Abstract: A method is provided for monitoring the progress of a software upgrade or retrofit on a telecommunications switch (110). A report stream of text messages relating to the state of, and events occurring on, the telecommunications switch is received by a server (102). Predetermined messages are detected in the report stream, including messages indicating entry into a stage of the retrofit, exit from a stage of the retrofit, a failure of a stage of the retrofit, alarms and errors. The time spent in a stage of the retrofit is determined and compared against an expected time (206, 210, 212). A visual portion (300, 400) of a user interface on a client (104) is updated to reflect entry and exit from a stage of the retrofit, and whether the time spent in a stage exceeds an expected time. The user interface reflects occurrences of alarms and errors visually and in some cases audibly.

Abstract: A method is provided for determining whether the immediate state of a telecommunications switch (110) is adequate for a software upgrade or retrofit. A report stream of text messages relating to the state of, and events occurring on, the telecommunications switch is received (200) by a server (102). Predetermined messages are detected in the report stream, including messages indicating hardware errors, alarms and other errors (202). The predetermined messages have a numerical value associated therewith (204). The numerical value reflects a probability of failure of a retrofit if the message is detected. As the predetermined messages are detected, their numerical values are accumulated into an accumulated value (206). If the accumulated value exceeds a threshold, the switch is not fit for the retrofit (210, 211). The time spent receiving the report stream is determined and compared against an expected time (216).