Network engineering staff who manage planned outages resulting from network maintenance and upgrades apply the skills and knowledge in this unit.

It involves the management of planned outages resulting from the fast change over of new and existing equipment in telecommunications networks including digital switching and transmission, wireless and optical networks.

It is particularly relevant to integration of new and emerging internet protocol (IP) based technologies.

ELEMENT

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

1. Prepare for implementation of planned outage

1.1. Determine the requirements and purpose of the outage from the outage plan obtained from relevant personnel

1.2. Analyse all relevant data to determine the likely impact of the outage on clients and the network

1.3. Notify customer of outage work and disruption to service

1.4. Prepare for contingencies according to the contingency plan as specified in the outage plan

2. Implement planned outage

2.1. Conduct and monitor outage work as prescribed and implement contingency plan if required

2.2. Restore system to normal operational status and conduct performance tests of the system according to specifications

2.3. Analyse test results and certify system is operating to manufacturer's specifications

2.4. Notify relevant personnel of competed outage work and of service restoration

3. Undertake administrative tasks

3.1. Document problems that occurred during outage or restoration of service and report these as continuous improvement according to enterprise quality assurance policy

3.2. Complete required documentation and update records to reflect any changes made in the course of service restoration according to enterprise policy

Required skills

analytical skills to interpret test equipment setups, settings and instrument readings

communication and negotiation skills to liaise with customers and technical staff to ensure service level agreement requirements are known and can be met within timeframes

literacy skills to read and interpret technical specifications and related documentation

numeracy skills to make calculations and necessary calibration changes

planning and organisation skills to implement outage management plan and contingency plan

problem solving skills to account for unexpected faults or equipment configuration anomalies

safety awareness skills to:

apply precautions and required action to minimise, control or eliminate hazards that may exist during work activities

work systematically with required attention to detail without injury to self or others, or damage to goods or equipment

technical skills to correctly handle, connect and calibrate test equipment

Required knowledge

electrical and optical principles

legislation and licensing surrounding installation of telecommunications equipment

power requirements and electrical safety

protection switching

telecommunications networks

test equipment types suitable for tests to be made

transmission hierarchy and switching principles

transmission type and signals that may be encountered

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Evidence of the ability to:

implement outage plan, complying with service assurance guidelines and all related OHS requirements and work practices

conduct performance tests to verify normal operation.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment must ensure:

sites on which outage management may be conducted

use of testing equipment currently used in industry

manufacturer's and enterprise equipment documentation.

Method of assessment

A range of assessment methods should be used to assess practical skills and knowledge. The following examples are appropriate for this unit:

direct observation of the candidate conducting performance tests to verify normal operation

review of outage plans completed by the candidate for different scenarios and situations

oral or written questioning to assess knowledge of

likely impact of outage on both the customer and the network.

Guidance information for assessment

Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example:

ICTTEN5061A Cut over new and replacement network equipment

ICTTEN6044A Coordinate fault rectification and restoration of service following network outages.

Aboriginal people and other people from a non-English speaking background may have second language issues.

Access must be provided to appropriate learning and assessment support when required.

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate, and appropriate to the oral communication skill level, and language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.

In all cases where practical assessment is used it will be combined with targeted questioning to assess required knowledge. Questioning techniques should not require language, literacy and numeracy skills beyond those required in this unit of competency.

Where applicable, physical resources should include equipment modified for people with special needs.

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Outage may include:

loss of service to customers

planned outage due to network upgrade or maintenance

service level agreements

unplanned outage due to a network fault.

Outage plan may include:

affected parties

contingency plan

impact analysis

network operations centre (NOC) role

restoration

systems to be shut down

timelines.

Relevant personnel may include:

design engineer

NOC

project manager.

Relevant data may include:

alarm conditions

client reports

environmental factors

historical data

industry and vendor profile

NOC reports

service level degradation

technical reports

test results from remote interrogation.

Likely impact may include:

customer impact:

disruption of service

intermittent performance

loss of service and revenue

network impact:

congestion

drop out

errors

excessive latency

limited coverage

no transmission

poor grade of service

poor signal quality

routing problems.

Contingency plan may include:

additional notification to affected customers

provision of:

additional services

additional technical support

redundant path

standby equipment.

Quality assurance may include:

acting on logs, reports and other data to guide ongoing quality improvements

updating logs and completing reporting on installation or maintenance activities.

Documentation may include:

completing job orders and submitting to appropriate enterprise organisational unit

completing test sheets according to specification and logging test instrument usage

following quality control procedures

handing over installation briefs, documents and equipment manuals to operational staff

recording test results and updating appropriate data bases

updating design specifications and returning to design area as required by enterprise requirements.

Unit sector

Telecommunications

Telecommunications networks engineering

This unit contains employability skills.