Wholesale: Products & Services

Open Product/Process CR PC110117-1CM Detail

Description Of Change

During the October 2017 monthly CMP meeting, CenturyLink proposed a Process Trial to run from November 20, 2017 through February 20, 2018 to determine the feasibility of this change in the WSHD hours. During this three month trial, the CenturyLink WSHD will utilize an on-call pager during the window of 5:30 PM MT to 7 PM MT to respond back to customer calls.

A redline of the Change Management Process document will be provided.

Proposed Implementation Date: 4/1/18

Project Meetings

04/18/18 Product Process CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said that this CR was associated with the 90-day trial for the WSHD to use a pager the last 90 minutes of the business day Monday thru Friday. The call volume is extremely low. An Ad Hoc Call was conducted April 2, 2018 due to customer comments. Call participants agreed upon adding language regarding the pager usage to the CMP Document update. The CMP Vote Notification was issued on April 4, 2018 to relay a vote would occur in the April Monthly Meeting. The notice is included in the package along with the ballot. He asked Susan Lorence to review the voting procedure and take the vote.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink reviewed the CMP Vote process as included in Section 17.0 of the CMP document. The key points of the CMP voting process are: each entity is entitled to a single vote regardless of any affiliates and quorum must be established. Susan said quorum is based on 62.5% of the average CLEC and CenturyLink entities in attendance at the last six monthly CMP meetings, October 2017 through March 2018. The average number of entities in attendance during this period was five so the quorum for the vote was three thus quorum was met. Susan reviewed the proposed changes to Section 12.7 of the CMP document and what a vote of “Yes” and “No” meant as depicted on the voting Ballot in the CMP package. She asked if there were any questions. There were none. Susan said we received three votes by mail, but one of the mail-in voters was on the call and assumed that they would vote by phone. The vote was then conducted and the results are listed in the table:

Voting Carrier Participant Vote TDS Metrocom Rod Cox (by email) Yes Velocity Telecom Jim Hickle (by email) Abstain Granite Telecommunications Jonathan Kronewitter (by phone) Yes POPP Communications Rebekah Byland (by phone) Yes Comcast Andrea Smith (by phone) Yes Allstream Kim Isaacs (by phone) Yes Met Tel John Nugent (by phone) Yes NOTE: Though Mark Coyne, CenturyLink, was not asked for his vote during the Voting process, his vote was also a “Yes” vote.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said the vote was unanimous and proposed that we make the agreed upon changes to the CMP document and to the Web pages via a Level 1 notification. There were no objections to this approach.

Ad hoc meeting minutes FINAL April 2, 2018

PC110117-1CM CMP Doc change to modify hours of Wholesale System Help Desk (WSHD)

Attendees: Rebekah Byland – POPP Communications Kim Isaacs – Allstream Andrea Smith – Comcast Darin Bray – CenturyLink Greg Johnson – CenturyLink Rita Urevig – CenturyLink Lee Gomez – CenturyLink Mark Coyne – CenturyLink John Hansen – CenturyLink Susan Lorence – CenturyLink

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink relayed the purpose of the Ad Hoc call which was to review the proposed changes to the CMP document associated with two CenturyLink CRs. Due to some CLEC questions received from Kim Isaacs – Allstream prior to the March Monthly CMP meeting, CenturyLink scheduled the Ad Hoc call to discuss the proposed changes. For each CR, the calendar includes a current copy of the CR, the proposed change to the CMP document and the Allstream question.

PC110117-1CM CMP Doc change to modify hours of Wholesale System Help Desk (WSHD) Susan Lorence – CenturyLink provided some background on the CR and the 90 day trial that occurred that ended in February.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said in the March CMP monthly meeting, CenturyLink reviewed the results of the 90 day trial where the WSHD used a pager and customer callback from 5:30 PM to 7 PM MT. Mark said only two calls came into the WSHD during that time and both were received in mid-December. One call was associated with a request for a digital certificate and the other call was associated with repair that was not appropriate for the WSHD. Based on the trial results, CenturyLink is proposing a change to Section 12.7 of the CMP document to change the normal hours of operation for Monday thru Friday to end at 5:30 PM MT vs. 7:00 PM MT. There is no change to the Saturday hours nor the handling of Severity 1 and 2 tickets. Mark said the WSHD message that states “if your matter is urgent, leave a message and CenturyLink will call back” will also remain in place.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream asked where in the CMP document is the use of a pager referenced.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said a pager is not currently referenced in the CMP document nor is it included as part of the proposed change. Mark said the CSIE will continue to be available for ordering questions until 7:00 PM MT Monday thru Friday and that this WSHD change is specific to questions regarding technical or system questions.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said with the LSR consolidation still planned, she would like to see some reference added to the CMP document regarding the use of a pager for the 90 minute window.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said as stated in the monthly CMP meetings, CenturyLink is trying to simplify some of the wording in the CMP document so our preference was not to add language. Mark said an approach might be to add some reference to the WSHD pager in the Customer Contact Business Procedure.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said she was not in favor of adding it to the PCAT since that document could be changed. She said she wants wording included in the CMP document that relays that the WSHD is available until 7:00 PM MT – either via a phone or a pager.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said that Kim mentioned the LSR consolidation but that during the ASR Consolidation implementation weekend, CenturyLink provided a Consolidation “Help line” to customers to address consolidation concerns. The window for the “Help line” was reduced by a week since things were going well. Susan asked if knowing that CenturyLink would do that again would suffice.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said she did not want to give up something that is currently available in CMP and her ICA. She said maybe CenturyLink wanted to talk about lowering OSS charges as part of this but otherwise she did not want to give it up for nothing.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said customers would not lose any coverage during the window of 5:30 -7:00 PM MT; the WSHD would still be available.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said it would not be in writing that CenturyLink has a long-term commitment to that coverage. She said Allstream has had problems with other companies on the east coast and wanted it in writing. She was sorry that CenturyLink would be punished for another company’s bad behavior.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink we would take it back and look at what that language would look like.

Rebekah Byland – POPP Communications said she agreed with Kim that it was good to have it in writing that they could still receive assistance otherwise it will appear that WSHD coverage ends at 5:30 PM.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said he wanted to confirm what type of coverage was being requested. Was it systems issues or outages or an ordering issue?

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said the request was coverage for systems issues via the WSHD pager and not ordering issues. Allstream is working across multiple time zones and they have a group of personnel on the west coast.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said it sounds like if CenturyLink includes additional wording in the CMP document about pager coverage between 5:30 to 7:00 PM MT, that a CMP vote in April could occur.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said yes.

There was no other questions or comments about this CR.

The Ad hoc meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM MT.

3/21/18 Product Process CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said the trial for this CR ended February 20, 2018. CenturyLink had been tracking calls since November 2017. He reminded callers that the CR is associated with the trial procedure for Wholesale System Help Desk (WSHD) personnel to use a pager for customer call back during the following WSHD hours of operation: Monday - Friday 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM MT. Mark asked Darin Bray – CenturyLink to review the trial results.

Darin Bray – CenturyLink said he is a Lead on the WSHD. Darin said they have been monitoring calls during the trial and he has not seen a lot of change in the calls received. Most calls occur before 5:30 PM MT. During the trial, five calls came in before that time and they carried over past the 5:30 PM timeframe and were resolved by the WSHD. Darin said he could not tell if other calls came in after 5:30 PM MT if the caller does not leave a voice mail. He said there were two voicemails left in December. There was little or no change in the average speed of call handling time and the time to answer.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink confirmed with Darin that of the two voicemails that were left in December during the 90 day trial, one requested a digital certificate and was assisted by the WSHD. The other had a request that was not appropriate for WSHD and the caller provided an incorrect call back number. No action was taken.

Darin Bray – CenturyLink agreed.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink asked if there were any questions for Darin. There were none. He added that the proposed language change in the CMP document would occur in Section 12.7 NOTIFICATION INTERVALS with a change to the M-F 7 PM MT timeframe to change it to end at 5:30 PM MT. Mark said the voice mail process would be that if a customer called in any time after the 5:30 PM MT time frame, the recording would advise that it the matter was urgent, the customer should leave a message. The same callback process would be in place for the WSHD to call them back. The proposed language change will be voted on in the April CMP meeting. He advised that a comment was received from Allstream regarding the use of the process of paging and that it be included in the CMP document. Mark said that since Allstream was not on the call, CenturyLink will set up an ad hoc call prior to the April CMP meeting to walk through Allstream’s concern. All are welcome to join the call and hopefully any issues will be resolved so that the vote may proceed in April. He asked if there were any questions. There were none.

2/21/18 Product Process CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said the trial for this CR ended February 20, 2018. He reminded callers that the CR is associated with the trial procedure for Wholesale System Help Desk (WSHD) personnel to use a pager for customer call back during the following WSHD hours of operation: Monday - Friday 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM MT. Mark said we would like to continue with the pager process while the results are reviewed. The plan is to share the outcome of the trial in the March CMP meeting. Mark said that CenturyLink would likely be sending a proposed redline of the CMP document for consideration. Mark asked if there were any questions. There were none.

01/17/18 Product Process CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said this CR is associated with the trial procedure for Wholesale System Help Desk (WSHD) personnel to use a pager for customer call back during the following WSHD hours of operation: Monday - Friday 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM MT. There is no change to the Saturday schedule. The ninety (90) day trial started on November 20, 2017 and ends on February 20, 2018. At the end of the three-month process trial, CenturyLink will evaluate the results. Mark said the early numbers received from the WSHD indicate that there are few to no calls during this window. He said it looks like we will try to move forward with a proposed change to the CMP document to make a change to the current hours that are documented. Mark asked if anyone has used the pager process and asked if there is any positive or negative feedback.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream asked to confirm the trial hours.

Mark Coyne -CenturyLink confirmed that it was the 1-1/2 hour period between 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM MT. He asked if there were any questions. There were none.

12/13/17 Product Process CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said this CR was presented in the November CMP meeting but the changes were actually discussed in October. Mark reminded everyone that the trial procedure is to use a pager for customer call back during the Wholesale System Help Desk (WSHD) Monday - Friday 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM MT hours of operation. There is no change to the Saturday schedule. The ninety (90) day trial started on November 20, 2017 and ends on February 20, 2018. At the end of the three-month process trial, CenturyLink will evaluate the results. He reminded callers that the customer will be asked to leave a message. The WSHD professional will contact the customer within 15 minutes. From that point, the WSHD call will be conducted business as usual. No documentation updates will be made. Mark asked if there were any questions. There were none.

11/15/17 Product Process CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink stated that this new CR was discussed in the October CMP monthly meeting as a Walk-on. A Change Management CR was issued associated with proposed Process Trial which announced on November 1, 2017. The trial will start November 20, 2017 and run until February 20, 2018. CenturyLink will be trialing the use of a pager for customer call back during the following hours of operation: Monday - Friday 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM Mountain Time with no change to the Saturday schedule. The customer will be asked to leave a message. The WSHD professional will contact the customer within 15 minutes. From that point, the WSHD call will be conducted business as usual. This is a Process Trial only. No documentation updates will be made. At the end of the three-month process trial, CenturyLink will evaluate the results. Mark asked if there were any questions. There were none.

PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION PRIOR TO CR BEING SUBMITTED BY CENTURYLINK 10/18/17 Product Process CMP Meeting Mark Coyne - CenturyLink relayed that in the September monthly meeting, CenturyLink provided a brief update on the Process Trial associated with Wholesale Systems Help Desk (WSHD) and the Customer Service Inquiry and Education (CSIE) Center. [For more detailed information about the trial, refer to Notification PROS.MISC.08.22.17.F.15839.ProcessTrialLSRQuestions available on the CNLA at http://wholesale.centurylinkapps.com/cnla.] Mark said that that trial was going smoothly internally and externally. At the midpoint of that trial, Mark said the WSHD is also looking at reducing their hours of operation. To support their possible changes, the team pulled some data since the WSHD/CSIE trial started in September. It shows that the call volume into the WSHD Option 3 is down approximately 30%. Mark said that included in the package are some call volumes for the WSHD reflective of the last four months from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM Monday thru Friday. The data for that time period shows that the WSHD receives approximately two calls per week. Based on that data, concurrent with the previous trial, CenturyLink would like to propose an additional process trial that would run from November 1, 2017 through January 31, 2018. During the WSHD hours of 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM MT Monday through Friday, calls into the WSHD would utilize an On Call pager to return customer calls. Saturday hours would remain the same and the CSIE hours (WSHD Option 1) would also remain 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM MT Monday through Friday as they are today. CenturyLink would review the results in early February 2018. Mark asked if there were any questions.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream expressed concern that the timeframe would result in calls being handled via pager starting at 4:30 PM PT and asked if the timeframe for the pager could be adjusted to 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM MT.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink stated that the proposal from Kim could be considered, but asked if the trial could proceed as planned and then determine the final timeframe for the pager at the conclusion.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream stated that she would like for her west coast provisioning team to be ensured support until their business day was complete.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink offered to take the request back to the WSHD and that a reply would be included via meeting minutes. Mark asked those on the call if there were any other concerns besides the 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM MT window. There were none. Mark advised that CenturyLink would submit a Change Request in the November Monthly CMP meeting to address these issues in preparation for an eventual proposed change. He said in good faith, CenturyLink believes the data showing the low call volume supports some changes being made and that CenturyLink wants to find a good approach for all parties.

NOTE: At the conclusion of the October Monthly Systems Meeting, there was additional discussion about the newly proposed WSHD process trial. That content is being included here for continuity vs. in the October System monthly meeting minutes.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said that James Clement – CenturyLink was on the call as a SME representing the WSHD. Mark said James would provide some additional information about the level of support that would continue to occur for the hours that would be covered by the pager.

James Clement – CenturyLink said he wanted to be sure that customers understood that at this time, CenturyLink is not requesting that we change the WSHD hours of operation. James said the current hours will remain the same. He said the difference is that rather than having an agent waiting in an office for a call, the “on call” agent would have a pager and they would respond within 15 minutes. The agent would then handle the call business as usual – either assist the customer or create a ticket for further investigation. James said CenturyLink would be able to handle what was required in the Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink asked Kim if that information would allow her to consider keeping the trial as originally proposed.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said she wanted to take this back to her team to check further. Kim said they have previously had some issues with other east coast carriers where the lack of support has caused problems.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said he would like to leave the trial as proposed until he hears back from Kim once she has had a chance to follow-up internally. Mark asked if Kim could respond by Friday, October 20.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said she could respond by then.

James Clement – CenturyLink said he wanted to be sure to understand what the concern was since hours were not changing.

Kim Isaacs – Allstream said it was the “on call” pager that she wanted to check on.

10-25-17 UPDATE: Subsequent to the CMP monthly meeting, CenturyLink heard from Kim Isaacs – Allstream. Based on Kim’s follow-up and some additional information, Kim agreed that the trial could proceed as originally planned: the WSHD would utilize an on call pager during the hours of 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM MT Monday through Friday. An additional note to this is that the WSHD Process trial was originally planned to begin on November 1 but has been delayed to begin starting on November 20, 2017 and will continue for 90 days. A notification will be sent on November 1 with the specific details.