| Contractor |
DOE Office |
|
|
The telecommunications functional area was last assessed in October 2002. There were no open items from the 2002 review.
Our self-assessment team identified areas of opportunity for enhanced performance and will address those areas in the following report.
The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is the lead Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory for electron-based high energy physics. It is dedicated to research in elementary particle physics, accelerator physics and in allied fields that can make use of its synchrotron radiation facilities—including biology, chemistry, geology, materials science and environmental engineering. Operated on behalf of the DOE by Stanford University, SLAC is a national user facility serving universities, industry and other research institutions throughout the world. Its mission can be summarized as follows:
Perform world-class research in high energy physics, particle astrophysics and cosmology, and in the use of synchrotron radiation
Provide accelerators, detectors, instrumentation and support for national and international research programs in elementary particle physics and allied fields that use synchrotron radiation
Advance the art of accelerators and related devices through development of sources of high energy particles and synchrotron radiation, plus new techniques for their scientific utilization
Advance the critical technologies necessary to maintain its leadership and excellence in particle physics, accelerator physics, particle astrophysics and cosmology, and synchrotron radiation
Transfer practical knowledge and innovative technology to the private sector
Contribute to the education of the next generation of scientists and engineers, and to the scientific awareness of the public
Achieve and maintain excellence in matters of environmental concern and provide for the safety and health of its staff and the general public.
The Telephone Services functional area manages telephone services as a corporate resource to improve the quality of its services, to add value to scientific programs and customer services, and as a tool to improve work processes. Telephone service will be made available to the community, the public, industrial partners, and others, as appropriate. The focus this year was on expanding the telephone system to enable continued growth, supporting the opening of the SLAC Guest House with new telephones and cabling, providing more users with improved features such as message waiting lamp phones, and improving system reliability.
Les Cottrell, Assistant Director, SLAC Computing Services
David Howard, Telecommunications Manager, SLAC Computing Services
Brenda Eberle, Telecommunications Analyst, SLAC Computing Services
Fred Hooker, Network Operations Supervisor, SLAC Computing Services
Status of Systems
This report represents the results of the telecommunications functional area self-assessment, an ongoing process begun as part of the Business Management Oversight pilot established by DOE in March 1995 and continued by executive order as part of DOE performance-based management. Assessment material was collected over the past year, followed by a process of validation of findings, analysis and report writing. The telecommunications functional area self-assessment is based on and measured against performance activities currently agreed to between SLAC and DOE/OAK in order to address customer satisfaction, cost efficiency, and contract compliance.
The SLAC telephone system includes a 4,650-port digital electronic switching system and a cable plant that is adequate to the system but is stretched and old. The cable plant is based on twisted pair copper technology with surge protectors, both within and between buildings. The switch is capable of supporting advanced and digital technologies such as Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). The system includes direct inward dial service, voice mail, government and public network access, paging access and video conferencing. The system supports a majority of mass-market, single-line instruments (3900 ports) and some proprietary multi-line instruments (400 ports) to provide secretarial type functions. The remaining 350 ports are used for trunks. The system provides alarm circuits, emergency communications, and back up power capability.
In June 2002, we entered into a maintenance-only contract with Nextira, based on a fixed monthly cost for the life of the contract. This contract covers an initial period of two years, with three one-year renewal options.
The system is managed in partnership with Telecommunications Staff and user representatives called Area Telecommunications Office Motivators (ATOMs). ATOMs were appointed by group leaders in 1987 to represent a group or geographical area of from 15-200 phones and/or users. They interface with the Telecommunications staff using user-driven on-line tools developed by Telecommunications to activate services and identify order status. Lead-times to complete requests for changes are from one to four weeks, depending on type of request.
SLAC has month-to-month agreements with other telecommunications service providers for traffic carrier services, radio and paging services, and cellular phone service, which are renewed on a fiscal year basis. These vendors include SBC, for local calling and network access, ISDN and measured business lines; PowerNetGlobal, AT&T and FTS2001, for long distance calling; Verizon, for wide area paging service; Motorola and GE Erickson, for mobile radio services; and AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, for cellular phone service. Carrier services are based on current CPUC tariff and federal government rates and paging and radio services using a negotiated rate structure.
From the user perspective, our largest project this year was to support the opening of the SLAC Guest House with the installation of approximately 125 new telephones and cabling. This was completed on schedule in June 2003. The project was managed and completed with existing personnel, without the purchase of outside installation services. We have also supported a high volume of movement as user groups continue to reorganize within existing space on the site. The need to create space for the new Kavli Institute has contributed significantly to the movement this year. In spite of the heavy workload, we have performed extremely well in regards to both order timeliness and user expectations.
In order to support continued growth at SLAC, we have expanded the telephone switch (PBX) and expanded the free-standing cable racks in the switch room. We have expanded the voicemail system capacity by approximately fifty percent. To improve system reliability, we have replaced the backup batteries for the PBX and provided seismic upgrades for this equipment. We have also added two small UPS systems to provide backup power for other switch room equipment.
We have implemented the Emergency Services Access function on our PBX. This software enables us to send real-time notification of 911 calls to the SLAC Main Gate. Security personnel now verify the nature of on-site emergencies and are better prepared to direct the responding emergency personnel to the correct location. This software also prepares us to implement Enhanced 911 services.
While providing members of the SLAC community the services they need to function effectively, we have also sought to manage services so as to control costs. During the past year, we have saved the lab approximately $485,000. A significant portion of this savings comes from the conversion of a leased telephone system to a maintenance-only contract on the SLAC-owned system. We have identified opportunities to scale back projects by substituting cost-effective alternatives and carefully managed services contracts to minimize costs while providing improved services.
We have also identified opportunities for future cost savings. We have recently tested a "reservation-less" audio conference service which we expect to reduce teleconferencing costs by as much as $2500 per month. We have also upgraded our videoconference system hardware, so we can now do IP-based, as well as ISDN-based videoconferencing. This will save us money as ISDN and long distance usage decrease.
2003 Telephone Services Self-Assessment
Services: We did not have an unplanned outage of the telephone switch. We had two necessary planned outages, with a total duration of approximately six minutes, to perform system upgrades. System availability exceeded 99.99 percent.
We had one planned outage of the voicemail system in order to expand disk capacity. The total outage time was five hours, which included the time required to backup messages in user mailboxes and restore the information to the expanded system.
We have made no major changes to our trunking or service providers during the past year. We have continued to monitor performance and service levels on our SBC and FTS2001 ISDN PRI’s. We have had no service outages of significant duration.
Telephone Orders Meet Customer Needs: Telephone orders are submitted by ATOMs or users through a Web interface to the SLAC Phone Request System (SPRS), an order tracking system based on the commercial Remedy application. This system allows us to collect objective data on the elapsed time from when an order is submitted, until it is finally closed, including notification of the user and updating of all related databases.
In addition to the data collected from the SLAC Phone Request System, we used the services of a consultant from outside our department to request anonymous feedback from the ATOMs through a short survey. We requested responses to five questions, which were the same as questions used in our fiscal year 2002 survey. Twenty-seven out of eighty ATOMs chose to participate in the survey.
For analysis purposes, we divide the orders into two types: software and hardware.
Our goal is to complete most software orders in one week or less.
The following table shows selected measurements for software orders. The times for order closure are adjusted to exclude weekends, so "days" are actually "business days."
|
# of Days |
Percent |
|
0 |
26.4% |
|
1 |
50.5% |
|
2 |
75.8% |
|
3 |
88.5% |
|
4 |
93.2% |
|
5 |
96.3% |
|
More |
100% |
The following graph shows the number of software orders completed in a specific number of days with the green bars and labels on the left axis. The cumulative percentage of orders completed within a time period are shown by the blue line and labels on the right axis.
Ninety-six percent of software orders are completed within one week. In 2002, eighty-six percent of software orders were completed within one week. In 2001, ninety-three percent of orders were completed within one week. In 2000, eighty-six percent of software orders were completed within one week. There was a 16 percent decrease in software orders processed in 2003 compared to 2002. However, there was a 19 percent increase in software orders processed in 2003 compared to 2001, and a 44 percent increase compared to 2000. We originally considered that completing eighty-five percent of software orders in one week was a reasonable target for this goal. We have exceeded that goal by a significant percentage, while also completing significantly more orders with no increase in personnel. This represents "Outstanding" performance in this area.
 |
Our goal is to complete most hardware orders within one month. Some orders can stay in the system for much longer for reasons that are largely beyond our control. Examples include waiting for access to tunnels and waiting for users to complete construction or install conduit. In addition, we have a single technician available to handle both hardware orders and repairs. Because repairs generally receive higher priority than new orders, work on hardware orders can be delayed for several days while other problems are resolved. For these reasons, we believe it is realistic to expect hardware orders to take somewhat longer than other types.
The following table shows selected measurements for hardware orders. The times to order closure are adjusted to exclude weekends. So "days" are actually "business days" and the rows of the table show orders closed in one week, two weeks, and so forth, through one month.
|
# of Days |
Percent |
|
5 |
21.1% |
|
10 |
38.1% |
|
15 |
75.2% |
|
20 |
86.2% |
|
22 |
92.6% |
The following graph shows the number of hardware orders completed in a specific number of days, charted with bars, using the right axis. The blue line shows the cumulative percentage of orders completed, with percentages on the left axis.
The spike in activity at fifteen days is due to the schedule for completing work in the SLAC Guest House. This project required us to install a large number of new lines in a relatively short window of time.
Ninety-three percent of hardware orders were completed within one month. This is significantly more than in 2002, when eighty percent of hardware orders were completed within one month, as well as 2001, when eighty-six percent of hardware orders were completed within four weeks, and 2000, when sixty-one percent of hardware orders were completed within thirty days. The median time to complete hardware orders has dropped from 21 days in 2000, to 12 days in 2001, to 10 days in 2002. The median time to close orders was up slightly this year to 15 days. However, this can be attributed in large part to the timing of when we opened and closed orders for the SLAC Guest House. All the Guest House orders were completed on time, according to the Guest House schedule and when we were permitted access to the building.
As with software orders, the number of hardware orders has generally increased over recent years. Hardware orders in 2003 were down 10 percent over those processed in 2002. However, they were up 48 percent over those processed in 2001 and 26 percent over those processed in 2000. In addition to several large projects, we have experienced an increase in the number of hardware orders to provide message waiting lamp phones to users requesting them.
ATOMs were asked to indicate whether they agreed with the statement "Software orders are completed in a reasonable length of time." They were given a five-point scale (strongly disagree, disagree, acceptable, agree, and strongly agree). One hundred percent of ATOMs rated performance as acceptable or better. This is an improvement over the ninety-six percent of ATOMs who rated performance at this level in 2002, and the ninety percent of ATOMs who did so in 2001.
ATOMs were also asked to indicate whether they agreed with the statement "Hardware orders are completed in a reasonable length of time." Eighty-nine percent of ATOMs rated performance as acceptable or better. This is again an improvement over the eighty-seven percent of ATOMs who rated performance at this level in 2002, and the sixty-five percent of ATOMs who did so in 2001.
Telephone Repairs Meet Customer Needs: Any person at SLAC can request a telephone repair either by using a Web-based form in the SLAC Phone Request System (SPRS) described above, or by leaving a voice message on the phone repair line. We have seen a gradual increase in the number of requests received through SPRS, but this is still less than half our total number of repair requests. Currently, the system administrator and technician are entering most telephone requests into SPRS for tracking purposes.
Due to the difficulties involved in obtaining a representative sample of all telephone users at SLAC, we relied upon the ATOMs to provide subjective feedback on behalf of all their users through the survey described above.
Our goal is to complete most repairs in one business day or less.
The table below shows selected measurements for repair requests.
|
# of Days |
Percent |
|
0 |
88.1% |
|
1 |
94.7% |
|
2 |
96.4% |
|
3 |
97.7% |
|
4 |
98.4% |
|
5 |
99.1% |
|
More |
100.1% |
The chart below shows the number of repairs completed in a given number of days, using the green bars and right axis. The blue line, with labels along the left axis, shows the cumulative percent of orders completed.
The data collected indicate that ninety-five percent of repairs are completed in one day or less. This is significantly more than the eighty-two percent of orders completed in one day or less in 2002, the eighty-five percent of repairs completed in one day or less in 2001, and the forty-six percent of repairs completed in one day or less in 2000.
ATOMs were asked to indicate whether they agreed with the statement "Repairs are completed in a timely fashion." They were given a five-point scale (strongly disagree, disagree, acceptable, agree, and strongly agree). One hundred percent of the ATOMs rated performance as acceptable or better, which reflects the same raring as 2002. but significantly better than the eighty-five percent of ATOMs in 2001.
2003 Emergency Communications Self-Assessment
It is the responsibility of each person in the emergency organization to determine what communications’ resources they need to fulfill their responsibilities. Beyond the role of the Emergency Communications Manager in restoring telecommunications services and allocating alternate resources in an actual emergency, we provide services to the emergency organization in the same manner as we do to other users. That is we help users to clarify their actual communications needs, provide information about available alternatives, provide services where appropriate, and refer users to other resources for products and services we do not provide.
During the past year, tests of the emergency communications systems were conducted eight times. SLAC’s Emergency Coordinator continues to indicate that his primary concern in regards to the emergency communications tests is to test the wireless systems on a regular basis. The responsibility for running these tests continue to be done by SLAC’s SCS Helpdesk personnel. Following each test, users verbally communicate the quality of the tests results to Helpdesk personnel indicating any unit problems which may require repairs. No problems with emergency wireless equipment were reported.
In addition, during the past year, preventive maintenance (frequency, SWR, audio levels and modulation were checked) was done by SLAC's wireless communications analyst on all emergency wireless equipment. The wireless analyst conducted additional tests to ensure each emergency wireless portable/base station/mobile transmit frequency, output power level, and receiver sensitivity was within specification. During this past year, no emergency wireless equipment had to be repaired.
The Emergency Coordinator indicated the current emergency communication system continues to meet the user's needs. There is also support for continuing the wireless tests and preventative maintenance. We plan to continue support for the wireless tests and preventative maintenance for this area.
Contract compliance:
Our assessment team found the telecommunications functional area to be in compliance with laws, regulations and, terms and conditions of the current DOE contract. The telecommunications functional area assessment team found no fraud, waste, or abuse issues.
Provide needs assessment, planning, and support for the growth of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), LCLS, and GLAST groups, and for the construction of the new KIPAC building.
Prepare for future growth of the SLAC PBX, including evaluation of whether to remove old PBX cabinets to provide space for newer equipment.
Put selected network services out for competitive bidding to ensure we continue to receive the best available rates.