The following chart presents information on how to build the organization
that can operate an SMS service successfully. The organization chart displays
the organization units and the communication between them, the text bellow
explains the roles of each unit.
Figure 1. - Organization chart during the operation of SMS Services
Project management
The project management is ideally a two person team supported by
company administration (secretary, lawyers, accountants). The project
management unit is responsible for communicating with customers, suppliers
(in this case the Mobile Network Operators) and the operation team (1st Level
support). The task for the project management is to make sure all parties
involved in the operation are getting all the necessary information. The
project management is responsible for contract negotiations, billing and
accounting and for making sure the time schedules and deadlines are met.
First level support
The "first level support" unit is ideally a four to five member team with
the following expertise: hardware maintenance, software maintenance,
end-user training, logistics, IT security. The first level support unit is
responsible for purchasing or renting the hardware equipment, for installing
it into a data center, for installing and configuring the software components
in the system. This organization unit is also responsible for IT security
it creates user accounts and provides access to the system for the customers
and to the 2nd level support unit.
Second level support
The "second level support" unit is the software supplier. In most cases
this is Ozeki Informatics. The 2nd level support is
responsible for training the 1st level support team and for supplying all
the necessary information to be able to setup the system. The second
level support unit can also perform initial system configuration (e.g.
service provider setup, router or VPN setup). This unit is also responsible
for tracking down errors that could not be found by the 1st level support
unit (errors related to configuration, software incompatibilities etc.).
The second level support unit is responsible for doing custom development
to adjust the system to the requirements of the customer or the project
manager.
Server hosting company
The server hosting company is responsible for providing data center facilities.
A clean, well organized data center is required to be able to operate
a reliable system. The datacenter should have redundant power supply
with generator backup. High speed, redundant internet connection and
proper air conditioning is also required. The datacenter should provide 99.99%
availability for the whole year.
Mobile network operator / SMS Service provider
The SMS service provider is often a mobile network operator. This company
is responsible for delivering the messages between the system and the
mobile users. This company should be able to provide two way SMS messaging
service over an IP SMS protocol: SMPP, UCP or CIMD. The service provider
should be able to provide delivery report information for each message. The
service provider should have high capacity for both sending and receiving
messages.
Customer
The customer is often a large organization who wants a turn key SMS solution.
For each customer a proper user interface needs to be setup. The features of
the user interface should be negotiated and should be customized according to
the specific demands. Some customers want to use the SMS service
from their company IT system automatically. These customers require an API
or a connection method such as HTTP, Database (SQL), E-mail (SMTP) or
IP SMS (SMPP, UCP, CIMD2). Other customers want to assign people to use the
system. They need a good human interface, that allows messaging and
overview of the communication.
