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Job description / Role
A. ROLE & CONTEXT
Purpose:
Manage & control the operation & maintenance activities of 2G & 3G NSS and GPRS networks to ensure uninterrupted 2G & 3G services with excellent quality all over the country.
Manage the GSM & 3G project implementation activities for new network elements to cover capacity and services requirement with optimum use of manpower and capital resources.
Context:
NSS and GPRS networks are the core network elements for GSM & 3G services to customers & maintaining the quality & availability of these services & extending it to new customers will contribute in increasing the generated revenue & customer satisfaction, which will lead to loyal customers unwilling to switch over to new imminent GSM & 3G operators in Qatar
B. ROLE ACCOUNTABILITIES
Overview
•To ensure high network availability by reducing mean time to repair, preparing contingency plans for disaster recovery & providing redundant devices/cards where necessary.
•To enhance Network quality by monitoring the implementation of the annual preventive maintenance plan
•Ensure that all network health reports or observations generated by OMC-S or Optimization team are being actioned & cleared in the shortest time
•Manage & control the operational activities of NSS & GPRS networks such as spares level, Faulty items return repair cycle, un-cleared fault dockets, planned outages, etc
•Manage the project Implementation activities & ensure smooth handover for network element and new services to meet project deadlines
•Take technical decisions for issues related to Core network hardware dimensioning in all GSM/3G project Technical committees while evaluating tenders, SOW , change orders & through technical negotiations (i.e. revising & approving final B.O.Q)
•Ensure that all GRN (Goods receive note), PAC (Provisional acceptance certificate), RFS (Ready For Service certificate), Asset adjustment & Asset transfer note for major projects are being released on time
•Define strategically engineering rules for network deployment for the optimum use of resources
•Ensure that all Core Network Assets are being capitalised as per finance rules & regulations & on time
•Support National special events & optimization requests that require GSM, 3G coverage & capacity
•Revise & approve implementation plans for Major contracts prepared by vendors for deployment of new elements in GSM & 3G CS & PS services.
•Prepare the capital & operation budget & monitor the actual expenditure and taking appropriate action with undesired variances
•Create performance measurement system for core network team which is linked to objectives set to each individual & prepare development & annual training plan which are inline with corporate targets
•Providing managerial and professional direction to the subordinates.
•Monitor, coach, guide & motivate work force to support Core Network operational & project implementation activities
•Analyse current processes & propose enhancement to improve work flow within the section & with in peer departments
•Preparation of various weekly/monthly reports relating to staff and achievements in the section.
Costs & Profitability
•Role holder is in charge of preparing operational & capital budget for the Core network & controlling it within approved limits.
•The role holder is in charge asset capitalization, impairment & writes off for Core Network assets which are equivalent to 20 to 30% of the total investment in GSM and 3G network.
•The role holder is indirectly involved in cost savings as he will be taking decisions related to hardware dimensioning during the technical negotiations , tenders & change orders to ensure that design submitted by vendors is not over dimensioned (i.e. matching the ordered hardware & with the targeted design)
•Like most of the other managerial positions, financial targets are a part of the yearly targets which includes mainly the following:
oEnsuring that new network elements and new services are put on service on time so that revenue expected is achieved.
oReducing network outages & enhancing the time to repair a faulty to restore the GSM & 3G services & minimise revenue lost.
Customers
Internally:
Role holder has significant interface with other departments in Q-Tel such as Transmission, Building, Billing, Fraud Management, Value Added Services, Marketing, Sales, Power & AC, External planning, DC power, Network Management, Planning & optimisation, & Base Station Subsystem.
The only internal customers that services are provided for, are Network management, planning, Value Added Services & optimization teams.
The main areas for the internal customers lies in:
•Clearing all faults, outages, alarms, performance degradation,... etc reported from other departments.
•Carrying out all the recommendation for network reconfiguration, new installation and new service introduction.
Its worth mentioning that dedicated teams from other department are supporting the role holder as cross functional organization especially from Billing & transmission departments, moreover experts form existing vendors are reporting on daily basis as part of the operational team where as complete teams from vendors are dedicated for carrying out the ongoing GSM expansion & UMTS project and reporting the all their activities as part of the project implementation.
Externally:
Role holder has significant dealing with Q-Tel's wireless vendors, contractors, consultants & Key customers.
Business orientation
The main business issues/challenges are:
1-Prepare for the forthcoming competition in GSM & 3G fields in Qatar by other operators.
2-Prepare for 3G deployment & Asian games in 2006
3-Reduce the dependence on operational support provided by vendors' experts
4-To complete the formation of NSS & GPRS team.
5-Obstacles in introducing new services.
Planning & Organising
Mainly the role holder needs to organise his own time & others whom considered as part of the resources of this section as listed below
The role holder has to plan the following:
•Annual operational, capital, vehicles, furniture, office equipment & PC budgeting requirement
•Annual development & training plan
•Annual leave plan
•Annual preventive maintenance plan along with the required manpower resources
•Annual targets for individuals along with performance measurement system
•Career development plan for fresh Qatari graduates
The resources which lie under the role holder responsibility are:
1-Manpower
•Currently the head count is 15.
•Cross functional teams from other departments
•Vendor experts reporting directly to personnel in this section
•Vendor project managers along with their complete teams reporting to the role holder for project related activities
2-Assets
Test equipment, tools, vehicles, mobile communication units, PC, Mobile Telephones, etc
& Core network elements.
Problem Solving
The nature of this position demands a great deal of problem solving skills & techniques due to the huge number of parties involved in carrying out the activities related to project implementation which is mainly coordination, aligning different tasks from different parties reporting to different managers to achieve one common goal, moreover frequent obstacles are the new tasks not covered by contracts signed with vendors, sensitivity while dealing with key customers, dealing with many contractors & trying to implement the plans according to the schedules.
Daily operation activities are also requires high skills on solving technical problems, especially when it comes to the interfaces with other national and international switching networks.
The role holder has a major role in solving the above mentioned obstacles through communication, negotiation, customer care, creative thinking & problem solving skills.
Communicating, negotiating & influencing
The communication is one of the most complex tasks for the role holder due to the diverse areas he has to deal with including internal and external customers, further more working in a cross functional organisation in the project area demands a person with high skills in communication & influencing.
Communicating & negotiating with the vendors for clearing obstacles while running project activities is a mandatory & very often practiced. This covers issues which pops up during implementation for things which has not been covered in the contracts or for urgent unplanned activities
There are two main domains for which communicating, negotiating & influencing are practiced:
1-Technical domain
The role holder has to be to technically competent in his area in order to negotiate the proposed hardware & plans by vendors during new contracts or even the proposed work flow for executing maintenance work or installing new elements, moreover he has to be knowledgeable to some extent in the supporting team functionalities such as Transmission, PSTN, IN, Billing, & OMC-S in order to negotiate & influence those teams to support him in his operational & project plans.
2-Coordination domain
In this area the role holder has to use his communication, customer care & negotiation skills to facilitate, compromise & coordinate between different parties to meet the scheduled tasks.
The role holder very often communicates with key customers, vendors, consultants, contractors & other departments in Q-Tel through written & verbal communication directly.
Requirements
C. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS
Minimum Experience & Essential Knowledge:
Minimum of 10 years of communication experience out of which, the last 4 years is in managerial position & preferably in wireless environment
Minimum Entry Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Communication Engineering or equivalent
D. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
•Increase Network availability by reducing down time (outage) for GSM & 3G services related to NSS & GPRS elements through preparing & implementing contingency & redundancy plans
•Reduce the total number of network faults per year
•Enhance network quality by carrying out proper preventive maintenance plans on time
•Implementing Process improvement in all aspects of operational & project work flows.
•Enhance the competency of team members by implementing staff development plans
•Reducing the dependency on the operational support provided by vendors' experts, henceforth reducing operational expenses.
E. KEY RELATIONSHIPS & DECISION MAKING
Reports to
Manager GSM Engineering, Wireless
Network
The role holder should build two types of networks:
1-Formal network comprises of vendors, consultants & contractors.
2-Informal network comprises of key contacts in other departments & external customers
Team working, coaching, guiding
The role holder is responsible for promoting team work, motivation & coaching in most of the cases; however in special circumstances (i.e. when dealing with Key Customer) a closer follow up will be there.
Teams involved are split into two parts internally & externally.
The main involvement is looking at the work processes & trying to improve it, further more coaching is one of his main tasks.(i.e. involvement in day-to-day operations is 20%, projects 30% & development & coaching 50% of the role holder time)
Coaching is primarily implemented into two areas:
1-Technical coaching by sharing the knowledge with the team members, stimulating them for enhancing their knowledge & at the end empowering them
2-Management skills coaching by guiding the team members to the best techniques in managing their time, their activities & their subordinates.
Decision making authority
Financial authority is as per Q-Tel's N-4 level set limits, whereas in the technical side, Role holder has the right to approves project implementation plans, takes final decisions for B.O.Q for all new elements ordered in projects & change orders, approves the release of GRN & PAC for major projects to release vendors payments, approves additional works to be carried out by vendors, approves the annual operation & maintenance plan, takes decisions related to NSS & GPRS networks operations to enhance network quality, approves proposed solutions for hardware network configurations to fulfil unexpected traffic demands, takes technical decisions to restore the services for major unplanned outages related to GSM & 3G Core networks and approves the final acceptance of new GSM & 3G network elements.
Note: an outage means loss of all GSM & 3G services., where traffic or network element corresponds to increase revenue & better service
Business impact of role
The decisions taken by the role holder affects (directly or indirectly):
1-GSM & 3G services.
2-Revenue generated.
3-Cost savings.
4-Customer satisfaction & Q-Tel's Image as a service provider
5-Network quality.
F. SKILLS
Technical & non technical
Transmission basics
Switching Network (PLMN/PSTN)
Experience on IN systems and interfaces
GSM Interfaces
Experience on IP networks
Understanding of communication signalling
Knowledge of IT systems
Knowledge of Billing & Provisioning Systems.
Processes & work flow analysis skills
Communication skills
Team leader ship & coaching skills
Time management
Decision making
Customer care
Cross functional project related skills
Other Skills
Problem solving skills
Negotiation skills
Analytical skills
Computer skills
About the Company
Ooredoo, formerly known as Qatar Telecom (Qtel), is a leading international communications company delivering mobile, fixed, broadband internet and corporate managed services tailored to the needs of consumers and businesses across markets in the Middle East, North Africa and South-East Asia. As a community-focused company, Ooredoo is guided by its vision of enriching people’s lives and its belief that it can stimulate human growth by leveraging communications to help people achieve their full potential. Ooredoo has a presence in Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Palestine, the Maldives and Indonesia. Ooredoo’s shares are listed on the Qatar Exchange and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.