About Network Performance Monitoring & Benchmarking in A Fast Changing Environment

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Get a Grip On Your Network
About Network Performance

Monitoring & Benchmarking
In a Fast Changing Environment
Prepared by:
Mehmet BEYAZ
TTG Uluslararsi, LTD.

www.ttgint.com
20/09/2006
TTG Int. LTD

Proprietary & Confidential Page 1 of 14
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Table of Content
Abstract .......................................................................................................................3
Introduction ...............................................................................................................4
Performance Management principles.................................................................5
Network Monitoring .................................................................................................5
Analyzing Quality of Service Reports.................................................................6
Quality of Service (QoS) ........................................................................................6
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) ......................................................................7
Service Level Agreement (SLA)...........................................................................7
Availability ..................................................................................................................7
Retainability ...............................................................................................................7
Accessibility................................................................................................................7
Service Integrity.......................................................................................................8
Call Success Rate .....................................................................................................8
Reports ........................................................................................................................9
Quality of Service Indicators For BSS/GPRS ...................................................9
Quality of The Radio Network ............................................................................10
Capacity.....................................................................................................................11
NSS Quality of Service Reports .........................................................................11
Quality of Service Indicators for NSS ..............................................................11
Quality of Service Reports for NSS...................................................................12
Capacity In General...............................................................................................12
Monitoring Speech Channel Capacity ..............................................................12
Monitoring Signaling Link Capacity ..................................................................13
Priority Categories .................................................................................................13
Resource Utilization ...............................................................................................13
Conclusion ................................................................................................................14
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About Network Performance Monitoring & Benchmarking

In a Fast Changing Environment
Abstract
This with paper focus on th enetwork performance monitiring and

benchmarking of mobile networks in terms of QoS, facilitating a service
quality comparison of one mobile network with another. A framework for
mobile network performance monitiring and QoS benchmarking is
proposed and suitable performance indicators are identified.
Recommended QoS performance values are described that offer an
industry benchmarking target.
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Introduction
In today's competitive telecommunications environment, the emphasis

has shifted to delivering exceptional service while keeping costs down.
Telecommunications service providers are challenged to deliver
innovative. High-quality services at a time of rapid change and cost
pressure. To satisfy increasingly sophisticated customers, service
providers are going the extra mile to create new services, reduce lead
times to provision. Improve network availability and uptime, and enhance
quality of service. Network generated performance data can play a role in
meeting these goals. Performance data is a resource for the information
you need to manage your network proactively, so you can address service
problems before they affect your customer. While you have plenty of raw
data about various network elements, it isn't useful until it is translated
into real information. The NORTH-I Performance Management System sifts
through the gigabytes of raw data generated by multi-vendor Voice,
Transport, Frame Relay, and ATM networks, and offers the data back to
operators and service providers as reliable, business-critical performance
information. NORTH-I is a key component in Network Management
Systems around the world, providing the information operators and
service providers need to maintain quality and retain customers in today's
competitive telecommunications arena.
This document:
• Provides you some examples of how to verify the performance of

the network.
• Describes how to analyze the results.
• Gives suggestions on a few example network monitoring and
performance reporting.
• Provides some examples of Symptoms
• Benchmarking for the QoS
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Performance Management principles

The conception of Performance Management/Monitoring can be express as
follows; Study on PLMN manners will require performance data collection
and record OSS systems. The idea of any performance management
activity is to collect data which can be used to validate the physical and
logical configuration of the PLMN and to localize potential bottle necks as
early as possible.
For further reading on the standards of performance data measurements,
see Performance Data Measurements (GSM 12.04, ETS 300 615).
Network Monitoring
Daily routines of the operator and maintenance, includes network
performance and faults monitoring, for example; location and analysis of
faults and corrective actions. In addition to monitoring network faults, the
operator ALSO needs immediate information on how the network
performs. TTGs Performance Management tool NORTH-I help the operator
to detect, for example, service-related problems by providing call
attempts, dropped or blocked calls, CSR, SDCCH/TCH capacity, handover
failure rates etc.
The operator use the amount of data continuously collected from the
network by the NORTH-I and study various measurement results as well
as anticipating future trends. These reports and predications reports can
be used as a source for decisions on the new investments or for
evaluating the utilization of resources.
When the utilization of the network resources is evaluated, both the
overall performance of the network system and the performance of
individual network elements are handled. Beside, identification of
bottlenecks and optimization of the network system is particularly
important. To do long-term performance of the network, the operator uses
the offline network analysis. This information is collected and stored
centrally into the NORTH-I to allow further analysis of network
performance and predications.
During the offline stage, this long-term data can be further analyzed for
the preparation of investment plan and presentations for management,
marketing, and planning purposes. One remarkable feature of the NORTH-
I is the possibility of correlation performance data, NSS/BSS parameter
(INCEM), and fault (FAMAN) data in reports. This feature helps the user to
see how changes in parameter values affect the QoS and allow the better
and fast optimization and correct dimensioning of the network.
The operator needs to make long-term plans for the future. In this
respect, NORTH-I is a great aid by providing prediction statistics on
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subscriber behavior, usage of services, and quality of service. As

conclusion, the continuous monitoring of network utilization, performance,
and ceaseless curiosity about what useful information the network can
yield and dynamic performance analysis infrastructures are a must for
operators to improve network quality. This is also valid for,3G or any
other Gs.
Analyzing Quality of Service Reports

The quality of service (QoS) encompass one of the most important aspects
that should be monitored in the GSM network. The QoS goals have to be
shared throughout the service provider organization to make sure that
everyone has a clear understanding of the objectives and strategy in order
to achieve the desired QoS level. The QoS is consists of many and varied
criteria. The criteria for the QoS do not stay constant throughout the life
cycle of the network because the network itself grows with time. Young
networks have less tight QoS criteria whereas a mature network has to
have solid criteria to meet. Below is an example of typical QoS indicators
and their criteria for a mature network:
Dependability (Availability) Network availability > 99%

Capability (Accessibility) Blocked call ratio < 3% during peak hours
Severability (Retain-ability) Dropped call rate < 2% (Normal Load)
Success Rate Call Success Rate > 98% (Normal Load)
Before we go on it will be helping you to understand the subject of matter

better if you know the following definitions;
Quality of Service (QoS)

Network or network devices capabilities that provide some guarantee of
performance such as traffic delivery voice quality, availability,
capability priority, speed, latency, or latency variation. Delivery of
good-quality audio or video streams typically requires QoS capabilities.
This is formal definition of it.
Or
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Quality of Service: A measurable set of parameters that define the

level of service that a service provider can be accountable.
To me; QoS is to meet or if possible go beyond the expectation of your

customers.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

KPI are indications of individual network elements or services which all
KPIs are forming overall QoS.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)

SLA is consisting of QoS as well as other services such as receiving
billing on the time, customer care, etc. Most basic form SLA is the
promises what you giving to your customers.
Availability
Availability is defined as the percentage of time that the Basic Physical
Channels are available for use. Availability can be affected by faulty
base station equipment, bad transmission links or wrong configuration
definition at the switch. An advised threshold for acceptable
performance is 99.00%.
Retainability
Retainability is defined as the ability for a call to stay connected,
complete through to a normal call tear down process, without
abnormally disconnecting on a cell site of interest. Retainability can be
affected by poor coverage, poor RX quality or high timing advance.
These may be indicative of large cell radius, non-optimum cell
parameter settings, poor frequency/BSIC planning or faulty base
station equipment. An advised threshold for acceptable performance is
2.00%.
Accessibility
Accessibility is defined as the percentage of time a user is rejected due
to the unavailability of system resources when attempting to place a
call. Accessibility problems can be due to inadequate traffic resources
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like TRXs or cabinets, seasonal sporadic surges in traffic, improper RF

feature parameter settings or problems in the neighboring cell. An
advised threshold for acceptable performance is 2.00%.
Service Integrity
Service Integrity is defined as the percentage of calls dropped due to
bad quality. Service integrity can be affected by poor RX quality caused
by poor frequency/BSIC planning, faulty equipment/time slots, external
interference sources or non-optimum parameter settings. An advised
threshold for acceptable performance is 10.00%.
Call Success Rate

Call Success Rate (CSR) is a good indication about offered service to customers. CSR
consists of few call success factors, see the figure below;
Overall Call Success Rate
Call Setup Success Rate Call Completion Rate
SDCCH SDCCH TCH TCH Success

Blocking Success Rate Blocking Rate
Get Get Establish Get Establish Call Call

Service SDCCH SDCCH TCH TCH Phase Release
Phase
Figure 1
Hence, we must also keep in mined about what the subscribes are also
excepting;
• Accessibility/Availability
• Call set-up at any time and anywhere (even 5th floor below the
earth)!
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• Fast Call set-up time

• Receiving a call any time and anywhere
• Able to use all the services
• Voice Quality
• Released the successful call or any services by themselves…
• Lower price
What ever service providers are able to offer subscribers like to use them
at any where with best QoS, lower price, etc… Yet they do like to see BTS
antenna around them. Which remains me a saying; You want go to the
haven but not doing any thing about it. This is not the subject of this
paper which we will not go further but it is a one of the service provider
challenge to meet. Any way back to subject.
Reports
Quality of service reports are typically generated in the forum of on a daily
weekly or monthly basis, including availability reports. The cycle of
running reports, analyzing them and modifying the network on the basis
of the actions, continues through the whole lifespan of the network. Only
the set of key performance indicators (KPI) and their target values are
modified from time to time.
Getting quality of service and other reports from NORTH-I is fairly similar
in all cases. Depending on the type of the report you may get from PLMN
level to more detailed reports to get a better view of the network's
performance and capacity. NORTH-I is the only tool that provides traffic
relational matrix network element by network element which are very
important reports for dimensioning the network/PLMN.
Quality of Service Indicators For BSS/GPRS

The quality of service can be review by viewing at the some most
important KPIs. Even if one of the KPIs does not meet the target value,
the overall QoS cannot be achieved.
KPIs are different in each network as well as their target values. KPIs
needs to be modified during the life cycle of the network. The list below
shows some of the essential KPIs that can be used while evaluating the
QoS level of the BSS/GPRS;
• TCH Availability
• SDCCH Success Ratio
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• Call Setup Success

Rate
• Call Success Ratio
• SDCCH Blocking
• TCH Call Blocking
• TCH HO Blocking
• AGCH Blocking
• TCH Drop Ratio
• UL quality
• DL quality
• Inter-BSC HO
Success
• Inter-MSC HO
Success
• Intra-cell HO Success
• SMS Success Rate
• Process Load
• PDCH usage
• PCU resources, etc..
The following sections will be looking at the different elements of the GSM
network and give some suggestions what KPIs could be used while
evaluating their quality.
Quality of The Radio Network

The quality of the radio network mainly indicates the network's ability to
meet the coverage and capacity targets. The quality of the radio network
can be evaluated by examining the below mentioned KPIs;
• Handover failure rate

• Dropped call ratio (SDCCH and TCH)
• RX quality
• MS and BTS power levels
The following list suggests the types of reports available on the NORTH-I
that can be used to study the KPIs described above.
• Call success ratio

• HO failure%/BSC
• SDCCH drop/BSC
• TCH drop/BSC
• Average UL signal quality
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• Average DL signal quality
Capacity
BTS/Cell dimensioning is one of the key aspects that affect the quality of
service in a BTS/Cell through capacity and capability. In the most un-
wanted cases the subscribers may not be able to access the network at
all. Because of low SDCCH and TCH availability. Problems that indicate
insufficient capacity and network element functionality are:
• High dropped call rate

• Poor call setup success rate
• High handover failure rate
• Available SDCCH resource
• Available TCH resource
The capacity and capability of a

BTS/Cell can be studied by running
reports on the following KPIs on the
NORTH-I:
• SDDCH congestion and

blocking
• TCH congestion and blocking
• AGCH blocking
• Paging channel loadingRACH loading
NSS Quality of Service Reports

NSS QoS reports should be produced on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Beside network element availability, traffic, routs, blocking, congestion
you should also look in signaling reports too.
Quality of Service Indicators for NSS

The quality of service can be review by viewing at the some most
important KPIs. Even if one of the KPIs does not meet the target value,
the overall QoS cannot be achieved. KPIs are different in each network as
well as their target values. KPIs needs to be modified during the life cycle
of the network. The list below shows some of the essential KPIs that can
be used while evaluating the QoS level of the NSS;
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• Intra and Inter-MSC HO Success Ratio

• Paging Success Ratio
• MSC circuit Availability and Blocking
• PSTN v Availability and Blocking
• A-Interface circuit Availability and Blocking
• VMS circuit Availability and Blocking
• Paging Time
• Originating Call Success Ratio
Quality of Service Reports for NSS

The QoS provided by NSS network elements can be measured according
to availability, which is mostly affected by faults and user actions such
miss or wrongly defined parameters but this is also true for whole
network. The signaling network, transmission network and
synchronization network are also important and they have an effect on the
overall Quality of Service of the NSS. The following list shows some of the
NSS reports that can be used to assess the Quality of Service of the NSS:
• Traffic load of the MSC

• Traffic on circuits
• Traffic - MOC/MTC
• Call Success on circuits
• Call Success MOC/MTC
• Process Load
• Answer Size Ratio
• Blocks on circuits
Capacity In General
It is the important to follow and estimate the needed capacity in different
elements within the network. Normally it takes a approximately of five
months from the moment a decision about capacity increase is made to
the moment the capacity is ready for use.
Monitoring Speech Channel Capacity

The dimensioning of the traffic is calculated according to the busy hour
traffic. As a rule of thumb, on Air-interface 2% blocking is allowed and
0.1% on the trunk lines. It is a must to regularly monitor the capacity and
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load of all interfaces during the busy hour or like in NORTH-I can be
monitored automatically and informs you as they are cross the pre-set
thresholds so that high blocking levels can be avoided by installing more
capacity early. Well before channel resources reach the congestion level,
it can be estimated how long it takes to reach capacity crossing point by
using NORTH-Is prediction reports. In practice this means the ability to
predict traffic growth (TCH, A-if, PSTN) over a period of five months or
more.
Monitoring Signaling Link Capacity

In general, signaling blocking cannot be allowed except in the cells SDCCH
channel. Like in the others the dimensioning of the signaling network is
calculated according to the busy hour traffic. As a rule of thumb, 0.2% of
blocking is allowed SDCCH channel. The SDCCH channel should not be
heavily blocked because this channel is used also for other purposes than
call set-up. These are; supplementary services, short messages, location
updates, paging, GPRS and also Directed Retry.
Priority Categories
In order to problems are solved quickly and efficiently network elements,
BTS and BSCs should be divided into different priority categories. Some
sites are more important than others because of high traffic and revenue,
or fire brigades, high-ways, they are serving VIPs, major business
customers, shopping malls/centers, holiday resorts, airports, etc. For the
same reason, NSS should be divided into different priority categories.
Resource Utilization
When network at its mature stage, network needs to be optimize in terms
of capacity and coverage. To achieve this, operator needs key data on the
utilization of network resources and subscriber behavior patterns. As a
result of this network expansions can be planned, scheduled, and
implemented efficiently.
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Conclusion
The “Golden Key” for achieving better network quality is to develop a
good database which allows an operator to correlate network statistics,
call detail records, fault & alarms, relevant parameters, etc. using a single
or multiple platforms. Furthermore, it is also important for such a system
to prioritise and alert the operator when potential problems are detected
in the network. Continuous monitoring, ceaseless curiosity about what
useful information the network can yield, and dynamic performance
analysis infrastructures are a must for operators to improve network
quality.
For additional information about TTG’s OSS tools visit www.ttgint.com
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WHITE PAPER

Get a Grip On Your Network

About Network Performance

TTG Uluslararsi, LTD.

TTG Int. LTD

TTG Int. LTD

About Network Performance Monitoring & Benchmarking

This with paper focus on th enetwork performance monitiring and

TTG Int. LTD

In today's competitive telecommunications environment, the emphasis

• Provides you some examples of how to verify the performance of

TTG Int. LTD

Performance Management principles

TTG Int. LTD

subscriber behavior, usage of services, and quality of service. As

Analyzing Quality of Service Reports

Dependability (Availability) Network availability > 99%

Before we go on it will be helping you to understand the subject of matter

Quality of Service (QoS)

TTG Int. LTD

Quality of Service: A measurable set of parameters that define the

To me; QoS is to meet or if possible go beyond the expectation of your

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

TTG Int. LTD

like TRXs or cabinets, seasonal sporadic surges in traffic, improper RF

Call Success Rate

Overall Call Success Rate

Call Setup Success Rate Call Completion Rate

SDCCH SDCCH TCH TCH Success

Get Get Establish Get Establish Call Call

TTG Int. LTD

• Fast Call set-up time

Quality of Service Indicators For BSS/GPRS

TTG Int. LTD

• Call Setup Success

Quality of The Radio Network

• Handover failure rate

• Call success ratio

TTG Int. LTD

• Average DL signal quality

• High dropped call rate

The capacity and capability of a

• SDDCH congestion and

NSS Quality of Service Reports

Quality of Service Indicators for NSS

TTG Int. LTD

• Intra and Inter-MSC HO Success Ratio

Quality of Service Reports for NSS

• Traffic load of the MSC

Monitoring Speech Channel Capacity

TTG Int. LTD

Monitoring Signaling Link Capacity

TTG Int. LTD

For additional information about TTG’s OSS tools visit www.ttgint.com

TTG Int. LTD

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