An index to the Loss Measurement Configuration table which indicates the specific measurement session for the Flow. osSoamPmFlowOperNextIndex needs to be inspected to find an available index for row-creation. Referential integrity is necessary, i.e., the index needs to be persistent upon a reboot or restart of a device. The index is never reused for other PM sessions on the same Flow while this session is active until it wraps to zero. The index value keeps increasing up to that time. This is to facilitate access control based on a fixed index for an EMS, since the index is not reused.