OSS Essentials: Support System Solutions for Service Providers [Paperback]

Kornel Terplan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0471392405 | ISBN-13: 978-0471392408 | Edition: 1

A guide to mastering one of the most strategically critical aspects of any telecommunications, ISP, or ASP business
Operational Support Systems (OSS) refers to the technical infrastructure that enables telecommunications companies, ISPs, ASPs, and CLECs to provide services directly to customers. In this important book, author Kornel Terplan draws upon his 25 years of experience as a top global telecommunications consultant to provide telecom operations managers and developers with the expert information and guidance they need to make strategic decisions about OSS in their companies. He reviews protocols and technology for service support, explores best practices for service development and provisioning, and provides expert guidance on tools and human resources for the technical service provider. Throughout, Terplan's approach to teaching OSS principles and practices is to present a real business problem and then walk you through the best solution.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The ultimate business survival guide for telecommunications service providers

If you're involved in the telecommunications industry, then you know how hard it can be to develop effective support and billing systems amid the dizzying rate of change and rapidly evolving Internet technologies. In this book, Kornel Terplan teaches you how. He cuts through the deluge of protocols, business processes, and tools, and guides you through best practices and real-world solutions you'll need to succeed in the digital marketplace.

Using ample practical examples and flowcharts, Terplan shows you not only how to meet the technical and administrative challenges facing today's service providers, but also how to take advantage of emerging opportunities in voice, data, and wireless services. Whether you work with telcos, ISPs, ASPs, CLECs, or another type of service provider, you'll want to know what Terplan has to say about:
* The impact of different services and products on your company's infrastructure
* Traditional, enterprise, and Web-based protocols-from Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) to XML
* A wide range of customer issues, including QoS, customer relationship management, and the billing process
* Order processing and provisioning, from inventory and service development to security management
* Network operational processes, from performance monitoring to data collection and management
* How to integrate support, documentation, and management systems and choose from existing products
* Human resources as a critical success factor, whether in stream-lining job profiles or the art of team building

About the Author

KORNEL TERPLAN is Industry Professor at Brooklyn Polytechnic University in New York and at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. He has more than 30 years of consulting experience offering training and product development services in areas like network management products and services, operations support systems, traffic management, service management, and outsourcing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 610 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 21, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471392405
• ISBN-13: 978-0471392408
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Culture > Technical Support

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Has potential to be great - lacks coherency & focus, July 9, 2001

By 

Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: OSS Essentials: Support System Solutions for Service Providers (Paperback)

This could have been *the* definitive reference on operational support systems. The author's uneven treatment of the subject and tendency to frequently go off topic or emphasize peripheral systems while leaving large gaps in the main subject have reduced this book to merely mediocre.

The strong points: the chapter on customer care and billing processes is remarkable. Here is a list of things that caught my attention and make this chapter so valuable: (1) the customer care maturity model is well thought out and serves as an excellent benchmarking tool, (2) the customer analysis and acquisition is on the mark, and (3) the customer interface management process and associated diagram comprise an excellent model for OSS processes. I also thought the way the author covered the problem handling process represents best practices, as does the section on SLA management. This is the stuff OSS is made of and it's covered both well and contains ideas and models in which service providers will be interested. The chapter provisioning and order processing is also strong and filled with excellent information for those who are seeking OSS-specific knowledge.

Weaknesses: Not only does this book overemphasize the network operations, which is important, but not central, but the author manages to drop this information into unexpected areas throughout the book. An example: Section 4.4 is an engrossing piece on the sales process that is succinct and filled with information, including tables and a diagram that reinforce the excellent information the author is imparting. Right in the middle of all this is a diagram that shows the use of a DMZ to separate intranets and extranets - not something anyone interested in sales processes cares about and is a big distraction. This happens throughout the book. Also, I agree with the comments made by a previous reviewer about wasting page count on product-specific information. This information needs to be moved to a web site where it can be maintained in an up-to-date fashion. Ironically, the publisher does this for other books. Finally, there are some major gaps: (1) no mention of the TeleManagement Forum, which is a global non-profit organization that is devoted to OSS. This organization has a technology integration map and numerous OSS-related processes that are De Facto standards in the OSS world, yet no mention of the organization and no mention of the wealth of material available that is directly related to OSS. (2) Section 7.4, which addresses migration from an existing to new billing system, misses some key considerations, which could have been developed into a discussion of strengths and weaknesses. For example, how do you segment and migrate subscribers? By CSA? Bill cycle? Region? Price plan? As the industry consolidates this particular issue keeps cropping up and a more in-depth treatment here is warranted. (3) No mention of TL 9000, which is an encompassing quality standard for telecommunications service providers. A portion of this standard applies directly to OSS.

Overall, this book contains some of the best information about OSS that has been collected and compiled into a single book. In fact, it's the only book on the subject. What is needed to make it great is a strong editor who understands OSS and who is not reticent about removing large pieces of superfluous material from this book. More information about standards that are directly related to OSS should also be included. If you work with operational support systems you really have no choice but to buy this book - I just hope that the next edition addresses the weaknesses.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but could be better, April 27, 2001

By 

Tao Zhang (Herndon, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: OSS Essentials: Support System Solutions for Service Providers (Paperback)

This book assumes that the reader has already had a basic grasp of technology and protocols on which OSS systems are based and therefore is somewhat technicality-inclined from the perspective of an average reader who simply wants to understand OSS in plain English. The basic structure is pretty good, however, it will definitely help sell itself if it could be written from a totally layman's angle.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some excellent info, but wanders around in places, July 6, 2001

By 

Linda Zarate "IT Ops Consultant" (Azusa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: OSS Essentials: Support System Solutions for Service Providers (Paperback)

The eight chapters in this 610 page book tie together operational support systems and how they relate to network operations, business support systems and network management. In some respects this book is less about OSS than it is about the network, which is evidenced by the structure of the book and page count given to each topic.

It starts with an encompassing overview of operations, business and marketing support systems. This is entirely focused on OSS, and has one of the best descriptions of a service delivery cycle I've seen in print. This is followed by a chapter discussing a service provider's portfolio of products and services, which sets the context for OSS. Chapter 3, however, seems out of sequence, because it breaks the flow by addressing management protocols - a topic that is peripherally related to OSS, but is not central. The author gets back on track in chapter 4 with a solid, information-packed treatment of customer care and billing processes. Thi!s is the heart of OSS and the author provides some great information, which is continued in chapter 5's discussion of provisioning and order processing. Unfortunately, the author drifts off into network operations management, which is the topic of chapter 6. This is certainly related to OSS, but does not warrant the 74 pages this topic consumes. Chapter 7, covering support, documentation and management systems is really a catalog of products, which eats another 104 pages of peripherally related material that could have better been provided on a companion web site since product-specific information is a moving target and only renders a book prematurely obsolete. The final two chapters covering workforce management and trends for service providers were valuable, especially the comprehensive tables and lists devoted to job profiles and organizational structures.

Overall this book has a lot of excellent information, most of which is not available elsewhere. However, the aut!hor wanders and drifts into too much detail on topics that are not central to the theme of this book. Since it is the only book on the market on OSS and does provide a wealth of information I decided to be lenient and award it 4 stars. I hope the next edition benefits from some good editing and focuses on OSS, and the product-specific information is moved to a companion web site the way other publishers handle this time sensitive material.