Management of Voice and Data Systems in Communications

1. The Management of Telecommunications: 2nd Edition Houston H. Carr and Charles A. Snyder Management of Voice and Data Systems in Communications Chapter 12

2. Introduction • The deregulation of the telecommunications industry has given businesses many more choices, opportunities, and problems. • Choices come from the multiple vendors offering a variety of goods and services from which to choose. • Opportunities abound in how companies use these goods and services in bringing to fruition their visions of communications and to enhanced their competitive advantage. • Problems abound because of the available choices , limited resources, rapid obsolescence, and fierce competition.

3. Environment of a system • The environment of a system is that part which impacts or influences the system, but over which the system has minimal or no control. • A boundary separates the system from its environment.

4. Competitive advantage • Competitive advantage means you have a disproportionally larger share of a market because the customer is able to positively differentiate the company’s product or services.

5. A Business within a Business • The telecommunications organization has the same functions as its parent organization.

6. Functions of a Business

7. Functional areas of a telecommunications organization • Telecommunications organizations perform many of the following functions • Operations function • Administrative function • Marketing function • Customer support • Research and development

8. Process functions of management • Planning • Organizing • Staffing • Directing • Coordinating and control • security

9. Planning • Planning requires a perspective of the timing and life of a project, and the level of the organization being supported. • The three levels of planning are: • Operational • Tactical • Strategic

10. Organizing • One of the main considerations involved in organizing is the establishment of relationships among the entities of the organization.

11. Staffing • Relates to the acquisition, retention, and training of qualified personnel who can plan, define, install, operate, and maintain technology in support of business problems and opportunities.

12. Directing • Directing involves the supervisory task of getting people to successfully perform the required tasks.

13. Control • Control of an organization's telecommunications resources • Includes management of equipment, circuits, and networks. • Security against the treat of theft or intrusion into the network. • Disaster recover

14. Security • Security means the right people have access to network resources and all others do not. • Security methods of the data accessible via the network • Encryption • Access • Passwords • Firewalls

15. Disaster recovery • Having a adequate disaster recovery capability is the difference between continued organizational success or failure. • The plan is the result of performing a risk assessment and defining the decisions that must be enacted after the occurance of unforeseen events.

16. Telecommunications strategy • For an organization's telecommunications strategy to succeed, managers must understand the major telecommunications strategy issues. • Integration of computing platforms across the organization in support of the organizational objectives and functions. • Point to an architecture that will support organizational functions.

17. The Management of Telecommunications

18. Management of Telecommunications • Two sides of management of telecommunications • Managing the technology • Managing the organization

19. Objectives of network management • To satisfy systems users, and • To provide cost-effective solutions to an organization's telecommunications requirements

20. Objectives of Network Management • User satisfaction • Performance – predictable transaction response time • Availability – all necessary components are operable when needed • Operational considerations - out of service for maintenance • Mean time between failure • Mean time to repair • Repair facility • Alternatives

21. Objectives of Network Management • User satisfaction (continued) • Reliability – probability the system will continue to function • Error characteristics of medium • Stability of hardware and software • Complexity of system • Backup components and redundancy • Security – safety from intrusion or destruction of assets • Privacy – protection of exposure of data about an individual.

22. Objectives of Network Management • The initials of the four objectives of user satisfaction in network management make up the acronyms of either PARS or RAPS, however reliability is always the most critical and important.

23. Objectives of Network Management • Provide cost-effective solutions to organizations’ TC requirements • Planning • Install required features now and upgrade later • Install with future in mind • Modularity of equipment as opposed to upgrading from line to line

24. Organizational side of Telecommunications Management

25. Organizational side of Telecommunications Management • Design and implementation of new facilities and services • Network operations and technical support • Administrative support

26. Telecommunications Group Activities • System creation and upgrade • Design and configuration • Node equipment • Media & bandwidth • Software • Tariffs • Testing • Initial • Continuous • Reporting

27. Telecommunications Group Activities • System creation and upgrade (continued) • Diagnosis • Meeting spec • For problems • Fine-tuning • Documentation • Assets (database) • Operations • Repair

28. Telecommunications Group Activities • Operations • Monitoring • Control • Diagnostics • Problem reporting system • Repair • Documentation

29. Telecommunications Group Activities • Administration • Personnel • Attract & retain qualified personnel • Training • Asset management • Purchasing • Chargeback for asset usage

30. Administrative Support • Ordering and purchasing communications products and services • Receiving equipment • Inventorying equipment • Checking and paying communications bills • Determining chargeback methods to users • Coordinating adds, moves, and changes of equipment, including maintaining blueprints of installations, handling the paperwork to make changes...

31. Administrative Support • Preparing and publishing phone book • Registering new users for telecommunications and computer applications access (maintenance security) • Training users • Maintaining telecommunications procedures • Providing telephone operator services

32. Telecom Job Categories • Planning and development • Director, telecommunications planning • Manager, network planning • Data network design technician • Voice network design specialist • Business applications development specialist

33. Telecom Job Categories • Service and support • Director, network services and support • Data communications service manager • Help desk technician • LAN service manager • Office automation applications specialist

34. Telecom Job Categories • Operations • Director, network operations • Network security manager • Data network operations manager • LAN manager • Voice systems technician • Voice network operations technician

35. Telecom Jobs – Technical

36. Telecom jobs - Management

37. Technical Side of Telecommunications Management

38. Technical side of Telecommunications management • Concerned with network management or operations. • Involves the set of activities required to keep the communications network operational and reliable.

39. Considerations of Network Project Management • Project management requires • Strong leadership • Coordinating • Planning • Budgeting • Scheduling • Administration • The purpose of project management is to control all project resources to complete a quality job, on time, within budget.

40. Project Management Tasks • Definition of scope of the project • Assembling of a team: • What expertise (knowledge)? • What information is needed? • What skills are needed? • Source of team members.

41. Project Management Tasks • Criteria • Knowledge, expertise, experience. • Access to information. • Support skills. • Commitment. • Reliability. • Benefits to team member. • Importance of reallocating teams.

42. Project plan Purpose. Parameters and goals. Deadlines. Key elements. Breakdown. Assignments. Resources Problem/obstacles. A time line. Accountability. Feedback reporting. Tools. Project Management Tasks

43. Project Management Tasks • Implementation. • Team delivers. • Leader guides. • End project • Reports. • Lessons learned. • Disband team. • Review and evaluation

44. Project Leader must understand • Team roles and responsibilities. • Time reporting. • Budget tracking. • Issues and risks. • Change process. • Communications. • Action items summary. • Unplanned activities. • Meeting and status reports.

45. Performance Measurement and Tuning • Service level and service agreements • Measurements (response times, circuit and processor utilization, circuit errors, etc.) • Management reporting • Configuration control • Change management • Risk assessment and management • Disaster planning

46. Service Level Agreements (SLA) • A Service Level Agreement is a formal agreement between a client and a service provider (ASP, VPN, ISP, etc.) agreeing on the level of services that will be provided. • A SLA can be summarized as a series of commitments by the vendor to a customer.

47. Service Level Agreement (SLA) • Contract or contracts between parties involved • Understanding between service provider and their customer • Sets expectations for performance • Defines the procedures and reports needed to track compliance

48. Service Level Agreement (SLA) • An SLA should contain • The service to be performed • Committed Information Rate (CIR) • The performance expectations of service provider • Process of reporting problems with the service • Time frame for problem resolution • Process for monitoring services levels • Penalties for non compliance • Escape clauses for both parties

49. Risk management • Risk management is the analysis and actions taken to ensure that the organization can continue to operate under any foreseeable conditions. • Science and art of recognizing the existence of threats, determine their consequences to resources, applying modifying factors in a cost-effective manner to keep adverse consequences within bounds.

50. Risk assessment and analysis • Risk assessment and analysis involve a methodological investigation of the organization's resources, personnel, procedures, and objectives to determine points of weakness.