Welcome to the Industry Best Practices website!
The primary objective of Best Practices is to provide guidance from assembled industry expertise and experience. They are vital to the reliability of the nation’s public communications networks and services.
The majority of these Best Practices were created and modified by a series of FCC chartered Network Reliability and Interoperability Councils (NRIC), federal advisory committees that preceded the Communications, Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC). The former NRICs were comprised of representatives from communications companies, communications industry associations, and government entities. The NRICs operated for 14 years (January 1992 through December 2005) and developed over 800 Best Practices. Since the charter of the CSRIC in 2007, over 200 additional new Best Practices have been established.
Mandated implementation of these Best Practices is not consistent with their intent. Attempting to identify which Best Practices might be required of every participant in the communications industry would be very impractical, if not impossible.
Mandating compliance with particular Best Practices would impact the ability of organizations, their customers, and other constituents to manage the value proposition, the pricing that defines their business models, and participation in the industry. Compliance with Best Practices should be voluntary in order to allow for co-existence of new and old technologies.
These Best Practices continue the theme stated by the first NRIC: “The Best Practices, while not industry requirements or standards, are highly recommended. The First Council stated, ‘Not every recommendation will be appropriate for every company in every circumstance, but taken as a whole, the Council expects that these findings and recommendations [when implemented] will sustain and continuously improve network reliability.‘ ”
Access the search function of the Best Practices database here.
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Additional Industry Resources Available
Communications experts joined together under the ATIS Network Reliability Steering Committee (NRSC) to prepare industry checklists to help ensure business continuity during significant events that could critically impact service:
ATIS-0100054, Disaster Roaming Guide and Resource
This document provides a guide that Wireless Service Providers can use as a checklist of procedures and available resources to facilitate roaming during disasters.
ATIS-0100018(2021-02), NRSC Pandemic Checklist
In 2009, the NRSC compiled a checklist of voluntary industry Best Practices and relevant links to be used in preparation for a pandemic event. This document represents the addition of applicable Best Practices in response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014-2015 and the restructuring and subsequent development and addition of new Best Practices in response to COVID-19 in 2020.
ATIS-0100019(2022-01), Emergency Preparedness and Response Checklist
In 2021, the NRSC updated ATIS-0100019, Emergency Preparedness and Response Checklist. This document was compiled by service providers responding to actual emergency situations and provides general guidance regarding preparedness and response to a wide array of emergency situations. The updated checklist cross references Best Practices and features a new, easy to use layout.