Figure 1 illustrates the management reference model. It shows the Operations Systems interfacing with other systems. The present document (and the rest of the 3GPP management detailed specifications) addresses the Operations System (function and architecture wise) and the interfaces to the other systems (information and protocol wise). The present document does not address the definition of any of the systems, which the Operations System may interface to. The rest of the 3GPP specifications regarding management will not cover them either. It is not the approach (nor it is possible) to re-define the complete management of all the technologies that might be used in the provision of a PLMN. However, it is the intention to identify and define what will be needed from the perspective of management. An Operations System supports management interfaces to other systems. In each Operations System, a number of functions are present. The function(s) in execution would effectuate how the Operations System would interface to other systems. Examples of functions and entities included at the Network Management layer in an Operations System may include but are not limited to:

• Management and Orchestration, of network services.
• On-line network support for 3GPP services.
• Network planning including Radio Planning.
• Network Configuration Management.
• SON automation Management and Orchestration.
• Alarm correlation.
• Network event correlation.
• Network Supervision.
• Network Performance Monitoring.
• Operator terminal.
• LSA Controller (LC).
• IRP Manager.

Examples of functions and entities included at the Domain/Element Management layer in an Operations System may include but are not limited to:

• Network Configuration Management.
• Alarm correlation.
• Network Performance Monitoring.
• SON automation Management and Orchestration.
• Operator terminal.
• IRP Agent.

A number of management interfaces in a PLMN are identified in Figure 1, namely: IRPs may be implemented at interfaces 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. The present document identifies Type 1, Type 2 and Type 4 management interfaces. The rest of the 3GPP management specifications focus on Type 2 and to a lesser extent on Type 1 management interfaces. In addition, the rest of the 3GPP management specifications will not refer to Type 4 management interface. Specific Type 2 protocols and information model that are applicable for use in Type 4 management interface are listed in Annex E. The present document identifies Types 3, 5 and 5a management interfaces. Detailed specification of these interfaces is For Further Study (FFS). The present document identifies as well a Type 7 management interface. The specification of the management interfaces of type 4 and 6 is beyond the scope of standardisation.

In some cases, the management interfaces to NEs have been defined bottom-up, trying to standardise the complete OAM&P functionality of the various NEs. For PLMN management, a top-down approach will be followed to streamline the requirements from the perspective of Operators top priority management processes. It is assumed that this will not fully cover the OAM&P functionality of all NE types at once; therefore a part of the functionality will be phased for further work and consideration. Some proprietary solutions (local and/or remote) will be needed in the interim. The rationale of this approach is not only the best use of resources, but also to follow a pragmatic step-wise approach that takes into account the market forces (the manufacturers and operators capabilities). A further rationale is to define clear and easy-to-agree steps that allow management functionality to be implemented in the same time frame as the telecom functionality in the network (i.e. to synchronise the management and network releases).

The approach is to define a management structure that fully fits into the enterprise process needs of the PLMN Organisations. One of the essential issues of today's way of running telecommunications businesses is integral operation (e.g. customer care, from service subscription to billing, from order fulfilment to complaint management). Enterprise Systems are those Information Systems that are used in the telecommunication organisation but are not directly or essentially related to the telecommunications aspects (Call Centres, Fraud Detection and Prevention Systems, Invoicing etc.). Standardising Enterprise Systems is out of the scope of 3GPP work, since it involves many operator choices (organisational, etc.) and even regulatory. Also Enterprise Systems are often viewed as a competitive tool. However, it is essential that the requirements of such systems are taken into account and interfaces to the Operations Systems are defined, to allow for easy interconnection and functional support.

Interface type 4 (where Itf-P2P is between Domain Managers of different PLMN Organisations) could have additional requirements over interface type 4a (see clause 5.1.3b) and therefore is FFS.

The approach for Interfaces of type 4a (the Itf-P2P interface) is the same as for interfaces of type 2 (the Itf-N interface - see clause 5.1.2.2). The Itf-P2P should as much as possible re-use the interface definitions of the Itf-N interface. Further details on the Itf-P2P interface are available in 3GPP TR 32.806 [107].

PLMN management considers integrally the interaction with the Operations Systems of other legal entities for the purpose of providing Mobile services. There are two major types of interfaces to other management systems:

1. To the Operations Systems of another PLMN Organisation;
2. To the Operations Systems of a non-PLMN Organisation.

The first type deals with co-operation to provide Mobile services across a number of PLMN networks (e.g. roaming related interactions). The second type deals with client-server relationship to other operators (e.g. to leased lines providers, to added value service providers, etc.). The approach that will be followed is to identify and define integral processes, not taking into account in the first step, how many operators or operations systems might be involved, but rather concentrating on the interactions between them (i.e. assuming an operator encompasses all functionalities). A further step will be to consider and define extra requirements (security, confidentiality etc.) when part of the process involves interactions with other operators Operations Systems (OSs).

Interfaces between Network Elements are sometimes used to carry management information even though this may not be the primary purpose of the interface. An example in an UMTS network is the Iub interface between Node-B and RNC (see Figure 2 above). This type of interface is not within the scope of this specification, though potential impacts upon it should be considered.

The Type 7 interface is between the NMLS and the NM. The NMLS is the Service Provider (SP, see clause 5.4) and the NM the Service Consumer (SC, see clause 5.4).

The management interfaces are studied here from five different perspectives or levels:

1. Information Model Level (network resource model and interactions used between manager and agent, or equivalent);
2. Solution Set (SS) Level;
3. Application protocol (end-to-end, upper layers protocol running between manager-agent, or equivalent);
4. Networking protocol (lower layer protocols carrying the information in/out the manager and agent, or equivalents);
5. Physical (mapping of the manager and agent, or equivalents, roles into physical entities).

This level defines the network resources under management and the management information exchanged between manager-agent, and equivalent, across the management interface. Type 2 and type 4a interfaces (Itf-N and Itf-P2P in Figure 1) require the specification at this level and at the level defined in clause 5.2.3.

For an NRM or an Interface at the Information Model, there will be at least one Solution Set defined. A Solution Set is a mapping of the Information Model to one of several Management-application-layer-protocols. See Annex C for the valid 3GPP management IRP Solution Sets (see also ITU-T Recommendation M.3013-2000 [102]).

This level covers the set of primitives used to pass information across a given interface and the means to establish associations between the application entities (including the related addressing aspects) across a given interface. 3GPP recommends a set of Management-application-layer-protocols (see Annex A).

Whatever standardised protocol suite at the networking level that is capable of meeting the functional and operational requirements (including the network addressing aspects) of the Logical and Application Protocol levels of a given management interface, is a valid Networking Protocol for that interface. A number of requirements shall be met by the Networking Protocol, as follows:

• capability to run over all supported bearers (leased lines, X.25, ATM, Frame Relay ...);
• support of existing transport protocols and their applications, such as OSI, TCP/IP family, etc.;
• widely available, cheap and reliable.

The Internet Protocol (IP) is a Networking Protocol that ideally supports these requirements. IP also adds flexibility to how management connectivity is achieved when networks are rolled out, by offering various implementation choices. For instance, these may take the form of:

• Dedicated management intranets.
• Separation from or integration into an operator's enterprise network.
• Utilisation, in one-way or another, of capacities of the public Internet and its applications or other resources.

Though the interaction at the logical level takes place between the management system and the NEs, it is left to the implementer's choice the possibility to use the Q-Adapter concept of ITU-T TMN Architecture as physical implementation (as defined in ITU-T Recommendation M.3010 [1]). The present document does not preclude the usage of Q-Adapters at other PLMN management interfaces.