Table of Contents

Hands-On Backend

Technical design of the pre-built environment used in the App Builder Workshop. The backend exists before the workshop starts; participants only build on top of it.

The design is problem-driven: every data point in the backend exists because at least one of the 15 workshop problems needs it to reach its answer. See Problem Data Design and the Data Availability Matrix.

Note

Element names, parameters, thresholds, and scenario values on this page are a proposed design and still need to be confirmed.

Design Principles

# Principle Consequence
1 Service metadata is static Stored once as service properties in DataMiner. No calculated or AI-generated metadata fields.
2 All other data comes from DataMiner services and elements Status, alarms, telemetry, trends, and schedules are live data visible in DataMiner Cube. No separate database, DOM model, or ticketing system.
3 AI is not part of the backend Summaries, recommended actions, and copilot answers are created by agents in the Specialized Agents Workshop at runtime. Nothing AI-generated is stored.
4 Every problem must be answerable Each problem has the data it needs and a seeded scenario that produces a clear answer. 
flowchart LR
    subgraph Backend["Backend (this page)"]
        SM[Static service metadata<br/>service & element properties]
        OD[Operational data<br/>elements, services, alarms, trends]
    end
    subgraph Workshop["App Builder Workshop"]
        APP[Participant app]
    end
    subgraph Agents["Specialized Agents Workshop"]
        AI[Agents: summaries,<br/>recommendations, copilot]
    end
    SM --> APP
    OD --> APP
    SM --> AI
    OD --> AI
    AI -. not stored .-> X((runtime only))

Environment Model

flowchart TD
    V[View per vertical] --> S1[Service]
    V --> S2[Service]
    V --> S3[Service]
    S1 --> E1[Element]
    S1 --> E2[Element]
    S1 --> E3[Element]
    S1 -.-> P[Service properties<br/>static metadata]
    E1 -.-> EP[Element property: Site]
    E1 -.-> D[Parameters · Alarms · Trends]
Level Count DataMiner object Contains
Vertical 5 View Empower/<Vertical> 3 services
Service 15 DataMiner service 3 elements, static metadata as service properties
Element 45 DataMiner element Parameters, alarms, trend data, Site property

Static Service Metadata

Stored as service properties in DataMiner Cube. Identical fields for every service in every vertical.

Field Type Example Used by problems about
Customer Text Consumer Mobile Customer impact
Region Text Brussels Regional views
Criticality Enum: Low · Medium · High · Critical Critical Prioritization
Customers Served Integer 850000 Customer impact, executive views
Service Owner Text An Peeters Incident workspaces
Operations Team Text Mobile Core NOC Incident workspaces
Escalation Threshold (min) Integer 15 Escalation

Each element additionally has one static property:

Field Type Example Used by problems about
Site Text Brussels DC1 Locations and regions

Where the Original Core Fields Went

Original field Now Source
Service Name Name of the DataMiner service Service
Customer, Region, Criticality, Service Owner, Operations Team Static service property Service property
Status Service alarm state (Normal · Warning · Minor · Major · Critical) Service – live
Active Alarms Active alarms on the service's elements Alarms – live
Last Incident Most recent cleared alarm on the service Alarm history
Health Score, Risk Score Not stored. Participants define their own logic in the app (e.g. criticality × alarm severity) – this is part of the exercise App
Open Tickets Not in the backend – see Open Decisions –
Recommended Action, AI Summary Not in the backend – created by agents in the Specialized Agents Workshop Agents (runtime)

Operational Data

All operational data is native DataMiner data, visible in Cube and queryable from App Builder.

Data Description Access in App Builder (verify)
Service properties Static metadata above GQI – services (property columns)
Element properties Site GQI – elements (property columns)
Service state Worst alarm severity of the service GQI – services
Parameter values Live telemetry per element GQI – parameters / parameter tables
Trend data History of trended parameters (≥ 24 h) Trend (line chart) component
Active alarms Severity, element, parameter, value, root time (age) GQI – alarms
Alarm history Cleared alarms GQI – alarms (history)
Schedules Upcoming events/activities as element parameters GQI – parameter tables
Important

Where a problem needs a threshold (e.g. "may become problematic soon"), the element also exposes that threshold as a parameter (e.g. Utilization Threshold (%)), so the app can compare value and limit without reading alarm templates.

Problem Data Design

For each vertical: the static metadata, the elements with their parameters, and per problem the data it needs and the seeded answer the scenario produces.

Alarm thresholds are noted as Minor / Major / Critical unless stated otherwise. T0 is the moment the incident scenario starts, 30 minutes before the session (see Scenario Engine).

Telco

Services

Service Customer Region Criticality Customers Served Escalation (min) Operations Team Owner
Brussels 5G Core Consumer Mobile Brussels Critical 850,000 15 Mobile Core NOC An Peeters
Enterprise MPLS Network Enterprise Business Unit Flanders High 120 30 IP NOC Tom Maes
National Fiber Backbone Wholesale Partners National Critical 35 15 Transport NOC Sara Claes

Elements

Service Element Site Key parameters (thresholds)
Brussels 5G Core AMF Brussels DC1 Registered Subscribers · Registration Success Rate % (< 98 / < 95 / –) · CPU % (> 80 / > 90 / –)
SMF Brussels DC1 Active PDU Sessions · Session Setup Success % (< 98 / < 95 / –)
UPF Brussels DC2 Throughput Gbps · Packet Loss % (> 0.5 / > 1 / > 3) · Utilization %
Enterprise MPLS Network PE Router Brussels Brussels POP Uplink Utilization % (> 80 / > 90 / –) · Utilization Threshold % · Latency ms · BGP Sessions Down (– / > 0 / –)
PE Router Antwerp Antwerp POP Same as PE Router Brussels
Route Reflector Mechelen DC CPU % · BGP Sessions Down (– / > 0 / –)
National Fiber Backbone DWDM Node North Ghent Optical Rx Power dBm (– / < -20 / < -24) · Pre-FEC BER · Channel Utilization %
DWDM Node South Namur Same as DWDM Node North
OTN Switch Brussels Port Utilization % · Alarms on Line Cards

Problems

Problem Key question Data needed Seeded answer
Priority Dashboard Which services require immediate attention? Criticality · service state · active alarms National Fiber Backbone – DWDM Node North Rx Power -25 dBm (Critical) on a Critical service. Second: Brussels 5G Core (Major).
Customer Impact View Which services affect the most customers? Customers Served · service state · active alarms Brussels 5G Core – UPF Packet Loss 1.8 % (Major) affecting 850,000 customers. The backbone is more severe but serves only 35 partners.
Capacity Risk Workspace Which services may become problematic soon? Utilization parameters · thresholds · 24 h trend Enterprise MPLS Network – PE Router Antwerp uplink rising 60 → 86 % in 24 h (Minor), trending to cross 90 % (Major).

Satellite & Space

Services

Service Customer Region Criticality Customers Served Escalation (min) Operations Team Owner
Maritime VSAT Service Maritime Fleet Operators Global Maritime High 1,400 30 Teleport NOC Pieter Wouters
GEO Broadcast Platform DTH Broadcasters Europe Critical 18 15 Broadcast Operations Lisa Jacobs
Earth Observation Mission Space Agency Programme Northern Europe High 4 30 Mission Operations Bram Willems

Elements

Service Element Site Key parameters (thresholds)
Maritime VSAT Service VSAT Hub Teleport Redu Active Terminals · Hub Throughput Mbps · Next Activity · Next Activity Start
Satellite Modem Pool Teleport Redu Avg Es/No dB (< 6 / < 4 / –) · Locked Modems %
Maritime Terminal Gateway Teleport Betzdorf Connected Vessels · Latency ms
GEO Broadcast Platform Uplink Encoder Uplink Betzdorf Output Bitrate Mbps · Next Activity · Next Activity Start
Satellite Modulator Uplink Betzdorf MER dB (< 25 / < 20 / –) · Output Power dBm
High Power Amplifier Uplink Betzdorf Temperature °C (> 70 / > 75 / > 80) · Temperature Limit °C · Output Power W · Reflected Power W
Earth Observation Mission Ground Station Antenna Kiruna Tracking Error ° (> 0.1 / > 0.2 / –) · Next Activity · Next Activity Start
TT&C Unit Kiruna Command Link Status · Telemetry Frame Rate
Downlink Processor Kiruna Data Rate Mbps · Storage Utilization %

Problems

Problem Key question Data needed Seeded answer
Mission Readiness Dashboard Which missions require attention? Next Activity / Start · service state · active alarms Earth Observation Mission – antenna Tracking Error 0.25° (Major) with the next pass in ~45 min.
Ground Segment Workspace Which resources are at risk? Element parameters · limits · 24 h trend · alarms High Power Amplifier (GEO Broadcast) – temperature rising 58 → 72 °C in 24 h (Minor), approaching the 75 °C Major limit.
Customer Service Assurance View Which services affect customers? Customers Served · service state · Active Terminals Maritime VSAT Service – Es/No 3.5 dB (Major, rain fade), Active Terminals dropped 1,400 → 1,170.

Media

Services

Service Customer Region Criticality Customers Served Escalation (min) Operations Team Owner
Live Sports Distribution Sports Rights Holder Europe Critical 12 15 Live Operations Center Nina Dubois
OTT Streaming Platform Streaming Subscribers Benelux High 1,100,000 30 Streaming NOC Kevin Mertens
National Broadcast Network Public Broadcaster National Critical 4,500,000 15 Broadcast NOC Els Hermans

Elements

Service Element Site Key parameters (thresholds)
Live Sports Distribution Contribution Encoder Stadium OB Truck Video Bitrate Mbps · Encoder Errors/min (> 5 / > 20 / –) · Event Schedule table
IP Gateway Brussels MCR Packet Loss % (> 0.1 / > 0.5 / > 2) · Jitter ms
IRD Brussels MCR Signal Lock (Unlocked = Critical) · C/N dB
OTT Streaming Platform Transcoder Cloud Region West CPU % · Failed Profiles
Origin Packager Cloud Region West Request Rate · HTTP 5xx % (> 1 / > 5 / –) · Event Schedule table
CDN Edge Amsterdam PoP Latency ms (> 150 / > 300 / > 500) · Cache Hit Ratio % · Egress Gbps
National Broadcast Network Playout Server Brussels Broadcast Center Playout Status · Event Schedule table
Multiplexer Brussels Broadcast Center Total Bitrate Mbps · Services On Air
DVB-T Transmitter Transmitter Site Wavre Forward Power kW · Reflected Power W (Warning > 200) · MER dB

Event Schedule table columns: Event Name · Start Time · End Time · Channel.

Problems

Problem Key question Data needed Seeded answer
Event Operations Center Which live events are at risk? Event Schedule · service state · active alarms "Champions League: Club A – Club B" on Live Sports Distribution – starts in ~45 min while the encoder reports 28 errors/min (Major).
Executive Service Overview What is the overall operational situation? Service state · Criticality · Customers Served · alarm counts 1 Critical, 1 Major, 1 Warning; ~1.1 M streaming subscribers affected (OTT).
Incident Workspace Which issue should operators investigate first? Active alarms (severity, age) · Customers Served · alarm history OTT CDN Edge latency 620 ms – Critical, oldest open alarm, largest affected customer base.

Infrastructure

Services

Service Customer Region Criticality Customers Served Escalation (min) Operations Team Owner
Airport Operations Network Airport Authority Brussels Critical 65,000 15 Airport IT Operations Wim Goossens
Smart Campus Platform University Campus Leuven Medium 25,000 60 Facilities Operations Julie Vermeulen
Renewable Energy Monitoring Energy Cooperative Wallonia High 40,000 30 Energy Control Room Marc Lambert

Elements

Service Element Site Key parameters (thresholds)
Airport Operations Network Core Switch Terminal A Port Utilization % · CPU %
Wi-Fi Controller Terminal B Connected Clients · Access Points Down (> 2 / > 5 / –)
Baggage Handling Gateway Baggage Hall PLC Connection (Lost = Critical) · Bags/hour
Smart Campus Platform Building Management System Building North HVAC Status · Room Temperature °C
Access Control Server Building South Doors Offline (> 0 / > 3 / –)
IoT Gateway Parking Area Sensors Online % (Warning < 90)
Renewable Energy Monitoring Solar Inverter Park Solar Park Namur Power Output MW · Installed Capacity MW · Inverters Offline (> 0 / > 2 / –)
Wind Turbine Controller Offshore Wind Farm Power Output MW · Installed Capacity MW · Wind Speed m/s
Battery Storage System Battery Site Liège State of Charge % · Cell Temperature °C (> 40 / > 45 / > 50) · Cell Temperature Limit °C

Problems

Problem Key question Data needed Seeded answer
Operations Control Center What requires action now? Criticality · service state · active alarms Baggage Handling Gateway (Airport) – PLC connection lost (Critical) on a Critical service.
Critical Asset Dashboard Which assets represent the highest risk? Element parameters · limits · 24 h trend · alarms · Criticality Battery Storage System – cell temperature rising 32 → 43 °C in 24 h (Minor), fastest-deteriorating asset heading towards Critical.
Regional Operations View How are locations performing? Site · Region · alarms · output vs capacity Solar Park Namur is underperforming – 3 inverters offline (Major), 4.1 of 12 MW.
Tip

The Baggage Handling Gateway (already failed) versus the Battery Storage System (about to fail) is a good discussion point: incident versus risk.

Government & Public Safety

Services

Service Customer Region Criticality Customers Served Escalation (min) Operations Team Owner
Emergency Dispatch Network Regional Emergency Services Flanders Critical 6,700,000 15 Dispatch IT Operations Koen Desmet
Border Monitoring Network Border Agency Eastern Border High 1 30 Border Operations Center Ines Martens
Critical Infrastructure Monitoring Water & Power Utilities Wallonia Critical 900,000 15 Utility Control Center Luc Renard

Elements

Service Element Site Key parameters (thresholds)
Emergency Dispatch Network CAD Server Dispatch Center Ghent Active Incidents · Response Time ms
Radio Gateway Radio Site Antwerp Channels Available of 16 (< 12 / < 8 / –) · Link Status
Call Handling System Dispatch Center Ghent Calls Waiting · Avg Answer Time s
Border Monitoring Network Surveillance Camera Array Checkpoint South Cameras Online of 24 (< 22 / < 20 / –)
Radar Sensor Checkpoint South Radar Status (Offline = Critical) · Detection Range km
Edge Video Analytics Checkpoint North GPU Utilization % · Streams Processed
Critical Infrastructure Monitoring SCADA Gateway Substation Charleroi RTU Connections of 40 (< 38 / < 35 / < 32)
Water Treatment PLC Water Plant Liège Communication Errors/h (> 10 / > 50 / –) · Chlorine mg/l
Substation RTU Substation Charleroi Voltage kV · Breaker Status

Problems

Problem Key question Data needed Seeded answer
Incident Coordination Workspace What requires escalation? Escalation Threshold · alarm age (root time) · Criticality Radio Gateway (Emergency Dispatch) – 7 of 16 channels (Major), open 30 min > 15 min threshold. Other alarms cross their threshold during the session.
Command Center Dashboard Where should operators focus? Criticality · Customers Served · service state Critical Infrastructure Monitoring – SCADA Gateway lost 9 RTUs (Critical) on a Critical service serving 900,000 customers.
Risk Prioritization View Which locations require immediate attention? Site · active alarms per site Checkpoint South – radar offline (Critical) and 19 of 24 cameras (Major) at the same site.

Data Availability Matrix

Check that every problem has the data it needs. SP = service property · EP = element property (Site) · SS = service state · AA = active alarms (incl. age) · AH = alarm history · PV = parameter values · TR = trend data · SC = schedule parameters.

Vertical Problem SP EP SS AA AH PV TR SC
Telco Priority Dashboard ✔ ✔ ✔
Telco Customer Impact View ✔ ✔ ✔
Telco Capacity Risk Workspace ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Satellite Mission Readiness Dashboard ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Satellite Ground Segment Workspace ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Satellite Customer Service Assurance View ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Media Event Operations Center ✔ ✔ ✔
Media Executive Service Overview ✔ ✔ ✔
Media Incident Workspace ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Infrastructure Operations Control Center ✔ ✔ ✔
Infrastructure Critical Asset Dashboard ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Infrastructure Regional Operations View ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Government Incident Coordination Workspace ✔ ✔
Government Command Center Dashboard ✔ ✔ ✔
Government Risk Prioritization View ✔ ✔

Implementation

DataMiner Objects

Component DataMiner mechanism Notes
Elements (45) DataAPI elements – one type per element kind, one identifier per element No connector development needed; parameters are created from JSON names
Alarms Alarm templates on the DataAPI-generated protocols Thresholds as listed per vertical; alarms are raised natively by DataMiner
Trend data Trend templates on the same protocols Only for parameters used by trend-based problems
Services (15) DataMiner services, each containing its 3 elements Static metadata as service properties
Site Element property Set once at creation
Views (5) Empower/<Vertical> One view per vertical
Scenario engine Automation scripts + Scheduler See below

Scenario Engine

The scenario engine makes the data live and makes sure every problem has its seeded answer at session time.

Script Trigger Responsibility
Empower_Baseline Scheduler, every 60 s, always running Pushes normal values with small noise for all 45 elements; applies the 24 h trend drifts; keeps schedules rolling (next events/activities stay in the near future)
Empower_StartScenario Manually, 30 min before the session (T0) Starts the incident timeline: pushes the incident values that raise the seeded alarms
Empower_Reset Manually, between sessions Returns all elements to baseline and clears incidents; optional full reset restarts the trend drifts

Incident timeline (relative to T0):

Time Event Why
T0 − 24 h Trend drifts start (full reset) Trend-based problems need 24 h of history
T0 − 12 h One short, self-clearing alarm per service Gives every service a last incident in the alarm history
T0 All seeded incidents except those below Alarms are ~30 min old at session start
T0 + 25 min SCADA Gateway (Critical Infrastructure) and Border alarms These cross their escalation threshold during the session, so the escalation view changes live
T0 + 30 min Session starts
Important
  • The environment must run at least 24 hours before the first session so trend-based problems have history.
  • Schedule times (events, passes) are pushed as local wall-clock values without a UTC offset (yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss), because DataAPI re-renders offset values in the server's time zone.
  • A scenario control element (EMP-CONTROL, not part of any service) stores the T0 and trend start timestamps so all scripts share the same timeline.

Naming Convention

Object Pattern Example
View Empower/<Vertical> Empower/Telco
Service <Service Name> Brussels 5G Core
Element <VERTICAL>-<SERVICE>-<ELEMENT> TEL-BRU5G-UPF
DataAPI type Empower <Element kind> Empower UPF

Out of Scope for the Backend

Item Where it lives instead
AI summaries, recommended actions, copilot answers Agents in the Specialized Agents Workshop (runtime only)
Health Score / Risk Score Participant's app logic
Tickets Not included – see Open Decisions
DOM models, external databases Not needed – all data is in services and elements

Open Decisions

# Topic Options
1 Tickets were in the original design but are not service or element data (a) Drop tickets – alarms and alarm history cover the problems (current design) · (b) Add a ticket table as a parameter table on a separate element
2 Service/element properties in GQI Verify on the target DataMiner version. Fallback: a Service Catalog element with one table row per service holding the static metadata
3 DataAPI Verify the feature is available on the target system and that alarm and trend templates can be assigned to the generated protocols. Alternative: simulated connectors
4 Multi-day trainings Trend drifts plateau after 24 h. Either run a full reset ≥ 24 h before each training day or make the drift window configurable

Readiness Checklist

  • [ ] 5 views, 15 services, 45 elements exist and follow the naming convention
  • [ ] All static service properties and element Site properties are filled in
  • [ ] Alarm and trend templates are assigned and match the thresholds on this page
  • [ ] Empower_Baseline has been running for ≥ 24 h
  • [ ] Every service has at least one cleared alarm in its history
  • [ ] Empower_StartScenario was triggered 30 min before the session
  • [ ] Schedules show upcoming events/activities in the near future
  • [ ] All data sources in Operational Data are reachable from App Builder
  • [ ] For each of the 15 problems, the seeded answer is visible in the data
  • [ ] Empower_Reset restores the baseline between sessions