OSS: A Definition

 
OSS has grown to become a vast field, and the products it encompasses now occupy a multitude
of subcategories. So various are the functions involved in the management of a service
network that summarizing OSS in a sentence or two is difficult, but in general one can say that
OSS software serves the purposes of managing the business aspects and service-delivery
mechanisms within the network itself and the customer base. OSS software helps to assure that
provisioning, changes of service, billing, and controlling access to the network all execute
expeditiously, accurately, and positively for customers.
OSS is a catchall term for the management of connectivity and online services as commercial
services, and as a software category it goes far beyond the control software used to manage
network elements, though at the same time it incorporates the latter. Such control software
works in tandem with other software suites within the OSS category to enable and disable services for subscribers, and in concert all of the various modules operate synergistically and
transparently to link customer transactions with the network operator to actual modifications
of service.