Managing information describing a communications network

A system for managing data associated with a communications network, said system comprising:

• a workbook stored in memory, the workbook including device information associated with each of a set of communication devices, the workbook further including an assigned identifier associated with each of the set of communication devices;
• a network specification book stored in memory, the network specification book including specifications regarding the physical and logical layout of a network;
• and
• an update tool in communication with the workbook and the network specification book, the update tool operable to communicate at least one of the assigned identifiers from the network specification book to the workbook in response to receiving at the network specification book an indication of a change in the configuration of the network, the indication including the communicated at least one of the assigned identifiers, the update tool further operable to update an entry in the workbook in response to the communicated at least one of the assigned identifiers, the entry being associated with the communicated at least one of the assigned identifiers, the update tool further operable to communicate at least a portion of the device information from the workbook to the network specification book in response to the update to the entry, the portion of the device information being associated with the communicated at least one of the assigned identifier, the update tool further operable to update the network specification book with the portion of the device information.

A computer-implemented method for managing information describing a communications network, the method conducted using software and comprising:

• storing in memory a standardized format for listing one or more elements of information associated with a plurality of communications devices;
• storing in memory a standardized set of specification information for describing a network, the specification information including information associated with the physical and logical layout of the communications network;
• identifying a set of common items of information utilized by both said standardized format and said standardized set of specification information;
• storing in memory the set of common items;
• and
• providing an update tool to automatically communicate any changes in said set of common items over a network between a first database and a second database, wherein said first database is formatted in accordance with said standardized format and wherein said second database is formatted in accordance with said standardized set of specification information.