Scotty was initially developed in 1999 as a configuration management and workflow tool. It has evolved significantly throughout the years and is now one of the most sophisticated integrated workflow tools on the market.

Scotty has processed about three million work orders in telecom networks around the world. It takes advantage of the Errigal discovery processes to integrate the workflow with data in live equipment. Scotty is able to audit changes and make sure that the changes are implemented as requested by interrogating the equipment itself. This discovery has prevented tens of thousands of errors. The result is the telecom network remains unimpaired and service is maintained.

Scotty also provides an integrated design environment that allows design of a new network offline and puts mechanisms in place so designs can be compared against the live equipment, and work orders automatically generated.

Built on top of the integrated design environment is a powerful workflow architecture tool where new workflows can be designed from scratch with custom notification and paging rules.

Wireless networks are highly dynamic with thousands of parameters changing daily. To optimize coverage and call quality, wireless engineers must have network data accuracy at their fingertips. Scotty is a highly flexible tool that handles ever-changing information, while maintaining the ability to easily apply uniform large-scale network changes. These requirements - plus the additional need for accountability and tracking - were the basis for Errigal's creation of Scotty.

At Scotty's core is a network auto-discovery and correlation engine. The application polls critical network elements - configuration settings to the OMC, BSC, MSC, DAP and Cell sites - and maps the data. This provides RF engineers with offline network configuration models that are exact replicas of the live network itself. Scotty presents data in easily-understood tables for network design or configuration. An engineer can manipulate the parameters directly in Scotty's spreadsheets or import the data to other design tools or Microsoft Excel.

When an engineer uploads proposed network changes, Scotty performs a series of error-checking functions, and ensures that new parameters are set within valid ranges. In certain designs, Scotty may suggest other network optimization, such as populating new changes to reciprocal neighbor sites.

Upon completion, the user runs a comparison in which the redesigned network change requests are highlighted against the original network design. Once validated, the new design request is sent through the workflow process for implementation.

Organizational communication and accountability is a critical piece of the Scotty functionality. Scotty allows users to route reconfiguration, redesign, and fine-tuning changes through an organized workflow management system. Without sacrificing flexibility, Scotty's workflow provides standardized working methods and audit trails.

Change Order Creation, Data Entry & Status Update Process
The workflow management in Scotty begins with change-order creation. An engineer can execute small-scale and large-scale changes through a work order, which is sent directly to a data entry technician. Upon completion, the change orders move through a series of status updates. At every stage, managers are notified for approval via e-mail or SMS pages. Concurrently, automatic reports advise engineers of change order status.

Final Data Validation and Notification
Before changes are downloaded to cell sites, Scotty compares all future network configuration requests against the live network settings. It then creates a final delta report updating change order status and flagging errors if they occur. This report is routed to the owner of the change order, as well as specified managers, for follow-up or closure. This workflow process also leaves a historical audit trail for tracking, troubleshooting, and accountability purposes.

Scotty serves as a repository for network configuration settings and change order history. The reporting tools include change order and workflow traffic reports, custom reports, and user-defined reports.

Historical Reports
In brief, the reporting tools capture all Scotty change records. This comprehensive trail can be used to track accountability for network changes and to understand workflow processes and bottlenecks. In addition, the historical records of site changes have been used to roll back to previous network configurations.

Reporting capabilities include:
» Change Order Details
» Change Order Ownership
» Time/Date of Change Implementation
» Network Component Parameter Report
» Workflow Traffic Details
» Custom Reports

Engineers and management can customize the historical reports based on their personal needs. Users can create and run a query at any time, or save query for later use. Errigal clients actively use the custom reporting capabilities for statistical analysis, configuration setting audits, and network trends. A significant addition to the custom reports is the User Defined Query (UDQ) tool. UDQ allows assigned users access to the core of Scotty's historical and statistical repository. This highly flexible tool allows engineers to write tailored SQL commands through an intuitive graphical interface. As a result, engineering teams have no limit on the information they draw from Scotty's network configuration databases.