Telecommunications design and assign
Summarize
Summary of Telecommunications design and assign
The design and assign function in the Telecommunications Network Inventory application allows you to digitally represent your network inventories and services. It enables you to perform inventory tasks sequentially or in parallel to establish network design criteria that trigger change workflows. These workflows help assign inventory resources and instantiate your network inventory, supporting efficient and accurate network capacity building.
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This function integrates with customer order information and uses standard Change Management and Workflow Studio processes. It automates workflows for creating and expanding network services, handling both simple circuits and complex network infrastructures. Additionally, it supports path analysis, computations, and application of VLAN and LAG assignment rules for Passive Optical Networks (PONs), enforcing technology and process restrictions during network resource allocation.
Design and assign workflow
Before using the design and assign function, you define models, model relationships, templates, and template relationships to set your design criteria. The ServiceNow AI Platform then generates an automated workflow to perform all tasks required to instantiate network inventory.
- Inventory template or catalog managers create inventory models capturing manufacturer technical information, model relationships defining connections between models, and inventory templates containing business guidance rules. These enable instantiation of network inventory records via change management workflows.
- Inventory agents create change requests and tasks using change models. Network asset instantiation occurs through APIs or change tasks linked to these requests.
Upon task completion, a network inventory record is generated based on the predefined structural relationships. If integrated with operational and business support systems, internal workflows are triggered to handle purchase, installation, shipment, and instantiation of assets at designated sites according to Workflow Studio-defined tasks.
Instantiation example
An example use case is fulfilling an order for Gigabyte Passive Optical Networks (GPON) broadband by creating a set of network inventory records using the design and assign function.
Practical benefits for ServiceNow customers
- Efficiently build and expand network capacity with accurate resource allocation and automation.
- Manage complex network infrastructures and simple circuits within a unified workflow.
- Enforce technology and process restrictions to ensure compliant network resource design and assignment.
- Integrate network inventory instantiation with change management for streamlined operations.
- Leverage AI-generated workflows to reduce manual configuration and improve accuracy.
With the design and assign function, you can build a digital representation of your network inventories and your network service in the Telecommunications Network Inventory application.
Design and assign overview
By using the design and assign function, you perform inventory tasks sequentially or in parallel to set a network design criteria that initiate s change workflows. With these workflows, you can assign inventory resources and instantiate your network inventory. You can also perform the design and assign function with the information that you collected from the customer orders.
When you perform the design and assign function in the Telecommunications Network Inventory application, you use the standard processes from the Change Management and Workflow Studio applications. Create a change request enables you to instantiate the network inventory resources to support your network service topologies. It helps you efficiently build new network capacity with accurate resource allocation. You can also automate workflows to create and expand your network service.
You can design and configure both simple circuits and a complex network infrastructure. You can then perform path analysis and computations for your network assignments​. You can also apply virtual local area network (VLAN) and link aggregation group (LAG) assignment rules for Passive Optical Networks (PONs). By using the design and assign function, you enforce technology and process restrictions as you design and allocate your network resources.
Design and assign workflow
Before you start the design and assign function, you define the models, model relationships, templates, and template relationships for your design criteria. Then the ServiceNow AI Platform generates an automated workflow that performs all the tasks that are required to instantiate a network inventory.
- Create the inventory models. You create an inventory model to track the technical information from the manufacturer about a network asset. When you instantiate an inventory record, your inventory record contains this standard manufacturer information. To learn more, see Creating your inventory models.
- Create the model relationship. The model relationship captures the relationships between the inventory models. To learn more, see Modeling your network inventory relationships.
- Create the inventory template. You create the network inventory template that contains the business guidance rules from a telecommunications provider. To learn more, see Creating inventory template for network asset instantiation.
- Create the change request with the change model. To learn more, see Create a change request from Network Inventory Workspace.
- Create the change tasks from the change request. The network asset instantiation takes place using an Application programming interface (API) or change task that you create from the change request. To learn more, see Create and execute a change task in Telecommunications Network Inventory.
- A network inventory record is generated. The record is based on the same structural relationships that you defined for the inventory templates and associated inventory models. The configured item consists of your inventory model and all the related inventory models.
- If you integrate with other operational and business support systems, the process triggers an internal workflow. This workflow completes the purchase, installation, shipment, and instantiation of your network asset at the designated site. This internal workflow is based on the individual tasks or lists of tasks that are associated with the inventory model in Workflow Studio.
Instantiation example
You can create a set of network inventory records to fulfill an order request for Gigabyte Passive Optical Networks (GPON) broadband by using the design and assign function. To learn more, see Designing and assigning a GPON broadband service.