Decision Support System : A Snap Shot

The concept of a decision support system (DSS) is extremely broad and its definitions vary depending upon the author's point of view. A DSS can take many different forms and the term can be used in many different ways.

In a more precise way, it can be defined as:

"An interactive, flexible, and adaptable computer-based information system, especially developed for supporting the solution of a non-structured management problem for improved decision making. It utilizes data, provides an easy-to-use interface, and allows for the decision maker's own insights."

DSS are computer-based support for management decision makers who are dealing with semi-structured problems. With respect to computer terminology it can be defined as:

"Interactive computer-based systems that help decision makers utilize data and models to solve unstructured problems."

Though, it is impossible to give a precise definition including all the facets of the DSS. Nevertheless, the term decision support system remains a useful and inclusive term for many types of information systems that support decision making. Every time a computerized system is not an on-line transaction processing system (OLTP), someone will be tempted to call it a DSS. As it can be see that there is no universally accepted definition of DSS.

Additionally, the specifics of it is what makes it less generalized and more detailed. In addition, a DSS also is a specific Software application that helps to analyze data contained with a customer database. This approach to customers is used when deciding on target markets as well as customer habits.

History of DSS

The concept of decision support has evolved from two main areas of research: the theoretical studies of organizational decision making done at the Carnegie Institute of Technology during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the technical work on interactive computer systems, mainly carried out at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s. It is considered that the concept of DSS became an area of research of its own in the middle of the 1970s, before gaining in intensity during the 1980s. In the middle and late 1980s, executive information systems (EIS), group decision support systems (GDSS), and organizational decision support systems (ODSS) evolved from the single user and model-oriented DSS. Beginning in about 1990, data warehousing and on-line analytical processing (OLAP) began broadening the realm of DSS. As the turn of the millennium approached, new Web-based analytical applications were introduced.

It is clear that DSS belong to an environment with multidisciplinary foundations, including (but not exclusively) database research, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, simulation methods, software engineering, and telecommunications.

Historical development

The role of business information systems has changed and expanded over the last four decades.
In the incipient decade (1950s and '60s), "electronic data processing systems" could be afforded by only the largest organizations. They were used to record and store bookkeeping data such as journal entries, specialized journals, and ledger accounts. This was strictly an operations support role. By the 1960s "management information systems" were used to generate a limited range of predefined reports, including income statements (they were called P & L's back then), balance sheets and sales reports. They were trying to perform a decision making support role, but they were not up to the task.

By the 1970s "decision support systems" were introduced. They were interactive in the sense that they allowed the user to choose between numerous options and configurations. Not only was the user allowed to customize outputs, they also could configure the programs to their specific needs.

The main development in the 1980s was the introduction of decentralized computing. Instead of having one large mainframe computer for the entire enterprise, numerous PC's were spread around the organization. This meant that instead of submitting a job to the computer department for batch processing and waiting for the experts to perform the procedure, each user had their own computer that they could customize for their own purposes. Many poor souls fought with the vagaries of DOS protocols, BIOS functions, and DOS batch programming.

As people became comfortable with their new skills, they discovered all the things their system was capable of. Computers, instead of creating a paperless society, as was expected, produced mountains of paper, most of it valueless. This information overload was mitigated somewhat in the 1980s with the introduction of "executive information systems". They streamlined the process, giving the executive exactly what they wanted, and only what they wanted.

The 1980s also saw the first commercial application of artificial intelligence techniques in the form of "expert systems". These programs could give advice within a very limited subject area. The promise of decision making support, first attempted in management information systems back in the 1960s, had step-by-step, come to fruition.

The 1990s saw the introduction of "strategic information systems". This was largely because of developments in the subject of strategic management by scholars like M. Porter, T Peters, J. Reise, C. Markides, and J. Barney in the 1980s. Competitive advantage became a hot management topic and software developers were happy to provide the tools.

Applications

There are theoretical possibilities of building such systems in any knowledge domain.

One of the examples is Clinical decision support system for medical diagnosis. Other examples include a bank loan officer verifying the credit of a loan applicant or an engineering firm that has bids on several projects and wants to know if they can be competitive with their costs.

A specific example concerns the Canadian National Railway system, which tests its equipment on a regular basis using a Decision Support System. A problem faced by any railroad is worn-out or defective rails, which can result in hundreds of derailments per year. Under a DSS, CN managed to decrease the incidence of derailments at the same time other companies were experiencing an increase.

DSS has many applications that have already been spoken about. However, it can be used in any field where organization is necessary. Additionally, a DSS can be designed to help make decisions on the stock market, or deciding which area or segment to market a product toward. DSS has endless possibilities that can be used anywhere and anytime, for its decision making needs.

Help Desk Support Service

Any organization that truly wants to go digital and global in its operations needs to incorporate effective help desk support service as part and parcel of its organizational structure. Such a service is capable of integrating both the customers and every other member of the organization towards greater results that will take the company to higher levels.

Why help desk Support?

Help desk is simply a unique application that provides basic assistance especially when it comes to effective customer satisfaction. It is also used in troubleshooting network problems through various avenues. Every serious company that wants to expand its customer base needs to outsource help desk in order to achieve better results.

Kinds of Help Desk

Help desk support could be in two major forms namely, the in-house type and the external version. The in-house help desk is tailored to provide adequate support to employees working in the company. This support system ensures effective communication between the company management and all the employees working in the company. On the other hand, the external help desk is meant to offer quality support to customers and other external clients that have businesses to do with the company. Proper customer/client satisfaction is usually guaranteed through such means.

The Help desk supports software

Help desk comes in form of a software application which is usually outsourced from a provider company. It is simply a web based customer support system which comes with diverse tools and solutions. The support software may also come with website solutions, email packages and toll free numbers. All these are meant to help the company in running its operations well especially when it comes to proper customer satisfaction.

Functions of the Help Desk Support

A good help desk support provides the following functions in a company

* It ensures that customers are properly attended to especially when they call through the phone lines.
* It ensures proper connectivity between company management and the employees.
* It handles all kinds of network problems.
* It provides single contact point for all the users especially when it comes to receiving proper assistance on various computer and network problems.
* It manages all kinds of requests through various applications. For instance, it has an issue tracking system that helps a lot in tracking 'requests with definite numbers.
* It monitors users' environment and helps a lot in with all kinds of technical problems that may arise.

Outsourcing Help Desk

A company needs to outsource help desk before the system can work effectively within its operation. There are various companies online that provide such help services. When you locate the best of such companies, you're sure of having the best help desk support installed in your organization. Take time to read reviews written about various provider companies in order to select the right company that can provide the needed help desk support for your organization.

In conclusion, help desk support is very vital for the smooth running of your organization. Its benefits are indeed enormous.

AAMCO Transmission Inc Franchise Review

AAMCO transmission Inc. is a recognized leader in transmission business and a leader in complete car care services. Apart from transmission work, AAMCO stores provide automotive cooling and electrical system repairs and other general maintenance service. It is not only the most recognizable name in transmission business, it appears as one of the most familiar names in the whole business world. The company's record of achievement and resilience is notable especially compared to the three quarters of franchisee system. So, owning an AAMCO can offer the financial freedom, security and lifestyle that come from being your own boss.

Name Is Their Success Story

When people think of AAMCO, they think of guaranteed work, quality service and trust. These characteristic traits and qualities have spelled success for hundreds of AAMCO franchise owners and well-wishers. Their cutting edge transmission repair technology ensures that their centers are always the most qualified place to take cars in need of transmission work. Frankly speaking with brand recognitions and a volley of most highly skilled technicians in the industry, AAMCO is well positioned to become the market leader in brakes, tune-ups, and other aftermarket services.

Buying an AAMCO franchise unleashes the true power of your own individual business. They are providing more services to gain more customer support with the intention of increasing the opportunities for more revenues and profits. By delivering commendable one-stop shopping for complete car care, AAMCO franchise centers taking their share of the much larger market. There are lots of business minded professionals and entrepreneurs who have shown their interest to be a part of AAMCO Franchise success story.

Good Training & Support System

AAMCO provides complete 21 days training at National Headquarters. Their comprehensive training program serves beneficial to the majority of franchise owners who lack absolutely no automotive and mechanical experience. The continual operational, sales, management and technical support are provided along with outstanding advertising support. Their operation team spends 5 weeks with you directly in your store ensuring a truly flawless transition from classroom to fully functional store. Besides it provides operational support, Technical support including In-field coaching and training, Webinar based training, etc. The marketing support focused on locally and nationally based marketing support marks the difference.

Time To Make Your Move

The capital investment requires to open an AAMCO transmission franchise is $ 200,000- $ 260,000. Well, its initial franchise fee required is $39,500 alongside a Royalty fee of 7%. It provides financing for bit qualified buyers with minimum $65k liquid capital. By the way, those seeking for a franchise opportunity require to go through an application form that will essentially invite you for a contract. The moment you fill the form a franchise development specialist will be in touch with you within a day or so. The moment you sign a contract you will be notified that you are entering 15-year terms of franchise agreement.

An Introduction to Decision Support System (DSS)

A decision support system (DSS) is defined as the method used to represent data in a different perception as to ease making decisions based on it. It is not that simple to make the right judgment in the business world. It needs to be based on the quality of the data and proceed with a scan through the data and analyzing it to find ways for business solutions and strategies. DSS is available now in a computer software form together with a human component that can execute a large size of data and select among the many choices.

Although many people think that the decision support system is just an extra tool for the business, most of the companies have actually started to implement this system as part of their daily operation activities. These companies often download and analyze large sales data, sales forecasts and budget sheets and go ahead to update their strategy once the current results have been analyzed and evaluated in full detail.

The main goal of the decision support system is to collect the data, then analyze and shape the collected data to try to make the right decisions or plan for strategies based on the result of the analysis. It does not really matter whether people, databases or even computers are involved in the decisions making as it is just a simple procedure of gathering raw unstructured data to aid in the process of decision making.

One should be reminded that the computers and artificial intelligence is the one behind the screen that is assisting to program all these data. Even so this is happening; it is yet dependable on us humans to execute the operations. We have to pick and choose the correct data, analyze and comprehend the data to come up with a usable hypothesis.

The Use Of BSS/OSS To Manage A Complex Business

It is imperative for business to stay in touch with their customer base and with the developments in the industry in which they compete. The methodology used to do this is referred to as BSS/OSS, a two pronged approach to the business of telecommunications. Business support systems deal with the way the industry works with its customers, the operations support systems deal with the physical infrastructure and controlling tools.

The evolution of the telephone has been a rapid and profound technological roller coaster, sweeping the globe in a short time and changing in shape, size and capability many times over. With the advent of satellite phones, there is virtually nowhere on earth that the industry has not reached. Sadly for the industry, the world now takes it for granted, and is fickle enough that if a provider can not keep up with competitors, they move to another provider.

It is important that they pay attention to both elements, as do most businesses, but in the telecommunications field, both customers and capabilities continue to evolve at an incredible speed. Consumers demand faster and more diverse applications to run their devices, which have evolved to the point that resemble computers more than phones. To comply with these increasing demands, the hardware that supports the service has to keep up.

It comes as no surprise that the industry focuses so intensely on their customers, because they have a serious tendency to change providers for even small difficulties. The number of providers is steadily increasing as technology is mined for ever greater options such as voice over internet protocol. Companies have to invest in new transmission methodologies, equipment and transmission towers to stay ahead of the competition.

One method of using the technical side of the industry to bolster the people side is to guide the discourse into how the technical provides service to the customer. Successful campaigns have employed the Herculean task of providing coverage to the entire nation as a foil to demonstrate the care taken to provide service to customers. The complex customer base that the telecommunication industry courts demands they filter their data for trends and stay ahead of the curve.

Dealing with the overwhelming mass of information and attempting to determine what it is the consumer really wants is a Herculean task. Considering the telecommunications consumer population diversity and the extreme penetration each provider is attempting to attain, it is important to evaluate data in multiple levels. Having a dual path system that tracks, analyzes and selectively reports data to management allows maximum flexibility.

Technology springs to the rescue in the form of programs that control programs. While this may dredge up images from problems experienced in the matrix movie trilogy, this kind of multilevel computer programming has been around for some time. The idea is to allow senior leaders to indicate what data they need to collect and have a program drive root programs in a wide area to collect and collate the data and then create information in the form the leader selected.

Help Desk Support - An Important Part of Business Infrastructure

Every company has various resources and sections taking care of its many operations. Whether it is to deal with the many queries that come in or to fix a bug in the system there must be a support system in place that will clear all hitches. It is this support system that keeps the company running smoothly with no hitches or hiccups in its operations. Help desk support thus is a huge part of any and every company. Every time a phone does not work, the mail system malfunctions or there is some problem in the work tools, we call the help desk which sorts out the issue. Thus help desk support is an important asset to work happening efficiently and with no errors. Efficiency and productivity are maintained by using these help desk support systems.

Whether you work in an office that has 50 people or 5000 people, help desk support and maintenance is an integral part of the company. Many times help desk support is accomplished through personnel who work in the firm and are direct employees. Sometimes in case of complex operations and procedures the help desk support function may be outsourced to an external vendor. These personnel will be paid by the company but will not be direct employees. Whether a firm needs a direct help desk or an indirect one depends on how critical its operations are and how often help may be required to sort out some issues at hand. Some firms which are smaller may not have a help desk support but one or two individuals who manage all problems and fix them as required.

Help desk outsourcing is a very popular concept. In this the help desk is handled by people in a different geographic location. Today with VOIP communication networks and much other technological advancement, the global workplace is popular. Thus a person in India may receive this support from the UK or USA or vice versa. These people will be trained to handle all queries with regard to the customer and guide them in a step by step troubleshooting process to fix the problem. With people working in different time zones and labor being cheaper help desk outsourcing is a popular option. Sometimes one company may handle multiple clients in different time zones. There would be different sets of employees to work with the client base which may be based in various parts of the world.

Help desk support can be an asset in many cases irrespective of the work environment and the background of the person. Often very high qualification is not sought. With a basic academic degree and proper training people will be able to come on board the project in no time and handle queries easily. This popularity has resulted in its widespread application not only for goods but also services. Even Human resource help desks are available for handling customer and client issues round the clock.

Information System and its Trends

Information System and technologies have become a vital component of successful businesses and organizations.

Information System means an interconnected set of information resources under the same direct management control that shares common functionality. A system normally includes hardware, software, information, data, applications, communications and people, while an information system is the arrangement of people, data, processes, presentation of data and information technology that supports our everyday needs. It is actually technologically implemented medium for recording, storing, and disseminating linguistic expressions, as well as for drawing conclusions from such expressions. The computer technology is used for implementing information systems.

TYPES OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM

Information System can be divided in two basic forms

1. OPERATIONS SUPPORT

SYSTEMS

It is further subdivided into
the following

o Transaction Processing System (TPS)

o Enterprise Collaboration System

o Process Control System

2. MANAGEMENT SUPPORT

SYSTEM

It is further subdivided into the following

o Management Information System (MIS)

o Decision Support System (DSS)

o Executive Support System (ESS)

TOOLS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM

The steps which are involved in the development of an Information System are:

Analysis, Feasibility Study, System Design, Testing, Implementation, Documentation.

TRENDS IN INFORMATION SYSTEM:

It is generally accepted that information is a vital commodity for the successful operation of today's organizations. Nowadays modern business organizations are using computerized information systems in order to obtain desired information. However, as the technology advances rapidly the main issue is how can an organization should effectively use such an information system which its management sometimes can be unpredictable in order to effectively help the whole organization structure to improve and take the most out of it.

It seems fairly obvious that Information systems have played an important linking role even before the advent of the Internet. Thus, for example, the possibilities offered by Information systems have strongly influenced the way managers were able to exercise control and therefore constituted an important factor in the organization of large-scale enterprise and their geographic extension. The same is true for governments and their statistical apparatus. The recent integration of computer networks and electronic data exchange facilitated the creation of common databases and policies among governments, speeding up developments, which had started earlier. It also created new possibilities for business, for example enabling companies to develop new organizational practices (e.g. just-in-time).

However, the role of Information systems in the organization is shifting to support business processes rather than individual functions. The focus is outwards to customers, rather than inwards to procedures. Businesses are changing more and more rapidly.

This poses a challenge to existing Information systems, which are often inappropriately structured to meet these needs. It also poses a challenge to the people who design, work and use these systems, since they may hold outdated assumptions.

To ensure the services provided by Information systems whenever needed and their failure will not cause catastrophic disaster their reliability and efficiency become extremely important. Imagine what would happen when a banking system malfunctions due to some critical faults in the system or when a healthcare information system provides wrong advice for patients.
It is even not over-saying that our lives are already under control of computer systems but their reliability and efficiency has become extremely important

APPLICATIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEM:

There is a wide range of applications of information system that are implemented in today's world. To name a few such as

1. Sales analysis, production performance and cost trend
reporting system

2. Product Pricing, profitability forecasting and risk
analysis system

3. Sales and inventory processing and accounting System

4. Geographic Information systems

5. Health Care Information Systems

6. Banking Information System

7. Petroleum Refining System

8. Power Generation System

9. Steel Production System

Role of Decision Support System For Decision-Making Process in Global Business Environment

Decision Support System:

A Decision Support System is an integrated set of computer tools allowing a decision maker to interact directly with computer to retrieve information useful in making semi structured and unstructured decisions. Example of this decisions include such things as merger and acquisition decisions, plant expansion, new product decisions portfolio management and marketing decisions.

Decision making is a fundamental managerial activity. It may be conceptualized as consisting of four stages: intelligence, design, choice and implementation.

Important aspects of the Decision Support System:

1) The most important consideration is the Decision Support System's ease of use - its ability to allow non -technical people to deal with it directly. The single greatest and most enduring problem with computers has been their inflexibility, their inability to let the person who actually needs the data to deal directly with the computer.

2) The ability to access information should not be restricted to only the part of an organization or to only certain managerial or professional groups. Instead the resource should be distributed to all of the people and part of an organization needing it without widespread access; the power of advanced Distributed Processing System will go untapped as they typically have in the past.

3) The ideal Decision Support System in sharp contrast to previous method of designing applications should not be a 'system' at all in the strict sense of the term. Rather, it should be a highly adaptive decision support generator that can easily be used by professionals to quickly design data support prototypes suited to each specific decision-making task. This adaptive tool must allow quick design changes if the original design does not closely match a person's information gathering style or needs.

4) To adequately support the human element, this highly adaptive support capability must be able to provide access to operational data and as well as to summary data that already has been processed by application programs designed for other specific operational tasks. Equally important this tool must provide the professional with access to an organization's raw data and it must allow the access to be accomplished in one step using a single uncomplicated procedure or command and without having to re-key non summary data.

5) The organizations need to access original data sometimes because efficiency is related to how well the original data is organized in the system; the Decision Support Generator should be able to interface with a true DBMS. It should also be able to access standard 'flat' files indirectly using the power of the host computer to facilitate both the user interface and data access without changing existing files.

6) The Decision Support Generator should let the user decide whether information should be displayed on the CRT screen for immediate use or whether it should be printed for later use. The best way to accomplish such flexible data presentation is through a work station. The management or professional information workstation would incorporate a keyboard, display screen and an interface to a printer which could print everything from straight text to graphics like pie charts, bar charts and line charts.

7) The support tool must interface with several different systems and capabilities, it must be compatible with all of them, the tool must provide users with a single easily used language to access manipulate and present data in a way that will best support the end-user.
8) To facilitate formatting and manipulating displayed data, the decision support generator should ideally be able to interface with word processing software. With this capability, the DSS becomes the critical link between data processing and office automation, integrating both functions in an easily-used, straight forward, extremely powerful system.
Decision making characteristics in the Global Business Environment:

Business Strategy/Decision Making Characteristics
Multinational: (decentralized federation) Decision making decentralized to subsidiaries, informal relationships between head quarters and subsidiaries
International: (coordinated federation) More vital decision and knowledge in general developed at head quarters and transferred to subsidiaries
Global: (centralized federation) Decisions made at the center knowledge developed and retained at the center
Transnational: (integrated network) Decision making and knowledge generation distributed among units

Managers and Decision Support System:

The daily work of a manager, as hundreds of brief activities of great variety, requiring rapid shifts of attention from one issue to another, very often initiated by emerging problems. A manager maintains a complex web of contacts outside and inside of the organization. A successful manager is not swamped by onslaught of these activities: he or she maintains a personal agenda. Effective manager carve out as it were, their own informal structure within the corporate structure and they use this network to keep themselves informed and influence others. It has been absorbed that proactive manager make special efforts to develop a long-term view and long-term agenda.

The need for types of information produced by decision support system has always been present. Decision support systems have become popular primarily because of their capability to fill this need. Nowadays availability of the computer hardware, the advent of the Database Management System in the 1970's provided means for storage and management of large amount of data, large increase in number of software packages incorporating the functions of a decision support system. Finally many MBAs who were trained analytic techniques are now reaching the middle and upper levels of corporations .These individuals know how to use the tools that decision support system provide. So in most of the organization, managers used the computer based Data processing applications. This leads to develop the decision support system in business world.

A widely held notion is that modern decision -making is a highly structured process. According to this view, management makes decisions by gathering and analyzing all the relevant information, reviewing all possible alternatives and then calmly and rationally choosing the course of action that provides maximum benefits at minimal risk.

Managers play three types of roles in carrying out their functions. Interpersonal roles are mainly based on face-to-face interactions; through in some cases computerized communications media may be employed. Informational and decision roles are supported by variety of information system, which make information available, assist in decision making and serve as means of communication.

All the managerial roles have an element of decision making: the decision roles are the ones where this is the crucial aspect. The manager brings together resources in a novel way. Decision support system assists an entrepreneur in considering options, selecting one and planning for its implementation. Handling disturbances is a part of managerial control. Resource allocation is the essence of planning and decision support systems have become indispensable in many organizations for their purpose.

The manager is a problem solver, and the fundamental activity in problem solving is decision making. Decision making is the process of identifying a problem, developing alternative solution and choosing and implementing one of them. An experienced manager recognizes a problem as similar to one he or she has already encountered. The intuitive grasp of a problem most often relies on such an ability to establish an analogy. The systems approach to problem solving helps to manage complexity.

Decision support system in the organizational environment:

Organizations that have been the most successful in the implementing DSS have much in common. They have well established, well controlled and well structured data processing system which provides transaction processing data necessary for DSS. Such organizations have spent extra money and personnel necessary to maintain a research and development focus. All the departments in the organization have communicated with central groups of computer. The entire departments have sufficient confidence to initiate and manage systems projects. The central computer groups have several people on its staff that either came from all other departments'. Education and training programs are used by the organizations to build mutual understanding between departments and the computer group.

Capabilities offered by DSS:

1) Support decision making in ill-structured situations- in which ,precisely owing to the lack of structure, problem do not lend themselves to full computerization, and yet require computer assistance for access to and processing of voluminous amount of data.

2) Help to rapidly obtain quantities results needed to reach the decision.
3) Operate the ad hoc mode to suit the current needs of the user, as opposed to operating in a generally scheduled fashion as management reporting system do.

4) Support various stages of the decision making process.

5) Foster high-quality decision making by encouraging decisions based on the integration of available information and human judgment.

6) Offer flexibility as opposed to a preordained pattern of use - making it easy to accommodate the particular decision making style of an individuals.

7) Facilitate the implementation of the decisions which frequently cut across department boundaries.

8) Support group decision making particularly through group DSS (GDSS).

9) Give managers the opportunity to gain a better understanding for their business by developing and working with models.

Conclusion:

With in the past several years, `computers have been used increasingly in areas of financial management, production analysis, short-term planning and geographical analysis.Today's business worlds, Computers are used for decision making process as a Decision support system. Decision Support System is types of management information system whose principal objective is to support a human decision maker during the process of arriving at decision. The strength of DSS lies in supporting decision making in situations where both human judgment and the power of the computer are required. DSS primarily support for strategic, tactical and operational planning.

Properly designed and integrated, the DSS becomes a very powerful support tool that enhances the productivity of professionals' at all organizational levels in all departments. It can effectively extend the organization's present staff by reducing its workload, thereby increasing productivity. And with today's technology and state of the art software tools, it can bring us even closer to bridging the chasms and operations reach worlds. These features can offer today's organizations pressed more than ever before to maximize efficiency while reducing costs unprecedented benefits in the utilization and management of both their human and computer resources.

Reference:
1) "Management Information System" by Viladimir Zwass
2) "The nature of Organizational Decision Making and the Design of Decision Support System" by George .P Huber.
3) "Introduction to Business Data Processing" by Lawrence S. Orillia
4) "Management Information System" by James O. Hicks JR

How Telecom OSS Systems Evolved

The telecommunications market space has seen a lot of changes from the simple telephone days to the present day triple play solutions. While the initial phase of telecom landscape was defined by getting in more bandwidth in the network, followed by providing bigger pipes to consumer, the present day challenge is being more agile and quicker to react to market needs and demands. Telecom OSS systems are key in these new rules of the land.

Operational Support Systems, or OSS as they are called for short, are not necessary for the service to work, but are critical to ensure that service can be delivered, is delivered, and will continue to be delivered. They are the support systems that make the service delivery happen. Over the years, the telecom operators have expanded their operations into many domains and that has led to a lot of network built up. Keeping track of and managing these networks is where OSS solutions help.

One of the earlier OSS solutions to hit the market was EMS solutions or Element Management Systems. These were management solutions provided by a single network equipment vendor to manage their network elements in the ISP network. However, with growing business and competition among vendors, ISPs have diversified their networks to have elements from different vendors. This way they can de-risk dependence on a single source. This led to the NMS, or Network Management System, evolution that could manage elements in such a heterogeneous environment.

The NMS/EMS solutions provide several management functions that are vital for any ISP. These range from configuration solutions to alarm reporting and other control features. What these NMS/EMS systems have done is that they have allowed ISPs to start monitoring and troubleshooting the network problems remotely from a central location rather than from field. This gives a lot of cost savings and reduced troubleshooting cycles.

With the growing market demands and changing equations, the scope of OSS solutions increased from network element management to customer and business management and more importantly to inventory management solutions. These new solutions are vital for the ISP to maintain its edge over the competition. Without good management systems, in today's complex networks losing track of things is not tough.

Inventory management is probably the most important addition to OSS functions in recent times. With lot of planning and upgrading going on, keeping track of inventory is absolutely essential. The inventory needs to be maintained to ensure that existing customer do not get cut off mistakenly or new customers are left without service due to insufficient resources. OSS can help address both these problems.

The next phase of OSS solutions would be becoming versatile to handle any technology, any solution and any network deployment situation. This is critical as all ISPs are now pushing for triple play solutions to attract customers and retain them. In such an environment, the OSS systems need to be equally strong to allow the ISP to deliver these services in a timely fashion.

The Use Of BSS/OSS In Information Technology Advances

The management of business support operations and operations support systems known as BSS/OSS, defines the efficiency with which an information technology process runs. As one might expect from the names, BSS deals with all the portions of an information technology process that is internal to the delivery of service. The OSS portion is all the processes that deal with the customer or client.

Running an IT operation is truly like running two different businesses at the same time. Telecommunications is a global entity and when satellite technology is included, there is literally nowhere on earth that can not be reached. We even have cables stretched across the ocean floors and receivers underwater for detection and analysis. The physical infrastructure and technical development side of this business is enormous all on its own. After all that work, there is the ever present and all important customer base to deal with.

As with any business, both the product and the customers are important, and depending on the crisis of the day, each is as important as the other. It is easy to see how a company can get bogged down in either sector to the detriment of the other, resulting in a loss of capability or success. To assist in maintaining the proper balance between these often competing parts of the business, the OSS/BSS approach gives leadership the tools necessary to make timely decisions that do not conflict.

For most managers, the immediate and primary concern for the business will automatically focus on the people side. Taking care of the customer has long been the hallmark of good businesses. While the advent of new technologies has not changed that venerable maxim, it has complicated it quite a bit.

The problem is that in the telecommunications industry, the costs of infrastructure and product development are extreme, and the attention needed to keep that portion of business under control can not be underestimated. A clever technique that has been used is to highlight the complicated physical layout of infrastructure in a way that keeps the consumer aware all this work is done on their behalf.

In addition, with the rapidity with which the physical devices the consumer wields is changing, the needs of an infrastructure to keep up are complex and require forward looking strategies and knowledge in order to keep up. The answer is the notion of having computer programs controlling other computer programs, the next level of information technology application.

Writing programs that allow managers to control the myriad subprograms in an efficient manner timely enough to meet customer needs is not quite artificial intelligence but it is close. It allows parameters to be set by leadership that can be promulgated across the wide range of the network over massive numbers of systems in an electronic second. The key is to also have the systems monitor that promulgation to troubleshoot and even make corrections where necessary.

Hubspan is in Suppliers’ Corner

Hubspan Inc. offers a hosted solution for mid market suppliers who want to participate in marketplace initiatives that are operated by or for their buyers. Hubspan CEO Rick Luebbe believes that the vast majority of today's marketplace solutions neglect the specific needs of suppliers. Suppliers are usually "enlisted" by large companies to join a new exchange or trading hub but are offered no assistance in connecting to it beyond the specification for an interface they must scramble to build. Many suppliers consider participating in B2B marketplaces as a requirement for survival in an extremely competitive environment, but find that joining even one marketplace, let alone many, to be a difficult and expensive process.

Based in Seattle, Washington, Hubspan thinks it has found the answer to suppliers' problems. Its marketplace connectivity software offers access to any e-procurement system via real-time interfaces that support the gamut of protocols including cXML, EDI, and RosettaNet. Hubspan provides a secure, scalable and reliable service through its ASP partner Exodus. Suppliers also benefit from a platform that allows them to deliver product catalogs, price and availability, invoices, and advanced shipping notification to buyers on an exchange. The hosting model should be especially attractive to mid market suppliers as it allows them to participate in exchanges without costly and time-consuming hardware and software installations.

Market Impact

Vendors of platforms that enable B2B marketplaces seem to proliferate as rapidly as the marketplaces themselves. It is unclear how many vendors will survive the shrinking B2B market intact and avoid either bankruptcy or consolidation. Hubspan may well be one of those that survive the shakeout. Although it is keeping a low profile prior to an official launch in January, it has secured early stage funding from high profile backers Andersen Consulting Ventures and Seapoint Ventures. In addition to providing financial support, Andersen can be a lucrative indirect channel for Hubspan, which can supply next generation marketplace connectivity for Andersen's B2B engagements.

Apart from the implied vote of confidence and potential revenues represented by its backers, Hubspan also boasts a sound value proposition for an underserved market - those mid market companies that face extinction unless they can quickly transform their business processes and technical infrastructure to connect to B2B marketplaces. Hubspan supplies the infrastructure for partners like Andersen Consulting and other smaller systems integration firms that can perform the business process reengineering for mid market clients.

The combination of Hubspan's technology and Andersen's consulting power has huge potential, but much work remains. The company is concluding the beta phase of its solutions and plans to make them generally available by the end of January 2001. The novelty of the solution and company, not to mention the security issues surrounding the ASP delivery model, may initially give suppliers pause. With a hand from Andersen and its hassle-free subscription model, Hubspan should get beyond this barrier and start growing significantly by the end of 2Q01. Hubspan plans to use direct sales for signing initial customers and then rely more heavily on indirect channels like Andersen and future alliances with third party software vendors.

User Recommendations

Mid market suppliers in any industry segment would need to look hard to find another company with a stronger value proposition than Hubspan. Hubspan plans to cast a wide net in its initial marketing push and will go after those vertical markets that respond with the most enthusiasm. Consumer goods, electronics and retail industries are promising candidates, and suppliers who have been asked to participate in buyer marketplaces should place Hubspan at the top of their list of candidates in selections.