A product solution is an approach through which a service provider purchases, installs, and operates a software system to support WNP. Product solutions are well suited to large wireless carriers who handle significant volumes of porting transactions. In addition, large carriers already have the necessary baseline resources and infrastructures in place and merely need to extend them to support WNP.

Meeting the 2½-hour porting window requires a solution that automates WNP business flows to the fullest extent possible. Integrating order-management and porting functions provides flow-through automation for porting subscriber numbers in and out of wireless carrier networks. Such an approach enables wireless service providers to capitalize on WNP, because rapid porting provides a positive customer experience while streamlining porting costs.

A product solution needs to support inter-carrier communications for wireless-to-wireless porting as well as wireline-to-wireless porting and to be able to manage multiple types of inquiries and service requests. Thus, a good product solution should limit the need for manual intervention to exception handling only to shorten the porting window. It should have an external interface to accommodate multiple methods of entry and make them available to all trading partners without regard to their trading volumes, levels of investment, or resource commitments to enable effective trading-partner communications. Protocols and formats such as common object request broker architecture (CORBA)/extensible markup language (XML)/interface definition language (IDL), FTP, e-mail, fax, and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) are widely used in the industry and need to be supported. Validating business rules and performing security management and error logging are essential for ensuring reliable, error-free communications among trading partners.

SOA capabilities also form a vital part of the product solution by managing the porting activity between a wireless provider and the NPACs. The ability to monitor notifications and errors and to track the associated events that require manual intervention—i.e., exception processing—is essential for efficient operations. Notification of an exception event permits wireless-provider agents to access the appropriate workflow to edit and resubmit port requests where applicable. Flexible notification configuration and management allow notifications from the NPAC to flow back to the appropriate wireless provider OSS as determined by the wireless-provider administrator. This can include selecting which notifications are to be received, assigning appropriate destination, and prioritizing notifications.

Automating the complete porting process, with the NPAC and the service provider provisioning OSSs, is the key to minimizing manual intervention and lowering operating expenses. Doing so will enable wireless providers to automatically port numbers and receive porting updates from other wireless providers at increased porting loads and quick response times. Operations environments vary widely among wireless providers, especially when it comes to OSS interfaces. The ability to support different interfaces to existing or new OSSs, plus the flexibility to support changes in business flows can help to minimize the impacts on a provider's OSS infrastructure. The end result is reduced implementation time and costs.

Interfaces with a provider's OSSs enable porting data to be distributed and appropriate systems to be updated automatically. Having access to up-to-date WNP information reduces errors and improves service levels. WNP data can be stored and retrieved for later analysis, whether for strategic or customer-care purposes. The availability of WNP data enables rapid resolution of problems, resulting in excellent customer service that is essential for competitive success.

The ability to maintain a store of porting records also allows providers to generate useful reports with important insights into porting activities. Reports, measurements, and audit trails can help providers to query and track porting activities without affecting operations. These reports enable marketing and sales staffs to monitor churn activity and develop strategies to mitigate such trends.

Scalability to support wireless providers of varying size as well as multiple interconnection protocols and business functions can help to minimize the initial hardware investment for a WNP product solution. Increases in the number of users who can simultaneously access the system with porting requests should be accommodated to enable rapid, cost-effective growth.

The benefits of a product solution include the following:

• Fast, automated flow through of porting orders
• Limited need for manual intervention resulting in fewer errors
• Interfaces with OSSs for minimal disruption in operations
• Greater control of data for improved customer-service levels
• Creation of reports on porting activity that enable improved marketing strategies