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Practical Experience Using the TeleManagement Forums NGOSS eTOM

Service providers and their operations support system (OSS) suppliers require a common vocabulary that will allow clear and accurate analysis of service-provider OSS needs and a suppliers ability to deliver a solution. Given the complexity of todays telecommunications environment, this fact cannot be overstated. The enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM), an integral part of the TeleManagement Forums New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) framework, provides a map and language for describing the business processes that are used in telecommunication service-provider operations. As the industry adopts NGOSS guidelines, use of the eTOM will promote a common understanding of telecom business- and OSS-related terms. This paper discusses how Agilent Technologies, a leading provider of OSS to the telecom industry, is using the eTOM as a strategic tool for functional and market analysis and for improved customer communication. This use of the eTOM helps Agilent ensure that OSS products are properly targeted at customers real needs.

Business need and solution


No OSS supplier can survive without a clear understanding of the business and operational processes of its customers. This is a prerequisite to providing appropriate and profitable OSS solutions. At Agilent, we determined that the eTOM could give us the necessary language to understand our customers needs and to articulate the capabilities, benefits, and limitations of our offerings. This language would be effective in communicating with customers and within our own organization by our development, marketing, and sales teams. By establishing a common understanding of telecom processes, the eTOM also provides a basis for analyzing our existing product coverage and comparing it to that of other OSS suppliers, thus helping us assess our relative strengths and weaknesses in the market.

Action taken
Service providers, in their RFIs and RFPs, typically ask for specific types of functionality. The eTOM, however, describes telecommunication processes. Therefore, to use the eTOM as a tool for working with Agilent customers, we first had to associate each eTOM process of interest with the set of functions that would be required to successfully deliver that process. After looking at industry standards such as M.3400, GR-2869, and TMF GB910 as well as the eTOM documentation in the GB921 documentation set, we identified more than 200 operational functions. These were mapped onto the eTOM processes, providing us with a reference table of OSS functions supporting each process (Figure 1).

eTOM Operations Area Level 1 Process Groupings Level 2 Processes


Service Management & Operations

OSS Functions
Retrieve network topology data to resolve dependencies Identify chronic service failures Request testing for further problem localization Determine root cause faults and supporting/dependent indications Determine impacted service performance Identify affected service(s) and customer(s) Provide service instance quality reports Notify Problem Handling (troubles and status reports) Notify appropriate external domain(s) Send root cause info to Problem Handling Identify and prioritize corrective action(s) Request/invoke corrective action(s) (restoration, workarounds, etc.) Set service class QoS goals Lifecycle management of service / product portfolio Monitor overall delivered quality of service class Monitor available capacity / usage, cost data against forcasted sales Analyze service class quality Identify chronic service class problems Provide service class quality reports Propose/initiate service improvements Inform sales & marketing of constraints Receive network/resource faults, events, & data (autonomous & requested) Alter fault/event collection dynamically, based on analysis/rules Correlate, consolidate, filter, threshold, suppress & escalate alarms Fault localization: request tests and analyze results Correlate alarms & events/data to service/physical/resource topology Determine root cause faults and supporting/dependent indications Identify cronic resource failures Log alarms and event data Provide real-time alarm/event display and indications (e.g. audible, page) Manage alarm/event severity and state changes Maintain historic data of network/resource failures Provide historic network/resource fault and outage reports Forward trouble indications for TT creation and further analysis Fault restoration: identify and request/initiate corrective actions

Assurance

Service Quality Management

Resource Trouble Management

& Operations

Figure 1. OSS functions mapped to eTOM operations processes

Using the reference table as a blueprint, we next matched the features and capabilities of Agilents OSS products to the eTOM processes and functions. This gave us a consistent and verifiable way to map our product families onto the eTOM segments and to see which eTOM processes our products supported. Moreover, since each eTOM process had been associated with individual OSS functions, we could also determine the extent to which our products enabled these functions. We then summarized our findings at a higher level by projecting the results of the product mapping onto the eTOM graphic. Figure 2 shows the result of this exercise for Agilents OSS products that address IP and NGN assurance. It identifies which eTOM processes are supported by this product line. A tool such as this helps us better communicate the real value of our solutions.

eTOM Operations Processes


Operations Support & Readiness Customer Relationship Management
CRM Support & Readiness

TMF GB921 v4.0 Assurance


Customer Interface Management Selling

Fulfillment

Billing

Marketing Fulfillment Response

Order Handling

Problem Handling

Customer QoS / SLA Management

Billing & Collections Management

Retention & Loyalty

Service Management & Operations


SM&O Support & Readiness Service Configuration & Activation Service Problem Management Service Quality Management Service & Specific Instance Rating

Resource Management & Operations


RM&O Support & Readiness Resource Provisioning

Resource Trouble Management

Resource Performance Management Resource Data Collection & Processing

Supplier/Partner Relationship Management


S/PRM Support & Readiness S/P Requisition Management S/P Problem Reporting & Management S/P Performance Management S/P Settlements & Billing Management

Supplier / Partner Interface Management

Figure 2a. Operations process areas included in the eTOM

eTOM Operations Processes


Operations Support & Readiness Customer Relationship Management
CRM Support & Readiness

TMF GB921 v4.0 Assurance


Customer Interface Management Selling

Fulfillment

Billing

Marketing Fulfillment Response

Order Handling

Problem Handling

Customer QoS / SLA Management

Billing & Collections Management

Manager Manager Retention & Loyalty

VoIP VoIPQoS QoS

Service Management & Operations


SM&O Support & Readiness Service Configuration & Activation

NgN NgNAnalysis Analysis System System


Service Problem Management

SLA SLA monitoring monitoring


Service Quality meas. meas. Management

VoIP VoIPservice service IP/ IP/MPLS MPLS performance performance

Service & Specific Instance Rating

Resource Management & Operations


Network Network RM&O Discovery Discovery & Support && Topology Readiness Topology
Resource Provisioning

Resource Resource NTC NTC Trouble NE alarms Performance Management Management

Agents, Gateways, Test Equip (VQT, TNA) Agents,Probes, Probes, Gateways, Test Equip& (VQT, TNA) Resource Data Collection Processing

Supplier/Partner Relationship Management


S/PRM Support & Readiness S/P Requisition Management S/P Problem Reporting & Management S/P Performance Management

S/P Settlements & Assurance Assurance Billing Management

NgN NgNRevenue Revenue

Supplier / Partner Interface Management

Figure 2b. The eTOM operations processes addressed by Agilent IP/NGN products

As an OSS supplier, it is imperative that Agilents products fully and efficiently support the eTOM processes that we target. Therefore, we used the results of our eTOM mapping to identify (1) areas of overlap in our product lines that could be streamlined through additional integration or reuse of functionality and (2) gaps in coverage where we might benefit from additional development or strategic partnerships with other suppliers. Using market research data we were able to map the functional coverage of other suppliers in the markets of interest to Agilent, as illustrated in Figure 3. The sometimes surprising results gave us a clearer picture of who our actual competitors are and how we match them in terms of coverage. We also have better information for driving product strategies and for identifying suppliers with complementary strengths.

eTOM Operations Processes


Operations Support & Readiness Customer Relationship Management
CRM Support & Readiness

TMF GB921 v4.0 Assurance


Customer Interface Management Selling

Fulfillment

Billing

Marketing Fulfillment Response

Handling

Order Partner Partner

Problem Partner Partner Handling

Customer Competitor QoS / SLA Competitor Management

Billing & Collections Management

Manager Manager Retention & Loyalty

VoIP VoIPQoS QoS

Service Management & Operations


SM&O Support & Readiness Service Configuration & Activation

NgN NgNAnalysis Analysis System System


Management

SLA SLA monitoring monitoring


Service Quality meas. meas. Management

Competitor Problem Competitor

Service

VoIP VoIPservice service IP/ IP/MPLS MPLS performance performance

Service & Specific Instance Rating

Resource Management & Operations


Network Network RM&O Discovery Discovery & Support && Topology Readiness Topology
Resource Partner Partner Provisioning

Resource Resource NTC NTC Trouble NE alarms Performance Management Management

Agents, Gateways, Test Equip (VQT, TNA) Agents,Probes, Probes, Gateways, Test Equip& (VQT, TNA) Resource Data Collection Processing

Supplier/Partner Relationship Management


S/PRM Support & Readiness S/P Requisition Management S/P Problem Reporting & Management S/P Performance Management

S/P Settlements & Assurance Assurance Billing Management

NgN NgNRevenue Revenue

Supplier / Partner Interface Management

Figure 3. Partner and competitor products

Results
Agilent has derived an effective and reusable set of tools to help drive product development by applying the eTOM matrix in a number of areas: Functional analysis Creating a table of eTOM processes and associated functions provided a blueprint that we can reuse to clarify what eTOM processes our products support and how well they support them. Having a consistent method of describing product capabilities that matches the industry understanding will ultimately provide support for product claims. Market analysis By similarly mapping and analyzing the market coverage of other OSS suppliers, we now have a consistent method of not only identifying suppliers who play in the same markets, but whose products complement ours and can fill the gaps in our product coverage. We can better understand the

competitive picture as wellwho we are really competing against, in what markets, and in what areas of expertise. Communication Through the use of the eTOM-derived tables and graphics, we have been able to meet our original goal of developing a better way to communicate with customers and our internal organization. The eTOM tools allow us to identify and articulate customer needs and match them with our products and services. Customers benefit by having a more standard method of comparing Agilents solutions to those of other OSS suppliers.

Conclusion
Today, elements of the NGOSS guidelines such as the eTOM provide the basis for useful analysis tools that can drive product development and purchase decisions. As these guidelines become more widely recognized and accepted in the industry, their value will increase by fostering a common language and understanding among telecom businesses and suppliers. This in turn will contribute to the TM Forums stated goal for NGOSS, which is to build a more effective OSS framework.

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