Topology shows a protection path that has already failed.
Detect: Current device health disagrees with the stored dependency graph.
Recover: Mark redundancy unknown and block plans that rely on the unavailable protection path.
Telecommunications · INDUSTRY BLUEPRINT
Network incident evidence coordination
Correlate alarms, service dependencies, and change history before an operator approves network remediation.
Explore in the architecture studioThe business situation
Illustrative reference architecture. Validate requirements for your organization.
Illustrative architecture: A telecom operations center receives thousands of alarms after a regional service degradation. Teams must identify shared dependencies, determine affected services, and inspect recent changes. The illustrative system assembles incident evidence and proposes runbook steps while network operators retain production control.
Problem
Alarm volume can hide the initiating fault, topology may be stale, and a recent change can be coincidental. A model-driven rollback without current dependency checks could widen an outage or interrupt unaffected customers.
Why a multi-agent system?
Alarm triage, topology analysis, change investigation, and runbook specialists work in parallel. Deterministic correlation rules and topology queries produce the affected-service set; the orchestrator limits hypothesis loops and preserves operator ownership.
Intended outcome
The intended result is a reviewable operational decision with source evidence and explicit ownership. Track preparation time and diagnostic quality alongside service restoration outcomes. The architecture should make uncertainty and action boundaries visible during pressure, rather than reward fluent incident narratives that outpace the evidence.
Specialist agent team
Alarm correlation agent
Group repeated alarms by resource, time window, and known dependency.
Tools
- Alarm stream query
- correlation rule engine
Authority boundary
Cannot suppress critical alarms or redefine severity.
Service impact agent
Trace affected resources to customer services and redundancy paths.
Tools
- Network inventory graph
- service assurance API
Authority boundary
Cannot assume a stale topology edge remains operational.
Change investigator
Compare approved changes and configuration snapshots with incident timing.
Tools
- Change calendar
- configuration diff reader
Authority boundary
Cannot roll back or edit network configuration.
Runbook coordinator
Retrieve approved diagnostic steps and draft an operator execution plan.
Tools
- Runbook search
- incident draft API
Authority boundary
Only allowlisted read diagnostics can run without separate production-change approval.
Enterprise systems
Operations support systems
Supply alarms, resource inventory, service models, and authoritative incident identifiers.
Change and configuration platforms
Retain approved changes, device snapshots, and operator execution records.
Controlled automation gateway
Executes scoped diagnostics or approved changes with preconditions, rate limits, and receipts.
Architecture diagrams
flowchart LR
N0["Network incident evidence coordination"]
N1["Alarm correlation agent"]
N2["Service impact agent"]
N3["Change investigator"]
N4["Runbook coordinator"]
N5["Evidence ledger"]
N6["Human decision"]
N7["Authorized adapter"]
N0 --> N1
N1 --> N2
N0 --> N3
N2 --> N4
N3 --> N4
N4 --> N5
N5 --> N6
N6 --> N7sequenceDiagram
participant O as "Case orchestrator"
participant S as "Operations support systems"
participant H as "Accountable reviewer"
O->>S: Read alarms and service topology
S-->>O: Candidate protection path
O->>S: Validate live path health
S-->>O: Protection unavailable
O->>H: Block disruptive plan and show evidence
H-->>O: Select safe diagnostic pathRuntime flow
- 1
Open incident context
Deduplicate alarm bursts, assign an incident commander, and establish observation windows and diagnostic budgets.
- 2
Correlate symptoms
Group alarms using configured rules and retain representative raw events so compression cannot hide distinct failures.
- 3
Trace impact
Query service dependencies with inventory freshness metadata and separate confirmed affected services from possible exposure.
- 4
Inspect changes
Compare incident timing with approved changes and configuration differences; label causal hypotheses as provisional.
- 5
Stage diagnostic plan
Present safe diagnostic steps, expected observations, rollback prerequisites, and uncertainty for operator selection.
- 6
Execute bounded action
The gateway rechecks device state and approval scope, performs the authorized step, and evaluates service evidence before further action.
Failure recovery
Repeated remediation creates an oscillating configuration.
Detect: Action history detects alternating states or an exceeded iteration budget.
Recover: Stop automation, preserve traces, and return control to the incident commander.
Security & decision boundaries
- Never expose unrestricted device shells or configuration credentials to model prompts.
- Bound diagnostics by device set, command allowlist, timeout, and incident budget.
- Require operator approval for service-affecting changes and rollback execution.
- Check topology freshness and live protection state before recommending disruption.
- Preserve raw alarms and action receipts behind every compressed incident narrative.
Operational metrics
Measurement definitions, not promised improvements.
Incident briefing latency
Time from incident declaration to a source-backed impact and hypothesis packet.
Impact precision
Services confirmed affected divided by services flagged as affected in audited incidents.
Diagnostic usefulness
Approved diagnostics producing a discriminating observation divided by diagnostics executed.
Automation containment
Attempts blocked for exceeded device, command, or iteration scope divided by attempted actions.
Architecture tradeoffs
| Decision | Benefit | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Aggressive alarm grouping | Reduces operator overload during bursts. | Can conceal independent faults unless raw evidence remains inspectable. |
| Graph-based impact analysis | Connects technical symptoms to services. | Accuracy depends on inventory and live-state freshness. |
| Approval-gated remediation | Preserves accountable production control. | Operator availability becomes part of restoration latency. |
Rollout plan
Historical outage replay
Operators validate alarm grouping, service impact, and unsupported-causality detection across incident classes.
Read-only operations pilot
One region permits bounded diagnostics after command allowlist and data-access tests pass.
Approved remediation pilot
A small runbook set launches after oscillation, stale-topology, and rollback-precondition exercises succeed.