Investigation into Mobile Operator
Processes:
Adaptation of a New Service
Quality Monitoring Tool
Thesis Work Presentation
5.12.2006
Esa Sahla
Supervisor: Prof. Sven-Gustav Häggman
Instructor: M.Sc. Antti Hassinen
Contents
Introduction to the study
1.
•
Background, research problem, research methods
Service Quality in Mobile Networks
2.
•
Motivation for QoS, network QoS management tools
Service Quality Manager (SQM)
4. SQM - Maintenance and Development
5. Conclusions
3.
Background

New mobile technologies (e.g. UMTS) introduce a massive amount
of new mobile services

The strain on the operator’s network increases and the probability of
network and service related problems increases along with it

New service centered network management tools are a necessity if
the operators wish to effectively control this development and thus
provide an adequate level of service quality to their customers

TeliaSonera Finland was interested in identifying the effectiveness of
their service quality management process and study the possibility
of adapting a new quality monitoring tool into the process
Objectives
1.
To give a comprehensive view of the current situation
of network performance and fault monitoring at
TeliaSonera Finland.
2.
Analyze the process of adapting a new network
monitoring tool, the Nokia NetAct Service Quality
Manager, at TeliaSonera Finland
3.
Identify the main user groups for the said tool.
Research Methods

Literature study
 Various
specifications (ETSI, ITU, 3GPP)
 Related books and publications

Practical part
 Interviews
with personnel at TeliaSonera and with
equipment vendor representatives
 Study of in-house and equipment vendor documents
 Attending meetings within TeliaSonera on service
quality management and SQM related issues
Contents
Introduction to the study
1.
•
Background, research problem, research methods
Service Quality in Mobile Networks
2.
•
Motivation for QoS, network QoS management tools
Service Quality Manager (SQM)
4. SQM - Maintenance and Development
5. Conclusions
3.
Motivation for QoS mechanisms

New mobile communication technologies (e.g. UMTS) have strict
QoS requirements


Customer satisfaction is closely related to the service quality
provided by the network


Along with e.g. pricing and network availability
With good QoS mechanisms, scarce radio resources can be utilized
more efficiently


For example, real-time services (such as video telephony) need
performance guarantees
Increased cost efficiency through resource optimization based on
services’ QoS requirements  Increase in ROI
Ultimately, effective QoS mechanisms ensure a competitive
advantage
Performance requirements
• 3G QoS traffic classes:
Traffic class
Conversational
Streaming
Interactive
Background
Characteristics
Conversational pattern (stringent and
low delay)
Preserve time relation between
information entities of the stream.
Request-response pattern.
Preserve payload content.
Destination is not expecting the data
within a certain time.
Preserve payload content.
Example
application
Speech
Video
calls
Real-time
streaming video
Web
browsing
E-mail
File
downloading
Operator’s PoV
Demanding
• Delay
• Jitter
Demanding
• Bit rate
• Jitter
Tolerant
• Delay and bit rate
may vary
• Integrity
Easiest
• Delay and bit rate
may vary
• Integrity
Data sources for Service Quality
Management

Customer complaints



Field measurements




Only large numbers signify a clear fault
The fault has already affected the customer
Used to establish end-to-end service quality experienced by the end-user
Stationary hot-spot tests and drive tests
Competitor benchmarking
Network elements

Main source of data for network monitoring tools
Network elements:
counters and
interfaces
Network
performance
monitoring
Field measurements
Network
optimization
Customer
complaints
Network Management Tools

New mobile network management tools should:
 be
able to identify possible error conditions and
according corrective actions
 pro-actively take preventive measures on
impairments that could reduce customer satisfaction
 reduce mobile operators operational expenses

The network management tools employed at
TeliaSonera were analyzed to determine how
well they fulfill the above criteria
Network Management Tools

The analysis found that the network management
process clearly lacked an efficient tool for efficient, realtime network service quality monitoring


Especially for 3G RAN
 The full scale implementation of a new service quality
monitoring tool was thus justified

 Nokia NetActTM Service Quality Manager (SQM)
Contents
Introduction to the study
1.
•
Background, research problem, research methods
Service Quality in Mobile Networks
2.
•
Motivation for QoS, network QoS management tools
Service Quality Manager (SQM)
4. SQM - Maintenance and Development
5. Conclusions
3.
SQM

The Nokia NetActTM Service Quality Manager is a
service quality monitoring platform







Designed to work with both 2G and 3G systems
Multi-vendor support
Real-time monitoring
Enables operators to monitor the state of the services
provided by their network (rather than only element status)
Correlates measurement data from various data sources
for more accurate fault determination
Pre-emptive fault detection
Fault impact calculation based on end-user perspective
SQM: Creating a new level for monitoring network
performance
Service Quality
Manager
Integration of information received from the
network for detailed service quality analysis
Service level
Alarm and
fault
systems
DC5000
Traffic
monitoring
system
Multi-vendor
integration
Network
level
Fault
managements
QoS Management
•Counters
•KPIs
Real-time traffic
measurements
Other
measurements
Network and service infrastructure
Other
systems
User Groups at TeliaSonera
Finland

A part of the thesis focused on identifying the main user
groups for the SQM solution

The main users can be roughly divided into:


Network maintenance
System planning
User Group: Network maintenance

Lacking an efficient, real-time service monitoring tool for 3G systems
Swamped with too many systems and tools which to monitor
No tool for sleeping cell monitoring

With SQM:







Possibility for real-time service quality monitoring and automatic fault
analysis for effective root-cause analysis
Simplify the management of complex 3G network
Automatic correlation of element data and fault information
Dead cell detection
Overall streamlining of the network maintenance process (see: figure)
Streamlined network maintenance
with SQM
Fault
Monitoring
Creation
of a
trouble
ticket
Trouble ticket
system
Relevant reports
Monitor
SQM
Relevant
alarms
History
DC5000
(Trend analysis)
Reporting
Service Quality
trends
Traffic data
Test results
Element alarms
Testing
equipment
Performance data
Network
element data
Traffic analyzer
Network measurement data sources
User group: System planning

Benefits gained with SQM:

More effective monitoring of element updates



Especially, correlating network measurements with element update
status
Easier determination of network problems when fault effecting a
larger part of network
And the benefits explained previously
Contents
Introduction to the study
1.
•
Background, research problem, research methods
Service Quality in Mobile Networks
2.
•
Motivation for QoS, network QoS management tools
Service Quality Manager (SQM)
4. SQM - Maintenance and Development
5. Conclusions
3.
Background

SQM wasn’t ready “out-of-the-box”


Need for customization
SQM should be available for all areas of mobile network management

Different access methods contemplated
 Web-access for ease of use and with limited functionality
 Direct connection to the system for advanced users

Custom measurements needed to be implemented

Various threshold values and performance indicator formulas
 Dead cell monitoring

SQM steering group formed to oversee future development on the system
SQM Maintenance Process at
TeliaSonera
Supervises
Steering groups
Sends performance data
Nokia NetAct
SQM
New feature
testing
Quality team
Help request in trouble
cases.
Specifications for new
alarm monitoring rules
RAM team
Parameter team
Nokia
Training and instructions
Specifications for new
KPI or KQI values
Gives feedback on the
systems’ state to
New
specification
work required
Provides new alarm
monitoring
implementation
instructions
System
maintenance
Network element
software upgrade
projects, etc.
New
Newfeatures
featuresto
existing systems
Need for new
performance
indicators
Maintenance and
new feature
implementation
Process evaluation

The SQM integration and development process itself was analyzed
in this thesis using the following criteria:








Trial period analysis
Software vendor reliability
Total cost
Tailoring possibilities
Integration possibilities
Training possibilities
Multiplatform support
Results of this analysis mainly used to measure the successfulness
of the adaptation process

This, in turn, would be used to decide whether changes in similar
projects are needed in the future
Contents
Introduction to the study
1.
•
Background, research problem, research methods
Service Quality in Mobile Networks
2.
•
Motivation for QoS, network QoS management tools
Service Quality Manager (SQM)
4. SQM Integration
5. Conclusions
3.
Conclusions

Next generation mobile networks require the operators to have more
versatile tools to manage the various services provided by the
network


The system should also make the operation and management of the
network and its resources efficient and effective
Analysis of TeliaSonera’s mobile network management processes
concluded that there was a clear need for such a tool

Service Quality Manager fills this need
 The analysis was also done to establish a regular practice within the
company to analyze their network management practices in terms of
service quality management
Conclusions

The analysis identified two main user groups


Adaptation process evaluation revealed defects in the process:


For example, end-user needs should be identified sooner in the process so as to
speed up the development process
As the field of study presented in this thesis is constantly under change, it is
evident that some process descriptions presented will not be topical for long


In light of some issues identified in the analysis, procurement of an additional
performance monitoring tool was proposed
Especially from the operator’s stand-point
All things considered, the objectives of the thesis were reached


No further study on the subject needed as such
What remains is the final steps of integrating the system into the operator’s
processes
Thank you