Field officers, technicians or technical supervisors from carriers, contractors or other service providers whose work involves upgrading optical systems and equipment in enterprise networks and service providers' core and access networks apply the skills and knowledge in this unit.

They are involved in maintenance, upgrades and cut overs of emerging technologies in IP based telecommunications networks.

Relevant jobs roles include a supervisor in charge of installation and maintenance teams responsible for the new installations and upgrades of telecommunications networks.

ELEMENT

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

1. Gather information to prepare upgrade activity plan

1.1. Obtain relevant legislation, codes, regulations and standards for compliance when conducting work

1.2. Obtain design specifications from the planning and design section to determine the scope and nature of the upgrade

1.3. Analyse the design specification and design plan and determine the accuracy of the design plan to site installation and requirements with customer

1.4. Determine the network equipment types and obtain installation details from manufacturer

1.5. Prepare an equipment and component list and source vendors for procurement

2. Prepare upgrade activity plans

2.1. Prepare a detailed installation plan of the upgrade for the installer

2.2. Prepare a detailed installation procedure to carry out the upgrade to minimise impact to the customer

2.3. Prepare pre-installation optical tests on existing equipment to determine benchmarks and performance levels prior to the upgrade

2.4. Prepare post-installation optical tests on upgrade to ensure upgraded system is achieving the desired results

2.5. Prepare monitoring schedule to progressively assess the progress of the upgrade

2.6. Prepare contingency plan for backing out if upgrade is not progressing according to schedule and disruptions to customer are excessive

2.7. Prepare cut over procedures

3. Complete documentation

3.1. Update and produce documentation for submission

3.2. Submit planning activity document to planning and design section for approval

Required skills

analytical skills to evaluate impact of upgrades on customer, equipment and systems

communication skills to provide advice and guidance and liaise with other technical staff on operational matters

literacy skills to:

prepare:

installation plans

installation procedures

pre-installation tests

post-installation tests

contingency plans

cut over plan

read and interpret:

enterprise procedures, manuals and specifications

technical data, technical and non-technical information from a range of sources

test results

numeracy skills to interpret technical data

PC skills to monitor installed software

planning and organisational skills to plan and prioritise own work

problem solving skills to:

deal with unexpected situations on the basis of safety and specified work outcomes

prepare upgrade plan

troubleshoot common equipment and network problems

safety awareness skills to:

apply precautions and required action to minimise, control or eliminate hazards

follow enterprise occupational health and safety (OHS) procedures

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

technical skills to:

analyse the impact of applications on traffic flow in the network

determine customer requirements and an upgrade plan

determine the impact of upgrading hardware and software on network functionality

identify the technical requirements, constraints and manageability issues for a given customer network requirement

implement upgrade of equipment and software

use test equipment and monitoring tools

use tools and equipment to assemble and disassemble equipment

Required knowledge

alarms

backup systems

computer knowledge

escalation and outage procedures

network management systems

overview knowledge of telecommunications networks and equipment

telecommunications monitoring tools

telecommunications test equipment and test setups

telecommunications wiring practices

upgrade and post-upgrade routines

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:

prepare an upgrade plan incorporating the essential activities listed:

detailed installation plan and installation procedures

pre-installation and post-installation tests

monitoring schedule to assess progress of the upgrade

contingency plan.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

Assessment must ensure:

site where upgrade and cut over may be planned

use of equipment, software, test and monitoring equipment currently used in industry

relevant regulatory, equipment, enterprise and vendor documentation that impacts on work activities.

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 performing upgrade

direct observation of the candidate performing tests and monitoring alarms

review of documents prepared by the candidate providing upgrade plan and assessing impact of upgrade taking into consideration customer feedback

oral or written questioning to assess knowledge of upgrade, testing and monitoring procedures.

Guidance information for assessment

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

ICTTEN4073A Cut over customer premises equipment major upgrades

ICTTEN4076A Complete equipment and software upgrades

ICTTEN4086A Undertake routine maintenance of the telecommunications network

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.

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.

Relevant legislation, codes, regulations and standards may include:

Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) standards and codes

AS Communications Cabling Manual (CCM)
Volume 1

AS/NZS 3000:2007

AS/NZS 3080:2003

AS/NZS 3084:2003

AS/NZS 3085.1:2004

AS/NZS IEC 61935.1:2006

AS/NZS IEC 61935.2:2006

AS/NZS ISO/IEC 14763.3:2007

AS/NZS ISO/IEC 15018:2005

AS/NZS ISO/IEC 24702:2007

cabling security codes and regulations

Environmental Protection Acts

OHS Acts

technical standards AS/ACIF S008:2006 and AS/ACIF S009:2006.

Nature of upgrade work may include:

commission of new system

installation of new additional equipment

installation of new software

integration of new equipment into existing system

provision of temporary service

removal of redundant equipment

test on new system.

Upgrade may include:

introducing dispersion compensation devices

moving to 40 Gbps technology

network capacity upgrade:

additional optical fibres to be added

additional DWDM wavelength channels and associated hardware to be added

increase data rate by changing transmitter and receiver cards

replace optical fibre with a type more suited towards 40 Gbps

upgrading from erbium doped fibre amplifiers (EDFA) to Raman optical amplifiers

upgrading laser transmitter power.

Customer may be:

asset manager

contractor

network planner

nominated customer representative

project manager

service provider.

Network equipment may include:

asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch

dispersion compensation devices

enclosures

hubs

optical add drop multiplexer (OADM)

optical amplifier

optical filters

optical splitters

patch panels

regenerator

synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) multiplexers

transponder shelf.

Installation plan may include:

cable trays

detailed drawings and equipment layout

detailed list of equipment and types

earthing specifications

equipment locations

equipment mounting details

interconnecting cabling between racks

monitoring equipment

power feeds

rack positions

testing procedures

tools.

Installation procedures may include:

setup procedures

monitoring progress according to plan

notification of network operations centre (NOC)

sourcing hardware and software

upgrade activity:

installing optical equipment

post-upgrade testing

pre-update testing

shutdown installation

rectifying faults.

Optical tests may include:

bit error rate test (BERT)

default settings

functional test

optical power levels

optical return loss

optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR)

performance tests.

Progress of upgrade may include:

rate of deliverables against project timeline

risk management

timing.

Contingency plan may:

be developed as part of the upgrade planning and design

be escalated and referred to more specialist team

invoke partial upgrade to be continued at later stage

invoke reversion procedure to pre-update condition.

Documentation may include:

configuration details

implementation and testing procedures

network impact statement

software test results

system updates

test results and recommendations

upgrade details

vendor, equipment and enterprise specific details.

Unit sector

Telecommunications

Optical networks

This unit contains employability skills.