Structure and management of very large TETRA project

1
Structure and management of very large TETRA
project

• Seppo Seitsonen, JP-Epstar Ltd.
• tel [phone], email seppo.seitsonen_at_poyry.f
  i

2
Introduction

• Describtion on how a nationwide and shared
  professional mobile radio project has been
  succesfully managed in Finland
• Conclusions are personal views of the authors and
  are not official views of Finlands Ministry of
  Interior, or VIRVE Unit
• Authors are JP-Epstars consultants, who have
  worked in the VIRVE project since early 1990s,
  and performed tasks such as
• Identification of requirements
• Costs analysis
• Assistance in the procurement process i.e. RFQ
  preparation, evaluation of tenders, contract
  negotiations
• Assistance in management of the implementation
• Auditing network performance

3

• JP-Epstar
• Independent telecommunications consulting and
  engineering company
• Subsidiary of Jaakko Pöyry Group
• Extensive experience in network based telecom
  business and projects, such as professional
  mobile radio systems for authorities and
  industries
• www.epstar.fi, www.poyry.fi

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VIRVE Network today

• Authority Network VIRVE
• 1200 Base stations
• Nationwide coverage
• 15 Switching centres
• 200 Dispatcher work stations
• Capacity for 50 000 user/terminals
• 22 000 users/terminals (2003), growing
• Service is well accepted by users

1200 km
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VIRVE user groups, public authorities
Defence Forces
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Ministry of the Interior

• Peacetime security operations
• Inter-authority co-operation

• Operations in Normal Conditions
• Preparations for emergency
• situations

• Police
• Rescue Services
• Frontier Guard

Ministry of Transport and Communications
Ministry of the Environment

• Civil Aviation Authority
• Meteorological Institute
• Navigation Administration
• Telecommunications administr.
• Road Administration
• National Broadcasting Company

Ministry of Justice

• Accident Investigation Agency

Customs Authority
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Prime Ministers Office
Ministry of Trade and Industry
Other User Groups
Office of the President of the Republic

• Nat. Emergency Supply Agency
• National Food Administration
• Safety Technology Authority

• Population Register Center
• Technical Research Center
• of Finland

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Background of VIRVE-project

• Background
• High number and dedicated emergency centers of
  police and rescue organisation were found
  inefficient and expensive
• Separate and incompatible radio system of police
  and rescue caused several operational limitations
• Goals
• Reduce number of emergency centers and make them
  common
• Public safety organisation wanted to intensify
  their mutual cooperation
• Ministries of Interior, Defence and Transport and
  Communications preferred a common radio
  communication system

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Phases of VIRVE project

• Feasibility Evaluation
• Identification of user requirements, technology
  evaluation, the first cost estimations.
• Procurement
• Preparation of the requirements for the VIRVE
  network, decisions concerning the scope of
  procurement, tendering and evaluation of tenders.
• Implementation
• Implementation of the network, terminal
  distribution and network testing.
• Early Operation
• Operation during the implementation phase.
• Regular Operation
• Operation when the most of the network had been
  implemented.

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Time schedule of VIRVE project
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Phase 1 Feasibility study phase

• Ministy of Transport and Communications (neutral
  party) set up a project team
• Most essential system requirements were managed
  communication within and between organisations,
  group call, fast call set up, encryption
• Common view A professional mobile radio system
  was required, cellular services do not meet
  requirements
• No single organisation could set up the network
• Ministry provides the network (investment), users
  pay for service (operational cost), normal
  budget structure, outsourcing of the network
  operation

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Phase 2 Procurement phase

• VIRVE project was moved to Ministry of Interior
  due to user organisations and easier budget
  allocations
• A part time project team was not enough -gt VIRVE
  Unit was established
• Network tender
• Focus on network functionality and features for
  users
• Technology not fixed
• Operator tender
• Focus on implementation and operation of the
  network
• Supplier information provided
• Contracts and responsibilities (1997) VIRVE
  Unit, supplier, operator, users

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Phase-3 Procurement phase, contracts and
responsibilities

• VIRVE Unit
• Design parameters for the network coverage in
  different areas, capacity, interconnection
• Network supplier
• Installation and commissioning of the first two
  switches and 120 base stations
• Maintenance support, software support
• Network operator
• Site acquisition, radio-network planning,
• Trunk network, interconnection planning
• Installation and commissioning of rest of base
  stations and switches, and Dispatcher WSs
• Maintenance and user support
• User organisations
• Procurement of terminals
• Implementation of VIRVE service in their own
  operations
• Integration of control-room applications with the
  VIRVE service

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Phase-3 Procurement phase, conclusions

• Much easier to obtain funding for the improvement
  of co-operation than for a new network
• Funds for a full-time project organisation needed
  from beginning
• With only two supplier candidates for each
  tender, real competition was maintained
• Frame contracts signed with the supplier -gt
  flexibility
• Handling of terminals and user applications as
  separate projects made the network project
  simpler, less costly and easier to manage
• Time pressure meant that the contract for
  operator services had some inadequacies
• Better contracts management if
• Installation of the network and operation during
  the installation phase -gt Two contracts for the
  installation period
• Regular operation -gt One contract at end of the
  installation phase (better knowledge)
• TETRA systems were still prototypes -gt extensive
  system testing was required

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Phase-4 Installation and early operation

• Installation
• 5 phases according to yearly budget allocations
• System testing in Helsinki area -gt difficult to
  get sites
• Base station rollout went smoothly
• Need for Dispatcher WS turned out to be much less
• System testing
• Terminals from several manaufacturers were
  missing
• Tests made by different user groups were not
  coordinated well enough
• Management centre
• 24h network management and user support was
  established (run by VIRVE operator)
• Terminals
• Distributor was selected through an open tender
• Implementation of VIRVE service
• Planning of work processes took a lot of time
• Availability of terminals which fulfilled
  requirements was delayed -gt waiting
• Group call feature in large area was not
  available -gt problems in daily operations

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Phase-4 Installation and early operation,
conclusions

• Stronger coordination and guidance by VIRVE Unit
  could accelerate implementation of VIRVE service
  within user organisations
• Today VIRVE network could be implemented in 3
  years, instead of 5 years, cost savings as
  parallel systems are needed for shorter time
• Users wanted to be sure that the service would
  meet their need before start using it, a 3.party
  quality audit of each part of the network might
  increase confidence
• It is very important to arrange efficient
  handling of user fault reports, their analysis
  and provision of feedback -gt increased confidence
• Definition of usability of service is different
  for each user group -gt implementation of the new
  services takes different amount of time in each
  organisation

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Phase-5 Regular operation

• Complete network
• 1200 base stations by end of 2002
• Capacity up to 50.000 user terminals
• Network wide group call feature and data services
• Wide range of compatible terminals
• Routine VIRVE operation
• Normal network maintenance, customer service,
  network performance monitoring
• Right moment to specify operator tasks in detail,
  including performance indicators
• Some open issues
• Management of subscriber data, complete agreement
  with users
• Application on packet data services
• Network wide call recording service
• Only average indoor coverage in cities, dedicated
  solutions needed for special sites
• Usage based billing

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Project organisation of VIRVE activities (early
operation phase)
Ministry of Interior
VIRVE Board
Co-operation groups
Operational Group
VIRVE Unit
Supplier
Operator
Technical Group
Distributor
National
Regional
VIRVE-executive groups
VIRVE-executive groups
VIRVE-executive groups
VIRVE Executive groups
17
Organisation of VIRVE activities (early operation
phase)

• VIRVE Board
• Tasks main decisions, project supervision
• Members ministry, main user groups
• VIRVE Unit
• Tasks procurement, management, administration,
  economy, planning, organisation, supervision,
  tech. guidelines
• Members dedicated organisation
• Operational Group / Technical Group
• Tasks definitions, specifications, operational
  models
• Members main user groups
• VIRVE Executive groups
• Tasks commissioning, start-up, user information,
  capacity planning, support for service
  implementation
• Members main user groups
• Supplier / Operator / Distributor
• Supplier delivery of network equipment
• Operator network planning, operation,
  maintenance, reporting of network matters,
  provision of infrastructure
• Distributor terminal distribution and settings
• Common 3-party groups seamless co-operation

18
Summary of project organisation / parties in each
phase
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Experiences from regular operation phase

• Some issues remained / can remain open during the
  project
• More effort/attention in the planning phase
  should be put on
• Management of subscriber data and billing
• Implementation of applications
• Network wide services/functionality
• Indoor coverage in cities
• Some user groups, like municipal organisations,
  are difficult to get
• Marketing is required
• Predefined product packages are required
• Traffic per user is lower than expected
• Coverage is more important than capacity

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Why VIRVE was successful project?

• VIRVE is part of an on-going project to improve
  the level of co-operation between the countrys
  different public safety organisations
• All major government ministries have supported it
• VIRVE is a network project only
• Terminals and user applications do not belong to
  the VIRVE project, they are part of a parallel
  project managed by the user organisations
• This approach has helped to avoid VIRVE becoming
  a mammoth project which is too costly and too
  complex to handle

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VIRVE today

• VIRVE project was successfully completed at the
  end of 2002
• Gradual substitution of old analogue systems
  during 2003
• VIRVE service is well accepted by users
• Number of users is expected to grows up to 50.000
• Since beginning of 2004, the project organisation
  was converted to an operational one
• State owned service provider

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Project management environment
1. Business model and strategy 2a. Operator
agreement 2b. Supply agreement 2c. Construction
agreement 3. Supply agreement 4. Agreements for
use 5. Supply agreement 6. Service development
/ provision agreements
Business Model for providing network services
Network providers
1
User organisations
Network Operator
National administrations Central
administrations County administrations Safety
authorities Essential enterprises Others
Project Owner Network Service Provider
2a
4
2b
Network Equipment Vendor
5
2c
3
6
Network Constructor
Terminal Equipment Vendors
User Application Providers
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Thank You

• Seppo Seitsonen
• JP-Epstar Ltd
• Tel. [phone]
• Email seppo.seitsonen_at_poyry.fi