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Problem: A large telecom company needed to increase the accuracy of their network configuration. This is one of the largest telecom companies, with hundreds of telephone switches. The manual process of configuring telephone switches involves hundreds of people. Routing changes in the network were often delivered late and with mistakes. Federal regulations require that changes be 100% accurate and that changes be completed 100% on schedule. The government would only allow the company to expand into a new business area if it met these standards.

Action: We were contracted to design and develop a custom application to automate the most common of the manual operations. Our system reduces the workload on the staff and guarantees the accuracy of the changes.

Our system is fully integrated with the customer's internal systems using XML transmitted by Java Message Service (JMS). This system programmatically receives all requests for network changes and automatically decides their disposition. An Oracle database is used to store requests, network information and archive the history of changes. The customer uses a browser-based interface to view system status. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) uses Java Server Pages (JSP) to interface the user with the Oracle database.

Result: The customer has accepted this new system and is running it in their production environment. It currently processes all network change requests. This new system is used to interconnect the customer's internal systems and monitor activity. The automation subsystem has been tested and proven, and automation is scheduled for rollout in early 2002. The full benefit of the system will be realized in 2002 when the automated portions of the system are activated.