Business Process Framework (eTOM) : Frameworx Reference

Frameworx Reference
Business Process
Framework (eTOM)
Business Process Framework Primer
Business Process Framework Release 14.0

GB921 Addendum P
October 2014
Latest Update: Frameworx Release 14
TM Forum Approved
Suitable for Conformance
Version 5.0.4
IPR Mode: RAND
TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework (eTOM) R14.0
Notice
Copyright TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and
derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its
implementation may be prepared, copied, published, and distributed, in whole or in
part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this
section are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, including by removing the copyright
notice or references to TM FORUM, except as needed for the purpose of developing
any document or deliverable produced by a TM FORUM Collaboration Project Team
(in which case the rules applicable to copyrights, as set forth in the TM FORUM IPR
Policy, must be followed) or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be revoked by TM
FORUM or its successors or assigns.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis
and TM FORUM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY OWNERSHIP RIGHTS OR
ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
TM FORUM invites any TM FORUM Member or any other party that believes it has
patent claims that would necessarily be infringed by implementations of this TM
Forum Standards Final Deliverable, to notify the TM FORUM Team Administrator
and provide an indication of its willingness to grant patent licenses to such patent
claims in a manner consistent with the IPR Mode of the TM FORUM Collaboration
Project Team that produced this deliverable.
The TM FORUM invites any party to contact the TM FORUM Team Administrator if it
is aware of a claim of ownership of any patent claims that would necessarily be
infringed by implementations of this TM FORUM Standards Final Deliverable by a
patent holder that is not willing to provide a license to such patent claims in a manner
consistent with the IPR Mode of the TM FORUM Collaboration Project Team that
produced this TM FORUM Standards Final Deliverable. TM FORUM may include
such claims on its website, but disclaims any obligation to do so.
TM FORUM takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any intellectual
property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use
of the technology described in this TM FORUM Standards Final Deliverable or the
extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; neither
does it represent that it has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information
on TM FORUM's procedures with respect to rights in any document or deliverable
produced by a TM FORUM Collaboration Project Team can be found on the TM
FORUM website. Copies of claims of rights made available for publication and any
assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to
obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by
implementers or users of this TM FORUM Standards Final Deliverable, can be
Page 2 of 31

obtained from the TM FORUM Team Administrator. TM FORUM makes no

representation that any information or list of intellectual property rights will at any time
be complete, or that any claims in such list are, in fact, Essential Claims.
Direct inquiries to the TM Forum office:

240 Headquarters Plaza,
East Tower 10th Floor,
Morristown, NJ 07960 USA
Tel No. +1 973 944 5100
Fax No. +1 973 944 5110
TM Forum Web Page: www.tmforum.org
Page 3 of 31

Table of Contents
NOTICE .................................................................................................................................................. 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................... 4
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ 5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 6
1.
WHAT IS BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK?................................................................... 7
2.
WHERE DID THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK COME FROM?......................... 9
3.
HOW DOES THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK WORK?..................................... 11

3.1 PROCESS DECOMPOSITIONS ........................................................................................................... 11
3.2 PROCESS FLOWS ............................................................................................................................ 18
4.
WHY USE THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK? ...................................................... 23
5.
WHEN CAN THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK HELP?....................................... 24
6.
WHO IS USING THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK? ............................................ 25
7.
SOME IDEAS ON USING THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK ............................. 26
8.
ADMINISTRATIVE APPENDIX ............................................................................................... 30

8.1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................. 30
8.2 DOCUMENT HISTORY .......................................................................................................................... 30
8.2.1
Version History ............................................................................................................... 30
8.2.2
Release History ............................................................................................................... 31
Page 4 of 31

List of Figures
Figure 0: Process Decomposition ........................................................................... 11
Figure 1: Business Process Framework (eTOM) ................................................... 13
Figure 2: The Business Process Framework Operations (OPS) Processes ....... 14
Figure 3: Level 2 Operations (OPS) Processes...................................................... 15
Figure 5: The Business Process Framework Strategy, Infrastructure & Product
(SIP) Processes ................................................................................................. 16
Figure 6: Level 2 Strategy, Infrastructure & Product (SIP) Processes ................. 17
Figure 7: The Business Process Framework Enterprise Management (EM)
Processes .......................................................................................................... 17
Figure 8: Process Flow (partial example only) ....................................................... 18
Figure 9: General Interaction Diagram for DSL Fulfillment................................... 19
Figure 10: Process Interaction Flow Diagram for DSL Fulfillment (Pre-Sales) ... 20
Figure 11: Process Interaction Flow Diagram for DSL Fulfillment (Ordering) .... 21
Figure 12: Process Dynamics Flow Diagram for DSL Fulfillment (Ordering) ...... 22
Page 5 of 31

Executive Summary
This document is an Addendum to the Business Process Framework,
(GB921). It assists new readers and users of Business Process Framework
by providing an introductory view of some of the concepts, goals and
structure of the Business Process Framework work.
It should be read in conjunction with the main GB921 document, and other
Addenda (see GB921 Concepts and Principles for details).
Page 6 of 31

1. What is Business Process Framework?

The Communications and Digital services industry is facing unprecedented
churn and the struggle to remain profitable in the face of more competition,
higher customer expectations, falling market share and growing price
pressures. The industry has a need to clearly define and understand the
business processes involved in order to tackle these issues. It also needs
to reach a consensus on the common process view for equipment
suppliers, applications builders and integrators to build management
systems by combining third party and in-house developments.
The Business Process Framework (also known as the eTOM) is an ongoing
TM Forum initiative to deliver a business process model or framework for
use by Communications and Digital services industry. The goal is to set a
vision for the industry to enable it to compete successfully through the
implementation of business process-driven approaches to managing the
enterprise. This includes ensuring integration among all vital enterprise
support systems concerned with service delivery and support.
The focus of the Business Process Framework is on the business
processes used by service providers, the linkages between these
processes, the identification of interfaces, and the use of customer, service,
resource, supplier/partner and other information by multiple processes. The
TM Forum Business Process Framework is a reference framework for
categorizing all the business activities that a service provider will use, in a
structured manner that allows these to be addressed at various levels of
detail. For such companies, it serves as the blueprint for process direction
and provides a neutral reference point for internal process reengineering
needs, partnerships, alliances, and general working agreements with other
providers. For suppliers, the Business Process Framework outlines
potential boundaries of software components to align with the customers'
needs and highlights the required functions, inputs, and outputs that must
be supported by products.
A particular strength of the Business Process Framework is that it is part of
the TM Forum Frameworx program and links with other work underway in
the program such as the Information, Application and Integration
Frameworx, as well as the DSRA and other virtualization accelerating
programs.
So, the Business Process Framework defines a business-oriented view of
the enterprise. This view is useful for planners, managers, strategists, etc,
who need to view the enterprise in business terms, without immediate
concern for the nature of the way that these business needs are organized
or automated within the business. Therefore, the Business Process
Framework emphasizes issues such as process structure, process
components, process interactivity and the business roles and
responsibilities to which these relate. In defining these aspects, the
Business Process Framework also provides a basis for setting
requirements for system solutions, technical architectures, technology
choices and implementation paths, but it is neutral towards the particular
way that these requirements are met.
Page 7 of 31

Thus, the Business Process Framework can be considered to have two

faces: one oriented towards the business, customer, products, etc, and one
towards solutions, systems and implementations supporting the business.
It should be recognized that through the TM Forum work, the Business
Process Framework represents an industry-consensus on the Service
Provider processes, which has been harmonized across the global scene
and is based on Member contributions. It is allowable, and indeed expected,
that this will mean that the Business Process Framework must be tailored
and/or extended for use within an individual company. In particular, the
Business Process Framework does not seek to constrain the way that the
processes fit into a specific organization. An advantage of this positioning
of the Business Process Framework as a framework, rather than a directlyimplemented specification, is that differentiation amongst the Business
Process Framework users is not restricted, which is vital to allow
specialization and competition. In addition, as already mentioned, the
Business Process Framework does not fix upon particular routes to
implementation and is thus valid in many different environments with
varying levels of automation, technology, etc.
So, the Business Process Framework is a framework, not a final
implementation specification. It will typically be customized and extended
by users for their own business needs, but provides a vital common
reference that is industry recognized and represents a de-facto, and now
through ITU-T an official standard within and between companies on
business process definition.
Page 8 of 31

2. Where did the Business Process

Framework come from?
Work on business process modeling by the TM Forum (formerly the
TeleManagement Forum and the Network Management Forum before
then) began in the early 1990s with the Service Management Automation
and Reengineering Team (SMART) that gathered worldwide Service
Provider views and distilled an initial Business Process Model. This work
grew in the Telecom Operations Map (TOM) during the mid-90s leading to
the stabilization and publication of TOM in its final form towards the end of
that decade.
The TOM work gained wide industry support, but the scope of the TOM
model did not cover the whole of the SP enterprise and only focused on the
main Operations processes embodying the traditional telecoms activities
around Fulfillment, Assurance and Billing (FAB). Increasingly, the
complexities of interworking in the deregulated, competitive telecoms
market required a complete enterprise view, and new business demands
triggered by the internet and electronic commerce generally, led to a move
to expand TOM to address this wider perspective.
Thus, eTOM for enhanced TOM was initiated as a work program led by
TM Forum as we entered the new Millennium. Initial releases of eTOM were
provided to TM Forum members during 2001, and then a TM Forum
Approved version of eTOM GB921 v3.0 was released in mid-2002. This
was welcomed and adopted widely, and so further work to cement
agreements, incorporate industry feedback, and extend the level of detail
described resulted in further intermediate versions and then a new TM
Forum Approved version early in 2004. This version GB921 v4.0 was
also submitted under a liaison agreement to the ITU-T, which acts as the
premier world-wide body with a remit under the United Nations for setting
international Recommendations in the telecommunications sphere. This
eTOM version was adopted by ITU-T in toto and has been published in
parallel as their formal Recommendation M.3050, with exact alignment on
the content with TM Forums GB921 v4.0.
In 2009 due to the converging of the Information, Communications and
Digital Media industries into what is now considered the Digital Services
industry and the widening use of the eTOM, the TM Forum decided to
rebrand the eTOM to the Business Process Framework. It was felt this
would remove any artificial concerns about using the eTOM in nontelecommunications environments and broaden the uptake and adoption of
the Business Process Framework (eTOM).
Throughout this history, the Business Process Framework work has
benefited from wide involvement from the global telecommunications
industry, as well as academia, government agencies, etc. As it has evolved,
the core has shown it can stand the test of time, and it is now regarded as
the pre-eminent vehicle for expressing and discussing business processes
in and around the Service Provider domain. The work continues, with an
increasing emphasis now that the Business Process Framework has
established a clear and agreed view of the business process framework
itself, on applications of the Business Process Framework and guidance to
Page 9 of 31

prospective and existing users on how to gain maximum benefit from the
Business Process Framework in their own businesses.
Page 10 of 31

3. How does the Business Process Framework

work?
3.1 Process
Decompositions
Process decomposition is a structured approach to analysis of a business
through consideration of the enterprises business processes and their
internal structure. The basis of the concept is illustrated in Figure 0. Here
we see a representative process element, Process X, which might provide
a specific area of capability within an enterprise say, handling of customer
orders, for example. When analyzed, it is decided that the contained
functionality, behavior, etc associated with that process can/should be subdivided into three lower-level process elements. Note that typically such a
decomposition is partly evident from the analysis of the detail captured
within the process concerned, and partly is the result of design decisions,
where judgment is used to make the most appropriate partitioning for the
situation under consideration.
Process X
Process Element
X1
Process Element
X2
Process Element
X21
Process Element
X211
Process Element
X3
Process Element
X22
Process Element
X212
Figure 0: Process Decomposition

Each of the decomposed processes, X1, X2 and X3 can be further
decomposed X2 is shown as decomposed into X21 and X22 and this
can be continued X21 is shown as decomposed into X211 and X212.
Note that not all branches of the decomposition tree necessarily lead to
leaves (i.e. final process elements) at the same level of decomposition.
This will depend on the scope and content of the processes involved.
The process decomposition approach has these general characteristics:
It defines components of a process that perform part of that

process
It provides insight into the structure and content of process
areas (or groupings)
It reveals finer detail at lower levels, as decomposition
proceeds
It can be continued to as many sub-levels as are needed
Page 11 of 31

The aim is to provide a complete analysis of the process

under decomposition - i.e. the sum of the components equals
the totality of the original process
It represents a static perspective of process
It does not mandate any flow relationship between the process
elements
Note that the process elements derived through process decomposition

may be applied in various ways within process flows. There may be many
process flows (representing, say, enterprise-specific applications) that can
be built using the common set of process elements specified within the
Business Process Framework. There is further discussion on process flows
later in this section, including the process flow diagrams that arise and are
used in this work.
The process decomposition for the Business Process Framework (see
Figure 1) begins at the Enterprise level and defines business processes in
a series of groupings. The Business Process Framework uses hierarchical
decomposition to structure the business processes according to which all
of the processes of the enterprise are successively decomposed. Process
descriptions, inputs and outputs, as well as other key elements are defined.
The Business Process Framework represents the whole of a service
providers enterprise environment. The Framework is defined as generically
as possible so that it is organization, technology and service independent.
At the overall conceptual level, the Business Process Framework can be
viewed as having the following three major process areas:
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product covering planning and lifecycle
management
Operations covering the core of operational management
Enterprise Management covering corporate or business support
management
Page 12 of 31

Strategy, Infrastructure & Product
Strategy &
Commit
Infrastructure
Lifecycle
Management
Operations
Operations
Support &
Readiness
Product
Lifecycle
Management
Fulfillment
Assurance
Marketing & Offer Management
Customer Relationship Management
Service Development & Management
Service Management & Operations
Resource Development & Management

(Application, Computing and Network)
Resource Management & Operations

Supply Chain Development & Management
Supplier/Partner Relationship Management
Billing &
Revenue
Management
Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise
Planning
Enterprise Risk
Management
Financial & Asset

Management
Enterprise Effectiveness
Management
Stakeholder & External

Relations Management
Knowledge & Research

Management
Human Resources
Management
Figure 1: Business Process Framework (eTOM)

The Business Process Framework (see Figure 1) shows seven vertical
process groupings. These groupings are pictured to provide help and
originally where created to help focusing when decomposing and
structuring the Business process Framework work. They stayed on the
business process map as a mnemonic to picture level 2 processes.
Amongst these Vertical Process Groupings, the focal point of the Business
Process Framework is on the core customer operations processes of
Fulfillment, Assurance and Billing & Revenue Management (FAB).
Originally Operations Support & Readiness (OSR) is differentiated from
FAB processes to highlight the focus on enabling support and automation
in FAB, i.e. on-line and immediate support of customers, with OSR ensuring
that the operational environment is in place to let the FAB processes do
their job. Outside of the Operations process area - in the Strategy,
Infrastructure & Product (SIP) process area - the Strategy & Commit
vertical, as well as the two Lifecycle Management verticals, are
differentiated. These are distinct because, unlike Operations, they do not
directly support the customer, are intrinsically different from the Operations
processes. With the evolution of the business the sense of time has
compressed with increasing automation, and what used to be long term
processes are becoming increasingly closer to real time and almost
instantaneous, so there is no sense of time to be provided to the vertical
groupings.
The Framework also includes views of functionality as they span
horizontally across an enterprises internal organizations. The horizontal
functional process groupings in Figure 1 distinguish functional operations
processes and other types of business functional processes, e.g.,
Marketing versus Selling, Service Development versus Service
Configuration, etc. Amongst these Horizontal Functional Process
Groupings, those on the left (that cross the Strategy & Commit,
Infrastructure Lifecycle Management and Product Lifecycle Management
Page 13 of 31

vertical process groupings) enable, support and direct the work in the
Operations process area.
The Business Process Framework Model graphically illustrates the
business processes required for operating service provider enterprises. It
lays out these processes first from a high level perspective, and then drills
down to increasingly detailed levels of understanding. The Business
Process Framework describes in text what the model describes graphically.
So, the Business Process Framework is structured in three main areas
(known as Level 0 processes): Operations (OPS), Strategy Infrastructure
and Product (SIP) and Enterprise Management (EM). Each contains more
detailed process components at Level 1, Level 2, etc as the processes are
decomposed. This hierarchical decomposition enables detail to be defined
in a structured way and also allows the Business Process Framework to be
adopted at varying levels and/or for different processes. The Level number
is an indication of the degree of detail revealed at that level - the higher the
number, the more detailed are the process elements described there.
Operations
Operations
Support &
Readiness
Fulfillment Assurance
Billing
&Revenue
Management

Figure 2: The Business Process Framework Operations (OPS) Processes

Operations (OPS - see Figure 2) is the heart of the Business Process
Framework and much of the original TOM work has carried through into
OPS (the GB921 documentation contains an explanation of the mapping
from TOM to eTOM). The FAB processes (Fulfillment, Assurance, Billing
& Revenue Management) provide the core of the Operations area, The
horizontal Level 1 processes (CRM, SM&O, RM&O, S/PRM) represent
functionally-related activity, OSR (Operations Support & Readiness) has
been separated from FAB originally to reflect the separation between frontoffice real-time operations (in FAB) from back-office near real-time or
even off-line support processes. This split may not apply in all organizations
(in which case, the OSR and FAB processes can be merged) but is
necessary to allow for the important situation where they are handled
separately.
Page 14 of 31

Operations
Operations Support
& Readiness
Fulfillment
Customer Relationship
Management
CRM
Support &
Readiness
Marketing
Fulfillment
Response
Assurance
Billing & Revenue

Management
Customer Interface Management

Bill Payments & Receivables Mgt.
Selling
Order
Handling
Problem
Handling
Customer
QoS / SLA
Management
Bill Invoice
Management
Bill Inquiry
Handling
Manage
Billing Events
Charging
Retention & Loyalty
Service Management &

SM&O
Operations
Support &
Readiness
Resource Management &

Operations
RM&O
Manage
Workforce
Support &
Readiness
Service
Problem
Management
Service
Quality
Management
Service Guiding
& Mediation
Resource
Provisioning
Resource
Trouble
Management
Resource
Performance
Management
Resource Mediation
& Reporting
Resource Data Collection & Distribution
Supplier/Partner Relationship
Management
S/PRM
Support &
Readiness
Service
Configuration
& Activation
S/P
Requisition
Management
S/P Problem
Reporting &
Management
S/P
Performance
Management
S/P Settlements
& Payments
Management
Supplier/Partner Interface Management
Figure 3: Level 2 Operations (OPS) Processes

In Figure 3, the OPS area is shown with Level 2 processes visible. Note
that a Level 2 process is part of a horizontal, Level 1 process and also
positioned on a vertical. In some cases, a Level 2 process is stretched
across several vertical groups (e.g. Resource Data Collection, Analysis and
Control in RM&O). This is because the process concerned is needed in
several vertical groups (e.g. for Resource Data Collection, Analysis and
Control, the data collected from the network (say) can represent usage data
for Billing & Revenue Management but can also support fault handling or
performance assessment in Assurance).
Figure 4: An example of Level 3 Operations (OPS) Processes
Page 15 of 31

This mechanism of decomposition can be extended as required. In Figure

4, we see an example of the Level 3 process elements within a single Level
2 process element Resource Provisioning. Full descriptions of
decompositions to Level 3 for this and other processes are included in the
GB921 documentation.

Strategy &
Commit
Infrastructure
Lifecycle
Management
Product
Lifecycle
Management

Figure 5: The Business Process Framework Strategy, Infrastructure & Product

(SIP) Processes
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product (SIP see Figure 5) has a similar
structure to OPS with corresponding vertical and horizontal process
groupings. In the verticals, Strategy & Commit covers the processes
involved in forming and deciding company strategy and gaining
commitment from the business for this. Infrastructure Lifecycle
Management covers control of the infrastructures used in the business
the network is the most obvious, but also IT infrastructure and even the
human resources of the company. Product Lifecycle Management covers
the products themselves note that the Business Process Framework
distinguishes Product (as sold to Customers) from Service (used internally
to represent the technical part of the product, i.e. excluding commercial
aspects such as tariffing, T&Cs, support, etc) and Resource (physical and
non-physical components used to support Service).
The horizontal functional groupings in SIP are aligned with those in OPS,
so that if desired the processes included can be considered to link across
smoothly from the SIP domain to the OPS domain, if this is relevant to some
aspects of business behavior in enterprises.
Page 16 of 31

Figure 6: Level 2 Strategy, Infrastructure & Product (SIP) Processes

In Figure 6, the SIP area is shown with Level 2 processes visible. As with
OPS, a Level 2 process a horizontal level 1 process and positioned on a
vertical process grouping.
Enterprise
Management
Strategic &
Enterprise
Planning
Knowledge
& Research
Management
Strategic
Business
Planning
Knowledge
Management
Business
Development
Research
Management
Enterprise
Architecture
Management
Group
Enterprise
Management
Technology
Scanning
Financial &
Enterprise
Effectiveness Asset
Management Management
Process
Management
& Support
Enterprise
Quality
Management
Program
& Project
Management
ITIL Service
Catalogue
Management
Facilities
Management
& Support
ITIL Change
Management
ITIL Service
Level
Management
ITIL
Event
Management
ITIL
Capacity
Management
ITIL
Incident
Management
ITIL
Availability
Management
ITIL Request
Fulfillment
Stakehlder &
Ext. Relations
Management
Financial
Management
Business
Continuity
Management
HR Policies
& Practices
Asset
Management
Security
Management
Organization
Development
Procurement
Management
Fraud
Management
Workforce
Strategy
Shareholder
Relations
Management
Audit
Management
Workforce
Development
Regulatory
Management
Insurance
Management
Employee
& Labor
Relations Mgt
Legal
Management
Enterprise
Performance
Assessment
ITIL Release
& Deploymnt.
Management
Human
Enterprise
Resources
Risk
Management Management
ITIL Service
Continuity
Management
Revenue
Assurance
Management
ITIL Service
Asset & Confg
Management
ITIL Continual
Service
Improvement
ITIL
Problem
Management
ITIL
Info Security
Management
Level 0
Corporate
Comms &
Image Mgt
Community
Relations
Management
Board &
Shares/Secur.
Management
Level 1
Level 2
Figure 7: The Business Process Framework Enterprise Management (EM)

Processes
Page 17 of 31

Enterprise Management (EM see Figure 7) is shown in a different view

this is a typical hierarchy diagram as provided from process analysis and
modeling tools used for the Business Process Framework. The top box is
EM itself (Level 0), the next horizontal row shows the Level 1 processes in
EM, and the columns below each Level 1 box shows Level 2 processes
within that Level 1 process.
Now, with this overall view of the process structure to Level 2 (and
descriptions for all these process elements, as well as for Level 3 process
elements, are in the GB921 documentation), it is important, however, to
note that this view of the processes provides very little insight into how the
processes interact. To gain this valuable additional perspective, we must
look to process flows.
3.2 Process Flows

Process decompositions provide an essential insight into the process
definition and content. To understand further how the processes behave,
process flows can be developed that examine how some or all of the
processes support some larger, end-to-end or through process view
across the enterprise. Such process flows are not constrained to bridge
across the entire enterprise they can have any scope that is considered
meaningful and helpful to analyze - but typically such process flows involve
a broad area of the enterprise processes, and thus of the Business Process
Framework. Thus, process flows examine some specific scenario in which
the processes achieve an overall business purpose.
To begin with, though, Figure 8 shows only a fragment of a process flow,
where several Business Process Framework Level 2 OPS processes can
be recognized, and labeled linkages between these indicate the nature of
the transfer that arises in operation. Note that here, and in later diagrams in
this section, the flows are examples from previous work that links with an
older version of the Business Process Framework, but it is the principles
rather than the specifics of the flows illustrated that are the focus here.
In this case, we can see that part of handling a customer order is shown.
Figure 8: Process Flow (partial example only)
Page 18 of 31

The process flow approach has these general characteristics:
It analyzes a typical (specific) scenario

It provides insight into the behavior and interaction amongst
processes
It chooses to model the flow at an appropriate level of process
detail
It can use process decompositions (and vice versa) to
enhance/refine detail
The aim is to provide only an example of the process flows i.e. only some of the possible interactions are described in
each scenario
Thus, it typically provides a partial view of process behavior
(because flows are based on specific scenarios)
It represents a dynamic perspective of process.
In applying this approach for Business Process Framework process flows, it has been
found that a number of different flow-related diagram types have proved useful, considering
the variety of interest (business and technical, high level and detailed design) that need to
be addressed.
First is a general positioning type of diagram that provides only limited insight into the flow,
but helps focus attention on the general area of the Business Process Framework involved.

Strategy &
Commit
Operations
Infrastructure Lifecycle
Management
Product Lifecycle
Management
Operations Support
& Readiness
Fulfillment
Assurance
Billing

Sales
Development
Selling
Market
Strategy &
Policy
Product & Offer

Capability
Delivery
Product &
Offer Portfolio
Planning
Marketing
Capability
Delivery
Product Marketing
Communications
& Promotion
CRM
Support &
Readiness
Product & Offer

Development &
Retirement
Marketing
Fulfillment
Response
Billing &
Collections
Management
Customer
QoS/SLA
Management
Problem
Handling
Order
Handling
Retention & Loyalty

Service
Development &
Retirement
Service
Capability
Delivery
Service
Strategy &
Planning

Resource
Development &
Retirement
Resource
Capability
Delivery
Resource
Strategy &
Planning
Service
Configuration &
Activation
SM&O
Support &
Readiness
RM&O
Support &
Readiness
Resource
Provisioning
Service
Problem
Management
Service
Quality
Management
Resource
Trouble
Management
Resource
Performance
Management
Service &
Specific
Instance Rating
Resource Data Collection & Processing

Supply Chain
Strategy &
Planning
Supply Chain
Capability
Delivery
Supply Chain
Development &
Change Management
S/P Problem
Reporting &
Management
S/P
Requisition
Management
S/PRM
Support &
Readiness
S/P
Performance
Management
S/P Settlements
& Billing
Management
S/P Interface Management
Supplier/Partner
Enterprise Management
Strategic
Business
Planning
Business
Development
Enterprise
Architecture
Management
Enterprise Risk Management

Group
Enterprise
Management
Business
Continuity
Management
Financial & Asset Management

Financial
Management
? Work Task
Assignment ?
? Info & Comm

System Support ?
Strategic & Enterprise Planning
Asset
Management
Procurement
Management
Shareholders
Security
Management
Fraud
Management
Audit
Management
Insurance
Management
Process
Management &
Support
Enterprise
Quality
Management
Program &
Project
Management
Stakeholder & External Relations Management

Corporate
Communications &
Image Management
Community
Relations
Management
Knowledge & Research Management
Enterprise Effectiveness Management
Shareholder
Relations
Management
Regulatory
Management
Enterprise
Performance
Assessment
Facilities
Management &
Support
Knowledge
Management
Research
Management
Technology
Scanning
Human Resources Management

Legal
Management
Board &
Shares/Securities
Management
Employees
HR Policies &
Practices
Organization
Development
Workforce
Strategy
Workforce
Development
Employee &
Labor Relations
Management
Other Stakeholders
Figure 9: General Interaction Diagram for DSL Fulfillment

Figure 9 shows an example of this diagram - a general process interaction
diagram for a scenario based around DSL Fulfillment that is covered in
the GB921 documentation. This shows some of the process interactions
that arise for this scenario, but does not give any detailed insight at this level
into the behavior. It is still useful for a high-level view, though.
Page 19 of 31

Customer
contacts retailer
Sales Proposal
received By
Customer
Marketing
Fulfillment Res ...
Customer
Sales Inquiry Need
Routed
Clarification
Requested
Selling
Customer
Need
Clarification
Provided
Customer
Customer
Alternative
Profile
Contact
Solution
Sales ProposalRetrieved
Recorded
Offered
Offered
Retention &
Loyalty
Feasibility
Order Handling
Requested
Feasibility
Assessment
Completed
Design &
Technology
Selection Request
Service Configuration & Activation
Resource
Reservation
Requested
Resource
Reservation
Confirmed
Resource Provisioning & Allocation to Service Instance

S/P Buying
Check External
Supplier
Solution
Pre-Order initiated
S/P Purchase
Order
Management
Pre-Order
Figure 10: Process Interaction Flow Diagram for DSL Fulfillment (Pre-Sales)
The next diagram type, shown in Figure 10, is developed directly from a
process analysis and modeling tool (rather than a general drawing
software). Here we are working with Level 2 process elements but other
Levels can be used depending on the detail required. This diagram type
positions the Business Process Framework processes in relatively the
same way that they can be seen on the Business Process Framework
model diagrams (see, for example, Figure 3 earlier), which assists with
recognition and avoids confusion. Each process only appears once, and so
sequencing of the interactions is not explicit in this diagram (it is on the
process dynamics diagrams later).
An important element in flow diagrams of this kind is that of swimlanes.
These are areas in the process flow diagram, containing typically several
process elements that contribute to the overall process flow, which scope a
useful area of attention to assist the user. In this example, the swimlanes
have been drawn to represent the four horizontal functional process
groupings of the Operations area of the Business Process Framework,
since the scenario involved is focused in the Operations domain. In this
arrangement, all the process elements in a specific swimlane in the diagram
(e.g. in the lowest swimlane for Supplier/Partner Management &
Operations) are components of that horizontal functional process grouping.
It should be noted that swimlanes (despite their name) need not be only
horizontal, although this is a common choice for clarity, and is the approach
used in the Business Process Framework process flow diagrams.
The process flow in Figure 10 addresses the pre-sales stage of Fulfillment
(other phases are documented in separate diagrams, for convenience). It
kicks-off from the Marketing Fulfillment Response process stimulating a
customer to make a service enquiry (in fact, in Business Process
Framework terms the customer buys a product, as service is reserved for
the internal technical capability that supports a product). The Customer then
contacts the retailer (external event) and the enquiry is routed through
Customer Interface Management to Selling (sales enquiry routed). Note
that interactions between processes (like sales enquiry routed) are events,
Page 20 of 31

and are not intrinsically information transfers. Thus they can be considered
to represent transfer of control.
After any necessary clarification with the customer, Selling requests Order
Handling to check on the feasibility of satisfying the product request, and
this leads to a design being developed for the product instance required,
and checks through Service Configuration & Activation, and then Resource
Provisioning & Allocation to Service Instance, that this can be done. This
may also involve interaction with a supplier via S/P Requisition
Management, etc. Eventually, if all is well, a sales proposal is offered or an
alternative solution offered.
Order Completion
Notification
Customer places Order
Order
Confirmed
by Customer
Design
Confirmation by
Customer
Engineering
Requested
Retention & Loyalty

Priority
Advised
Priority
Requested
Customer Order
Processing Requested
Selling
Design
Accepted by
Customer
Order Handling
Internal
Service
Order
Initiated
Design
Requested
Design
Completed
External Supplier
Selection Required
Billing &
Collections
Management
Service Details
for Billing
Service
Activated
Service Configuration & Activation
Capacity
Requested
Completion
Advised to
Customer
Internal
Work Order
Capacity Initiated
Reserved
Internal
Resource
Resource
Activation
Provisioning Requested
Completed
Resource
Activated
External
Resource
Activated
Service Details
for Assurance
Resource Provisioning
Customer
QoS/SLA
Management
External Component Requested
S/P Requisition
Management
External Order
Issued
Figure 11: Process Interaction Flow Diagram for DSL Fulfillment (Ordering)
Figure 11 is also another example of this diagram type, for the main
Ordering phase of Fulfillment. It kicks-off with the Customer placing an
order, and then tracks through Selling, Order handling, and the service and
resource layer processes that actually configure the product instance. As
the product instance is brought into service, there are external interactions
with Billing (now, Billing & Revenue Management)) to set up charging for
this.
However, even though interactions are labeled in these diagrams,
sequencing and dependencies in the flow are still not explicit. For this, we
need to generate another kind of diagram.
Page 21 of 31

C u s to me r
r e q u e s t s SP
of f e r in g
A w a itin g O r d er C o nf ir ma tio n
A w a itin g De s ig n
C u s to me r O rd e r
C o n f ir me d
A w a itin g r es o u r c e A lloc c a t ion
M a rket
Pr o d u c t &
C u s to me r
C u s to me r In t e r f ac e
M a n a g e men t
R es ource
A llo c a t ed
C u s to me r
R e q ue s t
S e r v ic e
S e llin g
O r d e r H an d lin g
C u s t o me r O r d er In it ia t e d
Pr io r it y
Pr io r ity
R e quested
A d v is ed
D e s ig n
r e q u e s te d
R e t e n tio n &
L o y a lty
Se r v ic e
Se r v ic e
S e rv ic e
D e s ig n
C o n f ig u r at io n &
A c tiv a tio n
C o nf ig u r a tio n &
A c tiv a t io n
C o m p le t io n
Ex te r n a l
C o m p o n en t
r e q u e s te d
Res ourc e
A llo c at io n
r equested
Re s o u rc e ( A p
p lic a t ion ,
C o m p ut in g
R e s o ur c e
Pr o v is io n in g
a nd N et w o r k)
S u p p lier /
Pa r t n e r
S / P Re q u is itio n
M a n a g e me n t
Ex te r n a l O rd e r
Is s u e d
R es ource
A llo c a t ion
Figure 12: Process Dynamics Flow Diagram for DSL Fulfillment (Ordering)
Figure 12 represents a process dynamics flow diagram, showing the
process dynamics explicitly. Each process typically appears several times,
on each occasion providing a specific step in the process flow sequence.
As there is therefore typically different functionality employed on each
appearance, this diagram can provide insight into the decomposition of the
Level 2 process into Level 3 processes. It shows equivalent information to
the Ordering process interaction diagram of Figure 11, but is more
technically complete and is a better basis for further design.
Developing process flows in this way is a valuable source of insight and
additional detail to validate process decompositions, and to address specific
areas of business priority for Business Process Framework application.
It should also be added that the adoption of the Business Process
Framework in no way precludes the adoption of specific best practice flow
schemas such as ITIL. In such a case the ITIL diagrams determine the
flow designs and the swimlanes align with the suggested best practice role
differentiation. The value of the Business Process Framework is then in
delivering reusable, well defined, process components.
Page 22 of 31

4. Why use the Business Process Framework?

The Framework makes available a standard structure, terminology and
classification scheme for describing business processes and their
constituent building blocks
The Framework supplies a foundation for applying enterprise-wide
discipline to the development of business processes
The Framework provides a basis for understanding and managing portfolios
of IT applications in terms of business process requirements
The Framework enables creation of consistent and high-quality end-to-end
process flows, with opportunities for cost and performance improvement,
and for re-use of existing processes and systems
The Framework use across the industry will increase the likelihood that offthe-shelf applications will be readily integrated into the enterprise, at a lower
cost than custom-built applications
Page 23 of 31

5. When can the Business Process Framework

help?
The Business Process Framework can be used as a tool for analyzing your
organizations existing processes and for developing new processes.
Different processes delivering the same business functionality can be
identified, duplication eliminated, gaps revealed, new process design
speeded up, and variance reduced. Using the Business Process
Framework, you can assess the value, cost and performance of individual
processes within your organization.
You can facilitate your relationships with suppliers and partners by
identifying and categorizing the processes you use in interactions with them.
In a similar manner, you can identify the all-important customer relationship
processes and evaluate whether they are functioning as required to meet
your customers expectations.
Page 24 of 31

6. Who is using the Business Process

Framework?
A natural question that arises is to be aware of where the Business Process
Framework is being used in the industry and how it is benefiting those
involved. This is a difficult issue to address due to commercial confidentiality
and sensitivity on strategic information about company directions. However,
a number of organizations have declared a position on this publicly, and the
general interest and support for the Business Process Framework is now
very high and so we would hope to see increasing public information
available on this. The two main groups of Business Process Framework
users are (1) Service Providers and (2) Vendors, System Integrators, etc. It
is worth noting that there is private information on a much larger number of
organizations applying the Business Process Framework in their
businesses, and a much larger number again of organizations that are using
the Business Process Framework but who have not yet made contact with
TM Forum about this (and which are therefore discovered by chance).
A vital source of insight on users and projects linked with the TM Forum
work, is the extensive series of case Studies (now more than 200) setting
out how individual companies have applied the work. Many of these relate
to the Business Process Framework (often using the eTOM label) and
these can be viewed at:
http://www.tmforum.org/CaseStudies
Another important source is the presentations made at conference events
such as Management World (see http://www.tmforum.org/Conferences)
Another aspect of Business Process Framework usage is through other
industry bodies that are operating in, or have influence on, the area. For
example, the Business Process Framework has been endorsed by ITU-T.
This represents a major achievement and establishes the Business
Process Framework (eTOM), which has grown already to become a de
facto standard, as a formal standard Recommendation (identified as
M.3050) through ITU-T with its mandate under the United Nations.
Page 25 of 31

7. Some Ideas on Using the Business Process

Framework
Service Providers
1. Assign your technical personnel to review the Business Process
Framework and Model, and to present recommendations on it for your
enterprise (see www.tmforum.org for download advice).
2. Encourage your vendors to understand the Business Process
Framework, and. to describe their software applications in relation to the
Business Process Framework.
3. If you want your companys view incorporated in future versions of the
Business Process Framework, send a representative to participate actively
in its ongoing development.
Vendors
1. Provide materials on your software products for customers using the
Business Process Framework structure and concepts.
2. Assist your customers understanding of your software products by
explaining your software products in relation to the Business Process
Framework.
3. Use the Business Process Framework as a guide to help generate
product gap analysis, market analysis, competitive analysis, etc.
4. Establish and build partnerships to produce more complete solutions for
service providers.
5. Leverage the Business process framework to deliver reusable, and thus
cheaper to deliver, solutions to products based on other best practices such
as ITIL, TOGAF, COBIT and others.
6. To ensure the Business Process Framework accurately reflects how the
telecom business operates, send a representative to participate in its
ongoing development.
Note: Vendors, System Integrators and related companies are generally
comprised of common roles. The common roles are shown below with a
brief description of each role. These common roles are not prescriptive.
Rather, they are provided to illustrate the breadth of the Business Process
Framework impact on vendor and system integrator organizational roles.
Senior Management:
o Mission & strategy
Business:
o Customer, market needs & issues
Portfolio generation & management
Value proposition
Business case development
Partnerships
Marketing:
Page 26 of 31

Market & competitive analysis
Branding, advertising, promotions, etc.
Public relations
Sales:
o RFQs, RFIs, RFPs, contracts, etc.
Finance :
o Revenue & cost forecasting
o
Order to cash, billing, etc.
Systems Engineering:
o Research and Design
o
System design: architecture, interfaces, etc.
Technology, etc. roadmaps
Development Engineering:
o Hardware, software, services products and solutions
Test:
o
Manufacturing:
o Supply chain (in)
o
System, product, field, compliance, X-ility

(Availability, Operability, ), etc. testing &
certification
Warranty, etc.
Deployment:
o Supply chain (out)
o
Delivery & installation
Acceptance test
Field trials, Field problem resolution, MOL
Bringing the Business Process Framework into your Business

Some hints and Suggestions
To begin to evaluate and use the Business Process Framework for your
own business, it is essential that the ground is prepared so that the goals
are clear and it is possible to assess the impact of this.
As a first step, it is important to gain internal commitment to the introduction
of the Business Process Framework, since the sort of business process
analysis, and possible changes that will result, need buy-in and active
participation from those affected. From experience, a vital element in
success is to obtain senior management recognition and support.
It is also critical to identify and assess the area where the Business Process
Framework may bring benefit , and to define success criteria for any trial or
application of the Business Process Framework, so that results can be used
to build confidence and then to justify further work.
Page 27 of 31

In using the Business Process Framework, it is important to recognize that

it provides a ready-made generic business process framework, which may
need adjustment for your business, and that it is progressively being further
developed to lower-level detail.
So, the Business Process Framework can be used directly:
to assist your business partitioning (Business Process
Framework process groupings and definitions to define roles
and responsibilities within your organization)
to seek supply of system and solutions from vendors that
identify which processes within the Business Process
Framework are being automated, so as to:
brings economies of scale across industry
accelerates availability of products
allows customization and extension
In addition, the Business Process Framework can be adapted and
extended to accommodate specific needs in your own area:
use Business Process Framework as baseline
define additional detail and modifications in areas specific to
your business
extend the Business Process Framework for use within your
company
influence ongoing Business Process
development through direct participation
Framework
share ideas and gain insight
ensure the Business Process Framework evolves in

line with your needs
maximize the relevance of industry products
In extending and customizing the Business Process Framework, a number

of strategies can be used:
Bottom-up
Start with your enterprise existing Business Processes
definitions
Map existing Business Process flows back to the Business
Process Framework
Construct your own decomposition of the Business Process
Framework published Business Processes
Top down
Decompose the Business Process Framework processes
into component processes, to expose more detail
Define process flows, to link processes together
Combine decompositions and flows, to describe fully the
behavior of each process area
Page 28 of 31

Continue (as required) to lower levels of detail

The approach used can be adjusted as convenient in each case.
Experience shows there is value in firming up agreement at a given level of
decomposition and analysis, before proceeding to develop fully the next
level of detail (of course, it may be helpful to look ahead a little to ensure
that the current level of detail is resilient).
An important message is:
Stop when you wish!

You have reached an end-point when you have sufficient detail to use within
your business, or when you consider the added value gained of developing
further detail is not in proportion of the extra work needed.
Page 29 of 31

8. Administrative Appendix
8.1 Acknowledgements
This release of the Business Process Framework is the result of the
combined efforts of a large group of individuals from companies all over the
world. Most noteworthy is the participation of numerous service providers.
The knowledge and commitment in providing contributions and participating
in discussions are greatly appreciated. Contributors over the program
leading to previous Business Process Framework/eTOM releases were
acknowledged in those documents
The team looks forward to continued input and involvement for ongoing
work on the Business Process Framework. Thank you for making this the
acknowledged, best framework for Telecom and Information Services
business processes.
See main document (GB921 Concepts and Principles) for other
acknowledgements.
8.2 Document History

8.2.1 Version History
Version
Number
eTOM
Addendum P
NGOSS Version
4.5
Date Modified
Version 4.6
11/04
Version 4.7
06/09
Version 4.8
Jan 2010
Modified by:
05/04
Mike Kelly (with

some updates by
Ken Dilbeck)
Description of
changes
Launch of this
Addendum,
packaged as
GB921P for this
release.
Provides an
introduction to
eTOM and can be
used as a primer
for the rest of the
GB921 documents
Minor updates
prior to Member
Evaluation.
Minor updates to
reflect TM Forum
Approved status
Small terminology
changes to use
Business Process
Framework and
to update
diagrams;
incorporation of
member review
comments
Page 30 of 31

Version 4.9
March 2010
Alicja Kawecki
Version 4.10
April 2011
Alicja Kawecki
Version 5.0
May 2014
Viviane Cohen,
Hugo Vaughan
Version 5.0.1
May 2014
Alicja Kawecki
Version 5.0.2
June 2014
Alicja Kawecki
Version 5.0.3
Sep 2014
Avi Talmor
Version 5.0.4
Oct 2014
Alicja Kawecki
Minor cosmetic
corrections for
web posting
Updated to reflect
TM Forum
Approved status
Assimilation of the
vertical processes
as simple
groupings, minor
edits to reflect
changing industry
terms and cosolutions.
Applied
rebranding,
updated cover,
header, footer &
Notice; minor
cosmetic edits
prior to posting
Correction to
cover page
Correction on p.
12 per Member
Evaluation
feedback
Updated cover
and Notice to
reflect TM Forum
Approved status
8.2.2 Release History

Release
Number
8.1
Date Modified
Modified by:
Jan 2010
Mike Kelly (with

some updates by
Ken Dilbeck)
14.0
May 2014
Hugo Vaughan
Description of
changes
Small terminology
changes to use
Business Process
Framework and
to update
diagrams;
incorporation of
member review
comments
Assimilation of the
vertical processes
as simple
groupings, minor
edits to reflect
changing industry
terms and cosolutions
Page 31 of 31

Business Process Framework (eTOM) : Frameworx Reference

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Business Process Framework (eTOM) : Frameworx Reference

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Business Process Framework (eTOM) : Frameworx Reference

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Frameworx Reference

Business Process Framework Release 14.0

Latest Update: Frameworx Release 14

IPR Mode: RAND

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

obtained from the TM FORUM Team Administrator. TM FORUM makes no

Direct inquiries to the TM Forum office:

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

WHAT IS BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK?................................................................... 7

WHERE DID THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK COME FROM?......................... 9

HOW DOES THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK WORK?..................................... 11

WHY USE THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK? ...................................................... 23

WHEN CAN THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK HELP?....................................... 24

WHO IS USING THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK? ............................................ 25

SOME IDEAS ON USING THE BUSINESS PROCESS FRAMEWORK ............................. 26

ADMINISTRATIVE APPENDIX ............................................................................................... 30

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

1. What is Business Process Framework?

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

Thus, the Business Process Framework can be considered to have two

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

2. Where did the Business Process

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

3. How does the Business Process Framework

Figure 0: Process Decomposition

It defines components of a process that perform part of that

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

The aim is to provide a complete analysis of the process

Note that the process elements derived through process decomposition

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.

Business Process Framework Primer

Marketing & Offer Management

Customer Relationship Management

Service Development & Management

Service Management & Operations

Resource Development & Management

Resource Management & Operations

Supply Chain Development & Management

Supplier/Partner Relationship Management

Financial & Asset

Stakeholder & External

Knowledge & Research

Figure 1: Business Process Framework (eTOM)

TM Forum 2014. All Rights Reserved.