Telecommunication Management Systems

& Network An Overview

Author: Dr. Arpan Kumar Kar (Tech Talk), email: Arpan_kar@yahoo.co.in
Abstract: In current years, we are witnessing a revolution in telecommunications industry
with the advent of mobile commerce and its subsequent growth. This article provides a brief
overview of telecommunications management systems, for discussions in classrooms.
Keywords: information systems, mobile commerce, Mobile Computing, telecommunication
In current years, we are witnessing a revolution in telecommunications industry with the
advent of mobile commerce and its subsequent growth. Indeed, the potential impact of
telecommunication technologies have made all organizations re-evaluate their alignment to
benefit from this technology driven evolution. In this article, we will review the different
telecommunication systems and the Telecommunications Management Network.
Withing Telecommunication Management Systems, the systems are categorized into three
classes based on the focus of operations:
1. Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Management Systems: These systems
comprise of Strategy and Commit systems, Infrastructure Lifecycle Management
systems and Product Lifecycle Management systems. These systems focus on
addressing the requirements across functional domains like Marketing & Offer
Management, Service Development & Management, Resource Development &
Management and Supply Chain Development & Supplier Management
2. Operations Management Systems: These systems comprise of Operations
Support & Readiness Management Systems, Fulfillment Management Systems,
Assurance and Billing Management Systems. These systems focus on addressing
the requirements across functional domains like Customer Relationship Management,
Service Management & Operations, Resource Management & Operations and
Supplier/Partner Relationship Management.

3. Enterprise Management Systems: These systems comprise of Enterprise planning,

risk management, effectiveness management, knowledge management, financial &
asset management, Stake holder relations management, human resource management.
These systems pan across Operations Systems & Strategy, Infrastructure & Product
Systems

These classifications are based on the business functions that is focused upon within a
telecom service providers internal systems, based on their functionality. Further these
functional information systems have the following focus in greater details:
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Management Systems
1. Strategy and commit systems: These focus on strategic planning, asset provisioning,
financial provisioning & analysis, sales forecasting, resource planning & deployment,
business unit evaluation, performance evaluation, competitive analysis, operational
controls, market analysis, regulatory compliance management.
2. Infrastructure lifecycle management systems: These systems focus on conducting
invoice, inventory, and infrastructure audits , managing infrastructure users with
usage, infrastructure inventory management, expense management, invoice
management, payments management, contract monitoring & management.

3. Product lifecycle management systems: These systems focus on Service ideation,

design, build, deploy, maintain and retirement; gathering of customer needs and
preferences and mapping those to current and future product capabilities; project and
program management, geographic collaboration and knowledge management,
regulatory compliance management.

Operations Management Systems

1. Operations Support & Readiness systems: These systems focus on managing
services inventory, service configuration & activation, problem management, quality
management and support services.
2. Telecom Service Fulfillment systems: These systems focus on automating service
processes, information transparency, inventory management and asset monetization
3. Telecom Service Assurance systems: These systems focus on fault and event
management, Performance management, QoS management, Network and service
testing, Network traffic management, Customer experience management, SLA
Monitoring

4. Telecom billing & revenue management systems: These systems focus on yield
optimization, service bundling and provisioning, customer usage billing, billing
monitoring.

Put together, these systems are interfaced collectively as follows:

However, it is important to note that Telecom Systems of any organization need to be

inherently interact with the telecom systems of other organizations. This would facilitate
seamless service to the end customer. To meet this requirement, a set of framework, namely
the telecommunications management network (TMN) was devised. The TMN provides a
framework for achieving interconnectivity and communication across heterogeneous
operating systems and telecommunications networks.

Some of the important systems and sub-systems for the Telecommunications Management
Network are as follows:
1. Business management layer: A management layer responsible for the total enterprise
and not subject to standardization.
2. Data communication network: A communication network within a TMN or between
TMNs which supports the data communication function (DCF).
3. Element management layer: A management layer which is responsible for
management of network elements on an individual or collective basis.
4. Managed resource: The abstraction of those aspects of a telecommunication resource
(logical or physical) required for telecommunications management.
5. Management layer: An architectural concept that reflects particular aspects of
management and implies a clustering of management information supporting that
aspect.

6. Service management layer: Concerned with, and responsible for, the contractual
aspects, including service order handling, complaint handling and invoicing of
services to customers.
7. Network elements: Represents telecommunication equipment (or groups/parts of
telecommunication equipment) and supports equipment or groups of items considered
belonging to the environment that performs network element functions.
8. Network management layer: A management layer responsible for the management,
including coordination of activity, of a network view.
9. Operations systems function: A function block that processes information related to
the telecommunications management for the purpose of monitoring/coordinating
and/or controlling telecommunication functions including management functions.
10. Public Telecommunication Operator (PTO): Is used to include telecom
administrations, recognized operating agencies, private (customer and third party)
administrations and/or other organizations that operate or use a Telecommunications
Management Network (TMN).
11. Transformation function: A function block which translates between a TMN
reference point and a non-TMN (either proprietary or otherwise standardized)
reference point. The non-TMN part of this function block is outside the TMN
boundary.
12. Stack Support: TMN defines a message communication function (MCF). All
building blocks within the TMN network with physical interfaces would need to have
an MCF. An MCF provides the protocols which are mandatory and also necessary to
connect a block to a DCN.
The objective for the TMN specifications is to provide a framework for telecommunications
management. By introducing generic network models, it is possible to perform management
of diverse equipments, networks and services. Five functional domains where TMN focus
are as follows:

Performance management: includes activities which ensure that goals are

consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner. It can focus on the
performance of an organization, a department, and even the processes to deliver the
services.

Fault management: Detect, isolate, and correct malfunctions in a

telecommunications network, compensate for environmental changes, and include
maintaining and examining error logs, accepting and acting on error detection
notifications, tracing and identifying faults.

Configuration management: establishing and maintaining consistency of a

servicess performance, functional and physical attributes with its requirements,
design and operational information throughout its life.

Accounting management: Analysis, planning, implementation, and control of

financial data for reporting and managerial decision making while delivering services.

Security management: identification of an organizations assets (including

information assets), followed by the development, documentation, and
implementation of policies and procedures for protecting these assets.

Key references
1. Lee, W. C. (1995). Mobile cellular telecommunications: analog and digital systems.
McGraw-Hill Professional.
2. Kar, A. K., & Singh, P. (2012). A model for bundling mobile value added services
using neural networks. International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences, 5(1), 4763.
3. Keck, D. O., & Kuehn, P. J. (1998). The feature and service interaction problem in
telecommunications systems: A survey. Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on,
24(10), 779-796.
4. Kar, A. K., Pani, A. K., & De, S. K. (2010). A study on using business intelligence for
improving marketing efforts. Business Intelligence Journal, 3(2), 141-150.
5. Markoulidakis, J. G., Lyberopoulos, G. L., Tsirkas, D. F., & Sykas, E. D. (1997).
Mobility modeling in third-generation mobile telecommunications systems. Personal
Communications, IEEE, 4(4), 41-56.
6. Borg, K. E., Halas, W. P., Mattes, H. G., McLear, P. M., & White, L. L. (1986). U.S.
Patent No. 4,578,540. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
7. Saba, F. (1988). Concepts: Integrated telecommunications systems and instructional
transaction. American Journal of Distance Education, 2(3), 17-24.
8. Moss, M. L., & Townsend, A. M. (2000). How telecommunications systems are
transforming urban spaces. Cities in the Telecommunications Age: the fracturing of
geographies, Routledge, London.
9. Garshnek, V., & Burkle, F. M. (1999). Telecommunications systems in support of
disaster medicine: applications of basic information pathways. Annals of emergency
medicine, 34(2), 213-218.
10. Russell, J. E. (1992). U.S. Patent No. 5,084,869. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.

11. Fu, X., Zhu, Q., & Sarkis, J. (2012). Evaluating green supplier development programs
at a telecommunications systems provider. International Journal of Production
Economics, 140(1), 357-367.
12. Ambrose, W. W., Hennemeyer, P. R., & Chapon, J. P. (1990). Privatizing
telecommunications systems: Business opportunities in developing countries. The
World Bank.
13. Antonelli, C. (1992). The economics of information networks. Elsevier Science Inc..
14. Robert, G., Morin, S., & Lundstrom, A. (1999). U.S. Patent No. 5,878,343.
Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
15. Noam, E. (1992). A theory for the instability of public telecommunications systems.
The economics of information networks.