Nokia Networks Service Quality Management Focus operations on what matters most Technical White paper Nokia Networks white paper Service Quality Management
Contents Introduction 3 Market environment drivers and trends 4 Nokia s view on Service Quality Management 5 Service Quality Management positioning 6 Key success factors for Service Quality Management 8 introduction Technology Nokia Service Quality Manager 9 Service modeling is the way to the right data 10 Service modeling concept and service model structure 11 Development approach 12 Service Quality Management implementation start small think big Implementing Service Quality Management in a Service Operations Center Benefits 16 Conclusions 17 14 15 Page 2
Introduction Today, operators are faced with growing pressure to keep their customers loyal and to operate more efficiently. Service Quality Management helps the operator not only to improve service quality, but also to reduce the effort on troubleshooting and finding the exact root-cause of problems affecting customers. Service Quality Management also knows how to prioritize services in a smart way, based on the importance of the service or a location. In addition to the Service Impact Analysis of detected service performance degradations, this enables the operator to drive the corrective actions based on the business impact. Introducing Service Quality Management into an operator environment means combining People, Process and Technology. Instead of deploying a new set of tools, operational and organizational aspects are key areas in order to introduce Service Quality Management successfully. Tools are only the enabler to execute the process efficiently and in an automated manner. People skills are important, because it is people who will drive the operations. So the right balance between People, Process and Technology is required. This Technical White paper describes Nokia s view on Service Quality Management. It addresses the following topics: Market environment, drivers and trends Nokia s view on Service Quality Management Service Quality Management positioning Key success factors for Service Quality Management introduction Technology Nokia Service Quality Manager Service modeling is the way to the right data Implementing Service Quality Management in a Service Operations Centre Benefits and conclusions Page 3
Market environment drivers and trends Mobile operators have been typically focusing on their network and its performance in a reactive and technology domain specific manner. Today they face challenges that are forcing them to review their operational support systems, including network and service management capabilities. These challenges include growing competition, demands for higher service quality, increasing network complexity, stagnant revenue streams from legacy services and rising costs. VOICE E- UTRAN enodeb X2 enodeb!!! C- plane MME PCRF S1 S11 S7 SGW S5 PDN GW U- plane EPC Rx+! PSTN SGi IMS MGW MGCF P/I/S CSCF Figure 1 - VoLTE service delivery chain Let s imagine an operator offers a Voice over LTE service (VoLTE) to its subscribers. It is vital that the operator knows whether the service is performing well for all subscribers. What if the voice quality is poor for some subscribers? The operator needs to identify the exact root cause of the service performance degradation see Figure 1. Does it reside in the LTE radio, in the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) or in the backhaul domain? Poor voice call quality at a key location must be fixed rapidly or the operator risks disappointing a large number of potentially influential customers. With the reactive network centric management approach the operator will notice service performance degradations when customers are affected already, meaning that they suffer from lower service performance. With the domain-specific assurance process it is time consuming to identify the degradations in service performance. Also, the ownership of troubleshooting the issue may be unclear. With Service Quality Management operators can evolve from network-centric to service centric operations. They will have a proactive, service-centric approach that detects service performance degradations before they affect subscribers. At the same time, many operators are evolving to an all-ip network architecture that supports voice, data and video services on a single platform. Fixed mobile convergence and the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) allow new types of services over traditional telecom devices, mobile terminals and home entertainment systems. Operators are converging their Operation Support Systems (OSS) and IT management to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. Page 4
To succeed with Service Quality Management operators need a partner with long experience in end-to-end Service Quality Management and expertise in holistic service modeling, automated root cause analysis and setting priorities based on business and service impact. These capabilities enable mobile operators to monitor the quality of next-generation voice and data services such as email, gaming, video and others. Nokia s view on Service Quality Management The Tele Management Forum defines the Service Quality Management as follows: It encompasses monitoring, analyzing and controlling the performance of the service perceived by customers. (TMF GB921 - enhanced Telecom Operations Map - The Business Process Framework). Nokia s understanding of Service Quality Management goes a step beyond this definition. It covers also parts of the TMF defined process Service Problem Management. Nokia sees that especially the service problem diagnosis (Root Cause Analysis) is a key area in Service Quality Management. In practical terms Service Quality Management answers several questions: What to fix? Understand the service impact of problems and prioritize troubleshooting activities accordingly. When to fix? Monitor the quality of the services in real-time and detect degradations before they become problems. How to fix? Pinpoint the root cause automatically to accelerate the resolution of problems. To answer these questions, Service Quality Management needs to understand the end-to-end service delivery chain of the services across network domains. In other words, across various telco and IT domains as depicted in Figure 1 for the VoLTE service. The term Services in this context means both Customer Facing Services such as Mobile Broadband, Voice over LTE or Facebook, and Facing Services such as LTE radio, core network or IP backbone. Once the end-to-end composition of services has been modeled properly, operators are able to benefit from a complete view of service quality, the prioritization of service problems, fast root cause analysis and simplified operations across technologies and vendors. Relevant Key Quality Indicators (KQIs) and respective calculation methods need to be defined as well as proper thresholds for service performance degradation detection. All relevant data sources providing the input for the KQI calculations need to be identified and integrated. With this service performance degradations can be identified and evaluated based on their effect on service quality, helping the operations staff to prioritize tasks. The network domain that is causing the issue can be identified and the corrective actions can be started. Page 5
Service Quality Management positioning Service Quality Management is not a standalone domain but is closely linked to other processes and business functions in the operations of modern mobile telecommunications networks. Large volumes of Customer complaints received from specific locations (2) Product marketing team sharing details on new product designs (6) Customer Care 1 2 2 6 6 Marketing Proactive status of major services degradation for all relevant locations (1) and on impacted areas wherein maximum customer complaints are received (2) Planning and Engineering Send historical and current traffic utilization data for targeted locations for capacity assurance for both Data and Voice services (3) Network Optimization (Radio / Core) 3 4 SQM Operations (SOC) 5 7 8 SQM team sharing Service Model design with product marketing for proper budget planning and testing (6) Program Management / Continuous Improvement Provide quarterly reports listing the frequently occurring Service Degradation Events and also Service Incident Management (7) VAS / IN / IT - MIS Report on successful Service Performance restoration after necessary Network Configuration Optimization (Radio/Core) (4) NOC Periodic capacity performance reports on IT Hardware to ensure proactive IT Services Continuity (8) Analyze and report on service degradation Root - Cause - Analysis to guide NOC in prioritizing the Customer Facing Services Network issues and point them to the targeted location, network nodes (5) Figure 2 Unique customer-centric service operations solution Figure 2 illustrates that Service Quality Management Operations is positioned as a core function of Service Operations Center (SOC) of an operator and is focused on delivering valuable inputs to other business functions like Customer Care, Marketing, Network Planning, Network Optimization and the Network Operations Center. In a nutshell, Service Quality Management Operations adds value to following functional areas: Proactive Problem Management & Root Cause Analysis. Capacity Planning of Sites/locations. Service modeling of customer facing products and its impact on current product design. Page 6
Service Quality Management does not aim to resolve network resource problems by itself. It relies on Network Operations, which provides tools, staff and expertise to fix a particular network incident. Service Operations thus delegates the service problem resolution to a Network Operations team. The coordination provided by Service Quality Management results in reduced service down time and better service quality as the influence of each network resource becomes clear and dependencies between different domains are discovered. Thanks to Service Quality Management, the responsible entities for service degradations are identified, including network domains, solution partners and content providers. It also helps assess how the different entities have contributed to troubleshooting. Operators are also interested in understanding the impact of a service quality degradation on customers. For example, who are the affected customers and what is the impact on the service usage. This is enabled by Customer Experience Management. The combined solution allows operational tasks to be prioritized according to business impact and customer experience. Service Quality Management and Customer Experience Management complement each other to provide a unique customer centric Service Operations solution, as shown in Figure 3. Nokia Service Quality Manager Service Health Service Performance Monitoring Customer Experience Nokia Customer Experience Management Transaction Analysis End2End Services Application Services Mobile Broadband Drill Down for root cause High Value Customer Roamer Customer Facing Services Facing Services s CFS CFS CFS RFS RFS RFS RFS RFS RFS Prioritize with customer impact statistics Transaction KPI FM, PM, Transactional data Figure 3 Unique customer-centric service operations solution Page 7
Based on business and operational priorities, the operator may come out with a list of operational use cases, which involve data and insights from Service Quality Management and Customer Experience Management to take respective corrective actions. Some use cases may require that Service Quality Management takes care of the initial detection and then it triggers Customer Experience Management for further actions. Or then vice versa Customer Experience Management is the starting point and Service Quality Management is triggered for further activities. Key success factors for Service Quality Management introduction The cornerstones of a successful Service Quality Management introduction are people, processes and technology. All three areas need to be addressed to ensure that the mobile operator is getting the full benefits from the solution as illustrated in Figure 4. It s important that the operator staff has a positive attitude towards the introduction of Service Quality Management. When people understand the benefit for their daily work, they will also. be more motivated. Through open and proactive communication, operators can support their people who tend to worry about imminent changes in their work. In addition, setting targets for staff during the introduction phase will be a key success factor. Process & Technology without People Alienation & turnover Underutilized systems Process & People without Technology Frustration and inefficiency High cost of operation Process Alienation Technology Sweet Spot Frustration Automated Chaos People People & Technology without Process Automated chaos and confusion Poor customer service Successful Transformation Program Source: Gartner research on change management Figure 4 The right balance of People, Process and Technology is critical Page 8
Process aspects have benefited from substantial development in the methodology and tools available for process design, management and automation. This helps bring process development closer to the business side of companies. Process led thinking helps maximize efficiency and quality when introducing Service Quality Management. Eventually, the shift from network operations to service operations results in better ways of working. Flexible systems such as Nokia Service Quality Manager help operators transform their existing systems to be part of the service management architecture. A common challenge is that the systems have been built over time as technology or service specific stovepipes. Service Quality Management will help to bridge these gaps, including IT management, and will provide a consolidated view better suited for the constantly changing business environment. Technology Nokia Service Quality Manager Nokia Service Quality Manager (SQM) puts the Service Quality Management process into effect. SQM delivers the capability to manage and monitor services in general. It effectively supports service assurance. All servicerelevant information available in the operator environment can be collected. The information forwarded to SQM is used to determine the current status of defined services. The current service level is calculated by the service-specific correlation rules. The core of SQM comprises a set of service models and a powerful rule engine, which computes in real time the influence of network resources on the service health. The network resources are represented by events, counters and other indicators, collected from network management tools or probes. The logical dependencies of network resources and services are modeled in a hierarchical system of Facing Services (RFS, such as LTE) and Customer Facing Services (CFS, such as Mobile Broadband) as presented in previous sections of this document. The domain experience of Nokia in communications technology as well as operational processes is productized in ready-to-use modular rule packages and service models. Service Operations staff can easily monitor the service health via a modern web-based GUI interface, featuring service structure diagrams, Geographical Information System (GIS) views and service dashboards. Interactive drill-down screens guide the user through a workflow from detecting service problems to identifying root causes. Trouble Ticket integration makes it easy to embed the Service Management step in a wider process context such as ITIL Incident- and Problem management. Page 9
Service Quality Manager Applications for modeling, monitoring & reporting Service Editor Off - the - shelf Service Models topology Service topology Service Monitor MBB Voice MBBoLTE VoLTE 2G BSS PaCo LTE IMS 3G RAN CSCO EPC IP/MPLS Figure 5 Nokia SQM overview Data Collectors Service Impacting Alarms Configuration Data Dashboards & Reports Rule Engine Network KPIs Open Interfaces Service KPIs External OSS / BSS systems GIS UFM TT System Email / SMS External DWH Service Catalog / Inventory SLA CEM Nokia SQM provides the following capabilities, for example: Service Modeling (with multiple off-the-shelf service models) Service Monitoring Service Impact Analysis Root Cause Analysis Service Availability & Quality Insights Service Usage Insights Profiling Service Problems / Alarms Service modeling is the way to the right data A network management environment usually provides a constant flow of data. The challenge is to identify the right data that provides the key insights to the service quality delivered to customers. Therefore the approach to Service Quality Management encompasses a service model based on deep understanding of communications technology and real know-how about the effect on customer experience. Page 10
Service modeling concept and service model structure Service Quality Management focuses on the quality of the service while it is being used. The service usage phase can be divided into: 1. The mobile network is available for customers to use: there is network wireless coverage available to the customer. The complete network infrastructure is available. 2. Customer s device can register on the network. This is the fundamental step, where the customer can be authenticated and registered for the basic network services. 3. Customer uses the service by starting an application in the device that translates the user desire into a series of requests. 4. Customer uses the service. Network and service infrastructure delivers the requests and corresponding responses between the customer s device and the respective sources or peers. 5. Service usage is terminated, either intentionally by the customer or is interrupted for other reasons. These steps reflect different aspects of service quality and form the Key Quality Indicators (KQI) as described in ETSI 102 250-1: with Network Availability, Network Accessibility, Service Accessibility, Service Integrity and Service Retainability. Additional KQIs like Service Availability and Mobility further support modeling the service quality. Services in operator networks are no longer just voice, mobile data and short messages. Applications, Over the Top (OTT) Services such as Instant Messaging, Google and Facebook imply different service characteristics, requiring different service models. The service model structure is based on the understanding of the service and resource hierarchy, starting with what the customer is receiving or deliverables from the operator to its customers. This is also called Customer Facing Services (CFS), examples of which include Web access, Voice calls and short messaging service. The CFS is delivered to customers by Facing Services (RFS) supported by underlying network and service resources. The relationship between the CFS and corresponding RFS is the foundation for service model development. This is illustrated in Figure 6. The service model provides service quality assessment for a specific CFS. It is also used for root cause analysis as it bridges the service quality to the underlying network resources. A simple illustration of a service model is given in Figure 7. Page 11
The service model consists of: The data hierarchy that determines KQIs and corresponding KPIs. Correlations and calculation rules that compute KQI from KPI and service quality from various KQIs. Thresholds for identifying violations of KQI values and raising respective Service Alarms. Data source definitions. Supplementary information supporting the Root Cause Analysis. What matters to users Customer Facing Service Customer Facing Service Customer Facing Service Customer Facing Service Supporting Services Facing Service Facing Service Facing Service Facing Service Facing Service Logical Entities Logical Logical Logical Logical Logical Logical Figure 6 - Service and resource hierarchy Development approach Throughout the service usage phase, service model developing engineers need to identify all the resource facing services that support the delivery of CFS and the corresponding technical processes that implement the RFS. Selected performance indicators for these technical processes will then be used for the corresponding KQI calculation. Similar steps are performed for different stages during the service usage phase to identify the top level technical procedures and the corresponding KPIs. These KPIs are used to calculate the KQI. Page 12
A simple service model data hierarchy can be established as shown in Figure 7. Service Quality Service Oriented KQI KQI KQI KQI KPI KPI KPI KPI KPI KPI KPI KPI KPI KPI KPI KPI Network Oriented Fault Management Performance Management Probing Solution Real Time Monitoring EMS/NMS Figure 7 - Service model hierarchy The service quality is based on various KQIs, each supported by a group of KPIs that reflect performance of certain procedures. Under these, KPIs for subroutines or processes can be collected to identify potential bottlenecks or areas of degraded performance. As well as the KPIs/KQI data hierarchy, the service model can also represent different dimensions, such as geographical areas and customer segments. The geographical area presentations are typically based on the existing area concept available in the network, such as service area or Tracking Area in an LTE network. The customer or customer segment presentation requests enriched data that carries not only information about a specific technical procedure or traditional statistical KPI, but also customer identity such as IMSI or other attributes that identify customer groups, for example an enterprise. Similarly, the customer device type is another dimension that can help operators. As well as supporting service quality assessment and monitoring, the service model, together with service and resource hierarchy, provides strong support for root cause analysis. The root cause analysis is performed in a top down approach. Once degradation of a particular KQI is recognized, the KPIs of corresponding and underlying procedures are examined to identify the problem. The service model is the key because it provides a focus on the data relevant to service quality and thus the operator business. Page 13
Data Service LTE Network Service LTE Network Service LTE Network Service enodeb IP Connectivity MME S/P - GW MME S/P-GW Figure 8 - Service quality root cause analysis A Service Quality Management solution ideally provides a set of pre-defined service models with pre-defined KPIs and KQIs as well as thresholds for service performance degradation detection. These service models need to be adaptable and extendable to serve operator specific requirements. Service Quality Management implementation start small think big Operators can implement Service Quality Management at their own pace and according to their needs. As the Nokia SQM is based on modular off-the-shelf service models aligned with specific business processes to address relevant services, operators can select which modules to start with (for example SQM for LTE), in order to enable rapid returns. This will give a flexible and fast delivery in multi-vendor and multi-technology environments. Once these initial steps have been completed, expansions will follow, supporting additional network technologies and services as they are delivered to customers. In parallel, there will be tighter integration into the existing system landscape such as Trouble Ticketing and eventually evolving to a tight integration with Customer Experience Management. Many operators who embrace this way of thinking have actually found a way to continuously improve business agility and maintain a competitive advantage. Page 14
Implementing Service Quality Management in a Service Operations Center When implementing Service Quality Management in as Service Operations Center (SOC) the operator should at the time of due-diligence for the SOC discuss the Operating model for SOC Operations with Business Consultants. This activity is part of the SOC Strategy discussion within the operator. The Business Consultants would guide the SOC stakeholders in defining the SOC Operations interactions. Once the SOC Unit s interactions with relevant business units are decided, the next step would be to design the targeted SOC Operational processes and its hand-off processes to other business functions (To-Be processes). Figure 2 illustrates a view on the Service Quality Management operations ecosystem, a holistic view on multiple business functions and the role they would play in the operator s SOC Operating Model. Nokia helps operators implement Service Quality Management as part of a SOC. Nokia provides expertise to design and implement a pro-active operations enabling SOC. Nokia follows a structured approach for SOC introduction, where different activities are grouped into five Work Packages (Figure 9). WP1 Assessment & Prioritization Prioritized Use Cases & Processes To select the right UCs and Processes for CSP, based on business priorities and capabilities WP2 Operating Model Design & Adoption (Process Assessment) To- be operational model To make each UC/Process concretely operational for each User WP3 WP4 WP5 Business Value Argumentation (BVA) Architecture Design & Adoption (Tools) Governance (Operations Best Practices) Highlight the Business Impact To enable CSP team to assess the benefits of each investment on OSS platforms Prioritized Logical & Functional Architecture To understand the Architecture evolution with introduction of OSS tools Ensure Project & Operations Continuous Improvement To keep the entire organization aligned towards the agreed SOC & NOC Strategy & Objectives Figure 9 - Structured approach for SOC introduction Page 15
The initial step is to capture the operator s business strategy, goals, requirements and current operational challenges towards a Service Operation Center. Based on this the use cases for SOC can be identified in an operator specific context. The shortlisted use cases can then be prioritized based on business priorities and capabilities. These activities are part of the Assessment & Prioritization (A&P) Work Package. The Operating Model Design & Adoption Work Package takes care that the identified Use Cases are translated to an operating model. This work package primarily deals with Process Consulting. Based on an assessment of the As-Is process environment recommendations for the To-Be process architecture are generated. In parallel the Architecture Design & Adoption Work Package provides the target SOC tool architecture recommendations based on the Use Cases defined in the A&P Work Package. The recommendations take the As-Is systems architecture into consideration and the consultant will determine the existing gaps in terms of the functionality supported, integration gaps, and reporting requirements/gaps. When establishing a SOC it is important for the operator to assess the business value of the investment. The scope of the Work Package Business Value Argumentation includes the creation and refining of business value models for each of the Use Cases shortlisted in the A&P phase. With these models the operator can assess how much business value can be expected from each Use Case. One of the key success factors for SOC operations is to have Governance in place. The respective Work Package ensures the implementation of the operations best practices. A joint operations office (SOC office) is set up with staff both from the operator and Nokia. This team defines the SOC Office mode of operation, identifies process owners, defines the operational reporting requirements as per escalation levels and makes the resource planning. It also monitors the progress of the SOC introduction against the plan and provides respective reports to the Senior Management on the adherence to Governance policies and procedures. Benefits With the implementation of Service Quality Management operators can realize significant operational and business benefits. They can improve the service quality for customers with lower OPEX. Page 16
Following some benefits achieved by operators after moving from network to service centric operations: 90%+ of the service problems are detected proactively by Service Operations Center (SOC) SOC communicates the service problems to Customer Care (CC). CC is aware of the service problems before customers report them. 50% reduction in number of service related complaints and 50% faster service restoration Operations can quickly and accurately find the cause of the problem, with root cause analysis. Trouble tickets created with root causes for affected services. This avoids bouncing between network domain teams in Second Line/Network Operations Center (NOC). 20% faster alarm handling Network availability increases, leading to fewer critical alarms. Second Line/NOC has clear priorities over which serviceaffecting alarms need to be fixed, thus smoothing the workload and saving operations resources in peak hours. 20% reduction in site visits Immediate prioritization of corrective actions based on service impacts, avoiding unnecessary site visits or rescheduling non-urgent site visits. 5% increase in service usage Overall network quality increases, leading to enhanced service experience and thus increased service use. Conclusions Service Quality Management is critical to ensure the continuous improvement in quality and reliability in service operations required by mobile operators today. Introducing Service Quality Management supports the operator to act more efficient and reduce the operational costs. Key success factors are: Deep understanding of the telecom operations business and the technology of communication networks. A holistic approach considering the three dimensions Processes, Technology and Organization. Kick start with off-the-shelf service models which enable an easy introduction and lifetime support. A robust yet flexible architecture, which is scalable and based on latest IT technology. The architecture has been designed for easy customization and integration. A Telco vendor as a partner that can deliver turnkey implementations with an experienced local and global service organization. Page 17
Nokia is a registered trademark of Nokia Corporation. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or trade names of their respective owners. Nokia Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy P.O. Box 1 FI-02022 Finland Visiting address: Karaportti 3, ESPOO, Finland Switchboard +358 71 400 4000 Product code C401-011936-WP-201511-1-EN Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015