NORS User Manual
Contents
1. Reference Report Company Notification Updated Number Type Name Date Time Date Time i Bs ee TEST 12 21 2004 04 00000860 Notification COMPANY 10 09 N A DISPLAY UPDATE WITHDRAW ae TEST 12 21 2004 12 21 2004 04 00000859 Initial Cana face TET DISPLAY UPDATE WITHDRAW You will be able to create a list all the outages that you are able to view update and withdraw Outage inputters will be allowed to view update or withdraw any Notifications Drafts or Initial reports that they personally have submitted Outage coordinators can view update or withdraw any Notifications Drafts or Initial Reports from their company No one can update a Final report Users may request the FCC reopen a Final Report 1 10 Screen for Updating Notifications Initial Reports and Drafts and Filing Final Reports The following screen will come up once you have selected a report to update The screen will present the most recent version of the report This form must be filled out in 60 minutes and submitted This means that the text for most of the text fields should be already prepared and cut and pasted into the form If you do not hit the Submit button within 60 minutes all your changes will be lost and you will have to start over logon to NORS again The system gives a 10 minute warning The top of this form is shown below In section 3 there is a detailed explanation of how to fill out each of th2. Best Practices used to diminish effects of Outage Provide a description of the most important Best Practices that were actually used to lessen the effects of the outage These chosen Best practices helped shorten the outage reduced the restoration times prevented the outage from affecting more customers and or reduced the effects on customers ensured that E911 was not affected If none were used please leave blank Analysis of Best Practices Provide an evaluation of the relevance applicability and usefulness of the current Best Practices for the outage If a new Best Practice is needed or an existing Best Practice needs to be modified please indicate this Remarks Provide any additional information that you believe is relevant but did not fit anyplace else on the form Primary Contact Person Provide the full name of the primary contact person Phone Number Provide the phone number of the primary contact person in the format NXX NXX XXXX That is 201 444 5656 would mean that the area code or NPA is 201 the central office code is 444 and the line number is 5656 Extension Provide the extension number if used in format XXXX U S Postal Service Address Provide the address of the primary contact person E mail Address Provide the e mail address of the primary contact person Secondary Contact Person Provide the full name of the secondary contact person Phone Number Provide the phone number of the se
3. Provide a text description of all the causes of the outage This text should be in the own words of the outage inputter and should not use the words in the pull down menus for Direct Cause or Root Cause Direct Cause The direct cause is the immediate event that results in an outage Scroll down the menu and choose the direct cause that is the most accurate The direct cause is the event action or procedure that triggered the outage In the Appendix there is a complete description of each of the direct causes For example a cable cut improper marking could be the triggering event or direct cause but the real cause or root cause may be lack of diversity Root Cause The root cause is the underlying reason why the outage occurred or why the outage was reportable For example a cable cut might not be reportable if all of the circuits in the cable were on working SONET rings but would be reportable if both SS7 A links for multiple wire centers were in the cable with no diversity Scroll down the menu and pick the root cause that best fits Root Cause is the key problem which once identified and corrected will prevent the same or a similar problem from recurring With today s technology two or more problems may be closely linked and require detailed investigation However in any single incident there should be only one 22 primary cause the Root Cause In the Appendix there is a complete description of each root cause For example a cabl
4. Ineffective fault recovery or re initialization action Failure to reset restore following general system restoral initialization Insufficient software state indications Failure to communicate or display out of service firmware states failure to identify communicate or display indolent or sleepy firmware states Other Design Hardware Inadequate grounding strategy Insufficient component grounding design duplex components systems sharing common power feeds fusing Poor backplane or pin arrangement Non standard confusing pin arrangements or pin numbering schemes insufficient room or clearance between pins backplane pin crowding Poor card frame mechanisms latches slots jacks etc Mechanical physical design problems Other Design Software Faulty software load office data Inaccurate mismatched office configuration data used applied wrong defective office load supplied Faulty software load program data Bad program code instructions logical o errors incompatibility between features sets software quality control failure wrong defective program load supplied Inadeguate defensive checks 25 Changes to critical or protected memory were allowed without system challenge contradictory or ambiguous system input commands were interpreted responded to without system challenge Failure of system to recognize or communicate query warning in response to commands with obvious major system network impact Ineffective fault recov
5. or password The Company ID is controlled by the outage coordinators for your company if your company has outage coordinator s The default value for it is 11111111 The Company ID is NORS way to prevent any unauthorized person from saying that he she is from your company If your company is not in the scroll down menu please give the name of your company You will not have to provide a Company ID in this case In all cases you must provide your name phone number and e mail address You will then be sent to the following screen which provides your UserID and password You can then log onto the NORS and notify the FCC of the outage New Reporting Carrier Your new Username healyj and Password 89403301 have been assigned DONE 1 5 Screen for Forgotten Password Request This screen allows you to get a new password if you have forgotten your current password You should click the link marked If you have forgotten your password please click here Network Outage Report System Password Request UserName E Mail Email address must be same as the one in the system REQUEST CLEAR NORS will inform you of your new password by e mail 1 6 User Main Menu Screen Those users with valid User IDs and valid passwords who are filing editing or withdrawing an outage will go to the User Main Menu Screen upon logging on Outage inputters and coordinators have slightly different men
6. Facilities Airport Government etc Check the box if some special facility lost telecommunication service Other please specify Fill in any other services affected Number of Potentially Affected Blocked Calls Provide the number of blocked calls If no calls were blocked please leave the field blank or put 0 down If blocked call information is available in only one direction for interoffice facilities which handle traffic in both directions the total number of blocked calls shall be estimated as twice the number of blocked calls determined for the available direction If real time information is not available providers may provide data for the same day s of the week and the same time s of day as the outage covering a time interval not older than 90 days preceding the onset of the outage in an effort to estimate blocked calls In this case the number of blocked calls reported should be 3 times the historic carried load If for whatever reason real time and historic carried call load data are unavailable to the provider even after a detailed investigation the provider must estimate the carried call load based on data obtained in the time interval between the repair of the outage and the due date for the Final Report this data must cover the same day of the week the same time of day and the same duration as the outage Justification that such data accurately estimates the traffic that would have been carried at the time of
7. System Password has been modified DONE Use your selected password for future outage reporting 1 14 Modify Company ID This screen allows outage coordinators to modify or change their Company s ID Network Outage Modify Company ID Old Company ID New Company ID Re type New Company ID CLEAR NORS will confirm the change of Company ID 1 15 Deactivate User Outage coordinators can stop the access to NORS of their company s outage inputters and other outage coordinators from their company by using this menu Network Outage Modify User UserName john healy gt Name Phone Number Extension E Mail DEACTIVATE CLEAR 1 16 Screen for DHS Retrieval Outage Reports The NORS has a module so that DHS can view outages If you have chosen the retrieval module and successfully logged onto NORS see Section 1 3 thus gaining access to the 13 retrieval module you may select an outage to view DHS can not change any contents of any report Network Outage Report System List From 12 21 l2004 to 12 l21 2004 RETRIEVE Reference Report Company Notification Updated Number Type Name Date Time Date Time 04 00000883 Notification SBC stir ma N A DISPLAY 04 00000882 Notification SBC sale ata N A DISPLAY 04 00000881 Notification SBC ora N A DISPLAY 04 00000880 Notification SBC ui N A DI
8. companies that are not carriers but own operate and lease facilities for use in telecommunications If a company is a carrier like Sprint which provides both wireline and wireless service choose the designation which most closely relates to the incident being reported Date of Incident Provide the month day and year at the commencement of the outage The expected format is mm dd yyyy To make a change from today s date automatically inserted by NORS delete the entire date Local Time Incident Began 24 hr clock Provide the local time at the location of the outage not the reporting location of commencement of the outage 24 hour clock That is for 1 00 PM you should use 1300 The format should be XXXX that is do not use a colon this number should be between 0 and 2359 In most cases both the physical location of the outage and the majority of the effects are in the same time zone However some outages have wide ranging impacts which may not be at the physical location of the outage such as a cut undersea cable In that case please provide the time at the end of the undersea cable closest to the US or the local time of the physical outage You should include more detailed explanations in the Initial or Final Report 15 Time Zone Pick from the scroll down menu one of the following Atlantic Eastern Central Mountain Pacific Alaskan Hawaii Aleutian Guam Other Puerto Rico is in the Atlantic Time zone Other sh
9. filed Explanation of Outage Duration for incidents with partial restoration times Describe the stages of restoration if different blocks of users were restored at different times Often times significant blocks of users may be restored to service prior to full restoration of service If this is the case provide information on the number of users in each block restored to service and the elapsed time to partial so that an accurate assessment of the outage impact may be made In addition it is important to report when some services e g E911 are restored if different than other services Inside Building Indicator Indicate whether the outage occurred inside a building owned leased or otherwise controlled by the reporting entity A building is a structure that is temperature controlled Effects of the Outage Services Affected Cable Telephony Check the box if cable telephony users were affected Wireless other than paging Check the box if wireless users were affected E911 Check the box if E911 service or some aspect of E911 service was affected Paging Check the box if paging users were affected by the outage Satellite Check the box if satellite facilities were affected by the outage Signaling SS7 Check the box if SS7 service was affected by the outage Wireline Check the box if wireline users were affected by the outage This includes whether intraLATA or interLATA service was affected 20 Special
10. of blocked calls reported should be 3 times the historic carried load If for whatever reason real time and historic carried call load data are unavailable to the provider even after a detailed investigation the provider must estimate the carried call load based on data obtained in the time interval between the repair of the outage and the due date for the Final Report this data must cover the same day of the week the same time of day and the same duration as the outage Justification that such data accurately estimates the traffic that would have been carried at the time of the outage must be available on request In this case the estimate of the number of blocked calls reported should be 3 times carried load The number of blocked calls if known must be filled out even if it is not the trigger for an outage being reportable Real Time Historic Check Box Check off whether the number of Blocked Calls came from real time data or was based on historic carried loads the same day s of the week and the same time s of day as the outage DS3s Provide the number of previously operating DS3s that were affected by the outage regardless of the services carried on the DS3s or the utilization of the DS3s If service was provided over an OC3c or OC12c assume that all of the capacity was working and report 3 DS3s for an OC3c or 12 DS3s for an OC12c etc 17 Lost SS7 MTP Messages In cases of an SS7 outage and where an SS7 provider cannot d
11. the outage must be available on request In this case the estimate of the number of blocked calls reported should be 3 times carried load The number of blocked calls if known must be filled out even if it is not the trigger for an outage being reportable Real Time Historic Check Box Check off whether the number of blocked calls came from real time data or was based on historic carried loads the same day s of the week and the same time s of day as the outage DS3s Provide the number of previously operating DS3s that were affected by the outage regardless of the services carried on the DS3s or the utilization of the DS3s If service is provided over an OC3c or OC12c assume that all of the capacity was working and report 3 DS3s for an OC3c or 12 DS3s for an OC12c etc Lost SS7 MTP Messages In cases of an SS7 outage and where an SS7 provider cannot directly estimate the number of blocked calls provide the number of real time lost SS7 MTP messages or the number SS7 MTP messages carried on a historical basis Historic carried SS7 MTP messages should be for the same day s of the week and the same time s of day as the outage The information should not be older than 90 days preceding the onset of the outage If the outage does not affect an SS7 network please leave this field blank 21 Geographic Area Affected State Choose the primary state from the scroll down menu affected by the outage All 50 states along with the Dist
12. to lack of power then report the make and model of the relay not the power plant or switch Specific Part of the Network Involved Provide the part of the network involved with the incident Examples are local switch tandem switch signaling network central office power plant digital cross connect system outside plant cable ALI database etc Method s Used to Restore Service Provide a complete chronological narrative of the methods used to restore service both quick fix and final Telecommunications Service Priority TSP Indicator Indicate whether TSP was used during service restoration Steps Taken to Prevent Reoccurrence Provide the steps already taken and to be taken to prevent reoccurrence Typically the corrective actions are identified through a Root Cause Analysis of the incident and the steps for prevention can be at both this location and throughout the network s if appropriate If a time frame for implementation exists it should be provided If no further action is required or planned the service provider should so indicate Applicable Best Practices that might have prevented the Outage or reduced its effects Provide a description of the Best Practices that could have prevented the outage 23 or reduced its effects The Network Reliability and Interoperability Council has developed a list of Best Practices They can be accessed via www nric org You can find relevant Best Practices by using keywords
13. top of the page Alternately you can go to the Engineering amp Technology under Offices on the right side of the home page The URL is www fcc gov oet outages Finally you may go directly to the NORS using the following URL https svartifoss2 fcc gov prod oet ntd outage NORS cfm 1 2 Security Banner The following Security Banner will be displayed once the URL for the NORS has been sent Press ENTER or click ACCEPT to continue beep EERE EEEE EEEE WARNING pepe EEEE EEE EEEE Security Notice You are entering an official United States Government System which may be used only for authorized purposes Unauthorized modification of any information on this system may result in criminal prosecution The Government may monitor or audit the usage of this system and all persons are hereby notified that use of this system constitutes consent to such monitoring and auditing LAERAERAEARRAERAAERRRRAEER WARNING LAERLRRARARRAERRAEEREX Accept Cancel You will have to acknowledge that you accept the conditions stated in the Security Banner 1 3 NORS Login There are two main types of users Department of Homeland Security DHS and all others DHS will be using the Retrieval module All others will be using the Filing module From the Filing module you can view input update and withdraw outage reports All new users should pick the Filing Module In summary if you are not from DHS you will always
14. RAL c a Oy cE USA Ly 78 S 1y NO L To Network Outage Reporting System User Manual Version 3 Table of Contents I simitle SVS COT ear me ova cceed vecacachuetcvsascosseaeoseee ba peeecesees ederlerdi 1 1 1 Accessing the Network Outage Reporting System 1 12 Security Bannet is secs PR Ye 1 1 3 ERSE la a yene 2 1 4 Screen for New Users with New Notificatlons 4 1 5 User Ment ey KR 6 1 6 Notification SCREEN 1 2 same da eek pla a anl mai slime IRS 8 1 7 Screen for Selecting theReporttoUpdateorWithdraw 9 1 8 Screen for Updating and Submitting Initial Draft and Final Reports 10 Lo Subnuttns a Final Report 2 2645 2 Ae safi Gio te ila si iline 11 1 10 ScreenforDHS RetrievalOutagerepotts 13 2 Fields on the Notification FOriwm ccccssssssscsssccsscssssescssssssescsescssesssessesssesees 15 3 Fields on the Initial and Final Report Forms Error Bookmark not defined 4 Descriptions of Root Cause Direct Cause and Contributing Factors 24 ii 1 Using the System 1 1 Accessing the Network Outage Reporting System The Network Outage Reporting System NORS can be accessed by first going to the FCC homepage The address is www fcc gov Once you are at the FCC homepage you can find the NORS under the E Filing menu at the
15. SPLAY 04 00000879 Notification SBC eae N A DISPLAY 14 2 Fields on the Notification Form Name of Reporting Entity This lists the name of the company filing the outage report This field is automatically filled out It is the name of the company that the outage inputter used when he she applied for a UserID Outage reports must be filed with the FCC by any cable communications provider wireless service provider satellite operator SS7 provider wireline communications provider E911 service provider or facility owner that experiences an outage meeting the reporting thresholds as defined in Part 4 of the Commission s Rules and Regulations on any facilities which it owns operates or leases Type of Entity Reporting Disruption Pick from the scroll down menu the type entity your company is relative to the incident being reported The choices are Wireline carrier Wireless carrier Cable telephony provider Paging provider Satellite provider SS7 network provider E911 service provider Facility owner or operator If a company is a carrier like BellSouth which provides SS7 service E911 service and is a facility owner that carrier should identify itself as a wireline carrier The designation SS7 network provider is for companies that only provide SS7 service Similarly the designation E911 service provider is for companies that only provide some portion of E911 service The designation Facility Owner is for
16. ck of practical detail too detailed technical for practical use etc Insufficient supervision control Resulting from insufficient leadership ineffective administration and or maintenance strategies process or communication failures conflicting priorities etc This category should be used when multiple procedural causes are indicated Insufficient training Training not available from vendor training not available from service provider training available but not attended training attended but provides inadequate or out of date information training adequate but insufficient application followed training need never identified etc Other Procedural Service Provider Documentation procedures out of date unusable or impractical Documentation procedures are not updated correction update available but not incorporated locally Documentation procedures are unwieldy inadequate indexing or cross referencing bits and pieces of information difficult to integrate ineffective delivery vehicle etc Documentation procedures unavailable unclear incomplete Documentation or procedures vendor or service provider are not published published but not distributed distributed but not available on site etc Documentation procedures are obscure oblique too general insufficient specificity too detailed technical for practical use etc Inadequate routine maintenance memory back up Failure could have been prevented minimized by simple maintenance ro
17. condary contact person in the format NXX NXX XXXX That is 201 444 5656 would mean that the area code or NPA is 201 the central office code is 444 and the line number is 5656 Extension Provide the extension number if used in format XX XX U S Postal Service Address Provide the address of the secondary contact person E mail Address Provide the e mail address of the secondary contact person 4 Descriptions of Root Cause Direct Cause and Contributing Factors Cable Damage Cable unlocated 24 This is considered a procedural error Prior notification of action was provided by the excavator but the facility owner or locating company failed to establish the presence of a cable which was then eventually damaged Digging error Excavator error during digging contractor provided accurate notification route was accurately located and marked and cable was buried at a proper depth with sufficient clearance from other sub surface structures Inadequate no notification Excavator failed to provide any notification prior to digging or did not accurately describe the location of the digging work to be performed Inaccurate cable locate This is considered a procedural error The cable s presence was determined but its location was inaccurately identified Shallow cable The cable was at too shallow a depth notification was adequate locate was accurate excavator followed standard procedures Other Design Firmware
18. d Telephone Network under an agreement such as a contract or tariff at the request of specific end users or customers for their use This excludes numbers that are not yet working but have a service order pending 16 Cable Telephony Users Provide the number of assigned telephone numbers If this outage did not affect cable telephony users please leave this blank Assigned numbers are defined as the telephone numbers working in the Public Switched Telephone Network under an agreement such as a contract or tariff at the request of specific end users or customers for their use and include DID numbers This excludes numbers that are not yet working but have a service order pending Satellite Users Provide the number of satellite users affected if known Number Affected Blocked Calls Provide the number of blocked calls If no calls were blocked please leave the field blank or put 0 down If blocked call information is available in only one direction for interoffice facilities which handle traffic in both directions the total number of blocked calls shall be estimated as twice the number of blocked calls determined for the available direction If real time information is not available providers may provide data for the same day s of the week and the same time s of day as the outage covering a time interval not older than 90 days preceding the onset of the outage in an effort to estimate blocked calls In this case the number
19. delivery vehicle etc Documentation procedures unavailable unclear incomplete Documentation or procedures vendor or service provider are not published published but not distributed distributed but not available on site etc Documentation procedures are obscure oblique too general insufficient specificity too detailed technical for practical use etc Insufficient staffing Unexpected conditions depleted available resources predictable but unavoidable shortage unreasonable demand o ineffective inadeguate roll down or centralization arrangement resource intensive new technology outside scope reach of existing automatic remote administration systems etc Insufficient supervision control Resulting from insufficient leadership ineffective administration and or maintenance strategies process or communication failures conflicting priorities etc This category should be used when multiple procedural causes are indicated Insufficient training Training not available from vendor training not available from service provider training available but not attended training attended but provides inadequate or out of date information training adequate but insufficient application followed training need never identified etc Other Simplex Condition Non service affecting Occurs when there is a failure of one side of a duplexed system such as a SONET 30 ring yet an unprotected simplex service will still provide service for the durati
20. der plant This includes brush fires pole fires etc Lightning transient voltage Component destruction or fault associated with surges and over voltages caused by electrical atmospheric disturbances Storm water ice Component destruction or fault associated with fog rain hail sleet snow or the accumulation of water ice flooding collapse under weight of snow etc Storm wind trees Component destruction or fault associated with wind borne debris or falling 26 trees limbs Vandalism theft Component loss destruction or fault associated with larceny mischief or other malicious acts Vehicular accident Component destruction or fault associated with vehicle car truck train etc collision Other Environment Internal Cable pressurization failure Component destruction or fault associated with cable damage resulting from cable pressurization failure Dirt dust contamination Component loss or fault associated with dirt or dust typically resulting in component overheating or loss of connectivity Environmental system failure heat humidity Component loss or fault associated with extreme temperature rapid temperature changes or high humidity due to loss malfunction of environmental control s If the failure was the result of inadequate lack of response to alarmed un alarmed environmental failures or due to incorrect manual control of environmental systems consider this a procedural fault Fire arcing sm
21. e cut improper marking could be the triggering event or direct cause but the real cause root cause may be lack of diversity Contributing Factors Scroll down the menu and pick the contributing factors that best fit Contributing factors are problems or causes that are closely linked to the outage Often if a contributing factor were addressed beforehand the outage could have been prevented or the effect of the outage would have been reduced or eliminated The form allows two contributing factors Diversity Indicator Determine whether lack of diversity contributed to or caused the outage If Best Practices related to diversity are discussed in any of the Best Practice fields or if the lack of diversity is listed as a root cause or contributing factor to the outage then the diversity checkbox must also be checked In general determine whether engineering standards for diversity are being followed Malicious Activity Indicate whether you believe that malicious activity might be involved in the outage The form asks for some explanation of why you believe the activity is malicious or what is suspicious about the activity Malicious activity could be the product of terrorists Name and Type of Equipment that Failed Provide the vendor name and the specific equipment including software release if applicable involved in the outage For example if a relay in a power plant fails that subsequently causes a switch to go out of service due
22. e fields 10 Outage Report Report Number 05 20753626 Notification Date Time 07 26 2005 14 53 Report Type initial Report Name of Reporting Entity e g Company TEST COMPANY 1 Type of Entity Reporting Disruption Cable telephony provider Date of Incident 0772672005 aca ime Incident Began 24 hr clock osoo Tie Atanti Reason Reportable Wireline 900 000 user minutes gt Outage Duration 0 Hrs 0 Min 1 11 Filinga Final Report If the report type is a Final Report and you hit the submit button the following screen will come up Security Notice am authorized by the communications provider to legally bind the provider to the truth completeness and accuracy of the information contained in this report attest that have read the report prior to submitting it and on oath depose and state that the information contained therein is true correct and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief and that the communications provider on oath deposes and states that this information is true complete and accurate Accept Go Back and Edit Report To actually file the Final Report you will accept the above statement that states that you are authorized to file the report and that your company deposes and states that the information is true complete and accurate 11 1 12 Reports Overdue NORS will provide information on reports overdue and reports due in 5 days by selecting R
23. eports Overdue Overdue Reports As of 06 07 2005 Overdue Initial Reports Reference Number Company Incident Date Time POC Phone Number Email 05 12439966 TEST COMPANY 1 05 04 2005 0300 John Healy 202 413 2448 john healy fcc gov 05 12439966 TEST COMPANY 1 05 04 2005 0300 John Healy 202 413 2448 john healy fec gov 05 13737922 TEST COMPANY 1 05 17 2005 0400 John Healy 202 413 2448 john healyifce gov 05 13737922 TEST COMPANY 1 05 17 2005 0400 John Healy 202 418 2443 john healy fec gov 05 14346766 TEST COMPANY 1 05 23 2005 0400 John Healy 202 413 2448 john healy fec gov 05 15343733 TEST COMPANY 1 06 02 2005 0400 John Healy 202 413 2448 john healy fcc gov Overdue Final Reports Reference Number Company Incident Date Time POC Phone Number Email 05 12439966 TEST COMPANY 1 05 04 2005 0300 John Healy 202 418 2448 john healy fcc gov 05 12439966 TEST COMPANY 1 05 04 2005 0300 John Healy 202 418 2448 john healy fcc gov Final Reports Due Within 5 Days Reference Number Company Incident Date Time POC Phone Number Email SAVE AS EXCEL 1 13 Modify Password This screen allows you to modify or change your password Network Outage Modify Password Old Password New Password Re type New Password CLEAR NORS will confirm your change of password 12 Network Outage Reporting
24. ery or re initialization action Simple single point failure resulting in total system outage failure of system diagnostics resulting from the removal of a good unit with restoral of faulty mate failure to switch protect the switch to standby spare mate component s Other Diversity Failure External Failure to provide or maintain the diversity of links or circuits among external network components which results in a single point of failure configuration Links SS7 communication paths were not physically and logically diverse Power Failure to diversify links circuits or equipment among redundant power system components including ac rectifiers chargers battery power plants de distribution facilities etc Timing Equipment Failure to diversify critical equipment across timing supplies e g BITS clocks Internal Other Failure to provide or maintain diversity of equipment internal to a building This is excluding power equipment and timing equipment Environment External for limited use when applicable root causes caused by a service provider or vendor cannot be identified it can also be listed as contributing factor Earthquake Component destruction or fault associated directly or indirectly with seismic shock However if damage was the result of inadequate earthquake bracing consider the fault to be a hardware design Fire Component destruction or fault associated with a fire occurring starting outside the service provi
25. irectly estimate the number of blocked calls provide the number of real time lost SS7 MTP messages or the number of SS7 MTP messages carried on a historical basis Historic carried SS7 MTP messages should be for the same day s of the week and the same time s of day as the outage The information should not be older than 90 days preceding the onset of the outage If the outage does not affect an SS7 network please leave this field blank Geographic Area Affected State Choose the primary state from the scroll down menu affected by the outage All 50 states along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are listed Outages affecting major parts of more than one state should be listed as multi state If an outage occurred outside the fifty states the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico please choose Outside the 50 States City Provide the primary city affected Description of Incident Provide a narrative which describes the sequence of events leading up to the incident the steps taken to try and resolve the incident once it had occurred and the action s which finally brought resolution to the incident This is for the reader to better understand what has happened Include any factors which may have contributed to the duration of the incident quick fix actions which may have resolved the immediate problem but were not the final long term solution and any other contributing factors At the Notification stage it is an
26. n When classifications provided do not match the cause the approximate match is preferred to be other Power Failure Commercial and or Back up does not include failures of dc dc converters or fuses embedded in switches and transmission equipment which should be reported as a hardware failure unless the problem was caused by the power plant Battery Failure Batteries did not function as designed Extended Commercial Power Failure System failure due to commercial power failure that extends beyond the design of back up capabilities Generator Failure Generator did not function as designed or ran out of fuel Inadequate missing power alarm System failure associated to an un alarmed or under alarmed power failure an alarm not provided initially due to inadequate standards failure to implement standards or an alarm alarm system failure broken or modified Because of the success in avoiding severe battery depletion failure where power alarms are effective and effectively responded to system failures directly associated with power alarms should be classified as such instead of as procedural Inadequate site specific power contingency plans System failure due to the insufficiency of the emergency operating procedures and contingency plans available and the resulting outage is prolonged because of lack of site specific information This includes equipment engineering data portable engine hook up hardware procedures load sheddi
27. n all pertinent information on the outage in greater detail including any information that was not contained in or that has changed from that provided in the Initial Report Name of Reporting Entity Lists the name of the company filing the outage report which is the same used by the outage inputter when he she applied for a UserID This field is automatically filled in Outage reports must be filed with the FCC by any cable communications provider wireless service provider satellite operator SS7 provider wireline communications provider E911 service provider or facility owner and on any facilities which it owns operates or leases that experiences an outage that meets the reporting thresholds as defined in Part 4 of the Commission s Rules and Regulations Type of Entity Reporting Disruption Lists the type entity your company is This entry is automatically filled with the information taken from the Notification The possible entries were Wireline carrier Wireless carrier Cable telephony provider Paging provider Satellite provider SS7 network provider E911 service provider Facility owner or operator Date of Incident Provide the month day and year at the commencement of the outage The expected format is mm dd yyyy Local Time Incident Began 24 hr clock Provide the local time at the location of the outage not the reporting location of commencement of the outage 24 hour clock That is for 1 00 PM you should u
28. ng plans etc Insufficient response to power alarm System failure associated response to power failure alarm system worked but support personnel did not respond properly Consider this a procedural fault Lack of power redundancy Failure directly associated with insufficient redundancy of power system components including ac rectifiers chargers battery power plan dc distribution facilities etc Lack of routine maintenance testing System failure resulting from infrequent power system testing maintenance and or detailed inspection Consider this a procedural fault Overloaded undersized power equipment 28 System failure attributable to insufficient sizing design of power configuration Other Procedural Other Vendor Ad hoc activities outside scope of MOP Unapproved unauthorized work or changes in agreed to procedures Documentation procedures out of date unusable impractical Lack of updated documentation procedures the correction update is available but not incorporated locally or the document is unwieldy Some examples are the use of inadequate indexing or cross referencing bits and pieces of information being too difficult to integrate ineffective delivery vehicle etc Documentation procedures unavailable incomplete Documentation or procedures vendor or service provider are not published published but not distributed distributed but not available on site or that some documentation is obscure oblique too general la
29. nk marked If you have forgotten your password please click here The system will send you to a screen which asks for your UserID and your e mail address Your password will be e mailed to you If you need help or have questions you should click the link marked If you have questions about this web page please contact FCC Outage Help 1 4 Screen for New Users with New Notifications If you do not already have UserID you will be required to identify yourself including providing a valid e mail address The system will respond with your User ID and password You will then be allowed to file Notifications You will also be able to file and edit Initial and Final Reports for the outages for which you have submitted the original Notification The screen for New Users is New User Notice Company ID is needed for users from companies on this list the default is 11111111 Outage Coordinators set this ID for their company If your are entering a new company name you may leave the Company ID blank Reporting M MARTEL E Company New Company Type in new company name if applicable ATR TEL Company k s ID Gontact GE Person Phone O HRR RER HHRH Extension Number E Mail SUBMIT CLEAR If your company has filed an outage report or has an outage coordinator your company will be listed in the scroll down menu under the Reporting Company You will have to choose that company and to know the Company ID
30. oke damage Component loss or fault associated with damage directly related to central office or equipment fires open flame or smoldering corrosive smoke emissions or electrical arcing whether or not ignition of surrounding material occurs Fire suppression water chemicals damage Component loss or fault associated with corrosion electrolytic or other caused by fire suppression activities this root cause assumes that no substantial failure was directly associated with the smoke fire that triggered suppression Manhole cable vault leak Component destruction or fault associated with water entering manholes cable vaults CEVs etc Roof air conditioning leak Component destruction or fault associated with water damage direct or electrolytic caused by roof or environmental systems leaks into in central office environment Other Hardware Failure Memory unit failure Peripheral unit failure Processor community failure Other Insufficient Data There is not enough information from the failure report and subsequent 27 investigation if any to determine cause s of failure Other Unknown The cause of the outage cannot be determined or the cause does not match any of the classifications above Excludes cases where outage data was insufficient or missing or where root cause is still under investigation When root cause cannot be proven it is usually still possible to determine the probable cause which falls under the heading unknow
31. on of the outage Do not use this root cause for the complete failure of a duplexed system or in cases where any of the circuits in the duplexed system are provided under SLAs which require protection Service affecting Failure of one side of a duplexed system such as a SONET ring where an unprotected simplex service was provided for a period of time but was not repaired during the usual maintenance window or in cases where any of the circuits in the duplexed system are provided under SLAs which require protection Traffic System Overload Common channel signaling network overload SS7 system network overload associated with true high traffic loads congesting STP SCP processors or SS7 link network If the overload was associated with STP SCP message handling congestion false or reactivated link congestion inappropriate or incorrect SS7 network management message s protocol errors etc then consider the problem to be a software design fault Inappropriate insufficient NM control s System network overload or congestion associated with an ineffective NM system switch response resulting due to the lack of either effective NM control that the system switch response to control was inappropriate or that its implementation was flawed If failure was related to inappropriate control strategy or execution by NM organization consider it procedural Ineffective engineering engineering tools System network overload or congestion directly associated wi
32. on Reportable Effects of the Outage Number of Potentially Affected Wireline Users Wireless non paging Users Paging Users Cable Telephony Users Satellite Users Lost SS7 MTP Messages Real Time Historic I Geographic Area Affected TT State Territory Commonwealth or the District of 3 Columbia City Description of Incident Primary Contact Person Tonn Healy Phone Number 202 418 2448 Extension E mail Address John healy fcc gov CLEAR SUBMIT Details on how to fill out each field are given in Section 2 You have 60 minutes to fill in the form The timer shows in the status bar at the bottom left of the screen No information will be stored unless you hit the Submit button Once you hit this button the Notification has been filed unless an error message appears telling you that one or more of the fields has been filled out incorrectly You can then correct the data and resubmit NORS will provide the report number for future reference after a successful filing Note that the name of your company can not be changed A copy of the completed Notification can be saved in Excel or you can print the report using the File gt Print commands When you are ready to submit an Initial or file a Final Report you will have to logon to NORS and access the correct Notification To do this select Modify Resubmit Withdraw a Report 1 9 Screen for Selecting the Report to Update or Withdraw There are f
33. ou are an outage inputter this allows you to retrieve a report by report number that you have personally submitted If you are an outage coordinator you can see a report that you or anyone from your company has submitted It should be noted that no one from another company can see reports from your company The only people allowed to view your outage reports are authorized FCC and DHS personnel If you are notifying the FCC of a new outage you should choose Report Notification You will be sent to the Notification Screen If you want to update or withdraw an Initial report you should choose Update Resubmit Withdraw Report In addition if you want to view your reports please choose the Update Resubmit Withdraw Report menu option NORS has a provision for the user to ask the FCC to reopen a Final Report by clicking the link marked Request to Reopen a Report If the FCC agrees to reopen the Final Report the user can then refile the report NORS provides a list of Final Reports that are overdue or due within the next 5 days to encourage the timely filing of reports This function is available by selecting the Reports Overdue function on the menu All users should change their password periodically to enhance security of their reporting and viewing of their reports The menu to change a password is available by selecting Modify Password The Company ID is a company password maintained by the company s outage coordinators It is NORS
34. ou have questions about this web page please contact FCC Outage Help If you do not already have a User ID and Password you should click the link marked If you don t have username password please click here This will send you to the New User screen given in Section 1 4 Note that if you forget your password you should click the link marked If you have forgotten your password please click here The system will send you to a screen which asks for your UserID and your e mail address Your password will be e mailed to you If you need help or have questions you should click the link marked If you have questions about this web page please contact FCC Outage Help The login screen for DHS which uses the Retrieving Outages is Network Outage Report System Filing Login UserName case sensitive Password icase sensitive LOGIN CLEAR If you don t have username password please click here If you have forgotten your password please click here lf you have questions about this web page please contact FCC Outage Help Only DHS users with a valid User ID and Password can log onto the NORS to retrieve outage reports If you do not already have a User ID and Password you should click the link marked If you don t have username password please click here This will send you to the New User screen given in Section 1 4 Note that if you forget your password you should click the li
35. ould be used for some place like American Samoa Number of Potentially Affected Wireline Users Provide the sum of the number of assigned telephone numbers potentially affected by the outage and the number of administrative numbers potentially affected If this outage did not affect wireline users please leave this blank Assigned numbers are defined as the telephone numbers working in the Public Switched Telephone Network under an agreement such as a contract or tariff at the request of specific end users or customers for their use and include DID numbers This excludes numbers that are not yet working but have a service order pending Administrative numbers are defined as the telephone numbers used by communications providers to perform internal administrative or operational functions necessary to maintain reasonable quality of service standards Wireless Users Provide the number of potentially affected wireless users In determining the number of users potentially affected by a failure of a switch a concentration ratio of 8 shall be applied If this outage did not affect wireless users please leave this blank Paging Users Provide the number of assigned telephone numbers for those paging networks in which each individual user is assigned a telephone number If this outage did not affect paging users please leave this blank Assigned numbers are defined as the telephone numbers working in the Public Switche
36. our types of reports Notifications Initial Reports Final Reports and Drafts A Draft is an informal copy of a report that the system keeps The system allows you to choose outages listed by date and by report type For example you can list only your Notifications during the month of September NORS lets you list reports of all types by picking All In addition NORS also lets you list all Active reports these are reports that are updatable This includes Notifications Initial Reports and Draft Reports but excludes Finals and Withdrawn reports If you select any report excluding Final Reports you will be able to update and resubmit or withdraw it In particular if you choose a Notification you will be able to modify it and then submit it only as an Initial Final or Withdrawn Report Withdrawn reports are not deleted from the database they are simply marked as withdrawn The following screen will come up for users who select Update Resubmit Withdraw a Report This screen is for anyone updating a Notification to an Initial Draft Final or Withdrawn Report or updating an Initial or Draft Report The system allows users to save Drafts of reports and to revise Initial Reports but Final Reports are formally filed reports No government agencies outside the FCC including DHS can see Drafts Network Outage Report System List Report From 12 21 l2004 To 12 21 2004 ype All v RETRIEVE
37. rict of Columbia and Puerto Rico are listed In addition outages affecting major parts of more than one state should be listed as multi state Finally if an outage occurred outside the fifty states the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico please choose Outside the 50 States City Provide the primary city affected More Complete Description of Geographical Area of Outage Provide a more complete description of the geographical area of the outage In particular for the cases affecting widespread outages in several states it is important to list the states affected For outages affecting more than one community it is important to describe actual communities affected Include CLLIs if applicable Description of Incident Provide a narrative which describes the sequence of events leading up to the incident the steps taken to try and resolve the incident once it had occurred and the action s which finally brought resolution to the incident This is for the reader to better understand what has happened Include any factors which may have contributed to the duration of the incident quick fix actions which may have resolved the immediate problem but were not the final long term solution and any other contributing factors The description should be sufficiently detailed to allow the reader to reach the same conclusions as the writer as to the Direct Cause and Root Cause of the incident Description of the Cause s of the Outage
38. se 1300 The format should be nnnn that is do not use a colon this number should be between 0000 and 2359 In most cases both the physical location of the outage and the majority of the effects are in the same time zone However some outages have wide ranging impacts which may not be at the physical location of the outage such as a cut undersea cable In that case please provide the time at the end of the undersea cable closest to the US or the local time of the physical outage Time Zone Pick from the scroll down menu one of the following 19 Atlantic Eastern Central Mountain Pacific Alaskan Hawaii Aleutian Guam Other Puerto Rico is in the Atlantic Time zone Other should be used for some place like American Samoa Outage Duration Provide the total elapsed time hours and minutes from the commencement of the outage as provided in the preceding data fields until restoration of full service Full service restoration includes the restoration of all services to all customers impacted by the outage even if the restoral is over temporary facilities If the customers locations are destroyed such as by a hurricane flood tornado or wildfire the duration continues until the reporting carrier is capable of again providing service to those locations If an outage is ongoing at the time the Final Report is filed report the outage duration as the total time between the commencement of the outage and the time the Final Report is
39. th under engineering of the system network due to rapidly changing network demand or introduction of new network components and or technologies If failure was associated with simple under engineering absent changing environment consider it procedural Mass calling focused diffuse network overload System network overload or congestion directly associated with unplanned external trigger s causing a significant unmanageable traffic load Media stimulated calling insufficient notification System network overload or congestion directly associated with a media stimulated calling event where the event sponsor generator failed to provide adequate advance notice or provided inaccurate underestimated notification Other 31
40. ticipated that many of the details will not be known Primary Contact Person Provide the full name of the primary contact person Phone Number Provide the phone number of the primary contact person in the format NXX NXX XXXX That is 201 444 5656 would mean that the area code or NPA is 201 the central office code is 444 and the line number is 5656 Extension Provide the extension number if used in format XXXX E mail Address Provide the e mail address of the primary contact person 3 Fields on the Initial Draft and Final Report Forms Note that all of the data previously filled in are carried forward when updating a report All fields can be changed to reflect new information except the Report Number Name of Reporting Entity Type of Entity and the Date Time of the previous submission Report Number List the unique identifying number for the report This field is automatically filled in from the Notification 18 Date Time Self explanatory This field is automatically filled in based on the time of the previous submission for the same report number Report Type Choose the type of report Initial Draft or Final Initial Reports are due within 3 days of the outage Final Reports are due within 30 days of the outage from when the outage started The Initial Report shall contain all pertinent information immediately available on the outage and shall be submitted in good faith The Final Report shall contai
41. us NORS will authenticate your user ID and password and will send you to the correct user menu The Main Menu is shown below The last two selections on the menu are only available to outage coordinators Network Outage Report System Main Menu Find a Report To find a report by report number Report Notification To create new outage report Update ResubmitWithdraw Report To update resubmit withdraw existing outage report Request to Reopen a Report To request to reopen Final Reports Reports Overdue To get the list of overdue reports ka Modify Password To modify the password Modify Company ID To modify the company id Deactivate User To deactivate user This screen provides a menu of items for managing and handling outage reports This allows an authorized person to find a report by report number to notify the FCC of a new outage Notification or to update or withdraw a Notification or Initial report or to file a Final report There are also the options of requesting that a Final Report be reopened and obtaining a list of reports where the Finals are overdue or due within the next 5 days The last two options only available to outage coordinators allows them to modify or change the Company ID or to deactivate a user If you select Find a Report you will be sent to the Find a Report screen where you can insert the number of the individual report that you want to retrieve If y
42. use the Filing module Welcome to the home page of the Network Outage Reporting System NORS This system is comprised of two separate modules for filing and retrieving outage reports To continue choose one of the following DHS Outage Retrieval Filing Module Module Retrieve Report Outage Network reports DHS Outage Only For Department of Homeland Security XX For companies viewing filing updating and withdrawing outage reports In either case you will get to a login screen The Login screen is used to allow outage analysts outage coordinators and outage inputters to have access to the system The outage inputters can only report Notifications and update resubmit withdraw and access only the outages that they personally have already submitted Outage coordinators will be allowed to modify resubmit and withdraw any outage except Final Reports from their company The outage coordinator has access to all other inputter reports of his company and can also function as an inputter You will need a User ID and a password The NORS system User ID and password will be authenticated when you click the Login button on the login screen The login screen for Filing Outages is Network Outage Report System Filing Login UserName case sensitive Password case sensitive LOGIN CLEAR If you don t have username password please click here If you have forgotten your password please click here lf y
43. utines The resulting recovery action was delayed complicated by old or missing program office data tapes or disks etc Insufficient staffing Unexpected conditions depleted available resources predictable but unavoidable shortage unreasonable demand ineffective inadequate roll down Or 29 centralization arrangement resource intensive new technology outside scope reach of existing automatic remote administration systems etc Insufficient supervision control Resulting from insufficient leadership ineffective administration and or maintenance strategies process or communication failures conflicting priorities etc This category should be used when multiple procedural causes are indicated Insufficient training Training not available from vendor training not available from service provider training available but not attended training attended but provides inadequate or out of date information training adequate but insufficient application followed training need never identified etc Other Procedural System Vendor Ad hoc activities outside scope of MOP Unapproved unauthorized work or changes in agreed to procedures Documentation procedures out of date unusable or impractical Documentation procedures are not updated correction update available but not incorporated locally Documentation procedures are unwieldy inadequate indexing or cross referencing bits and pieces of information difficult to integrate ineffective
44. way of allowing companies with outage coordinators to control who can submit outage reports from their company Anyone who wants to submit outage reports for a particular company must know the Company ID in order to get a User ID that is assigned to that company Outage coordinators maintain the Company ID Outage coordinators can change the Company ID This is done under the heading Modify Company ID Outage coordinators are allowed to deactivate the privileges of any outage inputters from their company One coordinator can deactivate another coordinator from their company This is achieved by selecting Deactivate User 1 7 Find a Report You can review your company s submitted reports by report number Coordinators have access to all reports filed by their company Inputters can only see reports that they have filed NORS will display the following screen after selecting Find a Report Network Outage Report System Search Outage Number RETRIEVE The requested report will be displayed 1 8 Notification Screen To submit a Notification you must provide the information on the following screen Notification of New Outage Report If this outage is a national security concern please call DHS at 703 607 4950 Name of Reporting Entity e g Company TEST COMPANY 1 Type of Entity Reporting Disruption Date of Incident 0771372005 Local Time Incident Began 24 hr clock C Ti 7 N fnnnn ime Zone Reas
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