TR321 Partner and Partnership Information Models v2.0.0

The concept of business ecosystems has become increasingly important in today’s digital age, as organizations seek to create value networks between participants and partners to drive growth and sustainability. However, the lack of a robust information model to manage these ecosystems has led to inconsistencies in communication, classification, and lifecycle management of partners and partnerships. This has resulted in poor standardization of the meaning of these concepts, making it challenging for stakeholders to understand what the concept of business ecosystem is, and how that translates into management information systems that enable meaningful and successful interaction within the ecosystem for value. To address this issue, it is essential to formalize and consistently address the concepts of Partner, Partnerships, and Partnering as key components of business ecosystem success. This requires the development of a robust information framework that enables the definition of management information systems, including underlying Business Process Models, Data Models, APIs, and software components.

This document formalizes the inputs into the TM Forum Information Framework, which includes enabling the design of business systems and underlying technology systems to enable multi-party engagement, multi-vendor technology solutions integration, and successful management of information services which are pivotal in deriving the information flow value streams core to a business ecosystem. This report addresses the problem by formalizing the definitions of Partner, Partnership, and Partnering as foundational elements of ecosystem success. It introduces a robust information framework that supports the design of Business Process Models, Information & Data Models, APIs and Software components. These elements align with the TM Forum Information Framework to support multi-party engagement, technology integration, and the effective management of information services. The goal is to enable smooth, standardized information flows across diverse vendors in a business ecosystem.