1、 International Telecommunication Union ITU-T Z.372TELECOMMUNICATION STANDARDIZATION SECTOR OF ITU (04/2005) SERIES Z: LANGUAGES AND GENERAL SOFTWARE ASPECTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS Man-machine language Human-machine interfaces for the management of telecommunications networks Templates for tel
2、ecommunications human-machine interfaces ITU-T Recommendation Z.372 ITU-T Z-SERIES RECOMMENDATIONS LANGUAGES AND GENERAL SOFTWARE ASPECTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS FORMAL DESCRIPTION TECHNIQUES (FDT) Specification and Description Language (SDL) Z.100Z.109 Application of formal description techni
3、ques Z.110Z.119 Message Sequence Chart (MSC) Z.120Z.129 Extended Object Definition Language (eODL) Z.130Z.139 Testing and Test Control Notation (TTCN) Z.140Z.149 User Requirements Notation (URN) Z.150Z.159 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES CHILL: The ITU-T high level language Z.200Z.209 MAN-MACHINE LANGUAGE Gen
4、eral principles Z.300Z.309 Basic syntax and dialogue procedures Z.310Z.319 Extended MML for visual display terminals Z.320Z.329 Specification of the man-machine interface Z.330Z.349 Data-oriented human-machine interfaces Z.350Z.359 Human-machine interfaces for the management of telecommunications ne
5、tworks Z.360Z.379 QUALITY Quality of telecommunication software Z.400Z.409 Quality aspects of protocol-related Recommendations Z.450Z.459 METHODS Methods for validation and testing Z.500Z.519 MIDDLEWARE Distributed processing environment Z.600Z.609 For further details, please refer to the list of IT
6、U-T Recommendations. ITU-T Rec. Z.372 (04/2005) i ITU-T Recommendation Z.372 Templates for telecommunications human-machine interfaces Summary This Recommendation provides a specification for the design of the Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for object browsers. An object browser allows a user to sele
7、ct an object from a group of objects and perform some required functions on that object. This specification is called a pattern. A software pattern is used by designers to generate templates and specific instantiations for products. Object browsing is one of a few generic tasks performed by operator
8、s of telecommunications networks across a wide range of network and service management applications. Source ITU-T Recommendation Z.372 was approved on 13 April 2005 by ITU-T Study Group 4 (2005-2008) under the ITU-T Recommendation A.8 procedure. Keywords Human-computer interface, human-machine inter
9、face, software patterns, user interface. ii ITU-T Rec. Z.372 (04/2005) FOREWORD The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency in the field of telecommunications. The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is a permanent organ of ITU. ITU-T is
10、responsible for studying technical, operating and tariff questions and issuing Recommendations on them with a view to standardizing telecommunications on a worldwide basis. The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), which meets every four years, establishes the topics for study by
11、the ITU-T study groups which, in turn, produce Recommendations on these topics. The approval of ITU-T Recommendations is covered by the procedure laid down in WTSA Resolution 1. In some areas of information technology which fall within ITU-Ts purview, the necessary standards are prepared on a collab
12、orative basis with ISO and IEC. NOTE In this Recommendation, the expression “Administration“ is used for conciseness to indicate both a telecommunication administration and a recognized operating agency. Compliance with this Recommendation is voluntary. However, the Recommendation may contain certai
13、n mandatory provisions (to ensure e.g. interoperability or applicability) and compliance with the Recommendation is achieved when all of these mandatory provisions are met. The words “shall“ or some other obligatory language such as “must“ and the negative equivalents are used to express requirement
14、s. The use of such words does not suggest that compliance with the Recommendation is required of any party. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ITU draws attention to the possibility that the practice or implementation of this Recommendation may involve the use of a claimed Intellectual Property Right. ITU
15、 takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of claimed Intellectual Property Rights, whether asserted by ITU members or others outside of the Recommendation development process. As of the date of approval of this Recommendation, ITU had not received notice of intellectual p
16、roperty, protected by patents, which may be required to implement this Recommendation. However, implementors are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information and are therefore strongly urged to consult the TSB patent database. ITU 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication
17、 may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the prior written permission of ITU. ITU-T Rec. Z.372 (04/2005) iii CONTENTS Page 1 Scope 1 2 References. 2 3 Definitions 3 4 Abbreviations 3 5 Conventions 4 6 Framework 4 6.1 HMI patterns. 4 6.2 Normalized interaction flow for HMI patterns. 5 6.3
18、 Example of HMI pattern development . 6 6.4 Relationship to the eTOM 7 7 Object browser pattern 10 7.1 Object browsers using text-based retrieval criteria . 11 7.2 Object browsers using trees for retrieval 27 8 Template examples based on the object browser pattern . 30 8.1 Network Component Manager
19、(NCM) template 30 8.2 Other template examples 41 BIBLIOGRAPHY 47 iv ITU-T Rec. Z.372 (04/2005) Introduction There are two types of interfaces in the telecommunications network management business: Between management applications and equipment; and Between the management applications and the human op
20、erators that use them. The first type of interface is referred to as machine-machine interface, and the second type is referred to as the human-machine interface (HMI). This Recommendation deals with the HMI. In the ITU-T M.3000-series Recommendations, this interface is identified as the “G“ interfa
21、ce. It has long been recognized by the industry that machine-machine interfaces are key components of network management applications. Allowing these applications to exchange data and invoke management functions automatically using standard protocols has been the primary focus of the ITU-T and the T
22、MF. Typically, the role played by the HMI has not been as well understood. Although substantial investments in HMIs have been made, there has not been a clearly articulated strategy that could be implemented across the required range of application interfaces. This has resulted in substantial duplic
23、ation of effort, high development costs, and a lack of consistency in the HMIs produced. Improper or inadequate design at this interface can result in significant problems in the network in terms of reliability and operational efficiency. The impact of this situation should not be underestimated. Be
24、tween 60% and 70% of the software in typical network management applications is related to the HMI. In addition, the functional requirements that HMI components need to satisfy are at least as complex as those involved in machine-machine interfaces. In fact, for many service providers, the HMI is th
25、e application, since it is the only component with which the operator interacts. Telecommunications network operators manage their infrastructure and services via HMIs to operations systems (OSs) and management applications. A number of standards bodies have developed some general standards for this
26、 vital interface; however, this work has been limited in scope to very generic issues, or to the high-level design principles used to guide the development of HMIs. Other HMI standards include T1.232 (ANSI), ISO 9241 and ITU-T Rec. Z.361 3. In addition, the TMF released TMF-046 in 2002 that deals wi
27、th telecom objects provides information requirements for graphic displays. TMF-046 has been submitted to the ITU-T and has been given the number ITU-T Rec. Z.371. This Recommendation provides standard HMI patterns and templates for telecommunications network operations support systems (OSS). These a
28、pplication patterns and templates specify the high-level HMI components, structure, and behaviour for the most common tasks encountered by operators in the performance of their day-to-day duties. An example is the frequent set of actions involved in retrieving, viewing and selecting a specific objec
29、t from a large set of objects. We have identified a HMI pattern called object browsing that facilitates this series of frequent actions. Isolating a customer record that requires some attention from a large set of records is a good example of a task that is facilitated by the object browsing pattern
30、. Another example would be the selection of a particular network element from the set of network elements within the area of responsibility of the operator. A very large percentage of tasks associated with managing a network are facilitated by a small number of frequently occurring HMI patterns such
31、 as Object Browsing. These patterns are used as the basis for specific task templates such as a customer record viewer. Standardized task templates will benefit both vendor and customer communities equally. Development costs will be significantly reduced as toolkits evolve to include these standard
32、templates. This cost reduction will be passed onto the customers. Service providers will benefit through products that are easier to learn, understand and less likely to produce errors on the part of the operator. ITU-T Rec. Z.372 (04/2005) 1 ITU-T Recommendation Z.372 Templates for telecommunicatio
33、ns human-machine interfaces 1 Scope This Recommendation describes requirements for the “G“ interface of the telecom operations environment. This “G“ interface, identified in the ITU-T M.3000-series Recommendations of requirements, specifically ITU-T Rec. M. 3010, defines the interface between the us
34、er and the workstation or HMI. The software that instantiates a HMI or a “G“ interface (the “G“ interface is an M.3000-series reference) can be described as shown in Figure 1-1. This architectural description provides an improved means of specifying and understanding the complex relationship between
35、 the system and the user. Figure 1-1 shows three levels of complexity of user interface presentation elements, namely, low-level widgets, specialized widgets, and templates, all underpinned by HMI standards. The lowest levels of HMI elements are the most thoroughly standardized. These low level elem
36、ents are provided by the platform used, for example, the Windows platform. They are described in the guidelines provided for these platforms by the manufacturer. The foundation for all HMI presentation levels is generally HMI or user interface standards. In ITU-T Rec. Z.361 3 the ITU-T has standardi
37、zed a set of high-level design principles to assist designers as they assemble task managers using the objects discussed in these three sections. There are also sources of good HMI design in the field, in the platform guidelines and in other standards documents. HMI patterns and template instance Fa
38、cilitate the development of families of applications that have common behaviour, structure and user information model Specialized telecom widgets Telecom-specific widgets such as nodes, links and shelf level graphics as described in TMF-046 Low level widgets General HMI components provided with the
39、platforms such as Windows and described in the platform guidelines HMI standards General HMI expert knowledge, basic ergonomics and human factors e.g., ITU-T Rec. Z.361, ISO 9241, T1.232 Figure 1-1/Z.372 HMI architecture HMI standards: General human factors knowledge, for example, ITU-T Rec. Z.361 3
40、, ANSI T1.232 7, ISO 9241, and the platform guidelines provided by the manufacturer. Low level widgets: Part of any HMI is a set of low-level elements such as buttons, windows, and scroll bars. These are defined by the specific user interface style or toolkit supported at the workstation (OSF Motif,
41、 Windows, JAVA, etc.). These platform styles are aptly described in style guides provided by the manufacturer. These HMI elements are relatively stable and common across the range of systems or products. 2 ITU-T Rec. Z.372 (04/2005) Specialized widgets: TMF-046/ITU-T Rec. Z.371 provides requirements
42、 for the second layer of the architecture, namely the specialized widgets. The patterns and templates: The top level patterns in the diagram in Figure 1-1 are created when HMI architects and designers analyze a wide range of applications or task managers and discern a repeated set of small steps or
43、actions. These steps or sub-tasks, when coupled with a normalized workflow, form a pattern. Application patterns and templates are the focus of this Recommendation. Note that in TMF-046/ITU-T Rec. Z.371 the top-level class was called task managers, and herein is called templates or patterns, a patte
44、rn being a generic source for the specific template designs required for a task or task manager. Task managers are the most complex aspect of the HMI to design and are where the most benefit will be derived from standardization. A vast majority of the tasks in network operation centres would benefit
45、 from a standard way of presentation and behaviour. Much of the costly work required to design and learn these interfaces is eliminated when the use of a standard becomes the norm, and when this standard is available in the GUI builders or toolkits. Standardization of these interfaces produces three
46、 key values for service providers, which are: The HMIs delivered by vendors will be more easily learned and more easily remembered by the network operators. This will reduce training times and reduce scheduling problems. As operators learn these interfaces and as they understand the underlying patte
47、rns, they will make fewer mistakes. As learning is eased and mistakes are reduced, the overall efficiency of the work force will increase. Standardization of these interfaces also produces significant value for the product developer: Reduced development time and lower cost, allowing more time for fe
48、ature development and code quality. As new system integration occurs it becomes increasingly important that the multiple products that make up the support systems have standard HMIs. These HCI requirements are based on standard available information technology. They strive to maximize usability and
49、interoperability of applications or products from different vendors. This Recommendation was written in co-operation with the Telemanagement Forum. The Telemanagement Forum retains ownership of TR129 and copyright of the underlying intellectual property. The ITU-T owns the copyright of ITU-T Rec. Z.372. 2 References The following ITU-T Recommendations and other references contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of this Recommendation. At the time of publication, the editions indicated were valid. All Recomm
