Conformance

Process Overview

• A supplier or vendor of a commercial product or solution that has used the standardized business processes, information models or Open APIs may seek certification to demonstrate their level of conformance to the marketplace.

• A communication service provider who has leveraged TM Forum standards to optimize their internal operations may seek certification of their conformance to understand how well they have adopted the standards.

The high-level process for completing a conformance certification assessment includes the following steps:

1. 1 Qualify

   Contact us to complete a short qualifying questionnaire or to arrange a meeting to allow TM Forum to understand the following:

   • Your level of familiarity and experience with the Business Process Framework, Information Framework or Open APIs
   • What you would like to certify and why
   • The resources you have available to complete the assessment

2. 2 Scope

   A meeting will be scheduled with the TM Forum conformance certification team during which the following will be reviewed:

   • More background on the product, solution or internal adoption of standards being considered for certification
   • Include either
     • Business Process Framework (eTOM) and/or Information Framework (SID) to be included in the assessment
     • As of 1st September 2017, a minimum scope of 5 elements (5 Level-3 processes in eTOM or 5 ABEs in the SID or a combination of both) required for conformance certification
     • Individual or suites of Open APIs to be included
   • The process, timeline, resources and artifacts required to successfully complete your assessment
   • Recommended next steps and approach

3. 3 Contract

   A Conformance Certification assessment is a fee based program. Based on the agreed scope the TM Forum team will develop the contract and pricing. Once an agreement is signed, work can begin.

4. 4 Kick-Off

   TM Forum will organize and lead a kick-off meeting with key stakeholders from both TM Forum and the organization requesting certification. During a kick-off meeting the following will be reviewed:

   • Recap of the end-to-end process, including guidelines, templates and type of evidence needed to demonstrate conformance
   • A draft project plan with detailed information on tasks and timeline

5. 5 Gather Evidence and Submit Mappings

   The organization requesting certification will need to gather evidence on how their commercial product or solution or internal implementation aligns with the relevant TM Forum standard. This step consists of completing a mapping document which includes all elements in scope. For each element in scope a concise description is provided along with relevant supporting evidence to demonstrate such support. For the Business Process Framework (eTOM) conformance, the mappings are provided against the Level-4 process elements for each Level-3 in scope. If a Level-3 has no Level-4 elements defined, then the mappings are provided directly against the Level-3 process element. For the Information Framework (SID) conformance, mappings are provided for each constituent of the ABE in scope, namely entities (including association classes) within the ABEs and attributes within those entities. For the Open APIs, the relevant CTKs, reference implementation, swagger files etc. are available to allow self-assessment and documenting.

6. 6 Verify and Score (TM Forum)

   As completed mappings and detailed evidence is submitted by the requesting organization, TM Forum subject matter experts will assess and verify all of the collateral provided. This review phase is interactive, giving the organization an opportunity to clarify any queries from the assessors. Once the reviews are completed the scores are calculated according to the scoring guidelines and the level of conformance achieved.

7. 7 Develop Final Report

   A Conformance Certification Report for the Business Process and/or Information Framework assessment is generated by TM Forum that contains a compilation of artifacts gathered during the assessment. It will include a description of the product, solution or implementation, a visual representation of the footprint of the frameworks that were “in scope” during the assessment and details of the final scores and levels of conformance achieved for each area. For the Open APIs, TM Forum provides a template to report the findings of self-assessment results from the TM Forum approved CTK (Conformance test kit), which is then reviewed and validated by TM Forum for acceptance. 

8. 8 Publish Results

   With the requesting organization’s approval, the final report is published on the TM Forum website. 

9. 9 Promotion of Completed Certification

   Once the results are published, TM Forum will present the organization with an “Acknowledgement of Achievement” certificate as well as the official TM Forum Certified logo that may be used in marketing and communication campaigns.
   TM Forum will also provide a quote or supporting information for press releases issued by the organization who earned the certification mark. TM Forum will announce the completed certification in its regular conformance channels. Marketing support may be facilitated upon request.

Get Certified

To discuss your readiness for conformance certification and for all other questions please submit your details and we will contact you.