Method and system for user based network analysis and planning
View Patent ↗A system and method are provided for converting individual technical metrics into a single relevant metric understood and accepted by both technical and non-technical components of a business venture. An example system and/or method includes measuring current technical utilizations and capacities, translating those into a supportable users metric, forecasting future utilization levels, translating those into future network component and/or hardware requirements, and expanding/scaling technical capacity based on those values and the predetermined capacity levels of additional components and/or hardware.
1. A method of supportable user based dimensioning, comprising:
measuring a current user level;
measuring respective current utilization levels for a plurality of constraints, wherein the plurality of constraints represent a network resource service;
determining respective maximum utilization levels for the plurality of constraints;
calculating with a processor a current maximum supportable users capacity based at least in part on the current user level, the current utilization levels of the plurality of constraints and the maximum utilization levels of the plurality of constraints;
reporting a calculated current maximum supportable users capacity;
calculating with the processor an average supportable user capacity;
forecasting at least one future user level based at least in part of the calculated average supportable user capacity; and
calculating with the processor a growing user forecast and expanding the network resource service, based at least in part on a ratio of the forecasted future user level and the current maximum supportable users capacity.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein current utilization levels includes at least one of the following constraints: memory utilization, signal capacity utilization, and processor utilization.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein signaling link utilization includes at least one of: Signaling System Number 7 (SS7), Signaling Transport (SIGTRAN), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), and Internet Protocol (IP) protocols.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a user is a wireless telecommunications customer, and wherein the network resource service includes a wireless communication service provider.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein expanding the network resource service includes adding sets of hardware, wherein each set has a supportable users metric associated with each respective set which represents an amount the maximum supportable users capacity is expected to increase after each respective set has been added to the network resource service, and wherein the respective sets of hardware configuration and associated number of users is predetermined.
6. A system of user based dimensioning, comprising:
a network resource service, the network resource service including a plurality of constraints;
a measurement of a current user level;
a measurement of a respective current utilization level for each constraint of the plurality of constraints;
a determination of a respective maximum utilization level for each constraint of the plurality of constraints; and
reporting a calculated current maximum supportable users capacity,
wherein a current maximum supportable users capacity is based on the current user level, the respective current utilization levels of each constraint of the plurality of constraints and the respective maximum utilization levels of each constraint of the plurality of constraints;
wherein an average supportable user capacity is calculated;
wherein at least one future user level based at least in part of the calculated average supportable user capacity is forecasted; and
wherein the network resource service a growing user forecast is calculated and is expandable based at least in part on a ratio of a future user forecast and the current maximum supportable users capacity.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein current utilization levels includes at least one of the following components: memory utilization, signaling link capacity utilization, and processor utilization.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein signaling link utilization includes at least one of: Signaling System Number 7 (SS7), Signaling Transport (SIGTRAN), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), and Internet Protocol (IP) protocols.
9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the user includes a wireless telecommunications customer, and wherein the network resource service includes a wireless communication service provider.
10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the network resource service is expandable by adding at least one set of hardware, wherein each set has an associated user capacity which represents an amount the maximum supportable users capacity is expected to increase after the respective set has been added to the network resource, and wherein the respective set and associated number of users is predetermined.
11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions configured to be executed by a processor, the instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the performance of a method of user based dimensioning, comprising:
measuring a current user level;
measuring respective current utilization levels for a plurality of components, wherein the plurality of components represent a network resource service;
determining respective maximum current utilization levels for a plurality of components;
calculating a current maximum supportable users capacity based in part on the current user level, the current utilization levels of the plurality of components and maximum current utilization levels of the plurality of components;
reporting a calculated current maximum supportable users capacity;
calculating an average supportable user capacity;
forecasting at least one future user level based at least in part of the calculated average supportable user capacity; and
calculating with the processor a growing user forecast and expanding the network resource based at least in part on a ratio of the future user level forecast and a current maximum supportable users capacity, the current maximum supportable users capacity being based on the current maximum supportable users metric.
12. The storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the current utilization levels include at least one of the following components: memory utilization, signal capacity utilization, and processor utilization.
13. The storage medium of claim 12 , wherein signaling link utilization includes at least one of: Signaling System Number 7 (SS7), Signaling Transport (SIGTRAN), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), and Internet Protocol (IP).
14. The storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the user is a wireless telecommunications customer, and wherein the network resource service includes a wireless communication service provider.
15. The storage medium of claim 11 , wherein expanding the network resource service includes adding at least one set of hardware, wherein each respective set has a supportable users metric associated with each respective set which represents an amount the maximum supportable users capacity is expected to increase after each respective set has been added to the network resource service, and wherein a configuration of the respective sets of hardware and the associated number of users is predetermined.
16. A method of supportable user based dimensioning, comprising:
measuring a current user level;
measuring respective current utilization levels for a plurality of components wherein the plurality of components represent a network resource service;
determining respective maximum utilization levels for a plurality of components;
calculating using a processor a current maximum supportable users capacity based at least in part on the current user level, the current utilization levels of the plurality of components, and the maximum utilization levels of the plurality of components;
reporting a calculated current maximum supportable users capacity;
calculating with the processor an average supportable user capacity;
forecasting at least one future user level based at least in part of the calculated average supportable user capacity; and
calculating with the processor a growing user forecast and expanding the network resource service, based at least in part on a ratio of the future user forecast and the current maximum supportable users capacity,
wherein the network resource service is expanded by adding at least one set of hardware, each respective set having an associated supportable users metric which represents an amount that the maximum supportable users capacity is expected to increase after each respective set has been added to the network resource service.