course 2013-2014

Enginyeria de Telecomunicaciķ

Enginyeria de Xarxes de Telecomunicaciķ (13338)

•ˇ Number of credits: 9 Number of ECTS credits: 7.2
•ˇTotal number of hours to be spent on the subject: 180

Introduction to the subject

The subject "Telecommunications Network Engineering" is one of the six modules included in the first year of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra telecommunications engineering course, with admission after completing the first cycle of telecommunications engineering.

This subject focuses on network and services management, in both telecommunications and information technology infrastructures. Its position in the third term is complementary to the lifecycle of ICT infrastructures: after the requirements of this type of infrastructures have been specified (the objective of the modules in the first term) and they have been designed and installed (the objective of the two modules in the second term), telecommunications and computer infrastructures must be operated and used, and this subject focuses on this area.

The subject has a specialised profile and will enable students to acquire knowledge of and use the techniques, processes and skills necessary for professional telecommunications and information technology infrastructure management. The knowledge acquired by students in this subject will be complemented in the subject "Information Services and Systems Management" in the third term of the second year for students following track A (Information Services and Systems Management) during this second year.

For students who have taken the first cycle at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the subject can be considered a continuation of the subject "Sistemes Telemātics III," in which the SNMP protocol and its use for IP network management were studied.

Teaching is based on a project-based learning methodology as in the other fourth year modules, and as such, students assimilate the concepts covered in the subject by considering them within a project that is carried out in small groups.

Unlike other subjects that have a more theoretical foundation, the subject studied has a strong practical emphasis that is directly applicable in professional life as a telecommunications engineer, as most engineering work involves management of technological infrastructure and the services based on it. For this reason we recommend that students should approach the subject with particular interest, endeavouring to practice the concepts presented to the full. It is even advisable to study part of the subjects in greater depth than that required in order to pass the assessment, as this will lead to higher level professional qualifications in knowledge that is in great demand and highly valued in today's society.

A further recommendation is that students are encouraged to be particularly active and creative in the definition, control and undertaking of the project, as the way in which the module is designed requires use of the skills most closely related to project management, which are vital for a telecommunications engineer, as most of their professional work is based around project management.

Prerequisites for following the training track

There are no formal prerequisites in terms of the subjects that must have been passed during the students' education to take the subject "Telecommunications Network Engineering", apart from those necessary to register for university. All students who are technical telecommunications engineers specialising in telematics will be able to take the subject. Students who have taken another telecommunications engineering speciality can also take the subject, providing that they take the appropriate complementary courses required for registration on this course.

In any case, potential students should take into account that the subject assumes a basic knowledge of management of IT infrastructure based on SNMP, necessary to follow thesessions throughout the course correctly. If any students do not have knowledge of SNMP due to not having taken it in the first cycle, they should contact the teaching staff in order to be provided with introductory teaching material in this area.

Finally, in order to take full advantage of the subject, it is necessary for students to have an appropriate attitude in order to base their individual work around the project that will be undertaken throughout the course. This takes the form of the following basic skills:

•ˇ The ability to work as part of a group, as most of the project will be carried out in close co-operation with other classmates.

•ˇ Organisation and planning, as the project includes several phases in which students have to identify, organise and sequence the tasks associated with its execution.

•ˇ Active participation and initiative, as in a significant part of the work activities it is the students themselves who have to define the specific tasks to be carried out, the specific problems to be solved and provide the references, procedures and methods for resolution.


Skills to be obtained in the subject

General skills

Specific skills

Instrumental

1. Organisation and planning capability

2. Information management capability

3. Oral and written communication

Interpersonal

4. Teamwork

5. Critical reasoning

Systemic

6. Autonomous learning

7. Leadership

8. Quality-based motivation

9. The ability to apply theoretical knowledge to practice.

•1. Knowledge of the most frequently used models for ICT infrastructure management and the services used therein.

•2. Knowledge of the ITIL best practices and the phases and processes it consists of at a high level, and its practical application to real infrastructure management and ICT service environments

•3. Detailed knowledge of the techniques, organisation and processes event monitoring and management, and their practical application as a widely distributed tool.

•4. Detailed knowledge of the processes, techniques and organisation of incident management, problems and configuration in ICT infrastructure and services, and the ability to apply these in network and service management situations.

•5. Service Desk design and organisation for technologically-based businesses.

•6. Basic knowledge of the techniques of System Dynamics and their practical application for Service Desk dimensioning.

Assessment

  General assessment criteria

 •ˇ Submissions of practical work and documents related with each of the training blocks, which enable assessment of the level at which the project groups have applied their knowledge in specific aspects related with the subject matter.  In general, each group sent their submissions and they are assessed by the lecturer in the subject concerned. 
 •ˇ A theoretical examination at the end of the subject for each part, to check whether each student has acquired the basic minimum knowledge on the content of the subject.  The examination is individual, multiple-choice, and each part is assessed by the lecturer teaching it. No documentation is allowed in the exam.

 
•ˇ Participation in class. The teaching staff committee will assign a grade to each student depending on their participation in the theoretical and practical classes. Of course, regular attendance to classes is needed to consider that the student is participating in class. Particular consideration will be given to active participation and the contribution of comments, questions of interest for the class as a whole, and classroom presentations made.  

•ˇ  Project submissions, in both their draft and their final phase, the assessment shows the level to which the group of students is able to mobilise the knowledge they have acquired to solve the problems raised in the project. Submissions are to be done by the whole group, which takes responsibility for the entire project and is assessed as follows:

 
•o  Grading of drafts and final submission by the project tutors.
•o  Co-assessment of the final submission and presentation by all the students.
•o  Assessment by an external tribunal consisting of professional experts in the field based on the project report and the presentation of it.
 
•ˇ   Grade assigned by the teaching staff for the quality of co-assessment work done by each student for the projects. This is measured based on the correlation between the grade assigned by the teaching staff and the grade assigned by each student for the projects.
 
•ˇ   Submissions and defence of project status reports which enable assessment of the students' leadership and project planning capacity shown by the Project Manager during the period assigned to him/her.

 
•ˇ   Assessment of participation in the group work. This is based on the estimates of participation made by the students themselves in a regular, individual and secret assessment, as well as the lecturer's assessment based on the feedback obtained from each student in the tutorials. The following regulations will be followed for group activities undertaken in the period assessed:

 
•o   If the student's participation according to the estimates of his/her colleagues is between 70% and 100% (with 100% being the reasonable fair participation), it will be considered to be within reasonable parameters and all students will have the same project submission grade. These details will be taken into consideration for the assessment of the student's participation in the project which accounts for 15% of the total grade for the project and which is individual for each student and assigned by the project tutor.
 
•o   If the participation is lower than 70%, the student must justify his/her contributions made to the project to the lecturer so that the latter can decide on the student's real participation.
 
•o   The lecturer will assess the student's participation based on the evidence obtained and take the following actions:

 
•§   If in the lecturer's opinion the real participation exceeds 70% according to the evidence available, all the students will have the same grade.
•§   If participation is between 50% and 70%, the student's grade will be reduced by the appropriate proportion.
•§   If real participation is below 50%, the student will receive a zero in all the activities undertaken in this period.
•§   In any case, if participation does not exceed 70%, from that point on, until the lecturer so decides or until the end of the course, the student must justify the subsequent contributions that he/she makes.
•§   If the situation persists and from the point of view of the tutor the student do not participate enough along the project, it is an option for the tutor to assess this part as below 3,5 points and the student will fail the subject, having to develop a new project for the September exam.
 
 •ˇ The results obtained in the process simulation which takes place at the end of the course and which will enable the groups obtaining the best results to increase their project grade by 5%.
 
In order to pass the subject, it is necessary to meet the following conditions simultaneously (i.e. if one of the parts is failed, the subject as a whole is failed):
 
•ˇ  Obtain a total grade for the subject equal to or higher than 5.0 with all the weighted parts considering with their weights as appropriate.  If this condition is not met, the student must repeat all the parts of subject that he/she has failed (the practical components of each part, project, or the final examination) for September. Failure in September will lead to a loss of all parts passed previously on June.
 
•ˇ  Obtaining a grade equal to or higher than 5.0 in the final theoretical examination for the subject. If this grade is not achieved, the student must repeat this final examination in September. Failure in September will lead to a loss of all parts passed previously in June, including the project.
 
•ˇ  Exceeding the minimum participation threshold in both, group work and participation in class. The group work initially be measured based on the forms completed individually on a regular basis by each member of the group, as well as the tutor view. When the total estimates by group colleagues provide individual notification that is not visible to the other members of the group that participation in some of the submissions is lower than 70% (with 100% participation being what is expected for a fair distribution of work), or a total participation of less than 75%, the student will be monitored on an individual basis by the teaching staff with regard to his/her contribution to the group. If the lecturer confirms that the total participation at the end of the course is insufficient, the student will fail the subject and will have to produce a project for September. If the project is failed in September, the student will have to take the entire subject again. Also, a minimum of 3,0 in class participation (theory classes and practices) is needed to pass in June. The board of professors will assess this issue based on attendance to classess and participation interacting with the professors.  The main risk for not passing this threshold is not attending the classes or getting late to them.




Specification by skills



 










Skills to be obtained in the subject




Indicator of achievement




Assessment procedure




Timeframe










 


General skills


 


1. Organisation and planning capability


 


2. Information management capability


 


3. Oral and written communication


 


4. Teamwork


 


5. Critical reasoning


 


6. Autonomous learning


 


7. Leadership


 


8. Quality-based motivation


 


9. Ability to apply theoretical knowledge to practice.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


Specific skills


 


 




 


 


 


1. Quality in the oral and written presentation of the project.


2. Clarity and conciseness in status reports.


3. Use of additional references in the project. 


4. The student's participation in the work of the group.


5. Application of theoretical concepts adapted to the context considered in the project.


6. Quality of the co-assessment work and projects.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


1. Appropriate application of the theoretical concepts in the project.


2. Results of practical sessions undertaken during the subject.


3. Result of the theory test.


4. Results obtained in the final role-play.




 


 


 


1. Assessment of project submissions.


2. Assessment of status reports.


3. Submission of project reports and practical work. 


4. Oral presentation of the project and status reports.


5. Assessment of the group participation dynamic by the lecturer and students.


6. Co-assessment of projects according to guidelines and assessment of application of the guidelines.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


•1.       Project report


•2.       Practical work reports


•3.       Theoretical examination.


•4.       Role-play at the end of the subject.


 


 


 




 


 


 


Throughout the course in accordance with the assessment plan detailed above.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


Throughout the course in accordance with the assessment plan detailed above.


 













•   Contents



 



•- Content block 1: Introduction to network and services management 


 


The aspects involved in network and service management, their importance and the main organisation models of processes and functions currently applied are presented in this block.


 


•- Content block 2: ITIL Best Practices in systems configuration operation and management. 



  



This is the block around which most of the subject is based, and it focuses on the ITIL best practices in the following aspects of systems management:


 


•-          Event management and systems monitoring.


•-          Dealing with incidents and problems in service.


•-          Service Desk design and organisation.


•-          Systems configuration and inventory management. 


            


•-          Content block 3: Practical introduction to CMDB and Access Management 


 


 This block focuses on introducing the student to the practical aspects of access management and definition of the configuration management database. The content is based on practical application using software tools.


 


•-          Content block 4: Practical introduction to System Dynamics


 


This block introduces students to modelling systems and processes in order to detect bottlenecks, and to carry out correct dimensioning of the resources applied in each activity within a process. The module will be taught using a system dynamics modelling application (VenSim) and applying the theory for the dimensioning of a Service Desk according to the context if the project in which each group is participating. 



  



• Methodology



  



The approach on which the subject is based is project-based learning, by which the student assimilates knowledge by means of its application to a case which structures the fundamental learning blocks of the subject.


 


To that end, each group of students will define an area of application for their project, which will focus on IT infrastructure and service management for an organisation that could be a network of hospitals, a telecommunications operator, a multinational insurance company (these are all examples of projects undertaken in recent years) or any other case. After the project has been defined, each group will practice the content blocks, using them in their own case and considering the specific factors that arise when solving it. The project tutor will guide, advise and correct the production of the different deliverables associated to the project.


 


The project production sequence involves the sequential submission of drafts until the final project is ready, and each new draft must include the amendments and correct the shortcomings noted in the review by the tutor. A whole project report will be submitted at the end of the course and will be presented to students and teaching staff. The report and the presentation will be assessed by the project tutors and by the students (to thereby encourage the use of the critical vision which will be needed in their working life), and by professional members of the itSMF Catalonia committee, which will award a prize to the best project.


 


Particular emphasis is placed within the methodological approach on appropriate project management and holding project status meetings. This is because the skills of project management and leadership which are subsequently necessary in professional life are used in the subject. To that end, particular stress will be placed on the correct production and presentation of the status reports, which will be defended by the head of project (a post that will be held by each team member in turn) with a dynamic similar to that found in professional life.


 


An interesting and amusing feature in this course is the involvement of students in an incident management role-play which will enable them to simulate real situations, and in which in a first session students will participate in the simulated dynamic of a Service Desk in order to understand the usefulness of using best practices. At the end of the course, they will use the knowledge acquired in competition with the other groups.


 


The schedule also includes laboratory practical sessions for "hands-on" exercises with access management, CMDB and systems dynamics tools, which will enable the students to learn the concepts by working with them directly.


 


Finally, the course includes traditional classes on introduction to theory, which are not a substitute for the students' reading and study of the documentation, but instead a guide in the learning path. Students are expected to participate in these sessions, by mentioning doubts and hypothetical (or real) cases, and should resemble more to seminars than boring monologues, which are not necessary in this subject, as the basic documentation is produced by professional experts and is clear and comprehensive. As part of the theory classes, a talk by business and administration professionals is scheduled on most Fridays. These will tell students about real problems in network and services management.



  



•  Sources of information and teaching resources 


 


Sources of information for learning. Basic bibliography


 


The ITIL version 3 best practices will be used as the basic teaching material. This documentation is available as an electronic resource in the library and access is possible from the library PCs and students' laptop computers on UPF premises (including the wi-fi network). The password must be requested at the counter of the library every time it is accessed. Access from outside the building is not possible due to restrictions in the licence of use.


 


 Sources of information for learning. Complementary bibliography


 


The ITIL V2 documentation can also be used for the main part of the subject, as there are some aspects that provide a different approach to that in V3, which is sometimes more explanatory and does not contradict the approach presented in V3. Available in the library in CD format with the following references: 


 


[OGC, 02a ] THE OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT COMMERCE: "Planning to implement Service Management". Version 2.2. United Kingdom, 2002. CD ITIL Best Practices Series.  ISBN 0 11 330877 9. UPF library code: QA 76.76. A65 P53 2003.


 


[OGC, 02b ] THE OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT COMMERCE: "ICT Infrastructure Management". Version 2.2. United Kingdom, 2002. CD ITIL Best Practices Series.  ISBN 0 11 330877 9. , OGC. UPF library code: QA 76.76. A65 P53 2003.


 


[OGC, 02b ] THE OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT COMMERCE: "Service Support". Version 2.2. United Kingdom, 2002. CD ITIL Best Practices Series.  ISBN 0 11 330015 8. UPF library code: QA 76.76. .A65 S47 2003.


 


[OGC, 02c ] THE OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT COMMERCE: "Service Delivery". Version 2.2. United Kingdom, 2002. CD ITIL Best Practices Series.  ISBN 0 11 330017 4. UPF library code: QA 76.76. A65 S47 2003.


 


[OGC, 02e ] THE OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT COMMERCE: "Application Management". Version 2.2. United Kingdom, 2002. CD ITIL Best Practices Series.  ISBN 0 11 330866 3. UPF library code: QA 76.76. A65 A66 2003.


[OGC, 99] THE OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT COMMERCE: "Security Management". Version 2.2. United Kingdom, 2002. ITIL Best Practices Series.  ISBN 0 11 330014 X. UPF library code: QA 76.76. A65 C39 1999.


 


A series of articles and complementary references for study of the subject and application to the project is included below. These may be used by students for in-depth study of a specific area or to obtain an alternative view of the concepts studied on the course.


 


[Appel et al., 03] APPEL, A., BROWN B., KAPLAN J.: "Smart ideas for cutting infrastructure costs". McKinsey on IT. Autumn, 2003.  [Online]. Available at < http://www.bto.mckinsey.de/_downloads/themen/mckonit_infra.pdf >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[Fox it, 03] FOX IT: " Introduction to the ITIL infrastructure.".2003.


 


[Hobbs, 04] HOBBS C.: "A Practical Approach to WBEM/CIM Management". ISBN 0-8493-2306-1. CRC Press LLC, 2004.


 


[Huang, 05] HUANG J.: "eTOM and ITIL: Should you be bi-lingual as an IT outsourcing service provider?". BPTrends, January 2005. [Online]. Available at < http://www.bptrends.com/publicationfiles/01%2D05%20eTOM%20and%20ITIL%20%2D%20Huang%2Epdf >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[IBM, 01] IBM GLOBAL SERVICES : "Managing Information Technology Services". [Online]. Available at . [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[ITSFM, 04] ITSFM: "An introductory overview of ITIL". Version 1.0a. 2004.  [Online]. Available at < http://www.itsmf.no/bestpractice/itil_overview.pdf >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[Jin et al., 02] JIN L. MACHIRAJU, V., SAHAI A..: "Analysis on Service Level Agreement of Web Services". HP Laboratories, 2002. [Online]. Available at < http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2002/HPL-2002-180.pdf >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


[Lim, 02] LIM A.: " Service Management Model for Deploying Service".  HP Software Forum, 2002.


 


 [Potgieter, 04] POTGIETER B.C., BOTHA, J.H., LEW, C. : "Evidence that use of the ITIL framework is effective. Papers from the Proceedings of the 17th NACCQ 2004. [Online]. Available at .  [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[Pultorak et al., 04] PULTORAK, D., QUAGLIARIELLO, P. : "Justifying ITIL". At www.thinkHDI.com. March 2004.  [Online]. Available at < http://us.foxit.net/download/justifying_itil.pdf >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[Pultorak, 03] PULTORAK D.: "The definitive guide to IT Management for the Adaptative Enterprise".  [Online]. Available at < https://h30046.www3.hp.com/promofile_oov.php?promo=1-68-985&portal=ITSM&m >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[Remedy, 03] REMEDY CORPORATION: "Implementing ITIL Best Practices. Mapping ITIL to Remedy Applications," Remedy White Paper, 2003. [Online]. Available at < http://www.remedy.com/solutions/documents/white_papers/wp_itil.pdf >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[RL Consulting, 02] RL CONSULTING.: "IT Services Management. Service Level Agreements. Simple Agreements, Reports, and Checklists. White Paper".  Prepared by R. Leopoldi. May, 2002. [Online]. Available at . [Consulted: 25.01.05]. [Online]. Available at < >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[RL Consulting, 02b] RL CONSULTING.: "IT Services Management. A description of Service Level Agreements. White Paper".  Prepared by R. Leopoldi. May, 2002. [Online]. Available at < http://www.itsm.info/SLA%20description.pdf>. [Consulted: 25.01.05].


 


[RL Information Consulting, 03] NIESSINK F.: "IT Service Management. ITSM/ITIL Best Practice Process. Overview Primer". Prepared by R. Leopoldi. February, 2003. [Online]. Available at < http://www.itsm.info/ITSM%20ITIL%20Overview.pdf >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[TMF, 04] TELEMANAGEMENT FORUM: "NGOSS and eTOM". [Online]. Available at . [Consulted: 22.11.2004].


 


[Trienekens et al., 04] TRIENEKENS J., BOUMAN J., VAN DER ZWAN, M. : "Specification of Service Level Agreements: Problems, principles and practices". Software Quality Journal, 12 pp. 43-57. 2004. [Online]. Available at < http://www.kluweronline.com/article.asp?PIPS=5256876&PDF=1>. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[Van Hemmen, 00] VAN HEMMEN L.J.G.T..: "Models supporting the network management organization". International Journal of Network Management, 2000. Vol. 10. Pages 299-314. [Online]. Available at . [Consulted: 25.01.05]


 


[Viira, 03] VIIRA, T.: "Measured and Effective IT Management in business company".  Master's Thesis. Estonian Business School. Chair of Information Technology. Estonia, Tallinn. 2003.


 


[Yip, 03] YIP C. W.: "Adapting Best Practices for IT Service Management Enterprise".  Remedy Alliance Program. November 2003. [Online]. Available at < http://www.bmc.com/en_SG/forum/philippines/Track3-AdaptingBestPracticesITServiceMgmt.pdf >. [Consulted: 25.01.05]


  



 



 Teaching resources. Subject teaching material


 


•-          Slides addressing ITIL theory


•-          Documentation of practices on CMDB and Access Management.


•-          System dynamics practical manual.


•-          Models of project status report and documentation to be submitted.


•-          Examples of projects from other years.


•-          Project assessment template.



 



 Teaching resources. Support materials and tools. 


 


The Moodle tool will be used for communication between students and teaching staff, and through this:


 


•-          The teaching material produced by the teaching staff and complementary bibliography articles will be available, as well as models of the documentation to be submitted by the students. 


•-          Both the project and practical work done by the students will be submitted.


•-          The partial and final grades will be published.


•-          The relevant warnings for following the subject will be published also in Moodle.



 


 

As can be seen in the assessment table, the final grade is obtained from a series of items that are taken from several areas: