Telecommunications

Keeps every instrument that a telecom operator relies on for service acceptance or safety decisions - OTDRs, optical power meters, spectrum analysers, RF personal exposure monitors, torque wrenches, anemometers - within a controlled, traceable calibration regime. Covers registration, interval-driven recall, calibration at an accredited laboratory or in-house, recording of as-found results and tolerance judgement, and quarantine plus measurement-impact review when an instrument is found out of tolerance. In IFS Cloud the instruments are managed as serialised objects on a preventive maintenance plan that raises calibration Work Orders.

Runs the controlled exit of legacy network - 3G and copper sunset, post-merger site consolidation, lease exits - from candidate selection through to asset retirement. Covers traffic-free validation and network planning sign-off, the physical strip-out Work Order including reinstatement obligations, recovery and grading of removed serialised equipment into reuse, remanufacture or scrap, compliant disposal with certificates, and retirement of the asset records. In IFS Cloud this closes the loop between Enterprise Asset Management, the spares pool and the fixed-asset register.

Handles the highest-urgency work in the network: a fibre break detected by the NOC, localised by OTDR against the cable route, and restored by a mobilised splicing crew under an emergency Work Order. Wayleave, permit and traffic-management clearance is confirmed before excavation, and optical loss is verified end to end before traffic is restored. As-built updates to the fibre Linear Asset and a logged outage record close the loop for root-cause analysis.

Drives calendar- and condition-based preventive maintenance of access, transmission and core network elements from PM Actions in IFS Cloud EAM. Due tasks are consolidated into a per-site Maintenance Event, cleared through the NOC change window, then released as Work Orders and scheduled in PSO. Post-window performance verification closes the loop so maintenance intervals can be tuned against real network behaviour.

Runs the recurring structural and site condition inspection programme for towers, monopoles, rooftops and their antenna and mount systems from PM Actions in IFS Cloud EAM. Inspection Work Orders are assigned only to climb-qualified crews, gated by an RF safety and fall-protection permit, and executed on mobile with photographic and measurement evidence. Deficiencies raise corrective Work Orders and the signed report is filed as a Document against the structure.

Maintains the DC power plant, rectifiers, standby generators and battery strings that hold up cell sites and exchanges, using calendar- and runtime-driven PM Actions in IFS Cloud EAM. Inspection and test results (float voltage, connection resistance, internal ohmic values and capacity tests) are captured as Measurements against each string so degradation is caught before autonomy is lost. Failed strings or gensets trigger replacement Work Orders and procurement rather than repeat call-outs.

Governs the right and the practical ability to get onto a telecom site - cell site, rooftop, exchange, street cabinet or data centre - before a crew is dispatched. Covers tenure and access-rule capture against the site record, pre-visit notice and permission checks, landlord or building-management confirmation, abortive-visit capture, and tracking of lease and licence milestones. In IFS Cloud the site is a Functional Object carrying its access rules, and the check is applied when a Work Order is planned so the crew never travels without proof of permission.

Secures candidate sites for towers, small cells, cabinets and fibre nodes and drives each one through landlord negotiation, zoning, environmental and structural approval to a permitted, buildable site. In IFS Cloud each candidate is carried as a Sub Project beneath the rollout Project with a standard activity template, so acquisition milestones, lease documents and permit conditions are visible against the programme. A permitted site is the gate that releases detailed design and construction spend.

Delivers the physical fibre plant - duct, chambers, poles, cable pulling, splicing and termination - from construction-issue design to a tested, documented route. In IFS Cloud the route is a Sub Project broken into sections and work fronts, with material issued from site stores against Project Activities or Work Orders and progress claimed by measured quantity. Completed sections feed the linear asset record that operations will later maintain.

Turns the network build strategy into a funded, resourced and sequenced rollout programme covering site counts, regions, capital phasing and delivery partners. In IFS Cloud the programme is a Project hierarchy with standard site Sub Projects, baselined cost and revenue plans, and resource demand that feeds scheduling and procurement. It gives the telecom CFO and programme director a single view of committed and forecast capital across labour, subcontract, material and equipment.

Manages the third-party civils and build partners that deliver most of the physical rollout - onboarding, capacity call-off, work allocation, quality and safety compliance, measurement and payment. In IFS Cloud partners are Suppliers under Supplier Agreements, work is issued as subcontract Purchase Orders or assigned Work Orders, and valuation flows from field-measured quantities to supplier invoice. IFS positions contractor management as the lever for margin and consistent delivery quality when the workforce is a mix of employees and third parties.

Converts a permitted site into a buildable technical design: physical survey, RF and transmission design, power and structural loading, and the bill of material that construction will consume. In IFS Cloud the survey and design steps run as Project Activities on the site Sub Project, with drawings and design packs held as Documents and the resulting material list driving Purchase Orders and site kitting. Design approval is the gate that authorises material commitment and civils mobilisation.

Installs and commissions the active network at a permitted, civils-ready site - equipment mounting, power and earthing, antenna and feeder work, then configuration, integration and on-air testing to reach RFS. In IFS Cloud the build runs as Work Orders and Project Activities on the site Sub Project, with serialised equipment issued from inventory and registered as Functional and Serial Objects on completion. Integration test results are the evidence that supports acceptance and handover.

Closes out the build by proving the site was delivered to design, clearing snags, and transferring the completed asset with its documentation and maintenance regime to network operations. In IFS Cloud the as-built pack is assembled against the site Sub Project, the Functional and Serial Objects are finalised, maintenance plans and criticality are applied, and the project cost is settled for capitalisation. Only after formal acceptance does the site leave the rollout programme and enter the operate-and-maintain lifecycle.

Converts a confirmed service order into a bookable installation visit and secures a slot the operator can actually honour. IFS Cloud creates the installation Work Order and its Work Tasks, derives the required skills, duration and parts, and offers PSO-backed appointment slots that respect SLA windows, travel and technician availability. Once booked, the customer is confirmed and given Appointment Assistant tracking so the truck roll is transparent end to end.

Matches the day's field demand - installs, activations and break/fix - against the available technician, crew and contractor supply, then commits and dispatches the optimised schedule. IFS Planning and Scheduling Optimization allocates jobs, sequences routes and balances the plan against SLA and travel objectives, and re-optimises intraday for emergencies, overruns and cancellations. This is the process that determines utilisation, SLA adherence and cost per job across the entire fulfilment estate.

Turns a confirmed order into a live, billable service by orchestrating the logical configuration and activation of the network service and keeping IFS Cloud, the OSS and the billing platform in step. IFS Cloud holds the commercial and installed-base view - Customer Order, Service Contract and the service Functional Object - and exchanges service order, activation and status events with the provisioning platform, typically over TM Forum Open APIs. Because the value here is integration and data consistency rather than field execution, the process is owned as a data and integration capability.

Captures the customer service order from CRM, sales or digital self-service and establishes whether the requested service can actually be delivered at that address on the requested date. In IFS Cloud the commercial order is held as a Customer Order carrying the service address, offering and promised Ready-For-Service date, and is qualified against network serviceability, CPE stock and field capacity before it is confirmed. The check stops unfulfillable orders entering the provisioning queue and protects the RFS date the customer has been given.

Controls the two hazards that dominate telecom field work: climbing towers, poles and rooftops, and working close to live transmitting antennas. Covers hazard classification of the planned task, competency and equipment verification for the assigned crew, determination of the RF exposure regime against MPE limits, permit raising and authorisation, on-site issue and pre-climb checks, and permit close-out with the evidence retained. In IFS Cloud the permit and its controls hang off the Work Order, and the competency check gates which resources can be dispatched at all.

Plans and stages the physical materials needed for each network rollout site - radios, antennas, fibre, cabinets, cabling and consumables - so that build crews mobilise with a complete, verified kit. In IFS Cloud the site is modelled as a Project with a WBS of Project Activities; material demand is netted against Inventory Part stock, covered by Purchase Orders or sub-contract orders, then picked, kitted and issued to the site. The process removes the single largest cause of failed builds - missing material on the day - and gives programme controllers one view of committed rollout material cost.