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TA VFO

Virtual Front Office Trouble Administration (TA) Module

Use the following procedure to cancel a Trouble Report if the ticket was created by mistake:

1. The Report Request must be in Open status in order to be cancelled.
2. From the Work List, click the radio button corresponding to the Report Request you want to cancel.
3. Execute the Ticket-Cancel menu command. This opens the Cancel Trouble Report Request window.
4. Populate the relevant fields.
5. Click Submit.

When Frontier receives the Cancel Request, a Cancel Response will be returned and the status of the Ticket will be changed to show that it has been canceled. The Cancel Request and the Response will be retained under the History tab.
Templates help save time by pre-populating data that is entered frequently on Trouble Tickets. Use the following procedure to create Trouble Report templates:

1. Hover your mouse over the Template tab.
2. Click the desired template (e.g. New Escalate). This will open the template page. Below is a template for creating a new Trouble Report Request.
3. Populate the template with the frequently used data for that ticket transaction.
4. Click the Save icon at the top of the page.
Use the following procedure to escalate a Trouble Report Request. PLEASE NOTE: The Report Request must be in Open status in order to be escalated.

1. From the Work List, click the radio button that corresponds to the Trouble Report Request you wish to escalate.
2. Execute the Ticket-Escalate menu command. This opens the Escalation Request.
3. Populate the relevant fields. Fields identified above are required.
4. Click Submit.

When the Escalation Request has been received by Frontier, a Modify response will be returned. Both the request and response will be retained under the History tab and the Escalation information will be updated under the Escalation tab.
Use the following procedure to execute the Late Bonding process:

1. Hover over the Ticket tab and execute the Ticket-Create Trouble Ticket menu command. This opens the Create Trouble Ticket initial entry page.

2. Follow the steps under the Create Trouble Ticket section to enter a ticket for the Telephone Number or Circuit that had a Trouble Report called into Frontier Repair Center.

3. When the Create Request is received by Frontier and it is found that there is already a ticket in an open status Frontier returns a "Ticket Already Exists" reject response.

4. When Frontier received the request and already has the ticket, a Response will be returned containing all of the information on Frontier Trouble Ticket. The ticket will be updated with all of the information in Frontier’s response, the State and Status will be updated to reflect what was returned on the Retrieve Trouble Info response.

The Ticket is now electronically bonded, will receive status updates and notification from Frontier, and can be modified by the User.
The Worklist can be filtered to show only the trouble reports you are interested in viewing. You can also use the filter to setup an auto refresh interval. This allows you to monitor trouble reports when you are not actively using the application.

1. To access the filter, click the funnel icon in the upper right corner of the Worklist.
2. Select the criteria to apply to the Work List trouble reports.
3. Click Apply.

Note: Display Groups are groups of users created by TA VFO Administrators. When a Display Group is selected the Work List will show only trouble reports created by those users that meet the other criteria selected.
1. Hover your cursor on the Ticket Tab and a drop-down list will be displayed.

2. Execute the Ticket-Create Trouble Report menu command. This opens the first page of the Create Trouble Report Request.

3. Populate required fields on the Create Trouble Report Request page.

4. If you have a template, you can select the template applicable to the ticket you are entering, and then populate the remaining fields.

5. Click Next. This opens the second page of the Create Trouble Report Request.
Use the following procedure to modify a Trouble Report Request. PLEASE NOTE: The Report Request must be in Open status in order to be modified.

1. Click the radio button that corresponds to the Trouble Report Request you want to modify.
2. Execute the Ticket-Modify Attributes menu command. This opens the Modify Attributes Request page.
3. Make the desired changes.
4. Click Submit.

When the ticket is received and accepted by Frontier, a Modify Response will be returned. The Modify Request and Response will be retained under the History Tab.
1. Populate the relevant fields under the Ticket Info and Local / Access tabs.

2. If the Repeat Report field is populated with ‘Chronic,’ then the Chronic column in the work list will be populated with ‘Y’ else it will be populated with ‘N’.

3. The A Location Address under the Loc / Address Tab will be auto-populated when the customer has an Access/Local order in the TA VFO system and the Service ID is found on one of those orders that has been submitted and accepted by Frontier.

4. If the TRFD chosen on the initial Create Trouble Ticket Request page is a TRFD1 or TRFD2, you must populate the relevant fields under the Authorization and Escalation tabs.

5. Click Submit. TA VFO validates the information contained on the Report and generates a list of violations based on industry standard rules. There are no Frontier specific rules to use to perform validation.
Use the following procedure to submit additional information on a Trouble Report to a Frontier:

1. The Report Request must be in Open status in order to add information.
2. From the Work List, click the radio button that corresponds to the Trouble Report Request on which you want to add information.
3. Execute the Ticket-Add Trouble Info menu command. This opens the Add Trouble Info Request page.
4. Enter additional information as text.
5. Click Submit.

When Frontier receives the Add Info Request, a Modify Response will be returned. Both the Request and Response will be retained under the History tab and the information will be updated on the appropriate section of the ticket.
Access Circuits - Request process when Denying Ticket is as follows:
1. Use the Verify Repair function
2. Select Deny
3. Enter “Vendor Meet Requested” in the Close Out Narrative field
4. Call to schedule Vendor Meet – 1-877-500-5514

Local Circuits - If ticket is closed send new ticket, the process is as follows:
1. Create a new ticket
2. Select Trouble Type value “Manualintervention required”
3. In the Additional Information field enter “Vendor Meet Request,” the previous ticket number and dispatch date
4. Submit the ticket
5. To schedule a Vendor Meet, in addition to opening an electronic trouble report, Carriers must contact the CCSC at 877-500-5514
If the Report Request contains violations, click the violation(s) in the Validation Error(s) list to link to the field that needs correction. Once you have made all necessary corrections, click Submit again to send Report Request to Frontier.
Use the following procedure to get information on a Trouble Report Request. PLEASE NOTE: The Report Request must be in Open status in order to get information.

1. From the Work List, click the radio button that corresponds to the Trouble Report Request on which you want information.

2. Execute the Ticket-Retrieve Trouble Info menu command. This opens the Retrieve Trouble Info Request page.

3. Click Submit.

When the Request has been received by Frontier, a Retrieve Trouble Info Response will be returned by Frontier and the information displayed on the Trouble Ticket will be updated to match the data returned if it is different than what was previously displayed. The Retrieve Trouble Info Request and the Response will be retained under the History tab.
Use the following procedure to create a Verify Repair Completion Request.

1. From the Work List, click the radio button that corresponds to the Trouble Report Request that requires the Verify Repair Completion Request.

2. Execute the Ticket-Verify Repair Completion menu command. This opens the Verify Repair Completion Request page.

3. Populate the relevant fields to either approve the ticket closure (Verified) or deny the closure because there is still an issue.

4. Click Submit.

If the ticket closure is approved (Verified), the AVC returned from Frontier will change the ticket status to Closed. If the ticket closure is denied, the AVC returned from Frontier will change the ticket status to Dispatch, Pending Test, Screening or whatever status is returned on the AVC, and the ticket will remain open.
To view additional information on the tickets listed in the Work List, you can access the History section. The History section can be accessed by clicking the icon that looks like an open book. From the screen above, you can click the ID to access the Trouble Report Detail screen. The Message ID is used to view the specific transaction details. Clicking the History Message ID displays the transaction response details.
Examples include:
  • Resource Limitation - Frontier OSS back end system is down and information cannot be sent/received.
  • Access Denied – The Network ID and Account Name combination are incorrect.
  • No such Object/Instance – If a transaction is sent to Frontier on a ticket that is closed in their back-end system this error may be returned.
  • Must be Present Attribute Missing – A required field is not populated on the Create Request.
  • Invalid Attribute Value – A field is populated with incorrect data – i.e. hyphens in a telephone number field.
  • Missing Attribute Value – A required field is not populated on a transaction sent after the ticket has been opened (after Create is sent and a good response received).
  • Cannot Verify or Deny at this time– If a transaction is sent on a ticket in a state/status of “Cleared Waiting customer verification” or a Verify Completion transaction is sent to Frontier but no AVC request to close was previously received from Frontier for that ticket, this error message may be returned.
  • Trouble Report Change Denied – When a transaction is sent on an open ticket but the ticket is not in the appropriate state/status for that type of transaction, i.e. an escalation request is sent on a ticket in cleared state.
  • Trouble Report Already Exists – A Create is sent to Frontier but they already have an open ticket on that circuit (may have been opened via a phone call).
  • Fallback Errors - Industry standard fallback error codes that might cause the ticket to stay in “New” status.
Clock: Ticket has been “Deferred”.

Flame: Ticket needs attention. The ticket has received a notification from Frontier requesting authorization or closure of the ticket.

Green Check Mark: Ticket has been "Closed". The repair was successfully completed and the ticket has been closed by Frontier.

Red Bell: Ticket has errors. The GUI Validation has found a violation in one or more fields and requires correction before the ticket can be successfully sent to Frontier.
Circuit Mismatch
Create in Progress
Circuit Ownership
Invalid State Code
Invalid Segment
Leading Zeros
New Service Pending; Circuit Disconnected
Invalid Company Assigning Code
Invalid Circuit Format
TRFD is chosen depending on whether the service is POTS, a Circuit with a premise address, or a circuit without a premise address, such as a Message Trunk.

Account Name is the identifier for your company that has been specified by Frontier chosen in the Network ID entry.

Network ID is the ID for Frontier to whom the ticket will be sent.

Service ID is the 10-digit telephone number or Circuit ID for the ticket that you are entering.
The Work List displays all of the tickets entered into the system. Each line represents a particular ticket and shows the Ticket ID, Time and Date Created, date/time last update received, Network ID, State and Status of the ticket, the Agent Trouble Report ID, the Customer Trouble Ticket number, the last tech assigned to the ticket, the trouble type and the Chronic column.

Newly added tickets are color coded so you can monitor the ticket’s progress. The ticket starts shaded green, then goes to yellow, and then to red. The duration of the colors can be modified by the System Administrator. The default is green for ten minutes, yellow for 30 minutes, and red for one hour, after which it has a white background.
Frontier will send an Attribute Value Notification (AVC) to update the ticket information or request an action on the part of the User.
-Ticket - Hover over this tab to allow Users to create Trouble Tickets and reassign Trouble Tickets to other Users.

-MLT - Hover over this tab to access the Mechanized Loop Test function. this function is detailed in the last section of this chapter.

-Search - Hover over this tab to access the Search functionality. this function will allow the User to perform a Trouble Report Search, a TA message Search, an MLT Search and an address Search by ECCKT. this tab also allows Users to return to the most recent Search performed during their session.

-Template - Hover over this tab to draft Ticket information that can be applied to actual tickets.

-Administration - this tab only appears for those Users with access to Administrative functions. These Users can create new Users, reset passwords, delete Users, etc.
If a ticket was called into Frontier and you wish to create a ticket so that you can receive updates and send modifications electronically, you can execute the Late Bonding process.
The ticket is in "New" state. A ticket will be in the "New" State when it has been sent but has not received a "Create Response" from Frontier or received a "Reject Response" or “Fallback Error”. The ticket can be corrected and sent again by clicking on the radio button next to that ticket and choosing the "Create As" option from the "Ticket" drop down list.
Status Notifications: Frontier will send an AVC to update the ticket Status whenever a change is made to the ticket, and on a regular basis corresponding to the time interval entered in the Status Window fields when the Create Trouble Ticket was submitted.

Authorization Request Notifications: Frontier may send an AVC to request authorization for Dispatch, After Hours Repair or any of the other valid requests listed under the Authorization tab. The Flame icon will appear next to the ticket in the Work List when an AVC for authorization is received. If an Authorization Request is received, the User will send a Modify Request and populate the relevant fields under the Authorization tab to either approve (provide) the Authorization or Deny it.

Request to Close Notifications: If Frontier sends an AVC request to close the Trouble Ticket the status will be changed. "Cleared waiting Customer Verification" is a status that might be received on the AVC and updated in the Status field on the ticket. In the Work List, that ticket will also have a Flame icon to alert the User that an action is required. After checking to be sure that the repair issue has been fixed, the User will submit a Verify Repair Completion Request.
When the request has been accepted by Frontier, a Create Response will be returned, and the Ticket will be updated with the Agent Ticket number. The Create Request and Create Response will be retained under the History tab. To see if a response has been received while you are still in the ticket, click the Refresh icon.
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TA General Info

Trouble Administration / Wholesale Repair

Please visit the Planned Network Maintenance page.
To begin the process, please complete and submit the Frontier Wholesale Customer Connectivity Form. For more information, please visit our Get Connected page.
Please visit the Wholesale Repair Contacts page.
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TA MLT

Trouble Administration Mechanized Loop Test

From the Troubles Module in TA VFO:

1. Hover the TA MLT Tab and select Create TA MLT Request.

2. Enter or select the following:
  • Account Name: Your Company Name
  • AbbreviationNetwork ID: Frontier
  • Service ID: Telephone
  • Number for POTS Line
  • Test Request Type
3. Click the Submit icon (running person).

4. Click Refresh until a Response ID is return. NOTE: Responses are returned within 45-120 seconds.

5. Click the Response ID to view the response.
Description and purpose of the TA MLT VER codes is provided in the TA MLT Code Guide.
The TA MLT system permits Carriers access to real-time actual measurements for one of our sub loops. The TA MLT system breaks the connection between loop and the central office line card. It tests 'outwards', measuring resistance, capacitance, impedance and voltage on the loop in the direction of the end-user. It also tests 'inward', checking for presence of dial tone at the loop terminals of the line card and the ability to 'break' dial tone. When the test is finished the loop is reconnected to the line card. This is done in an automated way and does not require any manual steps by Frontier personnel.
Line Circuit Status
Dial Tone Status
Tip to ground resistance
Tip to ground voltage
Ring to ground resistance
Ring to ground voltage
Tip to Ring resistance
Capacitive (percent)
Longitudinal (decibels)
C-Message Noise (dBrn)
Total Loop
Open distance from the Central Office
Line Circuit Status
Dial Tone Status
Tip to ground resistance
Tip to ground voltage
Ring to ground resistance
Ring to ground voltage
Tip to Ring resistance
Capacitive (percent)
Longitudinal (decibels)
C-Message Noise (dBrn)
Total Loop
Open distance from the Central Office
Tip to ground resistance
Tip to ground voltage
Ring to ground resistance
Ring to ground voltage
Tip to Ring resistance
Capacitive (percent)
C-Message Noise (dBrn)
Total Loop
Open distance from the Central Office
TA MLT is for non-design or POTS services only.
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Vendor Meet

When a Carrier responds to a Design Circuit ticket in a Cleared state with any “Denied” response, during the Verify Repair Complete process, they can also request a vendor meet at the same time. This is done by populating the Close Out Narrative field with “Vendor Meet Requested,” along with entering the Trouble Clearance Person’s name and phone, and calling Commercial Service Assurance at 877-500-5514 Option 1 to schedule the vendor meet. This response only alerts Frontier of your intention for a vendor meet, you must call to schedule.
Yes, the 'Create As' function may be used to copy the closed ticket’s information, however, remember to change the Trouble Type and description.
A Vendor Meet is scheduled via a trouble ticket submitted by the Carrier followed by the carrier contacting the Wholesale Repair center by phone. The Carrier must initiate a dispatch at least seven (7) business days prior to the scheduling of a vendor meet request. Only after a dispatch has been made and the trouble is still unresolved will Frontier honor a request to schedule a Vendor Meet.
The Frontier technician shall adhere to the following procedures when arriving at the point of demarcation:

1. Wait for 10 minutes when arriving on site at the appointed time and Frontier’s technician is not there.

2. After 10 minutes, Frontier’s technician has still not arrived; the field technician shall contact the maintenance operations center to advise of the condition.

3. The Frontier technician shall attempt to obtain a status from the Carrier. If the Carrier indicates that their technician will arrive within the next ten minutes, then the Frontier field technician waits. The total wait time shall not exceed twenty minutes.

4. If the allowable timeframe is exceeded, then the Frontier technician shall close the Vendor Meet ticket. Billing charges will apply.

PLEASE NOTE: Future Vendor Meets shall be renegotiated with newly generated request by the Carrier submitting another ticket.
A Vendor Meet is defined as a meeting scheduled between a Frontier technician and a Carrier’s technician at the End User location / demarcation point or the Frontier Central Office demarcation point / Collocation Cage.

A Vendor Meet is requested when Frontier does not find a trouble on an initial dispatch and the Carrier believes the trouble to be in Frontier’s facilities. A Vendor Meet is then scheduled via a trouble ticket submitted by the Carrier to quickly isolate and resolve the problem or to prove no trouble exists in the Frontier network.
A Vendor Meet is defined as a meeting scheduled between a Frontier technician and a Carrier’s technician at the End User location / demarcation point or the Frontier Central Office demarcation point / Collocation Cage.

A Vendor Meet is requested when Frontier does not find a trouble on an initial dispatch and the Carrier believes the trouble to be in Frontier’s facilities. A Vendor Meet is then scheduled via a trouble ticket submitted by the Carrier to quickly isolate and resolve the problem or to prove no trouble exists in the Frontier network.
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TA Late Bonding

Trouble Administration / Wholesale Repair

Late Bonding requires action by the Wholesale Carrier as well as Frontier’s internal repair service operations. The Wholesale Carrier shall follow the steps below to create a trouble ticket:

1. Log on to TA VFO’s TA module. The trouble ticket List is displayed.

2. Hover over the Ticket tab and select Create Trouble Ticket from the menu in the drop list. The Create Trouble Ticket initial page is opened.

3. Follow steps for creating a trouble ticket based on the service type (e.g. POTS, circuits designed or non-designed).

4. When the create request is received by Frontier and it is found that there is already an open ticket, then Frontier returns “Ticket Already Exists” reject response, which will include the Agent Ticket ID. The State of the ticket will then change to Late Bonding with Status New.

5. When Frontier receives the request and already has the ticket created by the repair CSR or COT, a response will be returned containing all of the information on the Carrier’s ticket. The ticket will be updated with all of the information in the response. The state and status will be updated to reflect what was returned on Retrieve Trouble Info Response.

The ticket is now electronically bonded; the Wholesale Carrier will receive status, updates, notifications from Frontier and the user can now modify the ticket if needed.
Late Bonding is a process whereby a Carrier can create a trouble ticket for the same telephone number or Circuit ID after calling in the same trouble to Frontier’s repair center. The create trouble ticket is then entered and submitted via TA VFO-GUI or electronic bonding.

The Late Bonding process allows the Carrier to be able to receive updates and send modifications electronically through TA VFO or electronic bonding.
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