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For network centric businesses such as telecommunication providers and utilities, networks form the core of their business and comprise a very expensive asset that needs careful management to fulfil both present and future requirements of customers. Correctly planning and designing the network is essential to the success of such businesses. The network planning and design process can involve planning and design at different levels of detail from high level strategic or business planning through to low level detailed planning and design. Network planning and design forms part of a wider provisioning process encompassing order handling, job tracking, network design and configuration through to order fulfilment and billing. This chapter focuses on the network planning and design process together with a brief examination of the opportunities provided through use of network optimisation techniques therein improving upon results obtained through use of manual techniques alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a chapter of the book "Telecommunications Optimization: Heuristic and Adaptive Techniques." This chapter considers network planning and impact analysis for the plain old telephone system. In the past, new network designs were predominately undertaken by human planners using simple manual or partially automated methods. The methods employed were characteristically labor-intensive with relatively low levels of productivity. A planner, for example, would usually be expected to design a typical network layout within three working days. Generally, this work would entail two stages or more of design iteration, each stage taking twelve hours.