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Business Applications
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The Business Side of Objects: Breaking the Barrier between Users and I.T.
A case study: High level requirements in the telecom domain
Purpose: Improve productivity of engineering staff, provide tools to speed up provisioning process, and
provide easy access of network information to all enterprise users.
Domain: The outside plant network.
Objects: The objects of interest in this environment include GIS-oriented items such as streets,political and
serving are aboundaries, hydrography, parcels,and customer locations. The AM/FM system extends these with
various new network features that tend to be more complex than many other types of GIS features, including:
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Structures - Support, contain, or house other objects. Examples are poles, man holes, pedestals, towers,
and conduit. (Conduit may also be considered a conductor of sorts.) Bridges, dams, or tunnels may also
be structures for supporting devices or cables. Buildings, such as a Central Office, are also structures.
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Attachments - Items associated with or attached to structures. Examples are guys, anchors, other utility
items (CATV or electric).
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Conductors - Carry signaland includecopper,fiber, and coax. TheAM/FMmodel depictsthe sheath
graphicallyand maintainsa muchfinergranularityof the internalconductors,which for copper are
referredto as pairs and in fiber as strands. Additionalinformationper strandor coax sheathmay include
frequencyrangesand assignments.
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Devices- Launch,extract,monitor,amplify,or change signalat points in the network. Theseinclude
multiplexors,terminals,splitters,networkinterfacedevices(NID/NIU),etc. Typicallydevicescontain
multipleports for connectingto otherdevicesor conductors. Thesedevicesmaybe furthersubdivided
into variousgroupingsbasedon suchcharacteristicsas whetheror not they are powerconsuming(which
tends to add noise or distortionto the signalversus simply loweringsignalstrengthif passive)or if they
are field configuredvia sub-devices(cardsinto slots) that maybe thoughtof as componentobjects. A
specialclass of device,the switch,maybe dealt with as a completelydifferentobjectbecauseof its
complexity. Customerpremise equipment,such as a telephones,PBX,routers,gateways,etc., are also
devices(and have associatedconductors) which may be known to the network.
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Locations - Specialpoints of intereston the network. Locationsmay includemarkers(call beforeyou
dig), groundpoints, splicepoints (whichmay be classedas pseudo-devices),etc.
Of particular interest to the model are "customers". These objects may not include a direct spatial coordinate, but
may be geographically located through the address that relates to "street" objects. They may also be identified on
parcel maps or other geographic model. Each feature in a telephone model can be classified as one of the above or
will be a standard GIS feature such as a street, landmark, parcel, etc.
Each of these features optionally contains associated attributes. These attributes may be organizedintomultiple
aggregates in various ways. One approach lists these by usage or type as:
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accounting or CPR (continuing property records)
- engineering (signal capacity and side effects, structural, size, and materials)
- identify for the feature itself and to identlfi its designer, job numbers, and dates)
- location (spatial, serving area (route), map bookplat sheet, address)
- relationships (defined below)
For telecommunicationsfeatures,all will have identityand location. Some,however,maynot be of interestto
accountingor maynot have engineeringsignificance(definedper featureclassification). Relationshipsalso may not
be definedfor everytype of feature.
Tools
Just as it is inconceivableto describea farmwithoutconsideringa tractor, it is difficultto describea
telecommunicationsoperationwithout consideringbackhoes,cherry-pickertrucks, servicetrucks,reel trucks,
warehouses,and other itemswhichhave (at any point in time) a geographiclocation. Manyof thesetrucks are now
radio and GPSequippedto support automaticvehiclelocate(AVL)and routing, as well as on-boardcomputer
dispatch.
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