Netcracker TOMS Suite Release 8.2- Business Process Framework

Netcracker TOMS Suite, Release 8.2

Company: Netcracker Technology Corp.
Product title and Version: Netcracker Telecom Operations and Management Solutions (TOMS) Suite, Release 8.2
Product Description:
Netcracker’s comprehensive Product Suite has gradually adopted the TM Forum’s most accepted and applicable standards, including eTOM, SID, and TAM, as well as OSS/J and MTOSI, to help service providers overcome challenges on the way to optimized and efficient service delivery. Netcracker’s Suite spans all eTOM’s vertical process groupings in both the Strategy, Infrastructure & Product, and Operations process areas. This Assessment Result certifies conformance to the verticals of OS&R and Fulfillment as per the scope outlined in this report.

Netcracker’s Product Suite covers eight critical areas of Customer Management, Product Management, Revenue Management, End-User Devices, Service Fulfillment & Assurance, IT Platforms, Resource Management, and Network Management and provides:

Centralized, unified, up-to-date view of the customer, product, services, resources, faults, trouble tickets, performance event history, and other important data
Open, published, secure integration interfaces suitable for usage through self-service portals and partner systems outside the service provider’s back office, as well as for other B/OSS and TOMS components
Scalable, high-performance processing platform capable of supporting a Tier 1 load of customer requests and other related transactions with quick response time
Flexible, configurable data modeling and process automation capabilities able to accommodate and quickly adjust as necessary to support a mix of multi-access, multi-device, and multi-service platform offerings
Flexible, unified metadata-based approach of reusable product, service, and resource components to enable the quick creation and delivery of new service offerings, and thereby provide an important competitive advantage
Advanced visualization capabilities for important data entities and relationships to speed product and service introduction, fulfillment, and assurance processes

Business Process Framework version: 8.0

TM Forum has reviewed and approved the self-certification of the product listed here against Business Process Framework (eTOM) version 8.0 processes elements. Each process element was measured using the Business Process Framework (eTOM) compliance scale.

Scope of Assessment – Business Process Framework Footprint
The following figure represents the Business Process Framework Level 2 processes (blue background) that were presented in scope for the assessment, and the textual callouts represent the modules of the Netcracker Telecom Operations and Management Solutions (TOMS) Suite that were assessed and that support the corresponding eTOM processes.

Click to view larger image

Solution Conformance – Summary

Click to view larger image

Solution Conformance – with Comments

Assessed Business Process Framework Conformance – Netcracker TOMS Suite, Release 8.2
Business Process Framework Process Element	Assessed Domain	Conformance Level	Comment
Within Level 1: 1.1.1 – Customer Relationship Management	Customer	Not Applicable for Level 1 process	TM Forum does not assess process Level 1 elements. Hence Conformance Level is not awarded at this level.
Within Level 2: 1.1.1.5 – Order Handling	Customer	Scope Fully Conformant (3)	Seven Level 3 eTOM processes have been assessed here for conformance. These are: 1.1.1.5.1 Determine Customer Order Feasibility 1.1.1.5.2 Authorize Credit 1.1.1.5.4 Track & Manage Customer Order Handling 1.1.1.5.5 Complete Customer Order 1.1.1.5.6 Issue Customer Orders 1.1.1.5.7 Report Customer Order Handling 1.1.1.5.8 Close Customer Order These 7 processes cover the entire lifecycle of the Order Handling core process as defined in the Business Process Framework (eTOM) with no deviations.
1.1.1.5.1 Determine Customer Order Feasibility	Customer	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is essentially a partially automated process requiring a certain degree of manual intervention throughout most of its tasks. Evidence provided and assessed for this process satisfied conformance requirements.
1.1.1.5.2 Authorize Credit	Customer	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant The support provided by the relevant module in NetCracker in support of this process is fully automated and has passed conformance criteria based on application views and documentation provided.
1.1.1.5.4 Track & Manage Customer Order Handling	Customer	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is for the most part fully automated, with some parts requiring manual intervention, but this is entirely supported by a set of capabilities in the application which have passed conformance criteria following proven evidence provided.
1.1.1.5.5 Complete Customer Order	Customer	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant Although this process requires significant manual intervention in the case of business services, the set of screenshots, application views, and documentation provided for assessment have satisfied Business Process Framework (eTOM) conformance criteria.
1.1.1.5.6 Issue Customer Orders	Customer	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is a process that is almost fully automated but still requires some manual intervention especially to assess customer information and for the cancellation of customer orders. Documentation and application views provided have passed conformance criteria.
1.1.1.5.7 Report Customer Order Handling	Customer	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is a fully automated process and all evidence and documentation provided has passed conformance criteria successfully.
1.1.1.5.8 Close Customer Order	Customer	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is a fully automated process and all evidence and documentation provided have passed conformance criteria successfully.
Within Level 1: 1.1.2 – Service Management & Operations	Service	Not Applicable for Level 1 process	TM Forum does not assess process Level 1 elements. Hence Conformance Level is not awarded at this level.
Within Level 2: 1.1.2.1 – SM&O Support & Readiness	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (3)	Five Level 3 eTOM processes have been assessed here for conformance. These are: 1.1.2.1.1. Manage Service Inventory 1.1.2.1.2. Enable Service Configuration & Activation 1.1.2.1.3. Support Service Problem Management 1.1.2.1.4. Enable Service Quality Management 1.1.2.1.5. Support Service & Specific Instance Rating These 5 processes provide full support for the entire set of core processes within the SM&O layer in the Operations area of the Business Process Framework (eTOM) with no deviations.
1.1.2.1.1. Manage Service Inventory	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported mostly by partially automated capabilities, with some capabilities being fully automated. NetCracker provides administration tools that allow establishing, managing, and administering of Service Inventory: installation, new record (service instance) creation and modification, Validation for Service consistency and integrity with configurable business rules, also via API, as well as monitoring of the system operation (disk space, RAM, DB server, etc.) and generation of corresponding reports and alarms.
1.1.2.1.2. Enable Service Configuration & Activation	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process features a 50/50 blend of automated versus partially automated capabilities. Documentation and other evidence provided, such as screenshots and applications views from the solution GUI have passed conformance criteria successfully.
1.1.2.1.3. Support Service Problem Management	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by a set of fully automated features, but some manual intervention or partially automated features are provided in support of the establishment of service problem notification facilities. Documentation provided together with other evidence such as GUI views has passed conformance criteria successfully.
1.1.2.1.4. Enable Service Quality Management	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported mostly by partially automated capabilities, with some capabilities being fully automated. Documentation provided together with other evidence such as GUI views has passed conformance criteria successfully.
1.1.2.1.5. Support Service & Specific Instance Rating	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by a set of fully automated capabilities. Documentation provided together with other evidence such as GUI views has passed conformance criteria successfully.
Within Level 1: 1.1.2 – Service Management & Operations	Service	Not Applicable for Level 1 process	TM Forum does not assess process Level 1 elements. Hence Conformance Level is not awarded at this level.
Within Level 2: 1.1.2.2 – Service Configuration & Activation	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (3)	Nine Level 3 eTOM processes have been assessed here for conformance. These are: 1.1.2.2.1. Design Solution 1.1.2.2.2 Allocate Specific Service Parameters 1.1.2.2.3 Track & Manage Service Provisioning 1.1.2.2.4 Implement, Configure & Activate Service 1.1.2.2.7 Issue Service Orders 1.1.2.2.8 Report Service Provisioning 1.1.2.2.5 Test Service End-to-End 1.1.2.2.9 Close Service Orders 1.1.2.2.10 Recover Service These 9 processes cover the entire lifecycle of the Service Configuration & Activation core process as defined in the Business Process Framework (eTOM) with no deviations.
1.1.2.2.1. Design Solution	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported for the most part with partially automated capabilities by the NetCracker solution. Some features are fully automated such as invoking requests to RM&O provisioning processes or S/PRM processes to check availability of resources. Based on evidence provided and assessed, this process is fully conformant with no deviations.
1.1.2.2.2 Allocate Specific Service Parameters to Services	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by a set of fully automated capabilities in the NetCracker solution. Based on evidence provided and assessed, this process is fully conformant with no deviations.
1.1.2.2.3 Track & Manage Service Provisioning	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by a set of fully automated features, but some manual intervention or partially automated features are provided too. Technical documentation provided together with other evidence such as GUI views and screenshots has passed conformance criteria successfully.
1.1.2.2.4 Implement, Configure & Activate Service	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by a set of fully automated capabilities. Technical documentation provided together with other evidence such as GUI views has passed conformance criteria successfully.
1.1.2.2.5 Test Service End-to-End	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported for the most part with partially automated capabilities by the NetCracker solution. Some features are fully automated such as testing services against S/P test plans, capturing and storing test results, and changing the status of services when they are marked as available to the customer. Based on evidence provided and assessed, this process is fully conformant with no deviations.
1.1.2.2.7 Issue Service Orders	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is for the most part a fully automated process as supported by the NetCracker solution(s). Technical documentation provided together with other evidence such as GUI views has passed conformance criteria successfully.
1.1.2.2.8 Report Service Provisioning	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant Reporting of Service Provisioning is fully supported by automated capabilities as proven by evidence provided by NetCracker in the form of technical documentation and application views. This process has passed conformance criteria successfully.
1.1.2.2.9 Close Service Orders	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is a fully automated process and it has passed full conformance assessment on the basis of provided documentation.
1.1.2.2.10 Recover Service	Service	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by a set of mostly fully automated capabilities, with some partially automated support in the development of appropriate recovery plans. The process has passed Business Process Framework (eTOM) conformance criteria successfully.
Within Level 1: 1.1.3 – Resource Management & Operations	Resource	Not Applicable for Level 1 process	TM Forum does not assess process Level 1 elements. Hence Conformance Level is not awarded at this level.
Within Level 2: 1.1.3.2 – Resource Provisioning	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (3)	Eight Level 3 eTOM processes have been assessed here for conformance. These are: 1.1.3.2.1 Allocate & Install Resource 1.1.3.2.2 Configure & Activate Resource 1.1.3.2.3 Test Resource 1.1.3.2.5 Track & Manage Resource Provisioning 1.1.3.2.6 Report Resource Provisioning 1.1.3.2.7 Close Resource Order 1.1.3.2.8 Issue Resource Orders 1.1.3.2.9 Recover Resource These 8 processes cover the entire lifecycle of the Resource Provisioning core process as defined in the Business Process Framework (eTOM) with no deviations.
1.1.3.2.1 Allocate & Install Resource	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported mostly by fully automated capabilities, but with some parts of the process requiring some manual intervention, therefore making the process partially automated. The decision making at any stage of the process can be semi-manual (when the system notifies the user and suggests variants of decision the user should change from) or automatic (zero-touch) (where decision making is typical for all similar cases and can be described as an algorithm).
1.1.3.2.2 Configure & Activate Resource	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by fully automated capabilities by the NetCracker solution; a number of application window views and screenshots from the GUI are provided as evidence to illustrate this fact.
1.1.3.2.3 Test Resource	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by a mix of partially automated and fully automated capabilities, all in line with conformance requirements.
1.1.3.2.5 Track & Manage Resource Provisioning	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by fully automated capabilities. The description of the provisioning engine was provided for this assessment as well as a set of application GUI screenshots and views.
1.1.3.2.6 Report Resource Provisioning	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This process is supported by fully automated capabilities provided mostly by the Business Activity Management (BAM) module in the application. A set of application views and documentation was reviewed as evidence for conformance.
1.1.3.2.7 Close Resource Order	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is a fully automated process as demonstrated by evidence provided and proven for conformance.
1.1.3.2.8 Issue Resource Orders	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is a fully automated process as demonstrated by evidence provided and proven for conformance. Order orchestration is based on NetCracker Order Processing Framework which covers all the three layers: Customer, Service, and Resource.
1.1.3.2.9 Recover Resource	Resource	Scope Fully Conformant (5)	Conformant This is for the most part an automated process with some portions of the process requiring some manual intervention. Based on evidence provided and assessed, this process is fully conformant with no deviations.

Report Misuse: Frameworx conformance is an important part of enabling the communications industry maintain profitability as it migrates to new services and new business models. Gaining the conformance mark represents a significant investment by both suppliers and service providers. If you feel a company is misusing the conformance mark then please let us know at [email protected].

Disclaimer: TeleManagement Forum has conducted no independent testing of the product for compliance with its frameworks or standards. Such testing has solely been conducted by the supplier or seller of the product and has been self-certified by the supplier or seller for adherence to the TeleManagement Forum framework or standard in question. Accordingly, under no circumstances will TeleManagement Forum be liable for any direct or indirect damages or any costs or losses resulting from the the use or reliance by any party of or upon such certification.

Training & Certification

Training & Certification