Moving Geospatial Applications Towards a Mission Critical
Scenario
Rodovia Campinas Mogi-Mirim
Km 118,
5 Campinas,
SP – Brazil 13088-902
Email: delli@cpqd.com.br | geovane@cpqd.com.br
Abstract
Geospatial applications have become a fundamental part of OSS (Operation
Support Systems) solutions. Their integration with other corporate systems, which
are components of the whole enterprise architecture, is crucial. These applications
have proven to be very effective for back office activities that are already solved
with some automation. Now they are pushed to a mission critical, 24 x 7, scenario.
With their powerful databases systems, quality and large amount of data and
precise location information, they are moving towards the front office activities. This
presentation will show the way to this new scenario and two successful integration
cases of SAGRE, a Geospatial Outside Plant Management System, with CRM
(Customer Relationship Management) and Workflow systems.
Introductoin
The deregulation of the telecommunication market, the constant technical evolution
and the customer oriented business pushed all companies to review their IT
architecture in order to be competitive. To be able to compete with the incumbents,
new companies (CLECs) have to offer new services, focus their market and speed
up their operations. On the other hand, incumbents have also to offer new
services and to reduce operational costs.
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) provides the enabling technology for
incumbents and CLECs to integrate their bussiness processes through an
integration bus that will link the variety of systems, in-house or COTS (Commercial
Of The Shelf), via connectors and adapters.
Geospatial applications have proven to be very effective for mapping, engineering
and market analysis but it is not enough to fulfill the requirements of a competitive
market. Usually these activities are carried on by the company’s engineering
areas and are not integrated with the customer relationship activities, the
operational area. Now Geospatial applications are pushed to be integrated with
other corporate systems. Not all geospatial systems have the requirements to fit
the new integration requirements. The solutions adopted in the past have to be
reviewed within this new environment.
Fit for purpose
To do a correct choice of the components and approaches to data conversion and
data definition that will endup in a correct IT architecture definition and in an
expected return of investiment (ROI), some key aspects have to be analized.
Process Mapping
The primary need of the enterprise is to establish business processes of each
operational area. Usually telecommunication companies have in mind these
operational areas:
-
Marketing and Planing
-
Sales
-
Engineering
-
Construction
-
Operations
These areas have their own processes with specific needs and flows for data
gathering and data analyses. On the other hand, some processes, such as sales,
have communication with all areas of the company.
After the processes and procedures are mapped it’s necessary to identify which
are already automated by which system and the ones that are not and those which
have to be. With the processes and systems mapped, the needs for system
integration becomes clear. This task will end up in a big picture of the IT
architecture and will drive all the efforts of the integration activities.
