Service design and inventory system — An object-oriented reusable software asset

Competition and the fast pace of technological evolution in today's global telecommunications industry are placing unique demands on the flexibility of operations support software systems. The industry must be capable of rapidly introducing new services, technologies, and organizational structures. Networks must be capable of being partitioned for various applications and administered based on complex ownership relationships among the various network components. User permissions must be readily adaptable to reflect various combinations of services, network partitions, and work functions. To meet the time constraints of the market, telecommunications providers require the ability to configure systems to meet their needs without relying on traditional software development intervals and external software development resources. Traditional software development methodologies generally do not provide the timeliness and flexibility required. The Service Design and Inventory (SDI) system — also known as the Attribute Design Database System (ADDS) — has achieved a high degree of reusability and customer-configurable adaptability through a unique application of object-oriented technology.