Metasolv Custom Data Fields
TDS

Overview
•Three major tools for customizable data fields
 Value Labels
 User Data
 Custom Attributes
•Comparison of these three tools
•Typical Uses
•Extending the value

Value Labels
•Where they’re found
•How they work
•Scope & Impact
•Miscellaneous Notes
•Pros & Cons

Value Labels
•Where they’re found:
• Product Specification/Product Catalog
(therefore, PSR only)
• Used to gather order-entry data about a product

Value Labels
•How they work
Created and applied in a two-step process (Spec/Instance)
Product Spec Product Catalog Item

Value Labels
•Specifications
• Value Label: Upper/Lower case sensitive
• Value Data Type: Alphanumeric, Numeric, Date, and Dropdown
• Min/Max Value Length: applies to Alphanumeric and Numeric only.
Measured in characters/digits
• Max Nbr Allowed: not what you think – this is actually the number of data values that can be collected against this one value label.
• From/To: min and max numeric values (not to be confused with min/max lengths)

Value Labels
•Examples
As defined…
As seen on the PSR…

Value Labels
•Features
Dropdowns
Date Fields
Required Values
Multiple Values
History of Values
Default Values

Value Labels
•Scope & Impact
•Can be applied to Multiple
Product Catalog Levels
•Ordered Alphabetically
(bummer)
•Flows down to Circuits and
Trunks related to that product catalog level

Value Labels
• Misc. Notes
• Metasolv Defined Labels – like predefined Value Labels you can’t control
• Pros & Cons
• The flexibility of Value Labels make them appealing
• The fact that they store History against each label is nice
• But they can only be used against PSR service items, no other order types
• And the confusion between Structured Formats/Valid
Values and Value Labels, coupled with the mystery of
MDL’s, make them difficult to understand and use.

User Data
•Where they’re found
•How they work
•Scope & Impact
•Miscellaneous Notes
•Pros & Cons

User Data
•Where they’re found:

User Data
•How they work
• Created against the specific area you’re trying to cover
• Used with Categories to produce Lists
• Appears against the specific item designated
(Circuit, NetLoc, etc.)

User Data
•How they work
•Column Name: Unique, Uppercase only
•Data Type: Number, Decimal, Varchar2 (Alphanumeric), Date, and Dropdown
•Category & Type: Used to create dropdown values
•Relationship: For use with Categories, provides list validation
•Value for Existing Rows: Fill in values for existing items
•Label: Display label (can be changed)
•Visible: Used to hide a field you no longer want to use
•Required: Marks a value as required (not effective)

User Data
•Dropdowns are Lists or Table references using User Data “Categories”
Dropdown as a List Dropdown as a Table reference

User Data
•Examples
Network Location User Data
PSR User Data
Circuit User Data

User Data
•Scope & Impact
• Multiple Different Application Areas Covered
• Feeds directly down to the affected item
• Can alter positions in the output display
• Special vs. Message Trunk Groups
• Available on some Query screens

User Data
•Miscellaneous Notes
• While the current User Data is available in 12 different areas, it would also be nice to have it in:
Equipment Specs
EUL’s (to cover more than just NetLoc’s) <TEST>
Others as defined by the Metasolv SIG…
•Pros & Cons
• Visible on CLR’s, Orders, TG’s, other places (inconsistent)
• Flexibility for Lists, pull-downs via Tables
• No Validation
• Can’t make required (effectively)
• Can change presentation order
• Can’t search on Orders

Custom Attributes
•Where they’re found
•How they work
•Scope & Impact
•Miscellaneous Notes
•Pros & Cons

Custom Attributes
•Where they’re found
Typical Lifecycle Stages
Ordering
Design & Assign
Maintenance
SONET
Product
Catalog
Work
Management
Inventory
Management
Template
Template Design (rules for
Circuits, Elements, Networks)
Network Design (instance of a template)
Ordering Dialog (based on template rules & CA’s)
Schematic Connection Design
Engine (enforces template rules)
Maintenance
Network Systems, Elements &
Connections
Equipment

Custom Attributes

Custom Attributes
•How they work
CA Utility
• Create CA’s
• Associate CA’s to elements

Custom Attributes

Custom Attributes

Custom Attributes

Custom Attributes
•Scope & Impact
Depending on the Process Points you’ve associated the CA with, the CA will show up in the application in a number of different places:
• At Order Entry time in what’s referred to as the Ordering Dialog
• At Connection Design time in the Schematic Design Engine
• On viewed and printed CLR/DLR’s
• During Network design
• In GUI reports, such as Bandwidth Allocation or VLAN ID reports

Custom Attributes
Ordering Dialog
Connection Design

Custom Attributes
Components
Bandwidth Allocatin Report

Custom Attributes
•Miscellaneous Notes
•Pros and Cons
1. Extremely Flexible
2.
High degree of Complexity
3.
Limited to non-traditional Next Gen items

Comparison of Features
Scope & Impact
Use In Search
Queries
Value Labels
PSR Product Catalog Items and Resulting Products only :
CLR’s (inconsistent view for template circuits)
Trunks


Tech Trans Sheet
Doesn’t appear on TG
No
Use In Rules &
Behaviors (task &
No gateway events)
Database Structure Moderate (3+ tables)
User Data
Orders (PSR, ASR/ISR , EWO)
Circuits (inconsistent view for template circuits)
Customer Accounts
Equipment
(No Equipment Spec)
Firm Order Confirmation
Leased Circuits
Network Areas
Network Locations
Trunk Groups

Separate by trunk type

CLR, Tech Trans, TCO
Orders – No
Circuits – Conn. Design & Hierarchy
- Yes
Accounts – No
Equipment – No
FOC – No
Leased Ckts – No
Network Areas – Yes
Network Locations – Yes
Trunk Groups - Yes
PSR – Yes
ASR - Yes
Equipment – Yes
Straightforward – one table per functional area plus U/D Categories
Custom Attributes
Next Gen/Template
Products
(Connections, Elements,
Networks)
Ordering Dialog
Bandwidth/VLAN Usage Reports
Elements
Networks
No
No
Complex
Positive Attribute Negative Attribute

Comparison of Features
Field Attributes
Field Label/Name
Value Labels
Upper & Lowercase
Can't be changed once configured
Allowable Data Types Alphanumeric
Numeric
Conditional Field
Display
Context-Driven Field
Display
Make Req'd
Date
Dropdown
Yes
No
User Data
Upper & Lowercase
Can alter the Field Label after the data field (column) is created.
Once created, a column can never be deleted . It must be made invisible to hide it from users if it's no longer relevant
Varchar (alpha)
Numeric
Decimal
Date
Dropdown
Yes
Custom Attributes
Upper & Lowercase
Can alter the Field Label after it’s created
Alphanumeric
Numeric
(No Date type)
Dropdown
Yes
No
Yes Yes, but…
(ineffective on some areas (Circuit,
Equipment) because navigation to the
U/D screen is never required)
No
Yes, can be used to limit which CA's display depending on other CA values.
Required
Optional
Hidden
Dependant - various
Yes Context Sensitive
Display
Field Presentation
Order
Field Presentation
Breaks
No
Forced Alphabetic
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes (Group Category)
Positive Attribute Negative Attribute

Comparison of Features
Value
Attributes
Dropdown
Values (Lists)
Value Labels User Data
Defined as part of Value Label Defined as part of User
Data (via Categories), or pulled from external db
Yes for numeric table
No Value
Validation
Multiple Values Allowed Not Allowed
Value Case
Sensitivity
Units of
Measure
Calculated
Values
Upper & Lowercase accepted Upper & Lowercase accepted and searched
No No
No
Table Lookup
Values
No
No*
(could use external db tables to perform calculations)
Yes
(but limited to MSS schemas (ASAP, JOB, EDI)
Yes
No
Custom Attributes
Defined as part of the CA itself or shared with another CA
Allowed
Upper, Lower, or Any
Yes
Yes
Positive Attribute Negative Attribute

Typical Uses
Valid Values – PSR ordering, with info flowing downstream onto the resulting product
User Data – specific to a certain element (Circuit, Order, etc.), often used directly on inventoried items
Custom Attributes – Next Gen ordering and resulting services, typically packet-based services and networks

Extending the Value
•Each tool has a limited “reach” within the application
•These limitations can be overcome to a degree by customizations -
• Custom Validations
• Gateway Events
• Custom Extensions

Extending the Value - Example
Assume you have the following requirements and limitations:

Collect all data at order-entry time before the items exist (circuits, trunks, and trunk groups)

Some data is order-specific (User Data), and some data is service-item specific (Value Labels)

Orderable items include non-template circuits and Trunk Groups

The data needs to end up on the individual circuits and trunk groups affected by the order (we chose to use User Data because of some existing bugs with Value Labels appearing on CLR’s)

Extending the Value - Example
PSR User Data (Order-level data)
`
PSR Value Labels (Serv Item-level data)
PSR Order Custom Validation
1 - Copy order-level data from PSR to Trunk Group(s) and Trunk
Circuit(s) User Data
2 - Copy SI Value Labels for Trunks
Groups to Trunk Group(s) and
Trunk Circuit(s) User Data
Task Completion Custom
Validation (CKTID Task)
3 - Copy order-level data from
PSR to Circuit(s) User Data
4 - Copy SI Value Labels for
Circuits to Circuit(s) User Data

Conclusion
•Not one solution for all problems
•Each solution has strengths and weaknesses
•It would be desirable to work with Oracle to
• Extend one solution application-wide
-or-
• Build better integrations between solutions