Network Data Translation to Customer Availability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network service providers face challenges in accurately determining customer availability due to human errors in outage reporting and the lack of integrated customer and network data, which affects maintenance planning and service level agreement compliance.
Innovation Solution
A system that translates network data into customer availability by parsing router configurations to integrate port, card, and router data with customer information, eliminating direct router access and reducing double counting of outages, and provides maintenance recommendations based on projected availability and service level agreements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If network service providers use separate systems for network monitoring and customer service, then system complexity is reduced, but data integration and accuracy of customer availability determination deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines separate network monitoring systems and customer service systems into a unified system. This integration merges network data (router configurations, port status, outage information) with customer data (service subscriptions, port assignments) into a single coordinated system, enabling accurate customer availability determination while maintaining manageable complexity through systematic data integration.
2Ease of manufacture
If manual methods are used for outage reporting and availability calculation, then implementation cost is reduced, but measurement precision and reliability deteriorate due to human errors and double counting
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated self-service functionality where the unified system automatically parses router configurations, extracts port status and outage data, correlates this information with customer data, and calculates customer availability without manual intervention. This automation eliminates human errors and double-counting issues while maintaining cost-effectiveness through systematic processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where calculated customer availability metrics are continuously monitored and used to validate data accuracy. The system cross-references multiple data sources (network monitoring data, customer service data, outage records) and uses feedback loops to identify and correct inconsistencies, ensuring high measurement precision.
3Loss of time
If direct router access is used for data collection, then data freshness is improved, but system reliability deteriorates due to potential router disruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component that acts as a mediator between the monitoring system and routers. This intermediary parses router configurations and collects data without requiring direct access that could disrupt router operations. The intermediary systematically extracts necessary information (port status, outage data) while maintaining router stability, balancing data freshness with system reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A system is provided for translating network data into customer availability. The system includes a processor, a user interface, and a database manager. The database manager, when executed by the processor, parses router configurations to determine port data for each port on each router in a network, and integrates the port data with customer data to create an integrated database. The database manager also determines a planned port availability for the customer based on the integrated database and port state data, and determines port outages based on port outage data, card outage data, and router outage data. Additionally, the database manager determines an actual port availability for a customer based on the integrated database and concurrent outages identified for the port outages, and outputs a customer availability to the user interface, wherein the customer availability is based on the actual port availability and the planned port availability.