Integrating service level agreements : optimizing your OSS for SLA delivery

Service level agreements (SLAs) offer service providers a way to distinguish themselves from their competitors in today's volatile, hypercompetitive market. This book offers an innovative approach that takes full advantage of current interface, automation, and Internet-based distribution and reporting technologies.
* Addresses business-level SLAs, not just device-level SLAs
* Describes a revolutionary approach that combines network management, service management, field service activities, entitlement, and rating with workflow automation technologies

Author Notes

John J. Lee is Vice President of Strategy and Business Solutions at ViryaNet
Ron Ben-Natan is CTO at ViryaNet

About the Authors	p. xvii
Part 1 The Problem	p. 1
Chapter 1 What Are Service Level Agreements?	p. 3
Definition	p. 3
Service Level Agreement Roles and Objectives	p. 5
Defining Roles and Accountability	p. 6
Managing Expectations	p. 8
Controling Implementation and Execution	p. 10
Providing Quality of Service Verification	p. 11
Enabling Communications	p. 13
Assessing Return on Investment	p. 14
The Service Level Agreement Life Cycle	p. 14
SLA Development	p. 15
Negotiation and Sales	p. 18
Implementation	p. 19
Execution	p. 19
Assessment	p. 19
Customer-focused Assessments	p. 20
Provider-focused Assessments	p. 20
The Outlook for Service Level Agreements	p. 22
The Growth in Outsourcing	p. 22
The Emergence of Pure Content Providers	p. 24
Summary	p. 25
Chapter 2 The True Intent of Service Level Agreements	p. 27
Evolution	p. 27
Availability	p. 28
Customer Care	p. 29
Understanding Need Hierarchies	p. 30
The Service Level Agreement Need Hierarchy	p. 31
The Emergence of the Business Impact Financial Model	p. 33
Provider-Centric Methodology	p. 34
Business Impact Methodology	p. 36
Big Stick versus Business Impact	p. 37
Service Level Agreement Success Factors	p. 39
Definable End-to-End	p. 40
Successfully Deliverable	p. 41
Meaningful Entitlement Metrics	p. 44
Measurable at the Service Access Point	p. 46
Visible	p. 49
Reconciable	p. 53
Summary	p. 55
Chapter 3 The Long Ascent to True Service Level Agreement Delivery	p. 57
Why Delivery Is Important	p. 57
Where We've Been	p. 58
Some Good Examples of Bad Service Level Agreements	p. 60
Example Summary	p. 64
Understanding the Complexities in the Network Environment	p. 65
The Explosion of Data Networking	p. 67
New Technology	p. 67
The Premise Factor	p. 68
New Market Entrants	p. 70
Tight Labor Markets	p. 72
Organizational Stovepipes	p. 74
Work-Flow Complexity	p. 77
Competition Adds Many More Players	p. 78
New Technology and Business Models Add More Complexity	p. 79
Summary: A Confluence of Factors	p. 81
The Great Boom Commences	p. 82
Operational Reality Interrupts the Party	p. 82
What Issues Lie Ahead for Service Level Agreements?	p. 84
Summary	p. 85
Chapter 4 The Operations Support System	p. 87
The Operations Support System	p. 88
Thought Leadership and Industry Models	p. 90
The TeleManagement Forum	p. 90
The Telecommunications Management Network Model	p. 90
The Network Element Layer	p. 92
The Element Management Layer	p. 92
The Network Management Layer	p. 92
The Service Management Layer	p. 93
The Business Management Layer	p. 94
The Telecommunications Operational Map	p. 94
Understanding the Models	p. 96
The Evolution of Network Management	p. 96
The Transition to Service Management	p. 98
The Emergence of Best-of-Breed	p. 100
Best-of-Breed Problems and the OSS Spiral of Death	p. 103
Lessons Learned	p. 109
Asset Management Is Important	p. 111
Understanding the Functional and Semantic Gaps	p. 112
Work Flow Is the Glue That Binds the Organization, Not Middleware	p. 115
The Outlook for Operations Support Systems	p. 117
Summary	p. 118
Chapter 5 Service Level Agreement Models	p. 121
The Amdocs Service Level Agreement Blueprint	p. 122
Customer-Facing Processes	p. 122
Service Level Agreements in a Customer-Centric Approach	p. 124
Creating a Contract Offering	p. 127
Contract Life Cycle	p. 131
Service Assurance Model	p. 135
Micromuse Netcool	p. 135
Orchestream Resolve	p. 139
Summary	p. 139
Part 2 The Solution	p. 141
Chapter 6 The Integrated Service Level Agreement Model	p. 143
The Origin of the Integrated Service Level Agreement Concept	p. 145
Technological Reality Check	p. 146
The Integrated Service Level Agreement Framework	p. 147
Enabling Technologies	p. 149
Dynamic Work-Flow Automation	p. 149
Dynamic Work-Flow Communities	p. 150
Core Capabilities	p. 151
Domains	p. 153
The Presentation Domain	p. 155
The Information Domain	p. 155
The Product or Contract Domain	p. 156
The Process or Work-Flow Domain	p. 157
The Data Domain	p. 157
The Provider or Workforce Domain	p. 158
The Supply Domain	p. 158
Sample Technical Architecture	p. 159
Portal Architecture	p. 160
The User Interface	p. 161
Wireless and Voice Portals	p. 162
Business Intelligence Architecture	p. 163
Work-Flow Automation Architecture	p. 164
The Work-Flow Engine	p. 165
Business Transaction Framework	p. 166
Business Rules Framework	p. 166
Integration Architecture	p. 166
XML and the Integration Server	p. 168
Integration Server Tools	p. 168
NGOSS Architecture	p. 170
Service Level Agreement Compliance Reporting	p. 170
Service Level Agreement Risk Mitigation	p. 174
Summary	p. 175
Chapter 7 Integration Techniques	p. 177
Technical Integration	p. 177
Semantic Integration	p. 178
Concepts of Distributed Computing	p. 179
Batch Processes	p. 179
Real-Time Integration	p. 181
Integration Paradigms	p. 181
The Invocation or Remote Procedure Call	p. 181
Message-Oriented Middleware	p. 182
Publish and Subscribe	p. 182
Integration Paradigms and OSS	p. 182
CORBA	p. 183
Object Request Brokers	p. 183
Object Services	p. 183
Interface Definition Language	p. 184
Storing and Retrieving Information	p. 185
Invoking an Object	p. 185
Object Request Broker Interoperability and TCP/IP	p. 186
Message-Oriented Middleware	p. 188
Business Events	p. 189
Publish-Subscribe	p. 191
Extensible Markup Language	p. 193
Extensible Markup Language Document	p. 193
Why Extensible Markup Language?	p. 195
Document Type Definitions	p. 197
Document Object Model	p. 197
Simple Application Program Interface for Extensible Markup Language	p. 198
Extensible Style Language Transformation	p. 199
Extensible Style Language Transformation Rules	p. 200
Web Services	p. 201
The Three Elements of Web Services	p. 202
The Simple Object Access Protocol	p. 203
The Web Services Description Language	p. 203
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration	p. 204
The TeleManagement Forum's System Integration Map	p. 204
Summary	p. 206
Chapter 8 Work-Flow Automation	p. 207
Managing Business Processes	p. 207
Manual Work Flow	p. 208
Work-Flow Management Systems	p. 209
Work-Flow Definitions	p. 209
Three Elements of Work Flow	p. 210
The Process Editor	p. 211
Process Templates and Tokens	p. 212
Process Steps	p. 214
Properties	p. 214
Subprocesses	p. 218
Exporting Work-Flow Definitions	p. 220
The Process Engine	p. 223
Working and Monitoring	p. 223
The Work-Flow Monitor	p. 223
To Do List	p. 225
Personal Assignment and Role Assignment	p. 228
Dynamic Queues	p. 229
Summary	p. 230
Chapter 9 Organizational Issues	p. 231
The Stovepipe Service Provider	p. 231
Integrated Service Level Agreement Change Enablers	p. 235
Unified Presentation	p. 235
Dynamic Work-Flow Communities	p. 236
Dynamic Work-Flow Automation	p. 236
Workforce Management	p. 237
Business Intelligence	p. 237
Integrated Service Level Agreement-Based Organizational Optimization	p. 237
The Work-Flow Community	p. 239
Definition Hierarchy	p. 240
Users	p. 240
Groups	p. 241
Communities	p. 244
The Integrated Service Level Agreement-Aware Service Provider	p. 245
Solutions	p. 246
The Business Management Layer and Delivery Assurance	p. 248
Product Engineering	p. 250
Work-Flow Engineering	p. 250
Organizational Engineering	p. 250
Intelligence Engineering	p. 250
The Service Management Layer	p. 251
Customer Care	p. 251
Order Management	p. 252
Work-Flow Control	p. 252
Technical Support	p. 252
The Network Management Layer	p. 253
The Network Operations Center	p. 253
Network Engineering	p. 254
The Network Element Layer	p. 254
Field Operations	p. 255
Logistics	p. 255
Organizational Summary	p. 256
Summary	p. 259
Chapter 10 Contractual Commitments and Penalties	p. 261
Customer Obligations	p. 262
Early Termination	p. 262
Minimal Service Access Points	p. 262
Usage-Based Penalties	p. 263
The Effects of Regulation	p. 263
Deregulated Environments	p. 264
Regulated Environments	p. 264
Example Service Level Agreements and Penalties	p. 267
Service Level Agreement Contract for Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network: Sample 1	p. 267
Security Services	p. 267
Access Services	p. 270
Service Level Agreement Contract for Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network: Sample 2	p. 272
Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network--Dedicated Access Service Level Agreement	p. 272
Example Service Level Agreements and Penalties Summary	p. 278
Terms	p. 280
A Multisite Contract Example	p. 281
Summary	p. 284
Chapter 11 Operational Process, Work Flow, Notification, and Alerts	p. 287
Dynamic Work Flow	p. 288
Universal Presentation	p. 290
Work-Flow Automation	p. 291
Business Intelligence	p. 292
Dynamic Work-Flow Processes	p. 292
The Delivery Work Flow	p. 293
Generation	p. 294
Assignment	p. 294
Prioritization and/or Escalation	p. 295
Allocation	p. 299
Execution	p. 300
Updating/Evaluating	p. 301
Closure	p. 304
Reporting/Reconciliation	p. 305
The Integrated Service Level Agreement Compliance Work Flow	p. 305
Define Entitlements	p. 306
Event Generation	p. 307
Identify Provisioning and/or Troubleshooting Work Flows	p. 307
Extract Performance Data	p. 307
Work-Flow Activity	p. 308
Network Statistics	p. 308
Performance Analysis	p. 309
Real-Time Analysis	p. 309
Historical Analysis	p. 310
Identify Exceptions	p. 310
Respond	p. 310
Calculate Financial Impact	p. 311
Reconcile	p. 312
Summary	p. 313
Chapter 12 Metrics and Performance Reporting	p. 315
Metrics and Measures	p. 315
The General Information Framework	p. 319
The Data Mart	p. 320
Extraction Routines	p. 322
Star Schema	p. 323
Implementing Key Performance Indicators	p. 325
An Example of Installation Follow-Ups	p. 327
Data Availability	p. 327
Building the Template	p. 328
Dimensions	p. 329
Defining the Instance	p. 331
Defining the Target	p. 331
Defining the Display Properties	p. 332
Performance Reports	p. 336
Paperless Reporting	p. 337
Reporting Solutions	p. 338
Designing Reports	p. 340
Web Delivery	p. 342
Summary	p. 345
Chapter 13 Service Level Agreement Portals: A Unified Presentation Layer	p. 347
Unified Presentation	p. 348
Information Portals	p. 348
Enterprise Information Portals	p. 349
The Service Level Agreement Portal	p. 349
Uniform Resource Locator Automation and Scripting	p. 352
Automating the Flow	p. 357
Uniform Resource Locator Automation Using Work Flow	p. 360
An Application Session	p. 360
Web "Scraping"	p. 360
Chaining Requests	p. 361
Enter Work Flow	p. 361
Using the Work-Flow Token	p. 361
Extracting Data from Scraped Pages	p. 362
Security, Access Control, and Profiles	p. 363
Integrating Interface Layers	p. 364
Directory Services and the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol	p. 365
Summary	p. 366
Chapter 14 Notification, Mobile Computing, and Wireless Access	p. 369
Notification	p. 370
Synchronous and Asynchronous Notification	p. 371
Internet-Based Notification	p. 371
Paging	p. 373
Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol	p. 376
Simple Network Paging Protocol	p. 380
Wireless Communications Transfer Protocol	p. 381
Short Message Service	p. 383
Workforce Management	p. 384
Meeting Service Level Agreements through Efficient Use of the Workforce	p. 384
Mobile Computing	p. 387
Wireless Infrastructure for Mobile Computing	p. 388
Summary	p. 390
Chapter 15 Service Marketplaces and Bandwidth Exchanges	p. 391
The Liquidity Issue	p. 393
Success Factors	p. 395
Product	p. 395
Price	p. 395
Implementation	p. 395
Quality	p. 396
Settlement	p. 396
Consolidating the Factors	p. 396
The Vision	p. 396
The Need	p. 399
Solutions	p. 401
Product	p. 402
Price	p. 403
Implementation	p. 404
Quality	p. 405
Settlement	p. 406
The Outlook for Exchanges	p. 406
Summary	p. 409
Chapter 16 Applying the Model to Other Industries	p. 411
Utilities	p. 412
Customer Service and Service Delivery	p. 417
Quality Assurance	p. 422
ISO 9000	p. 422
Six Sigma	p. 423
Summary	p. 425
Appendix Acronyms	p. 427
Bibliography	p. 433
Index	p. 437

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