Telecom environment management operating system and method

• US 8,775,233 B1
• Filed: 05/04/2009
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telecom Management Group LLC
• Original Assignee: Evotem LLC
• Inventors: Lybrook, Timothy C., Colwell, Timothy C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pats, Justin M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rotaru, Octavian
• Application Number:
  US12/387,512
• Time in Patent Office: 1,891 Days
• Field of Search: 706/52, 706/46, 707/E17.108, 707/3, 707/999.003, 705/7.37, 705/7.38, 705/7.39
• US Class Current: 705/7.39
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/046 Forward inferencing; Production systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products

Abstract

A telecommunications environment management operating system and method is provided. The system and method helps organizations achieve and sustain optimal financial, operational and technical performance in the field of telecommunications.

Claims

1. A computer server implemented method for calculating a probability of optimal performance within a telecommunication environment for an organization, the computer server implemented method comprising:

providing the computer server operably coupled to a computing device through a communication network;

providing a memory accessible by the computer server;

defining discipline areas, within a management model of the telecommunication environment, comprising at least;

a resource management, a process management, a technical management, an asset management, a project management, a relationship management and a financial management of the telecommunication environment;

defining standards and best practices across the discipline areas required to achieve the optimal performance within the telecommunication environment through a process flow comprising at least;

a needs assessment used to identify, document and prioritize service, financial, operational and technical business objectives,

an environment baseline measurement used to measure performance from a known state as needs are fulfilled,

a gap analysis that evaluates a performance gap between current and needs state by measuring a delta between the environment baseline measurement and a market excellence measurement,

an improvement execution designed to identify influence drivers for performance manipulation,

a performance indicator measurement to provide the influence drivers for performance manipulation,

an improvement validation for measuring pre-improvement execution performance and post-improvement execution performance and to direct the organization to repeat the needs assessment, the environment baseline, the gap analysis, the improvement execution and the performance indicator measurement when a desired performance falls short of expectations identified in the gap analysis phase, and

a business needs alignment for periodically identifying changes in business needs;

receiving at least three evaluation cycles, wherein the at least three evaluation cycles are consecutive and time contiguous;

automatically generating and sending, a plurality skill assessment questions from the computer server to the computing device, the plurality of skill assessment questions being selected to assess knowledge and skills of the standards and best practices by a plurality of people in the organization and to provide a predictive indicator as to whether the plurality of people questioned within the organization have the knowledge and skills of the standards and best practices required to achieve optimal telecommunication performance results;

receiving with the computer server a first plurality of answers to the plurality of skill assessment questions from the computing device;

automatically calculating by the computer server, skill assessment scores for the organization for each of the at least three evaluation cycles from the first plurality of received answers to the plurality of skill assessment questions based on the defined discipline areas;

automatically generating and sending a plurality of environment assessment questions related to telecommunications infrastructure and processes of the organization, from the computer server to the computing device, the plurality of environment assessment questions being selected to provide another predictive indicator as to whether the organization has the telecommunications infrastructure and processes in sufficiency to achieve optimal telecommunication performance results;

automatically receiving with the computer server a second plurality of answers to the plurality of environment assessment questions from a plurality of individual respondents from the computing device;

automatically calculating by the computer server an environment assessment score for the organization for each of the at least three evaluation cycles from the second plurality of received answers to the environment assessment questions based on the defined discipline areas, wherein the environment assessment score is calculated by mathematically weighting the second plurality of answers to the environment assessment questions relative to a responsibility within the organization of each individual respondent and then averaging the weighted scores across the plurality of the individual respondents;

automatically calculating by the computer server a performance assessment score based on the defined discipline areas;

automatically aggregating by the computer server the calculated skills assessment score, the calculated performance assessment score, and the calculated environmental assessment score to further calculate aggregated environment performance index scores for each of the at least three evaluation cycles for the organization; and

averaging by the computer server the aggregated environment performance index scores from each of the at least three evaluation cycles to indicate the probability of optimal telecommunications performance in the telecommunication environment for the organization.

2. The computer server implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing performance measurements from the computer server to the computing device for outputting on a display of the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing other performance measurements from at least one peer organization from the computer server to the computing device for outputting on the display of the computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance assessment score is a numerical score.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising

automatically determining whether the organization qualifies for a certification of optimal performance within the telecommunication environment based on the averaged aggregated environment performance index scores from each of the at least three evaluation cycles;

and

issuing the certification of optimal performance within the telecommunication environment to the organization when the organization qualifies for the certification of optimal performance within the telecommunication environment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of automatically determining whether the organization qualifies for the certification of optimal performance based on the averaged aggregated environment performance index scores from each of the at least three evaluation cycles, further comprises,

determining whether the organization achieves at least a predetermined environment performance index score across the at least three evaluation cycles.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising periodically determining whether the certified organization qualifies for a recertification.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the responsibility is selected from a group comprising:

a results responsibility for management oversight over execution of a related process, a direct responsibility for a functional role for execution of the related process, an indirect responsibility for a functional role for the related process, and no responsibility for the related process, according to a scope qualifying question.

9. A system for calculating a probability of optimal performance within a telecommunication environment for an organization, the system comprising:

a computer server equipped with a non-transitory computer readable memory and coupled to a computing device through a communication network, the computer server programmed for;

defining discipline areas, within a management model of the telecommunication environment, comprising at least;

a resource management, a process management, a technical management, an asset management, a project management, a relationship management and a financial management of the telecommunication environment;

defining standards and best practices across the discipline areas required to achieve the optimal performance within the telecommunication environment through a process flow comprising at least;

a needs assessment used to identify, document and prioritize service, financial, operational and technical business objectives,

an environment baseline measurement used to measure performance from a known state as needs are fulfilled,

a gap analysis that evaluates a performance gap between current and needs state by measuring a delta between the environment baseline measurement and a market excellence measurement,

an improvement execution designed to identify influence drivers for performance manipulation,

a performance indicator measurement to provide the influence drivers for performance manipulation,

an improvement validation for measuring pre-improvement execution performance and post-improvement execution performance and to direct the organization to repeat the needs assessment, the environment baseline, the gap analysis, the improvement execution and the performance indicator measurement when a desired performance falls short of expectations identified in the gap analysis phase, and

a business needs alignment for periodically identifying changes in business needs;

receiving at least three evaluation cycles, wherein the at least three evaluation cycles are consecutive and time contiguous;

automatically generating and sending, a plurality skill assessment questions to the computing device, the plurality of skill assessment questions being selected to assess knowledge and skills of the standards and best practices by a plurality of people in the organization and to provide a predictive indicator as to whether the plurality of people questioned within the organization have the knowledge and skills of the standards and best practices required to achieve optimal telecommunication performance results;

receiving a first plurality of answers to the plurality of skill assessment questions from the computing device;

automatically calculating skill assessment scores for the organization for each of the at least three evaluation cycles from the first plurality of received answers to the plurality of skill assessment questions based on the defined discipline areas;

automatically generating and sending a plurality of environment assessment questions related to telecommunications infrastructure and processes of the organization, to the computing device, the plurality of environment assessment questions being selected to provide another predictive indicator as to whether the organization has the telecommunications infrastructure and processes in sufficiency to achieve optimal telecommunication performance results;

automatically receiving a second plurality of answers to the plurality of environment assessment questions from a plurality of individual respondents from the computing device;

automatically calculating an environment assessment score for the organization for each of the at least three evaluation cycles from the second plurality of received answers to the environment assessment questions based on the defined discipline areas, wherein the environment assessment score is calculated by mathematically weighting the second plurality of answers to the environment assessment questions relative to a responsibility within the organization of each individual respondent and then averaging the weighted scores across the plurality of the individual respondents;

automatically calculating a performance assessment score based on the defined discipline areas;

automatically aggregating the calculated skills assessment score, the calculated performance assessment score, and the calculated environmental assessment score to further calculate aggregated environment performance index scores for each of the at least three evaluation cycles for the organization; and

averaging the aggregated environment performance index scores from each of the at least three evaluation cycles to indicate the probability of optimal telecommunications performance in the telecommunication environment for the organization.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer server is further programmed to provide performance measurements from the computer server to the computing device for outputting on a display of the computing device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer server is further programmed to provide other performance measurements from at least one peer organization from the computer server to the computing device for outputting on the display of the computing device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer server is further programmed to calculate the performance assessment score as a numerical score.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer server is further programmed to

determine whether the organization qualifies for a certification of optimal performance within the telecommunication environment based on the averaged aggregated environment performance index scores from each of the at least three evaluation cycles, and to

issue the certification of optimal performance within the telecommunication environment to the organization when the organization qualifies for the certification of optimal performance within the telecommunication environment.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the computer server is further programmed to determine whether the organization achieves at least a predetermined environment performance index score across the three evaluation cycles.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the computer server is further programmed to periodically determine whether the certified organization qualifies for a recertification.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer server is further programmed to select the responsibility from a group comprising:

a results responsibility for management oversight over execution of a related process, a direct responsibility for a functional role for execution of the related process, an indirect responsibility for a functional role for the related process, and no responsibility for the related process, according to a scope qualifying question.