Service design and order fulfillment system with fulfillment solution blueprint

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9741046-B2
Application number	US-201313936567-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2013
Priority date	Jul 6, 2012
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A system that provides a fulfillment solution blueprint is provided. The system defines order layers for the fulfillment solution blueprint. The system further defines provider functions for the fulfillment solution blueprint. The system further assigns each provider function to an order layer. The system further defines interface contracts for the fulfillment solution blueprint. The system further assigns each interface contract to a provider function.

First claim

We claim:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer processor to provide a fulfillment solution, the providing comprising:
providing, by the computer processor, a hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint, including:
defining a plurality of decoupled order layers for the hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint, each decoupled order layer defining a separate data layer of the fulfillment solution, each decoupled order layer being implemented by software stored in a memory and executed by the computer processor, the plurality of decoupled order layers including:
a customer order layer configured to capture a customer order for communications products or services, and transform the customer order into a service order, the customer order including one or more customer order lines, each customer order line including a product action and a product offering based on a product specification, the product action including a delete action or an add action, the product offering including an offering, a bundled offering or a promotional offering, and the product specification including a broadband product specification, a bandwidth product specification, or an email service product specification,
a service order layer configured to transform the service order into a technical order, the service order including one or more service order lines, each service order line including a service action and a customer-facing service based on a customer-facing service specification, the service action including an add action, a change action, a move action, a suspend action, a resume action or a disconnect action, the customer facing service including a broadband service, a mobile service, a virtual private network (VPN) service or an email service, and the customer-facing service specification including a broadband internet access customer-facing service specification, a mobile customer-facing service specification, a VPN customer-facing service specification or an email service customer-facing service specification, and
a technical order layer configured to translate the technical order into one or more command sequences and deliver the command sequences to one or more resources or resource-facing services, the technical order including one or more technical order lines, each technical order line including a technical action and a resource-facing service based on a resource-facing service specification or a resource based on a resource specification, the technical action including a create action, a modify action, a move action or an activate action, the resource-facing service including a digital subscriber line (DSL) service, a data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS) service, a global system for mobile communications (GSM) service, or a long term evolution (LTE) service, the resource including an infrastructure element, a network element, a handset, a modem, a DSL interface, a DSL customer premises equipment (CPE), a DSL access multiplexer (DSLAM), a DSL interface, an access node, a provider edge router, a virtual machine, a local loop (LL), an unbundled local loop (ULL), a loop provider, an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) account, or an email server,

defining a plurality of decoupled provider functions for the hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint, each decoupled provider function including a software component of the fulfillment solution configured to provide a capability, and is configured to act upon a defined input and generate a defined output,
assigning each decoupled provider function to at least one of the plurality of decoupled order layers,
defining a plurality of decoupled interfaces for the hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint, each decoupled interface defining an interaction between two decoupled provider functions, and either an input or an output of an additional decoupled provider function, and
assigning each decoupled interface to at least one decoupled provider function;

designing, by the computer processor, the fulfillment solution based on the hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint; and
generating, by the computer processor, the fulfillment solution, based on the hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint, to activate, ship or install the customer order for communications products or services, including:
capturing the customer order for communications products or services,
automatically transforming the customer order for communications products or services into a service order for communications products or services, including transforming each product action of the customer order line into a service action of a service order line, and mapping each product specification in the customer order line to a customer-facing service specification in the service order line using a plurality of transformation rules,
automatically transforming the service order for communications products or services into a technical order for communications products or services, including identifying a future configuration of at least one of a resource-facing service or a resource that represents a future state of the customer-facing service in the service order line, determining a present configuration of the resource-facing service or resource that represents a present state of the customer-facing service in the service order line, and creating the technical order line based on a change between the present configuration and the future configuration of the resource-facing service or resource,
automatically translating the technical order into one or more command sequences, and
automatically delivering the command sequences to the resource-facing service or resource.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the defining the plurality of decoupled provider functions further comprises defining at least one of:
a service order calculation provider function configured to transform a customer order into a service order;
a service order orchestration provider function configured to receive a service order and generate an orchestration plan that fulfills the service order;
a service order design and assign provider function configured to receive a service order and generate a service instance configuration based on the service order;
a technical order calculation provider function configured to generate a technical order based on a configuration of resource-facing services and/or resources;
a technical order orchestration provider function configured to receive a technical order and generate an orchestration plan that fulfills the technical order; or
a technical order activation provider function configured to receive a technical order and translate the technical order into one or more command sequences delivered to one or more infrastructure elements.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , the providing the hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint further comprising defining at least one service design and order fulfillment system component to implement at least one provider function of at least one order layer of the hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein each provider function comprises one or more items of a technical catalog, wherein each item defines metadata for the provider function.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical fulfillment solution blueprint comprises an organizational schema of the fulfillment solution.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the fulfillment solution comprises a metadata-driven executable process that fulfills the customer

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Abdelrahman Ahmad Naser
• Bishop Paul Hugh Wilkie
• Dey Deepankar
• Spraggins Todd
• Swanson Glenn Dexter

Classifications

• G06Q30/0621

  by configuring or customising goods or services · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06Q30/0635

  replenishment orders; recurring orders · CPC title

• G06Q30/0202 Primary

  Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities · CPC title

• G06F16/285

  Clustering or classification · CPC title