminated, and rework for construction is reduced, so that services to customers are improved. Further, the inventory information of the resources of each tier is held in a closed state in the corresponding operating system, so that the inventory information can be updated quickly and accurately. As a result, the rework of construction work is reduced and the service to customers is improved. Since the resource allocation means for each layer is allocated to the corresponding operating system and not to the front-end system, even if the telecommunications equipment introduces new technology, the allocation logic for the new equipment and the equipment database will not exist. It is not necessary to place it on the front end system side. As a result, even when new technology is introduced, there is almost no change in the front-end system in operation, and only minor changes are made.

As a trigger for requesting allocation of resources in each layer, there is a fault management business in addition to the service order business. Also for the failure management work, a function of allocating an alternative resource of the failed resource can be arranged from the operation system managing the resources of each layer to the failure management operation system. In this case, since the allocation means of each resource can be shared with the service order system, the advantages described in (1) to (4) can be applied to the fault management work in exactly the same way.
Further, since the service order operation system of the present embodiment is configured as a distributed computer system with functions and targets combined by a simple inventory management interface,
Development and maintenance costs can be reduced, and independent development of individual computer systems can be promoted. Further, the excess and deficiency of communication service items and resources are immediately and automatically mapped to the excess and deficiency of lower resources, so that construction investment in telecommunications equipment can be made in a timely and appropriate manner. Furthermore, since the resources are composed of a plurality of layers, inventory management of communication service items and upper resources is realized by the corresponding operating system. As a result, the front-end system can be separated from the equipment configuration, and can be specialized in operations such as acceptance and order management.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention,
You can reduce the time from ordering to opening a service, avoid allocating unusable resources by mistake, update inventory information quickly, and make relatively few changes to your front-end system during operation. It is very small and can improve the serviceability to customers.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a service order operation system showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a conventional service order operation system.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an inventory management interface according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a stock management interface having a hierarchical structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a table format diagram of a resource inventory information database used by the inventory management means of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart on an inventory management interface showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a chart of an order receiving sequence among the operations on the inventory management interface according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is likewise part of a chart of an activation sequence.

FIG. 9 is also another part of the chart of the activation sequence.

FIG. 10 is likewise a chart of a product inventory generation sequence.

FIG. 11 is likewise a chart of a product inventory management sequence.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 front-end system 2 communication service item inventory management system 3 subscriber network operation system 4 node equipment operation system 5 subscriber line equipment operation system 6 node equipment 7 subscriber line equipment 11 customer operation means 21 communication service item inventory management means 22 communication Service item inventory information database 31 Subscriber network inventory management means 32 Subscriber network inventory information database 41 Node equipment inventory management means 42 Node equipment inventory management information database 51 Subscriber line equipment management means 52 Subscriber line equipment inventory information database 61 Node means 71 Subscriber Line Means 14 System A (Manager Side) 15 System B (Agent Side) 141 Resource Request Means 151 Resource Inventory Management Means 1511 Resource Disbursement Management means 1512 Resource inventory simulation means 1513 Resource state management means 1514 Database management means 152 Resource inventory information database 16 Agent side system C1 17 Agent side system C2 18 Agent side system Dn 19 Actual resource 1521 Resource payout management table 1522 Number of stocks by resource characteristic Management table 1523 Inventory management table for lower level resources 142, 155, 163 Manager side means 153, 161, 171, 181 Agent side means 154, 162 Logical resource 182, 19 Actual resource

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Shunji Sakurada 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A service order for receiving a request for a service using telecommunications equipment, changing the state of the telecommunications equipment according to the specifications of the service, and providing the required service specifications to the customer as a communication service item. In a computer system that supports operations, the computer systems that allocate and manage communication service items and their components, node equipment, subscriber line equipment, and other logical and physical resources are hierarchically linked together,
In each coupled system, a resource requesting means for requesting resources, a resource inventory managing means for managing the inventory quantity of communication service items and resources, and a database for storing resource inventory information are arranged, and the resource inventory managing means is provided. Is equipped with a simulation means for calculating the required resource type and quantity from the attribute value of the communication service item or resource requested by the customer, and the inventory information of the communication service item or resource composed of a combination of a plurality of resources is provided. The availability of service is determined from the result of calculation by the simulation means and the information of the database storing the inventory information, which is accumulated in one database, and when the service is available, the resource number is subtracted and Instruct the lower-level database to associate the number with the physical equipment. Service Order operation system, characterized in that sending the scan.