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MapTM (eTOM)
The Business Process Framework
For The Information and Communications Services Industry
Addendum A
Detailed Process Decompositions and Flows
for Selected Areas of the Business Process
Framework
GB921a
Notice
Acknowledgements
Valuable input, comments and directional reviews from the following people
are also greatly appreciated:
Al Vincent, IGS
John Strassner, Intelliden
Thomas Tenevall, Ki Consulting
Keith Willetts, Mandarin Associates
Kirk Shrewsbury, MCI Worldcom
John Reilly, MetaSolv
Jim Warner, TM Forum
Special thanks to Enrico Ronco, Telecom Italia Lab, whose kind and firm
leadership was a key factor in achieving the timely completion of this, and the
companion main eTOM GB921 document.
Important Note:
Despite the extent of the effort involved in producing this document, it should not be considered
as complete. The focus of this release is to provide a view of detailed process decompositions
and process flows in selected areas of the Business Process Framework (also known as the
eTOM Model). This work will be developed further in the future, and additional selected areas of
the Business Process Framework will be addressed and described in a similar fashion to those
included here. The driving consideration is to focus on areas of high priority within the industry,
where the benefits of clearer definition and agreement on business processes can facilitate
planning and development within Service Provides and other enterprises, and can act as a
basis for the realization of automated interworking between enterprises.
Despite the evolutionary nature of the eTOM work, it is already in use by Service Providers.
Significant process work will continue to develop this further, with significant input from TM
Forum members to direct the eTOM work so that they obtain the most from subsequent eTOM
releases.
The eTOM: The Business Process Framework For The Information and
Communications Services Industry Addendum A is being issued as a Release
1.0 for Member Evaluation with a Guidebook Number of 921a. The
TeleManagement Forum ("TM Forum") expects to continue to build the eTOM
based on:
Further research and alignment with other cross-industry
process work
Significant member comments and input
Joint work with other TM Forum teams, including the System
Team and the Shared Information and Data Team
Additional work to provide additional process decompositions
and flows
The eTOM is a significant undertaking for members. It is crucial that ongoing
feedback is garnered. The eTOM is being driven and used by a significant
number of worldwide service providers. They expect this release, and future
This document will continue under change control. A document of this type is
a living document, capturing and communicating current knowledge, views
and practices. Further updates will be made because of detailed work
ongoing in the TM Forum and the industry.
Time Stamp
Comments must be in written form and addressed to the contacts below for
review with the project team. Please send your comments and input to:
Enrico Ronco, Telecom Italia Lab
Team Lead of eTOM Team
Enrico.Ronco@tilab.com
Be specific. Consider that you might be on a team trying to produce a single text through
the process of evaluating numerous comments. We appreciate significant specific input.
We are looking for more input than word-smith items, however editing and structural
help are greatly appreciated where better clarity is the result.
Document History
Document Template
Not applicable
Use of Fonts
Very few font or style uses are applied in this document. The two keys font
applications used are:
Italics and/or bold are used for emphasis.
References
The major related document is the core eTOM document (GB921). This
document forms an Addendum to the core eTOM document, extending and
refining the material there in the areas addressed.
The following Reference List provides information on this document and other
documents and books that have contributed to the development of the
TeleManagement Forum eTOM Business Process Framework.
Reference List
1. eTOM: The Business Process Framework For The Information and Communications Services
Industry, GB921, Release 3.0, May 2002.
3. ITU-T TMN Recommendation M.3400 (TMN Management Functions, ITU-T, 4/97), M.3010
(Principles for a telecommunication management network, ITU-T), M.3200 (TMN Management
Services, ITU-T, 1996) and Related Recommendations
Table of Contents
NOTICE ................................................................................................................................................................III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................... V
ENHANCED TELECOM OPERATIONS MAP (ETOM) THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK ADDENDUM A RELEASE
1.0 CONTRIBUTORS ............................................................................................................................................... V
ABOUT TELEMANAGEMENT FORUM ....................................................................................................... VII
PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................................. 21
RELATIONSHIP TO STANDARDIZATION ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................... 21
THE TM FORUM APPROACH: NGOSS .................................................................................................................. 21
ETOM BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................. 22
Figure 2.8: Service Configuration & Activation Design Solution Process Flows ........................ 34
Figure 3.4: Billing & Collections Management - Level 3 (and candidate Level 4) Processes ....... 43
Figure 3.8: Billing & Collections Management Process Flows at Level 2/3 .................................... 53
Figure 4.3: Service Problem Management - Level 3 (and candidate Level 4) Processes .............. 57
Figure 4.5: Service Quality Analysis, Action and Reporting - Level 3 (and candidate Level 4)
Processes................................................................................................................................... 64
Figure 4.6: Service Quality Analysis, Action and Reporting - Level 3 Process Flows .................. 66
Figure 4.8: Detailed View of Assurance Process Flows at Level 2 (source: customer
complaint) .................................................................................................................................. 68
Figure 4.9: Detailed View of Assurance Process Flows at Level 2 (source: alarm fault) ............... 69
Figure 4.10: Detailed View of Assurance Process Flows at Level 2 (source: statistics and
CDR) ........................................................................................................................................... 69
Preface
Relationship to Standardization
Activities
Much of the management infrastructures upon which systems will be built are
expected to be based on standard interfaces. Relating business needs to
available, or necessary standards is a primary goal of the TM Forum in
promoting a standards-based approach to information and communications
services management. Where applicable, the TM Forum uses industry
standards in its work to promote the acceptance of standards and to minimize
redundant work. People active in management standardization (in the
broadest sense) will find the eTOM useful in setting a top down, enterprise-
level, customer-centric context of how management specifications need to
work together.
The eTOM Business Process Framework (GB921) serves as the blueprint for
process direction and the starting point for development and integration of
Business and Operations Support Systems (BSS and OSS respectively) and,
helps to drive TM Forum members work to develop NGOSS solutions. For
service providers, it provides a neutral reference point as they consider
internal process reengineering needs, partnerships, alliances, and general
working agreements with other providers. For suppliers, the eTOM
Framework outlines potential boundaries of software components, and the
required functions, inputs, and outputs that must be supported by products.
This document consists of:
A description of the role of the eTOM Business Process
Framework
The ebusiness context of service providers and the more
complex Business Relationship Context Model required
A high-level business process framework and explanation
Service Provider enterprise processes and sub-processes
that are top down, customer-centric, and end-to-end focused.
With this evolution from TOM, the eTOM Business
Process Framework now is a total enterprise
framework for Service Providers
Process Decompositions of all processes from the highest
conceptual view of the framework to the working level of the
eTOM and many selected lower level decompositions in the
Framework
Selected process flows and descriptions of the decomposed
processes that include the process purpose or description,
business rules, high level information and more. For the
remainder of 2001 and 2002, more decompositions and flows
will be developed with the objective for eTOM to develop all
critical process decompositions and process flows in 2002.
How the process framework can be put to use.
Several Annexes and Appendices, including terminology and
glossary, and related guidelines and standards.
Chapter 1 Introduction
The eTOM document (GB921) also provides the definition of common terms
concerning enterprise processes, sub-processes and the activities performed
within each. Common terminology makes it easier for service providers to
negotiate with customers, third party suppliers, and other service providers.
out, how a provider or operator is organized, or how the tasks are identified in
any one organization.
The eTOM is expected to be the starting point of detailed work that leads to
an integrated set of specifications that will provide real benefit to both
suppliers and procurers in enhancing industry service provider enterprise
management capability. This document is not a specification. It is a
snapshot of industry views expected to continue to evolve based on changes
in the industry. It is not intended to be too detailed, more a directional
statement for the industry.
One of the strengths of the eTOM is that it can be adopted at a high level, at
lower levels or even modularly depending upon a service providers needs.
The eTOM can also act as a translator by allowing a service provider to map
their distinct processes to the industry framework. As the process examples
are developed, service providers can use and adapt these examples to their
business environment.
Intended Audience
The Telecom Operations Map, and now the eTOM, aims at a wide audience
of professionals in the Information and Communications Services Industry.
For experienced Telecommunications professionals, the TOM and the eTOM
prove to be intuitive; a strong, common framework of service provider
enterprise processes. Through TM Forum Catalyst projects and other work, it
has been verified that the TOM framework has strong application for IP
Services and Mobile/Wireless Services. This applicability will only be
enhanced by the eTOM.
The eTOM will continue to give providers and suppliers a common framework
for discussing complex business needs in a complex industry with complex
technologies. For both service providers and network operators additional
complexities arise from:
Moving away from developing their own business and
operations systems software, to a more procurement and
systems integration approach.
New business relationships between service providers and
network operators
The creation of new business relationships and the move away from
developing internally are a reaction to market forces. These market forces
require service providers and network operators to increase the range of
services they offer, reduce time to market for new services, increase speed of
service, as well as to drive down systems and operational costs.
The eTOM is also aimed at service provider and network operator employees
involved in business process re-engineering, operations, procurement and
other activities for:
Understanding the common business process framework
being used to drive integration and automation
Getting involved in providing processes, inputs, priorities and
requirements
The eTOM Business Process Framework is also aimed at designers and
integrators of business and operational management systems software and
equipment suppliers. They can benefit from understanding how management
processes and applications need to work together to deliver business benefit
to service providers and network operators.
In carrying out the work documented here, it proved advantageous to evolve further the
methodology for process analysis described in the core eTOM document (GB921) and to extend
this to address the handling of process decompositions and process flows at the lower level of detail
addressed.
To avoid repetition, the methodology is illustrated using the work on Fulfillment (see 0) and
reference is made below to this Chapter.
Chapter 2 - Fulfillment
Overview
Cases where resources are provided form within the service providers own
domain, as well as where suppliers and partners are involved in this, have
been taken into account.
Assumptions
The first step in documenting the end-to-end (E2E) flows is positioning the
Fulfillment flows in their context within the overall eTOM model.
Figure 2.2 shows this context for Fulfillment. As would be expected, the
majority of the high-level process linkages are within the Level 1 Fulfillment
process grouping, but a number of significant interactions are identified
outside of this vertical process area.
Here the Level 2 processes are shown with relative positioning similar to that
in the eTOM framework, to assist understanding and to make the diagram
more intuitive.
Start points for the Fulfillment process are shown, and the interconnecting
arrows indicate events or information linking the Level 2 processes. These
interactions are developed further within the individual Level 3 flows (below)
that show how the internal Level 3 structure of each Level 3 process supports
the flows.
Note that this diagram is derived from the model developed for this E2E flow
within the process modeling tool.
Offer Sales
Loyalty
Customer Proposal Order Handling
Marketing
Solution offer to Order Handling
Fulfillment Order Handling Order Handling
Alternatives Customer PreOrder
Response Order Handling
to Order Order
Handling Selling Customer
Handling Customer Order to Order Handling Service Details
Selling QoS/SLA
for Assurance
Management
Pre Order result Design & Implement Design Internal End-to-End
Design&Technology Technology Work Service Test
Selection Request Selection Request Detail Design Order Completed
Service
Management Service Configuration & Activation Service Service Service Configuration & Service
Detailed Design
& Operations Service Configuration & Configuration & Configuration & Activation Configuration &
Activation Detailed Design Activation Activation Activation
Enterprise
Management
GB921a v1.0
Page 31
Page 32 eTOM Business Process Framework Addendum A
Based on the E2E flows shown above, more detailed flows have been
developed for each of the Level 2 processes to illustrate the role of each of
their constituent Level 3 processes in supporting these flows.
Order Handling
Level 3 flows for Order Handling within the overall E2E Fulfillment process
are shown in Figure 2.5.
Selling
Level 3 flows for Selling within the overall E2E Fulfillment process are shown
in Figure 2.6.
Level 3 flows for Service Configuration & Activation within the overall E2E
Fulfillment process are shown in Figure 2.7. Additionally, a further breakdown
within the Design Solution Level 3 process is shown in Figure 2.8 for
information.
Figure 2.8: Service Configuration & Activation Design Solution Process Flows
Level 3 flows for Customer Interface Management within the overall E2E
Fulfillment process are shown in .
Overview
Customer
Relationship
Management
Sales & Channel CRM Operations Retention & Order Handling Customer Interface Billing &
Management Readiness Loyalty Management Collections
Management
Se llin g
C o n firm So lu tio n
Ava ila b ility
Pro d u ct
D e ve lo p m e n t
In q u iry
The Selling Level 3 processes are described below (working descriptions for
the candidate Level 4 processes are also included to provide additional
context for the Level 3 processes, but note that these are under study)
Prospect Management
The purpose of this process is to match identified leads with the most
appropriate products and ensure that these prospects are handled
appropriately. These prospects represent a pipeline of potential sales, each
of which is expressed in terms of the probability of successful sales closure
and an estimate of the total attainable revenue. The needs of each potential
prospect are analysed. Based on these needs, potential solutions are
identified from the service providers product portfolio. Each prospect is
tracked through these processes and the outcome (win or loss) of the each
prospect is reported. Prospects are assigned to the appropriate sales
channel.
Qualify Customer
Based on the probability of sales closure and the potential revenue, a
decision is made as to whether the estimated amount of work associated with
the sale (e.g. response to RFP) is deemed to be a good investment. Any risks
(e.g. credit worthiness) associated with the customer are analysed and
determination is made as to whether this will be a good customer.
Sales Negotiation
The purpose of this process is to close the sale with terms that are mutually
agreeable to both the customer and the service provider. One specific
solution is selected and its details are described in a sales proposal. The sale
is concluded through negotiations of features, service levels, pricing and
discounts, resulting in a formal agreement between the customer and service
provider.
Sales Closure
The negotiations conclude with the a formal agreement between the
customer and service provider.
Customer Identity Capture (or Capture Customer Details and create unique identity)
Unique identifiers are created for the customer, the account structure and the
agreement structure.
Relationship Establishment
Hand off from the sales to the customer support organization is made and
representatives are assigned.
Cross/Up Selling
The purpose of this process is to ensure that the value of the relationship
between the customer and service provider is maximized by selling
additional, or more of the existing, products. The ongoing analysis of
customer trends (e.g. usage, problems, complaints) is used to identify when
the current offerings may no longer be appropriate for the customer, or when
the opportunity for a larger sale arises. Based on the data collected, more
appropriate offerings should be recommended to the customer.
The Billing & Collections Management process is a Level 2 process within the
Customer Relationship Management Level 1 functional process grouping.
B IL L IN G &
C O L L E C T IO N S
M A N AG EM EN T
C US T O M E R
P R IC IN G & B IL L C US T O M E R
B IL L C O L L E CT IO N S
D IS C O U N T IN G C R E A T IO N B IL LIN G
IN Q U IR IE S M A N A GE M E N T
A PP L IC A T IO N & DE L IV E RY M A N A G E M E NT
M A N A G E M E NT
A p p ly p r icin g of M a n a g e Cu sto m e r
D e s ign & U p da te R e c eiv e & A p p ly
F u lfill B ill In q u ir ie s in d ivid u al A cco u nt
B illin g P r e s e nta tio n P a ym e n ts
ev e n ts
A n a lys e & M a n a g em e n t of
A p p ly s u m m a ry P ro d uc e C u s to m e r
d o cu m e n t s er vic es fo r M a na g e De p o sits
c harge s B ill(s)
b illin g issu e s a c c ur ate b illin g
V e r ify & R e v ie w G a th er b illin g d a ta
R e so lv e B illing A p p ly C u s to m e r F r a ud
C us to m er fo r
Iss u e s D isc ou n ts id e ntifica tio n
Inv o ice Q ua lity C re d it A s se ssm e n t
A pp ly T ax e s C u sto m e r fr a ud
& Su rch a rg e s & cr e d it ab u se
Info r m
g e n e r a l le d g er
Figure 3.4: Billing & Collections Management - Level 3 (and candidate Level 4)
Processes
The objective of this process is to ensure the timely and effective fulfillment of
all customer bill inquiries and the resolution of customer / Service Provider
billing issues. This process is responsible for managing customer interaction
as it relates to a customer's billing relationship to a Service Provider. This
includes fulfilling inquiries against the customer's billing account(s), handling
disputes from the customer with regards to its billing records and resolving
billing disputes between the customer and Service Provider. This process
can be view via traditional means, with a service representative managing the
customer or via e-business means. In the latter case, inquiries, issues and
communication of resolution would be handled via electronic media without
the intervention of a representative.
Candidate Level 4 processes within this Level 3 process are described below:
Candidate Level 4 processes within this Level 3 process are described below:
Candidate Level 4 processes within this Level 3 process are described below:
The usual media will be paper, however different format invoices can be
offered such as web based, e-mail based or other media.
Candidate Level 4 processes within this Level 3 process are described below:
Fraud Identification
The goal of this process is to minimize the fraudulent use of the services
provided to the customer by the company. The process accepts reports of
fraudulent service use by the customer or other service Provider processes.
It notifies the customer and appropriate authorities of the fraud and rectifies
billing information as appropriate (credit, etc).
Collection Management
Candidate Level 4 processes within this Level 3 process are described below:
Manage Deposits
This process is responsible for managing deposits posted to a customer's
account with the Service Provider. It receives deposits for services from
either the customer directly or through a clearinghouse. The process applies
and stores the deposits against the customer's account. It remits interest
earned, as required by business policy or regulations, to the customer's
account. Finally, it refunds the deposit, as appropriate, to the customer's
account.
Billing forms a Level 1 process within the eTOM Operations Level 0 process
grouping (see Figure 3.5, and GB921 for further details)
Figure 3.6 shows the context of Billing within the overall eTOM. As would be
expected, the majority of the high-level process linkages are within the Level
1 Billing process grouping, but a number of significant interactions are
identified outside of this vertical process area.
A more detailed illustration of the process interactions among the major Level
2 processes involved. is shown in Figure 3.7.
Here the Level 2 processes are shown with relative positioning similar to that
in the eTOM framework, to assist understanding and to make the diagram
more intuitive. These interactions are developed further within the individual
Level 3 flows (below) that show how the internal Level 3 structure of each
Level 3 process supports the flows.
To illustrate this work, Figure 3.8 shows how the Billing & Collections
Management Level 2 process interacts with the billing environment, and
indicates the involvement of Level 3 processes in this. This area is under
study.
CUSTOMER S/PARTNERS
Invoice
Telemanagement Report Customer Customer Customer
Collection Notice Payment Payment Invoice
Payment
Customer Information Notice Advice
Payments - Refunds/Rebates
RM&O SM&O
RM&O SM&O
Data Service & Pricing & Billing Collections
Data Service & Pricing & Billing Collections
Collection Instance Rating Discounting Management Management
Collection Instance Rating Discounting Management Management
Figure 3.8: Billing & Collections Management Process Flows at Level 2/3
Overview
S e rv ic e
M a n agem ent &
O p e r a tio n s
Te l e M a n a g e m e n t F o ru m O c t o b e r, 2 0 0 1
Description:
This process responds immediately to customer affecting service problems or
failures in order to minimize their effects on customers, and invoke the
restoration of the service as soon as possible. Service Problem Management
encompasses the reporting of problems, making a temporary fix or
workaround, isolating the root cause and acting to resolve it.
Purpose:
To guarantee fast response to QoS violations under a predefined threshold
(i.e. Service breakdowns or functional degradations)
Input/From:
Problem Handling: info on customer complaints about QoS drops that need
immediate response.
S/P Problem Reporting and Management: for S/P problem notifications that
should affect service performance (S/P problems that affect service own
services). Also notifications about S/P problem resolutions.
Service Quality Analysis, Action & Reporting: For info on service quality
degradations that need short-term responses.
Output/To
Problem Handling: Info and updates on estimated time to restore. Also
notification of problem resolution.
Service Quality, Analysis Action & Reporting: info on service problem records
for quality analysis and improvement recomendations.
Ends/With (post-condition):
Service Problem finished and reports made.
Information required:
Procedures and operations for restoration
Service
Problem
Management
Resolution
Closing
Evaluation and Planning
Diagnosis Resolution and
Qualification and
Tracking Reporting
Assignment
Identification of
Problem Request Diagnosis of Monitoring of
Resolution Service Testing
Receipt Problem Fault Resolution
Responsibility
Issue of cleared
Problem Scheduled
Problem
Qualification Task
Report
Specific Activity
Assignment
Figure 4.3: Service Problem Management - Level 3 (and candidate Level 4) Processes
Upon a customer complaint, this process will determine the nature of the
problem and if the customer is using the service properly. There will be
testing to fit or translate customer information into service information for
diagnosis. In case there is a S/P or resource problem notification (alarms, etc)
this process will analyze this information and translates these problems into
impact for customers, making the necessary reports towards the Problem
Handling (to inform about estimated time to restore) and QoS/SLA
management process to inform of the problem's impact on the service
performance.
Diagnosis
Performs the search of the root cause by means of the appropriate testing
and/or quires for information.
Resolution Tracking
This process also perform the necessary tracking of the execution progress in
order to assure that the whole resolution completed, according with the plan
established. Trouble reports will be made for the responsible parties, and this
process will coordinate all the actions necessary, in order to guarantee that all
tasks are finished at the appropriate time.
This process will perform the necessary testing in order to certify the
recovering of the normal service performance, and make the necessary
reports about the problem occurred, the root cause and the works carried out
for restoration. It also will issue the trouble clearance report to inform the
CRM layer.
Service Problem Management Level 3 Process Flows provide insight into the
process interactions around the Service Problem Management Level 2
process, and how these interactions map into the internal structure of this
process, to/from the contained level 3 processes (see above for
decomposition).
Figure 4.4 shows the Service Problem Management structure and the
process interactions involved.
INPUTS:
Trouble Ticket: Request to Resolve abnormal service performance perceived
by customers
New Service Instances: Information about the new customers and/or service
instances created by the Service Configuration and Activation Process
New Service Info, training and Ops: Details about new service classes in
order to manage their eventual problems.
OUTPUTS:
Impacted service performance: Information passed to Customer QoS/SLQ
Mgmt in order to analyze whether there is a QoS violation, and/or the impact
on business caused by a service problem detected or planned maintenance.
Trouble ticket: If the problem is caused by another S/P, a Trouble Ticket will
be generated.
Service Problem Report: Record about service problem for Service Quality
Analysis.
DESCRIPTION:
This process encompasses monitoring, analyzing and controlling the
performance of a service perceived by all customer of a service class The
Service Quality Analysis, Action and Reporting process is responsible for
restoring the service performance to a level specified in a SLA or other
service descriptions as soon as possible. It is also responsible for responding
to inquiries and reporting on service performance.
PURPOSE:
To provide effective monitoring and control to ensure that the service levels
specified for each service class are maintained and to provide real-time
information on the service levels achieved.
BUSINESS RULES:
Valid and complete service level parameters with their values and thresholds.
INPUT/FROM:
Service Development & Retirement (for notification of the new service class
and details of the service level specification against which to compare service
performance, also notification of service withdrawal)
OUTPUT/TO:
SM&O - Service Quality Management (service performance levels for
statistical and other long-term analyses)
ENDS/WITH (post-condition):
The service is withdrawn
- Establishes whether the service performance levels are meeting the service
level specification
FUNCTIONS:
See decompositions and flows
INFORMATION REQUIRED:
The performance level attributes, their values and the thresholds (hard and
soft) for every service class
The resources involved in providing the service (both internally and from
suppliers and partners)
REQUIREMENTS:
Automated performance monitoring and threshold violation notification
procedures
Security
HINTS:
None at this level
REFERENCED/SOURCE:
TOM 2.1 (GB910)
WSMT team
ACCOUNTABLE:
Not applicable
Service Quality
Analysis, Action &
Repor
Service Quality Usage & Cost Service Quality Service Cost Service Service Constraint
Monitoring Data Monitoring Analysis Analysis Improvement Identification &
Reporting
Alarm Logging Service Cost Abnormal Usage Service Provision Service Cost Operational
Monitoring Analysis Cost Analysis Improvement Constraint
Identification
Service
Performance
Inquiry Response
Figure 4.5: Service Quality Analysis, Action and Reporting - Level 3 (and candidate
Level 4) Processes
The Service Quality Analysis, Action and Reporting Level 3 processes are
described below.
This process collects and stores all quality indicators in relation with the
service, such as congestion events, resource alarm events. It also performs
automated testing using simulated calls or simulating standard user
behaviour, and collects data and identify abnormal usage by the service
users, i.e. bad passwords, terminal configurations.
Collects usage data (such as number of customers, peak hour traffic, etc) and
compiles service associated costs, such as infrastructure costs and process
(invoicing, provisioning...) costs.
Using the raw data coming from S. Quality Monitoring, this process will
correlate the events in order to filteri repetitive alarms, or failure events that do
not affect the quality delivered, and will calculate service quality indicators,
(such as Mean Time Between Fails, chronic problems) in order to assess the
effectiveness of the service and identify the actual quality level perceived by
the customers against forecasted quality levels.
From the raw data collected by Usage & Cost Data Monitoring, this process
will calculate service efficiency indicators (such as Answer to Send Ratio,
percentage of resources used, etc) in order to assess the efficiency of the
service against resource and process costs.
SERVICE IMPROVEMENT
This process identifies the constraints than can affect service quality
standards, (i.e resource failures, capacity shortages due to unexpected
demand peaks, ) and passes this information to the CRM layer in order to
keep customers informed.
Figure 4.6 shows the Service Problem Management structure and the
process interactions involved.
Figure 4.6: Service Quality Analysis, Action and Reporting - Level 3 Process Flows
Cases where resources are provided form within the service providers own
domain, as well as where suppliers and partners are involved in this, have
been taken into account.
At this point, the views that have been developed indicate sequencing, and
imply involvement by different Level 3 processes within the indicated Level 2
process as shown in Figure 4.8, Figure 4.9 and Figure 4.10. Here, a given
Level 2 process may be shown several times, to allow the sequencing of its
involvement in the flow to be more clearly seen. Typically, different
functionality is involved at each point for a given Level 2 process, so this is a
step towards identification of the specific Level 3 process or processes, within
the Level 2 process which will support the interactions.
Note that these diagrams are derived from the model developed for this E2E
flow within the process modeling tool.
Customer
Customer Customer
complaint Notification
Customer
Relationship
Management
Problem
Customer
Customer
Report
Problem
Problem Problem
Problem Problem
Problem QoS/SLA
QoS/SLA
Handling
Handling Handling
Handling Handling
Handling Management
Management
Supplier/Part
ner
Relationship
Management
Level 2 Process
Level 3 Process
Figure 4.8: Detailed View of Assurance Process Flows at Level 2 (source: customer
complaint)
Customer
Customer
Relationship
Management
Customer
Customer
QoS/SLA
QoS/SLA
Management
Management
Supplier/Part
ner
Relationship
Management
Level 2 Process
Alarm Fault
Level 3 Process
Figure 4.9: Detailed View of Assurance Process Flows at Level 2 (source: alarm fault)
Customer
Customer
Relationship
Management
Customer
Customer
QoS/SLA
QoS/SLA
Management
Management
Supplier/Part
ner
Relationship
Management
Statistics
Level 2 Process
CDR
Level 3 Process
Figure 4.10: Detailed View of Assurance Process Flows at Level 2 (source: statistics and
CDR)
Overview
number of areas of interest have been included below, with the intention that
the ongoing consideration of these is used as a basis for developing process
decompositions, flows, etc, that are relevant to the Resource Management
domain. The initial focus is on the Operations domain, i.e., on RM&O rather
than RD&M, but this will develop over time.
Figure 5.2 shows the RM&O Level 2 processes, and Figure 5.3 shows the RD&M level 2 processes,
to provide context for this work.
Resource
Management &
Operations
R e s o urc e
D e v e lo p m e nt &
M a n a g e m e nt
Te l e M a n a g e m e n t F o ru m O c t o b e r, 2 0 0 1
Follows some initial Resource definitions which form the basis for the
Resource Model development in the SID team. This can be used as
background information while developing the Resource Management
understanding.
others ?
Resource Classifications
IC Service
Resource
Logical
Resource
Connection Power
Cable Duct Manhole Cabinet
point unit
NOTE: The problem here may be, that technological differences may appear
at too low level. The figure above represents only a very drafty version of the
resource classification. How does one classify hard disk space or memory
space! Can this classification never be normalised?
From management point of view the main difference between physical and
logical resource are, that physical resources cannot be fully managed without
physical contact (either directly by humans or using robotics or other
telemechanics). Logical resources can be managed using OSS functions.
Note: Current (new) release of ITIL includes only Service Delivery and
Service Support. The books under construction are ICT Infrastructure
Management (which in the coming release includes Systems Management
for the first time) and Applications Management. These are of course the
most important ones concerning resource management.
The eBusiness model requires infrastructure, a delivery platform and also the
content to be delivered. We plan to further study the dynamics of the
eBusiness environment, in order to better understand what resources are,
their relationship to the Products and Services, and how resources are
owned.
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The NGOSS Shared Information and Data Model has similar Management
Domain as defined within the Systems View. SIDM is very relevant for the
activities of the Resource Management subteam, as SIDM defines Business
Entities such as Resource, Service and Product.
Terminology
One of the issues to get closure upon is whether we need to current eTOM
terminology, or go for an alignment with the TMN terminology:
Product, Service and Resource are key concepts in the structuring of eTOM .
They are also central to definition of common information and data used in
developing a solution around the eTOM approach. To support the modeling
work, it is not only important to understand what Resources are, but also to
get a grasp of how Resources related to Services and Products.
The following definition is a good starting point for the work which is currently
still ongoing. This should be further addressed in a larger audience,
including the eTOM, SID and System Teams.
The SLA handbook will be used to guide the work in this context.
Example Product
As will be seen from the previous material, there are many aspects to
Resource Management to be considered. To assist in linking these together,
and to translate the analysis into a practical description of how Resource
Management works, we apply these ideas to an example product
demonstrating the implications for a real-world application scenario.
Product Definition
Reference Architecture
Product/Service/Resource Relationship
Resource Ownership
Product Definition
MusiScope
MovieScope
Restaurant Assist
Pub Locator
Subscribers to the Pub Locator product offering can obtain the location of the
nearest pub in their neighborhood. A customer can browse the entire beer
list, the list of Belgian beers on tab or just query whether they serve your
favorite beer.
In addition to locating the nearest pub, the customer can also look for pubs
that serve a favorite beer, based on the customers personal preferences.
The product can also display the route to the pub from the customers current
location.
Reference Architecture
The OSA/Parlay Gateway, is a so called Service Capability Server. It offers the API
interfaces and hence can be found at the edge of the Service Network and the Core
Network.
Applications access network capabilities through the API's and get accessed via the
OSA/Parlay API's.
Product/Service/Resource Relationship
Product Offerings
Relax-n-Enjoy:
MusiScope
MovieScope
RestaurantGuide
Pub Locator
Services
The Pub Locator Offering is realized by the following service
Maps to pubs
Applications
The Pub Locator Offering makes use of following applications:
Map Display
Pub Locator
User Location
User Profile
Computing Resources
The Pub Locator Offering makes use of following computing resources:
Application Servers
AAA Server
Network Resources
The Pub Locator Offering makes use of following network resources:
3G Network Resources
Resource Ownership
Related Standards
A good deal of work has been already taken place, or is ongoing, in formal
standards bodies, industry groups, etc which relates to consideration of
Resource Management. This current work draws particularly on the following:
TMN
See: www.itu.int/TMN/Getstart.html
ITIL
The ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) standard for Service Management is;
Public domain; business focussed; has a quality approach; is the defacto
standard for service management.
The ITIL Service Management Process Maturity Model has nine "Levels:
Level 5 Customer Interface
Level 4.5 External integration
Level 4 Management Information
Level 3.5 Quality Control
Level 3 Products
Level 2.5 Internal integration
Level 2 Process Capability
Level 1.5 Management Intent
Level 1 Prerequisites
See www.itil.co.uk
OSA/PARLAY
The Parlay Group has been created in 1998 to promote open Application
Programming Interfaces (API) that links IT applications with the capabilities of
the networks. It is an open, multi-vendor forum organized to create open,
technology independent APIs enabling the development of applications
The Parlay Group has defined a set of APIs to enable a new generation of
off-the-shelf network applications/components (e.g. messaging, mobility, end-
to-end quality of service, etc.) to be developed by application providers
(ISV/ASP) independent of the underlying voice/multimedia network.
PAM Forum
See www.pamforum.org
3GPP
See www.3gpp.org