Major telcos generally have thousands of discrete business processes they use to run their operations.  To automate a subset of these processes, they have at a minimum many hundreds and sometimes several thousand discrete OSS/BSS software applications.  Adding further complexity, most processes require integration of multiple applications to achieve end-to-end automation.  As a result, the scope of the process automation problem gets large very quickly.

While Service Providers can identify the processes they have today, would like to have and would like to automate, often, the limiting factor in making these process changes is the complexity of changing the software systems fast enough.  And because of this multi-faceted complexity, changes cannot be done affordably enough to deliver a good return on the investment. 

As a result, the effort to continuously automate existing processes and to further simplify processes with additional automation is too costly and only occurs on a limited basis.  Solving this problem is the foundation for NGOSS.

Clearly service providers understand that if they automate processes they can reduce operational costs and improve service to end customers, becoming “lean” operators.  They know they can become nimble in meeting the needs of customers and deliver easily and affordably the plethora of new technology and service combinations that are becoming affordable to the mass market.

But how to get from today’s status quo to tomorrow’s well integrated, easily changeable, market driven business and operations systems is certainly the challenge most of the world’s service providers face.

To offer the industry a blueprint for a cheaper, more responsive and significantly more flexible way of doing business, a group of operators, software suppliers, consultants and systems integrators have been working on a common framework for delivering lean operations for service providers worldwide. The work has been coordinated by the TeleManagement Forum and developed by TM Forum member companies working on collaborative teams. The result of several hundred man-years of development work, the framework is known as New Generation Operations Systems & Software (NGOSS).

Automating processes requires a multi-step approach, from understanding existing processes through to designing how systems will integrate.  Typical activities would include:

• Defining and engineering/re-engineering business processes
• Defining systems to implement processes
• Defining data in a common information model
• Defining integration interfaces
• Defining integration architecture

The elements of NGOSS align directly with the steps in this process automation approach.  As a result, NGOSS gives service providers the tools they need to undertake automation projects with confidence.  (See the NGOSS Overview section of the web for details on the elements of NGOSS.)

Business Benefits
Process automation is the cornerstone of NGOSS.  Many of the business benefits revolve around the direct and indirect stages in automating telecom operations.  But service providers are not the only beneficiaries of the standard language and specifications that NGOSS defines.

NGOSS offers service providers tangible business benefits that positively impact the bottom line.

• Having a well-defined long term direction for business processes and OSS/BSS implementation reduces investment risk.  When new systems and services are purchased, if they fit in with a well defined strategy and detailed set of requirements, their longevity is more assured than in an environment with looser definition.
• Being first to market is important in competitive environments.  Being first to market and not spending a lot of money to be there is a recipe for success.  Being nimble is key to prepare for the combined broadband and wireless services onslaught that is approaching.
• Moving to an environment where process definitions, interfaces and architecture are all standard allows for a true competitive bidding environment. 

NGOSS delivers measurable improvements in development and software integration environments.

• With NGOSS, big chunks of process language, requirements, data models, interfaces and tests are already defined, significantly reducing development costs
• Using standard building blocks, software modules and even whole products can be built once and sold many times, increasing return on investment with every sale
• Integration cycles for software with standard interfaces are significantly shorter, reducing cost of bringing a new software system into an existing environment.  In addition, integrating using NGOSS interfaces becomes a repeatable process, saving time and money on each project and improving success rates.
• Definition of use cases and requirements becomes easier across service providers/supplier and supplier/supplier partnership relationships when a common language as provided by the eTOM and the SID is used to communicate

On-going savings come in the operational environment, with the daily churn of tasks to keep networks running and customers satisfied.

• Automation enables lower operational expenditure.  With NGOSS, tackling the task of introducing additional automation to an operational environment comes with a blueprint to follow and guidelines to step through the changes.  The task may still be large, but much of the work has been done within the NGOSS elements.
• And once automated systems are in place, making changes in a well designed, well understood environment is straight-forward.  Reacting to a need to change a service offering, a billing option or a quality of service requirement becomes an easy to follow process rather than significant changes that require weeks of testing

Why Choose NGOSS As My Framework?
NGOSS is a sound technical solution developed by industry leaders with hundreds of combined years of Telco OSS/BSS experience from some of the world’s major service provider and vendor companies.  Recognizing the need to create a common integration environment for software systems, TM Forum member companies have contributed the time of their senior architectural and engineering resources to make NGOSS a success.

• NGOSS is real.  Its components consist of detailed definitions and are ready for implementation.
• The NGOSS principles and the detailed NGOSS documents draw from existing industry standards and recommendations where ever possible. NGOSS has used the best available resources to create the best possible solution.
• NGOSS is defined in such a way that it provides a coherent long term direction for specifiers, developers and implementers of OSS/BSS systems.  Whether a service provider strategizing on long term direction or a software supplier establishing a product roadmap, NGOSS provides structure and detail to work towards a common ground.
• Using the predefined elements of NGOSS allows development effort throughout the telecom supply chain to focus on solving value-added problems, not defining processes, data models and architectures