eTOM Decompositions

A range of views exist on standardizing further detail at lower layers of decomposition in eTOM. Some see the existing detail as sufficient for a Framework, and that further detail would be difficult to agree and might inhibit flexibility and differentiation. Others think that we can go further before these problems arise, and that Level 3 in Enterprise Management and Level 4 in Operations and Strategy, Infrastructure & Product, would be useful. It is recognized that moving to a new level of detail multiplies the scale of the effort involved, because of the expanding number of process elements to consider, and so progress in this area is likely to be selective or even to provide examples only.

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eTOM Process Flows

More guidance would be useful for companies developing process flows. A "template" that shows how to define flows in areas like Service Management would help. This could be addressed through a wider range of examples.

For this, it will be useful to encourage all Members to contribute process flows that they have worked on, recognizing that what can be shared may be at a higher level than is used internally for detailed workflows. However, this still leaves ample room for positioning flows using published eTOM process elements. To accommodate all needs on this, contributors may choose:

a. to be acknowledged as the source or to be anonymous

b. to have the flows published without comment, and let others use as they will, or to treat these as a collaborative contribution and invite comment and review

c. to seek TMF agreement on the flows by developing them through the technical teams (most probably the eTOM Team) and then have them published within eTOM documents, etc, or to leave them as individual views

Note that the current view of process flows generally in the TM Forum is that they represent examples of how activities can be structured using eTOM, rather than "the" way to carry out the relevant activities. Thus, they are not "normative" in current publications.

eTOM and its Applications

eTOM can be used in many ways in different companies, and it would be useful to gather suggestions on how eTOM is applied, to identify scenarios that would be of most interest to Members. This could provide an input to deciding priorities for future work in TMF.It could also be helpful in other area - for example highlighting opportunities for Catalyst Projects that Members would see as directly relatable to their business needs.

For this, it will be useful to encourage all Members to contribute suggestions for eTOM applications that they have business experience in, or where they could use results. These do not require any detailed technical definition initially, but only a brief statement of the scope and purpose so that others can see if they are also interested. As an example, a suggestion could be to analyse how eTOM is used in supporting a specific area of Service Assurance, such as handling customer complaints on service quality. An important aspect of this may be to concentrate on particular Business-to-Business environments and thus develop "worked examples" or "blueprints" of how to use eTOM in a specific B2B scenario, Thus, in the Service Assurance example, the suggestion might be to look at the situation where much/all of the network support has been outsourced from the SP handling this customer, to another company. By defining the "eTOM application" in this context, other Members with similar interests can indicate this, and based on the priorities that then emerge, future eTOM work can concentrate on the scenarios, and applications, of most importance.

eTOM and OSSs

Although eTOM is agnostic towards OSS structuring (it focuses on the strict business view of processes), it can be used to categorize OSS features/functions, and to highlight similarities and differences. eTOM can also be used to organize the boundaries of the OSSs, so that these map more easily into the overall enterprise business organization.

eTOM and SOA

This is an area being examined, to enable a fuller picture on the relationship to be provided, but it is seen that the way that eTOM is used in process flows (such as those shown in NGOSS Business View Contracts in GB939) is SOA-oriented. Thus, the process interactions between the process elements shown in the process flow, is based on an SOA-oriented approach, with a service call from one process element to the next. This makes the transition to an SOA-based solution straightforward.