5 Creating entities

The model you diagram in Oracle Communications Design Studio PSR Designer shows the relationships between the entities in your system, the products, services, resources, and locations.

Topics in this document

• About entities
• Creating products
• Creating customer facing services
• Creating resource facing services
• Creating resources
• Creating locations
• Linking entities
• Deleting and removing entities and related data

About entities

Entities in PSR Designer are specifications for the actual instances in run-time applications, such as Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management. For example, in PSR Designer a product is a product specification, a customer facing service (CFS) is a CFS specification, and so on.

These entities are the basis for diagrams you create in PSR Modeler to model your network solution:

Entity	Description
Product	A definition that is the basis for a commercial offering. You connect a product to services by adding primary and auxiliary service mappings to CFSs. An auxiliary service enriches the primary service but doesn't exist independently of it. In the Residential Phone example, Home Phone is the product definition for the Fixed Voice primary service and Voice Mail auxiliary service.
Customer facing service (CFS)	A definition of a service that realizes a product you offer to customers. You associate CFSs with RFSs. You can use the same CFS to fulfill different but similar product offers. In the Residential Phone example, Fixed Voice and Voice Mail are the customer facing services connected to the Home Phone product.
Resource facing service (RFS)	An underlying technical service that configures a CFS. In the Residential Phone example, the Voice Mail CFS depends on the VoiceMailBox RFS.
Resource	Specific objects in the network and inventory that a resource facing service can consume, reference, or share when it's provisioned. Resources can be physical, such as a port, or logical, such as bandwidth or IP address. In the Residential Phone example, the VoiceMailBox RFS utilizes the VoiceMailServer resource.
Location	A physical location for services and resources, such as an office, residence, or city. Locations are realized as Design Studio for Inventory Place specifications. In the Residential Phone example, Residence is the location for the products and services set up in the diagram, meaning that the Home Phone product and its associated services are provisioned to a customer's physical residence.

For the Residential Phone example, see Example of a PSR Designer diagram.

About technical action subjects and targets

When you define an RFS or resource, you can specify that it is a technical action subject or technical action target. These relate to technical actions, which are configured in the Design Studio Eclipse environment.

If an entity is a technical action subject, technical actions on the entity control the lifecycle of a corresponding real entity in the network.

You set one or more application roles for technical action subjects, to indicate the type of action involved. With multiple application roles, you can have technical actions destined for different types of delivery systems defined against a single entity.

Available application roles are:

• Activation
• NFV Orchestration
• Supply Chain Management
• Test
• Workforce Management
• All Applications
• Partner Gateway

For example, you can both ship and install customer premise equipment, so you might select Activation and Supply Chain Management application roles.

If an entity is a technical action target, the entity is the unique context in which technical actions exist in the network. For example, an interface exists in the context of a device.

In the Residential Phone example, VoIP Line is a technical action subject, with an application role of activation, and the VoIPServer resource is the corresponding technical action target. See Example of a PSR Designer diagram.

About design actions

A design action is an operation that can be invoked on an entity in the context of a service configuration. You can define design actions for CFSs, RFSs, and resources. For each design action operation, you can select which characteristics will be provided as inputs, outputs, or both.

You can select one or more of the following for Input and Output:

• Add
• Change
• Disconnect
• Move
• Resume
• Suspend

Design actions identify which of the characteristics on the entity are exposed in the signatures of operations acting on the entity. For example, the set of characteristics identified as inputs on the Add action will be part of the request to create an instance of the entity.

You can't add characteristics to design actions independent of an entity. Only characteristics you've added to the entity appear for design actions.

Rules for naming entities

To avoid errors when importing into the Design Studio Eclipse environment, follow these guidelines for entity names:

• You can use uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers.
• Use only a letter for the first character, and either a letter or number for the last character.
• You can have spaces and underscores within the name.
• Don't use any special characters other than underscores.

Creating products

To create products in a diagram:

1. To start creating a product, do one of the following:
   • Click the Product icon in the toolbar and drag it into the diagram.
   • Right-click in an empty part of the diagram and select Create Product.

   The Create Product dialog box appears.

2. Enter a name and optionally a description, then click Create.

   See Rules for naming entities.

   The product appears in the diagram.

3. Select the product from the diagram or select Edit from its context menu.

   The product's page appears.

4. In the Product Details section, enter a commercial domain.
   You can create domains in PSR Administrator. See Creating domains.
5. In the Characteristics section, add one or more characteristics. You can use existing characteristics or create new ones. You can also add or create feature groups here.

   You can change the minimum and maximum cardinality on this page, but you need to select the characteristic or feature group name to edit any other values.

   See Creating characteristics and feature groups.

6. In the Service Mappings section, enter one or more CFSs for the primary and auxiliary mappings.

   You can also connect a service mapping to a CFS in the diagram. See Linking entities.

   If you create a CFS for this step, it won't appear in your diagram until you explicitly add it.

7. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left.

Creating customer facing services

To create customer facing services (CFSs) in a diagram:

1. To start creating a CFS, do one of the following:
   • Click the CFS icon in the toolbar and drag it into the diagram.
   • Right-click in an empty part of the diagram and select Create Customer Facing Service.

   The Create Customer Facing Service dialog box appears.

2. Enter a name and optionally a description, then click Create.

   See Rules for naming entities.

   The CFS appears in the diagram.

3. Select the CFS from the diagram or select Edit from its context menu.

   The CFS's page appears.

4. In the Customer Facing Service Details section, enter a service domain.

   You create domains in PSR Administrator. See Creating domains.

5. In the Characteristics section, add one or more characteristics. You can use existing characteristics or create new ones. You can also add or create feature groups here.

   You can change the minimum and maximum cardinality on this page, but you need to select the characteristic or feature group name to edit any other values.

   See Creating characteristics and feature groups.

6. In the Components section, optionally add components, which define links to other entities.

   See Creating components.

7. In the Design Actions section, optionally select actions for the input and output of each characteristic.

   See About design actions.

8. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left.

Creating resource facing services

To create resource facing services (RFSs) in a diagram:

1. To start creating an RFS, do one of the following:
   • Click the RFS icon in the toolbar and drag it into the diagram.
   • Right-click in an empty part of the diagram and select Create Resource Facing Service.
   The Create Resource Facing Service dialog box appears.
2. Enter a name and optionally a description, then click Create.

   See Rules for naming entities.

   The RFS appears in the diagram.

3. Select the RFS from the diagram or select Edit from its context menu.

   The RFS's page appears.

4. In the Resource Facing Service Details section, enter a technical domain.

   You create domains in PSR Administrator. See Creating domains.

5. Optionally, indicate that the RFS is a technical action subject or target. If you specify an RFS as a technical action subject, then also select one or more application roles. In addition, create or edit a corresponding RFS or resource to be a technical action target.

   See About technical action subjects and targets.

6. Optionally, select Enable Design Actions. If you select this, then add characteristics and set design actions for them.

   See About design actions.

7. In the Characteristics section, add one or more characteristics. You can use existing characteristics or create new ones. You can also add or create feature groups here.

   You can change the minimum and maximum cardinality on this page, but you need to select the characteristic or feature group name to edit any other values.

   See Creating characteristics and feature groups.

8. In the Components section, optionally add components, which define links to other entities.

   See Creating components.

9. In the Design Actions section, optionally select actions for the input and output of each characteristic.

   See About design actions.

10. If the RFS is a technical action target, in the Application Roles section, select application roles that define types of technical actions.

    See About technical action subjects and targets.

11. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left.

Creating resources

To create resources in a diagram:

1. To start creating a resource, do one of the following:
   • Click the Resource icon in the toolbar and drag it into the diagram.
   • Right-click in an empty part of the diagram and select Create Resource.

   The Create Resource dialog box appears.

2. Enter a name and optionally a description, then click Create.

   See Rules for naming entities.

   The resource appears in the diagram.

3. Select the resource from the diagram or select Edit from its context menu.

   The resource's page appears.

4. In the Resource Details section, enter a technical domain.

   You create domains in PSR Administrator. See Creating domains.

5. Optionally, indicate that the resource is a technical action subject or target. If you specify a resource as a technical action subject, then also select one or more application roles. In addition, create or edit a corresponding resource to be a technical action target.

   See About technical action subjects and targets.

6. Optionally, select Enable Design Actions. If you select this, then add characteristics and set design actions for them.

   See About design actions.

7. In the Characteristics section, add one or more characteristics. You can use existing characteristics or create new ones. You can also add or create feature groups here.

   You can change the minimum and maximum cardinality on this page, but you need to select the characteristic or feature group name to edit any other values.

   See Creating characteristics and feature groups.

8. In the Components section, optionally add components, which define links to other entities.

   See Creating components.

9. In the Design Actions section, optionally select actions for the input and output of each characteristic.

   See About design actions.

10. If the resource is a technical action target, in the Application Roles section, select application roles that define types of technical actions.

    See About technical action subjects and targets.

11. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left.

Creating locations

To create a location in a diagram:

1. To start creating a location, do one of the following:
   • Click the Location icon in the toolbar and drag it into the diagram.
   • Right-click in an empty part of the diagram and select Create Location.

   The Create Location dialog box appears.

2. Enter a name and optionally a description, then click Create.

   See Rules for naming entities.

   The location appears in the diagram.

3. Select the location from the diagram or select Edit from its context menu.

   The location's page appears.

4. In the Location Details section, enter a technical domain.

   You create domains in PSR Administrator. See Creating domains.

5. In the Characteristics section, add one or more characteristics. You can use existing characteristics or create new ones. You can also add or create feature groups here.

   You can change the minimum and maximum cardinality on this page, but you need to select the characteristic or feature group name to edit any other values.

   See Creating characteristics and feature groups.

6. Click the Previous page arrow at the top left.

Linking entities

You can make these connections between entities, using service mappings in products and components in other entities:

• Product to CFS (primary and auxiliary links can't be the same)
• CFS to location or resource facing service (RFS)
• RFS to location, resource, or another RFS
• Resource to location, another resource, or RFS

You can link entities in these ways:

• When you define service actions and components using the dialog boxes for each type of entity, PSR Modeler links the entities on the diagram canvas.
• In a diagram, right-click Primary or Auxiliary for a product or a component name for a CFS, RFS, or resource, and select Start Link. Then right-click the entity you want to link to and select End Link.
• In a diagram, left-click Primary or Auxiliary for a product or a component name for a CFS, RFS, or resource, then hold and drag to the entity you want to link to.

After you graphically create a link, PSR Modeler updates the definition of the entity that starts the link.

For information on how PSR Modeler visually represents links, see Working on the diagram canvas.

Adding entities to a diagram

You can add existing entities to your diagram if they belong to the same initiative or to a launched initiative. This is especially useful if you create an entity as part of another activity, or if you want to provide a view with just a subset of an entire model.

For example, if you create a CFS while defining service mappings for a product, that CFS won't appear in the diagram until you add it.

To add an entity, right-click its icon on the PSR Modeler toolbar and select the Add command from the menu. You then search for the entity in a dialog box. You can choose to include referenced nodes,which are any linked entities.

Deleting and removing entities and related data

To delete entities, characteristics, components, and domains from PSR Designer:

In Initiative Manager, select the initiative for your diagram, then click Initiative Content in the Sections list. This page lists the diagrams, entities, characteristics, feature groups, and domains that belong to the initiative. To delete an item in the list, click the actions icon with three vertical dots:

Then select the Delete command.

You can also use the same icon and command to delete items in these locations:

• PSR Dictionary, to delete characteristics and feature groups
• PSR Administrator, to delete domains
• PSR Modeler, to delete diagrams

Note:

You can't delete an entity or characteristic from the system once the initiative that creates it has been launched. In subsequent initiatives, you can create revisions of entities and diagrams that affect its definition and how it's used, but deleting a revised entity from an initiative will only remove it from the initiative; the previous version will still exist.

Within entity definition dialog boxes in PSR Modeler, you can delete components you added to entities and you can delete options from components.

In diagrams, you can delete links between entities.

You can remove entities and characteristics without deleting them:

• You can remove entities from a diagram. The entities are still in the system and listed in the initiative contents. You can add a removed entity back to the diagram or use it elsewhere after the initiative is launched.
• Within entity definition pages in PSR Modeler, you can remove characteristics and feature groups from the entities. This doesn't delete them from PSR Dictionary.