ABSTRACT:
After telecommunications products have been generally available and/or in service for a period of time, it often becomes necessary for suppliers to introduce changes to the products. As a result of implementing these changes - regardless of who performs the actual work - the carriers are significantly impacted with respect to labor and resources, etc. Thus it is imperative that changes to these products are accurately reported and tracked through completion, according to the needs and requirements of the carriers.

This document provides suppliers of telecommunications products with the GR-209 Forum's proposed view of generic requirements and procedures for initiating and administering Product Change Notices (PCNs) and associated reports. These PCNs and reports should be used by suppliers as the most effective means of exchanging product change information with customers.

Issue 7 addresses a number of Issues List Report (ILR) items that were opened since Issue 6 was published. These issues were resolved during meetings of the GR-209 Forum and have been included in Issue 7. Issue 7 completely replaces Issues 6. Some of the changes in Issue 7 of this GR include:

• Definitions of Form, Fit, and Function as applied to both hardware and software changes have been included.
• Clarification of the PCN process for critical software changes has been added, particularly those in response to network vulnerabilities that include a potential breach of security to the network, such as malicious attacks, phishing, worms, etc.
• Clarification has been included to explain the billing process for software changes.
• Clarification of need to isolate Class A and AC PCNs from other PCN classes has been included.
• A new section has been added explaining the application of the PCN process to third- party companies which provide extended product support for hardware after the OEMs warranty or support service period.
• Change Classification Summary Table 4-1 has been relocated from Section 4.5 to Section 4 to better highlight important classification, interchangeability and related CLEI impact information.
• Change Classification Summary Table 4-1 has been relocated from Section 4.5 to Section 4 to better highlight important classification, interchangeability and related CLEI impact information.
• PCN related definitions were consolidated separately from GR terminology definitions.
• A new Objective O4-21 [125] was added to specify time frame objectives for advanced notice of product discontinuation.