Telefonica O2 Czech Republic is the largest telecommunications company in the Czech Republic. It operates the Czech fixed-line network, the only Czech CDMA network, one of the three Czech GSM networks and one of the three Czech UMTS networks. Previously two companies, fixed-line operator Český Telecom and mobile operator Eurotel, it was acquired by the Spanish company Telefónica in 2005 and merged into a single legal entity and given its present name on 1 July 2006.   

Emeldi’s TBOSS is a next-generation Provisioning and Order Management system that adds business value by greatly simplifying the management of business rules required for correct provisioning of products and services, as well as transparently handling all of the underlying complexity and cross-platform interfaces that are necessary in order to translate a customer request into a fully functioning product or service.

The result of one particular deployment of TBOSS/NOSB, for Telefonica O2 Czech Republic, has delivered that company a host of valuable business benefits in its Broadband / IPTV division:

• Substantially improved service delivery times for DSL and other Broadband services (e.g. IPTV + all Internet Services)
• Significantly reduced number of order entry errors  
• Improved order status visibility and tracking
• Introduced management of accurate KPI measurements
• Improved time to introduce new products and services (RFC turnaround time cut in half)
• Stable system
• Reasonable Cost To Operate (CTO)

Background (2004)

• Cesky Telecom was in the process of completing privatisation - acquisition by Telefonica group completed in 2005
• Cesky Telecom had aggressive plans for mass market penetration of retail DSL
• Alternative operators (20+) were all aiming to resell Cesky Telecom’s DSL.
• Cesky Telecom was obligated to provide Wholesale DSL to OLOs from the first day of DSL market introduction
• Order Management replacement was in the early stage of progression
• Billing stabilisation was well in progress
• OSS solution was in the rollout stage
• Legacy solution for DSL was inadequate to support ambitious marketing plans
• Needed a solution enabling to dramatically improve service delivery times, customer online experience and ordering efficiency
• There was an imminent need to upgrade legacy solution

Selection of H+P Invest as Provisioning Solution Provider

After detailed consideration of the following options for solution delivery:

• Commercial off the Shelf (COTS)  solution from a single vendor
• Component Based Solution from multiple vendors
• Develop and Integrate 

Cesky Telekom decided upon the Develop and Integrate option, primarily because the company needed an exact functional fit with its requirements, given the criticality of the project.

In addition, there were some other notable advantages to pursuing this strategy:

• Optimum Price – based on the exact functional fit
• Gradual Deployment – starting with Proof of Concept
• Full Architectural Compliance   
• Smooth Transition from the legacy environment
• Quality of Support – continuity to support after deployment  

To be selected as Cesky Telecom’s preferred supplier H+P Invest was able to successfully demonstrate TBOSS/NOSB during the 2^nd round of the selection process – where a Solution Prototype was configured to demonstrate:

• Product Catalogue flexibility
• Provisioning workflow based on Business Process Management (BPM) tools

It is precisely this kind of flexibility that makes TBOSS a natural fit in any Provisioning or Order Management environment.  A major competitive requirement is to rapidly introduce new services and products to market, and TBOSS ensures that:

• Product definitions and service provisioning processes are flexible enough to allow for rapid changes and upgrades
• The Operator’s Product  & Service Catalogue provides complete flexibility for the design, and introduction of new  offerings
• Products & Services are Hot-deployable
  • No maintenance window needed
  • No downtime when changes are applied

Further factors that gained TBOSS/NOSB  the ‘thumbs up’ at Cesky Telecom

Reliability

• Java EE technologies
• Industry standard enterprise platform
• Scalable to Tier-1 order volumes
• Modular System Architecture
• Independent order channels
• Independent provisioning controllers
• Runtime Monitoring

Rapid Delivery

• Rapid delivery of new business functionality is a key factor in increasing system efficiency
• Use Web Services to quickly integrate any system
• Use Business Process Management tools to efficiently manage business process workflows

Business Process Management

• Business processes are designed using graphical process design tool from BEA Systems (Weblogic Workshop), easily adaptable for other types of BPM
• Flexible and cost-effective development and maintenance of business processes
• Business process driven order workflow 

The Solution Delivery

TBOSS/NOSB solution had been developed and implemented in the timeframes as requested by customer. It plays now a vital role in Telefonica O2 order fulfilment process and is part of mission critical application suite supporting broadband services.