A higher level information tool for network administrators

The authors have developed a prototype design for a higher level information system designed for use by telecommunications network administrators. Current technology-specific, or native, network management systems provide a rich set of functions for the specific piece of technology to be managed. This style of management results in well-managed, but isolated, islands of equipment in the network. Integrated network management architectures, such as OSI (Open Systems Interconnection), SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), and SNA (Systems Network Architecture), are intended to build bridges between the isolated islands of networking technology. However, neither the integrated management architectures nor the native network management systems provide a means to situate the technology in an organizational context. The authors, drawing upon theory and evidence from the study of organizational memory, organizational learning, and the management of distributed systems, have developed a prototype design of a higher level information tool for network administrators, systems administrators, and other management organization personnel with varying responsibilities, all with differing information needs. This tool situates a set of technologies in an organizational context, thereby improving the manageability of the network by acknowledging the value of actual work practices (Brown and Duguid 1991) and thereby augmenting the capabilities of the managing organization to (1) remember details about the network configuration and their inter-relationships and (2) learn more effectively about the network and its context. The prototype design has been developed using methods associated with object oriented analysis and design. The authors believe that this design model can be applied in other distributed systems environments such as data processing installations, distributed information systems, and public utility networks.Ope