Equipment Modeling

Before you ever put the first piece of equipment into your database, you have an idea of what that database should do for you. You know the business needs you are trying to meet, and the technical information that you want to store in the system. So why should creating an equipment model be so hard?

A database isn’t reality; it’s a representation of reality; an abstraction of what actually exists in your network. Like any abstraction, it includes some parts of the actual object (name, number of ports, physical location) and omits others (color of the shelf, number of mounting screws). The secret to a good model is that it contains all of the elements that you care about (and none of the ones you don’t) in a format that’s easily understandable and maintainable.

It’s important to ensure that the model is accurate and complete. It’s also important to make sure that the model reflects the equipment as it’s used in your network. Many times you’ll encounter an equipment model that’s technically correct, but not very useful. It’s of little use to know that a port is “port 2 of card 6 on shelf 4”, when the users are looking for “ET-1409”.

A good model takes into account four factors:

1. The way the equipment is used. If your primary goal is tracking physical connectivity, the model must include all the physical elements needed. If the equipment is heavily involved in services delivery, the model must clearly represent the logical connections it makes, both internally and externally.
   
   
2. The limitations of the system. Like any software, the Granite^® platform includes certain limitations. What an application does not do defines it as surely as the things it does. A proper model uses those limitations to its advantage, by keeping the representation crisp and clean, and by storing data in such a way as to keep the system’s performance at its peak.
   
   
3. The limitations of the users. Users are used to seeing information in certain ways, depending on their jobs. The best models are those that store all the needed information in fields and formats that are easy to search, easy to read, and quick to update.
   
   
4. The needs of the company. A good model takes into account the need for accurate reports that the management team can use to make or support business decisions.
   

If you’re looking for equipment models that work for your organization, Sincera has a wealth of expertise that we can provide. From the simplest patch panels to the most complex optical switching equipment, chances are we’ve seen it, modeled it and put it into production somewhere in the world.