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Basic workflow overview

There are three basic workflows that will involve most users:

  1. Creating/Ordering Ports
  2. Creating Connections ("buying" a service from another)
  3. Creating Service Profiles (“selling” a service to others)

 

Creating/ordering ports

For most activities on the ECX, users usually start by ordering one or more ports. This process follows the same structure, regardless of your usage of the port (buying or selling services), locations (metro, region, etc.), or configuration. The port component is the only component that is currently requested, configured and activated outside of the ECX portal or APIs.

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  • The information entered for any profile includes:
    • A basic marketing description and name that will appear to potential buyers
    • Any technical parameters needed as a pre-requisite or as data entry
    • Some metadata that the provider requires from buyers
    • Where it will be available on the ECX using either a list of ports or RIs (depending on the type of service) 

For more information on creating profiles specific to the type of interconnection desired, see the sections later in this document.

We also track several other workflows later in this document, such as:

  1. Approving connection requests as a provider
  2. Editing Connections and components
  3. Managing/Viewing components and other ECX assets

Aggregators can choose from one of the two options for managing connections on ECX.

  • Option 1: Resellers manage connections in the ECX on behalf of their customers. Resellers must have the customer’s Authorization key and other technical information to be able to order connections for their customers.
  • Option 2: Resellers enable some or all of their end customers for self-service on ECX. Resellers must follow steps in the Portal User Guide section about sub-account setup to designate their end customers as sub-accounts, assign ports and set up user access for them to be able to manage their own connections on CXP. The sub-account user’s experience is the same as described in this document and elsewhere, with visibility and activities restricted to those that the reseller allows.