OPERAS': Generating and improving network operational workflows on-the-fly

Abstract

The paper proposes a mechanism to generate and improve operational workflows on-the-fly by utilizing work records actually conducted in network operations. To achieve agile and cost effective telecom operations, it is important to have well-defined operational workflows for each operational process. However, defining ultimately-optimized workflows for all operations in-advance is unlikely since new services are frequently created and the relevant infrastructure is renovated on a daily basis. Modifying the predefined workflow often in line with environmental changes incurs considerable operational costs, since manual operation is required to keep all workflows up-to-date. Accordingly, a mechanism to generate workflows automatically is necessary to swiftly and economically adapt to the dynamic environment. In this paper, automatic tagging technology to generate discrete operation records and quantitative evaluation-based workflow trimming technology to extract operational workflows from stored operation records are developed to map operating processes to the business process model. Throughout the scenario demonstrated, an efficiency to analyze actual operations and the capability of generating operational workflows are indicated.