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Itu-T: Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) - Representative Process Flows
Itu-T: Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) - Representative Process Flows
ITU-T M.3050.3
TELECOMMUNICATION (03/2007)
STANDARDIZATION SECTOR
OF ITU
Summary
The ITU-T M.3050.x Recommendation sub-series contains a reference framework for categorizing
the business activities that a service provider will use. The Enhanced Telecom Operations Map® (or
eTOM for short), which has been developed by the TeleManagement Forum, describes the enterprise
processes required by a service provider and analyses them to different levels of detail according to
their significance and priority for the business. This business process approach has built on the
concepts of management services and functions in order to develop a framework for categorizing all
the business activities.
This Recommendation contains representative process flows.
Source
ITU-T Recommendation M.3050.3 was approved on 29 March 2007 by ITU-T Study Group 4
(2005-2008) under the ITU-T Recommendation A.8 procedure.
The ITU-T M.3050.x Recommendation sub-series is based on the Enhanced Telecom Operations
Map® (eTOM) which has been developed by the TeleManagement Forum (TMF).
NOTE
In this Recommendation, the expression "Administration" is used for conciseness to indicate both a
telecommunication administration and a recognized operating agency.
Compliance with this Recommendation is voluntary. However, the Recommendation may contain certain
mandatory provisions (to ensure e.g. interoperability or applicability) and compliance with the
Recommendation is achieved when all of these mandatory provisions are met. The words "shall" or some
other obligatory language such as "must" and the negative equivalents are used to express requirements. The
use of such words does not suggest that compliance with the Recommendation is required of any party.
© ITU 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the
prior written permission of ITU.
1 Scope
The Enhanced Telecom Operations Map® (eTOM) [b-TMF GB921] has been developed by the
TeleManagement Forum as a reference framework for categorizing all the business activities that a
service provider will use.
This Recommendation is part of a series of ITU-T texts dealing with eTOM (Release 7.0), which
has the following structure:
M.3050.0 eTOM – Introduction.
M.3050.1 eTOM – The business process framework. (TMF GB921 -Release 7.0).
M.3050.2 eTOM – Process decompositions and descriptions. (TMF GB921
Addendum D – Release 7.0).
M.3050.3 eTOM – Representative process flows. (TMF GB921 Addendum F –
Release 4.5).
M.3050.4 eTOM – B2B integration: Using B2B inter-enterprise integration with the
eTOM. (TMF GB921 Addendum B – Release 6.1).
M.3050 Supplement 1 eTOM – ITIL application note. (TMF GB921 Application Note V –
Release 6.0).
M.3050 Supplement 2 eTOM – Public B2B Business Operations Map (BOM). (TMF GB921
Addendum C – Release 4.0).
M.3050 Supplement 3 eTOM to M.3400 mapping.
M.3050 Supplement 4 An eTOM primer (TMF GB921 Addendum P – Release 4.5).
Additional parts will be published as material becomes available.
This series of ITU-T Recs M.3050.x builds on the management services approach described in
[ITU-T M.3010] and [ITU-T M.3200] by developing a business process framework.
This Recommendation contains representative process flows. It provides additional insight into the
eTOM framework and its application through the description of some example business scenarios,
or applications, in which the eTOM framework is applied, and shows process flows and related
information that demonstrate how the eTOM processes interact in these situations. It should be read
in conjunction with ITU-T Rec. M.3050.1 and other Recommendations in the M.3050.x series.
2 References
The following ITU-T Recommendations and other references contain provisions which, through
reference in this text, constitute provisions of this Recommendation. At the time of publication, the
editions indicated were valid. All Recommendations and other references are subject to revision;
users of this Recommendation are therefore encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the
most recent edition of the Recommendations and other references listed below. A list of the
currently valid ITU-T Recommendations is regularly published. The reference to a document within
this Recommendation does not give it, as a stand-alone document, the status of a Recommendation.
3 Definitions
This Recommendation uses the following term defined elsewhere:
3.1 eTOM: ITU-T Rec. M.3050.0.
5 Introduction
A number of example scenarios are described in this Recommendation. These can be considered as
"use cases", if this terminology assists, with a business, rather than an implementation perspective,
since the eTOM framework and these scenarios seek to define the business requirements rather than
a particular solution that addresses these requirements. Nevertheless, since these scenarios are
examples, certain assumptions have been made about the nature of the business problem concerned,
and it should be stressed that these assumptions do not imply that the eTOM framework can only be
applied in the context described. Instead, these are intended to provide insight for the cases
considered, but many other scenarios and examples can be addressed, and it is hoped that as the
work on the eTOM framework progresses, a growing library can be assembled on these.
It should be emphasized that the representative process flows shown here should not be viewed in
the same light as the process elements set out in ITU-T Rec. M.3050.2: these process flows
illustrate how to apply the eTOM framework and the process elements in support of representative
business scenarios, and thus provide additional insight into the use of eTOM.
The value of information is confirmed when it is put to use. The eTOM framework has many
possible applications, but the most obvious way to use a framework of process elements is to use it
to guide the design of actual process flows that deliver value for the enterprise.
To appreciate this, it is important here to differentiate between process flows and process elements,
especially from the point of view of how they relate to standardizing processes.
The Process Elements in the eTOM framework are intended as an exhaustive list, i.e., an enterprise
uses only the eTOM process elements when categorizing business activities within process
implementations. Should an exception arise where some activity is identified as not being supported
by (i.e., able to fit within) any existing process element, then a new process element would be
created and added to the eTOM framework in order to maintain its role as a comprehensive process
framework.
The Process Flows represent the way that the business activities (in the form of the process
elements) can work together to satisfy a particular need. An exhaustive list of process flows will
never be completed because needs are continually changing, but this is not an issue as the individual
scenarios, and the process flows developed around them, provide insight that contributes to an
enhanced understanding of how the eTOM framework can be used. What is important for an
enterprise that is trying to improve its efficiency by re-using its process and IT capabilities, is that it
must ensure that process flows are built using business activities that are categorized using only the
eTOM process elements.
6 Billing-related flows
Market
product and Apply pricing, Manage
customer discounting and collection
rebate
Service
Mediate usage Rate usage
records records
Resource
(application,
computing Process Report
and resource data resource data
network)
Supplier/
partner
Authorize Reserve
call balance
M.3050.3(07)F_6-1
Figure 6-1 – Billing flow prepaid: Authorization request/balance reservation (enough balance)
Market
product and Apply pricing, Manage
customer discounting and collection
rebate
Resource
(application,
computing Process Report
and resource data resource data
network)
Supplier/
partner
Call not
authorized
M.3050.3(07)F_6-2
Release
Debit Request Decrease
balance
balance
reservation
Resource
(application,
computing Process Report
and resource data resource data
network)
Supplier/
partner
M.3050.3(07)F_6-3
Mobile
network
operator
M3050.3(07)_F6-4
Contractual relationships
In order to bill customers for the services they use, the charging model for each of the services has
to be known. If service usage is charged for, the usage data needs to be collected and processed so
that the usage records can be used for rating and charging purposes. As the mobile portal service
provider is the service provider issuing the individual bills to customers for their usage of all the
services they are subscribed to, it requires charging data to be sent to it by the third party service
providers and mobile network operators that can be aggregated into a single bill for each customer.
NOTE – It is anticipated that further work will be done on the federated billing scenario to give it a more
generic use. A new role of "billing aggregator" may need to be defined to cover the functionality currently
contained in the mobile portal service provider and a clearer understanding of the relationship between the
billing aggregator, the service content and network providers and the customer established.
Scenario description
The customer uses services that have been subscribed to. After the services have been used, the
required usage and charging data is sent from third party service providers/mobile network
operators to the mobile portal service provider for incorporation into a single bill for the customer.
Pre-conditions
– The contracts between the mobile portal service provider and the third party service
providers/network operators have been signed and are in place.
– The customer has subscribed to services offered via the mobile portal service provider and
has concluded an appropriate contract with the mobile portal service provider.
– The customer has a postpaid account.
– The customer uses the services subscribed to.
Post-conditions
– There was normal operation of the services supplied and no SLA violation occurred.
– Each service provider/network operator involved in providing a service rated the service
usage correctly and provided the mobile portal service provider with the appropriate usage
and charging data.
– The mobile portal service provider aggregated the external data with its internal usage and
charging data.
– The customer's account was updated by the correct amount for the service usage.
– The billing information encompassing all the individual services used by the customer via
the mobile portal service provider was provided to the customer for payment.
Customer billed
Manage request
(incl. self service)
Apply pricing,
discounting and
rebate
Rate usage
records
Service
Mediate usage
records
Resource
(application, Resource data Collect resource Process resource Report resource
computing available data data data
and
network)
Manage account
Supplier/
partner
Manage S/P
requests
M.3050.3(07)F_6-5
Partner usage and
charging data available
____________________
* This will depend on whether the customer is a subscriber of the network/service provider and/or whether
that network/service provider wishes to offer such an individualized AoC service.
Charge
Advice of Charge presented to
Request customer
Market
product and Apply pricing, Manage request
Create and (including self
customer discounting and
deliver bill service)
rebate
Resource
(application,
computing
and Process Report
network) resource data resource data
Supplier/
partner
M.3050.3(07)F_6-6
Call not
authorized
Service order
Service Service status update
Service configuration configuration
and activation and activation
Supplier/
S/P requisition S/P requisition
partner
management management
External
order
status
M.3050.3(07)_F7.3c
Order
completion
notification
Resource management
and operations
Supplier/partner
relationship management
M.3050.3(07)_F7.4a
PLM spreads across the whole enterprise; Figure 8-1 shows the scope of product lifecycle
management across the eTOM framework.
To address this complexity in the more general case, PLM processes could be organized according
to different scope levels, for example, in terms of Core PLM, Strategic PLM, Operational PLM,
E2E PLM, etc., as depicted in Figure 8-3.
Selling
Product Product Product Product
Market Marketing marketing CRM
and offer and offer and offer Marketing Customer Billing and
strategy capability commu- support and Order Problem
portfolio capability development fulfillment QoS/SLA collections
and policy delivery nications readiness
planning delivery and retirement handling handling
and promotion response management management
Resource development & management Resource management and operations Resource Resource
trouble performance
Resource Resource Resource RM&O management management
Resource
strategy capability development support and provisioning
and planning delivery and retirement readiness
Resource data collection and processing
Supplier/partner
Core PLM
Enterprise management
Knowledge and
Strategic and enterprise planning Enterprise risk management Enterprise effectiveness management
Strategic PLM research management
Strategic Enterprise Group Business Process Enterprise Program Enterprise Facilities
Business Security Fraud Audit Insurance Knowledge Research Technology
business architecture enterprise continuity management quality and project performance management
development management management management management management management scanning
planning management management management and support management management assessment and support
M.3050-3(07)_F8.4
Service development and management Service management and operations Activation Rating Rated
Service rating Info on Services and Service and status plans services
rules provided available products instance of service information data
services inventory reserved and confirmed provided provided
Service development
provided synchronized pre-assigned
and retirement Service and specific
Service rating rules provided
instance rating
Service inventory SM&O support Services
info provided and readiness configured
and activated
Activation and
Service configuration availability
information updated Service configuration of service
and activation confirmed
Resource development and management Resource management and operations Usage events
NEs
Resources and Configuration of configuration pre-rated
services inventory resources and and availability data provided
synchronized NEs requested confirmed
Resources
inventory Resource Resource data
Resource development info RM&O support inventory Resource collection and
and retirement requested and readiness updated provisioning processing
M.3050-3(07)_F8.5
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M.3050.3(07)_F9.1
Scenarios were selected to illustrate the process flows required to support the above SLA lifecycle
phases. They were not intended to be prescriptive but were provided as one possible approach to the
process flows involved in SLA management. The scenarios originally selected have not been
changed for the eTOM flows except where it was thought necessary or desirable in the light of
experience with the original flows and with the different scope of eTOM compared to TOM. This is
evident, for example, in the fact that there were no processes for supplier/partner relationships in
TOM, and so the original scenarios did not include such processes. In one of the flows depicted
here, a relationship with a third-party service provider has been included in order to show how
supplier/partner processes can be used. Clearly, such relationships can be included in other flows,
but the first step was to adapt the TOM flows to eTOM flows and then to exploit the wider scope of
the eTOM framework as required.
Another point on which work within the TM Forum has progressed is in the clarification of the
relationship between product and service, and the greater emphasis on marketing processes in the
service provider enterprise. Although a product can consist of several services, the scenarios here
retain the approach of the original flows in that a product consists of one service. In further work in
this area, it would be desirable to coordinate the performance of several services comprising a
product and to examine the flows required for the management of SLAs for such products, as well
as between several service providers in a value chain.
The original TOM flows were designed to be generic as the focus was on SLA management and not
on any specific implementation of a service, and this is also the case in the eTOM flows. Again, it
would be desirable to examine this approach given the different kinds of service now available,
particularly in the mobile environment, and the work being undertaken in this area by the TM
Forum.
The process flows selected here are those for stages 4 and 5 of the SLA lifecycle, i.e., the execution
and assessment phases. The scenarios originally selected for these two phases are shown here, first
as interaction diagrams and then as eTOM process flows. As with the TOM process flows, these
flows are provided as examples depicting illustrative approaches to aspects of SLA management in
the two lifecycle phases.
9.2.3 Assessment
The assessment phase can relate to a single customer SLA and the QoS required, or it can be related
to the service provider's overall quality goals, objectives and risk management.
Figure 9-5 represents the case where the customer needs have changed and there is no SLA to meet
these needs. The interactions occur in the market, product and customer layer and involve not just
operations process groupings but also product lifecycle management process groupings.
Figure 9-6 depicts the process interactions relating to the internal business review concerning the
overall SLA performance across all customers, as well as a realignment of service operations and
service goals to improve overall service class performance. The process interactions here occur
among the assurance process groupings as well as among the OSR process groupings.
9. Customer
Market informed (optional)
product and
customer Customer
8. Customer prioritization Retention
QoS/SLA
requested and returned and loyalty
management
7. Details sent
of service 6. Outage information
quality impacted correlated, including 10. Reconfiguration 16. Details sent of Service Service
by threshold alerts details of resource requested if actions undertaken problem quality
and failure alarms restoration if applicable required management management
17. Details
Service Service Service sent of
Service
quality problem problem
configuration 15. Updates
management management Manage resolution
and activation generated
service
3. Details sent of inventory
5. Resource restored or 11. Reconfiguration
performance impacted by trouble report generated requested 14. Details
threshold alerts and alarms sent of
corrective
2B. Threshold actions
Resource crossing alerts Resource Manage
Resource
performance notified trouble resource
Resource provisioning 13. Updates
management management inventory
(application, generated
computing 2B. Threshold
and crossing alerts 2C. Failure 4. 12.
network) notified alarms notified
Resource data
1.
collection and
processing
Supplier/
partner
M.3050.3(07)_F9.8
Figure 9-8 – Normal execution of SLA service cases B and C: Threshold crossing alerts and resource failure alarms. Steps 1 to 17
Market
25. Customer informed 26. Customer service level
product and
of restoration Customer reports generated and possibly
customer
of service quality QoS/SLA periodic discussion with
(optional) management customer undertaken
20. Rectification
Resource report generated Resource
performance trouble
management management
Resource
(application, 19. Resource performance
computing data passed on
and
network) Resource data
18.
collection and
processing
Supplier/
partner
M.3050-3(07)_F9.9
Figure 9-9 – Normal execution of SLA service cases B and C: Threshold crossing alerts and resource
failure alarms. Steps 18 to 26
22. Problem resolution 25. Customer service level 26. Customer billed
reported to customer reports sent (and possibly
Market periodic discussion with Billing and
product and customer carried out) collections
customer 24. Rebate management
Customer
Problem information
QoS/SLA
handling generated
management Retention and
loyalty
Supplier/
partner
M.3050-3(07)_F9.11
Service
Resource
(application,
computing
and
network)
Supplier/
partner
Supplier/
partner
M.3050.3(07)_F9.13
Figure 9-13 – Assessment initiation cases B and C: Internal assessments at the customer and service layers
[b-TMF GB921] TMF GB921 Release 7.0, Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) – The
Business Process Framework.
[b-TMF GB917] TMF GB917 SLA, version 2.0 Management Handbook.
Series E Overall network operation, telephone service, service operation and human factors
Series J Cable networks and transmission of television, sound programme and other multimedia signals
Series L Construction, installation and protection of cables and other elements of outside plant
Series Y Global information infrastructure, Internet protocol aspects and next-generation networks
Printed in Switzerland
Geneva, 2007