scope:

The information contained in this Foreword is not part of this American National Standard (ANS) and has not been processed in accordance with ANSI's requirements for an ANS. As such, this Foreword may contain material that has not been subjected to public review or a consensus process. In addition, it does not contain requirements necessary for conformance to the Standard.

The Alliance for Telecommunication Industry Solutions (ATIS) serves the public through improved understanding between carriers, customers, and manufacturers. The Telecom Management and Operations Committee (TMOC) - formerly T1M1 -- develops operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning standards, and other documentation related to Operations Support System (OSS) and Network Element (NE) functions and interfaces for communications networks - with an emphasis on standards development related to U.S.A. communication networks in coordination with the development of international standards.

ANSI guidelines specify two categories of requirements: mandatory and recommendation. The mandatory requirements are designated by the word shall and recommendations by the word should. Where both a mandatory requirement and a recommendation are specified for the same criterion, the recommendation represents a goal currently identifiable as having distinct compatibility or performance advantages.

Suggestions for improvement of this document are welcome. They should be sent to the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, TMOC Secretariat, 1200 G Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005.