There is little point in developing strategies for spectrum management capacity building without a thorough understanding of the mandate under which the spectrum management organization operates. The country's legal and regulatory frameworks along with policies concerning governance provide the defining building blocks for the spectrum management organization. For example, as was described in Sections I and III, the spectrum management regulatory function is, in some cases, combined with telecoms and broadcasting regulation or it can function separately as a stand alone organization. The implication here for capacity building is the need to develop and maintain human resource skills independently of other organizations or to find ways of sharing in the development and utilization of human resources through strategies such as matrix management or centres of excellence within the combined regulator.
No two spectrum management organizations will be organized in the same manner, yet there are some similarities in structures organized around the key functions of planning, engineering, and authorization and monitoring. Cost and resource availability put pressure on spectrum managers to create organization and design functions which ensure productivity is achieved through sharing and cross-fertilization of skills.
For purposes of illustration, a model organization chart and functional mapping of key responsibilities are presented below for purposes of clarifying the understanding of spectrum management functions and ctivities.
As pointed out earlier, one of the outcomes of the analysis of structure and function is the potential for sharing common resources such as engineering staff in both the planning and engineering functions. As well, it is possible for administrative staff to support spectrum management and telecommunications and/or broadcasting regulatory staff. Another important consideration is deciding to utilize outsourcing options for common services and infrastructure such as information systems and software applications, and human resource management staff. The determining the structure of the desired organization has a direct bearing on staff recruitment, training and capacity building.