Monday, October 17, 2011

Network Performance Review



FEEDBACK AND FORECAST MANAGEMENT

Network Operation Centre, Gurgaon

"It is far better to foresee even without certainty than not to foresee at all."
-Henri Poincare

At Huawei RNOC, we spend our days and nights in resolving Network Issues. We work in shifts and provide 24x7 network surveillance. We do Alarm Surveillance, Fault Management, Preventive Maintainance, Change Management, and Configuration Management. Due to the complexity and diversity of work, it was actually difficult for the teams working here to report their work to the higher management in a systematic way and also it was difficult for the higher management to get consolidated and easy to understand operational statistics.

Under the guidance of Mr.Shahab Rizvi, Mr. Raj Kaushal and Mr. Manoj Gupta, we have designed a FEEDBACK AND FORECAST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, known as “NETWORK PERFORMANCE REVIEW” based on Applied Systems Approach. This is an activity, which is done once in a month. It covers the whole system, all domains and functions. It is an operational intelligent report. We have introduced the concept of indexing which has made it easy to establish relationships between the various parameters. Also we have incorporated cost information in this report which helps us in computing the impact on cost due to network faults.a

INTRODUCTION

At NOC we receive alarms from the various Network Elements situated in the Field. Based on the severity guidelines and SLA’s, we create Trouble Tickets for all the Unplanned Activities. For the Planned Activities, we have the mechanism of Change Request. At the end of the day, the Network Downtime (Outage) is maintained in the Outage Reports. What we could understand by seeing the above system was that there existed a relationship of proportionality between all the units i.e. the alarm, TT, CR, Outage and Cost. If we would reduce the alarms, it would result in reduction of TT’s and CR leading to the reduction of outage and cost.

STAGE 1: MAKING OF THE NPR

We have different set of tools for alarm, TT and CR. The Outage Report is prepared manually. We collect limited and necessary information from the Alarm Tool, the TT & CR Tool and the Outage Reports and simultaneously collect the amount spent in the respective circle. Once we have the information placed in the report, we start indexing the report by relating every parameter to the no. of Sites or Nodes and the no. of days.

STAGE 2: PANEL 1 ANALYSIS

Once we are done with the report, the report is passed through a process based on the DELPHI TECHNIQUES where the Shifts (PANEL -1) analyze and put call outs in the report by investigating into the values which appear abnormal in the report.

STAGE 3: PANEL 2 ANALYSIS

Once all the four shifts give the inputs then the Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) are required to give their inputs on the reports and together with the concerned teams, Preventive Maintenance Plans are to be prepared.

STAGE 4: PM PLANS & COST ANALYSIS

Once the two levels analysis is done, the report now becomes an intelligent report which not only gives us statistics but also give us the reasons and justifications which back these stats. Thus, the Preventive Maintenance is a feedback which would help us in reducing the Alarms. If successfully implemented; this could become a self improving optimizing system. Also the cost analysis and planning could easily be done by analyzing and planning in accordance with the report. We have implemented the above activity and are happy to see people getting involved in the same. With time the quality of these reports are improving and these reports have been very helpful to the top management in the decision making process.

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION

Information is the backbone and culture of any organization. After a decade if you see, only the knowledge will be left, resources and events will shatter. All what would be left would be information. Thus we must be very careful and meticulous while dealing with information as information can help us foresee the Future.

Anhad Kashyap



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