Thanks to everyone who weighed in on this discussion.
I would add that at the Open API level we do have an open issue in the model of how actually to correlate between network assets (TMF640, TMF702) on the one hand and the corresponding inventory entries (TMF638, TMF639) on the other. The IDs in the two models will not be the same; we should probably consider adding an External Identifier structure to the inventory model, so that the network identifier(s) can be passed into the inventory entity.
I plan to open a JIRA change request for this, which probably will be executed only in v5 of the relevant APIs.
Any opinions and statements made by me on this forum are purely personal, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the TM Forum or my employer.
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 03, 2023 06:15
From: marty oliver
Subject: Network to Inventory Reconcilliation
Thanks for the advice Alexey much appreciated...
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marty oliver
BT Group plc
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 02, 2023 13:07
From: Alexey Rusakov
Subject: Network to Inventory Reconcilliation
I don't think there's a specific API for that kind of request (but I'm not that well-versed in TMF OpenAPIs - could probably miss something), and I wouldn't expect any existing solution to have anything catering to that within TMF639. I would probably use GET /resources
, conveying the requirement to check the resource configuration with the network using extra parameters in the query; resourceStatus == unknown
or actually anything except available
would then signal that the requesting side's information on the resource is not accurate... Or, if checking with the network is an asynchronous operation (which is likely be the case), I would go for TMF652 and make the discovery & reconciliation request a proper resource order that would effectively reserve the resource before activating it.
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Alexey Rusakov
Red Hat, Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 02, 2023 10:08
From: marty oliver
Subject: Network to Inventory Reconcilliation
Thank Alexey, just to give the context. As an Access Network Provider of Broadband services,
We have OSS allocating Service Config e.g. S and C VLAN's on CP handover, and recording ONT Serial Numbers, ONUID's on GPON side.
They are then pushed to the network for service activation... due to planning changes, migrations, manual intervention, even some corruption etc. When we provide a service, or when there is a fault, we want to ensure both OSS and Network are aligned before we investigate further (line test or engineer visit etc).
In the system responsible for checking, we are building rules to automatically resolve the discrepancies. However, prior to full automation, we will be running this process manually... The test system will invoke the reconcile system, and in response we want to give the discrepancy, along with the suggested fix. Probably be manually resolved in the first instnace.
In the future, we'd hope to have a batch process to routinely cover the entire network, but there will always be the gaps where we do spot check and fixes...
Ultimately, we want the reconciliation System will fix the issues automatically regardless of whether the check is invoke via batch or from another system (manual teams). But if invoked from another system, the response would Include the below (probably the bases for a REST call):
- The discrepancy or context of discrepancy (or list of discrepancies)
- How the Discrepancy was resolve (changes on network or OSS etc)
- Was the discrepancy resolved automatically
the old TMF MTOSI, used to compare the data sets and send only the discrepancy data, but the logic to fix the issue resides with the consumer of the service. So trying to avoid that if possible.
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marty oliver
BT Group plc
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 02, 2023 07:33
From: Alexey Rusakov
Subject: Network to Inventory Reconcilliation
Hi Marty,
As I understand it, you intend to call this logic from the service management layer; I'm not quite clear what the service management layer could reasonably do with the response. If there's a discrepancy that cannot be automatically reconciled then the resolution still belongs to the resource management layer (probably a network engineer will have to log in and manually reconcile things). So, basically within the confines of the network design/inventory management system.
Hope this helps.
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Alexey Rusakov
Red Hat, Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 02, 2023 04:32
From: marty oliver
Subject: Network to Inventory Reconcilliation
Thank you for the prompt Reply Jonathan, much appreciated.
Yes Bulk reconciliation is tricky and often that would be managed in bulk on our data lakes.
In this instance the service is more a diagnostic Discovery/Compare/reconcile (manual at first) for a single customer service . e.g. we have a broadband service, and we want to compare our network config , with the OSS assigned config to ascertain whether there is parity between the two (as part of preprovision, or before a test). Responding to our provision/test systems accordingly with an OK, or the discrepancy.
The discrepancy response would look to contain either the discrepancy in the two sets of data (as MDDC use to do) or an issue code (e.g. config mismatch identified). Thinking of adding context to aid the resolution also (how to fix, either in the OSS or on the Network)...
I don't know if this helps suggested alignment to a API, or we're flying solo? :-)
Thanks again
Marty
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marty oliver
BT Group plc
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 01, 2023 14:52
From: Jonathan Goldberg
Subject: Network to Inventory Reconcilliation
Hi Marty
Reconciliation is a complex topic, and it would cover a wide variety of persistent stores. I'm not sure that an API representation would be the most effective, since you would generally want to verify in bulk.
Possibly the Data Governance collaborative project (@Sarah Ness , @Aaron Boasman-Patel ) would be the best place to discuss reconciliation issues.
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Jonathan Goldberg
Amdocs Management Limited
Any opinions and statements made by me on this forum are purely personal, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the TM Forum or my employer.
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 01, 2023 10:18
From: marty oliver
Subject: Network to Inventory Reconcilliation
I've looked through the OpenAPI's, both current and beta to see if there is an interface that supports a pattern for reconcile. Unfortunately I've been only been able to identify TMF639 which is more inventory management than discrepancy checking.
e.g.
Purpose: To invoke the comparison of two datasets, network and OSS Inventory... TMF MTOSI provided a schema called MDDC (possible: ???Manage Discovery Discrepancy Comparision??? perhaps)
Input: Resource or Services ID.
Output: Context of any discrepancy, between Network and OSS inventory. MDDC used to provide the discrepancies between data sets in the response structures.
Any pointers?
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marty oliver
BT Group plc
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