Workforce management (WFM) issues

Telecommunication network Provisioning Operation and Maintenance (PO&M) cost reduction is today a strategic issue for Telco operators. Workforce Management (WFM) environments and techniques allow a dramatic cost and performance improvement for the “on the field” technicians management. Basic functionalities offered by the WFM environments are: activities automatic assignment and mobile office techniques. CSELT has developed a WFM environment to evaluate the cost reduction and performance improvement by using Artificial Intelligence and Operational Research techniques to automatically assign the activities, Data Transmission techniques based on GSM-SMS (Short message service) and Inmarsatt-C satellite communication, geographical localization and representation using GPS (Global Position Satellite) and GIS (Geographical Information System) and Mobile Office techniques. This paper describe the impact of WFM environment introduction on the company processes and the main technologies involved