rt of Figure A.9 represents the startup phase of a network and the lower side Care Phase Factory Acceptance Equipment System Multi Vendor Engineering Acceptance Stability HW & SW Acceptance Interface Delivery Period Verification Final Acceptance Equipment Engineering Acceptance Delivery HW & SW Factory Acceptance Figure A.9 Different stages of the acceptance procedure indicates the continuation phases. Both phases contain the primary activity of site engineering or site preparation work of civil works, utility supplies and supporting infrastructure buildup. The equipment is always tested at the vendor's factory or assembly station before being dispatched for delivery to the sites. Receiving equipment is also an integral part of the acceptance procedure as it involves a sufficient inventory process, where the site in charge tallies all the delivered parts with the supplied packing list and notes down the serial numbers in accordance with the received equipment breakup. The equipment is unpacked and assembled together, installed and commissioned as per the site plans. On completion of the job the site is inspected and all hardware and software is checked before the site is deemed as accepted. Thereafter the system acceptance procedure is done for the vendor's own equipment performance, followed by multivendor interface verification with other vendors. The whole system is kept under observation for a mutually agreed period, referred to as the 'stability period'. The stability of the system is monitored, alarms are monitored and plug-in unit state changes and resets are noted down to gauge the reliability of the whole system. Any kind of system or service outage or major failures lead to delay in the final acceptance, which remains pending till they are corrected, verified and monitored, again under the stability period. After successful performance with a minimum amount of alarms and failures and relative stability, the network operator grants the final acceptance. A.4 Care Phase A.4.1 Care Agreement Once the networ