NRIC IV Network Reliability and Interoperability Council Washington, DC October 14, 1999 Rick Harrison Telcordia Technologies

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 Team Members

Subcommittee 1 : Work Plan/Scope Focus on Power, Essential Services, Facility, and Procedural Best Practices and outage reports (Last update reported on Power and Procedural, Today will cover Essential Services, Suppliers and revisit Power) NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Identify new Best Practices from NRCII, NRICIII and ongoing NRSC Activities Update Best Practice List from last Best Practice review with any new Best Practices found above Expand and revise Best Practice titles and text to broaden the scope to make them more applicable to new entrants Re-categorize Best Practices into more generic focus areas Survey industry on Best Practice Implementation, Effectiveness and relative cost to implement Review Outage reports for Best Practice implications Revisit Power Outages due to the recent findings of the NRSC

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Responses to Carrier Best Practices Survey GTEYes SBCYes AmeritechYes SprintYes AT&TYes BellSouthYes Bell AtlanticYes6 CompaniesNo Response U S WESTYes Responses cover 95% of total US access lines

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Responses to Supplier Best Practices Survey LucentYes MOTOROLAYes NortelYes TellabsYes SiemensYes 20 Other CompaniesNo

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Overall implementation of Best Practices by traditional service providers and suppliers remains high n Power u Two new best practices have been identified u All existing best practices have been rated as effective u Review of power outage reports (past 2 Years) supports the need for following existing best practices u Outage index (customer impact) reflects effectiveness of power best practices in mitigating outage impact DANGER 1000 Ohms

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Power Continued: Best Practice by Best Practice Review u PW01 (human factors)- reword to make it more actionable. Also - Human Factors have been considered and incorporated in newer power equipment however, power equipment has a long life cycle and is typically upgraded or replaced based on the need for more power and not because of new technology or improved human factors features. u 6 Power BPs have Limited Application u Power 27 (AC Tap Boxes) was deleted as a BP u Power 44 (multiple smaller plants closer to the load) was deleted as it was redundant with Power 33 u BPs (8) originally endorsed based on Hurricane Andrew post mortem were found to either: have Limited Application; be redundant with other BPs; conflict with other BPs; or not be BPs at all. u Power 10 (onsite/resupply plan fuel supply) was found to be a real winner

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Power Continued: Focus on Year 6 7/1/98 - 6/30/99 Outages n 22 Outages u 12 - Root Cause Commercial/Backup Power Failure u 10 Root Cause Procedural F 8 Sub Cause Standby Generator n BPT Findings u 15 Outages with Best Practice implications

n In Report Year 6 (July 1, June 30, 1999) CO Power Outages had: u the highest number (22) of outage frequency in the 7-year reporting period to the FCC u the highest aggregated outage index (355) in the 7-year reporting period u a considerable increase (37.5%) in the outage frequency from the previous reporting year u a drastic increase (570%) in the aggregated outage index from the previous reporting year NRIC IV Focus Group 3

Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Power Continued: Focus on Year 6 7/1/98 - 6/30/99 Outages n BPT Findings Continued u PW69-71 & PR03 All relate to MOPs and Installation Guidelines F PW69 - Telcos should have documented installation guidelines F PW70 - Telcos should clearly communicate their installation guidelines to all involved parties F PW71 - On-site installation acceptance should include a quality review of conformance to the company's and vendor’s guidelines F PR03 - MOPs and Acceptance/Verification Check-off Sheets for Hardware and Software Growth/Change Activities … n All of the above were rated highly effective, implemented and low cost to implement

NRIC IV Focus Group 3

Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Power Continued: Focus on Year 6 7/1/98 - 6/30/99 Outages n BPT Findings Continued u Six remaining Outages F 1- Under-engineered for load F 1- Lightning F 4- Engine/hardware failure 3- multiple failures 1 - Remote location in the mountains, bad weather forced back helicopter and SnowCat trip was over 4 hours. u Two new Best Practices identified related to Low Voltage Disconnect and Alarm

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings (The Subcommittee has reviewed and evaluated the report of the NRSC Procedural Error Team and has included their recommendations, as appropriate, for new best practices ) n Procedural u The volume of procedures being performed in the networks is increasing (increased opportunity for errors) F Increasing complexity and capacity of operating environment F Increased number of interconnecting networks F Expanded capabilities of new technology F Code openings due to increased utilization of numbering resources F Implementation of Number Portability F Y2K related software changes

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Continued (The Subcommittee has reviewed and evaluated the report of the NRSC Procedural Error Team and has included their recommendations, as appropriate, for new best practices ) n Procedural u High Implementation u However, Implementation may mean “have a policy” u Survey responses indicate that Procedural Best Practices are highly effective however, in practice, the trend in the frequency of procedural outage reports indicate that they are not being followed u Procedural Best Practices are directed at both mitigating and preventing outages

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Continued n Essential Services u ECOMM of NRCII had 33 recommendations which posed many options and alternatives to improve reliability u Many of the above recommendations were complementary and Supplementary u Survey Data indicated confusion regarding implementation responses

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Continued n Essential Services u SC1 analysis resulted in a complete revamping of the Essential Services Best Practices F Deleted redundant BPs F Deleted “Not Best” F Combined related options and alternatives that supported the same goals and objectives u ES01 + ES02/ES01 + ES03 = ES04

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 ES01 + ES02/ES01 + ES03 = ES04 n ES01- Diverse Interoffice Transport Facilities u ES02 - Diverse Interoffice Transport Facilities with Standby Protection (Option of ES01) u ES03 - Diverse Interoffice Transport Facilities Using DCS (Option of ES01) n ES04 - Fiber Ring Topologies for 911 Circuits (Accomplishes the goals of ES01,02&03)

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 n Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Continued u Essential Services F 33 Best Practices Evaluated F 8 Deleted F 7 combined with others F 18 Best Practices

NRIC IV Focus Group 3

n Subcommittee 1 : Observations/Findings Continued u Supplier Best Practices F SP05Human factors represents a new paradigm for vendors. There will be increased “emphasis” due to the Procedural. Errors Team Report. F SP12Establish Core Team to plan, test and evaluate change - Service Provider initiated BP that suppliers should participate in. Not a Supplier BP Delete (See PR14) F Add PR04 Information Sharing Guidelines - as SP12 F Survey reflects continued high implementation F Confirmed broad industry applicability beyond traditional Telcom suppliers F Combined categories of DCS, Switch and Signaling into 1 Network element category

NRIC IV Focus Group 3 Next Steps July -A Best Practice by Best Practice review and analysis of the survey responses COMPLETE -Review NRSC Facilities Solution Team Report for Best Practice implications ONGOING August-Complete survey analysis and gain consensus around final recommendations COMPLETE November-Draft 1 of final report ( deferred due to renewed focus on Power) December-Complete final report