The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Evidence of the ability to:

develop a contingency plan

implement an integration management plan

test systems and equipment and associated features being integrated

apply enterprise escalation and outage procedures

negotiate procedures and activity on the network and timing of integration

integrate new systems and equipment to plan and specifications.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment must ensure:

a network and equipment for integration

equipment and systems manuals, specifications and enterprise policy.

Method of assessment

A range of assessment methods should be used to assess practical skills and knowledge. The following examples are appropriate for this unit:

direct observation of the candidate undertaking integration and testing of new systems and equipment

review of test results and records completed by the candidate

oral or written questioning to assess required knowledge.

Guidance information for assessment

Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example:

ICTTEN5061A Cut over new and replacement network equipment.

Aboriginal people and other people from a non-English speaking background may have second language issues.

Access must be provided to appropriate learning and assessment support when required.

Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate, and appropriate to the oral communication skill level, and language and literacy capacity of the candidate and the work being performed.

In all cases where practical assessment is used it will be combined with targeted questioning to assess required knowledge. Questioning techniques should not require language, literacy and numeracy skills beyond those required in this unit of competency.

Where applicable, physical resources should include equipment modified for people with special needs.

Required skills

analytical skills to interpret test equipment settings and readings

communication skills to liaise with customers to ensure requirements are known and can be met within timeframes

literacy skills to interpret technical specifications and related documentation

numeracy skills to make calculations and necessary calibration changes

planning and organisation skills to arrange site access and equipment delivery

problem solving skills to account for unexpected faults

safety awareness skills to:

apply precautions and required action to minimise, control or eliminate hazards that may exist during work activities

select and use required personal protective equipment conforming to industry and occupational health and safety (OHS) standards

work systematically with required attention to detail without injury to self or others, or damage to goods or equipment

technical skills to:

load software

locate and detect faults

simulate network traffic

test and diagnose faults in new technologies

undertake tests

Required knowledge

connections to carrier infrastructure or customer interface units (CIU)

electrical and or optical properties to be measured

OHS considerations, including electrical, optical and electromagnetic radiation (EMR) safety

telecommunication network equipment and emerging technology networks

test equipment types suitable for tests to be made

typical performance parameters and faults that may be encountered in network equipment and related connection and transmission media

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Systems may include:

billing network

cabling network

computer network

control systems

network management

radio network

security network

switching

transmission

wireless access network.

Appropriate personnel may include:

network manager

planning manager

project consultant

project manager

vendor contact.

Integration management plan may include:

additional resources

deployment strategy in phases

integration activities:

address interoperability issues

install new system and equipment

test new system and equipment

integration processes

risks

roles and responsibilities of personnel

software tools

system outage

test hardware

vendor input

vendor support

vendor warranty.

Outage management plan may include:

alternate transmission path

contingency plan

customers affected

emergency communications

integration plan

outage duration

outage times

parts of network affected

system back up

systems affected.

Contingency plan may include:

network operations notified

redundancy backup solution

system expert on standby

vendor on standby.

Traffic may refer to:

call attempts

call holding times

call volumes

circuit occupancy

data throughput in bits

frames, active sessions

packet volumes.

Customers may include:

contractor

end users

other divisions of the company

small, medium or large organisations

vendor or supplier

wholesale service providers.

Tests may include:

alarms

end to end tests

performance:

bit error rate (BER)

data transmission

quality of service (QoS)

regression

system recovery

traffic flow simulation:

congestion

delay

packet loss.

Alarms may include:

audible alarms

on-screen alerts in computer-based performance monitoring systems

visual indicators.