Prof. Dr.-Ing.

Christian Czarnecki
[email protected]

Information Systems in the Telecommunication Industry

Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM)

Hochschule für Telekommunikation Leipzig (HfTL)
University of Applied Sciences, www.hft-leipzig.de/en.html
Agenda

• Today’s Telecommunications Industry

• Business Process Framework (eTOM)
• Applying eTOM

3
The Telecommunication Industry has changed!

4
Changes of…

Technology Telco Companies

Various Applications
Complexity

TK-
Unternehmen
Mobile
(D-Network)
ISDN

Data

Telephone
Source: Czarnecki 2013, S. 68

time

 History of telecommunication: http://www.telekom.com/unternehmensgeschichte

5
Challenges of Telco Companies
Marktkomplexität
Marktkomplexität
Market Kundenstrukturkomplexität
Kundenstrukturkomplexität
Customer structures Koordinationskomplexität
Koordinationskomplexität
Coordination

KOMPLEXIT
Complexity ÄT

Produktkomplexität
Product
Produktkomplexität Prozesskomplexität
Processes
Prozesskomplexität Technikkomplexität
Technology
Technikkomplexität
P1Aa
P1Aa PX3
PX3
P1Ab
P1Ab
PX2
PX2
P1Ac
P1Ac PX1
PX1
P1A
P1A
P1Ad
P1Ad
P1
P1 PV1
PV1 PV2
PV2
P1Ae
P1Ae
PK3
PK3

PK2
PK2
P1B1
P1B1 PK1
PK1
P1B
P1B
P1B2a
P1B2a
P1B2
P1B2
P1B2b
P1B2b

Source: Detecon
6
What can we learn from general production
approaches?
Typical general value chain:
Composition of semi-
Provisioning of production
finished and finished Sales of products
factors
products

Suppliers Production Sales

Telecommunication industry:
Network OSS BSS

Source: Detecon
7
The production plan describes the activities to deliver
a product.

General Production Telco Production

 List of required resources

 Bill of material
 Stückliste Produktionsplantyp
Product catalogue  Liste der zu vergebenden Ressourcen
 Bauanleitung  Liste
Listvon
of Arbeitsschritten
required activities
(Ablaufplan)
 Construction plan
(workflow)
 Picking according to bill  Reservation of resources
 Kommissionierung entsprechend Produktionsplaninstanz
Production plan  Reservierung der Ressourcen +
ofStückliste
material ggf. Festlegungmanual
Required der Variante
activities
 „Laufzettel“  Liste durchzuführender Aktivierungen
 Production planning  Configuration and activation
Source: Detecon
8
Telco Applications – High-level Structure

 OSS hat besondere Bedeutung für die Flexibilität einer Telco

 Market and customer driven
 Short
Markt-product
und kundengetrieben
lifecycle
 Kurze Produktlebenszyklen
 Dynamische Reaktion auf aktuelle
 Dynamic reaction on market trends
Markttrends (Kampagnen, etc.)
BSS (e.g. campaigns)
BSS Zielsetzung: Effektivität in der
Kundenansprache
Objective: effective management of
customer relations
 Intermediation
OSS muss zwischenbetween
BSS und BSS and network
Netz vermitteln
OSS und in beide Richtungen flexibel auf Änderungen
 Flexible
reagieren realization of changes
können

 Technology and cost driven

Netz
Netz
Network  Technik- und kostengetrieben
 Medium
Mittel- bisand long-term
langfristige planning
Planung
 Strategische Entscheidungen zu
 Strategic decisions
Technologien about
und Realisierung
technology and realization
Zielsetzung: Effizienz in der Produktion

 Objective: efficient production

Source: Detecon
9
From silo-oriented to integrated architecture

Silo-oriented Architecture Integrated Architecture

Product 1 Product 2 … Integrated Offer

===!"§Online
Process Process Process

BSS BSS BSS

OSS OSS OSS

Resource Resource Resource Resource Ressource

Source: Czarnecki 2013, p. 149

10
What is the TM Forum?

The TM Forum is an international association for telecom operations and systems.

It has around 900 member companies in 95 countries encompassing the most
important players in the whole telecom value chain. It has 3 primary roles:

Guidance/ Standards – Ecosystem –

Leadership –

Providing the telecom industry with Providing the telecom industry with Providing the telecom industry with
a common language and ways of standards to support cost savings a capability for networking,
seeing things to reduce during development and enabling business flow and ideas
fragmentation to a minimum deployment exchange through conferences,
webinars and online information
 Best practices  Interfaces exchange

 Frameworks  Contracts
 Information  Data models
 Training  Test specs and tools
 Education
 Benchmarks

Source: www.tmforum.org
11
TM Forum Introduction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_vveB-ruGU

12
TM Forum Reference Models – specific for
telecommunication industry

 Business Process Framework (eTOM) Business Process Framework (eTOM 8.0)

eTOM 8.0
Customer

Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations

Strategy & Infrastructure Product Operations Fulfillment Assurance Billing &
Commit Lifecycle Lifecycle Support & Revenue
Management Management Readiness Management
Marketing & Offer Management Customer Relationship Management

the process reference model for both strategic and operational

Service Development & Management Service Management & Operations

Resource Development & Management Resource Management & Operations

(Application, Computing and Network)

HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MANAGEMENT FORUM V 0.5 20110403T1200+02

(Application, Computing and Network)

Supply Chain Development & Management Supplier/Partner Relationship Management

Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise Enterprise Risk Enterprise Effectiveness Knowledge & Research

processes
Planning Management Management Management

Financial & Asset Stakeholder & External Human Resources

Management Relations Management Management

SLIDE 18 PPT
Deutsche Telekom Group

 Information Framework (SID) Shared Information and Data Model – SID: What is it?

a common reference model for enterprise information including

HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MANAGEMENT FORUM V 0.5 20110403T1516+02

entity relationship models

SLIDE 19 PPT
Deutsche Telekom Group

 Application Framework (TAM) Telecom Application Map – TAM: What is it?

a reference model that provides a common language to

HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MANAGEMENT FORUM V 0.5 20110403T1518+02

describe systems and their functions, as well as a common way

SLIDE 20 PPT
Deutsche Telekom Group

of grouping them

 Integration Framework FRAMEWORX –: What is it?

delivers a service oriented integration approach with

HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MANAGEMENT FORUM V 0.5.PPT

standardized interfaces and support tools Deutsche Telekom Group

Source: www.tmforum.org
13
Statements from the market…

“eTOM standard is a “The TM Forum

key part of Deutsche standards (for processes
Telekom’s IT strategy, & architecture) helped
allowing us to reduce Vodafone to build a
both risk and costs.” secure and flexible OSS,
Steffen Roehn, former as well as a central
CIO, Deutsche Telekom provisioning strategy”
Albert Hitchcock, CIO,
Vodafone Group

“Our new Business Process

Framework is an essential driver and “The TM Forum standardized processes and
key instrument for addressing our architecture definitions […] enabled STC to jump
strategic goals, customer focus and directly to industry best practices for process
operational excellence.” implementation.”
Mansoor Al-Khater, Executive Director Maziad Al-Harbi, General Manager of the Network
Group Strategy, Qatar Telecom Services Solution, Saudi Telecom Company

Source: TM Forum, Detecon’s Industry Insights

14
Reference Model - Definitions

 „A reference model – specifically: reference information model – is an

information model used for supporting the construction of other models.”
(Thomas 2006)
 “Reference models are information models that are developed with the goal of
being reused for different, but similar purposes.” (Becker et al. 2007)
 The construction and application of reference models is called reference
modeling (Referenzmodellierung). (vom Brocke and Fettke 2012).

15
Agenda

• Introduction
• Business Process Framework (eTOM)
• Applying eTOM

16
eTOM is a collection of processes that can be
decomposed on different levels of detail.
Level 0-1 Level 2
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations
1.1.1.1 CRM - Support & Readiness
1.1.1.2 Customer Interface Management
Strategy Infrastr. Product Operations Fulfillment Assurance Billing 1.1.1.3 Marketing Fulfillment Response
& Commit Lifecycle Lifecycle Support &
Mgmt. Mgmt. Readiness
1.1.1.4 Selling
1.1.1.5 Order Handling
1.1.1.6 Problem Handling
Marketing & Offer Mgmt. Customer Relationship Management
1.1.1.7 Customer QoS/SLA Management
1.1.1.9 Retention & Loyalty
Service Development & Mgmt. Service Mgmt. & Operations
1.1.1.10 Bill Invoice Management
1.1.1.11 Bill Payments & Receivables Management
Resource Development & Mgmt. Resource Mgmt. & Operations 1.1.1.12 Bill Inquiry Handling
1.1.1.13 Charging
Supply Chain Development & Mgmt. Supplier / Partner Relationship Mgmt. 1.1.1.14 Manage Billing Events
1.1.1.15 Manage Balances

Enterprise Mgmt.

Level 3

Selling

Qualify & Acquire

Manage Negotiate Cross/Up
Educate Customer
Prospect Sales Selling
Customer Data

Source: Czarnecki, C., Winkelmann, A., Spiliopoulou, M. (2013) Reference Process Flows for Telecommunication Companies. An Extension of the eTOM Model. In: Business &
17 Information Systems Engineering 04/2013; 5(2):83-96.
eTOM Decomposition

Defines Business Activities Distinguishes operational

customer oriented processes from management &
strategic process

Shows groups of related business functions and standard

end-to-end processes (e.g. Service Streams)
Logical
Levels
Core Processes that combine together to deliver Service
Streams and other end-to-end Processes

Decomposition of core processes into detailed „Success

Model“ business process flows

Detailed operational process flows with error conditions

and product and geographical variants (where required) Physical
Levels
Further decomposion of detailed operational where
required

Source: according to TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): User Guidelines for the Business Process Framework, GB921 Addendum U, p. 25.
18
Entities as Structural Element

Entities Remarks
 Market/Sales supports sales and
marketing activities to gain business from
Market/Sales, Product and Customer customers and potential customers
 Product is concerned with the lifecycle of
products and information related to
products lifecycle
Service
 Customer is individuals or organizations
that obtain product from an enterprise
Resource  Service consists of information used to
(Application, Computing and Network) manage the definition, development and
operational aspects of services provided
 Resource consist of information used to
Supplier/Partner manage the definition, development and
operational aspects of network, as well
as information and application resources
 Enterprise represents information
Enterprise
necessary to support the overall business

19
eTOM - Conceptual View (Level 0)

eTOM‘s Three Major Process Areas Remarks

 The Framework differentiates
Customer
Strategy and Lifecycle Processes
(SIP) from the Operations
Strategy, Infrastructure Operations Processes in two large process
& Product areas
- covering planning and - covering the core of operational  They are differentiated because,
lifecycle management management unlike Operations, SIP Processes
(associated with devolpment do not directly support the
and delivery) customer, are intrinsically different
from the Operations Processes and
work on different business time
cycles
 The third major process area is
Supplier/ Partner concerned with management of the
enterprise itself
Enterprise Management
 There are different internal and
- covering corporate or business support management external entities that interact with
Other
the enterprise, as shown in the
Shareholders Employees figure
Stakeholders

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): Concepts and Principles, GB921 CP.
20
eTOM - Horizontal Level 1 Process Groupings

Customer Remarks
 Functionally-related processes
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations
within the business are e.g. those
Market / Sales involved in managing contact with
the customer or in managing the
Product supply chain
Customer  This structuring by horizontal
functional process groupings is
Service useful to those who are responsible
for creating the capability that
Resource (Application, Computing, Network) enables, supports or automates the
Supplier/ Partner
processes
 The horizontal functional process
groupings can therefore often
Supplier/ Partner
represent the CIO‘s view of the
eTOM framework
Enterprise Management

Other
Shareholders Employees Stakeholders

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): Concepts and Principles, GB921 CP.
21
eTOM - Vertical Level 1 Process Groupings

Customer Remarks
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations  End-to-end Processes are e.g.
Strategy & Infrastructure Product Operations Fulfillment Assurance Billing those involved in the overall billing
Lifecycle Lifecycle Support &
Commit
Management Management Readiness flows to customers
 This end-to-end view is important to
those people who are responsible
for changing, operating and
managing end-to-end processes
 These processes tend to span
organization boundaries, and so the
end-end effectiveness of theses
processes is an area of concern to
Supplier/ Partner senior management and particularly
the CEO
Enterprise Management
 The vertical process groupings
therefore often represent the CEO‘s
view of the eTOM framework
Other
Shareholders Employees
Stakeholders

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): Concepts and Principles, GB921 CP.
22
SIP - Vertical Level 1 Process Groupings

Customer Remarks
 Strategy & Commit is responsible
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product for the generation of strategies in
Strategy & Infrastructure Product
support of the Infrastructure &
Commit Lifecycle Lifecycle Product Lifecycle processes. It is
Management Management also responsible for establishing
business commitment within the
enterprise to support these
strategies
 Lifecycle Mmgt. drive and enable
core operations and customer
processes to meet market demand
and customer expectations
 Infrastructure Lifecycle Mgmt. Is
responsible for the definition,
planning and implementation of all
infrastructures and business
capabilities and Product Lifecycle
Mgmt. for products in the enterprise
portfolio

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): Concepts and Principles, GB921 CP.
23
SIP – Level 0-1

Customer

Strategy, Infrastructure & Product

Strategy & Infrastructure Product
Commit Lifecycle Lifecycle
Management Management

Market / Sales

Product

Customer

Service

Resource (Application, Computing, Network)

Supplier/ Partner

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): Concepts and Principles, GB921 CP.
24
Operations – Vertical Level 1 Process Groupings

Customer Remarks
 Fulfillment is responsible for
Operations providing customers with their
Operations Fulfillment Assurance Billing
requested products in a timely and
Support & correct manner
Readiness  Assurance is responsible for the
(OS&R) execution of pro- & reactive
maintenance activities to ensure
that services provided to customers
are available and performing to
performance levels
 Billing is responsible for the
collection of appropriate usage
records, production of bills, for
providing pre-bill use information
and billing to customers and
performing payment collections
 OS& R is responsible for providing
management, logistics &
administrative support to FAB

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): Concepts and Principles, GB921 CP.
25
Operations – Level 0-1

Customer

Operations

Operations Fulfillment Assurance Billing

Support &
Readiness

Market / Sales

Product

Customer

Service

Resource (Application, Computing, Network)

Supplier/ Partner

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): Concepts and Principles, GB921 CP.
26
eTOM – Enterprise Management

Enterprise Management
Strategic & Enterprise Enterprise Risk Enterprise Effectiveness Knowledge & Research
Planning Management Management Management

Financial & Asset Stakeholder & External Human Resources

Management Re lations Management Management

 Setting and achieving strategic corporate goals and objectives

 Provide support services required by the entire business
 May interface with many strategic, infrastructure and operational
processes

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): Concepts and Principles, GB921 CP.
27
Process Decomposition – Level 2

Remarks
 The level 2 business processes are
derived from the logical intersection
of process areas (columns) and
functional process structures (rows).
 Process flows can be developed at
level 2.
 Examples of level 2 processes:
 Customer Interface Management
 Selling
 Order Handling
 Problem Handling

Source: www.tmforum.org
28
Process Decomposition – Level 3

Remarks
 The level 3 processes into which a
level 2 process decomposes
represent individual tasks that
manage the lifecycle of the
business entities.
 The diagram depicts an example of
a level 3 process.
 The eTOM level 2 process
"Problem Handling“ is decomposed
into its sub processes: "Isolate
Problem & Initiate Resolution",
"Report Problem", "Track and
Manage Problem" and "Close
Problem".
 Process flows can be developed at
Level 3.

Source: www.tmforum.org
29
Process Decomposition – Level 4

Remarks
 The level 4 processes into which a
level 3 process decomposes
represent individual tasks that
manage the lifecycle of the
Level 3 business entities.
 The diagram depicts an example of
a level 4 process.
 The eTOM level 3 process “Track
Track & Manage and Manage Problem “ is
Customer Problem
decomposed into its sub processes:
"Coordinate Customer Problem",
"Cancel Customer Problem“ and
Coordinate Cancel Customer Escalate/End Engage External "Engage External Service Supplier
Customer Problem Problem Customer Problem Service Supplier
 Level 4 are described in GB 921
DX
Level 4

Source: www.tmforum.org
30
Online Resources

Source: www.tmforum.org
31
Agenda

• Introduction
• Business Process Framework (eTOM)
• Applying eTOM

32
How to use eTOM?

What Is eTOM? How to Use eTOM?

eTOM “Enhanced Telecoms Operations Map”

Level 1 eTOM “Enhanced Telecoms Operations Map”
Strategy, Infrastructure Operations
& Product SIP Operations

Strategy Infrastr. Product OS&R Fulfill- Assur- Billing

& Commit Lifecycle Lifecycle ment ance
Mgmt. Mgmt. to

Market / Sales

Product

Customer Level43
Enterprise Mgmt.
Service

Resource (Application, Computing, Network)

Level 1 Process Framework
Supplier/ Partner
to

Level …
Enterprise Mgmt.

33
Reference Process Flows (Level 0)

Demand Management Fulfillment

perspective Support Domain contains all secondary support functions perspective
Customer conflate basic functions which Is structured into 4 different end-to- Product
Domain supports outbound sales and end processes to cover the entire Domain
enables sustainable customer product lifecycle
relationship management
Customer Centric Customer Centric Domain
Domain

which contains all relevant core value activities as an end-to-end orchestration,

aligned to face different customer needs.
customer customer

divided into customer related and non-customer related

end-to-end processes, contains the production processes
of a Telco Carrier
Network Domain

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): End-to-End Business Flows, GB921 Addendum E, p. 12.
34
Reference Process Flows (Level 1)
Demand perspective Fulfillment perspective

Management Support Domain

Corporate Mgmt & Human Resources Finance &
Business Excellence Management Risk Management
Customer Domain Product Domain
Customer Relationship Sales & Service Mgmt. Idea-to-Business Business Opport.-to-
Mgmt. Opportunity Launch
Managing Customer Managing Resource Decision-to-Relaunch Decision-to-Elimination
Market Experience Integration Market

Customer Centric Request-to-Answer

Domain
Order-to-Payment
Usage-to-Payment
Request-to-Change
Individual Termination-to-Confirmation Individual
Customer Problem-to-Solution Customer
Complaint-to-Solution

Production Order-to-Acceptance
Network
Trouble Ticket-to- Activation-to-UsageData
Solution Domain
Market Capacity Mgmt. Service Lifecycle Resource Continuity Mgmt. Market
Mgmt. Lifecycle Mgmt.

IT Management Procurement External Relations

Source: Detecon
35
Customer-centric Process Domain – Level 1-2

Product Offer Preparation

RA: Request-to-Answer Selection &
Specification Request Handling

Order Provisioning
OP: Order-to-Payment Processing

UP: Usage-to-Payment Usage

Customer Change
RC: Request-to-Change Contact
customer Billing customer
TC: Termination-to- Terminate
Confirmation
Analyze
Solve Trouble
PS: Problem-to-Solution Trouble

Analyze Solve
CS: Complaint-to-Solution Complaint Complaint

Source: Detecon
36
The process „Order-to-Payment“ contains the
customer interaction order to billing.

Tasks
 Handle customer contract Order-to-Payment
 Handle customer data
 Handle customer order
 Check creditworthiness Input Output
 Order monitoring  Accepted offer  Invoice
 Check order entry  Contract  Ready for service confirmation
 Initiation of production order  Inventory information  Hardware, firmware, software
 Convert the customer  Customer data  Order confirmation
interaction
 Product elements, their relations and
 Consider service / resource / constraints
supplier partner layer
 Suppliers, distributors, subcontractors, etc.
 Testing of services and (SLAs)
resources
 Activation of products
 Trigger to start data collection
for billing
 Generate & provide invoice Critical Issues
 Trigger to start ongoing  Rework rate  Reliability
operation  Short cycle time between contract closure  Availability of relevant resources (e.g.
 Order splitting and service usage (Time to Customer services, CPE, field service rep, partners)
(TTC))
 Trigger to perform cross- or
up-selling activities  In-time delivery of different product elements
 Time of order handling
 Ability to offer seamless services

ource: Detecon
Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): End-to-End Business Flows, GB921 Addendum E, pp. 15-42.
37
Order-to-Payment – Level 2

eTOM Level2
 1.1.1.1 CRM - Support & Order-to-Payment
Readiness
 1.1.1.2 Customer Interface
Management Operations
 1.1.1.3 Marketing Fulfillment Operations Support & Fulfillment Assurance Billing & Revenue Mgmt
Readiness
Response Customer Interface Management
Customer Relationship Bill Payments &
 1.1.1.4 Selling Management Selling
Receivables Management
Bill Invoice Bill Inquiry
 1.1.1.5 Order Handling CRM Marketing Customer Management Handling
Order Problem
Support & Fulfillment QoS / SLA
 1.1.1.9 Retention & Loyalty Readiness Response
Handling Handling
Management Manage
Charging
Billing Events
 1.1.1.10 Bill Invoice Mgmt
Retention & Loyalty
 1.1.2.1 SM&O Support & Service Management & Operations
Readiness
SM&O Service Service Service
Service Guiding &
 1.1.2.2 Service Configuration Support & Configuration Problem Quality
Mediation
Readiness & Activation Management Management
& Activation
 1.1.3.1 RM&O Support & Resource Management & Operations
Readiness RM&O
Manage Resource
Resource Resource Resource
Support & Trouble Performance Mediation &
 1.1.3.2 Resource Provisioning Readiness
Workforce Provisioning
Management Management Reporting

 1.1.4.1 S/PRM Support & Resource Data Collection & Distribution

Readiness Supplier/Partner Relationship
 1.1.4.2 S/P Requisition Management S/P
Requisition
S/P Problem
Reporting &
S/P
Performance
S/P Settlements
& Payments
Management S/PRM Management Management Management Management
Support &
 1.1.4.5 S/P Settlements & Readiness
Supplier / Partner Interface Management
Payments Management

Source: TM Forum (2015), Business Process Framework (eTOM): End-to-End Business Flows, GB921 Addendum E, pp. 15-42.
38
TM Forum YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLKFQ99UR0KRtF3BTQzurOw

39
eTOM – Recommended Literature

Czarnecki C, Winkelmann A, Spiliopoulou M (2013b) Reference Process Flows for Telecommunication

Companies: An Extension of the eTOM Model. Business & Information Systems Engineering 5:83–96.

40
Further Literature
Information System in General
 Alpar, P., Alt, R., Bensberg, F., Grob, H.L., Weimann, P., Winter, R.
(2014) Anwendungsorientierte Wirtschaftsinformatik. Strategische
Planung, Entwicklung und Nutzung von Informationssystemen. Springer.
 Laudon, K. C., Laudon, J. P., Schoder, D. (2010), Wirtschaftsinformatik –
Eine Einführung, 2., aktual. Aufl., München 2010.
 Becker, J., Schütte, R. (2004) Handelsinformationssysteme, Redline
Wirtschaftsbuch.
Information Systems in the Telecommunication Industry
 Czarnecki, C. (2013) Entwicklung einer referenzmodellbasierten
Unternehmensarchitektur für die Telekommunikationsindustrie. Logos
Verlag.
 Kelly, M. B. (2003) The TeleManagement Forum’s Enhanced Telecom
Operations Map (eTOM). Journal of Network and Systems Management,
11(1), S. 109–119.
 Misra, K. (2004) OSS for Telecom Networks: An Introduction to Network
Management, London, u. a.: Springer.
 Bruce, G., Naughton, B., Trew, D., Parsons, M. und Robson, P. (2008)
Streamlining the telco production line. Journal of Telecommunications
Management, 1(1), S. 15 – 32.

41
Thank you for your kind attention.
Any questions?