New Entrant Testing
Application-to-Application Interface
Testing
Verizon provides a separate CLEC Test
Environment for the testing of application-to-application interfaces for
pre-order and order. There are two types of testing: new release testing
and new entrant testing. New release testing provides the opportunity to
test the code associated with the release. New entrant testing allows Telecommunications
Companies (TCs)
to test their entry into new products or geographic areas. It also allows
TCs currently in production who need to perform regression testing, due to
changes within their own applications, to notify the VZ test coordinator
to create and implement a test plan in the CLEC Test Environment.
New Release & New Entrant Testing in the CLEC
Test Environment
This section provides information regarding
the CLEC (TC) Test Environment (CTE) and the procedures for new release
and new entrant TC testing.
The CLEC Test Environment is a separate
systems environment that contains the application-to-application interface
and gateway applications for preordering and ordering. This environment is
used for TC testing both new release testing and new entrant testing.
TCs are responsible for establishing and maintaining connectivity into the
CLEC test Environment. Provided a TC uses the same connectivity option as
it uses in production, the TC should, in general, experience response
times similar to production. However, this environment is not intended for
volume testing. The CLEC Test Environment contains the appropriate
applications for pre-ordering and Local Service Request (LSR) ordering up
to and including the service order processor. The Verizon-East production
applications required will be provided for the Verizon-East CLEC Test
Environment, and the Verizon-West production applications required will be
provided for the Verizon-West CLEC Test Environment.
The CLEC Test Environment allows for
comprehensive testing of Pre-Ordering and LSR Ordering functionality. All
pre-order functionality is available in the CLEC Test Environment
excluding the installation status inquiry, XDSL loop qualification
inquiry, and loop qualification inquiry extended transactions.
Arrangements will be made with interested TCs to test these functions in
production. Ordering functionality is tested from receipt of an LSR via
EDI through the creation of a service order and the return to the TC of
confirmations and completions (as negotiated with Verizon). Service orders
associated with LSRs that flowthrough will be entered into the service
order processor. Verizon will manually enter Service orders associated
with LSRs that do not flowthrough into the service order processor. Once
the service orders have been entered into the service order processor,
confirmation notices will be generated automatically. Completion notices
are generated through a process that simulates completion processing in
production. Verizon will work with each TC to identify specific test
scenarios in the TC's test plan to test completion processing. Data on
completion notices will be sample data and may not be specific to each
test account.
In the CLEC Test Environment, service
orders will not impact the end state of accounts. Therefore, a CSR inquiry
will not reflect any changes to the end state of accounts as a result of a
service order. Also, an LSR cannot be issued to migrate a retail account
to a TC and then a subsequent LSR issued to do post migration changes.
Post migration changes may be done against accounts that were previously
set up for each TC.
Any special procedures required due to
geographical or system differences will be reviewed with the participating
TC prior to the implementation of their testing phase.
The CLEC Test Environment will contain the
data associated with a wide range of accounts. TCs participating in new
release or new entrant testing will be solicited for the accounts they
need to have in the environment. TC specific accounts will be generated
for each TC along with a group of retail accounts to be used by all TCs.
The environment will also contain the data necessary to support the
Quality Baseline Validation Test Decks.
Not all addresses and telephone numbers
from production will be loaded into the CLEC Test Environment. Addresses
and telephone numbers from representative NPA's will be in the
environment. These addresses and telephone numbers can be used for
pre-order and order transactions.
Definitions
New entrant testing is the process TCs must go
through prior to submitting live LSRs or pre-order transactions to Verizon
in the production environment through an application-to-application
interface. This testing is important to ascertain that the trading partner
OSS interfaces and interactions work to the satisfaction of both the TC
and Verizon - and that no adverse operational impacts are likely to occur
to other operating TCs. This process does not apply to the Web GUI
interface.
New entrant testing is intended for those TCs that
are not currently in production or that want to test new ordering or
pre-ordering transactions for which they have not been through testing.
There are three phases to new entrant testing. The
first, connectivity testing, ensures that the TC connectivity option is
functioning properly. The second phase is the actual transmission of test
transactions and responses and is conducted in the CLEC Test Environment.
The third phase involves allows the TC to begin friendly production
testing.
The duration of new entrant testing will vary based
on the complexity of services being tested and the type of connectivity
requested by the TC. A TCs expertise with establishing connectivity and
processing EDI/CORBA transactions will greatly impact the duration of new
entrant testing. Verizon will work with the TC to complete new entrant
testing as expeditiously as possible.
Development
of a Test Plan
The TCs will advise Verizon when they are ready
to use application-to-application interfaces to conduct business with
Verizon. There will be a meeting or conference call between the TC and
Verizon to discuss connectivity. A testing coordinator is assigned to
the TC at this time.
TC obtains and reviews the most current EDI and
Business Rules documentation from the Verizon web site and will
contact their test coordinator when ready to test.
The TC and Verizon test coordinator will jointly
developed the TCs test plan. For ordering, the scenarios will be
determined by the business the TC will be in (Resale, UNE, Platform),
the markets they will serve (residence/business), and the types of
transactions (Migrate as is, Migrate as Specified, New, Changes, etc).
The scenarios should include supplemental transactions. Pre-Order
transactions are based on which transactions the TC will be using in
production (CSR retrieval, TN selection, etc). Verizon will assist in
the determination of which scenarios are needed based on previous
testing experience. TCs will be required to test at least one scenario
of each type of transaction they will be using in production. For
ordering, TCs will be required to test each of the three types of
supplementary LSRs (change date due, cancel, other). Verizon will
support up to 5 test cases of the same transaction.The scenarios will
be grouped into logical phases based on type of request (Resale, UNE,
Platform), complexity of request (single line, multiline), or other
logical grouping. The TC and Verizon will develop a schedule including
intermediate milestones for the test. This schedule will be reviewed
and updated on a regular, periodic basis. Verizon will provide a
spreadsheet for the TC to enter a description of each scenario and the
PON number used to transmit the scenario. See sample spreadsheet at
end of this section.
Test Account Establishment
Verizon will review each scenario and
determine what test account can be used for that scenario. The
scenarios contained in the Quality Baseline Validation Test Decks used
in new release testing are also available for TCs use in new entrant
testing. The TC may elect to submit scenarios contained in the test
decks and/or develop new scenarios to use during new entrant testing.
If new test accounts are required, Verizon will build these accounts,
as required, within two weeks. If test deck accounts are selected to
use during new entrant testing, Verizon will update them to reflect
the TC's AECN or RSID. Verizon will provide the TC with the necessary
account information including BTN, SBN, etc. Test deck documentation
is posted to the Verizon Wholesale web site.
New Entrant Testing Process
TCs may submit test transactions into the CLEC Test
Environment from 8:00AM to 8:00 PM Eastern, Monday through Friday. Verizon
will negotiate with any TC for any request for a different schedule
through the Change Management Process. In addition, the one exception to
this time will be during the four weeks of New Release testing, when
availability will be 8:00AM to 5:00PM, Eastern. Any exception to the
process can be worked between TC and the test coordinator. Verizon
personnel will be available to support the TC during normal business
hours. The CLEC Test Environment will be unavailable for new entrant
testing on the Friday before a new release is implemented in the CLEC Test
Environment or in production. The TC and Verizon will use the spreadsheet
at the end of this section to communicate when PONs will be delivered to
Verizon and the status of each PON. The spreadsheet will be sent through
e-mail. The TC will notify Verizon via the spreadsheet of the intent to
transmit EDI transactions and the associated PON numbers. Verizon will
provide a status of the PON via the spreadsheet through e-mail by the next
business day. The status will indicate if the PON completed successfully
or contained errors. Verizon will also provide telephone support for the
test throughout the day via the Testing Coordinator. If necessary, the
Testing Coordinator will arrange for conference calls between the TC and
Technical Support staff. The Testing Coordinator will be the TCs point of
contract for all troubles and issues identified during the test including
the "friendly production" phase.
Verizon will track issues arising during the test.
Each issue will be documented and logged into an issue tracking document.
The status of each open issue will be reviewed on a regular, basis as
established at the test planning meeting.
Entrance/exit criteria are established for each
phase of testing. The basic criteria for exiting the connectivity test
phase is the ability of the TC and Verizon to successfully pass and
receive information across the interface. The exit criteria for each phase
of transaction testing will be the successful completion of the
transaction in that phase including proper responses being returned to the
TC by Verizon.
View
entire OSS Interface Change Management Process Document
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