Wholesale: Products & Services

Archived System CR SCR021914-1 Detail

Request is for CenturyLink to develop an Application to Application Interface to support Client Self Test. Trying to interface with the current CenturyLink web browser is problematic due to the use of JavaScript, need to simulate a user and the need on CenturyLink’s end to adhere to corporate standards for Java/Browser etc, which could potentially render the Interface not viable in the future. Vinesh Vijayan Leela at CenturyLink indicated VZ needs to open a CR to request for CenturyLink to develop the Application to Application Interface to support Client Self Test functionality via MTG.

Initial Description of Change: Request is for CTL to develop a Webservice Interface for Client Self Test. Trying to interface with the current CTL web browser would be problematic due to the use of JavaScript, need to simulate a user and the need on CTL end to adhere to corporate standards for Java/Browser etc, which could potentially render the Interface not viable in the future. Vinesh Vijayan Leela at CTL indicated would need to open a CR to request that CTL build a Webservice or java API. Verizon prefers a Webservice Interface.

REVISED Expected Deliverables as of 03-19-14: For CenturyLink to develop an Application to Application Interface to support Client Self Test as soon as possible.

Initial Expected Deliverables:CTL to deliver a Webservice Interface for Client Self Test as soon as possible.

Status History

Project Meetings

1/21/2015 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink relayed this Verizon CR deployed on November 9, 2014. Verizon is currently doing connectivity testing in the Production environment but the functionality has not been utilized so we will leave this CR open until February.

12/17/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink relayed this Verizon CR deployed on November 9, 2014. Verizon will not be implementing this functionality until mid January 2015 and we will leave this CR open until then.

11/19/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink relayed this Verizon CR deployed on November 9, 2014. Our current understanding is the first customer to implement this functionality will be in mid January 2015 and we will leave this CR open.

10/15/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said application to application testing for this CR was available as of October 10, 2014 with the deployment date of November 9, 2014.

9/17/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said the Draft Technical Specifications were posted on August 28, 2014 with a deployment date of November 9, 2014. The Technical walkthrough was held on September 11. Mark relayed that CenturyLink will conduct a SME Overview of Client Self Test functionality at the end of the regular meeting today.

8/20/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said the Draft Technical Specifications are to be posted on August 28, 2014 for a planned deployment date of November 9, 2014. Mark relayed that CenturyLink plans a SME Overview of Client Self Test functionality in the September 17 CMP meeting. The overview would include what Client Self Test is, the benefits it provides to both CLECs and CenturyLink, and would include a rough estimate of the percent of tickets could be avoided if the results of CST were utilized. Mark said there would be a CMP meeting notice with a two week lead time to insure all CLECs are aware of CST Overview that will be provided.

Jeff Melton - Verizon asked if the draft technical specifications will be posted to the Document Review website.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said the draft system notice will be distributed on August 28 and it will provide a link to the draft technical specifications posted on the Document Review website. Susan said to insure Verizon contacts are signed up for the System notifications, Jeff could send an email to CMPCR and we will provide the link to request that.

Jeff Melton – Verizon asked if notification for the Overview of CST will be provided the same way.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said a CMP meeting notice will be distributed and the Wholesale calendar will also be updated with the Overview information.

7/16/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said CenturyLink has been working on a refined LOE for this CR and it came back 2500 to 2800 hours. Mark said after further analysis, to insure sufficient test time, the proposed deployment date was changed from October 12, 2014 to November 9, 2014. Mark said that means that the Draft Technical Specifications are now planned for August 28, 2014.

Chad Warner - Verizon asked if the draft technical specifications will include the WSDL.

Vinesh Vijayan Leela - CenturyLink said yes the draft technical specifications will include the WSDL on August 28.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said CenturyLink plans to have the SME team provide an overview of Client Self Test functionality and the benefits of using it in an upcoming CMP meeting - either in August or September. The SME team also hopes to provide a rough estimate of what percent of the tickets could be avoided if Client Self Test were used.

Chad Warner - Verizon asked if it will be an overview of the interface.

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said CenturyLink will provide an overview of the overall functionality of Client Self Test.

6/18/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said a high Level LOE had been provided in April was 2500 to 3850 hours and that a refined LOE should be available at the end of June. Mark said pending final approval of the funding and resources, CenturyLink had a planned deployment for this CR of October 12, 2014. He said the implementation date would be confirmed in the July CMP meeting.

5/21/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink provided a background on the CR and said that CenturyLink accepted the CR and believes the functionality is beneficial. Mark said the high level LOE provided in April was 2500 to 3850 hours and that the CenturyLink SME team is refining high level LOE. Mark said the SME team is considering a 2014 delivery or a 2014/2015 delivery option depending on the refined LOE.

4/16/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Mark Coyne – CenturyLink relayed that an Exception Vote had been taken March 27, 2014 and that the Exception to shorten the system implementation timeline had been Denied. Mark then reviewed the CenturyLink Draft Response which accepts the CR and provides an early estimate of the work effort in an LOE range of 2500 to 3850 hours to establish the new MTG functionality. The allotted available hours for the 2014 calendar year for Repair Release(s) is 1900 hours. Mark said CenturyLink believes the functionality will be beneficial to both CLECs and CenturyLink and that we are continuing to evaluate possible funding options. Mark said Verizon may also pursue the Special Change Request Process (SCRP) available through CMP in Section 10.4 if they want to pursue delivery of the CR in 2014.

Chad Warner – Verizon said CenturyLink sees the benefit of the functionality but with the LOE being almost double the available hours in 2014, unless Verizon kicks in some funding, what are the options for 2015?

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said we don’t know what the hours will be for 2015 but it is unlikely they would be more than 2014. The IT team is looking at options for delivery. It is unknown if the functionality could be broken into pieces. Mark said there is a meeting with IT at the end of the month and that we hope to know more in May.

Chad Warner – Verizon said there may be more known as far as options then in May.

3/27/14 Attendees: Chad Warner – Verizon Sobhan Archakam – Verizon Kim Isaacs – Integra Pam Zeigler – CenturyLink Vinesh Vijayan Leela – CenturyLink Denise Martinez – CenturyLink Tracy Strombotne – CenturyLink Doris Luttrell – CenturyLink Rich Rockwell – CenturyLink Lori Burchett – CenturyLink Mark Coyne – CenturyLink Susan Lorence – CenturyLink Al Finnell – Windstream

NOTE: The exception call/vote meeting had a delayed start. Verizon and Integra reached out to other CLECs to see if an additional CLEC representative could call in to allow the Exception vote to be taken. Susan reviewed the language in Section 17.4 in the CMP document in regard to quorum. For a CMP vote to be conducted, Susan said quorum was based on 62.5% of the average CLEC and CenturyLink attendance at the last six monthly CMP meetings, October 2013 through March 2014. The average CLEC and CenturyLink attendees during this period was 8.25 so the quorum for the exception vote meeting was five (5). Susan relayed an email vote had been received which, per the CMP document, counted toward reaching quorum. Also reviewed were the next steps in regard to an exception vote in case quorum was not reached. Once Al Finnell – Windstream joined the call, quorum was met and the meeting continued and the Exception vote could be conducted.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink reviewed the agenda and purpose of the Exception Call/Vote Meeting. The highlights of the CR timeline as listed in the CR history available at http://www.centurylink.com/wholesale/cmp/cr/CRSCR021914-1EX.html were reviewed. Susan asked if there were any questions. There were none.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink then reviewed what a vote of Yes and No would mean. A CLEC or CenturyLink vote of “yes” would indicate a preference that CenturyLink use a shortened system release notification timeline to meet a Production date as soon as possible for an Application to Application Interface to Maintenance Ticketing Gateway (MTG) to support Client Self Test. A vote of 'No' would indicate a preference that CenturyLink does NOT use a shortened system release notification timeline to meet a Production date as soon as possible for an Application to Application Interface to Maintenance Ticketing Gateway (MTG) to support Client Self Test.

The vote was conducted and the results are listed in the table below:

Voting Carrier Voting Participant VOTE Sprint Jeff Sonnier (by email on 3/24) Abstain Verizon Chad Warner (by phone) YES Integra Kim Isaacs (by phone) Abstain Windstream Al Finnell (by phone) Abstain CenturyLink Mark Coyne (by phone) No

Mark Coyne – CenturyLink relayed why CenturyLink was casting a ‘No’ vote. Mark said CenturyLink believed the functionality associated with this CR was beneficial to both CenturyLink and CLECs but there was not enough information available yet in regard to the Level of Effort (LOE). Mark said the change was significant and impacted downstream systems. Without the LOE, there was not enough information to know whether there are enough budget hours in 2014 to implement this change.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said with the No vote, the exception portion of the CR was Denied since the CMP document requires a unanimous vote to pass a system exception request. Susan said the next step is for IT to continue the CR analysis. With the April CMP meeting, CenturyLink hoped to send the CR draft response indicating whether the CR is accepted or not.

Chad Warner – Verizon then requested clarification on the process for the April meeting and whether the LOE would be known by April.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink recapped that the CMP vote today was in regard to the exception portion of the CR. Without the LOE, CenturyLink had to vote “no” since there was no LOE to know whether there were enough hours in 2014 or whether a shortened timeline could be met. By the April CMP meeting, CenturyLink hoped to have that information. Susan said CenturyLink understands that Verizon would like the functionality delivered soon and we believe the CR will be accepted but that the LOE and delivery timeline were unknown. Susan asked if there were any other questions.

Chad Warner – Verizon asked when the minutes would be available.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said she hoped to have them by Monday. Susan thanked everyone for joining the call.

The clarification call concluded at 11:55 AM MT.

3/19/2014 Monthly Systems CMP Meeting Chad Warner – Verizon presented the new CR. Chad said Verizon had tried to interface with the current web browser but because of Java, the screen scrape approach was not effective. Chad said because of problems, they submitted this CR.

Randee Ryan – Comcast asked what is Client Self Test (CST).

Chad Warner – Verizon said CST allows customers to perform testing before submitting a trouble ticket to CenturyLink to figure out where the problem may be.

Sobhan Archakam – Verizon said the current web interface to CST which utilizes Java is not viable in the future.

For the next hour or so, there was considerable discussion about several distinct topics associated with this CR:

• Concern was expressed that it is a defect that CST is available in the GUI and is NOT a part of the app to app interface. - Several times Liz Tierney – MegaPath and Kim Isaacs – Integra expressed their view that the functionality between the GUI and app to app interfaces should be the same. - CenturyLink SMEs indicated that CEMR (GUI) and MEDIACC (app to app) interfaces had very similar functionality but that there were some functions that were not available in one application vs. the other. - When CEMR-MTG and MTG replaced CEMR and MEDIACC, these applications then mirrored the functionality of the systems they replaced. - CST was one of the functions that was only available in the CEMR GUI since it was implemented. - Kim Isaacs – Integra said that the CR to enhance MTG with CST could be considered a defect. CenturyLink disagreed.

• There was considerable discussion as to whether the newly requested interface should be to the CEMR-MTG GUI or the MTG app to app interface. - There was some confusion about CEMR-MTG and MTG being different applications. - The functional portion of the CR was clear to request CST via a software interface instead of a screen scrape or GUI interaction. - There was extensive discussion that a web service interface and app to app interface were really the same type of request. - The Verizon CR was requesting the CST capability to be available via an interface outside of the CEMR-MTG GUI. - More discussion around the two interfaces helped to clarify the technical differences. (See next topic.) - Agreement on the call was reached that the new CST interface should interface to MTG. - CenturyLink confirmed Verizon currently utilizes both the CEMR-MTG and MTG applications today not just CEMR-MTG. - Verizon will revise the CR to request the interface be an app to app vs web service. - The CMP timelines are different for a GUI and app to app interface but the exception request was that the delivery of the interface be as soon as possible.

• Clarification was necessary as to what a web service interface to the GUI meant vs. an app to app interface to MTG really meant. - There was confusion and possibly miscommunication between Verizon and CenturyLink technicians as to the technical aspects of the interface - what a web service interface meant vs. an app to app interface. - The clarification call on Feb 27 focused on providing a web service interface in CEMR-MTG. - Vinesh Vijayan Leela - CenturyLink explained the difference between a web service interface to CEMR-MTG and an app to app interface to MTG. - A web service interface would only be a stand alone interface to CEMR-MTG CST and would require additional development and connectivity to make it available to MTG CLEC users. - An app to app interface to MTG would be an XML interface. - Once there was understanding of the interface options, there was concurrence that an XML interface to MTG was preferable.

• Based on the February 27 clarification call, the CMP vote notice that had been distributed on March 3 was specific to a shortened timeline for the CEMR-MTG GUI interface. - If the interface changed, the exception vote would need to change. - CenturyLink had received two email votes on the original vote notice that had been distributed. Neither CLEC that had submitted early email votes were on the monthly call. - If the CR was revised, the question was how long before the exception vote could then occur. - Verizon and other CLEC participants expressed concerned that the next exception vote should not be delayed until the April CMP meeting. - CenturyLink said if the CR was revised, a new exception vote notice could be sent that provided the five day lead time as required per CMP to allow full CLEC community participation and awareness of the revised vote. - CenturyLink would redo the vote notice once the CR was revised by Verizon. - Kim Isaacs - Integra wanted to insure all were aware before a vote takes place that Integra has a CR associated with MTG that also requires consideration. Kim said she understood the available hours for repair were not likely sufficient to accommodate the Verizon CR as well as the Integra CR. - Mark Coyne – CenturyLink said the exception vote on the Verizon CR was whether to handle the CR as an exception and was not related to prioritization or LOEs.

The final direction on this CR discussion was that agreement was reached that Verizon would revise their CR to request an Application to application Interface for Client Self Test.

CenturyLink would then issue a CMP exception vote notice to reconsider the Exception request to deliver the CST interface as soon as possible.

2/27/14 CR Clarification call [REVISED as of 3-11-14 see revisions below]

Attendees: Chad Warner – Verizon Sobhan Archakam – Verizon Richard Cooper – Verizon Ben Bridgwater – Verizon Rao Tanuku – Verizon Kim Isaacs – Integra Laurie Roberson – Integra Steph Prull – Integra Pam Zeigler – CenturyLink Vinesh Vijayan Leela – CenturyLink Denise Martinez – CenturyLink Lori Burchett – CenturyLink John Hansen – CenturyLink Susan Lorence – CenturyLink

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink opened the call and recapped the purpose of a clarification call. Susan said the CR had been submitted as an exception request and we would also discuss addressing the CR as an exception under CMP.

Chad Warner – Verizon then presented the Verizon CR which is requesting a web service interface for Client Self Test to be developed. Chad said Verizon is having problems with the Java script which is causing them to screen scrape. Chad said they had trouble with a work around. They then talked with Vinesh Vijayan Leela – CenturyLink and two options were identified: Develop either a Java API or a web service interface. Chad said they prefer the web service interface.

Rao Tanuku – Verizon said the web service capability is portable, it is language independent, and anyone can adapt to it. Rao said the platform then does not matter.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink asked if this is specific to the CEMR-MTG GUI.

Vinesh Vijayan Leela – CenturyLink said yes, this capability is only available in the GUI.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said if this CR is for the GUI or the app to app, the timeline is impacted and she wanted to confirm the requested change was only to the GUI .

Chad Warner – Verizon said the current CEMR-MTG GUI does not work for Verizon and they are requesting a web service be developed for Client Self Test.

Rao Tanuku – Verizon said they tried the manual interface and instead are requesting the same functionality via a system interface.

Ben Bridgwater – Verizon said the process for the web page is workable and said they would be happy if the web service worked the same way.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said Vinesh indicated that the Client Self Test is only available in the GUI and not in MTG.

Vinesh Vijayan Leela – CenturyLink said the CR is requesting a web service interface rather than logging into the GUI.

Steph Prull – Integra asked if the web service is going to the GUI, how would that be different for the MTG test environment. Steph asked how was it working with the app to app.

Vinesh Vijayan Leela – CenturyLink said the Client Self Test is in the GUI today and that he thought Integra had tried it in the test environment. Vinesh said Verizon tried to screen scrape the Client Self Test functionality but it was not working due to software changes. He said we are trying to provide a web service along with CEMR-MTG.

Steph Prull – Integra asked if an application to application customer could use the web service.

Vinesh Vijayan Leela – CenturyLink said we are still working on that.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said if there were no more questions, we need to discuss the Exception request under Section 16 under CMP. Susan asked Verizon what was the specific CMP exception they were requesting. Chad Warner – Verizon said he was told to complete the CR form and that he checked the Exception box. He understood the exception CR would be addressed on a case by case basis but had not read the CMP document. Chad said he needs help on what the exception actually is but that they need the CR implemented as soon as possible. Chad said maybe it does not need to be treated as an exception.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said the CR is being requested on very short timeline. She explained the normal steps to process a CR and said that those CMP steps still need to occur but it sounds like their request is to complete them on a shortened timeline. Susan said for a GUI change, the normal system timeline is already only 28 days and it would be difficult to get much shorter. Susan said accepting a shorter system timeline has to be voted on and requires a unanimous vote. Susan said she was not sure CenturyLink would agree to the shorter timeline.

Chad Warner – Verizon asked for another review of the normal timeline.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink reviewed of the normal CMP timeline again. She said Vinesh is looking into this CR and if he has any further questions prior to the March 19 CMP meeting, he would get with Verizon. CenturyLink believes this Client Self Test capability is important. Susan said we could possibly provide a response on whether we accept or deny this CR in the March meeting but we would still need IT to provide an LOE to determine how soon we can implement.

Rao Tanuku – Verizon asked if it is possible prior to March 19 for Verizon and CenturyLink to get together to hash out any technical details.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said as Vinesh reviews the CR whether to move forward with it, Vinesh will likely need to get with Verizon to ask questions.

Kim Isaacs – Integra said there was a clarification call on an Integra CR on Monday and that the handling of their CR and the Verizon CR was vastly different and she was not pleased about that. Kim said she thought CenturyLink was trying to talk Integra out of their CR on Monday and that CMP was supposed to be non-discriminatory. Kim said (3/11/14 Updates received from Integra in CAPS) it APPEARS [delete WAS POSSIBLE] that a lot of work ON THIS CR had been done already. She said she understood that Verizon wanted their CR as soon as possible but that she was not happy with the disparity in the process associated with the two CRs.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said that Vinesh and Verizon have been addressing issues with Client Self Test.

Kim Isaacs – Integra said there (3/11/14 Updates received from Integra in CAPS) ARE [delete IS ONLY] a limited number of hours for Repair CHANGE REQUESTS and it sounds like CENTURYLINK IS [delete THERE IS] already WORKING [delete WORK OCCURRING] with Verizon on this. Kim said that is unfair and is willing to have both CRs presented and let the CMP community decide what work SHOULD [delete WOULD] occur. Kim said Vinesh should not be making the decisions.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink apologized and said her depiction of the CR might be the causing the concern. Susan said when the CR comes in as an exception request, it takes a different path that implies an urgency.

Kim Isaacs – Integra said she agreed (3/11/14 Updates received from Integra in CAPS) THE EXCEPTION REQUEST [delete IT] implies urgency but was not a “slamdunk” and that EXCEPTION REQUESTS [delete IT] cannot not skip the process.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink apologized if she implied steps would be skipped.

Kim Isaacs – Integra said (3/11/14 Updates received from Integra in CAPS) [delete IF] CenturyLink was already working with Verizon, that implies some steps were skipped. Kim apologized to Verizon but said she felt there was very little chance THE [delete THEIR] Integra CR would be accepted.

Chad Warner – Verizon said that Verizon was trying to work through problems with the Client Self Test GUI. Chad said they had a call with CenturyLink to work on the trouble and that they were told to issue a CMP CR to develop another interface.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said she tried to relay on both clarification calls that the CR would have to be evaluated to determine if it would be accepted based on the cost/benefit and that the same standard would be used. Susan said there is a CenturyLink Java CR that has been discussed in CMP and that the discussion between Verizon and CenturyLink started because of a Java problem and trying to determine solutions. There was no intent to provide preferential treatment.

Kim Isaacs – Integra said she still had concerns and was not totally assured that there had not been preferential treatment but would accept that CenturyLink was trying to resolve a problem. Kim said the Verizon CR LOE should start now and not include any previous CenturyLink effort since that would erode (3/11/14 Updates received from Integra in CAPS) THE HOURS AVAILABLE FOR THE INTEGRA [delete HER] CR.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said that was not true and said CenturyLink is trying to understand the benefit of each CR as part of the clarification call.

Kim Isaacs – Integra said Susan had mentioned the Verizon CR on the Integra Clarification call which was not normal and which led Kim to believe that the Integra CR will be denied.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said she did not mean to imply that – only that there were limited hours this year.

Kim Isaacs – Integra said CenturyLink should consider some internal CMP training. Kim said she hoped for the best and would be disappointed if her CR was denied and the Verizon CR progresses.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said the CRs would be evaluated based on the cost/benefit of each CR. She thanked Kim for being forthright about her concerns which CenturyLink would consider. Susan said in regard to the Verizon CR, there will be a vote on the CR as an exception in the March meeting. We need to determine the CMP process Verizon is asking to circumvent as the exception. Considering Verizon wanted their CR implemented as soon as possible, Susan proposed that a vote of “yes” would support the implementation of the CR on a shorter than normal GUI release timeline. A vote of “no” would NOT support the implementation of the CR on a shorter than normal GUI release timeline. Chad Warner – Verizon said that was the request. Chad asked if the CR would go through the normal process if a “no” vote was received.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said if their CR was accepted then yes. The next step would be that CenturyLink would distribute a notification to the CMP community to identify that an exception vote would be taken in the March meeting. The vote would need to be unanimous for the CR to be considered as an exception. Susan asked if there were any questions.

Chad Warner – Verizon asked if there was a vote of no, what would the CR timeline be and could CenturyLink provide a possible date range.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said we have no idea of the timeline since the CR is still being evaluated and has not yet been accepted.

Chad Warner – Verizon asked if the CR is accepted, what would be the minimum timeframe.

Susan Lorence – CenturyLink said that was not possible to know until the CR evaluation occurs. She asked if there were any other questions. There were none.

The clarification call concluded at 9:45 AM MT.

CenturyLink Response

Chad Warner - Verizon

This letter is in response to Verizon Change Request SCR021914-1, entitled “Application to application Interface for Client Self Test”.

CR Description: This request is for CenturyLink to develop an Application to Application Interface to support Client Self Test. Verizon indicates that trying to interface with the current CenturyLink web browser is problematic due to the use of JavaScript, the need to simulate a user and the need on CenturyLink’s end to adhere to corporate standards for Java/Browser etc, which could potentially render the Interface not viable in the future.

History: The CR was received on February 19, 2014. A clarification meeting was held on February 27, 2014 with Verizon, Integra and CenturyLink representatives present. The CR was requested to be considered an Exception CR so during the Clarification call, a clear description of the Exception to the Change Management Process (CMP) was determined. During the March monthly meeting, the CR was presented by Verizon and then a vote was to be taken on the CMP Exception Request however, during the meeting, it was determined that the CR should be revised to develop an application to application interface to Maintenance Ticketing Gateway (MTG) vs. a web service interface to the Customer Electronic Maintenance and Repair – Maintenance Ticketing Gateway (CEMR-MTG) GUI. Verizon submitted a revision to their CR on March 19, 2014. On March 27, 2014, the CMP vote was taken on whether to consider the CR as an Exception Request to the normal CMP system delivery timelines. Per the CMP document, a request for a system CR to be handled as an exception requires a unanimous vote. The Exception Request was denied with a vote of 1 Yes (Verizon), 3 Abstains (Sprint, Integra, and Windstream), and 1 No (CenturyLink).

CenturyLink Response: During the CMP Exception call on March 27, 2014, Mark Coyne - CenturyLink relayed that the CenturyLink vote was No on this Exception Request to shorten the timeline for CR implementation because there was not enough information available yet associated with the Level of Effort (LOE). Mark said CenturyLink believed the functionality associated with this CR was beneficial to both CenturyLink and CLECs but the change was significant and impacted downstream systems. Without the LOE, it was unclear whether there is enough budget hours in 2014 to implement this CR.

The CenturyLink SME team has continued to review the requirements associated with this CR and have completed a high level of analysis. CenturyLink is accepting this CR to enhance MTG with the requested functionality of Client Self Test. The early estimate of the work effort to establish this new MTG functionality/infrastructure places the project in a range of 2500 to 3850 hours. The available hours allotted for the 2014 calendar year for Repair Release(s) is 1900 hours. (The estimates for each Wholesale functional area was established in December 2013 and was shared with the customer community via notice number CMPR.CMPP.12.12.13.F.11803.2014SystemReleaseCapacity.)

CenturyLink understands that Verizon would like this functionality delivered soon and as indicated during the CMP Exception vote, CenturyLink believes the functionality will be beneficial to both CLECs and CenturyLink. With that in mind, CenturyLink is continuing to evaluate potential funding options to deliver this CR. Alternatively, to have this CR considered for delivery in 2014, Verizon may choose to pursue the Special Change Request Process (SCRP) available through the Wholesale Change Management Process (CMP). SCRP allows a CLEC or Resale customer to pursue CenturyLink system changes through their own funding of CenturyLink development and testing costs. For additional information on the CMP SCRP, refer to Section 10.3 of the CMP document available at http://www.centurylink.com/wholesale/cmp/index.html.

Sincerely,

Susan Lorence CenturyLink Wholesale CR Project Manager