Maximising Business Benefits from OSS Platforms in the Rail and Utility IndustriesCommTel White Paper

Historically, the telecom networks and associated Operational Support Systems (OSS) used by rail and utility operators have enabled the safe operation of primary assets¹.

As rail and utility operators pursue improvements in the availability and utilisation of their primary assets, their telecom networks and associated OSS are undergoing a significant transformation. The networks and OSS must support an ever-increasing number and variety of end devices and protocols, covering the full spectrum from legacy to the most advanced. To provide operations staff with comprehensive and insightful views of the network, OSS are being integrated and used to monitor ancillary systems.

For rail and utility operators today, substantial OSS business benefits come from enabling improvements in primary asset utilisation and availability. The traditional direct benefits of improved telecommunications service availability and staff efficiencies remain. However, they are now overshadowed by the benefits of improving primary asset performance.

From a business perspective, maximising the benefits derived from OSS platforms requires two things: firstly, a high quality suite of integrated OSS platforms and secondly, well disciplined implementation

within a sound strategic framework. The days of isolated islands of vendor-specific network management systems have passed. Integrating OSS platforms, with each other and with Business and Enterprise Systems², is vital to achieving the efficiency gains and information improvements business sponsors require. A sound business-driven OSS strategy is needed in order to provide the framework and backdrop for making OSS-related investment decisions. Each OSS initiative needs to be structured and managed as an IT project, and stepped through all the major delivery phases.

Introduction to OSS

1 Examples of Primary Assets are: eg, railway lines, rolling stock and electricity networks (the ‘poles and wires’ and substations)2 Business and Enterprise Systems include Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP), telecom Product Management systems, Customer Relationshi (CRM) and Billing Systems1

Rail and utility operators have long built, owned and managed their own telecom networks. These networks and associated OSS have primarily served to enable the safe operation of primary assets.

In recent years, such operators have started to diversify the use of their telecom networks. Delivery of large amounts of detailed data on the performance and use of their assets and ancillary systems is now being included.

Rapidly increasing numbers and varieties of sophisticated end devices³ are providing operations teams with large quantities of performance and usage data around primary assets and ancillary systems. This change draws parallels to the ‘Internet of Things4’ and ‘Big Data5’ in common with a number of industries. For rail and utility operators, we expect this trend to gather pace with increasing focus on technology, advanced data analysis, and the resulting knowledge to improve asset performance and workforce efficiencies.

What do these changes mean for the OSS platforms that rail and utility operators use in designing, operating and maintaining their telecom networks? Furthermore, how can operators leverage them to maximise the business benefits?

In broad terms, maximising business benefits from OSS investments – particularly in this evolving environment of abundant network connectivity and device diversity – increasingly relies on enhancing primary asset performance. For rail and utility operators, the OSS challenge calls for improvements to: asset availability and utilisation; labour efficiency; and the practicality of managing the telecom network (including end devices).

Today more than ever, rail and utility operators require a well-integrated, functionally rich, vendor- and technology-independent, customisable suite of OSS to maximise benefits. The days of standalone, vendor-specific network management systems have passed.

Why OSS?

3 For example, Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) used in the electricity industry4 Internet of Things – a concept where increasingly common devices are connected to a network and are able to identify themselves and communicate to other devices5 Big Data, to paraphrase Gartner, is high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety data requiring cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making.

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Operational Support Systems, as the name implies, support the day-to-day operations of a telecom network, including maintenance and billing6.

In particular, OSS contribute to the functions and processes described within the orange boxes in Figure 1 below – namely Service and Resource Management functions across Operations Support and Readiness, Fulfilment, Assurance and Billing processes.

The Appendix at the end of this paper provides a brief description of common OSS platforms and their roles.

In a typical telecommunications context, OSS platforms have as their primary objectives maximising the:• Reliability and availability of the network

and the services it delivers; and• Practicality and efficiency of performing

the day to day tasks associated with operating the network (eg, design, configuration, provisioning, monitoring, maintenance and billing7)

Figure 1 - Where OSS Platforms Support the Operations of Telecom Networks

The Role of OSS: Supporting Day-to-Day Telecommunications

6 Billing will apply to those operators that either provide commercially priced services to external customers or charge internal customers based on usage or services provided7 For many rail and utility operators billing for their operational networks is not applicable.

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Stratergy, Infrastructure & Product

Service Development & Management

Resource Development & Management

Supply Chain Development & Management

Enterprise Management

Strategic & Enterprise Planning

Enterprise Risk Management

Financial & Asset Management

Stakeholder & External Relations Management

Human Resources Management

Knowledge & Research Management

Stratergy & Commitment

Infrastructure Lifecycle Management

Product Lifecycle Management

Operations (Processes)

Operations Support & Readiness

Assurance Billing

Customer

Customer Relationship Management

Service Management & Operations

Supplier/Partner Relationship Manager

Resource Management & Operation

In the context of rail and utility operators and their operational telecommunications networks, the benefits of OSS platforms comprise an expanded set of the objectives previously discussed, namely:

1. Improved telecom service reliability and availability, resulting from fewer service interruptions and faster restoration. Importantly, this improvement often leads to higher utility and rail performance levels (e.g. fewer and shorter power interruptions and signalling failures);

2. Making it practical to efficiently and reliably integrate an increased number and diverse range of end devices. This in turn will enable (a) asset managers to improve the utilisation and availability of primary assets (e.g. through use of outage management systems in the electricity industry) and (b) an increased range and quality of customer services;

3. Reduced field force costs through (a) better identification of the source and specifics of a problem (i.e. what needs to be fixed and its location), (b) being able to adopt a predictive maintenance philosophy reducing: (i) the level of maintenance activities (compared to preventive maintenance) and (ii) service interruptions (compared to breakdown maintenance) and (c) rapid and accurate identification of service impacts from equipment and cable outages (planned or unplanned); and

4. Reduced labour costs in performing day-to-day telecom network service, resource operations and management tasks (e.g. design, configure, monitor and maintain).

Figure 2 describes the relationship between the functional improvements that OSS platforms provide and the resulting direct and indirect business benefits. Boxes with numbered $ signs indicate where operators typically realise financial benefits from their OSS investments. Box numbers reference the numbered points above.

For rail and utility operators, typically the magnitude of long-term business benefits from OSS run in the same order – that is, benefits from Point 1 are larger than those from Point 2, and so on.

The financial implications from improving the availability of primary assets can be significant, running into many millions. Often the telecom network and associated OSS will

only account for a portion of this financial impact. However, it is important to ensure that OSS functionality and performance do not limit or compromise the availability and utilisation of primary assets.

For electricity utilities, improved asset utilisation benefits can be substantial and are often achieved through increased safe working capacity limits for the network – thus avoiding or delaying large network investments. The increase in capacity comes through adopting more advanced network-rating techniques that depend on detailed and accurate information from the field deployment of intelligent devices (e.g. IEDs).

Successful large-scale deployment of these devices relies on a telecom network and associated OSS that can support the full number and diversity of devices in a practical and reliable manner.

While the benefits from Points 1 and 2 above can be substantial, due to their indirect nature they are typically more difficult to quantify and to demonstrate the contributions from the OSS. The complexity for managers putting an OSS business case together resides in identifying causal links and specific examples of where OSS platforms have affected primary asset availability.

Figure 2 - The flow of Business Benefits from Operational Support Systems

OSS Business Benefits - Improved Asset Availability, Asset Utilisation and Workforce Efficiency

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OSS Platform

Insight & Focus

Automation & Simplication

Automation, Insight & Focused

Improved Telecom Service Availability & Reliability

Increased Range & Number of Services & End Devices

Improved Asset

Utilisation

Reduction in Maintenance Costs

Improved Asset

Availability & Reliability

Detailed & Focused Information

Quality & Variety of information

Fewer Interuptions to Asset Availability

Increase Predictive Maintenance

As the previous section identified, the business benefits of OSS come from making the network operator’s work more efficient and effective. This leads to improved availability and utilisation of primary and secondary assets, as well as increased field force efficiency. The key to achieving these improvements is equipping the operations team with tools that produce rich, insightful and accurate information about the broader network.

The information required by the operations team has many dimensions including location, configuration, fault, usage, performance, and financial. In most cases, the operations team must access current and historical information and, in some cases, they also need access to planned or future state information.

In today’s telecom networks, this diversity of information is often collected and stored across a number of individual OSS platforms, each with a distinct role. Therefore to maximise the benefits of OSS platforms it follows, the platforms should be:

• Well integrated;• Vendor and technology independent; • Functionally sophisticated, tailorable, and

well embedded into the network design and operational processes; and

• Monitoring the ancillary systems.

Integration Contributes to Managing More Diverse End Devices and Improved Fault Diagnosis

Having OSS platforms that are well integrated (with each other, as well as with higher level business and enterprise systems) increases automatic flowthrough and data synergy. Automatic flowthrough significantly reduces data entry effort and errors, while data synergy increases the richness of the data and resulting insights. This assists operators and asset managers in diagnosing faults and analysing asset utilisation and performance. Automation, improved diagnosis and analysis facilitate management of a growing number and diversity of end devices. This in turn leads to increased (a) asset availability, reliability and utilisation; and (b) quality and variety of end customer services. In addition, these factors enable wider adoption of predictive maintenance methods, thereby lowering maintenance costs.

Vendor- and Technology-independence Contribute to Improved Effectiveness and Lower Costs

Operational networks used by rail and utility operators must increasingly support both legacy and advanced equipment and protocols. This trend is a major reason for deploying vendor- and technology-independent OSS platforms in order to reduce the number of platforms performing similar functions.

Another driver is the trend in many operators for closer interworking and, in some cases, integration of operational and corporate networks. In part, this stems from a growing reliance on easy and timely delivery of large volumes of data to various repositories and analysis systems.

Other things being equal, vendor and technology independent OSS reduces the number of platforms and facilitates operational team proficiency in system usage – resulting in lower ownership costs and improved staff efficiencies.

Maximising the Business Benefits required Integrated, Feature rich, Open OSS platforms

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Well Embedded, Functionally Advanced and Tailorable Systems Improve Asset Availability, Reliability, Utilisation and Efficiency

OSS platforms that are functionally sophisticated, easily adapted and well embedded within day-to-day processes deliver improved business efficiencies. Network operators presented with insightful information rather than simply large amounts of data are far more efficient and effective. Likewise, well integrated systems and processes help staff to complete their tasks with greater ease and efficiency – resulting in faster completion times and less rework.

These outcomes in turn contribute to:• Improved telecom network service

reliability and availability, with the flow-on benefit of increasing primary asset availability and utilisation;

• Improved telecommunications staff efficiency;

• The ability to manage a growing number of end devices – this enables increased asset availability, reliability and utilisation, as well as reduced maintenance costs by adopting predictive maintenance methods; and

• Increased field force efficiency, by providing more meaningful information quicker.

Monitoring the Ancillary Systems Provides a Complete Network View, Improved Availability and Reliability

Rail and utility operators deploy a wide range of ancillary systems in both their telecom and primary asset networks. This includes building security, power and telemetry systems (e.g. for equipment and environmental monitoring).

Increasingly the ancillary systems and operational telecommunications network are interdependent, being integrated from both an operational and support perspective. In many cases, operators use the same buildings and equipment rooms for both their telecom equipment and the equipment associated with their primary assets (e.g. signalling and control). Often both use or rely upon the same ancillary systems such as air conditioning, building security and CCTV. Hence, to provide

telecom staff with a comprehensive view of the whole network, the OSS must increasingly support the monitoring and management of ancillary systems (see Figure 3 below).

Providing operators with a complete network view that includes ancillary systems serves to improve service availability and reliability. This in turn delivers appreciable benefits around improved primary asset availability and reliability.

Figure 3 - Both Telecoms & Primary Asset Management Systems are increasingly used to monitor Ancillary Systems

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Telecoms NMS Asset Management System

TelecommunicationsDomain

Primary Assets Domain

Ancillary Systems

Security Systems

Power Systems

Environmental Systems

Telecom Network

Maximising business benefits also requires timely and cost-effective implementation that aligns with organisational objectives. A sound and well budgeted OSS Strategic Plan should govern the nature and timing of any initiatives undertaken. This plan must clearly articulate an OSS vision, detail the gaps between the current state and the vision, and provide a roadmap for closing them.

In articulating the vision, the strategic plan should set out the vision (future state), the alternatives considered, and the business rationale for adopting the recommended vision. Gap analysis needs to document the current state of each OSS platform, rating each against the vision. The analysis should also determine the practicality of enhancing each platform to meet the vision, and hence draw accurate conclusions regarding long-term suitability.

Finally, the plan should provide an overall business-focused OSS investment program and roadmap. The objective of the program and roadmap is to provide business managers with a framework and backdrop within which to make OSS investment decisions. The investment program and roadmap need to (a) identify all material initiatives required to reach the future state; (b) provide a high-level budget and program schedule, and (c) for each initiative, present a mini business case.

As each OSS initiative is approved it should be structured and managed as an IT project, progressively stepping though all the major system implementation phases including:

• Requirements analysis;• Sourcing (going to market);• Detailed solution design;• System implementation, integration and

testing;• Process integration / re-engineering; and • Training

As with most IT projects, successful execution requires a variety of skills, processes, tools and expertise – principally in the following areas:• Business analysis;• IT environments (both physical and virtual,

servers, operating systems and system tools);

• OSS applications (configuration, integration and development);

• Business process re-engineering;• Technical and business process training;

and Project and vendor management.

Maximising the Business Benefits requires a Strategic Plan and Effective Implementation

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As a trusted partner to many rail and utility operators, CommTel Network Solutions understands the specialised telecom and OSS requirements of these industries. CommTel’s network solutions include a wide range of functionally rich, vendor- and technology-independent, tailorable OSS platforms. We have the skills, processes, tools and experience to successfully implement and support an OSS suite for customers in a manner that maximises their return on their OSS investment.

Operational Support Systems used by rail and utility operators increasingly have broader and more crucial roles to play in operators’ businesses. Today and into the future, OSS platforms in the rail and utility industries will contribute significant business benefits associated with improved operations and maintenance of primary assets. Therefore maximising OSS business benefits is very

much about ensuring the telecom network can reliably and efficiently support the services and devices that asset managers require to optimise primary asset performance. In order to achieve this, OSS platforms need to be functionality sophisticated, integrated, and vendor- and technology-independent. OSS projects should align with a strategic plan, be justified from a business rather than technical perspective, and be managed as IT projects.

CommTel Delivers Solutions Tailored to Rail and Utility Requirements

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CommTel Network Solutions is an Australian owned company providing turnkey communications networks, both within Australia and internationally. As a leading international provider of communications design, supply, integration and support in the dedicated and industrial networks sector, we have unsurpassed experience and knowledge that our customers rely on. We specialise in the delivery of mission and business critical networks in the Mining, Oil and Gas, Transport, Utilities, Carrier and Public Safety sectors.

CommTel’s key to success is in developing long-term relationships with, both customers and suppliers.

We ensure our customer’s investments in network infrastructure are protected for the life of their network.

With capabilities covering the entire project life-cycle, we offer a broad range of value added services, from technology selection, system integration, design, engineering, project management and product verification, through to after sales support, spares management and training.

CommTel maintains a strong and diverse network of technical experts to ensure our products and services are responsive, fit for purpose and flexible.We have also developed a dedicated system laboratory, equipped with infrastructure to support technical ServiceDesk inquiries and customer solution development.

CommTel’s capabilities include:

Professional Services• Network design, optimisation and

technology selection• Multi-vendor system integration• Integration Services• System configuration, installation, testing

and commissioning• Training and Learning programs for

technology, equipment and systems• Business and Technology Consulting• Project management and engineering

support

Operational Support Systems• Network Management and Operational

Support Systems (NMS/OSS)

Support Services• After sales support• 24x7 ServiceDesk for technical enquiries• Warranty, equipment repair and software

support• Advanced spares management

About CommTel

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The contents of this document are subject to change without notice.

August 2016

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