Methods and Systems for Maintaining Diversity for Telecommunications Services

Abstract

Diversity among telecommunications circuits is maintained by analyzing factors including whether synchronization leads are shared by diverse circuits, whether violations of diversity are brought about by new orders that have been placed, and whether improper personnel have been assigned to monitor diverse circuits. Diversity is further maintained by reporting within a graphical user interface those circuits that are subject to diversity and reporting violations of diversity that exist for those circuits. The graphical user interface may provide various controls for dictating which violations are displayed for which circuits. Additionally, diversity is maintained by providing search options that allow the circuits subject to diversity to be narrowed depending upon user-specified criteria.

1 . A computer readable storage medium containing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 monitoring an external system to detect new orders for circuits other than a first circuit and a second circuit of a diverse pair, wherein the new orders result in changes to the associations of items of equipment to the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair, and to detect whether the changes resulting from the detected new orders create an association of a first item of equipment to both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair;   responsive to a detected new order resulting in a change that creates an association of the first item of equipment to both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair, outputting an indicator;   presenting for display a list of the plurality of telecommunications circuits and a control for each circuit in the list to show circuit details;   receiving a selection of a first control for the first circuit of the diverse pair;   responsive to receiving the selection of the first control, presenting for display a list of the items of equipment that are associated with both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair;   presenting for display a second control for the list of the items of equipment to restrict the list to the items of equipment that are associated to both the first circuit and the second circuits of the diverse pair or to all of the items of equipment that are associated with the first circuit of the diverse pair; and   presenting for display a third control for the list of the items of equipment to remove an item of equipment from the list without moving the item of equipment.   
     
     
         2 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to monitor the external system for orders that have been implemented. 
     
     
         3 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to monitor the external system for orders that are queued for implementation. 
     
     
         4 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the external system tracks an association of personnel responsible for monitoring to telecommunications circuits to be monitored, wherein the personnel include diversity personnel responsible for monitoring circuits that require diversity and non-diversity personnel responsible for monitoring circuits that do not require diversity, and wherein computer readable storage medium further contains instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform:
 monitoring an association of the personnel to the first circuit and second circuit of the diverse pair;   detecting when a non-diversity person is associated with either the first circuit or the second circuit of the diverse pair; and   upon detecting the association of the non-diversity person to the first circuit or the second circuit of the diverse pair, changing the association of the non-diversity person to replace the non-diversity person with a diversity person.   
     
     
         5 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 4 , wherein the personnel are represented by a responsibility code that indicates whether each person is a diversity person or a non-diversity person, and wherein the computer readable storage medium further contains instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to replace the responsibility code of the non-diversity person with the responsibility code of the diversity person. 
     
     
         6 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , further containing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to present an option for specifying a period of time during which the item of equipment will be removed from the list, wherein upon expiration of the period of time, the item of equipment is returned to the list. 
     
     
         7 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the items of telecommunications equipment include at least one of equipment types, facility types, circuit identifiers, and office locations. 
     
     
         8 . A method, comprising:
 monitoring, by a processor, an external system to detect new orders for circuits other than a first circuit and a second circuit of a diverse pair, wherein the new orders result in changes to associations of items of equipment to the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair, and to detect whether the changes resulting from the detected new orders create an association of a first item of equipment to both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair;   outputting, by the processor, an indicator responsive to a detected new order resulting in a change that creates an association of the first item of equipment to both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair;   presenting, by the processor, a list of the plurality of telecommunications circuits and a control for each circuit in the list for display to show circuit details;   receiving, by the processor, a selection of a first control for the first circuit of the diverse pair;   presenting, by the processor, a list of the items of equipment that are associated with both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair for display, responsive to receiving the selection of the first control;   presenting, by the processor, a second control for the list of the items of equipment for display to restrict the list to the items of equipment that are associated to both the first circuit and the second circuits of the diverse pair or to all of the items of equipment that are associated with the first circuit of the diverse pair; and   presenting, by the processor, a third control for the list of the items of equipment for display to remove an item of equipment from the list without moving the item of equipment.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising monitoring the external system for orders that have been implemented. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising monitoring the external system for orders that are queued for implementation. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the external system tracks an association of personnel responsible for monitoring to telecommunications circuits to be monitored, wherein the personnel include diversity personnel responsible for monitoring circuits that require diversity and non-diversity personnel responsible for monitoring circuits that do not require diversity, and wherein the method further comprises:
 monitoring an association of the personnel to the first circuit and second circuit of the diverse pair;   detecting when a non-diversity person is associated with either the first circuit or the second circuit of the diverse pair; and   upon detecting the association of the non-diversity person to the first circuit or the second circuit of the diverse pair, changing the association of the non-diversity person to replace the non-diversity person with a diversity person.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the personnel are represented by a responsibility code that indicates whether each person is a diversity person or a non-diversity person, and wherein the method further comprises replacing the responsibility code of the non-diversity person with the responsibility code of the diversity person. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising presenting an option for specifying a period of time during which the item of equipment will be removed from the list, wherein upon expiration of the period of time, the item of equipment is returned to the list. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the items of telecommunications equipment include at least one of equipment types, facility types, circuit identifiers, and office locations. 
     
     
         15 . A computer system, comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory containing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 monitoring an external system to detect new orders for circuits other than a first circuit and a second circuit of a diverse pair, wherein the new orders result in changes to associations of items of equipment to the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair, and to detect whether the changes resulting from the detected new orders create an association of a first item of equipment to both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair; 
 responsive to a detected new order resulting in a change that creates an association of the first item of equipment to both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair, outputting an indicator; 
 presenting for display a list of the plurality of telecommunications circuits and a control for each circuit in the list to show circuit details; 
 receiving a selection of a first control for the first circuit of the diverse pair; 
 responsive to receiving the selection of the first control, presenting for display a list of the items of equipment that are associated with both the first circuit and the second circuit of the diverse pair; 
 presenting for display a second control for the list of the items of equipment to restrict the list to the items of equipment that are associated to both the first circuit and the second circuits of the diverse pair or to all of the items of equipment that are associated with the first circuit of the diverse pair; and 
 presenting for display a third control for the list of the items of equipment to remove an item of equipment from the list without moving the item of equipment. 
   
     
     
         16 . The computer system of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to monitor the external system for orders that have been implemented. 
     
     
         17 . The computer system of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to monitor the external system for orders that are queued for implementation. 
     
     
         18 . The computer system of  claim 15 , wherein the external system tracks an association of personnel responsible for monitoring to telecommunications circuits to be monitored, wherein the personnel include diversity personnel responsible for monitoring circuits that require diversity and non-diversity personnel responsible for monitoring circuits that do not require diversity, and wherein the memory further contains instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform:
 monitoring the association of the personnel to the first and second circuits;   detecting when a non-diversity person is associated with either the first or second circuits; and   responsive to detecting the association of the non-diversity person to the first or second circuits, changing the association of the non-diversity person to replace the non-diversity person with a diversity person.   
     
     
         19 . The computer system of  claim 18 , wherein the personnel are represented by a responsibility code that indicates whether each person is a diversity person or a non-diversity person, and wherein the memory further stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to replace the responsibility code of the non-diversity person with the responsibility code of the diversity person. 
     
     
         20 . The computer system of  claim 15 , wherein the memory further contains instructions which, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to present an option for specifying a period of time during which the item of equipment will be removed from the list, wherein upon expiration of the period of time, the item of equipment is returned to the list.