eTOMS BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK
eTOMS BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK
eTOMS BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK
Framework (eTOM)
For The Information and Communications Services Industry
Addendum F:
Process Flow Examples
Release 8.0
GB921 Addendum F
Version 7.6
July, 2008
Notice
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Table of Contents
Notice.................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................. 3
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................... 5
1. Preface - eTOM Business Process Framework ....................................................................................... 7
2. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 9
3. Service Delivery and other Flows ............................................................................................................ 11
3.1. SDF: New Product Delivery.......................................................................................................... 12
3.2. SDF: Populate Content Library .................................................................................................... 12
3.3. New Product & Offer Development Flow..................................................................................... 13
3.4. New Resource Development Flow .............................................................................................. 14
3.5. Plan and Build Flow ...................................................................................................................... 14
3.6. Order Handling: End-End Fulfillment flows.................................................................................. 15
4. Billing-Related Flows: Prepaid Billing ..................................................................................................... 17
4.1. Context .......................................................................................................................................... 17
5. Billing-Related Flows: Federated Billing................................................................................................. 21
5.1. Context .......................................................................................................................................... 21
5.1.1. Scenario description ............................................................................................................. 21
5.1.2. Pre Conditions....................................................................................................................... 22
5.1.3. Post Conditions ..................................................................................................................... 22
5.1.4. Process Flow ( eTOM Level 3 processes) .......................................................................... 22
6. Billing-Related Flows: Advice of charge................................................................................................. 23
6.1. Context .......................................................................................................................................... 23
6.1.1. Scenario description ............................................................................................................. 23
6.1.2. Pre Conditions....................................................................................................................... 23
6.1.3. Post Conditions ..................................................................................................................... 24
6.1.4. Process Flow (eTOM Level 3 processes) ........................................................................... 24
7. eTOM Level 3 Processes involved in Billing Flows .............................................................................. 25
7.1. Manage Collection ........................................................................................................................ 25
7.2. Mediate Usage Records ............................................................................................................... 25
7.3. Rate Usage Records .................................................................................................................... 26
7.4. Process Resource Data (RM&O – AB) ....................................................................................... 26
7.5. Apply Pricing, Discounting & Rebate ........................................................................................... 26
8. DSL Fulfillment process flows.................................................................................................................. 28
8.1. DSL Fulfillment Assumptions ....................................................................................................... 28
8.2. DSL Fulfillment Process Interactions ........................................................................................... 28
8.3. DSL Fulfillment Process Flows .................................................................................................... 29
9. PLM process flows ..................................................................................................................................... 33
9.1. PLM Assumptions ......................................................................................................................... 33
9.2. PLM Process Interactions............................................................................................................. 33
9.3. Application of SIP Business Processes ....................................................................................... 35
9.3.1. Approach ............................................................................................................................... 35
9.4. PLM Process Flows ...................................................................................................................... 36
10. SLA process flows ........................................................................................................................... 39
10.1. SLA Assumptions ....................................................................................................................... 39
10.2. SLA Process Interactions ........................................................................................................... 40
10.2.1. Normal Execution................................................................................................................ 40
10.2.2. Execution with SLA Violation.............................................................................................. 42
10.2.3. Assessment......................................................................................................................... 42
10.3. SLA Process Flows..................................................................................................................... 45
List of Figures
Figure 3.1: New Product Delivery Flow (for SDF) 12
Figure 3.2: Populate Content Library Flow (for SDF) 13
Figure 3.3: New Product & Offer Development Flow 14
Figure 3.4: New Resource Development Flow 14
Figure 3.5: Plan and Build Flow 15
Figure 3.6: Order Handling - Customer Order Flow 16
Figure 3.7: Order Handling - Sample Quadruple Play Flow 16
Figure 4.1: Billing flow prepaid: Authorization request /balance reservation (enough balance) 18
Figure 4.2: Billing flow Authorization Request/Balance reservation” (not enough balance)19
Figure 4.3: Billing flow prepaid: Debit request 20
Figure 5.1 Business Relationship Context for Federated Billing 21
Figure 5.2 Federated Billing Flow 22
Figure 6.1 Level 3 Process Flow Advice of Charge 24
Figure 8.1: Fulfillment Process Interactions 29
Figure 8.2a: Pre-Sales Level 2 Process Flow 30
Figure 8.2b: Pre-Sales Process Dynamics Flow 30
Figure 8.3a: Ordering Level 2 Process Flow 31
Figure 8.3b: Ordering Process Dynamics Flow 31
Figure 8.3c: Ordering Process Dynamics Flow: Status Updates 32
Figure 8.4a: Post-Ordering Level 2 Process Flow 32
Figure 9.1: Scope of Product Lifecycle Management 33
Figure 9.2: Example of PLM Process Interactions 34
Figure 9.3: Different Scopes for PLM 35
Figure 9.4: Approve the Development of a New Product (pre-approval) 37
Figure 9.5: Develop New Product or Modify an Existing One (post-approval) 38
Figure 10.1: Product/Service and Associated SLA Lifecycle 39
Figure 10.2: Normal Execution of SLA Service Case A: Performance Data during Normal Operation
41
Figure 10.3: Normal Execution of SLA Service Cases B and C: Threshold Crossing Alerts and
Resource Failure Alarms 41
Figure 10.4: Customer Detected SLA Violation 42
Figure 10.5 Assessment Initiation Case A: Customer Needs Have Changed 43
Figure 10.6 Assessment Initiation Cases B and C: Internal Assessments at the Customer and Service
Layers 43
Figure 10.7: Normal Execution of SLA Service Case A: Performance Data during Normal Operation
46
The eTOM can serve as the blueprint for standardizing and categorizing business activities
(or process elements) that will help set direction and the starting point for development and
integration of Business and Operations Support Systems (BSS and OSS respectively). An
important additional application for eTOM is that it helps to support and guide work by TM
Forum members and others to develop NGOSS solutions. For service providers, it provides
a Telco industry-standard reference point, when considering internal process reengineering
needs, partnerships, alliances, and general working agreements with other providers. For
suppliers, the eTOM framework outlines potential boundaries of process solutions, and the
required functions, inputs, and outputs that must be supported by process solutions.
The eTOM Business Process Framework has grown to include a number of components.
The overall eTOM document set includes:
o A main document (GB921) that provides an overview of the eTOM Business
Process Framework, from both Intra-Enterprise and Inter-Enterprise viewpoints,
and describes the main structural elements and approach
o An Addendum (GB921D) describing the Service Provider enterprise processes and
sub-processes in a form that is top down, customer-centric, and end-to-end
focused. Process decompositions are provided for all processes from the highest
conceptual view of the eTOM framework to the level of detail agreed for use by the
industry.
o An Addendum (GB921F) describing selected process flows at several levels of
view and detail that provides end-to-end insight into the application of eTOM.
o An Addendum (GB921B) describing the implications and impact of ebusiness for
service providers and their business relationships, and how eTOM supports them,
including a description of handling of business to business Interactions by eTOM.
Associated with this is a separate Application Note (GB921C) describing a
Business Operations Map for processes involved in business to business
interaction
o An Addendum (GB921P), not included at time of release in the GB921 v4.0
document set, providing an “eTOM Primer” to assist new users of eTOM
o A separate Application Note (GB921T), not included at time of release in the
GB921 v4.0 document set, that shows how eTOM processes relate to the
functional view provided by the ITU-T M.3400 Recommendation (this work was
developed in conjunction with ITU-T within the joint Telecom Management
Collaboration Focus Group)
o A separate Application Note (GB921V) that shows how eTOM can be used to
model the ITIL processes
Addenda are adjuncts to the main document that are presented separately, to avoid a single
document becoming cumbersome due to its size.
Annexes and Appendices both allow material to be removed from a document body, so that
the reader is not distracted from the document flow by too much detail. However, these have
different statuses within a document: Annexes have equivalent status to the material within
the body of the document, i.e. an Annex represents a formal agreement and requirements for
the users of the document. Appendices contain material included for information or general
guidance. Also, Addenda have the same status as Annexes.
Thus, a document body, together with its Annexes and Addenda (and their Annexes, if any),
represents the normative material presented, while any Appendices in the main document or
its Addenda represent non-normative material, included for information only.
In addition, Application Notes are a specific document type, used to provide insight into how a
specification or other agreed artifact is used in a particular context or area of application. They
are non-normative as they provide information and guidance only within the area concerned.
2. Introduction
This document stands as an Addendum to GB921 Version 8.0. 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 the main GB921 document and other
Addenda (see GB921 for details).
A number of example scenarios are described in this document. 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 example scenarios shown here are not to be viewed as
normative in the sense that the recommendations embodied in the main eTOM document are
normative – these scenarios are examples to illustrate how to apply the eTOM framework.
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.
The example scenarios described in this Addendum make use of a tried and proven method
intended to ensure that process flows can be built using the eTOM process elements in order
to address the actual business needs identified in each case.
For the scenarios included here, some description is included with each explaining the
scenario concerned and its scope of application.
Many of the diagrams are produced with the aid of a process analysis tool, and some of the
conventions involved may not be obvious. The flow diagrams are organized into "swim lanes"
or horizontal tracks that follow the layers visible in the eTOM framework (e.g. CRM, SM&O,
etc). This is done to assist readers by positioning processes in their familiar relative
orientation as seen in the eTOM structure. Within each swim lane, individual processes are
then shown with interactions that link the processes within and between the swim lanes. Note
that these interactions are primarily concerned with event transitions, i.e. the interaction is
labeled to identify the event that causes the transition from the originating to the destination
process. This transition may imply transfer of information, but it is not the primary purpose of
the labeling to highlight the information that may be involved. This reflects the reality that
other mechanisms for information sharing (e.g. access to common databases) may be
involved and are documented separately. Also, the binding of information with process has
implementation implications and therefore needs to be done in recognition of potential
implementation choices. Further work on these information aspects is underway in
conjunction with other work and activities within TM Forum, and will be documented in due
course.
Process flows are initiated and terminated in the diagrams by boxes that may be shown
outside of the swim lane area. Arrowed boxes pointing right-wards indicate Events (initiating a
flow), while arrowed boxes pointing left-wards indicate results (terminating a flow). As flow
diagrams can become very extended, in some cases these have been broken into sub-flows
for convenience. These can then be linked together via Events and Results, as indicated.
It should be noted that the example flows shown here have been created at various stages in
the evolution of eTOM, and effort has not been available to rework all of these in line with
later eTOM updates.
They cover a range of topics, that all have flavors of what is often termed “service delivery”
(although “product delivery” might be more appropriate).
Firstly, In conjunction with the Service Delivery Framework (SDF) activity within TM Forum,
several process flows were developed as examples of how the existing eTOM process
elements can support new situations emerging form this work.
This also led to interest in examining “horizontal” flows in eTOM, that show how the overall
lifecycle of products, services, etc, can be modeled using process flows that span SIP and
OPS.
Finally, some flows that look at particular cases around order handling are included.
Service
Service Development & Retirement
Develop New Service Manage Service
Gather & Analyze New Business Proposal Development
Service Ideas
Develop Detailed
Assess Performance Service Specifications
of Existing Services
Develop Detailed
Assess Performance Resource
of Existing Resources Specifications
Supplier/ Partner
Supply Chain Capability Delivery
This process flow shows how a new product is identified, defined and delivered in support of
an SDF environment.
Another scenario identified by the SDF work concerns content-based services, and the
creation of a content library.
Product Capability
Requirements (for
ILM)
Define Product Capture Product Approve Product Deliver Product Manage Handover to
Capability Capabilit y Shortfalls Business Case Capability Product Operations Product Capability
Requirements to Operations
Service
Map & Analyze Capture Service Gain Service Capability Design Service Manage Handover to Service Capability
Service Requirements Capabilit y Shortfalls Investment Approval Capabilities Service Operations to Operations
Map & Analyze Capture Resource Gain Resource Design Resource Manage Handover to Resource
Resource Capabilit y Shortfalls Capability Investment Capabilities Resource Operations Capabilit ies to
Requirements Approval Operations
Supplier/ Partner
S/P Requisition Management
Select Determine S/P Pre- Initiate S/P Track & Manage S/P Close S/P
Supplier/Partner Requisition Requisition Order Requisit ion Requisit ion Order
Feasibilit y
The previous flows looked at scenarios identified through the SDF work. A similar kind of
analysis can be applied for “horizontal” flows that address how the SIP area of eTOM can be
used to deliver products and services into use within OPS.
This process flows looks at the general issue of developing new products and bringing these
into use.
Product & Offer Development & Retirement CRM - Support & Readiness
Support Selling
Gather & Analyze New
Product Ideas
Support Customer
Develop New Product Manage Product Launch New Products QoS/SLA
Business Proposal Development
Note: Infrastructure Management at the product level must be considered as part of this flow.
In a similar fashion to the product example above, a “resource layer” flow can be developed.
Resource (Application, Computing and Network)
In the Infrastructure area, this is an example of a Plan and Build flow, that shows how
infrastructure is readied for use in Operations.
Enable Resource
Provisioning
Enable Resource
Infrastructure Lifecycle Management Performance
Management
Resource Capability Delivery
Manage Resource Enable Resource
Capability Delivery Support & Operations Manage Resource
Map & Analyze Inventory
Resource
Requirements
Gain Resource
Capability Investment
Approval
Manage Handover to
Resource Operations
Capture Resource
Capability Shortfalls Design Resource
Capabilities
We can look at how flows might be applied in individual organizations. The next two flows
show examples around Order Handling; for a Customer Order and for Quadruple Play, that
an individual company might use.
1 Order Handling
4 23 i
Selling Determine Customer Authorize Credit Issue Customer Close Customer Order Complete Customer Track & Manage Report Customer
Order Feasibility Orders Order Customer Order Order Handling Bill Payments &
Handling Receivables
21 c.r Management
7
19 8
10
Resource Provisioning
15 13 16
Allocate & Install Issue Resource Configure & Activate Close Resource Order Recover Resource Test Resource Track & Manage Report Resource
Resource Orders Resource Resource Provisioning Provisioning
14 r.r
11 12
a b c
Order Handling
Selling Determine Customer Authorize Credit Issue Customer Close Customer Order Complete Customer Track & Manage Customer Order Report Customer Bill Payments &
Order Feasibility Orders Order Handling Order Handling Receivables
Management
Service Management & Operations Service Management & Operations Supplier/Partner Relationship Management Supplier/Partner Relationship Management
Service Configuration & Activation Service Configuration & Activation S/P Requisition Management S/P Requisition Management
Issue Service Orders Track & Manage Issue Service Orders Track & Manage Initiate S/P Requisition Track & Manage S/P Initiate S/P Requisition Track & Manage S/P
Service Provisioning Service Provisioning Order Requisition Order Requisition
Order Handling
Order Handling
Issue Customer Track & Manage Issue Customer Track & Manage
Orders Customer Order Orders Customer Order
Handling Handling
4.1. Context
A customer is using his prepaid mobile device to make a voice phone call that does not
involve roaming.
During this call, events are being generated by network equipment. Those events are sent to
a real time system that will identify the customer account, check the balance, authorize (or
not) the call and decrease the balance accordingly.
Note: The scenario described below only focus on the billing aspects of a larger scenario that
would be the “setting and rating of prepaid voice call”. The network aspects are not discussed
here.
The flow below (see Figure 4.1) is repeated for the duration of the call.
Pre Conditions
The end user uses a prepaid account
The end user places a voice call
There is a sufficient balance for the duration of the call implied by the reservation request
Post Conditions
There is a balance reservation
The end user is still talking on his voice call
Market
Product &
Customer
Service
Mediate Usage Rate Usage
Records Records
Resource(A
pplication,
Computing
and Process Report
Network) Resource Data Resource Data
Supplier/
Partner
Authorize Reserve
Call Balance
Pre Conditions
The end user has a prepaid account
The end user places a voice call
There is no sufficient balance for the duration of the reservation requested (according to policy of
the SP).
Post Conditions
The call was rated correctly
The balance has been decreased for the correct amount and reached 0 or less.
Market
Product &
Customer
Service
Mediate Usage Rate Usage
Records Records
Resource(Ap
plication,
Computing Process Resource
and Netw ork) Data Report Resource
Data
Supplier/
Partner
Pre Conditions
The end user uses a prepaid account
The end user has ended a voice call
There was sufficient balance for the duration of the call.
Post Conditions
The call has terminated normally
The call was rated correctly
The balance has been decreased for the correct amount
The balance reservation made for this call is released
Market
Product &
Customer
Service
Mediate Usage Rate Usage
Records Records
Resource(Ap
plication,
Computing
and Netw ork)
Supplier/
Partner
5.1. Context
The business relationship model of this scenario is that of a Mobile Portal Service Provider
providing services to customers, some of which are provided by third party service providers.
As a service aggregator, the Mobile Portal Service Provider undertakes order handling and
subscription, customer care, QoS monitoring, and billing functionality associated not only with
the services of the Mobile Portal Service Provider but also with the services from third party
service providers that it offers via its portal. Customers can access their services wherever
they are located as a subscription with the Mobile Portal Service Provider includes network
access (see Figure 5.1). The customers have postpaid accounts and receive a regular, for
example monthly, bill.
Mobile Portal
ThirdParty
Third Party
Service Provider Third Party
Customer Service
Service
Service
Provider
Provider
Provider
Mobile
Mobile
Network
Mobile
Network
Contractual Operator
Network
Operator
Relationships Operator
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.
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
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.
GB921-Addendum F 7.6 © TM Forum 2008 Page 21 of 59
Business Process Framework (eTOM) – Process Flow Examples
5.1.2. 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
M a rk e t
P ro d uc t & M an a ge Req u es t
C u s tom er (i n c l . Se l f Se rv i c e )
C re a te & Del i v e r
Bi l l
App l y Pri c i n g ,
Di s c o u n ti n g &
R e ba te
S e rv i c e
R a te Us a ge
R e c o rds
M e d i a te Us a g e
R e c o rds
R e s o u rc e
( Ap p l i c a ti on ,
C o m pu ti n g
a n d Ne two rk )
R e s o u rc e Da ta C o l l e c t Re s o urc e P ro c es s Re s ou rc e R e po rt Re s ou rc e
Av ai l a b l e D a ta D a ta D ata
S u pp l i e r/
P a rtne r
M a n a ge Ac c o un t
M a n a ge S/P
R e qu e s ts
P a rtn er Us ag e
& Ch argi ng
Da ta Av a i l a b l e
6.1. Context
The end user, using a device (phone, mobile or fixed / PDA/ PC / etc), accesses a specific,
value added product, ie. a product, which is not included in the customer’s subscription, or
which has different pricing rules from the norm. This product may carry dynamic charging.
The customer will not buy this product until an indication of the cost of the product or a rate for
the product has been presented to her/him.
The end user indicates an interest in buying a product, a charge or rate for this product is
displayed to the customer. The end user is presented with this information, aka Advice of
Charge (AoC) via a screen display, voice message, text message, etc. This may also involve
presenting relevant (to that user) alternative charges.
Example.1: A video clip of a goal scored may be more expensive in the first ½ hour after the
match is played and/or follow ‘normal’ time related charging rules, eg cheaper after 18.00
hours. The AoC would display the current cost of the video clip download, plus may display
the reduced cost of the video clip if the user is prepared to wait until a later time. (NB. this is
down to the business rules/policy of the company concerned).
Example.2: The download of a music CD may take 3 hours via a 500k Broadband line and
cost $5 for the video and nothing for transport (covered by normal flat rate subscription), or it
may take 5 minutes to download via the 500 BB line temporarily boosted to 10M and cost $5
for the video and $3 for the extra temporary bandwidth. (NB. The charges displayed here
would be decided by the company involved, but best practice would suggest both charges
are displayed.)
Advice of Charge
Request
Charge
presented to
Customer
Market
Product &
Customer
Service
Rate Usage
Records
Resource(Ap
plication,
Computing
and Netw ork) Process Resource Report Resource
Data Data
Supplier/
Partner
The Fulfillment process to be documented here is only one scenario out of many possible
ways of delivering a Fulfillment process.
To scope a typical generic Fulfillment process, here are the assumptions used
o There is limited pre-provisioning of infrastructure to end users (perhaps more typical
of HDSL than ADSL).
o Part of the resource needed will be provided internally and part externally using
supplier-partner processes e.g. the ISP is the retailer and is buying the Local Loop
from the incumbent carrier.
o At Level 2 only the dominant process flow is shown - exception cases (e.g. no
resource available) may be detailed in Level 3 Flows.
o Multiple external suppliers will be considered for external supply of resources.
o The service has moderate complexity and after negotiations with the customer's
purchasing staff are completed, the SP's technical contacts will interact with the
customer's engineering staff.
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 8.1 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.
Supplier/Partner
? Info & Comm ? Work Task
Enterprise Management System Support ? Assignment ?
Strategic & Enterprise Planning Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Effectiveness Management Knowledge & Research Management
Strategic Enterprise Group Business Process Enterprise Program & Enterprise Facilities Knowledge Technology
Business Security Fraud Audit Insurance Research
Business Architecture Enterprise Continuity Management & Quality Project Performance Management & Management Scanning
Development Management Management Management Management Management
Planning Management Management Management Support Management Management Assessment Support
Financial & Asset Management Stakeholder & External Relations Management Human Resources Management
Corporate Community Shareholder Board & Employee &
Financial Asset Procurement Regulatory Legal HR Policies & Organization Workforce Workforce
Communications & Relations Relations Shares/Securities Labor Relations
Management Management Management Management Management Practices Development Strategy Development
Image Management Management Management Management Management
Further insight is developed through a more detailed illustration of the process interactions
among the major Level 2 processes involved.
Flow diagrams for the DSL Fulfillment example are divided into three flows representing three
phases within Fulfillment: pre-sales, ordering and post-ordering. This is shown in the three
Level 2 Process Flow diagrams (Figures 8.2a, 8.3a and 8.4a) below.
Here the Level 2 processes are shown with relative positioning similar to that in the eTOM
framework, to assist understanding and to make the diagrams more intuitive.
Start points for the Fulfillment process are shown, and the interconnecting arrows indicate
events or information linking the Level 2 processes.
This view can be developed further to indicate sequencing, and to imply involvement by
different Level 3 processes within the indicated Level 2 process, as shown in Process
Dynamics diagrams (e.g. Figure 8.2b). 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.
Resource Resource
Reservation Reservation
Resource Management & Operations
Requested Confirmed
Resource Provisioning
Check External
Supplier
Solution
Supplier/Partner Relationship Management
Pre-Order initiated
S/P Requisition Pre-Order
Management
Customer
contacts retailer
Feasibility Requested
Resource Reservation
Resource
Confirmed
(Application,
Resource Reservation
Computing
Requested
and Network)
Resource
Provisioning
Check External
Supplier Solution
Supplier/
Partner S/P Requisition Pre-Order
Management Pre-Order
Initiated
Internal
Service Management & Operations
Design Service
Requested Order
Initiated Service Details
Design Service
for Billing
Completed Activated
External Supplier
Selection Required Service Configuration & Activation
Customer Order
requests SP Completion
offering Notification
External Resource
External Activated
Supplier/
Component
Partner S/P Requisition S/P Requisition
Requested
Management Management
Service Details
for Assurance
Market
Product & Customer Interface
Customer Customer Interface Management
Order Status
Management
Requested
Order Status
Provided
Order Handling
Service Order
Order Handling
Status Requested
Service Order
Service
Status Update
Service Service
Configuration & Configuration &
Activation Activation
Work Order Status
Resource
Request Work Order Status
(Application,
response
Computing
and Network) Resource
External Order Status External Order
Provisioning
request Status Response
Supplier/
Partner S/P Requisition S/P Requisition
Management Management
Order
Completion
Notification
Customer Customer
Satisfaction Satisfaction
Request Reply
Product Lifecycle Management encompasses the processes required for the definition,
planning, design, build, delivery, maintenance, revision and retirement of all products in the
enterprise’s portfolio. They enable a Service Provider to manage products in relation to profit
and loss margins, customer satisfaction and quality commitments.
PLM processes are end-to-end oriented processes that enable the enterprise strategic and
business vision; they drive the core operations and customer processes to meet market
demand and customer expectations.
Customer
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations
Strategy & Infrastructure Lifecycle Product Lifecycle Operations Support Fulfillment Assurance Billing
Commit Management Management & Readiness
Marketing & Offer Management Customer Relationship Management
Sales Customer Interface Management
Development
Selling
Market Product & Product & Offer Marketing CRM
Customer Billing &
Strategy & Offer Portfolio Capability Capability Product Development & Support & Problem
Product Development & Marketing QoS/SLA Collections
Policy Planning Delivery Readiness Handling
Delivery Product Marketing Product &Retirement
Offer
Retirement
Order Management Management
Fulfillment
Communications Development & Handling
Response
& Promotion Retirement
Product Marketing
Product Marketing Retention & Loyalty
Sales Development
& Channel Development Communications &
Sales & Channel Development Communications &
Promotion
Promotion CRM
CRM
Support &
Support &
Readiness
Readiness
Service Development & ManagementService Development &
Service Development &
Service Management & Operations
Retirement Service Service Service &
Retirement
Service Service Service SM&O Service Problem Quality Specific
Strategy & Capability Development & Support & Configuration & Management Management Instance Rating
Planning Delivery Retirement Readiness Activation SM&O
SM&O
Support &
Support &
Readiness
Readiness
Product Lifecycle
Strategy & Capability Support &
Retirement Provisioning
Planning Delivery Readiness
Resource Data Collection & Processing
& Change
Management
Management
S/PRM
Enterprise Management S/PRM
Support &
Support &
Readiness
Readiness
Strategic & Enterprise Planning Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Effectiveness Management Knowledge & Research Management
Strategic Business Process Enterprise Program & Enterprise Facilities
Business Enterprise Group Security Fraud Audit Insurance Knowledge Research Technology
Business Enterprise Continuity Management & Quality Project Performance Management &
Development Architecture Management Management Management Management Management Management Scanning
Planning Management Support Management Management Assessment Support
Management Management
Financial & Asset Management Stakeholder & External Relations Management Human Resources Management
Corporate Community Shareholder Board & Employee &
Financial Asset Procurement Regulatory Legal HR Policies & Organization Workforce Workforce
Communications & Relations Relations Shares/Securities Labor Relations
Management Management Management Management Management Practices Development Strategy Development
Image Management Management Management Management Management
PLM spreads across the whole enterprise; Figure 9.1 shows the scope of Product Lifecycle
Management across the eTOM framework.
PLM processes are end-to-end processes that affect and have interactions with most entities
in the enterprise. PLM process flows can be represented in many different ways depending
on the use and the scope of application, and such interactions could become so dense that
GB921-Addendum F 7.6 © TM Forum 2008 Page 33 of 59
Business Process Framework (eTOM) – Process Flow Examples
they could simply confuse. To simplify, Figure 9.2 selects an example of such process
interactions in PLM; and the diagram depicts an extract of all the possible process flows from
PLM. It should be noted that depicting the entire set of process interactions for PLM would
require a significantly more complex diagram.
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 9.3.
Customer
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations
Strategy & Infrastructure Lifecycle Product Lifecycle Operations Support Fulfillment Assurance Billing
Commit Management Management & Readiness
Marketing & Offer Management Customer Relationship Management
Sales Customer Interface Management
Development
Selling
Market Product & Product & Offer Marketing CRM
Customer Billing &
Strategy & Offer Portfolio Capability Capability Support & Problem
Marketing QoS/SLA Collections
Policy Planning Delivery Delivery Readiness Order Handling
Product Marketing Product & Offer Fulfillment Management Management
Communications Development & Handling
Response
& Promotion Retirement
Core PLMSupplier/Partner
Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise Planning
Strategic
Business Enterprise Group Business
Strategic PLM
Enterprise Risk Management
Security Fraud Audit Insurance
Enterprise Effectiveness Management
Process Enterprise Program & Enterprise Facilities
Knowledge & Research Management
Knowledge Research Technology
Business Architecture Enterprise Continuity Management & Quality Project Performance Management & Management Scanning
Development Management Management Management Management Management
Planning Management Management Management Support Management Management Assessment Support
E2E PLM
Shareholders Employees Other Stakeholders
In order to describe how the SIP (Strategy, Infrastructure and Product) business processes
from the eTOM framework can be used in an actual environment, this example draws on the
work of the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Catalyst project within the TM Forum’s
Catalyst program. This project illustrated how TM Forum NGOSS concepts and framework
could be leveraged to dramatically improve the processes and systems for building and
releasing new products, through the automatic linkage of appropriate product information to
the right operations systems and information catalogs on the network side. It demonstrated
integrated Product Lifecycle Management with established flow-through order processes,
showing how product managers can effectively manage the product lifecycle from beginning
to end, with a real-time capability to create, approve, release, distribute, order, fulfill, and bill
for new services.
In support of this, the process flows included here show eTOM level 2 processes involved in
PLM, with some aspects of relevant level 3 processes also included.
9.3.1. Approach
Based on a selected business scenario for PLM (see later), the relevant eTOM business
processes have been identified. Additionally, business process KPIs and triggers have been
defined to illustrate how these PLM scenario processes can be measured against their
performance indicators.
In PLM a product can have one or more services and each service is supported by one or
more resources. These and other rules were identified and mapped to corresponding eTOM
business processes based on a commonality that determines the way business actions are
executed whilst covering at the same time specific business requirements.
GB921-Addendum F 7.6 © TM Forum 2008 Page 35 of 59
Business Process Framework (eTOM) – Process Flow Examples
The results illustrate the effectiveness of the eTOM and related NGOSS work, such as SID,
across all activities involved with the scope of the project, such as product, service, resource
and supply chain planning, specification, development, test and delivery to the operations
environment, using product and service bundle concepts. The insights gained on the SIP
(Strategy, Infrastructure and Product) area of the eTOM framework have been used to
feedback into the ongoing eTOM work.
In order to define the business process flows across the SIP and Operations areas, a
scenario with the following issues has been considered:
There are products and service bundles made of components that can be accessed at any
time and reused to further define and build new products and services. A product manager
can then generate ideas from the analysis of current product and service bundles. These
aspects are covered by SM&O Readiness processes that also support Manage Service
Inventory processes.
The new product proposal is then submitted for approval by the product manager. Once
approved, the development project for the new product and related services and resources
starts. The primary processes that support this project are: Product & Offer Portfolio Planning,
Product Marketing Communications & Promotion, Product & Offer Development &
Retirement, Service Strategy & Planning, Service Development & Retirement, Resource
Development & Retirement, Product & Offer Capability Delivery, Service Capability Delivery
and Resource Capability Delivery.
Once the new product with its associated services and resources is developed, tested and
accepted, all of its configuration information including pricing rules and promotions are
transferred to the Operations area through the Product Development & Retirement, Service
Development & Retirement, and Resource Development & Retirement processes
respectively. The configuration information is then transferred to the Manage Service
Inventory and Manage Resource Inventory processes, which are part of the SM&O Support
& Readiness and RM&O Support & Readiness processes respectively. Additionally, CRM
Support & Readiness processes provide all of the necessary updates to support the new
product as well as its marketing campaign and billing.
Customer Interface Management, Selling, Service & Specific Instance Rating and Billing &
Collections Management processes create or update the necessary information to offer the
new product and services to the market. This includes price, billing, discount and other
parameters and rules.
The customer requests the new product through a call center, sales channel or self-
provisioning via the Customer Interface Management and Selling processes. In order to fulfill
the order and deliver the requested product, the following business processes are involved:
Order Handling, Billing & Collections Management, SM&O Support & Readiness, Service
Configuration & Activation, Service & Specific Instance Rating, RM&O Support & Readiness,
and Resource Provisioning.
The customer invoice related to the new product and services is generated; the processes
that support the business flows here are: Customer Interface Management, Billing &
Collections Management, CRM Support & Readiness, Service & Specific Instance Rating,
and Resource Data Collection & Processing.
The business process flows that support the above-described scenario are shown in Figures
9.4 and 9.5 below. Figure 9.4 describes the product manager accessing the product and
service bundles inventory when envisioning a new product and/or service based on the
components of existing ones; then further actions are described in order to obtain approval
for a new product development project. Figure 9.5 depicts the process flows involved with
product development after approval has been granted from the product manager or a higher
executive committee. The business process flows described represent a change request
received from a customer requiring the new product and/or service.
Product & Offer Development & Product & Offer Development & Retirement
Retirement
The SLA process flows depicted here have their origins in the SLA Management Handbook
[ref F1] where a set of use case scenarios and TOM process flows were depicted in order to
illustrate the interactions between the TOM processes involved in SLA management. In a
liaison between the SLA Management Team and the eTOM Team, the TOM flows have been
updated to eTOM process flows for version 2.0 of the SLA Management Handbook. A subset
of these flows is provided in this chapter.
The lifecycle of an SLA is analyzed in the following five phases as shown in Figure 10.1.
o Product/Service Development
o Negotiation and Sales
o Implementation
o Execution
o Assessment
s
le
Sa
t e
en ic
n
d
m rv
io
an
t t
op e
ta en
el t/S
en
tio
n
m
ev uc
io
ss
ia
em
D od
ut
e
ot
pl ss
ec
Pr
eg
Im
Ex
A
N
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
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.
The process interactions are first shown as high-level linkages in the eTOM model. They are
categorized as Normal Execution, Execution with SLA Violation, and Assessment.
The Execution phase covers all normal operations of the service instances covered by the
SLA.
Figure 10.2 presents normal in-service execution and monitoring where performance data is
collected from resources and analyzed for resource performance, then for overall service
quality, and finally checked against the customer SLA. In this case, a third party service
provider is involved and performance data from the external service components is included
in the service quality analysis. In addition, a billing flow was added to show how both internal
usage data as well as data from the third party service provider is incorporated into the
customer bill. All of these interactions occur in the Assurance process grouping for the
resource performance and service quality analysis interactions and in the Billing process
grouping for the billing interactions.
Supplier/Partner
Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise Planning Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Effectiveness Management Knowledge & 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 Project Performance Management & Management Scanning
Development Management Management Management Management Management
Planning Management Management Management Support Management Management Assessment Support
Financial & Asset Management Stakeholder & External Relations Management Human Resources Management
Corporate Community Shareholder Board & Employee &
Financial Asset Procurement Regulatory Legal HR Policies & Organization Workforce Workforce
Communications & Relations Relations Shares/Securities Labor Relations
Management Management Management Management Management Practices Development Strategy Development
Image Management Management Management Management Management
Customer
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations
Strategy & Infrastructure Lifecycle Product Lifecycle Operations Support Fulfillment Assurance Billing
Commit Management Management & Readiness
Marketing & Offer Management Customer Relationship Management
Sales Customer Interface Management
Development
Selling
Market Product & Product & Offer Marketing CRM
Customer Billing &
Strategy & Offer Portfolio Capability Capability Support & Problem
Marketing QoS/SLA Collections
Policy Planning Delivery Delivery Readiness Order Handling
Product Marketing Product & Offer Fulfillment Management Management
Communications Development & Handling
Response
& Promotion Retirement
Supplier/Partner
Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise Planning Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Effectiveness Management Knowledge & Research Management
Strategic Enterprise Group Business Process Enterprise Program & Enterprise Facilities Knowledge Technology
Business Security Fraud Audit Insurance Research
Business Architecture Enterprise Continuity Management & Quality Project Performance Management & Management Scanning
Development Management Management Management Management Management
Planning Management Management Management Support Management Management Assessment Support
Financial & Asset Management Stakeholder & External Relations Management Human Resources Management
Corporate Community Shareholder Board & Employee &
Financial Asset Procurement Regulatory Legal HR Policies & Organization Workforce Workforce
Communications & Relations Relations Shares/Securities Labor Relations
Management Management Management Management Management Practices Development Strategy Development
Image Management Management Management Management Management
Figure 10.4 shows the operation of the service where real-time SLA violation handling is
required. In this case, the customer reports a problem that is rectified but which leads to a
violation of the customer SLA so that a Billing rebate is given. In this case, there is interaction
between the Assurance and Billing process groupings, but interactions also take place with
the Fulfillment and OSR process groupings.
Customer
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations
Strategy & Infrastructure Lifecycle Product Lifecycle Operations Support Fulfillment Assurance Billing
Commit Management Management & Readiness
Marketing & Offer Management Customer Relationship Management
Sales Customer Interface Management
Development
Selling
Market Product & Product & Offer Marketing CRM
Customer Billing &
Strategy & Offer Portfolio Capability Capability Support & Problem
Marketing QoS/SLA Collections
Policy Planning Delivery Delivery Product & Offer Readiness Order Handling
Product Marketing Fulfillment Management Management
Communications Development & Handling
Response
& Promotion Retirement
Supplier/Partner
Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise Planning Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Effectiveness Management Knowledge & 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 Project Performance Management & Management Scanning
Development Management Management Management Management Management
Planning Management Management Management Support Management Management Assessment Support
Financial & Asset Management Stakeholder & External Relations Management Human Resources Management
Corporate Community Shareholder Board & Employee &
Financial Asset Procurement Regulatory Legal HR Policies & Organization Workforce Workforce
Communications & Relations Relations Shares/Securities Labor Relations
Management Management Management Management Management Practices Development Strategy Development
Image Management Management Management Management Management
10.2.3. 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 4.5 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 4.6 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.
GB921-Addendum F 7.6 © TM Forum 2008 Page 42 of 59
Business Process Framework (eTOM) – Process Flow Examples
Customer
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations
Strategy & Infrastructure Lifecycle Product Lifecycle Operations Support Fulfillment Assurance Billing
Commit Management Management & Readiness
Marketing & Offer Management Customer Relationship Management
Sales Customer Interface Management
Development
Selling
Market Product & Product & Offer Marketing CRM
Customer Billing &
Strategy & Offer Portfolio Capability Capability Support & Problem
Marketing QoS/SLA Collections
Policy Planning Delivery Delivery Product & Offer Readiness Order Handling
Product Marketing Fulfillment Management Management
Communications Development & Handling
Response
& Promotion Retirement
Supplier/Partner
Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise Planning Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Effectiveness Management Knowledge & 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 Project Performance Management & Management Scanning
Development Management Management Management Management Management
Planning Management Management Management Support Management Management Assessment Support
Financial & Asset Management Stakeholder & External Relations Management Human Resources Management
Corporate Community Shareholder Board & Employee &
Financial Asset Procurement Regulatory Legal HR Policies & Organization Workforce Workforce
Communications & Relations Relations Shares/Securities Labor Relations
Management Management Management Management Management Practices Development Strategy Development
Image Management Management Management Management Management
Customer
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations
Strategy & Infrastructure Lifecycle Product Lifecycle Operations Support Fulfillment Assurance Billing
Commit Management Management & Readiness
Marketing & Offer Management Customer Relationship Management
Sales Customer Interface Management
Development
Selling
Market Product & Product & Offer Marketing CRM
Customer Billing &
Strategy & Offer Portfolio Capability Capability Support & Problem
Marketing QoS/SLA Collections
Policy Planning Delivery Delivery Product & Offer Readiness Order Handling
Product Marketing Fulfillment Management Management
Communications Development & Handling
Response
& Promotion Retirement
Supplier/Partner
Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise Planning Enterprise Risk Management Enterprise Effectiveness Management Knowledge & 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 Project Performance Management & Management Scanning
Development Management Management Management Management Management
Planning Management Management Management Support Management Management Assessment Support
Financial & Asset Management Stakeholder & External Relations Management Human Resources Management
Corporate Community Shareholder Board & Employee &
Financial Asset Procurement Regulatory Legal HR Policies & Organization Workforce Workforce
Communications & Relations Relations Shares/Securities Labor Relations
Management Management Management Management Management Practices Development Strategy Development
Image Management Management Management Management Management
The process flows presented here are based on the process interactions between the Level 2 processes shown in the interaction diagrams
and provide more detail of the processes involved and the actions undertaken for each of the scenarios depicted.
Normal execution, also known as steady state, is the phase where the customer receives service on all the contracted and instantiated
service instances. This section first analyzes in Case A a situation where no outages or other alerts occur and the customer is billed for the
service used (Figure 10.7). It then analyzes in Cases B and C the situation where, although outages occur, no outage exceeds either the
individual or aggregated parameters set in the SLA (Figures 10.8 and 10.9). In the first case of normal operation, a supplier/partner is also
involved; in the second case the outages are within the Service Provider enterprise and so do not involve a supplier/partner.
1. During normal operation, performance data that is used for general monitoring of service levels as well as for longer-term capacity
prediction is collected on an ongoing basis from the service-providing infrastructure by Resource Data Collection & Processing.
2. During normal operation, performance data from external service components of third party service providers is sent on an
ongoing basis to S/P Performance Management for general monitoring of service levels, as well as for longer-term
supplier/partner capacity prediction.
3. Resource Data Collection & Processing sends performance data to Resource Performance Management for further analysis.
4. Resource Performance Management sends resource performance reports to Service Quality Management for QoS calculations
and averaging to maintain statistical data on the supplied service instances.
5. S/P Performance Management sends external service component performance reports to Service Quality Management for QoS
calculations and averaging to maintain statistical data on the supplied service instances.
Resource
5. External service component performance reports generated 4. Resource performance reports
(Application,
generated
Computing 3. Resource
a nd Network) performance
Resource
data passed
Performance
Resource Resource Data on
1. Management
Performance Collection &
Data Available Processing 6. Resource usage data passed on 8. External service
component billing data
2. External component 7. 3rd Party SP usage passed on
Supplier/
performance data sent S/P Performance and charging data sent S/P Settlements &
P artner
Management Billing
Management
S/P Interface S/P Interface
Management Management
6. Resource Data Collection & Processing sends resource usage data to Service & Specific Instance Rating for rating service
usage.
7. Third party service providers send their usage and charging data to S/P Settlements & Billing Management.
8. S/P Settlements & Billing Management analyzes the data and passes it on to Service & Specific Instance Rating for rating
service usage.
9. Service Quality Management analyzes the performance reports received and sends overall service quality reports to Customer
QoS/SLA Management so that it can monitor and report aggregate technology and service performance.
10. Customer QoS/SLA Management checks the service quality reports it receives against the individual customer SLA and
establishes that no SLA violation has occurred. Customer QoS/SLA Management sends periodic service level reports to the
customer on either a requested or agreed basis.
11. Service & Specific Instance Rating sends charging details to Billing & Collections Management.
12. Billing & Collections Management generates bills for the customer on either a requested or agreed basis.
The steps shown in Figure 10.8 and 10.9 for Cases B and C are as follows:
1. Notifications are collected from the service-providing infrastructure by Resource Data Collection & Processing on an ongoing
basis. In Cases B and C these notifications are in the form of:
2B. Threshold Crossing Alerts that represent congestion or performance degradation in a congestable resource that leads to slowed
or diminished capacity to support customer services. Resource Data Collection & Processing sends all performance data to
Resource Performance Management, which identifies a resource performance problem and requests Resource Trouble
Management to discover the cause of the alert and possible impact on service performance.
2C. Alarms that represent the failure of a component that affects the service of one or more customers. Resource Data Collection &
Processing sends data on alarms to Resource Trouble Management for further action.
3. Resource Performance Management sends details of the Threshold Crossing Alerts to Service Quality Management so that
various notifications and other steps may be taken to ensure that required service KQI levels are maintained.
4/5.Depending on the nature of the problem, Resource Trouble Management either triggers automatic resource restoration
procedures itself and informs Service Problem Management of its actions, or it raises alarm reports to Service Problem
Management, indicating the time and potential duration of any outage to allow Service Problem Management to determine
potential alternate actions to minimize service impact.
6. Service Problem Management and Service Quality Management correlate their information about the problem.
7. Service Quality Management sends details of the service impact of Threshold Crossing Alerts and Alarms to Customer QoS/SLA
Management.
8. Customer QoS/SLA Management checks the customer SLA and obtains information on the significance of the customer from
Retention & Loyalty. It undertakes various notifications and other steps in order to prevent customer SLAs from being violated,
e.g. clocks started, tracking initiated.
C u s t omer
i n f o rmed
C u s t o m e r Interface
M a n a g e ment
M a r ket
P r o duct &
C u s t omer 9 . C u stomer
i n f o r m e d (optional)
S u p plier/
P a r t ner
9. Customer QoS/SLA Management may inform the customer of the QoS degradation, depending on the significance of the
customer and the extent of the degradation.
10. If Resource Trouble Management has not been able to trigger automatic resource restoration, Service Problem Management
requests Service Configuration & Activation to undertake the required corrective actions. (Steps 10 to 17 are therefore only
carried out if automatic resource restoration did not take place).
11. As the problems have been notified in the resource layer, Service Configuration & Activation will require changes to be made to
the underlying infrastructure per contractual agreements. This requirement is sent to Resource Provisioning for activation.
12. Resource Provisioning undertakes the required resource configuration changes to ensure that resources meet service KQIs.
14. Resource Provisioning reports the results of the changes as well as the time taken and all other infrastructure and operational
parameters to Service Configuration & Activation.
15. Service Configuration & Activation generates updates for Manage Service Inventory.
16. Service Configuration & Activation reports on the actions undertaken to Service Problem Management.
Service
24. Service QoS
reports generated
Supplier/
Partner
17. Service Problem Management sends details of the corrective actions to Service Quality Management for incorporation into
ongoing service quality monitoring and management.
18. Notifications and performance data are collected from the service-providing infrastructure by Resource Data Collection &
Processing.
19. Resource Data Collection & Processing sends performance data to Resource Performance Management for further analysis.
20. Resource Performance Management establishes that the resources are meeting their KPIs and informs Resource Trouble
Management that the trouble has been rectified.
21. Resource Performance Management sends resource performance reports to Service Quality Management for QoS calculations and
averaging to maintain statistical data on the supplied service.
22. Resource Trouble Management informs Service Problem Management of the closed resource trouble report.
23. Service Quality Management analyzes the resource performance reports and sends a rectification report to Service Problem
Management when it is established that the troubles causing the Threshold Crossing Alerts or Alarms have been resolved and that
the service is meeting its KQIs.
24. Service Quality Management sends overall service quality reports to Customer QoS/SLA Management so that it can monitor and
report aggregate technology and service performance.
25. Customer QoS/SLA Management checks the service quality reports it receives against the customer SLA and establishes that no
SLA violation has occurred. It may inform the customer of the quality restoration, depending on the significance of the customer and
the extent of the degradation.
26. Customer QoS/SLA Management sends periodic Service Performance reports to the customer on either a requested or agreed
basis.
From time to time, service conditions will exceed the parameters specified in the SLA. At least two cases need to be examined, one where
the Service Provider detects the outage first, and one where the customer detects and reports it first. The second case is depicted in Figures
10.10 and 10.11.
1. The customer perceives service degradation and reports the visible parameters to Problem Handling.
C u s t o mer C u s t o mer
R e p o rts i n f o rmed
P r o b lem
C u s t o m e r Interface C u s t o m e r Interface
1 0 a . Actual
M a n a g e m ent M a n a g e m ent
M a r k et s e r vice
P r o duct & R e t e ntion & p e r f o r m ance
3 . C u stomer r e p o r t ed (if no
C u s t o mer 1 . C u stomer p r i ority L o y alty
p r o b l em) R e t e ntion &
p r o b l e m report r e t u r ned
P r o b l e m Handling L o y alty
p a s s ed on
P r o b l e m Handling
o f a ctions
S e r v i c e Problem S e r v i ce Quality S e r v i c e Problem u n d e r t aken
S u p p lier/
P a r t ner
2. Problem Handling sends details of the problem as reported by the customer to Customer QoS/SLA Management and
Retention & Loyalty.
3. Retention & Loyalty returns information to Problem Handling on the significance of the customer.
4. Customer QoS/SLA Management checks the customer SLA and undertakes various steps for tracking the problem in
order to prevent the customer SLA from being violated, e.g. clocks started, tracking initiated. It determines potential priorities or
other actions depending on the type of customer SLA and informs Problem Handling.
5. Problem Handling sends a detailed problem report with contract commitment data and request prioritization to Service
Problem Management for normal flow handling.
8. 6/7. Service Problem Management investigates whether there is a problem, possibly engaging Resource Trouble Management
for further investigation, and then requests Service Quality Management to correlate its findings. Service Quality Management
either confirms the trouble report or, if no problem is noted, returns the actual service performance to Service Problem
Management.
Service Problem Management then carries out one of the three following alternatives:
Alternative a
9a. If there is no problem, Service Problem Management sends the actual service performance to Problem Handling.
10a. Problem Handling informs the customer of the actual service performance as well as Retention & Loyalty for future reference
and Customer QoS/SLA Management so that any steps initiated can be terminated.
Alternative b
9b. In some cases, Service Problem Management requests automatic resource restoration procedures from Resource Trouble
Management.
10b. Resource Trouble Management undertakes the required procedures and sends details of the actions to Service Problem
Management.
11b. Service Problem Management informs Service Quality Management of the corrective actions.
Alternative c
9c. In other cases, Service Problem Management requests Service Configuration & Activation to undertake the required corrective
actions.
10c. Service Configuration & Activation will require changes to be made to the underlying infrastructure per contractual agreements.
This requirement will be sent to Resource Provisioning for activation.
11c. Resource Provisioning undertakes the required resource configuration changes to ensure that resources meet service KQIs.
13c. Resource Provisioning reports the results of the changes as well as the time taken and all other infrastructure and operational
parameters to Service Configuration & Activation.
14c. Service Configuration & Activation generates updates for Manage Service Inventory.
15c. Service Configuration & Activation reports on the actions undertaken to Service Problem Management.
16c. Service Problem Management sends details of the corrective actions to Service Quality Management for incorporation into
ongoing service quality monitoring and management.
Supplier/
Partner
17. Notifications and performance data are collected from the service-providing infrastructure by Resource Data Collection & Processing.
18. Resource Data Collection & Processing sends performance data to Resource Performance Management for further analysis.
19. Resource Performance Management sends resource performance reports to Service Quality Management for QoS calculations and
averaging to maintain statistical data on the supplied service.
20. Service Quality Management analyzes the resource performance reports and sends a rectification report to Service Problem
Management when it establishes that the problem has been resolved and that the service is meeting its KQIs.
21. Service Problem Management reports that the problem has been resolved to Problem Handling.
22. Problem Handling informs the customer and receives acknowledgement from the customer that the problem is resolved.
23. Service Quality Management reports the problem resolution to Customer QoS/SLA Management. Customer QoS/SLA
Management checks the details against the customer SLA and establishes that an SLA violation has occurred.
24. Customer QoS/SLA Management reports the violation rebate to Billing & Collections Management for billing adjustment and to
Retention & Loyalty for future reference.
25. The customer is notified in semi real-time about the actions taken on their behalf.
26. Billing & Collections Management bills the customer at the end of the billing cycle with the SLA agreed treatment included.
10.3.3. Assessment
During the assessment phase, SLAs are examined to determine if they still fit the business needs. There are several triggers for the
assessment, including periodic either per service or overall, customer-triggered reevaluation, customer exit, etc. Figure 4.12 shows Case A
where customer SLA needs have changed because the customer’s business needs have changed and there is no SLA meeting these
needs, leading to an assessment of the potential for an enhanced product SLA. Figure 4.13 shows Cases B and C where internal
assessments at the Customer and Service layers lead to a realignment of infrastructure support for SLA parameters and service KQIs
respectively. In these flows, Level 3 processes from the Operations Support & Readiness vertical are included for increased clarity.
2. Selling checks the significance of the customer with Retention & Loyalty.
C ustomer
I n q uiry Made
C u stomer Interface
Ma n agement
Ma r ket
Product & Input to SLA
C ustomer Retention & P roduct Lifecycle Stage 1
1 . Customer request
L oyalty D e velopment & P roduct
for changed SLA 5. Enhanced
R e tirement D e velopment
p a rameters made 2. Information on p roduct SLA
C u stomer prioritization r e quested
Selling r e quested Support Selling
4. Request
3. Details sent of Customer request a n alyzed and
for enhanced SLA passed on
S ervice
R esource
( Application,
C omputing
a n d Network)
S upplier/
P a rtner
3. Selling is unable to meet the customer’s requirements with existing product SLA(s). It sends details of the customer request to
Support Selling for analysis.
4. After analyzing the request, Support Selling passes it on to Product Development & Retirement for a reassessment of the existing
product SLA(s).
5. Product Development & Retirement reassesses the SLA parameters and sends a request for development of an enhanced
product SLA to the product planning processes.
Mark et
Produc t &
Cus tomer
1B. SLA
reports
SLA data generated Enable Cus tomer Cus tomer CRM Operations Serv ic e
Quality Q oS/SLA Readines s s pecific ation
Management Management 14. SLA trend reports c onsis tent with SLA
generated
Supplier/
Partner
The steps shown in Figure 10.13 for Cases B and C are as follows:
1B. Enable Customer Quality Management receives SLA reports for trend analysis (mainly from Customer QoS/SLA Management).
Enable Customer Quality Management establishes that given SLAs are being violated too often, require excessive rebates, and
that the service KQIs are not supporting the product KQIs.
1C. Enable Service Quality Management receives service quality reports for trend analysis (mainly from Service Quality
Management). Enable Service Quality Management establishes that the service being provided is not meeting the required levels
on an average basis.
2. Enable Customer Quality Management requests Enable Service Quality Management to undertake the required service class
KQI improvements so that they will support the SLAs more adequately.
3. Enable Service Quality Management analyses the problems and requests Enable Service Configuration & Activation to undertake
the required corrective actions to improve the service class KQIs.
4. Enable Service Configuration & Activation requests changes in the infrastructure from Enable Resource Provisioning.
5. Enable Resource Provisioning takes corrective action to ensure that resources meet the service class KQIs.
7. Enable Resource Provisioning reports details of its actions to Enable Service Configuration & Activation.
8. Enable Service Configuration & Activation generates updates for Manage Service Inventory.
9. Notifications and performance data are collected from the service-providing infrastructure by Resource Data Collection &
Processing.
10. Resource Data Collection & Processing sends performance data to Resource Performance Management for further analysis.
11. Resource Performance Management sends resource performance reports to Service Quality Management for QoS calculations
and averaging to maintain statistical data on the supplied service instances.
12. Service Quality Management analyzes the resource performance reports received and sends overall service quality reports to
Customer QoS/SLA Management so that it can monitor and report aggregate technology and service performance.
13. Service Quality Management sends service quality reports to Enable Service Quality Management for trend analysis where it is
established that the service being provided is now meeting the required levels on an average basis.
14. Customer QoS/SLA Management sends SLA reports to Enable Customer Quality Management for trend analysis where it is
established that given SLAs are now consistent with SLA requirements.