PWM Module

Provisioning Workflow Management for Driving IP Addresses Processes Deployement

The assigning process of the Internet IP addresses requires the operators’ particular organization. These addresses are distributed by a specific entity to several departments which then delegates them to different services. Thus, it is necessary to be able to control operations performed on addresses from the source. Today, a lot of IP addresses attribution requests are carried out by email and are dispatched without any justification: the consequence for the operator is the increase of non-used subnets that represent a strong rise of costs. In addition, the treatment of these requests is not based on homogeneous exchange structures, the transactions follow-up and the tracking are complex.

By allowing addresses attribution management and liberation requests, Provisioning Workflow Management (PWM) offers four advantages: reduction of time processing assignment operations, more detailed documentation, more efficient task processing and an increase of tracking.  

Manage operations requests

When assigning IP address pools for new customers or for internal needs, PWM automatically sends a predefined form with the required client information towards different internal departments impacted by this request.

It is possible to create as many forms as there are request types as: attribution, liberation, updates, or other more. PWM centralizes the answers from each department in order to follow up the associated operations. This mechanism allows tracking and justification of the attribution management activity.

Apply trade processes

PWM allows the formalization of the trade rules defined by the operators in order to ensure administration tasks of IP address pools. Thus, PWM guarantees that the application of operator trade processes is maintained and that it reflects their activities.

Synchronize activities

In the operators’ organization, different services or entities are responsible for the treatment of IP addresses attribution requests. These services need to communicate and exchange a lot of information. PWM allows the synchronization of these activities by managing all the transactions in a unified way. Thanks to specific forms, each request has to be justified. Requests can be processed by a single administrator or by a group of them.

Unify processes

PWM offers to operators a unique working methodology by the application of a homogeneous politic of requests’ processing. Requests are defined in forms and generalized to all the activities of the operator. The content of each form depends on the type of request —technical information, services, request justification—; the follow-up can thus be executed very efficiently.

Store assignments traces

All information related to IP addresses attributions is stored and available in the PWM database. Users can interrogate this knowledge database and obtain a historic of the cumulated requests. The interrogation can be realized thanks to multiple criteria: by user, by references, or by type of actions.

Follow-up changes

For each action requested in a form —action to be realized, action to be affected, delayed, a closed request—, PWM automatically sends an email notification to the concerned users. In addition, if a lead time is mentioned, PWM can also automatically send a notification through an email in case of delay. Action processing is realized from the notification email. The requestor is immediately informed by email when his request is treated. PWM ensures in real time the follow-up of on-going actions. Thus, the status of the requests can be consulted from the graphical interface at any time.