Comptel Catalog

Topics to be covered Introduction to product management

Introduction to Comptel Catalog

Working with remote items

Working with items

Objectives Introduce the problem

Introduce products and services

Introduce the fulfilment solution for products

Adapting to a Changing World Competition in telecommunications affects offering to

customers

Customers more demanding They want to buy suitable products and services

Service providers need to regularly change and adapt their offering Need to react to changes in the market

Need to respond to customer demands

Current OSS/BSS systems not flexible enough for the

modern telecommunications market Currently takes 6 to 24 months to launch a new product

Efficient product management is required

Products and Services Service providers offer packages, product bundles and

products to their customers Package and product bundles are the same as a product

Products consist of different services A single product can consist of several other products

A single product consists of several services

Services represent what can be offered to customers Using partner services

With the current network configuration

Can be spread across different network technologies

How to Manage Products?

Telecom Product Lifecycle

Why Is It So Complex?

Subscription portfolio Example

Product Portfolio Example

Challenges in Product portfolio Management Marketing perceive products in a different way to the technical

network Challenge is to match technical capability to customer demands Creating a sellable product requires technical and commercial

expertise

Value of a product differs between customers Targeting subscribers with pricing.

The number of products and product bundles is growing rapidly Products for niche markets need low cost per service to be

profitable Product life-cycle and time span can be very short in campaigns

Important to keep time to market as short as possible Need to be able to quickly adapt to changing market using existing

BSS and network infrastructure

Improving Efficiency in Product Portfolio Management Store product composition

From marketing level to technical network level

Use the right tools to manage product and service portfolio

Use a system that helps sales and marketing to work and communicate with engineering

Centrally manage changes in products, services, and technical capability

Data is available for other systems

Central Catalog for Product Service Management

Comptel Dynamic OSS

Catalog in the OSS/BSS

Catalog Driven Fulfillment View

Serving Different Business Functions

Build product offering across different technologies and networks

A centralised view of the full offering with tools for product life-cycle management

Manage changes in commercial products, services and subscriptions

End-to-end automation gives operators full control of their product business process

Bottom-up approach to ensures services and products are technically viable

Technical Capability Discovery

SummaryCustomers require products and services that enhance

their lifestyle

Operators and service providers need to target their services more specifically

Comptel Catalog solution increase efficiency in the service life-cycle Provides a single repository for product and service information

Same tool can be used by different departments to manage the product

offering

Comptel Catalog works together with provisioning and

activation solution

ObjectivesIntroduce Comptel Catalog

Deepen knowledge about Comptel Catalog

Introduce architecture of Comptel Catalog

Introduce Comptel Catalog UI

Comptel CatalogProduct offering decomposed into re-usable elements

in different layers

Provides life-cycle management for products and services using states and versioning

Combines technical and commercial views of products

Architecture of Comptel Catalog

Catalog Runtime Environment

Item Lifecycle StatesItems are versioned and each version has a state to

determine the current point of the life cycle

Custom states can be created for specific needs E.g. design, integrate, test, review, approve etc.

Transitions from new state to an existing state must

also be added

States and transitions reflect the way in which the local processes work

Conditions Conditions are optional Conditions define how an item changes from one state to another

Must be completed before transition is complete A condition can apply to the start or the end of a transition from one

state to another Possible conditions are: User Signoff - a specific user approves change Role Signoff - a user with defined role approves a change Web Service - change is approved by an external system through the

API

Order of conditions State End - condition applies at end of current state Transition Start - condition applies at the start of state transition Transition End - condition applies at the end of end of state

transition State Start - condition applies at the start of new state

Example Condition

Item Types

Define a name for a particular group of items

Define the layering of items in Comptel Catalog

Comptel Catalog can have any number of item types

Example Item Layering

Products

Sellable entities that a customer buys

Defined by the marketing unit of a company

A product can depend on other items

A product consists of other items

When a product is selected so are its constituent items

A Product Request in InstantLink

ServicesServices are the entities

that constitute a product

Services are the functions that customers subscribe to

A service can depend on other items

A service consists of other items

Technical Services

The low-level capabilities are created as remote items

They are the building blocks of services and products

They are defined by the network capabilities

Remote items can be dependent on each other like other items

A Remote Item as a Task in ComptelInstantLink

Dependency An item can be provided only if

other items are included or activated first

Dependencies can be defined for all items

Design level dependency

Defines the other items that must be included in a service or product

Outstanding dependencies arediscovered during design

Dependencies can be promoted to higher levels

Runtime level dependency Connections between items define

the execution order of tasks Based on design level dependency Overrides design level dependency

ExclusionAn item cannot be included with other items

Exclusions are defined for individual items

Exclusions can be used with all items

TransactionsComptel Catalog supports different transactions

For example, create, modify, delete and display

It is possible to define default transactions

These transactions map to order/request/task types in Comptel

Fulfillment

Each transaction has three messages Request is the initial message and defines the input parameters

Response for asynchronous acknowledgement of the request

Complete signifies the end of the transaction

Parameters

Define the properties of items The data type of the parameter (String, Long, Decimal)

The default value of the parameter

Mandatory or optional parameter

Minimum and maximum values

Namespace defines where the parameter is used,

e.g. in activation

Parameters can be added for items and remote items Three classes of parameters; item, transaction and request parameters

New parameter names are automatically added to the pool of parameters

Allows cloning of parameters

Comptel Catalog Designer

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UI Preferences

SummaryComptel Catalog is a central repository for product

and service composition

Comptel Catalog has a UI to build a model of product structure

Items can be dependent on other items or excluded by other items

The lifecycle is controlled with lifecycle states

ObjectivesIntroduce remote items

Learn how to manage remote items

Technical Components

Remote ItemsThe lowest level in the hierarchy

Define most of the parameters for provisioning and activation

Their structure defined by external components, e.g. network elements

Can be imported from an InstantLink Network Element Interface

Imported remote items should NOT be modified in Comptel Catalog

Can be imported from other catalogs

Imported remote items should NOT be modified in Comptel Catalog

Can be created in Comptel Catalog

Remote Items in Comptel Catalog

Adding a New Remote Item

A New Remote Item

Add a Capability

Task Parameters in Remote ItemsItem Parameters Added to the Design tab

The parameters apply to all transactions of the technical service For example NE_TYPE

Transaction Parameters Add to each Transaction tab The parameters are apply only to that technical service - not mapped For example REQ_TYPE

Request Message Parameters Task specific parameterMapped to higher levels Value may come from request, product, service, or the technical

service For example subscriber identifiers

Adding Parameters

Parameters Added

Changing Parameter Default Settings

Working With Parameters

Add a Dependency

Changing Basic Information

Filtering Items

SummaryThe information of remote items is maintained in

Comptel Catalog Designer.

Each remote item has item information, capabilities, dependencies, transactions and parameters

Both Mid-level and Top-level items

Working with Mid-Level ItemsObjectives

Learn about items using the concept of services

Learn how to manage items that are between the technical capability and products

Adding Services

Add an ItemDefine general information such as name, folder and

description

Add remote items and items to design area

Add capabilities

Capabilities provide visibility of constituent remote items and items

to other items

Promote or resolve dependencies

Add exclusions

Publish the item

Creating a New Service Item

A New Service Item

Adding Items

Adding Capabilities

Outstanding Dependency

Exclusion

Item Paramaters

Complete Mapping Views

Parameter Connections

Item Ready for Transition

Item Transition

Item Now Available

References

SummaryEach item has basic information, composition,

parameters, dependencies, exclusions and references.

Capabilities provide visibility of the contents of an item.

Working with Top-Level ItemsObjectives

Learn about items using the concept of products

Learn how to manage items that are at sellable

Creating the Product

Add a Top Level Item Define general information such as name, folder and

description

Add remote items and other items to design area

Add capabilities

Resolve dependencies

Add exclusions

Publish the item

Creating a New Product Item

Conflicting Exclusion

Item to Item Message Mapping

Publishing a Product Item

The Product is Ready

The Product Processing Order

Where are Capabilities Used

Replacing an Embedded Item

SummaryTop-level items can be classified as Products.

New versions can be created when changes are required.

An existing item can be used as the template for a new item by copying.

Topics to be coveredAdvanced message mapping

Transaction management

Remote item groups

Delta handling

Comptel Catalog and InstantLink BST

Administration

ObjectivesIntroduce manual message mapping

Show how to use message mapping to create runtime dependencies

Show how to use Events for even fine control of runtime dependencies

Removing Parameter Mapping

Manually Mapping Parameters

Runtime DependenciesAuto mapping considers design dependencies between

remote items Means that tasks are generated in Comptel InstantLink in a certain

order

If design dependencies are correct there is no need to modify the runtime dependencies

Runtime dependencies can be altered by manual mapping Mapping the complete message of one item to the input message of another

item creates a runtime dependency between them

The generated tasks will be put into separate groups

If No Remote Item Dependencies

Modifying Runtime Dependencies

Remote Items Are In Order

Events Events are used in items to

control the order of remote items between items

Events provide additional control over the runtime order of tasks for ComptelInstantLink Tasks in same group are run in

parallel

Order TSA, TSD

TSB TSC, TSE TSF

Creating an Output Event

Creating an Input Event

Using the Event in a Product

Remote Item Processing Order

Task Order in Comptel InstantLink

SummaryManual mapping allows greater control over parameter

passing

Manual mapping allows the correct order for runtime to be defined

Events allow runtime order control across services within a product

Objectives Introduce Remote Item Groups

Show how to define Remote Item Groups

Show the affect Remote Item Groups have

What Do Remote Item Groups Do? Remote Item Groups allow related remote items to be

collated together Remote items in a group will create one task in Comptel

InstantLink Without grouping one remote item equals one task

Parameters from the constituent remote items can be manipulated Concatenate to join the parameter values together in one task

parameter Rule data defines the separation delimiter

Fixed to set the value of the parameter to a particular value Rule data defines the value to use

Override to set the parameter value to that of either the FIRST or LAST remote item

Rule data is either FIRST or LAST

Display Remote Item Groups

Create a Remote Item Group

Add Remote Items

Add Parameters

The Remote Item Group is Ready

A Remote Item Group in ComptelInstantLink

SummaryRemote item groups organise remote items into single

units

A remote item group in Comptel Catalog equals one task in Comptel InstantLink

Reduces the number of tasks per product

Remote item group parameters can be of type fixed, override or concatenated

Concatenate is a good way to manipulate supplementary codes for

activating/deactivating supplementary services

ObjectivesIntroduce transaction management

Define rollback

Configuring error recovery in Comptel Catalog

Introduction to Transaction Management Comptel Catalog has default seven transactions

Provide, Amend, Cease, Create, Modify, Delete, Display

Create, Modify, Delete, and Display map directly to

request/task types in Comptel InstantLink

It is possible to define new transactions for other purposes, e.g. rollback

Undo=RollbackRollback is defined by selecting the Undo transaction

Remote items and items can have undo transactions Item rollback requires that remote items have undo transactions

If an item has rollback defined but one remote item does not then error

decomposition fails

Undo transactions are defined on the other transactions

Undo defines what transaction should be used if the current one fails Creates an undo or rollback task in Comptel InstantLink

Add a Transaction to a Remote Item

Creating Remote Item Rollback

Add the Transaction to a Service

Assign Transaction

Map the Items

Creating Service Rollback

Rollback in Comptel InstantLink

SummaryNew transactions can be added if defaults are not

sufficient

Undo transactions define what to do when a task fails in Comptel InstantLink

Comptel Catalog returns the error decomposition to Comptel InstantLink Error decomposition is based on the error data of the failed task

Comptel InstantLink performs rollback using the error decomposition Network is returned to the original state and request can be resent

ObjectivesIntroduce delta calculation

Show how Comptel Catalog helps ComptelInstantLink perform the changeover

What is Delta Calculation?Δ (Greek delta) is a mathematical symbol signifying

change

Delta calculation is the change required to move from one item version to another

Comptel InstantLink provides the current item version and new item version

Comptel Catalog provides the details of the tasks that need to be executed to perform the changeover Tasks can be create, modify or delete

Delta in Practice

Changeover in Comptel InstantLink

SummaryDelta calculation discovers what remote items are

required to move from one product to another

Comptel InstantLink provides Comptel Catalog with the current product and new product

Comptel Catalog calculates which remote items are required for the new product and which can be removed

Comptel InstantLink sends the required remote items as tasks to the network

ObjectivesUsing Comptel Catalog in InstantLink BST

Introduce the BST provisioning logic steps

Introduce example Catalog provisioning logic

The BST-Comptel Catalog Client A separate installation package for InstantLink BST

Catalog Client Used by BST to retrieve item specification and decomposition from Catalog

Notification Service Used by Catalog to tell Clients of changes in decompositions

Dynamic Library Logic loading A remote item can define a parameter for the name of a library logic

In a Library Logic step, BST uses the parameter value to select the library

logic

Service Specification BST StepFinds the specification

for items and remote items from Catalog

Reports if mandatory or optional attributes are missing

If product cannot be found from Catalog this step will produce an error

Service Decomposition BST StepGets the decomposition for

the remote items from Catalog

Returns the number of task groups and number of tasks in each group

Grouping of tasks based on design and runtime dependencies

Error Decomposition BST StepGets the error decomposition for items and remote

items from Catalog

Returns the remote items involved in rollback as tasks

Delta Specification BST Step Gets specification on

customer's old subscription and the intended new subscription

Discovers the existing

items and the new items

The goal is to find the minimum set of operations to move customer from one offering to another without interrupting the service

Delta Calculation BST StepCalculates tasks needed

to be generated to swap from one offering to another

Returns the number of task groups and number of tasks in each group

Getting Specification and Decomposition

Sending the Tasks to Network

Performing Rollback

Getting Specification and Decomposition

SC_STEP_SERVICE_STATEA request/BST parameter that defines how the

specification search is performed

Value ALL searches for items that have one of the states defined in the client parameter all_lifecycle_states

This is a comma delimited list, e.g. Testing, Published, Deprecated

Value ANY means the search will look for items in any state

E.g. Defining, Testing, Published, Outdated etc.

If the parameter is missing or empty then only the items with a state that is of type published will be searched

Example Configuration

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Configuration Files 2/2

SummaryInstantLink BST has five steps Two for getting the specification the complete decomposition

One for getting the error decomposition for rollback

Two for getting the delta specification and for calculating the required

changes

Using Comptel Catalog with InstantLink allows product composition to be managed separately from the provisioning logic

ObjectivesIntroduce the Operational Client

Show what can be done in the client

Introduce the log files

Comptel Catalog Operational ClientAccessed through the Designer

Search For Items

Export Items

Import Items

User Administration

User Group Administration

Role Administration

Item Lifecycle Administration

Item Type Administration

System Parameter Administration

Log FilesCatalog log files Catalog.log - main log for Comptel Catalog

Application server log file Depends on the application server

Records server activity

Designer UI log file Each user has own UI log file in Windows

~\Catalog\workspace\.metadata

SummaryOperational Client allows to administer Comptel

Catalog

You can manage system parameters

You can import items from another Comptel Catalogenvironment

You can export items to an XML file

You can get a list and see a summary of items

Thank you