Common Language Information Services

Common Language Equipment Identifier or CLEI code is an industry standard, globally unique identifier[7] for telecommunications equipment with a uniform feature-oriented classification. CLEI codes must be acquired by telecommunications equipment manufacturers and assigned to devices before they are sold to a licensed service provider.[8]

A Common Language Location Identification or CLLI code identifies buildings that contain telephony equipment, network facilities housed in those buildings and non-building sites such as poles and manholes.[9][10] By labeling the equipment functionality, office number, city, and state in a CLLI code, a telecommunication company’s central office can keep this information on and immediately reference any particular item when necessary. This information can be used for making repairs, replacing old equipment, ordering phone service, recovering call detail records, and assisting in tracing calls.[11]

Special Service Circuit or CLCI S/S codes provide a coded designation for a service that is dedicated and billed to a particular customer.[12]

Message Trunk Circuit or CLCI MSG codes provide a naming scheme for message trunk circuits.[13] These codes identify individual trunks and trunk groups by number, office class, traffic use, trunk type modifier, signaling, and the originating and terminating office locations.

Common Language Facility Identification or CLFI Codes provide a standard, mnemonic naming scheme to uniquely identify cable and transmission facilities between two standardized equipment nodes (identified via CLEI codes) within a network. It comprises facility designation, facility type, channel/pair/time slot, location of facility terminal A and location of facility terminal Z.

Network Channel/Network Channel Interface or NC/NCI codes are used to communicate technical attributes of services, facilities[14] and their associated interfaces to support interconnections between telecommunications service providers through the use of the Access Service Request (ASR) process.

The service order process utilizes the USOC, USO and Field Identifiers (FIDs), to provision, bill and maintain services and equipment.[15] Universal Service Order or USO Codes are used by telecommunications service providers to collect and structure all the information needed for service activation, including ordering, provisioning, service assurance and billing. USOC codes, also known as rate elements, are used by telecommunications service providers to identify each billable element of a customer’s service.[16] Field Identifiers or FIDs are used by telecommunications service providers to identify a billing preference or attribute of a customer’s account.[17] FIDs define the technical parameters required to provision and bill a customer’s service beyond those described in USOCs.

General Codes provide a naming scheme that applies across the industry to identify company names, equipment frames, service centers, design routes, signaling types, circuit switch originating equipment, distributing frame cross-connect points and standard abbreviations.