Application of Frameworx for COTS-Based Business

Transformation
Name of company/ies submitting case study:
NetCracker Technology
Location:
Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
Web links to company/ies submitting case studies:
http://www.NetCracker.com
Contact for further information (to be posted on TM Forum website):
Anh Le
Director of Telecom Solutions
NetCracker Technology
95 Sawyer Rd
Waltham, MA 02453, USA
Email: anhle@NetCracker.com
Tel: +1-781-419-3300
Applicable TM Forum Technical Areas: Frameworx [NGOSS], Business Process
Framework [eTOM], Information Framework [SID], Application Framework [TAM], Interface
Program [TIP] (OSS/J, MTOSI)
Applicable Industry Areas:
Viewpoint

Business Areas Targeted

Service provider perspective

X

Software vendor perspective

Hardware vendor perspective

Business Process Management

Revenue Assurance

System integrator perspective

Streamlining of OSS
Streamlining of BSS
Fraud Management

Services
Cloud

Service Lifecycle Management

Fulfillment

Fault Management

Video

Performance Management

Data

Billing Transformation

VoIP

Network Management

IPTV

Service Modeling

Voice

Network Inventory Normalization

Other: OTN, ATM, Private Line,

Private LAN, IP VPN

Resource Lifecycle Management

Integration

Other: Data migration, New Service

introduction

TM Forum Case Study

February 2010
2010 NetCracker Technology Corp.

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Table of Contents
1.0 CASE STUDY SUMMARY .........................................................................................................3
2.0 Business Problem To Be Solved...................................................................................................3
3.0 Organizational Division Affected (Marketing, IT, Operations, Network, etc.) ......................4
4.0 Partners Involved (Internal or External)....................................................................................4
5.0 Working Towards a Solution (What was the business / technical problem to solve?) ...........4
6.0 Solution (What were the technical / conceptual / business solutions employed?)...................4
6.1 Architectural Transformation......................................................................................................4
6.2 Business Process and Application Frameworks Alignment .......................................................6
6.3 Use of Information Framework [SID] and Interface Program [MTNM] ...................................6
6.4 Interface Programs (MTOSI) Application for Inventory and Configuration Management ......7
6.5 Interface Program (OSS/J) for Ticket Data Exchange................................................................8
6.6 OSS/J for Order Orchestration....................................................................................................8
7.0 TM Forum Frameworks, Best Practices, or Guidelines Employed and How They
Helped ..................................................................................................................................................9
7.1 TM Forum Business Process Framework [eTOM].....................................................................9
7.2 Information Framework [SID]....................................................................................................9
7.3 Application Framework [TAM]..................................................................................................9
7.4 TM Forum Interface Program [TIP] .........................................................................................10
8.0 Results ..........................................................................................................................................10

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1.0 CASE STUDY SUMMARY

This case study is about the Frameworx [NGOSS]-based solution implemented at a major US federal
government organization (hereafter referred to as the Organization). The Organization provides
telecommunications and network services to many organizations within the government. In other words
it plays the role of an internal Telco and provides services on a par with other Tier 1 commercial
providers. As part of an organization-wide technology refresh, the Organization chose to update their
OSS suite and implement a SOA-based architecture. The result was an enterprise-wide business
transformation. This transformation was expressly based on TM Forum and Frameworx [NGOSS]
principles.
This case study looks at the following aspects of the Organizations OSS transformation:
Business Motivations
Top-Level Solution Architecture
Application of TM Forum and Frameworx Principles

2.0 Business Problem To Be Solved

The Organizations mission requires it to provide secure communications, rapidly deployed to meet the
needs of governmental organizations around the country. Lengthy fulfillment times, a lack of in-flight
order visibility, and the introduction of new services sparked a re-evaluation of the Organizations back
office.
In the framework of the legacy fulfillment, inventory, and assurance systems update, the Organizations
OSS architects were tasked to support the following top-level business values:
Build a Service Oriented Integration environment where data interfaces are published, selfdescribing, and reusable
Use common, shared information exchange schema for application integration
Support dynamic, on-demand provisioning and activation of voice, video, and data services
Provide end-to-end visualization of the network
Reduce order to fulfillment cycle time
Provide better order tracking transparency and reporting
Automate processes and facilitate ongoing process re-engineering
Create interoperable and interchangeable OSS components using one data interface per
application
Provide integrated, real-time situational awareness of the network
The Organizations challenges included eliminating legacy systems, streamlining and automating the
order fulfillment process, centralizing inventory data, and finally, improving the customer experience.
To address these business needs, the Organization engaged NetCracker and other vendors to help
realize the SOA vision. The Organization made a decision to adopt TM Forum constructs like Business
Process Framework and Application Framework to provide the solution blueprint. NetCrackers close
adherence to TM Forum standards made it a logical choice to address Network Inventory, Discovery
and Reconciliation, Service Inventory, and Service Provisioning and Activation.

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3.0 Organizational Division Affected (Marketing, IT,

Operations, Network, etc.)
The OSS touches most portions of the Organizations network. However, the changes most directly
affected the divisions responsible for:
Engineering and operations, including global voice, video, messaging, and data networks
Customer service, including CRM and service order management
Installation and implementation
OSS and network management

4.0 Partners Involved (Internal or External)

NetCracker played the central role in the Organizations solution implementation. Apart from
that, a number of partners also participated in the project.

5.0 Working Towards a Solution (What was the business /

technical problem to solve?)
The legacy architecture was a collection of systems specifically built
for the Organizations use, the legacy CRM portal being a customized
GOTS (Government Off The Shelf) system. The service fulfillment
process thus caused inconvenience and was endangered by slow
service delivery times, high risks of data inconsistency, and human
factor interferences.
The legacy inventory system was a collection of COTS and GOTS
products used for network documentation. It had basic workflow
capabilities, but lacked automated fulfillment.

6.0 Solution (What were the technical / conceptual /

business solutions employed?)
The details of the NetCracker solution for the Organization are given in the following six
subsections.

6.1 Architectural Transformation

As stated, the Organizations OSS architects chose to base the architecture on Frameworx
[NGOSS] principles and SOA technologies. A Common Communications Vehicle (CCV) is
used to integrate systems. Systems without SOA-style interfaces integrate directly into the CCV
on native APIs. The CCV then converts these integrations into web services where inventory,
fault, ticketing, and order data is published / consumed by other SOA-capable systems.
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The Customer Relationship Management Layer:

The Order Entry Portal replaced the legacy application with an SOA-capable back end
(NetCracker Order Management module), while product definitions are held in a product
catalog. OSS/J order definitions are carried over web services to the Order Management
system.

The Service Management and Operations Layer:

The Order Management System (NetCracker Service Inventory and Service Provisioning &
Activation modules) receives orders from the Order Entry Portal. Manual decomposition is
replaced with advanced workflow which carries the order through to fulfillment. Service order
definitions may be reused to aid the rollout of new services or changes to existing ones.
Workflow notifies network engineers to plan and design the needed resource allocations. All
designs are made in the Network Inventory System.

The Resource Management and Operations Layer:

The Network Inventory System uses NetCracker Resource Inventory, Design & Planning, and
Discovery & Reconciliation modules. Network discovery occurs across the CCV to EMSs. The
CCV publishes web services with MTOSI definitions for device and circuit inventory. All
inventory and capacity is automatically tracked.

Assurance:
The Service Quality System exposes the service portfolio for a given customer on the Service
Portal. The Service Portal is outside the secured OSS enclave. Data is pushed to a replication
instance where JSR-268 portlets feed the service portal inventory, status, and order data.

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6.2 Business Process and Application Frameworks Alignment

A mapping of NetCracker modules to TM Forum Application Framework and Business
Framework components is shown in the following diagram:

6.3 Use of Information Framework [SID] and Interface Program

[MTNM]
The following table describes the elements of the Information Framework which were used in
the underlying data architecture:

Function

Information
Framework
[SID]s
Domain

Interface Program
[TIP]s Specification

Java

XML/JMS

WS

Trouble Ticket

Common

OSS/J TT

Yes

Yes

Yes

Event Mgmt

Resource

OSS/J FM

Yes

Yes

Yes

MTOSI

No

Yes

Yes

MTNM (CORBA)

No

No

No

QoS

Yes

Yes

No

Service
Inventory

Service

OSS/J

Yes

Yes

Yes

Resource
Inventory

Resource

MTOSI

No

Yes

Yes

Resource Usage

Resource

IPDR

Yes

No

No

Order Mgmt

Service

OSS/J

Yes

Yes

Yes

Service
Activation

Service

OSS/J Serv Act

Yes

Yes

No

QoS

Service

OSS/J QoS

Yes

Yes

No

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6.4 Interface Programs (MTOSI) Application for Inventory and

Configuration Management
NetCracker used web services to expose resource inventory to the CCV environment. In this
case, NetCracker was communicating with Element Management Systems to:
Upload inventory from the EMS
Create an inventory database from multiple EMSs
Represent state changes in inventory as reported by the EMSs
Upload circuit information
The following diagram shows the implementation environment:

In this case, an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) was used as the CCV. The CCV
provided significant message and protocol conversion. The subtending EMSs were
connected to the CCV via CORBA. CORBA is a legacy standard that was used for
system integration in OSS environments. The CCV provided object mapping from
the various vendor artifacts back to the standard MTOSI objects.

MTOSI 1.1 is used as the standard for network event and alarm messaging integration:

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6.5 Interface Program (OSS/J) for Ticket Data Exchange

OSS/J has been identified as the standard to use for trouble ticket messaging integration. The
SQM module generates associated resource and service trouble tickets and exchanges the
tickets with the Trouble Ticket Management system.
Tickets that are processed in the TT Management module may carry updated information about
services and resources via tickets in the Service Management System module:

When a trouble ticket message is received, the fields populated in the OSS/J xml message are
stored in the Service Quality System DB.

6.6 OSS/J for Order Orchestration

In order for NetCrackers Service Provisioning & Activation (SP&A) module to communicate
with the customer order management system (i.e. to receive orders and return fulfillment
results), such operations as order creation and order updates are executed in OSS/J OM:
Customers Order
Entry and
Management

Web Service
Call 1

Web
Service
Response 1

CCV

Web
Service
Call 2

Web
Service
Response 2
Call
Web Service
Interface

Exception 1

Order Creation
Module

Call
No Exception

Order
Provisioning
Module

NetCracker Service
Provisioning & Activation

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7.0 TM Forum Frameworks, Best Practices, or Guidelines

Employed and How They Helped
7.1 TM Forum Business Process Framework [eTOM]
The Organizations OSS architecture reflects major elements of the operations side of the
Business Process Framework. A siloed inventory and design system was replaced with a true
Resource Management Layer. The Resource Layer includes modules for Resource Inventory,
Design and Planning, Discovery and Reconciliation, and Outside Plant.
The most sweeping change was the addition of a true Service Management Layer. A technically
outdated system was replaced with modules for Service Inventory and Service Provisioning and
Activation. At the center of the Service Layer is a Services Catalog with specific constructs for
Customer-Facing and Resource-Facing service templates.

7.2 Information Framework [SID]

NetCracker makes use of TM Forums Information Framework common language to accurately
describe various business entities engaged in the process of end-to-end service delivery.
NetCracker physical and logical data models are Information Framework compliant and cover
both the standard objects and relationships. NetCrackers adherence to the Frameworks
common language proves crucial for multiple interface integration and facilitated data
modeling, and in the long run, proves crucial for cost-effective business transformation.
The Organization has leveraged this native alignment with the Information Framework within
NetCracker to make their CCV implementation more closely aligned with industry data models.
Examples of this are the inventory and fault artifacts in MTOSI format.

7.3 Application Framework [TAM]

The Organizations general application of Business Framework [eTOM] in its business
transformation lends itself to implementing elements of Application Framework [TAM]. Since
the Organization is not a commercial Telco, there are several areas where the Application
Framework does not apply. However, certain of its constructs are evident in the current
architecture:
Service Order Management as part of Fulfillment
Customer Quality of Service Management as part of Assurance
Resource Process Management (across OS&R, Fulfillment, and Assurance) under
workflow control
Resource Inventory Management (across OS&R, Fulfillment, and Assurance)
The utilization of TM Forums Applications Framework allowed for effective classification of
hundreds of legacy applications by mapping their roles to Application Frameworks
components. It also facilitated design migration and integration strategy development.

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7.4 TM Forum Interface Program [TIP]

A series of TM Forum Interface Program standards-based integrations was realized in the OSS
transformation project:
MTOSI: the Organization makes use of MTOSI over web services across a CCV for
inventory discovery and reconciliation. It also uses MTOSI for fault information collection.
The integration was later enhanced through notification capability and external systems
connection via web service.
OSS/J FM over web service is used for ticket data interchange. The Service Quality
Management module uses OSS/J ticketing objects to implement customer-facing service
portals showing ticket data, order data, and other assurance information.
OSS/J OM is used for service and order data communication between the Service Layer
and the Customer Layer (NetCracker Service Provisioning & Activation to integrate with
an Order Management system)

8.0 Results
Industry-standard specifications bundled with COTS solutions reduced delivery times, enabled fast
service introduction, and consequent integration cost reductions.
To date, the Organization has reduced the system count in the fulfillment chain. Now a unified
Resource Layer holds all as-built and to-be inventory data. In addition, this also eliminates several
GOTS systems, which was also a key goal. This has driven down costs and updated the underlying
technology. The Organization has also received the capability to report on exact order statuses.
Future plans include self-service portals where secured users can get instant status and order
tracking information.
Other benefits of the solution include:
Centralized, integrated, and granular security control: The solution also provided for
greater security control and allowed the Organization to parse inventory visibility among
various users and groups.
Avoid vendor lock-in: The use of TMF constructs over a web services infrastructure
reduced the Organizations dependency on vendors. Since all integrations use standard
object definitions and standard protocols, the organization can now replace any system with
reduced impact on the overall operation, thus minimizing integration risks.
Flexible, change-proof solution: Standard Telco practices need to be flexible enough to
incorporate the Organizations special requirements. The greater flexibility enabled by the
solution promotes interchangeable component integration, while greater scalability ensures
minimal impact to existing systems.
Knowledge sharing and training cost reduction: The opportunity to re-use data interface
specifications across multiple systems helped to maximize the knowledge pool and lower
training costs. Finally, better information dissemination provided for on-time information
exchange.
Moreover, the openness of the standard helps the customer to own the solution themselves. Relying
on the TM Forum-based consolidated solution and using TM Forum specifications, the customer
gets a clear understanding of what to look at when deciding to introduce a new service or new
network equipment.

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February 2010
2010 NetCracker Technology Corp.

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Permissions
May we re-print the case study in outside publications? Anything that will go outside the TM Forum
will first require permission from the authors.
Yes

TM Forum Case Study

February 2010
2010 NetCracker Technology Corp.

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