Understanding the Challenges in Telecom’s Network Operations

In our introductory post, we established a central hypothesis: that many common operational inefficiencies in the telecommunications industry stem from a single, foundational bottleneck. This bottleneck is a considerable technical difficulty in creating live, single-line diagrams and end-to-end splice diagrams clearly and efficiently. Why does this matter? Because diagram creation, update, manipulation, and export are among the most frequently executed tasks within any operational process in a network lifecycle – see Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Network Connectivity Diagrams at the heart of network lifecycle operations

Through our projects, we have observed that this challenge has led operators to resort to workarounds, such as manual creation of static graphical representations or semi-automated generation, which are difficult to update or lack visual clarity. These approaches create a persistent adverse effect on a telecom operator's operational performance.

In this post, we will examine where the consequences of this core challenge manifest in daily workflows. These are not always dramatic failures, but the cumulative effects of process inefficiencies. For many operators, improving network operations is a primary lever for increasing profitability. Let's explore five key operational processes where reliance on these workarounds has a measurable impact.

1. The Planning and Design Process

Every investment in the telecom network begins with a plan, and this is the first place to find opportunities for acceleration. The time of highly skilled network engineers is a strategic asset, and optimizing their workflows is key to improving operational efficiency.

• The Challenge: As mentioned above, the difficulty of automated visualization leads to workarounds. A clear example is the reliance on general-purpose tools like AutoCAD or Visio to create essential diagrams. Frequent manual drafting in planning and design is labour-intensive, and design changes often require extensive rework. In some cases, diagrams are substituted with splice tables in spreadsheets, which introduces data fragmentation, a lack of end-to-end visibility, and causes significant updating challenges in subsequent processes.
• The Opportunity: By adopting tools that automate the creation of schematic diagrams directly from a source database, you free engineers from repetitive drafting. When automated planning and design tools produce a new output, corresponding schematics are regenerated automatically. This enables engineers to reinvest their time in designing better network architectures, accelerating project rollouts, reducing the risk of human error, and shortening the time to market.

2. The As-Built Documentation Sync

A common industry problem is ensuring that the network documented in the Network Information System accurately reflects the network on the ground. Outdated as-built documentation is a significant source of downstream errors.

• The Challenge: When diagrams are created and maintained manually in the form of engineering drawings, the problem of "documentation lag" is common. Field crews, focused on construction deadlines, often capture changes with red-pen markups on paper plans. These crucial updates must then be entered in two places: first into the operational support system (OSS), and then separately into the engineering drawings. This second step often happens long after the system of record has been updated, creating a period of critical inconsistency.
• The Opportunity: When operational teams are supported by integrated schematic tools that provide a live, instantly updated view of the network, they can operate with higher assurance. This eliminates the need for manual updates of engineering drawings, as diagrams are created on demand during the update process within the OSS or fibre management system. This prevents situations where a provisioning team tries to connect a customer to a port that no longer exists, or a maintenance crew works from an outdated diagram.

3. The Provisioning Workflow

Your provisioning team is on the front line of revenue generation. Improving its workflow directly impacts time-to-revenue and is a key factor in managing operational costs.

• The Challenge: To find a viable connection path for a new customer, teams must often consult multiple systems: a GIS for physical location, an inventory for service data, and a folder of static files with diagrams. This fragmented analysis is slow and prone to error.
• The Opportunity: A unified view that generates single line and splice diagrams on demand, bringing together spatial (map view) and service data, eliminates this fragmented analysis. It helps teams make faster, more accurate routing decisions, reducing delays in service activation and preventing stranded assets.

4. High-Stakes Troubleshooting

Nowhere are clarity and speed more important than during a network outage. When a critical fiber link is down, your Network Operations Center (NOC) teams are under immense pressure.

• The Challenge: The uncertainty inherent in outdated information hinders effective troubleshooting. Having to ask, "Is this diagram the latest version?" is a hallmark of relying on static files instead of the live, interactive schematics. This question, along with its clarification through the use of different systems, can add precious time to the diagnostic process.
• The Opportunity: Giving teams a single, trusted, real-time view of the affected area, including accurate schematic and topological context, is pivotal for speed. It reduces diagnostic time, helps protect Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and preserves customer trust.

5. Foundational Data Quality

Focusing on improvements in all these areas improves the quality of the network data itself. Without reliable data, achieving operational efficiency is not possible.

• The Challenge: Ambiguity arises because, without a system capable of generating synchronized schematic and geographic views from a single source of truth, inconsistencies are difficult to detect. Topological relationships that look correct on a map may be represented differently in a schematic diagram.
• The Opportunity: A system that visually represents data in multiple, synchronized ways makes it much easier to spot and correct discrepancies. This creates a virtuous cycle where data quality improves with use, and decisions are made with greater confidence, reducing the need for time-consuming manual field verifications.

Conclusion

These challenges are not isolated; they are interconnected symptoms of the primary bottleneck we identified in our introductory post. To make this tangible, in one of our next posts, we will step away from listing challenges and tell a story, following a single project from the planner's desk to the field to see how these issues create a cascading inefficiency in a typical telco workflow.

To see how iNTERACTIVE SCHEMATICS™ addresses these challenges, click on a demo video here. You can also schedule a call with our technical experts by filling a contact form below