North American Portability Management, LLC LNPA Transition Contingency Rollback

Transcription

1 North American Portability Management, LLC LNPA Transition Contingency Rollback Small Provider Industry Working Session and Resubmission Preparation Review November 29 th, 2017 An audio recording is not available for this call. Please use the link below to submit any questions you may have to the Transition Oversight Manager.

2 Agenda LTI-user Rollback LTI-user process overview, small provider participation, and governance Rollback Preparation Service provider preparation, recommended testing, and pretransition readiness actions Resubmission Aid Contents, executive summary, and expectations Conclusion and Next Steps Q & A 2

3 About this meeting Welcome to today s presentation! Objectives Our goal today is to review the rollback planning with a focus on small service provider procedures This is the fourth in a series of meetings to prepare for potential rollback following transition Facilitators Greg Chiasson Principal Chicago, IL William Reilly Director Florham Park, NJ Jonathan Turner Manager Washington, DC 3

4 Subject Matter Experts A number of subject matter experts are present today and will support the discussion Suzanne Addington NAPM Transition Team Sprint Inc. Teresa Patton NAPM Co-Chair & Transition Team AT&T Inc. Deborah Tucker NAPM Transition Team Verizon Inc. Paul Mazouat LNPA Transition Team iconectiv LLC John Malyar LNPA Transition Team iconectiv LLC Dave Gorton LNPA Transition Team iconectiv LLC Pat White LNPA Transition Team iconectiv LLC 4

5 LTI User Rollback 5

6 High Level Process Monitor Assess Decide Act Transition Pre-Rollback Point of Failure Rollback NAPM TOM maintains open conference bridges and WebEx for communications Transition completed Maintain Neustar NPAC system in quiescent, state Begin logging NPAC requests Begin allowing connections to the NPAC, with data as-of the close of transition Begin monitoring performance Critical failure reported to TGT, with details and status available at the time iconectiv engineering works to resolve Industry NAPM iconectiv Neustar Transition Governance Team Assess failure status Announce rollback on the open conference bridge Transaction Report provided to participants Begin rollback resubmission Evaluate internal and iconectiv-provided transaction reports Re-establish SOA and LSMS connections. Revert to Neustar LTI interface Begin normal porting. Submit re-work transactions through the usual interfaces (SOA, LTI, etc.). The overall event flow for rollback applies equally to all participating Service Providers 6

7 Governance Progress Reporting and Decision Points Progress Reporting All participants are invited to join a Transition Conference Bridge and WebEx during the maintenance window. The TOM and/or iconectiv will regularly report the transition status on this channel If there is a critical failure and/or the need for a rollback, it will be reported on the Transition Bridge If a rollback is necessary, the Transition Bridge will become a rollback bridge, which Service Providers may use for coordination Decision Points Decision points will be managed by the TGT (Transition Governance Team) and announced on the Transition Bridge Go/NoGo checks will include: NPAC has passed testing specified in the Acceptance Test Plans Pre-transition readiness (checked before start of maintenance window) Regional data is loaded and verified by iconectiv Mechanized connections complete, and LTI is live As-needed rollback checks Regional Acceptance 7

8 Readiness Planning A successful industry-led rollback will require service provider s active preparation and participation; LTI Service Providers should consider the following: Identify the people who will be handling your transition and, if needed, rollback. This should include: o LTI credentials and network connection if you use a Service Bureau, contact them first; you may not need to make any changes o Number porting record collection and analysis o An escalation path for fallout management Become familiar with the transaction report specification and the resubmission aid Confirm availability of internal number porting records Identify and test your internal processes for transition and rollback. Processes will need to cover: o o o User training to switch LTI interface and credentials when notified Analyzing records and submitting re-work How you interact with your service bureau 8

9 Preparing for Re-submission Continue to monitor the transition conference bridge and WebEx (now used for rollback) Stop using, and log out of, the iconectiv LTI interface If you use a Service Bureau interface (instead of the NPAC LTI) you may not need to switch interfaces Collect internal transaction records o o Regular NPAC porting MUMP, Pooling, and pending activity Retrieve Transaction Reports from the iconectiv SFTP site Review and organize work items from reports Prioritize and sequence work items Identify key porting partners and coordination Notify your customer care personnel to be prepared to handle possible customer calls Transaction Records and SOA State (SP-compiled) Transaction Report (iconectivprovided) Resubmission Aid (recommended actions)

10 Re-submitting Work Switch back to the Neustar LTI interface if needed (make sure that your personnel still have their login credentials handy) If you use a Service Bureau this may not be necessary Continue monitoring the transition conference bridge and correspondence; these will be used to support rollback coordination Begin re-work (including pooling) and regular porting activity, coordinating with porting partners as necessary Engage your care groups to resolve fallout if needed If you work with a Service Bureau, coordinate your activity with their help desk so that they may assist you with identifying and resolving exceptions. Please note that service providers are responsible for submitting required transactions your Service Bureau, Neustar, and iconectiv may assist but YOU are the driver Re-schedule future mass transactions (SPID migrations, etc.) with the incumbent LNPA where needed Operations Processes (SP-internal, prepared in advance of transition)

11 Exceptions and Fallout Handling Reviewing your transaction lists before starting re-work will be crucial to minimizing fallout Transaction Records (SP-compiled) Most transactions will likely be straightforward, but the exception situations should be identified early so they can be handled properly Use the resubmission aid guidance and your own expertise to identify these more complex items and possible remediation steps Transaction Report (iconectivprovided) Resubmission Aid (iconectivprovided) Managing exception situations may require coordination with your customer care group and your service bureau (if you use one) 11

12 Summary The rollback process for LTI users is essentially the same as for mechanized users There are only a few areas to highlight Progress reporting and governance LTI users will be invited to access the same channels for status reporting and governance as mechanized providers Connection switching Rollback would require returning to use of the Neustar LTI porting interface instead of the iconectiv LTI porting interface Interaction with a Service Bureau Some service providers may submit work and handling exceptions (fallout) with the assistance of a service bureau rather than directly with the NPAC 12

13 Provider Preparation 13

14 Provider Preparation Overview If an Industry-Led rollback becomes necessary, Service Providers would need to duplicate their prior work using current manual processes Although manual work is done today, rollback conditions can make these normal processes more challenging: Switching NPAC connections is not done often and requires precise configuration Rollback conditions would likely create more time pressure than normal. When manual work is done, everyone will want to finish as quickly as possible Rollback volume could be higher than what service provider manual processes would normally expect While the actual porting is a normal process for the NPAC, the time pressure may result in a larger percentage of exceptions (fallout) which SP and NPAC helpdesks would need to resolve Because a rollback would occur under stressful conditions, we recommend that service providers validate their manual processes in advance of transition Rollback is Industry-Led, do not assume the incumbent LNPA will do the work for you! 14

15 Recommended Testing Component 1. Connection switching 2. iconectiv transaction report process 3. SP transaction report gathering and analysis process 4. Inter-provider coordination process 5. SP porting resubmission process 6. Incumbent NPAC port processing 7. SP exception handling process 8. SP PAS resubmission process Test Plan / Recommendation Testing planned Scheduling for Feb and Mar 18 Testing planned iconectiv will test the report creation process and provide SPs with example reports, Jan 18 SP testing recommended Service Providers are encouraged to evaluate their record keeping processes and familiarity with the resubmission aid recommendations Use existing processes SP testing recommended Service Providers are encouraged to take advantage of the iconectiv and Neustar test beds to test their manual porting processes Use existing processes SP testing recommended Service Providers are encouraged to review the resubmission aid recommendations and their internal exception handling processes SP testing recommended Service Providers are encouraged to review their process for requesting pooling work directly through the NPAC helpdesk (for rollback only) Validates mechanized provider ability to switch production data connections (mandatory) Validates iconectiv ability to create and distribute reports, and SP ability to retrieve them via SFTP Validates Service Provider ability to create a transaction record from internal data and prioritize re-work Validates Service Provider readiness to use current manual submission processes for rollback re-work Validates Service Provider familiarity with the resubmission aid, exception handling, and ability to minimize escalation to the helpdesks Validates Service provider ability to request pooling re-work on the NPAC for block changes already recorded by the Pooling Administrator

16 Pre-Transition Actions Service Providers should consider the following transition-preparation items: Large discretionary porting processes, such as network rearrangements (which may use MUMP processing) and pool block assignments should be minimized during the weekend of a transition Service Providers should avoid discretionary last-minute work the night prior to transition to reduce or eliminate the risk of in-flight work (work or transactions that SOAs have initiated but have not received a response prior to going into the maintenance window for the transition) Service Providers that regularly use deferred disconnects should, where possible, try to set the Effective Release Date for a few days after transition, rather than the night of the transition, to reduce risk Mechanized Users should ensure that they retain the configurations and credentials used to connect to the Neustar NPAC so that, should a contingency rollback be declared, these can quickly be restored Similarly, LTI users should save their credentials for accessing the Neustar NPAC LTI in case of a rollback Note also that SPID migration blackout periods are planned for the weekends before, during, and after each regional transition. These will impact only the transitioning region(s) The above actions will help smooth the transition and reduce the amount of porting transactions to be replayed should a contingency rollback be declared

17 Resubmission Aid 17

18 Resubmission Aid A resubmission aid has been published to all registered service providers as a guide to preparation for rollback Contingency Rollback Resubmission Aid 1. Introduction 1.1 Service Provider Readiness 1.2 Definitions 2. Resubmission Guidelines 2.1 Executive Summary 2.2 Gather Data 2.3 Identify Completed Ports 2.4 Prioritize Work Network Data Requests Port-Out Requests Customer Service-Affecting Work Soon To Be Customer Service Affecting Work Other Port-in Requests Self-Dependent Work 2.5 Schedule and Execute Resubmission of Work 3. Exception Situations 3.1 Ignore Certain Transactions 3.2 Combine Transactions 3.3 Other Transaction Resubmittal Exceptions 3.4 SOA Resubmittal Exceptions 3.5 NPAC Broadcast Exceptions 3.6 Bulk Data Download Exceptions 4. Contingency Rollback Preparation 4.1 Rollback Testing Considerations 4.2 Pre-Transition Considerations The resubmission aid provides recommendations on key topics including resubmission preparation, prioritizing re-work, and handling exceptions This is meant to be a supplement, not a replacement, for service provider knowledge and experience 18

19 Resubmission Guidelines Executive Summary Section 2.1, the Executive Summary, provides a useful overview of resubmission priorities, supported by further detail and guidance on exception cases. Gather data from internal sources and the iconectiv Transaction Reports Identify ports that were completed and/or activated on the iconectiv NPAC Note: restrict use of the audit process (auditing may put customers out of service) Prioritize the work - recommended priority is as follows: 1. Network Data Requests 2. Port Out Work 3. Customer Service-Affecting Work port-in ports or intra-service provider ports where the current state of the port (e.g., partial failures) is affecting customer service 4. Soon to be Customer Service Affecting Work similar to above, port-in or intra-sp ports that have a due date that is fast approaching should be addressed next 5. Other Port-in Requests 6. Self-Dependent Work this type of work does not involve other service providers and could be done in parallel with the other work described above, e.g.: Modify Active Requests, Disconnect Requests, or Pool Block related work Schedule and resubmit work once it is prioritized, using current processes to address inadvertent ports, fallout, and system overrides There are blackouts of SPID Migrations on the weekend before, weekend of, and weekend after the transition, but if future SPID Migrations have been requested to iconectiv, resubmit those requests to the Neustar Helpdesk 19

20 Expectations and Feedback All service providers should review the resubmission aid in depth and evaluate the recommendations provided against their current processes Update your internal processes to incorporate the recommendations where appropriate If, when you evaluate your procedures, you identify particular scenarios of concern, especially areas where the guide can be improved, please provide that input so that we may better address your interest areas in the future This is a first release; it will be updated with your feedback and comments where appropriate 20

21 Conclusions and Next Steps 21

22 Conclusions and next steps Today we looked at the LTI-user workflow, recommendations for service provider preparation and testing, and took an initial look at the resubmission aid Next steps include Collecting and evaluating your feedback on the resubmission aid content Providing further detail on recommended SP resubmission testing using the test beds Updating the Resubmission Aid document where appropriate Completing the schedule and preparations for user activation and connectivity testing Preparing a regional cutover playbook 22

23 Discussion 23

24 Thank you for your participation