Telecommunications service management
A method of processing service information relating to a plurality of user services available in a telecommunications system is disclosed. The method includes storing entities defining service components in a service information database, where each service component entity represents a distinct aspect of service functionality which can be provided by the telecommunications system. Entities defining implementation technologies are also stored, each implementation technology entity being associated with a service component entity and representing a technology that can be used for implementing the aspect of service functionality represented by the service component entity. The method further stores entities defining user services available to users of the telecommunications system, each user service entity being associated with one or more service component entities defining service functionality aspects of the user service. The method can be applied to the management of service information databases or product catalogues for a range of telecommunications services and networks which provide complex services, for example Next Generation Networks (NGNs).
1. A system, comprising:
a service information database defining:
a plurality of service components, each service component representing functionality that can be provided by network resources in a telecommunications network; and
a plurality of user services; each user service representing a service which can be provided to users of the telecommunications network and being associated in the database with one or more of the plurality of service components, the one or more associated service components specifying the service functionality of the user service;
the system further comprising:
an order interface adapted to receive a service order relating to a given user service;
a plurality of domain managers for managing technology resources of respective network technology domains; and
a provisioning component adapted to access the service information database; identify one or more service components associated with the given user service; and, for each identified service component, select an implementation technology usable for providing the service functionality represented by the service component and issue a command to the domain manager associated with the selected implementation technology to configure one or more network resources to provide the service functionality;
wherein the provisioning component is adapted to select the implementation technology in dependence on priority information defined for available implementation technologies;
wherein at least one of the plurality of service components is associated with a plurality of alternative implementation technologies including a first alternative implementation technology and a second alternative implementation technology, and where a higher priority is assigned to the second alternative implementation technology than the first alternative implementation technology, in order to assist in a phasing out of the first alternative implementation technology.
2. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the service information database further defines one or more of the alternative implementation technologies associated with each service component, the provisioning component being adapted to select an implementation technology for a given service component from the alternative implementation technologies defined for the service component in the database.
3. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the provisioning component is adapted to select the implementation technology in dependence on network resources available at a serving location at which the service is to be provided.
4. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the service order specifies one or more requirements for the service, the provisioning component being adapted to select the implementation technology in dependence on the ability of available implementation technologies to fulfill the specified service requirements.
5. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the provisioning component is adapted, for each identified service component, to retrieve provisioning information, the provisioning information specifying a process for configuring one or more network resources of the selected implementation technology to provide the functionality represented by the service component, the provisioning component being adapted to provision the service component in accordance with the provisioning information.
6. A system according to claim 5 , wherein the provisioning information comprises a script, the provisioning component being adapted to execute the script.
7. A system according to claim 5 , wherein the provisioning information is stored in the service information database and is associated in the database with one or more of the implementation technology and the service component to which it relates.
8. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the provisioning component is adapted to coordinate the provisioning of different service components in the respective technology domains of the selected implementation technologies.
9. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the provisioning component is adapted to perform additional configuration to connect network resources of different technology domains.
10. A system according to claim 1 , further comprising a service inventory database comprising one or more of data defining provisioned services and services being provisioned, the provisioning component being adapted to modify the service inventory database in response to the provisioning of the service order.
11. A system according to claim 10 , wherein the provisioning component is adapted to create a service instance entity in the service inventory representing the instance of the user service being provisioned.
12. A system according to claim 10 , wherein the provisioning component is adapted to create a resource instance entity in the service inventory for each service component being provisioned, each resource instance entity representing the network resources of the selected implementation technology being used to provision the service component.