PDF of this tutorialTo meet these challenges, members of the DSL supply chain must integrate and automate their processes for service and network assurance. Flow-through process automation and tight system interconnectivity at both physical and management tiers are the best solutions to shorten time to market for DSL services, improve focus on customer service, and lower costs of operations.
The integration and automation of service assurance processes play a critical role in strengthening the DSL supply chain. Linking and streamlining functions such as loop qualification, service maintenance during outages, and testing service activation to ensure correct implementation provides the ability to detect and isolate faults and then correlate them to affected services for rapid and efficient repair.
Furthermore, service assurance includes the proactive management of DSL services and networks. With DSL networks oversubscribed by design, providers must identify quickly overloaded networks. By collecting and analyzing network traffic data, carriers gain the ability to predict failures and prevent widespread service degradations. Performance management data can also help service providers plan, budget, and engineer network buildout to accommodate a fast-growing customer base.
For the end-to-end flexibility to offer new services based on innovative technologies, all members of the DSL supply chain need open, automated access to integrated processes and the information they contain. By availing processes across the supply chain, LECs, NAPs, and NSPs can do the following:
- Speed the order activation process
- Troubleshoot problems more rapidly
- Communicate the status of orders, trouble tickets, and repairs to each other and end users
- Resolve or avoid billing disputes
- Offer fair and economic interconnection agreements
To achieve these benefits, it is important first to understand each carrier’s role and its specific assurance needs.
