Managing Telecom Department

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Managing Telecom Department

• Here, we should be clear that the concept of
  managing telecom department is difference than
  the concept of managing comm. Network
• telecomm management deals with issues such as
  planning, budgeting, controlling cost, and
  staffing
• comm network deals with technical planning of
  comm facilities, which is only a part of the
  above functions

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Managing Telecom Department

• Factors contributing to the need of managing
  telecomm department
• 1. the use of telecomm as strategic asset, such
  as e-business
• 2. deregulation renders the change of opportunity
  cost for hardware, software and services from
  common carriers
• 3. the integration of analog and digital
  transmissions

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Managing Telecom Department

• 4. the change of focus on how network is
  constructed, such moving from host to LANs, and
  to wireless)
• such as system composition of Figures 15-1 to
  15-2
• 5. improvement services to customers (or end
  users)
• 6. cost effectiveness of capital investment

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Question

• To whom should the telecomm department be
  reported to in an organization?

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Organizations Chart

• First, lets us look into on how organizations
  chart can play an important role in managing
  telecomm department
• The allocation of telecomm department (or
  function) into different department unit would
  play a significant role on how Telecomm is to
  serve the company and end users

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Organizations Chart

• Consider
• Figure 15-3, voice and data are considered a
  different units, and under Finance Department
• Figure 15-4, merging of voice and data into a
  single unit, and under Finance Department
• Is the new grouping better? (Why?)

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Organizations Chart

• The effectiveness of telecomm department
  allocation is very much depended on
• 1. The nature of businesses
• 2. The emphasize of using it as competitive adv.

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Organizations Chart

• Consider
• Figure 15-5
• CIO is introduced, for those organizations whose
  emphases IT as corporate function
• Figure 15-6
• Telecomm is separate from IS, the reason is for
  strategic planning for multinational organizations

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Organizations Chart

• Questions
• How does the ITSC unit positioning in HKBU?
• Is it effective one?

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Managing Telecom Department

• We further look into the following two aspects of
  telecom department
• functions
• responsibilities

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Functions

• The basic functions are
• 1. Design and implementation of new facilities
  and services
• 2. Network operations and technical support
• 3. Administrative support

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Responsibilities

• Five basic responsibilities
• 1. Staff
• 2. Organizing
• 3. Planning
• 4. Directing
• 5. Controlling

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1. Staff

• Require staff who experienced in telecomm field,
  and with knowledge in planning, operations,
  technical, conceptualizing, and administrative
  skills
• Positions (see Figure 15.7)
• 1) Telecomm Manager (should not be a technical
  background)
• 2) Design and implementing (engineering related)
• 3) Network operations staff (up to university
  degree)
• 4) Technical support staff (up to university
  degree)
• 5) Administrative staff (general clerical staff)
• How do we hire these people?

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2. Organizing

• A group of people to
• 1) oversee the functions and overlapping of job
  responsibilities of different functional units
• 2) prioritize and job allocation of telcomm
  projects in the department

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3. Planning

• Three types of time frame
• 1. Long-term plan
• plan that looks into up to 3-5 yrs of
  departmental services, but revise every two years
  or so
• 2. Medium plan (See Figure 15.8)
• plan that looks into 6 to 18 months of
  departmental affair
• 3. Project plan (see Figure 15.9)
• relates to specific task-oriented plan for each
  project

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4. Directing

• Duties are to ensure the mission and plan of the
  department are executed on a timely and accurate
  basis
• developing clear mission and make everyone knows
  about it becoming a critical issue (See Figure
  15-10)
• one way to enforcing the mission could be
  accomplished by IT personnel are to request for
• 1) a monthly report
• 2) hold regular meetings

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5. Controlling

• Its objective is to ensure of the quality
  performance of their plans, which include
• 1) Financial control
• such as capital budget and charge-back policy
• (see Figures 15-11, 15-12 and 15-13)
• 2) Quality control
• such as auditing services provided to users
• (see Figure 15-14)

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FIGURE 15-1 Computer with a network of
terminals attached.
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FIGURE 15-2 Communications network with
terminals and computers attached.
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FIGURE 15-3 Traditional placement of
communications and word processing departments
within the organization.
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FIGURE 15-4 Organization after merger of data
and voice communications.
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FIGURE 15-5 The IS department as a separate
function with the CIO at the vice presidential
level.
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FIGURE 15-6 Alternative organization when
telecommunications is of strategic importance to
the companys success.
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FIGURE 15-7 Typical telecommunications
department organization.
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FIGURE 15-8 A high-level Gantt chart of a
medium-term telecommunications plan showing
project start and end dates. A more detailed
Gantt chart would show a finer breakdown of the
tasks.
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FIGURE 15-9 A telecommunications project plan.
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FIGURE 15-10 Telecommunications principles.
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FIGURE 15-11 The telecommunications department
expense budget.
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FIGURE 15-12 Detailed budget for the
rent/lease expenses category. Notice that some
items are planned to be installed during the
year their budgeted amounts are 0 in the first
few months.
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FIGURE 15-13 A monthly telecommunications
department expense report.
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FIGURE 15-14 Checklist for a
telecommunications audit.
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