Telecommunications Network Inventory and Order Management for Telecommunications and Media

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Telecommunications Network Inventory and Order Management for Telecommunications and Media

    The Order Management for Telecommunications and Media application allows you to manage all product and service orders from a single interface, organizing them into service orders and further into resource orders. It integrates with the Telecommunications Network Inventory application to handle network-related tasks, creating change requests for necessary inventory actions.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Order Workflow: Generates order tasks for customer-facing service orders (CFS) and resource-facing service orders (RFS).
    • Integration Requirement: Requires the same instance license for both the Telecommunications Network Inventory and Order Management applications.
    • Change Request Process: Admins must create a record producer and a change model to initiate the creation of a change request for network inventory tasks.
    • Default Change Models: Include models for provisioning Ethernet links, GPON services, and mobility infrastructure, facilitating equipment creation based on predefined templates.
    • Workflow Automation: Automates the creation of change requests when order tasks are triggered, ensuring efficient order fulfillment.

    Key Outcomes

    Inventory agents can manage change tasks, which include opening, verifying, implementing, and closing tasks. Upon closing, the created configuration items (CIs) are linked to the affected CIs tab, updating work notes in the order task. This process ensures that all inventory actions related to an order task are documented, facilitating seamless integration and management of telecommunications services.

    With the Order Management for Telecommunications and Media application, you can manage all your product and service orders from one place. These product orders are divided into service orders that are further divided into resource orders.

    Overview

    The order workflow generates the order tasks that fulfill the customer-facing service order (CFS) and resource-facing service order (RFS). Network-related tasks that involve the inventory configuration items (CIs), models, and templates, may interact with the Telecommunications Network Inventory application to create network CIs. For all network-related order tasks, you must create a change request in the Telecommunications Network Inventory application.

    The following diagram shows the workflow for the integration of the Telecommunications Network Inventory and Order Management for Telecommunications application.

    Workflow explaining how TNI and OMT interact with each other to create a network CI.

    To create a network CI, the Telecommunications Network Inventory and Order Management for Telecommunications applications are integrated to perform service or product tasks, such as design and assign. A change request is initiated for the tasks that need a network inventory-related action.

    You must ensure that these conditions are met:
    1. You must have the license of both the Telecommunications Network Inventory and Order Management for Telecommunications applications in the same instance.
    2. In this integration, only the ADD action service order request from Order Management for Telecommunications and Media is provided.

    For admins

    To create a change request, an admin must perform the following tasks for an order task that needs the network inventory actions:
    1. Create a record producer. To learn more, see Create a record producer.
    2. Create a change model. To learn more, see Create a change model.
      By default, the Telecommunications Network Inventory application provides the change models that are described in the following table.
      Table 1. Default Change Models
      Change Models Description
      Provision LAG Creates Ethernet links across ports, and a LAG circuit over those Ethernet links. LAG has virtual interfaces. The VLAN ranges are also created and associated with LAG.
      GPON broadband Service (Automated) Provisions a GPON service over the existing network.
      Fiber-wise Mobility Infrastructure Provisions a mobility infrastructure over the existing network.
      Design and Assign Telco Equipment Creates equipment according to the predefined template at a particular network site.
      The states are New, Implement, Review, and Closed for the earlier change models. By default, all new change model states are set as New.

    3. Create a decision entry in the decision table provided by the Telecommunications Network Inventory application. See Order Management for Telecommunications integration to learn how to create an entry.

    TNI-OMT Integration for creating a change task. For the text description, refer to the workflow steps that follow.
    The workflow for creating a change task using TNI-OMT integration is as follows:
    1. The OMT subflow creates an order task.
    2. When the Order Task Created trigger is received, the TNI flow launches the Create Change Request and later creates a Change Request action.
    3. The OMT action and Service Specification are mapped to the Change Model, Record Producer in the TNI Order Task Submit Script Include and Decision Tables. Then the OMT characteristic is mapped to the Record Producer variables.
    4. The Producer is then submitted to the Record Producer via the sn_sc.CatItem API.
    5. It creates a Change Request with respect to the Order Task, Change Model, and Variables. Also, it uses the sn sc.CatItem API to return the result to the TNI flow.
    6. When this action is completed, it adds work notes to the Order task.
    7. After the Change Request is closed, it adds work notes to the Order task.

    For inventory agents

    An inventory agent can open, verify, implement, and close the assigned change tasks. After implemented, the created CIs are added under the Affected CIs tab. The work notes of the order task are updated when the order task is closed.

    As a result, the Order Management for Telecommunications and Media application fetches the list of the affected CIs and creates an install base item to relate the product order to the CI. To learn more, see Configuring order fulfillment in Order Management for Telecommunications, Media, and Technology.
    Note:
    • A change request for an order task is created automatically only if a decision entry is created.
    • A number of change requests is created based on the need for inventory action of an order task.
    • As a demo data:
      • In the Order Management for Telecommunications and Media application, the SD-WAN product has an Allocate and Install CPE task that triggers an equipment creation change request to the Telecommunications Network Inventory application.
      • The Telecommunications Network Inventory application has demo data that you can use to create equipment, provision a link aggregation group (LAG), automate a Gigabyte Passive Optical Network (GPON) broadband, and fiber wise mobility infra as Telecommunications Network Inventory workflows.