IT & Process

Topics from recent Dialogue Product Discussion Forums are listed below.

Presentations and reports on these topics are available on this web page for logged in service providers. If you do not have a login contact us.

Channel update on B2B and the Self Service Portal

12 August 2010

Richard Cowsill, Manager Channel & Business Process, talked about the newly-published FMO B2B schema, version 2.0, plus our vision and initial launch plans for the Self Service Portal.

Log in to view Richard's presentation:

FMO Assure - next steps

12 August 2010

Heta Dawson, Senior Operational Capability Manager, gave an update on FMO Assure, including the SPM to eSPM migration.

Log in to see Heta's presentation:

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Channels - Update on B2B and the new Self Service Portal

Gerard Linstrom provided an update on Telecom Wholesale's B2B - both CMO and FMO. He also briefly discussed the launch of the new self service portal in August.

Interim RQ UBA Abandonment Process

3 June 2010

David Oxnam, Snr Product manager Broadband, from the Wholesale Product team discussed a couple of proposals to vary our fulfilment processes for broadband to make the provisioning and customer transfer process smoother for abandoned services and discussed a request from the industry for a specific Waiters priority process change.

The UBA abandonment proposal has been discussed at the Dialogue forum previously and we are now at the point where we have a detailed proposal that could be implemented. Your feedback on the suggested definitions or SLAs is welcomed so that we can commence planning for the launch of these process

If you have any questions email David.

TCF Emergency Calling Code - Telecom Compliance

3 June 2010

Alan Fagan, Principal Solutions Architect, TT&SS, provided an overview of the TCF Emergency Calling code and discussed Telecom's compliance with this voluntary code. To find out more about the code visit the TCF website. Login to view Alan's presentation:

Port Refresh - update on the progress of the trial

3 June 2010

The Troubleshooting tools are being regularly updated with new functionality, the most recent being a trial of the Broadband Port Refresh tool. Heta Dawson - Snr Operational Capability Manager - shared some of the raw statistics being reported back, signalling some of the issues uncovered that will require investigation to resolve prior to a full launch We also have discovered unplanned/unpredicted benefits flowing from putting this tool into the hands of customer fault restoration staff. Some of the issues will require system modifications, others better error message scripting and further training.

Email Heta if you wish to have any questions regarding the port refresh trial.

Customer B2B FMO Test Capability

22nd April 2010

Mike O'Neill, Senior Operational Capability Manager, talked about a phased approach to launching a customer test capability for the new B2B. A proof of concept stage, testing two scenarios, will be available for initial testing from 10 - 28 May.

Login to view Mike's presentation:

Troubleshooting tools update

Since the release of the Broadband SPM tools in December 2009, we have seen a high number of customers complete certification and training for individual staff. WIth a couple of months of data analysis we have identified some positive trends and an instance of inappropriate use of line tests. Patrick Everton advised that impacted customers will be contacted by their Service Delivery Manager with a view to identifying what additional training, process development is required to ensure that the correct tests are being requested to ensure speedy restoration of services.

Login to view and download Patrick's presentation:

Business Process Review

8th April 2010

Glenn Syman, Transition Manager, Transformation Technology & Shared Services, Telecom New Zealand, presented a number of customer impacting scenarios at the February IT & Process forum that we were seeking your feedback on. Each of these business scenarios impacted multiple business processes.

Feedback to the proposals presented in February has typically been supportive. These proposals are therefore guiding our current macro design for improved business processes and will form the basis for the micro design phase. The proposals and feedback are detailed in Glenn's presentation.

Further feedback on these proposals is welcome and can be directed to the development team via Glenn.

Log in to view Glenn's presentation.

Fulfill B2B Schema Release v1.2

8th April 2010

Brigette Summers, Capability Development Manager - Fulfil, Telecom Wholesale, highlighted the scope of changes to the schema in the current release, v1.2, and discussed the contents of the upcoming v2.0 release scheduled for the 30th June 2010. In addition to the changes to the schema itself, Telecom Wholesale has provided a more complete set of examples and message formats in a single document.

The fulfil schema release documentation is available here when logged in. Any further feedback on the fulfil schema can be directed to the development team via Brigette. 

Log in to view Brigette's presentation.

Assure B2B Schema Release v1.2.1

8th April 2010

Heta Dawson, Operational Capability Manager, Telecom Wholesale, provided an overview of the impact of this re-numeration release of the B2B schema. There is no structural change to the schema, only updated message formats.

The assure schema release documentation is available on the Wholesale website here when logged in. Any feedback or questions can be directed to Heta.

Log in to view Heta's presentation.

Extended Hours Processing Proposal

8th April 2010

Jo Olliver, Manager Customer Implementation and Deliver, Telecom Wholesale, presented a proposal to rationalise and align the provisioning hours for broadband and voice services. Telecom Wholesale proposes to harmonise the phone answering hours for voice and broadband transactions and extend processing of orders through Sunday.

Your feedback on this proposal is encouraged so we can finalise extended hours requirements. Your feedback should be directed to Jo.  

Log in to view Jo's presentation.

Daily EBill Reports

8th April 2010

Doug Van Boheemen, Senior Product Manager - Voice, Telecom Wholesale outlined a proposal to deliver daily EBill reports.

Customers who purchase Telecom Whoesale calling services receive a rated electronic EBill at the end of their nominated billing cycle(s) during the month. There are instances (for fraud detection or credit management of your calling customers) where daily feeds of calling transactions would be helpful. In this presentation Doug described a proposal to deliver rated call detail information to wholesale calling customers, enabling them to develop tools and processes to manage these issues for their own customers.

Participation in a trial to test the support processes around delivery of this data is open to interested parties. To register your interest contact Doug.

Log in to view Doug's presentation.

Broadband Port Refresh Trial

8th April 2010

Heta Dawson, Operational Capability Manager, Telecom Wholesale described the operational trial for broadband port refresh.

The refresh of DSL broadband ports for Wholesale xUBA services currently requires a Tier 2 service desk request to Telecom. Functionality to activate port requests via the SPM service toolset is being released, which will allow your service teams to initiate a refresh without recourse to Telecom's service desk. Providing this functionality will raise issues of how the capability should be applied within your organisation and what support/training requirements you will have in order that your can successfully leverage this capability.

To ensure that we can deliver the optimum level of training and support for this toolset we are seeking trialists ahead of the formal launch. To register your interest in participating in the trial contact Heta.

Log in to view Heta's presentation.

Raw Data Extracts from OO&T and OFM Reporting

8th April 2010

David Aitkenhead, Manager Performance Management, Telecom Wholesale presented a new option for receiving fulfil and assure transaction data. 

The OO&T (fulfil) and OFM (assure) platforms allow you to run your own performance reports. Customers have requested additional reporting functionality to allow them to measure the metrics and analyse performance on factors that are important to their businesses. We are releasing the raw data to allow you to do this. 

To get data feeds set up and delivered to your organisation please contact your service delivery manager.   Questions relating to the future development of the data feeds can be addressed to David.

Log in to view David's presentation and the metadata specification.

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Wholesale's variation request and roadmap

11th February 2010

Scott McCallum, Wholesale's CIO, opened the 2010 Dialogue sessions with an overview of our variation request, extending the dates to deliver FMO Broadband and FMO Data/Billing for 12 months.  He also talked about what was delivered by the end of 2009 and what to look forward to in 2010.  Login to view Scott's presentation.

How you can leverage immediate service improvements

11th Feburary 2010

Lia Boersma, Head of Wholesale Transformation, highlighted the capabilities delivered in 2009 that can deliver significant customer service benefits.  These include:

  • Troubleshooting and Workforce Scheduling tools enhancing the assure experience
  • UBS to BUBA/EUBA migration

Login to view Lia's presentation.

E2E business processes

Glenn Symans from TT&SS provided an overview of some of the end to end process challenges we are facing in delivering our new operating system, particularly around:

  • Waiters and Intact
  • Open Order Visibility
  • Order modification and cancellation
  • Abandonment

Glenn is intending to report back in March. The pre-reading material which includes a lot more detail is also attached. Login to view Glenn's presentation.

Pre-reading for the Dialogue IT & Process session 11th February 2010 - E2E Business Processes

The following documents are pre-reading for the Dialogue IT & Process forum to be held in Auckland on Thursday 11th February.

Pre-Reading 1: This document details the issues relating to five end-user impacting transactions that must be resolved in order that Telecom can proceed with the end-2-end process and system design that supports these transactions.

Pre-Reading 2: This document details an interim proposal (relating to UBA Abandonment only) that needs industry agreement to ensure consistent end-user experience prior to the development of the longer-term process discussed in the first document.

Pre-reading 1: E2E business process consultation (pdf, 624kB)

Pre-reading 2: Interim UBA Abandonment process (pdf, 600kB)

Interim UBA Abandonment Process

11th February 2010

David Oxnam, Senior Product Manager - Broadband, discussed an iterim solution for the UBA Abandonment Process. Abandonment occurs when an end-user vacates a property and leaves their telecommunications services connected. The incoming end-user cannot easily connect their voice or broadband services.  Service providers incur rental charges for a service that is no longer utilised by their customer.  Login to view David's presentation.

Our New Billing System

12th November 2009

Colin Griffiths and Allan Laumatia provided an overview of our new billing system due for delivery late 2010. 

Colin discussed the findings of conversations with customers - over 300 different requirements have been identified for the new billing system.  A reality check after these conversation has seen the decision to only accomodate new wave products (EUBA, BUBA, HSNS, UPC, UPC Lite and associated Backhaul products on the new billing platform.  Legacy products will remain on the legacy billing platform.

Allan Laumatia talked about the new E-bill that will be built with the new billing platform.  Allan would like to discuss this with interested service providers.  Email Allan to organise a discussion.

Troubleshooting Tools and Workforce Scheduling - 12 Nov 2009

Heta Dawson has become a regular feature at Dialogue IT & Process sessions.  Heta confirmed timeframes for the delivery of troubleshooting tools and both the provisioning and faults workforce scheduling capabilities.  He provided a demonstration on how the OFM-based workforce scheduling will work.

Service Level Targets Update - 8th October 2009

8 October 2009

Jo Olliver from the Customer Service Team gave an update on:

  • 24/7 faults (assure) for UPC, HSNS Lite & HSNS Premium
  • Critical Care Assure for UPC, HSNS Lite & HSNS Premium
  • HSNS Fibre Feasibility targets
  • HSNS Fibre and Copper order targets and the provisioning process

A number of pilots are underway.  Contact your Telecom Wholesale account manager or service delivery manager if you want further information.

Login to view Jo's presentation:

Troubleshooting Tools & Workforce Scheduling

8th October 2009

Heta Dawson from the Transformation team discussed the delivery of the new troubleshooting tools and workforce scheduling, including an update on training.  Most service providers are aiming to be accredited before Christmas.  Login to view Heta's presentation:

Our new fulfil B2B Schema - changes in release 1.1

8th October 2009

John Lithgow from Telecom's Technology & Shared Services, provided an overview of the changes incorporated in release 1.1 of the new fulfil B2B schema.  This refers to the new ebXML B2B gateway scheduled for launch in 2010.  The release 1.1 documentation is now available, along with a B2B Gateway Technical User Guide which provides an overview of the technology.  You must login to access both documents and to view John's presentation:

Process Improvement - Enhancements to OO&T and reducing provisioning rejection rates

8th October 2009

Shane Leggett from our Customer Services Team explained a number of recent changes to Online Ordering and Tracking (OO&T) to allow tracking of secondary service orders associated with bundled products such as BUBA where broadband and POTS are ordered together.  Shane also provided information on a project to reduce rejected provisioning orders.  A training programme is now available that is producing significant results. Shane's presentation is available here (login):

Telecom Wholesale's new self service portal

Janet Skilton from the Communications team, introduced Wholesale's new self service portal - our new online channel which is scheduled for rollout from early 2010.

Update on our new faults system

10 September 2009

Patrick Everton provided an updated on the issues with OFM3 and an overview of upcoming changes to the problem reporting format.  Login to view Patrick's presentation.

Troubleshooting tools & Workforce scheduling - detail on the tools, functionality and training

10 September 2009

Heta Dawson provided an overview of the troubleshooting tools and workforce scheduling capabilities that are on track for launch on 30th November 2009.  This will deliver equivalence with the functionality currently used by Telecom Retail.  These will allow service providers to fundamentally change their faults customer experience and resolve more issues without coming to Telecom Wholesale's Tier 2 support.

A key part of the launch is an extensive training programme.  This focuses on:

  • How to use the tools
  • What tests to run
  • How to interpret the results of the tests
  • Escalation
  • New scripting for CSRs

Heta's presentations are available here (you need to login to view):

Update on our new provisioning system

10 September 2009

Mike O'Neill provided an update on the development of the new Fulfill B2B Schema.  An updated version will be available on 30th September, with a further update available on 30 November 2009.  These will be delivered via the website.  We are also launching a blog to answer any questions you have on the schema.  This will be available from 14th September.

Approach to customer migrations

11 August 2009

Tim Armitage, Manager Migrations, discussed the staggered migration process that Telecom Wholesale will undertake over a six week period to move customers off the existing operating system and onto the new IT stack. Customers need to be aware of the pre-transition work required and plan for the post-transition clean-up that may be necessary.

Presentation available when logged in:

Call Detail Record delivery

11 August 2009

Allan Laumatia, Capability Delivery Manager, discussed a customer request for more frequent delivery of Call Detail Records (CDR).  This is not a requirement that is currently on the Telecom Wholesale capability roadmap.  Allan discussed the issues that would arise from any decision to change the frequency of CDR delivery and requested feedback from the attendees as to their views on the relative priority of such a change and what the value of making this change might be.

Presentation available when logged in:

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B2B commercial arrangements

11 August 2009

The delivery of a new B2B interface necessitates changes to the Wholesale Service Agreement (WSA) Operations Manual. Telecom is required to formally consult on any changes to the Operations Manual. This session outlined the changes to the manual. A marked up version of the Operations Manual is available in the Become a Customer section of our website for review and feedback. Service providers who intend making use of the new B2B capability will need a relevant License Agreement.

Presentation available when logged in:

Online pricebook interface

11 August 2009

Customers were updated on the development progress of the online pricebook interface detailed at the June IT & Process forum. The over-riding feedback we have received from customers who have seen the new interface is that it must be reconcilable back to the customer bill. The development team is now focussing on ensuring that they can deliver an auditable and sustainable process. We will update customers in the October Dialogue forum on progress.

Presentation available when logged in:

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TCF Customer Transfer Code

11 August 2009

The TCF Working Party looking at updating the Customer Transfer Code reported back the progress they have made in coming up with a streamline Customer Transfer process that better reflects the trading environment that we now operate in (e.g. incorporating "naked" DSL services which do not have a telephone number to identify them). The industry is invited to feedback their comments to the working party at public workshops to be run in Auckland and Wellington in late August.

Questions from July forum addressed

11 August 2009

Several questions relating to the delivery of the B2B capability raised at the July forum were answered in this session.

Presentation available when logged in:

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New Faults System - tools and scheduling

9 July 2009

Heta Dawson, Senior Implementation Manager, presented Telecom Wholesale's initial view of what troubleshooting and scheduling options might be made available to customers to support fault diagnosis for broadband and PSTN services.

Customers who have feedback on the troubleshooting and scheduling proposal can email Heta or alternatively you can provide this feedback via your account management or service delivery team.

You need to login to view the presentation:

New Provisioning System - B2B Schema

9 July 2009

Julian Lonsdale, Principle Solutions Architect for Telecom Wholesale, presented the initial version of the Schema and data formats for the B2B Provisioning interface.

This schema is open for consultation and is due to be finalised by September 2009, in time for customers to begin their own system/process development to interface to this new capability. This capability is being developed to enable customers to order UBA services from June 2010 onwards.

Customers who have feedback on the Schema design and message formats are welcome to feed this back via their account management or service delivery team. Alternatively your feedback or questions can be emailed to Julian.

You must be logged in to view the presentation:

These are the documents relating to the new Provisioning B2B Schema for discussion at the Dialogue session:

Telecom Wholesale Draft B2B Data Format - 30th June 2009 (pdf, 999kB)

Telecom Wholesale Draft B2B Schema - 30th June 2009 (pdf, 417kB)

Telecom Wholesale Draft B2B Payloads - 30th June 2009 (zip, 71kB)

NOTE: These draft documents are the first release to the industry.  The B2B XML Messages document should not be taken as the full or final XML design.  It provides examples of the messages expressed in XML which will be updated and developed as we move through the consultation, design, build and test phases.

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Pricebook improvements

11 June 2009

James Fairbairn provided an update on interim enhanced pricebook spreadsheets available from the July '09 bill run and demonstrated the prototype of the new pricebook tool.  Feedback is invited on the prototype pricebook tool.

Video and presentation available when logged in.

Resale equivalence

11 June 2009

Our aim is to provide relevant resale services to you with similar service characteristics and functionaility to Retail by 31 December 2009.  Heather Jones provided an update on what has already been delivered and work underway.

Video and presentation available when logged in.

Our new faults system - Online Fault Management changes

11 June 2009

Telecom Wholesale's Online Fault Management system is moving to a new platform from 1 July 2009 and will be based on the industry-agreed Problem Report Specification.  Michelle Moore provided an overview of upcoming changes.

Video and presentation available when logged in.

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Our new faults system - Problem Report Management - Finalised Message Format and B2B Schema

Our new faults system is scheduled for launch on 1 July 2009.  Problem Report message formats and B2B Schemas are now available.

You must login to view or download these reports.  If you do not have a login contact us.

Dialogue Consultation update

Gerard Linstrom reviewed the various streams of consultation being managed under the Dialogue programme, highlighting that 2009/2010 will be the a time when consideration will need to be given to the planning for transition and migration away from the PSTN and Legacy data network services.

To view the presentation you must login.  If you do not have a login contact us.

Improvements to the current operating environment

The Operational capability team from Telecom Wholesale presented a series of initiative underway or planned for our current operating processes and systems to improve the customer service experience for Voice and Broadband services.

To view the presentation you must login.  If you do not have a login contact us.

Improvements for the future environment

Patrick Everton discusses the customer service experience improvements we are seeking to achieve with the new Problem Report function of the B2B/Self Service Portal capability being developed by Telecom Wholesale. This new functionality will be topic of a detailed workshop at the next IT&Process discussion forum (scheduled 9th April).

To view the presentation you must login.  If you do not have a login contact us.

Performance Management Framework

Login in the view Jo Olliver's presentation from the Dialogue Consult session on 12 February 2009.

Billing Disputes Portal

Login to find out more about our new Billing Disputes Portal.  View Frank Grear's presentation from the Dialogue consultation session on 17 February 2009 in Auckland.  You can also access the Portal Training Manual.

Telecom Wholesale's approach to transformation and Undertakings

Login to view Gerard Linstrom's presentation to the Dialogue consultation session on 17 February.  We are seeking your views on our approach to delivering the Undertakings through our transformation programme.

Problem Report Management

This document describes the data format required so that Problem Report (Trouble Ticket) elements (data) within business messages (documents) can be exchanged between Service Providers and Telecom Wholesale and Chorus using Telecom's new B2B capability. 

Service Providers have had an opportunity to review, comment on and provide feedback on this draft data format.

A discussion document is now available. You must login to view this document. If you do not have a login email us or talk to your Telecom Wholesale account manager.

We have also prepared a document outlining the business interactions and XML messages supported by the Telecom B2B gateway for the Assure business domain.  This allows service providers to report problems and receive updates about those problems as they are resolved.  It also has the ability to report network faults to service providers and inform of progress in resolving issues.

You must login to view this document:

Billing

A Dialogue consultation session was held in Auckland on 5th November 2008 to discuss billing and invoicing requirements in an FMO (Future Mode of Operation) world.  The aims of the session included:

  • Producing a set of aggregated requirement statements that represent the needs of many Wholesale customers
  • Modeling aggregated requirements into Telecom Wholesales's capability and operational models that are being developed to define an FMO environment under separation
  • Gaining a clear understanding of how customers which us to provide and manage billing information so that it supports their business operations in the future.

A discussion document on billing, the presentation from the consultation session and the feedback document are all now available. You must login to view this document. If you do not have a login email us or talk to your Telecom Wholesale account manager.

Industry Validation and Churn

In the legacy PSTN environment for mass-market services there was a one to one relationship between a service and the physical connection (the copper pair) carrying the service.  The market evolved to the point where the service bundle was always associated with a PSTN (telephone) number - so that the number was used as the service identifier, and as the validation key when changes were requested.

With the advent of UCLL and Unbundled Bitstream Access services, there is no longer a one to one relationship between a service or service bundle and a phone number.  UBA ("naked DSL") does not require an associated telephone number.  The industry can no longer rely on the telephone number as the unique service identifier.

The objectives of the Industry Validation and Churn discussions are to:

  1. Enable an excellent and consistent level of service throughout the industry for customers transferring between service providers.
  2. Achieve an industry agreed data set to uniquely identify a customer's service, so that the service details can be validated by all parties to the transfer,  and the transfer request can progress swiftly, smoothly and completely.
  3. Resolve a mechanism by which the agree data set is available to all parties to the transfer.
  4. Enable the Customer Transfer Code to achieve its stated objective.

A discussion document has been prepared for the Industry Validation and Churn meeting on 9th October 2008.  You must login to view this document.  If you do not have a login email us or talk to your Telecom Wholesale account manager.

B2B & Self Service Portal Requirements Consultation

The Wholesale B2B Gateway and Self Service Portal are cornerstones to delivering the December 2009 Undertakings commitments.  This will consolidate all our back-end support systems (provisioning, billing, faults, reporting, etc) into a system that service providers, including Telecom retail, can interface with all the operational processes that require interaction with Telecom Wholesale systems.

Twenty-seven representatives from 16 organisations met with us in Auckland on the 28th July to discuss requirements for the B2B Gateway and Self Service Portal. This was a productive session and the feedback document is now available.

You must be a secure user to access this report. Please contact us if you do not have a logon.

After the initial consultation session and several one on one meetings a document outlining all of the feedback was prepared.

This document presents an aggregated set of business user requirements to support business interactions between service providers and Telecom Wholesale using a self-service portal and/or B2B gateway.

Please note you must login to view this document:

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