CASE STUDY

TRANSFORMATION
OF NETWORK PLANNING
& DESIGN PROCESSES
E-PLUS (NOW OWNED
BY TELEFÓNICA GERMANY)

CASE STUDY 1
Increasing efficiency of business processes and man- CLIENT:
aging NGN rollout costs are key issues to any mobile
operator. E-Plus Germany selected the Comarch Next E-PLUS (NOW OWNED
Generation Network Planning (NGNP) solution, together BY TELEFÓNICA GERMANY)
with the support in process reengineering, in order to
achieve these goals. INDUSTRY:

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
THE BUSINESS NEED
With 22,7 million customers, the E-Plus
E-Plus’ main goal in this project was to transform Group is Germany’s third largest mobile tele-
the processes and the organization. Existing network communications network operator and since
planning and rollout processes were very complex, 2000 belongs to the Dutch telecommunica-
with hundreds of workarounds for simple operations, tion group KPN.
not supported by the tools already in use. In order
to start thinking about lean, smooth and efficient E-Plus Group generates annual revenue of
processes, Comarch and E-Plus had to stop thinking over €3 billion (2011) and employs more than
about applications and focus on business activities 4,500 people in Germany.
in the area of planning and network integration. To
secure ROI for the project E-Plus defined a list of
business KPIs. These included two high-level business IMPLEMENTED SOLUTION:
goals: increase of efficiency in planning and rollout by
50% and reducing time-tomarket for new technologies n Comarch NGNP
to 3-6 months. (Next Generation Network Planning)

THE CONCEPT

The project assumed the implementation of the Comarch Next Generation Network Planning (NGNP) platform as
a core of the transformation. But the main focus was on redesigning and simplifying processes, an essential step
to maximize efficiency. Based on the redesigned processes all other project streams were aligned, like the new
architecture of IT systems and interfaces or the way to prioritize and scope migration requirements.

Comarch’s approach was to take one stream and make it a leading one, called Business Transition, with two main
tasks: redesign all processes independently of the platform requirements (using eTOM/ITIL as a reference and
BPMN/EPC notation for Business Process Modeling), and then create a new platform architecture using standardized
E-Plus modules and the Comarch NGNP package. In fact, those two areas coexisted throughout the whole
project, supporting each other. To secure ROI, a Managed Services model extended with a bonus-malus payment
option was applied.

THE PROJECT – BPR & ARCHITECTURE TRANSFORMATION

The OSS transformation project started with assessing business processes in the RAN, transport and core networks,
like creation of a new site, a system swap, a new transport network element or an integration process. All processes
in all domains were documented, as they should work, without any applications in the background. Such an
approach allowed for focusing on the important steps, without all legacy ones, introduced to overcome the
lack of functionalities in tools. It was crucial that the remodeling of processes also entails certain changes in the
organization.

The crucial achievement of the project was process reengineering. The work spent on defining new processes
allowed E-Plus to achieve the requested project KPIs related to network planning and rollout. What is even more
important, the redesigned processes provide better control over network planning and rollout processes, thus also
increasing network quality. All this ultimately translates to improving EPlus’ business offer.
WHY COMARCH?

Throughout the whole NGNP project Comarch has developed and

proved its own concepts and ideas for managing and helping with big
transformation projects. Comarch skills and OSS strategy helped us in
smooth transition from complex legacy architecture and processes into
new lean approach for network planning, delivery and integration.

Department Manager Processes & Support

E-Plus
THE RESULTS

RESULT 1: Decreasing the complexity of network planning and design processes.

Once high-level processes were defined during the “blueprint” phase, the real optimization process started.
The business analysis resulted in replacing 110 existing business processes with 65 newly introduced processes
for RAN, transport and core planning. The new processes automated data handling between different systems
and provided clear boarders between various planning phases. This brought an additional benefit for E-Plus by
providing flexibility in introducing various outsourcing scenarios and ease of adaptation to partners via inventory
and BPM interfaces, e.g. for network rollout.

RESULT 2: Simplifying and standardizing of the NGOSS architecture.

Transformation of the IT architecture was planned as the next step. Based on due diligence method, subset of
existing modules was assessed and merged into a new architecture, with Comarch Network Inventory (Resources)
and Comarch OSS Process Management (Processes) modules at its core. Redundant functions were standardized
and finally migrated to Comarch NGNP.

Northbound Interfaces Northbound Interfaces

Global Reports Metrica SAP CRM Call Center NetGuide Performance Mgmt SAP CRM Call Center

Inventory+Project Transport Planning/Management Configuration Middleware+

Management Workflow
Direct Adapters Reusable components
Daylight Transtool TinaRifu Gecco INSA of Comarch OSS
(proprietary) (Novabit) (proprietary) (TSystem) (proprietary)
Inventory System
Task Control Transport net
planning
Radio link
management
Configuration
Management 2G
Middleware
Workflow Control
Comarch OSS Process Management Authentication
Repository &
ECM Service
Configuration
Rambo CMS WorkorderDB
(Novabit) (PSI) (Lotus Notes) ArcGIS
Zentis (DB) Transport net OpNet Radio
Configuration Workflow Control
(Oracle) Viewer Management 3G (Core + Transport) Planning Tool
MDF/ODT mgmt.

Elisa iPac Config Scripts Notification &

Reporting Comarch Comarch Reporting
(Novabit) (proprietary) (proprietary) Escalation
Inventory Network Service
GIS Service
Discoverer Leased line and Data generation
interconnection IP address and Management Planning
(Oracle) management
management transformation
EVision
Reporting
Leicas Maxwell (GE) Network
(proprietary) (proprietary) GasBrowser Otimisation
IQ Link NCP IQLink
TisRep Task ?
(MS Access) Viewer for Elisa
management Comarch OSS Comarch OSS
EVIntra Console WEB Console
Reporting (GE)
DiscNet JComs
(Atesio) (Mentopolis)
ATM Simulation Configurator download
Regulatory Mgmt Strategic Transport Radio link Configurator upload/download
Net Planning interface Core (reconciliation)
Jabba Planning
(proprietary)
Radio Planning ArcGIS Reporting for
Radio Planning
Netkon Actix GIS
Optimization and Optimization Comarch Comarch Authorites
(PSI)
Configurator Network
Daylight Daylight Configuration Management Reconciliation
(proprietary) (proprietary) Core Parameters
PreHCM Inventory Inventory
GeoCoder
Task Control Task Control
ECM ECM

Network Environment Network Environment

Plan Editor Ericsson OMC Marconi SoA OMC OMC OMC NMS ...

Nokia OMC Siemens OMC Siemens TNMS OMC OMC NMS ...

Simplifying and standardizing of the NGOSS architecture.

RESULT 3: Time-to-market improvement. Optimization of the network integration process.

Network integration is a crucial process for a mobile operator. To orchestrate the configuration changes, most
service providers still use theso called ‘Turn On Cycle’ (TOC) process, which defines a number of changes to be
executed in a defined period of time. Radio planners providethe network configuration at the end of the TOC
process, which means that it is necessary to manually update the configuration for each day and each integration in
the configuration management systems. This increases the risk of errors in the configuration and requires multiple
planners to verify if the requested configuration is in place. Some errors can be identified only by drive tests or
customer complaints. The solution proposed for E-Plus is based on a simplified process for network integration and
tools with capabilities to support this process. The process identifies all integration happening in a period of time
and divides the operation to physical integration and optimization.

Within the first part of the process all deletion commands are prepared and integration is executed based on
default parameters. After the necessary tests, the site becomes active, but locked for commercial traffic. A basket
of other sites in the same state is created for a given network cluster. In the second part of the process this basket
is optimized with a final configuration and integration for all sites. Within this process the sites are marked as
commercially available. The process itself is executed very closely to the data, which is automatically updated based
on the network reconciliation process. This is vital to bring the planners close to the real network configuration,
so the plan they prepare can be executed without creating problems in the network. It is just one of the process
redefinition examples.

RESULT 4: Overall business process efficiency improvement by 50%. Reduced number of

network configuration errors.

The launch of the first two project phases proved that the target of 50% increase of efficiency is a realistic objective
and will be reached. In order to reach that goal a lot of user know-how is being put into the Comarch OSS Process
Management system, increasing the level of automation. Additionally, through architecture centralization, a lot of
manual retyping and data transferring was no longer necessary. Automation of processes and centralization of the
data reduced the number of network configuration errors, additionally increasing operational efficiency. This was
achieved mainly by reducing the number of applications and internal interfaces and introducing standardized,
modern ones.

RESULT 5: Seamless integration of Network Infrastructure Outsourcing and E-Plus Network

Planning & Design Policy

The Comarch NGNP platform provides end-to-end processes for network rollout. Particular process phases are
standardized based on NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance) recommendations and the TMF eTOM
standard. Each phase is delivered either with a standard integration interface or with access to E-Plus applications,
where new rollout partners can be easily introduced. The process provides well defined project roles and
responsibilities, allowing E-Plus planners to fully manage and track realization of the rollout projects.

ABOUT COMARCH
Since 1993, Comarch’s specialist telecommunications business unit has worked with some of the biggest telecoms companies in the world
to transform their business operations. Our industry-recognized telco OSS and BSS products help telecoms companies streamline
their business processes and simplify their systems to increase business efficiency and revenue, as well as to improve the customer experience
and help telcos bring innovative services to market. Comarch’s customers in telecommunications include Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom,
Vodafone, KPN and Orange.

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