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Business Process Transformation to Dynamize and ImproveFulfilment and Assurance Agility in CSPs
Daniel Jose Rodrigues Olim
Thesis to obtain the Master of Science Degree in
Telecommunications and Informatics Engineering
Supervisor: Prof. Rui Antonio dos Santos Cruz
Examination Committee
Chairperson: Prof. Paulo Jorge Pires FerreiraSupervisor: Prof. Rui Antonio dos Santos Cruz
Member of the Committee: Prof. Miguel Leitao Bignolas Mira da Silva
June 2017
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I would like to start by giving my greatest gratefulness to my supervisor, Prof. Rui
Santos Cruz, for all the patience he had and all the valuable guidance in every stage of the writing of
this thesis.
I also want to thank the Engineering Society of Istanbul and the Web Summit for all the great experi-
ence and contribution added to my dissertation experience.
At the same time, the Instituto Superior Tecnico, a special remark and acknowledge to all their
collaborators since the staff, professors, students and alumnus. I had the pleasure to meet and learn
with, during my academic journey, making me a better and competent professional and person, always
learning and improving from my mistakes and weaknesses.
Last but not least, I wish to thank profoundly to my family, especially my mother, sister, and grand-
parents, for the unlimited support and comprehension throughout my life, always being there for me and
always making everything to support my decisions. A special mention, as well, to Natalie Pickering,
my girlfriend, for her love and delicate language review. Without them, none of this would have been
possible.
Let’s make this count: “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”
To each and every one of you – Thank You.
Daniel, Madeira 2017
Abstract
Over the years, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) business has grown quickly to
adapt to customers’ demands. The transformation towards a digital telecom ecosystem has resulted in
a myriad of ways for services provisioning as well as operational and organizational complexity. That
complexity, essentially in the alignment between the network, the Information Technology (IT) and the
Business is a major and crucial challenge in today’s Telecommunication Industry.
The current business frameworks that try to mitigate the above challenge, the Enhanced Telecom-
munication Operations Map (eTOM) from the Telecommunication world and the Control Objectives for
Information and Related Technology 5 (COBIT5) on the Corporate world, although relying on different
conception and efforts, both have the same purpose, i.e., to align and improve the business-IT harmon-
isation. It is, therefore, the objective of this work, to design a method for the enrichment of the eTOM’s
Fulfilment and Assurance processes, to harmonise and to interwork with a COBIT5.
The work developed defines each framework for the Telecommunication industry, and proposes the
first steps for their interworking and bridging at the services provisioning domain. For a better perception
of the applicability and complementarity of those “good practices”, evaluating and understanding the
frameworks and approach, a complementary study within the Portuguese telecomunications operators
and products and services providers, as well as Start-ups in the sector, is also provided.
Keywords
Enterprise IT Framework, eTOM, OSS, BSS, COBIT5
iii
Resumo
Ao longo dos anos, a industria das Tecnologias de Informacao e Comunicacao (TIC) tem-se transfor-
mado rapidamente, de modo a adaptar-se as novas exigencias dos utilizadores. Esta transformacao
digital tem originado inumeras formas de provisionamento de servicos e um consequente aumento
da complexidade operacional e organizacional. Esta maior complexidade que se verifica entre o alin-
hamento da rede, as Tecnologias de Informacao (TI) e o negocio e um dos maiores desafios na industria
de telecomunicacoes.
Os actuais modelos de boas practicas utilizados para mitigar e harmonizar este tipo de desafio, o
eTOM na industria de Telcomunucacoes e o COBIT5 no mundo empresarial, embora possuindo difer-
entes origens, tem a mesma finalidade. E assim o proposito do trabalho desenvolvido projetar um
metodo para o enriquecimento dos processos eTOM de assurance e de fulfilment, para que estes se
harmonizem e interajam com o COBIT5.
O projeto desenvolvido define cada uma destas frameworks no contexto e proposito da industria
das telecomunicacoes, bem como os passos iniciais para que se complementem no domınio do pro-
visionamento de servicos. Para se ter uma percepcao mais palpavel da complementariedade e apli-
cabilidade destas boas practicas, inclui-se um estudo da sua avaliacao e compreensao incidindo no
mercado portugues das start-ups tecnologicas e das operadoras e fornecedoras de servicos e produ-
tos de telecomunicacoes.
Palavras Chave
Estrutura de TI Empresarial, eTOM, OSS, BSS, COBIT5
v
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Document Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 Background: Analysis & Discussion 7
2.1 Support Systems – B/OSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 Standards, Frameworks and Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.1 Telecommunications Services Business Processes - TMF “Frameworkx” . . . . . . 11
2.2.2 Services Support and Delivery - ITIL and ISO/IEC20000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2.3 IT Governance - COBIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 TMF “Frameworkx” eTOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.1 Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.2 Functional Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3.3 Strength/Weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3.4 Potential Simplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4 IT Governance and Management–COBIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4.1 Functional Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4.2 Strength/Weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4.3 Potential Simplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3 Related Works 27
3.1 ITIL harmonised with eTOM, improved with Lean Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1.1 Critical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2 A Generic Business Architecture Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2.1 Critical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.3 Optimisation of eTOM using COBIT5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.3.1 Critical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
vii
3.4 Building Bridges between ITIL and eTOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.4.1 Critical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4 Enrichment of eTOM: Engaging the new orchestration generation 33
4.1 Proposal Development: Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.2 Harmonizing the frameworks: Building bridges between eTOM and COBIT5 . . . . . . . . 36
4.2.1 Comprehensive comparison between Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2.1.A Key Differences between eTOM and COBIT5 Frameworks . . . . . . . . 37
4.2.1.B The common denominator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2.2 Mapping the eTOM in COBIT5 processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5 Proof of concept: Survey 41
5.1 Portuguese Telecommunications-related companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.1.1 Survey Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.1.2 Results Analysis and Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.1.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.2 Lisbon 2016 WebSummit: Startups and Investors Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.2.1 Survey Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.2.2 Results Analysis and Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.2.3 Concluding remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6 Conclusion 51
6.1 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6.2 Main Limitations and Difficulties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6.3 Insights and Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6.4 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
A ICAMES 2016 Conference and MeetingBogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey 59
B Survey: Documents and questionnaires 63
C Web Summit 2016: Volunteer Certification 71
viii
List of Figures
1.1 CSPs Challenges and obstacles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 B/OSS overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 B/OSS Portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 NGOSS framework Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4 ITIL Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.5 Business Framework Pyramid structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.6 eTOM Process Hierarchy Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.7 eTom Levels 0 and 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.8 COBIT5 conceptual map overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.9 COBIT5 Overall Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.1 Project Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.2 Bridging eTOM & COBIT5 “to-be” strategy model view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.1 Proof of Concept process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2 Lisbon 2016 WebSummit Survey results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
A.1 Master Project Proposal Presentation at ICAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
ix
x
List of Tables
2.1 Business Process Framework Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.1 Lean Analysis of Vieira’s work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1 Key characteristics and reference purposes between eTOM and COBIT . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2 Overview difference: eTOM vs. COBIT5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.3 The processes to be mapped in eTOM and COBIT5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
xi
xii
Acronyms
B/OSS Business and Operations Support Services
BCP Business Continuity Plan
BSS Business Support System
CAPEX Capital Expenditure
COBIT5 Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology 5
COBIT Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology
CSP Communication Services Provider
CTO Chief Technology Officer
DSS Deliver, Service and Support
eTOM Enhanced Telecommunication Operations Map
ICE Information, Communications and Entertainment
ICT Information and Communication Technology
ISACA Information Systems Audit and Control Association
ISP Internet Service Provider
ITGI IT Governance Institute
ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library
itSMF The IT Service Management Forum
ITU International Telecommunication Union
IT Information Technology
xiii
KMP Key Management Practice
KPI Key Performance Indicator
MVNO Mobile Virtual Network Operator
NGOSS New Generation Operations Systems and Software
OPEX Operational Expenditure
OSS Operations Support System
OTT Over-The-Top
QoE Quality of Experience
QoS Quality of Service
SID Shared Information/Data Model
TAM Telecom Applications Map
TIC Tecnologias de Informacao e Comunicacao
TI Tecnologias de Informacao
TMF TeleManagement Forum
TNA Technology Neutral Architecture
xiv
1Introduction
Contents
1.1 The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Document Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1
2
The traditional Business and Operations Support Services (B/OSS) and infrastructures in
Communication Services Providers (CSPs), although increasingly sophisticated, are becoming obsolete
due to the growing demand for a more personalised customer experience in real-time and the advent
and evolution of new services and applications [1–3]. While those Support Services still have a signif-
icant role to play in the front- and back-office areas as well as on the network infrastructure, there is
an urge to transform the Enterprise Business processes in order to adapt them to this new reality. The
increasing number of devices connected to the network, leads to a continuous expansion of the CSP
infrastructure equipment and to huge volume of data to be handled, driving the Support Systems and
Services in the opposite direction, i.e., more complex and less capable of timely processing the informa-
tion that is required for a more real-time delivery cycle, unless some measures are taken to compensate,
or better, to dynamically adapt to the demand. In a different perspective, which is becoming a reality, the
client “sees” the potential value in what is being offered and wants to “participate” directly in the process
(personalisation), to make the experience richer, easier and more complete.
The key demand to ensure an accurate time to market together with incredibly fast adaptations of
business ecosystems, presents a challenging opportunity for the revamp of traditional B/OSS processes
and reference architectures related with services orchestration.
The complexity of today’s CSPs would certainly benefit from the enrichment of B/OSS services or-
chestration with the best practices and references of both Information Technology (IT) and Telecommuni-
cations sectors, with the service delivery as the point of convergence, providing the additional benefit of
reducing costs, improving the Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) and increasing
the time to market, therefore contributing not just to the business transformation but essentially to the
digital transformation of the CSPs, for a more integrated Information, Communications and Entertain-
ment (ICE) [1] approach, and keeping the Telecommunications industries alive, not just a “commodity”,
ensuring they clearly differentiate from Over-The-Top (OTT) native digital players such as Google, Apple,
Netflix or Microsoft.
1.1 The Problem
The improvement of Telecommunication Services delivery cycle is a must and a constant challenge.
The TMForum 1 and IBM Institute for Business Value 2 (Communications industry) developed a study
survey [4, 5] related with the biggest challenges and problems in CSPs, summarized in Figures 1.1(a)
and 1.1(b), which concluded they are not of technological or of tool support nature, but related with
governance and difficulties in process improvements.
1https://www.tmforum.org2https://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/thoughtleadership/index.html
3
Cultural Issues
Legacy System Integration
Quality of COTS software
Ability to partner with other service providers
Cross-organization Priorities
Availability of critical skills
Quality of Analytical skills
Business Justification
Systems Complexity
Data Integration/management
End-to end control
3,48
3,63
3,67
3,69
3,88
3,89
3,91
4,02
4,03
4,1
4,13
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cultural Issues
Legacy System Integration
Quality of COTS software
Ability to partner with other service…
Cross-organization Priorities
Availability of critical skills
Quality of Analytical skills
Business Justification
Systems Complexity
Data Integration/management
End-to end control
(a) Source: TMForum August 2015 Survey
24%
25%
26%
32%
34%
42%
43%
49%
68%
Limited budget
Lack of leadership/commitment
Lack of required skills
Difficult in measuring customer experience
Difficult business case
Limited view of customer
Lack of customer experience vision and strategy
Not knowing what makes a good experience
Siloed processes and divisions
(b) Source: IBM Institute for Business Value Communications 2020 Survey
Figure 1.1: CSPs Challenges and obstacles
This means that, the necessity to dynamize the end-to-end digital processes requires, (a) bridging the
gap between business, IT, and Network; (b) improve the time to market, and (c) reduce the complexity.
This problem and a proposal to address it were presented and discussed by the author in repre-
sentation of Instituto Superior Tecnico, but mainly, of Portugal, at the International Engineering Meeting
and Competition (ICAMES) 3, hosted and granted by the Engineering Society of Bogazici University in
Istanbul (details in Appendix A).
3http://www.icames.boun.edu.tr
4
1.2 Objectives
It was, therefore, the objective of the project proposed for this work, to design a method for the en-
richment of the Enhanced Telecommunication Operations Map (eTOM) “Fulfilment” and “Assurance”
orchestration process in order to harmonise the Telecommunications operational frameworks and the
Enterprise IT frameworks in the sub-sequential manners:
• Agile Process workflow efficiency and representation for stakeholders, allowing to reduce the
Operational Expenditure (OPEX);
• Enhancement regarding Governance capabilities, handling the gap between Business, IT and Net-
work strategies, with a comprehensive and methodical approach in order to make it manageable;
• Correlation of Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology 5 (COBIT5) with eTOM
“Fulfilment” and “Assurance”.
To assess the developed schema, a survey study of the Portuguese Telecommunication related
companies was performed, in order to (a) analyse the potential impacts of the new proposed method,
and (b) understand the Portuguese corporate situation regarding the recommended practices.
1.3 Contributions
To manage the reader expectations, it is worth to say that the work presented is this thesis neither
constitutes a disruptive solution nor an attempt to “reinvent the wheel”. The work herein presented
contains an analysis, a comparison, and a possible complementation of eTOM regarding the best current
IT governance and management frameworks, through a “mapping” approach that may allow telecom
organisations to simplify the reference schemes ecosystems and also the process improvement and
corresponding end-to-end control.
The practical contribution resides on the complementary study developed, which provides insight
over the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Portuguese industry and entrepreneurship,
about the adoption of recommended IT practices/frameworks for their business.
1.4 Document Organization
This document describes the research and work developed, and is organised as follows:
Chapter 1: Outlines the context and includes the primary motivation, goals and contributions;
5
Chapter 2: Provides an analysis and overview of the system architectures, Business Process
Schemes and Operation framework, eTOM, as well as the IT Management and Governance Frame-
work, COBIT5;
Chapter 3: Describes and analyses some projects developed in this field, namely those related to
“process flow improvement” and “framework enrichment”;
Chapter 4: Presents the process architecture strategy, its modus operandi and environment, also
establishing the logistics and checkpoints for the project development;
Chapter 5: Describes the evaluation analysis performed and the corresponding results, providing
as well a complementary study of the Portuguese Telecommunication industry and start-up environ-
ments;
Chapter 6: Presents the conclusions of the overall work developed and suggest future works;
Appendices A to C: Contain additional data for the research, such as events attended, cooperation
details and surveys.
6
2Background: Analysis & Discussion
Contents
2.1 Support Systems – B/OSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 Standards, Frameworks and Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 TMF “Frameworkx” eTOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 IT Governance and Management–COBIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7
8
This chapter provides an analysis and overview of the B/OSS for CSPs, their main functionalities and
reference frameworks and standards for Business Processses, IT Service Management and IT Gover-
nance. The focus and main point of analysis and study will be on the eTOM framework, but extended
with the introduction and similar analysis of the COBIT5 framework.
2.1 Support Systems – B/OSS
The primary purpose of the Business and Operations Support Services (B/OSS) is managing, mapping
and automating the end-to-end activities of a CSP from a customer-centric perspective, which includes
the complex process of handling all the services delivery infrastructure and all customer services, as
depicted in Figure 2.1, i.e.,:
• Plan, Deploy and Operate different Networks and Services Platforms;
• Design and manage a wide and complex variety of Products and Services;
• Process in real-time billions of data events and records;
• Billing Services and Products;
• Prevent Frauds;
• Manage Customer Relationships;
• Ensure good Quality of Experience (QoE) to their Customers;
• Optimize (reduce) Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX).
Figure 2.1: B/OSS overview
The historical perspective of Operations Support Systems (OSSs) dates back to the early genera-
tions of Public Data Networks and digital telephony [6]. As a consequence of the evolution of technology
9
and of business demands, today’s central concept around OSS is of an automated and integrated work-
flow [7], no longer centred on the core of the network but on the edges [6].
That end-to-end customer-centric infrastructure flow, also called the New Generation Operations
Systems and Software (NGOSS), correspond to an ecosystem assuring the security, flexibility, life-cycle,
and the handling of all the telecommunications networks and Platforms/Applications, with the portfolio
of services offered and corresponding subsystems functions, as illustrated in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2: B/OSS Portfolio
Business Support System (BSS) are associated with the enterprise management layer of the inter-
nal processes, whereas OSS is related with service delivery to customers. Taken together, OSS and
BSS make up the whole IT-Telecom System, i.e., OSS engineering and BSS enterprise and business
management work hand-in-hand in order to simplify the complexity of the following key operation areas:
Services Fulfilment: From product definition to delivery involving a wide range of subsystems, pro-
cesses and applications. The framework of processes in this area automates/regulates the end-to-
end fulfilment of a customer order, through provisioning and activation of the subscriber and all the
subscribed services.
10
Services Assurance: From the core of the network to the customer maximising service availability
and quality whilst improving efficiency in operations to meet the expected performance and security
levels at all stages of the business cycle.
2.2 Standards, Frameworks and Best Practices
The relevant Business Process Schemes and Operations Frameworks as well as the IT Management
and Enterprise Architectures “Best Practices” that allow a better understanding of the key topics that
are necessary to contextualise and address the problem are, on the Telecommunications side the
TeleManagement Forum (TMF) “Frameworkx”, and on the IT and Enterprise sides the Information Tech-
nology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and COBIT5.
2.2.1 Telecommunications Services Business Processes - TMF “Frameworkx”
In order to facilitate business process transformation and technology integration for communications
operators (“greenfield” or existing), the TeleManagement Forum1, a global member association for dig-
ital business (of telecommunications operators, manufacturers, standardization bodies) developed a
blueprint called “Frameworx” to address the life-cycle of all the key business and technical areas param-
eters of NGOSS (Figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3: NGOSS framework Overview (Copyright TM Forum)
1www.tmforum.org
11
The NGOSS primary purpose is not of a business model or standard for a specific CSP but a set of
definitions [8], mainly focusing on (as described in [9]):
• Separation of business process and component implementation, i.e., business functions—defined
through a common industry process architecture, i.e., eTOM [10];
• Security-Enabled and Policy-Enabled Architecture, as a conformance and compliance criteria for
interoperability;
• A Common Communication Mechanism, standardizing terms, definitions and relationships,
through a Shared Information/Data Model (SID);
• A Shared Information and Data Environment and Compliance, through a Telecom Applications
Map (TAM);
• Life-cycle and methodology for development of NGOSS-based solutions.
2.2.2 Services Support and Delivery - ITIL and ISO/IEC20000
The International Service Management Standard for IT services management, ISO/IEC20000, includes
“the design, transition, delivery and improvement of services that fulfil service requirements and provide
value for both the customer and the service provider” 2.
Figure 2.4: ITIL Principles
The standard was design to reflect not just the best practice guidance contained within the Informa-
tion Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)–Figure 2.4–,but other service management frameworks and
approaches–such as those of Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT).2http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=51986
12
The ITIL, currently in version v3, is considered the accepted worldwide IT Service good practices
guidelines and reference model for IT Governance [11].
The IT Services Management procedures focus on the best practices related to the effectiveness and
efficiency of the Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation and Continual
Service Improvement. One of the main focuses of IT Governance is aligning the IT Service technology
with the business strategy, along with the overall concern of the business, as depicted in Figure 2.4.
Applying these best practices, a better quality for services, lower costs and improved alignment
between business and IT, typically provides market trust and high-level standards with a continued
improvement approach.
For CSPs digital services development and deployment, the ITIL practices combined with eTOM
processes, can provide a richer business view of the activities and flows that represent how this type of
enterprise or set of enterprises interwork in the value chain of communications services.
2.2.3 IT Governance - COBIT
COBIT is the most holistic globally recognised framework for developing, implementing, monitoring and
improving IT governance and management practices [12], allowing managers to bridge the gap between
control requirements, technical issues and business risks, and communicate that level of control to
stakeholders.
COBIT is not an operational process schema, as shown in Figure 2.5, but provides the only compre-
hensive business framework allowing an excellent governance method for continuity management and
life-cycle improvement.
Figure 2.5: Business Framework Pyramid structure
Currently in its version 5, the COBIT5 framework is published by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI)
13
and Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), and has been established for more
than 15 years of practical acceptance and application involving many enterprises and users from multiple
domains, including businesses, insurances, IT, risk and security communities, etc..
2.3 TMF “Frameworkx” eTOM
The eTOM developed by TMF as a reference framework for categorising all the business activities for
CSPs became a standard of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) [10]. It provides a generic
business process reference for any CSP independently of the technologies and organisation model [13],
allowing a layered view of the crucial business processes required to focus on services delivery, effec-
tively and with both agility and efficiency.
2.3.1 Fundamentals
The eTOM framework concedes a blueprint for process direction. It allows one neutral reference for in-
ternal re-engineering and communication between stakeholders, i.e., to categorise the process elements
and business activities so that they can be combined in many different ways, implementing the end-to-
end business process, such as Fulfilment, Assurance and Billing [9], but from an operation perspective,
not reaching the governance functions.
Additionally, it also takes into consideration the evolving technology mix that the CSPs industries
are faced with, by holding a technology-neutral position, while allowing technology-specific views to be
promoted.
The framework provides an enterprise-wide view of all the process areas needed to run a CSP
business. The scope of the process insight will depend on the granularity level. Each of the four (4)
hierarchy levels of eTOM, encapsulates a group of processes, as shown in Figure 2.6.
• Level 0: Enterprise activities, separating operational processes from management and strategic
processes;
• Level 1: Process grouping including business functions and conventional end-to-end processes;
• Level 2: Core Processes combining to deliver service streams and other end-to-end processes;
• Level 3: Tasks and associated detailed ”success pattern” process flows;
• Level 4: Steps and related detailed operational process flows, with error conditions;
• Level 5: Further decomposition of an operational process flow wherever required.
14
Figure 2.6: eTOM Process Hierarchy Structure
From a conceptual point of view, level 0 of the granularity, shown in Figure 2.7(a), references the
major context within typical enterprises involving three clusters “Operations”, “Infrastructure, Strategy
and Product”, “Enterprise Management”.
It can also be seen in Figure 2.7(a), that level 0 provides a differentiation context between opera-
tion and life-cycle processes, with functional areas crossing both sectors, for example as services or
products.
In level 1, shown in Figure 2.7(b), the level 0 process areas are decomposed into their level 1
process groupings. Notably, the “Operations” process area, presents four end-to-end vertical process
groupings, the “Fulfilment”, “Assurance” and “Billing”, also known as “FAB”, that correspond to the es-
sential Customer Operations processes, and the “Operations Support and Readiness” grouping which
ensures that the operational environment is working under normal conditions to let the “FAB” processes
do their primary job.
2.3.2 Functional Process
eTOM includes the definitions of process structures, interactions, interfaces, process inputs, and process
outputs, as well as other key elements needed to support the efficient service management. Over this
15
(a) Level 0
(b) Level 1
Figure 2.7: eTom Levels 0 and 1 (Copyright TM Forum)
16
section, the three top areas of the eTOM are explained, and a summary of the primary processes is
presented. More information and process decomposition details can be found in [14].
Strategy, Infrastructure & Product: Process grouping covering areas such as Marketing, Services
development & Management, Human Resources and Supply chain, corresponding to the following
high-level processes:
• Strategy And Commit
• Infrastructure Lifecycle Management
• Product Lifecycle Management
Operation: For the purpose of this work, the focus in this operation area, will be on the Assurance
and Fulfilment processes, namely in the Services Management Operations field also recognised as
Services Domain, as illustrated in Table 2.1.
Fulfilment – Services Configuration and Activation: Includes allocation, implementation,
configuration, activation and testing of particular services to meet the customer demands or
requirements, and/or in response to requests from other processes to mitigate particular service
capacity shortfalls, availability affairs or crash situations. This area specifies the following sub
processes:
• Design Solution
• Allocate Specific Service Parameters to
Service
• Track & Manage Service Provisioning
• Implement Configure & Activate Service
• Test Service end-to-end
• Issue Service Orders
• Report Service Provisioning
• Close Service Order
• Recover Service
Assurance – Services Problem Management: Covers the management of problems associ-
ated with customer service failures, to minimise the consequences and to request the immediate
recovery of the service, or providing an alternate service as soon as possible. This area specifies
the following sub processes:
• Create Service Trouble Report
• Diagnose Service Problem
• Correct & Resolve Service Problem
• Track & Manage Service Problem
• Report Service Problem
• Close Service Trouble Report
• Survey & Analyse Service Problem
Assurance – Services Quality Management: Includes monitoring, analysing and controlling of
the execution performance of specific services perceived by customers.
17
Table 2.1: Business Process Framework Operations
Operations SupportReadiness Fulfilment Assurance Billing Revenue
Management
Customer Relation-ship Management
CRM Support &Readiness
• MarketingFulfilmentResponse
• Selling
• Order Handling
• Customer InterfaceManagement
• Retention & Loyalty
• Customer InterfaceManagement
• Retention & Loyalty
• Problem Handling
• CustomerQoS/SLAManagement
• Bill InvoiceManagement
• Bill Payments &ReceivablesManagement
• Bill InquiryHandling
• Manage BillingEvent
• Charging
Service Manage-ment Operations
SM&O Support &Readiness
Service Configuration& Activation
• Service ProblemManagement
• Service QualityManagement
Service Guiding &Mediation
Resource Manage-ment and Opera-tions
• RM&O Support &Readiness
• Manage Workforce
• ResourceProvisioning
• Resource DataCollection &Distribution
• Resource TroubleManagement
• ResourcePerformanceManagement
• Resource DataCollection &Distribution
• ResourceMediation &Reporting
• Resource DataCollection &Distribution
Suppliers/PartnerRelationship Man-agement
S/PRM Support &Readiness
• S/P RequisitionManagement
• S/P InterfaceManagement
• S/P ProblemReporting &Management
• S/P PerformanceManagement
• S/P InterfaceManagement
• S/P Settlements &PaymentsManagement
• S/P InterfaceManagement
• Monitor Service Quality
• Analyse Service Quality
• Improve Service Quality
• Report Service Quality Performance
• Create Service Performance degradation
report
• Track and manage service quality perfor-
mance resolution
• Close service performance degradation re-
port
Enterprise Management: Enterprises need to manage themselves, and the eTOM includes the
core business processes necessary to support the activities of the enterprise such as:
18
• Strategic & Enterprise planning
• Business Development
• Financial & Asset Management
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Stakeholder & External Relationship Man-
agement
• Enterprise Effectiveness Management
• Knowledge and Research Management
• Human Resources Management
2.3.3 Strength/Weaknesses
The capacity to apply a standard set of telecommunication industry processes covering all operational
areas is an increasing requirement from Telecommunication stakeholders. The eTOM framework fulfils
this need by providing a real solution for cycle time reduction, improved customer satisfaction and overall
operational efficiency ending in long-term revenue growth. There are several main benefits:
• Presents an operational process framework, showing the most modern design and documented
processes for CSPs;
• Separates life-cycle management from operations and day-to-day processes;
• Affords an entire enterprise-wide business process framework specialised for CSPs;
• Is a Reference for process flows design or redesign.
Possible weaknesses can be related with:
• The eTOM is not entirely publicly available, requiring membership, whereas a company currently
has to pay at least $17003 per year depending on annual revenues;
• In its scope there are no IT governance capabilities.
2.3.4 Potential Simplification
The TMF has been working with the ITIL community, namely the The IT Service Management Forum
(itSMF) to explore the interworking between eTOM and ITIL and leverage the best of both. The efforts
already produced application notes to eTOM on how its process elements and flows are used to support
the identified ITIL processes.
3https://www.tmforum.org/membership/how-to-join/
19
2.4 IT Governance and Management–COBIT5
The COBIT5 overview schema is based on five principles focused on value creation, as depicted in the
conceptual map4 of Figure 2.8, which shows a structural summary of this framework concept.
Figure 2.8: COBIT5 conceptual map overview
The meaning of the principles described above relays as general truth that helps people determine
the proper decision, given a particular situation. They denote guidelines that provide an indication of
“what to do”, rather than “how to do” it.
COBIT5 recommends that governance can come in support of the negotiation and decision making
across the different stakeholder’s needs, as a baseline of value creation. The “Goals Cascade” provided
is one of the most important aspects of the framework that will help enterprises improve management4http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/theory-of-concept-maps
20
and governance of enterprise IT.
The “Goals Cascade” allows businesses to identify which processes should be implemented, and
how to combine processes with IT-related goals and company goals.
2.4.1 Functional Process
COBIT5, as shown in Figure 2.9, includes 37 process models which are divided into 5 (five) control
objective categories, clearly separating the management and governances procedures [15]:
Figure 2.9: COBIT5 Overall Process
Evaluate, Direct and Monitor (EDM): Governance domain, included in the recent release, high-
lights the essential participation of the managers in IT Governance functions to create value for the
enterprise. There are five processes in this domain:
• EDM01 Ensure Governance Framework Setting and Maintenance
• EDM02 Ensure Benefits Delivery
• EDM03 Ensure Risk Optimisation
21
• EDM04 Ensure Resource Optimisation
• EDM05 Ensure Stakeholder Transparency
These processes set out the board’s duties for evaluating, directing and monitoring the use of
IT assets regarding the value creation. The EDM processes guarantee that enterprise goals are
accomplished by (a) evaluating stakeholder needs, conditions and options; (b) setting direction
through prioritisation and decision making, and (c) monitoring performance, compliance and
progress against agreed-on direction and objectives.
Align, plan and organise (APO): This domain involves the description of how IT can appropriately
contribute to the achievement of the business purposes. Consequently, it highlights processes re-
lated to IT strategy and tactics, enterprise architecture, and innovation and portfolio management.
Other important methods address the management of budgets and costs, human resources, rela-
tionships, service agreements, suppliers, quality, risk, and security:
• APO01 Manage the IT Management Framework
• APO02 Manage Strategy
• APO03 Manage Enterprise Architecture
• APO04 Manage Innovation
• APO05 Manage Portfolio
• APO06 Manage Budget and Costs
• APO07 Manage Human Resources
• APO08 Manage Relationships
• APO09 Manage Service Agreements
• APO10 Manage Suppliers
• APO11 Manage Quality
• APO12 Manage Risk
• APO13 Manage Security
Build, acquire and implement (BAI): This domain identifies the IT requirements and manages the
IT investment programs and projects making the IT strategy real. This domain also approaches
the operational and environment business IT changes (e.g., management of capacity, IT change
management, acceptance and transitioning knowledge, asset and configuration management):
• BAI01 Manage Programmes and Projects
22
• BAI02 Manage Requirements Definition
• BAI03 Manage Solution, Identification and Build
• BAI04 Manage Availability and Capacity
• BAI05 Manage Organisational Change Enablement
• BAI06 Manage Changes
• BAI07 Manage Change Acceptance and Transitioning
• BAI08 Manage Knowledge
• BAI09 Manage Assets
• BAI10 Manage Configuration
Deliver, Service and Support (DSS): this domain enables the strategic and tactical plans required,
focusing on the delivery aspects of the IT as a primary goal (covers application execution and the
results from information systems). For this work, the focus will be on this specific domain, namely on
the aspects related to delivery of IT Services in the context of CSPs businesses.
• DSS01 Manage Operations:
– DSS01.01 Perform operational procedures,
– DSS01.02 Manage outsourced IT services,
– DSS01.03 Monitor IT infrastructure,
– DSS01.04 Manage the environment
– DSS01.05 Manage facilities
• DSS02 Manage Service Requests and Incidents:
– DSS02.01 Defines incident and service request classification schemes
– DSS02.02 Records, classifies and priorities requests and incidents
– DSS02.03 Verifies, approve and fulfils requests
– DSS02.04 Investigates, diagnoses and allocates incidents
– DSS02.05 Resolves and recovers from incidents
– DSS02.06 Closes service requests and incidents
– DSS02.07 Tracks status and produces reports
• DSS03 Manage Problems:
– DSS03.01 Identifies and classifies problems,
– DSS03.02 Investigates and diagnoses problems,
23
– DSS03.03 Raises known errors
– DSS03.04 Resolves and closes problems
– DSS03.05 Performs proactive problem management
• DSS04 Manage Continuity:
– DSS04.01 Define the Business Continuity Plan (BCP), objectives and scope.
– DSS04.02 Maintain a continuity strategy.
– DSS04.03 Develop and implement a business continuity response.
– DSS04.04 Exercise, test and review the BCP.
– DSS04.05 Review, maintain and improve the BCP
– DSS04.06 Conduct continuity plan training
– DSS04.07 Manage backup arrangements
– DSS04.08 Conduct post-resumption review
• DSS05 Manage Security Services:
– DSS05.01 Protects against malware
– DSS05.02 Manages network and connectivity security,
– DSS05.03 Manages endpoint security,
– DSS05.04 Manages user identity and logical access,
– DSS05.05 Manages physical access to IT assets,
– DSS05.06 Manage sensitive documents and output devices
– DSS05.07 Monitor the infrastructure for security-related events
• DSS06 Manage Business Process Controls:
– DSS06.01 Aligns control activities embedded in business processes with enterprise objec-
tives
– DSS06.02 Controls the processing of information
– DSS06.03 Manages roles, responsibilities, access privileges and levels of authority
– DSS06.04 Manages errors and exceptions
– DSS06.05 Ensures traceability of information events and accountabilities
– DSS06.06 Secures information assets
Monitor, evaluate and assess (MEA): This domain concerns the organisation’s strategy for as-
sessing the requirements of the business and if the current IT system still fits the purpose for which
it was designed, including the controls needed to satisfy with internal and external regulatory issues:
24
• MEA01 Monitor, Evaluate and Assess Performance and Conformance
• MEA02 Monitor, Evaluate and Asses the System of Internal Control
• MEA03 Evaluate and Assess Compliance with External Requirements
2.4.2 Strength/Weaknesses
The key strengths of COBIT5 are:
• The holistic, process and assessment orientation;
• Moderates IT risks coming from external and internal ecosystems (regulation, stake/shareholders);
• IT and Strategy alignment;
• Separation Management, control and operation.
Possible weaknesses are related with:
• COBIT5 is not a detailed and complete management framework for IT and should be expanded
with other frameworks—Focusing on ”What” rather than ”How”;
• Complexity, depending on the company maturity level.
2.4.3 Potential Simplification
COBIT5 looks too holistic and complex for small and medium enterprises. The previous COBIT 4.1
version, once provided a centralised quick start for these types of enterprises, helping in the technology
implementation.
However, the holistic philosophy can still be customised as required. A specialist is needed to review
and select an appropriate approach based on the requirements.
The development of COBIT5 in CSPs needs to be adopted and harmonised with the current telecom
references, allowing a better IT-Telecom best practices.ITIL processes.
25
26
3Related Works
Contents
3.1 ITIL harmonised with eTOM, improved with Lean Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2 A Generic Business Architecture Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.3 Optimisation of eTOM using COBIT5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.4 Building Bridges between ITIL and eTOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
27
28
This chapter presents and discusses the few projects or studies within the Enterprise IT and Telecom-
munication fields that used or addressed the frameworks and methodologies described in Chapter 2.
There are some projects that achieved IT services improvement using an endorsement of eTOM pro-
cesses with other good reference practices. Some of the proposals that have seen implementations,
have a similar purpose to the work developed in this thesis.
3.1 ITIL harmonised with eTOM, improved with Lean Methodology
The work developed by Tiago Vieira for his Masters Thesis is aimed at the harmonisation and improve-
ment of eTOM and ITIL Fault Management process at Portugal Telecom, the incumbent Telecommuni-
cations operator in Portugal [16].
As a final auditing result within the process owner, a major reduction (-77%) on the OPEX related to
management systems could be reached, minimising all the waste.
3.1.1 Critical Analysis
The project still fails in the Lean goals due to the “flexibility” concerning the change of the operator’s
internal cooperation mechanisms, as shown in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1: Lean Analysis of Vieira’s work [16]XApplied χ Not applied
Lean Principles
Value Specifying XValue Stream Mapping XContinuous Flow X“Pull” Processing XPerfectiong Pursuing X
Lean Goals
Standardised Work XContinuous Improvement XQuickness XFlexibility χ
Besides that, the project was concise in harmonising the ITIL and eTOM Fault Management process,
on identifying waste and providing solutions. However, a continued improvement factor would still be
needed, not in a post-mortem process improvement, using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in a
simulation process before automating.
3.2 A Generic Business Architecture Proposal
The study of Adrian Grigoriu [17] endeavoured a comparison among some of the most adapted business
modelling frameworks and proposed a GODS (Governance, Operations Delivery and Support) single
29
generic Business Architecture. Using the process flow as a common denominator of the comparison,
the study proceeded with the mappings but was limited to the top level of the process taxonomies.
The unified scheme proposes to integrate the IT Management (Quality and Business Management)
and Enterprise Architecture methods, providing:
• The possibility to improve and be a reference for enterprise governance functions;
• The opportunity to cover and map the business functions and critical flows that characterise the
business life-cycle.
3.2.1 Critical Analysis
The resulting gaps in the study were identified:
• The Development, Support and Governance business flows are not covered, neither represented;
• The architecture approach fails in governance capabilities, the combination and assessment with
the COBIT-5 could be made;
• The architecture needs at least one implementation environment; it is too generic.
The solution proposed in this thesis is based on the eTOM environment and depends on the owner
process policy. The architectural approach is done at top level taxonomy with the endorsement of
COBIT5 or at low-level flow modelling using the frameworks as a reference and applying the Lean Six
Sigma methods.
3.3 Optimisation of eTOM using COBIT5
The work of Latifi et al. [18] focuses on the enrichment of eTOM operational phase using the COBIT5
DSS domain. The result is a mapping analysis of the eTOM horizontal and vertical process groups with
the COBIT5 DSS, which is a useful output of the activities and Key Management Practices (KMPs).
This enhancement derives in the Optimisation of the IT Services and Technologies with governance
and control capabilities managing the IT Operations from the business perspective.
3.3.1 Critical Analysis
After the harmonisation approach, the corresponding process improvement or proof of concept, using
that work as a reference, should be made to “measure” the impact of the enhancement scheme pro-
posed.
30
The difference between proposal in this thesis and and that eTOM-COBIT5 approach remains in the
framework domains, as the authors used the Operations support readiness processes, and there was
some confusion between the Assurance area and the Operational support.
3.4 Building Bridges between ITIL and eTOM
This work is a study made in a joint effort of TMF and itSMF for the integration of ITIL and eTOM in
order to provide a practical collective solution for business support in the telecommunication sector. The
report addresses how the TMF’s eTOM and ITIL can be used together.
There is a general need when applying ITIL, in order to link it with the business needs and to position
ITIL good practices in the relevant business context, for a clear guidance of the improvement of the
eTOM process elements and flows with the ability to work together in defined domains and supporting
the processes identified in ITIL.
In that study, a formal recommendation brings the two frameworks together, with guidelines to enable
members and other practitioners to use each one in the most appropriate manner.
Additionally, and most importantly, a strategic view of how to converge ITIL and eTOM is proposed,
with precise adjustments to eTOM that allow support for ITIL to be more visible and direct, turning it the
groundwork basis for a methodology on how companies, namely CSPs, can apply ITIL good practices
through eTOM.
3.4.1 Critical Analysis
As a collaborative working proposal between both groups, the study allows for a standardized perspec-
tive and a better interpretation of eTOM in th eIT context with one enriched view of both references.
This work became a good starting point for the linkage between COBIT5 and eTOM developed in
this thesis.
31
32
4Enrichment of eTOM: Engaging the
new orchestration generation
Contents
4.1 Proposal Development: Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.2 Harmonizing the frameworks: Building bridges between eTOM and COBIT5 . . . . . 36
33
34
This chapter portrays the harmonisation of the eTOM and COBIT5 frameworks, determining their differ-
ences and similarities in a high-level perspective, and mapping the processes in the services provision-
ing domain, also denoted as “orchestration”, allowing for an improvement of the eTOM with complemen-
tary capabilities.
4.1 Proposal Development: Guidelines
It is the purpose of this project to reach a harmonization and enrichment of eTOM with COBIT5, as-
sessing and enriching the current state of the Fulfilment and Assurance operations processes, and
establishing one map analysis of the corresponding horizontal and vertical process groups of eTOM
with the DSS output of COBIT5 in terms of activities and KMP, as reference.
Figure 4.1: Project Methodology
The rationale and modus operandi method is illustrated in Figure 4.1, with definitions as follows:
Scope: Improve de Telecommunication services delivery domain;
Discover: Research the current state of the best practices frameworks;
Diagnose/Analysis: Assess and evaluate the eTOM and COBIT5;
Target/Analysis: Identify the eTOM and COBIT5 domain and process for service delivery;
Redesign: Harmonization and mapping between eTOM and COBIT5;
Proposal Improvement of eTOM’s Fulfilment and Assurance service delivery domains with
COBIT5’s DSS;
35
4.2 Harmonizing the frameworks: Building bridges between eTOM
and COBIT5
The COBIT5 and eTOM frameworks have strengths and weaknesses as previously discussed in Chap-
ter 2, however, if combined, the result would have significant benefits for the telecommunication industry
in delivering convergent services to the market. So, there are some initiatives within specifics domains
trying to converge and address the interworking issues between different frameworks, as discussed in
Chapter 3, in general manners.
For our proposal initiative and purpose, as sated in Section 4.1, we start by identifying and removing
barriers of interworking at the day-to-day level. However, our idea is on how the two frameworks can
grow together into a more complementary perspective, each retaining its value in the areas where is
most effective, yet linking with and using the other to reinforce the service delivery domain, as illustrated
in Figure 4.2, the “to-be” approach.
CxO s CxO s
COBIT5 Business
View
COBIT5 Process Strategy
eTOM business
view
eTOM ProcessStrategy
Customer
COBIT5Business
View
eTOMBusiness
View
Customer
One Process Strategy
Figure 4.2: Bridging eTOM & COBIT5 “to-be” strategy model view.
So we will approach the first steps, always focusing on the CSP point of view:
• Comprehensive Comparison (Section 4.2.1): differences (Section 4.2.1.A) and similarities (Sec-
tion 4.2.1.B) between frameworks;
• Mapping the particular processes of the services provisioning common domain (Section 4.2.2):
mitigating technical terminologies barriers.
36
4.2.1 Comprehensive comparison between Frameworks
Different from other comparisons [17], our approach will be based on the telecommunications related
company perspective, trying to simplify the complexity and multi-application sector of COBIT. The
overview genesis of each framework, is provided in Table 4.1, trying to define each key characteris-
tics and reference purposes.
Table 4.1: Key characteristics and reference purposes between eTOM and COBIT.
Key Characteristics eTOM COBIT5
Adoption ITU IT Governance Global Standard
DefinitionDefines the key business processits elements and iterations of theCSPs, granularly
Control and management frameworkproviding IT - Business alignmentand optimisation
Purpose A common language, assembly,and practices within and between CSPs
Affords conformance and performanceof IT processes
Process Layout Operational vertical layout andBusiness domain horizontal layout
Divided into five domains andcorresponding processes and KPMs
Value Standard structure for processes Drives into a continues improvementsin performance and stakeholders
Key Applications CSPs OSS and BSS initiatives Finance, Retail and Healthcare
From Table 4.1 we can immediately recognise some of the specification concerns that are raised
because of the different focus and emphasis that COBIT5 and eTOM take among their separate per-
spectives. It is not though, a failing between the two frameworks, but an inescapable result of the
fundamental differences in their views. Each one view has a purpose and benefit, and we must embrace
this while trying to cut through the confusion and avoid conflicting situations.
Nevertheless, the relevance and significance of this underlying technical interworking mechanism
remains an essential part of our solution, and so it is discussed subsequently. Approaching factors,
such as structural and terminology differences, are significant enough so that they also need to be
addressed in order to overcome the obstacles for interworking.
4.2.1.A Key Differences between eTOM and COBIT5 Frameworks
The IT Management and governance perspective, as represented by COBIT5 does not restrict itself to
a particular industry, so we have to deal with influences in COBIT5 that come from different business
environments. From TMF we have a business perspective for the telecom ICT industry with the NGOSS
Business Process Framework (eTOM), and the link with the rest of NGOSS, particularly the NGOSS
37
Information Model, SID, as well as the system-oriented perspectives that follow on through the NGOSS
Application Map, TAM, and the NGOSS Technology Neutral Architecture (TNA). They are certainly,
powerful tools, but were not originally developed with a close eye on Governance and Management, as
in COBIT5, and so there are challenges in reconciling the NGOSS perspective with COBIT5.
Positioning the differences between these frameworks allows for clarification of different terms re-
sulting in the separate framework and business view contexts, as shown in Table 4.2, that provides an
overview of oppositions allowing a “lean” visualisation.
Table 4.2: Overview difference: eTOM vs. COBIT5
Key Differences eTOM COBIT5
ServicesDefinition
Structured vision as aCSP operation serviceslayers and fuctions.
Documented definition, agreement onIT Services and service level betweenmanagers and customers, includingstakeholder accomplish monitorizationof services levels.
ProcessFrameworkLifecycle
Just Focusing on ICTprocess managementand operation
Cycle dividing governanceand process Managementwith business cascade alignment
ProvisionManner
Customer Centric,aligned with theICT best practices
Value added, aligned withthe corporate strategy
Strategic &operationaldivision
Yes, but not scopingtheir aligment
Yes, created to help TOGAFand ITIL operational process
Customercentric Yes, and data-drive Yes, and business strategy aliment
The alignment between corporate strategy, management and operations is of broad scope in
COBIT5, which is a key difference between eTOM in its operational Business process purpose.
4.2.1.B The common denominator
The bottom line is that there is no intrinsic conflict between COBIT5 and eTOM. Both arise from distinct
perspectives and are different kinds of “artifacts”, as discussed above.
The backdrop to the complete simplification operation of determining bridges between COBIT5 and
eTOM is the growing demand to integrate more efficiently the IT support within companies with their
business goals and focus.
38
4.2.2 Mapping the eTOM in COBIT5 processes
The purpose of enhancing the eTOM services delivery domain complementing it with the COBIT5 DSS
field will be approached with a mapping procedure.
Table 4.3: The processes to be mapped in eTOM and COBIT5
eTOM
Fulfilment: Service Configuration & Activation
Assurance: Service Problem Management
Assurance: Service Quality Management
COBIT5
DSS01 Manage Operations
DSS02 Manage Service Requests and Incidents
DSS03 Manage Problems
DSS04 Manage Continuity
DSS05 Manage Security Services
DSS06 Manage Business Process Controls
It is, therefore, important to recognise that the extension of eTOM with these COBIT5 processes
does not portray an “alternative” set of processes to those already present within eTOM, which then
overlap, or even conflict, with the existing process details. Instead, these COBIT5 processes (and
other potential Best/Good Practice processes that might be introduced in the future) must be seen as
“templates” that can guide or constrain how the rest of the eTOM processes are applied. Thus, in a
particular enterprise, decisions will be made on the scope and extent of application of the particular
good practice process. Some organisations may apply only some of the processes, as shown in
Table 4.3, and those that are used may only be implemented in some parts of the business. This
will vary from company to company. Where an eTOM process is employed in a particular area of the
enterprise, this affected area, hence the relevant area of COBIT, will follow the relevant eTOM process
requirements. Nevertheless, if the organisation in its service delivery approach is based on eTOM, they
can evaluate their process based on the “COBIT Self-Assessment Guide” principles and model. This
39
evaluation relays in the ISO/IEC 15504-4 1 alongside with the performances indicators.
The ISO/IEC 15504-4 recognized to types of process assessment actions:
Process improvement Initiative: The main purpose is to improve the enterprise’s effectiveness
and efficiency continually;
Process capability Determination: The main determination is to identify the strengths, weak-
nesses and risk of selected processes on a particular specified requirement through the processes
used and their alignment with the business need.
The model, called Process Assessment Model (PAM), contains six capability levels (0-5) for assess-
ing the process capability:
• Level 0 means that the process is incomplete;
• Level 1 that the process achieves is purpose;
• Level 2 that the process is managed, controlled and maintained well;
• Level 5 that the process is optimised, continuously improved to meet business goals.
These and the other levels are detailed in “Process Assessment Model (PAM): Using COBIT5”. For
measuring the capability level of the process, each capability level holds process attributes, which are
defined in ISO/IEC 15504-2, to determine whether a process meets the capability level or not. However
this document is based on COBIT5 process, in this way the proper assessment is just a inspiration
based.
The suggestion above, is justified due to the eTOM’s process assessment being only proceeded by
the TMF, without any further details.
1http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=37462
40
5Proof of concept: Survey
Contents
5.1 Portuguese Telecommunications-related companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2 Lisbon 2016 WebSummit: Startups and Investors Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
41
42
The purpose of the survey strategy, shown in Figure 5.1, was to determine and assess the real value
output of the research theory, making it possible to obtain a significant conclusion through obtaining
samples from different scenarios and methods of data mode acquisition.
Research Theory
Survey MethodReporting and
Analysis
Figure 5.1: Proof of Concept process
The survey methodology started with the population and scenario definition and corresponding de-
signing, collecting and processing of a sample for analysis and assessment. The two main scenarios
selected were:
• The Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) and decision makers of the Portuguese ICT industry (Sec-
tion 5.1);
• The Investors, companies and start-ups present at the WebSummit 2016 (Section 5.2).
5.1 Portuguese Telecommunications-related companies
Portugal has a medium-sized telecom market. The country’s severe economic conditions have seen
operators’ revenue fall in recent years 1, provoking significant ownership changes among market players
and a fast innovation taking place in the industry. So, the report study focuses on the current 3 (three)
main carriers and 2 (two) services suppliers in Portugal, as follows 2:
NOS Portugal: A Portuguese media and telecommunication 3 operating group whose primary as-
sets comprise satellite operator, cable operator, Internet Service Provider (ISP), a mobile operator, a
Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), and a multimedia contents distributor. The company was
formed as a merger between Optimus - SGPS SA (OPTIMUS) and ZON Multimedia Servicos de
Telecomunicacoes e Multimedia SGPS SA (ZON).
Portugal Telecom: The Portuguese largest and oldest Telecommunication services provider 4, in-
volved in the full stack of telecommunication services. Nowadays, as result of ownerships, the com-
pany is recognised as PHAROL SGPS SA, in the financial market. PHAROL’s assets incorporate Oi,
S.A., debt securities of Rio Forte Investments S.A. (Rio Forte) and the Call Option of Oi.1https://www.google.com/finance/related?q=OTCMKTS%3APTGCY&ei=F52cWOmALMTfsAGwo6GgCw2The company advertisement requested by the interviewers and contextual purpose3https://www.google.com/finance?q=ELI%3ANOS&sq=ELI%3ANOS&sp=1&ei=-pWcWKqiDN3OsQG9gauwCw4https://www.google.com/finance?q=PT+SGPS&ei=NpecWJjaCcXDsAH9l5OQCA
43
Vodafone Portugal: Leading telecommunication operating company including assets ranging from
fiber optics, ISP, a mobile operator, a MVNO, to multimedia partnership distribution.
Ericsson Portugal: Provider offering services, software and infrastructure in ICT for telecommuni-
cations operators, and traditional CSPs.
Huawei Portugal: Services and technology provider offering the full stack of ICT solutions, working
in Portugal essentially in the business enterprise/sales domain.
5.1.1 Survey Method
The significant role of CTO and chief lead managers 5 allows a full study scenario of the telecommu-
nication perspective in Portugal relating to the application of good practices and reference, and the
significance of the approach worked in this thesis.
The survey methodology consisted of an interview methodology allowing open and closed direct
questions. The essential survey purpose was to understand the real status quo of the Telecommunica-
tion industry for the case-related implications of the research worked of this thesis.
5.1.2 Results Analysis and Assessment
The obtained results provide an overall view of the Portuguese ICT industry and the point of view contrast
between the services providers and carriers.
Importance between Process and Stakeholders: The purpose of the issue allows an understand-
ing regarding the primary focus of the particular enterprise, i.e., if they are more concerning about
the process agile perspective or about a design thinking approach (note that business frameworks
just care about the developing and collaborator added-value);
Result Analysis: 100% of the response relays the importance of both ingredients. The invest-
ment in their stakeholders and the process improvement as key factors for their successes.
The main organizational challenge in the Telecom Portuguese market: In the current aggres-
sive telecommunication market, to be able to compete and not become just a commodity, the
providers and carriers need to transform and overcome the organisational challenge growing towards
a full “digital Telco”. The study highlighted that the industry is facing a “do-or-die” dilemma in their
organisational strategy. Pressure from digital-native OTT providers and other competitors is forcing
the business to transform its operating process into agile and centralised platforms, capable of de-
livering what customers want, when and where they want it. Therefore, the following organisational
gaps are consensually admitted:
5The requested collaborators demands their confidence in the study and the excellency of their organisational savvy
44
• Qualified resource Gap;
• Specialised Resource;
• Complexity and integration of processes.
The shortage of Computer Science engineers in Portugal, and in special engineers familiar with
ICT- and Telco-related Enterprise Engineering subjects, are by any objective measure, the primary
challenge to operate, transform and improve the ICT industry, according with the survey.
IT Business Frameworks Adoption in Portugal: The adoption of IT Business frameworks relies
on a fundamental and competitive advantage not only for their organisational flexibility but also con-
tributing to their advantage to compete and win projects and improve their time to market.
Result Analysis: The services providers (The providers its clients – the carriers) always attempt
to follow the best practices in the market, through constantly maintaining a keen interest in
knowing how other operators are solving the same problems that they have.
The eTOM product-client adoption: The business transformation, operation and improvement of
the telecom industry stands on the TMF’s Business Process Framework. Allowing the highlight of
the best practices to operate, as shown in Section 2.3, overhauling business processes replacing
complex, siloed business support systems with out-of-the-box solutions. Their adoption drives in
faster time to market, reduction in training time, and elimination of technological and organisational
complexity, as shown in Chapter 3.
Supplier: As part of the business ecosystem, Huawei and Ericsson, afford solutions adapted to
their clients (carriers or public/private organizations). To compete for projects their solutions rely
on the eTOM framework and the particular requirements.
Carrier: According to the survey, each carrier developed its own Business Process Blueprint De-
sign using the TMF eTOM as a reference. As described in our study, the Telefonica business
transformation serves as a role model for the telecommunication sector nowadays, in their contin-
ued adoption of the eTOM in their operational business over 15 countries. This case study [19,20]
is promoted as well by the TMF and further discussed at the 2017 Mobile World Mobile Congress
in Barcelona. The case study, can be summarise as follows:
• Who: Telefonica Global;
• What: Business transformation targeting operating process in 15 countries;
• How: Creating it own business framework based on the TMF’s Business Process Framework,
improving or transforming the business process (in each case);
• Results: Accurate time to market, decrease in training hours, and elimination of more than
2,000 systems, 20 data centers and 6,500 physical servers.
45
Result Analysis: The eTOM is definitely the reference used for the improvement and devel-
opment of the IT, network and business alignment. The eTOM project itself is always under
improvement and attending to respond to the digital transformation/disruption. As such, the
contribution from the work developed in this thesis, might help on this answer, as we proposed a
complementation in business governance and management support from the COBIT5 to eTOM,
to also simplify the IT Business process framework deployed on the organisations. It is, therefore,
a not urgent task or approach but a particular consideration effort.
Predicted challenge and difficulties adapting the COBIT5-eTOM: The decision makers underlay
the resulting challenge and difficulties through the harmonisation and integration of the eTOM-
COBIT5 and their business process, as follows:
• Internal Culture;
• Positioning of the Frameworks against their business and each other;
• Technical differences (terminologies, purposes...).
The complementation of the eTOM with COBIT5 seems a particular and strange approach. Both
frameworks had different purposes and contexts. However, both are used in a particular domain or
project and manner. In the telecom world the services orchestration are based on eTOM only.
5.1.3 Discussion
The telecom services market in Portugal has challenged the transformation of the business processes
resulting in the constant improvement of each enterprise. Therefore, different players tend to specialise
or change their current services using new formats and pricing models, as well as endeavour for com-
plementary services in additional fields. Traditional players have been facing fierce competition from
new entrants, and the number of players involved in this sector has risen, which in turn increases their
growth. These new players have emerged delivering other competencies and offering services de-
manded by users at a very competitive price and in a faster time to market. From an in-depth analysis
of the survey data, it can be emphasised that the interviewees show similar opinions on each topic,
regardless of the organisation position in the telecom ecosystem. Nevertheless, it is worth to mention,
that the proposal in this thesis is not seen as an urgent task for the Portuguese ICT industry. However,
according to the interviews, it is somehow an unusual step to have considered this attempt of preparing
a study on this particular market from a Portuguese University. The main limitations revealed in the
study from this industry sector in Portugal were “time and effort”, as a proper market research, usually
done by consulting companies such as Deloitte or McKinsey, takes several months to develop. Hence
the surprise of the leaders of the industry regarding the initiative taken on this thesis work.
46
5.2 Lisbon 2016 WebSummit: Startups and Investors Survey
The Web Summit event 6, originally the Dublin Web Summit, holds a technology conference operated
annually since 2010. The main topic of the conference is focused on Internet technologies, ranging from
the Fortune 500 companies to the world’s most exciting “tech start-ups” from all around the globe.
In 2016 more than 50,000 CEOs, founders, start-ups, investors and political leaders driving change
across the world came together in Lisbon for the Web Summit.
5.2.1 Survey Method
As part of the Web Summit’s Operations Team, endorsements on Appendix C, around the two venues
(FIL and Meo Arena) the author met with attendees, investors and start-ups to inquire about their expe-
rience at the Web Summit. At the same time, a survey was developed relating to the thesis work, for
those able to relate to the issue.
As part of coordination, a briefing with the Production Team and the Web Summit Volunteer Pro-
gramme allowed for precise instructions and survey methods. The essential purpose of the survey was
to understand the importance of good business process frameworks in the Start-up world, and in some
cases the related implications of the research proposal.
5.2.2 Results Analysis and Assessment
Along three (3) days of an intensive interview with start-ups and ventures, the author collected a signifi-
cant universe of fifty-two (52) responses allowing a proper assessment of the start-up world.
The well-defined business framework 7 and entrepreneurship are usually viewed as opposites, as
shown in Figure 5.2(a). The frameworks references are seen as the pursuit of a clearly defined path
systematically identified in advance through a carefully chosen set of activities. On the other hand,
the entrepreneurship is considered to be the essence of opportunism requiring investors to turn in new
directions frequently, as new technology and paradigms come in, and markets change rapidly.
Despite this, they actually value a well-defined strategy, as shown in Figure 5.2(b). However, the
two desperately need each other, i.e., business references without entrepreneurship is central planning.
Startups without proper practice processes and strategies lead to chaos.
Considering the start-ups that found a business framework relevant, as shown in Figure 5.2(c), they
recognise the help in the strategy definition and precise process definition, even for the relationship with
corporate clients.
6https://websummit.net/7Includes: Business frameworks (canvas) and Enterprise frameworks (eTOM and COBIT5)
47
Yes
40.4
No
57.7
Maybe
1.9
(a) Importance of Frameworks adoption in Start-ups
Yes
69.2
No
30.8
(b) Importance of Business Strategy in Start-ups
Interoperability
19.0
Well defined strategies and operations
62.0
Best Practices Approches
19.0
(c) Business frameworks start-ups purposes
Figure 5.2: Lisbon 2016 WebSummit Survey results
48
5.2.3 Concluding remarks
“The electic light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles” (Oren Harari)
The overall study performed was quite impressive, and, of course, most of the start-ups consider the
proposed strategy fundamental, but they do not tipically use a supportive model.The actual response
was “Know what not to do” focusing on their disruptive idea, that the frameworks were for corporate or
academic uses, not for the day-to-day start-ups, as their ultimate purpose is an “acquisition”; this is the
real strategy for most of them.
The study complements the viability of the frameworks and our proposal in the entrepreneur world,
where the timing and management reference are in opposite hands, according to the survey developed.
However, the main limitation of the survey was the WebSummit dynamics itself, as each start-up
provided like an “elevator pitch” to fully understand their business, so a deep study survey/interview was
quite difficult in such an aggressive condition and environment.
49
50
6Conclusion
Contents
6.1 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6.2 Main Limitations and Difficulties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6.3 Insights and Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6.4 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
51
52
The nature of the initiative presented in this work can be a foundation for future efforts within the ser-
vices provider industry, mainly the presented market perspectives and status quo within the academic
research, corporate and start-up environments, as a significant asset.
In the following we draw conclusions and possible outcomes related to all the work accomplished, and
offer suggestions for future actions and research initiatives. Moreover, some of the remarks here stated
aim to encourage the keen reader to continue where this document ends or exhibits gaps, apologising
for any naıve misconception.
6.1 Conclusions
The combined eTOM-COBIT5 proposed in this thesis provides the first steps and an opportunity for
service providers to use the best of both worlds to strengthen and constitute a strategic business process
environment. Both frameworks are complementary to each other and can deliver incremental value to
the process likeness efforts. Nevertheless, we claim that the initial objectives have been adequately
reached in a particular manner, i.e., contributing to the simplification and dynamisation of the business
and operation schema of a service provider, building bridges and defining frameworks in this particular
business context. The solution streamlined and consolidated separate reference environments (eTOM
and COBIT5), thereby generating an opportunity to recognise redundant areas and enabling processes
improvements. In essence, the benefits of the proposed approach could be articulated as follows:
• OPEX optimisation: Redundant functions could be consolidated and integrated, thereby reducing
the cost of process operations;
• Accuracy on process strategy: A clear strategy on business process frameworks will minimise and
bypass conflicts between vertical process and departments;
• Process environment complexity mitigation: An integration of two process environments into one
horizontal process layout will remove vertical process boundaries and eliminate the need for addi-
tional interactions with dispersed process building blocks being part of a split process environment.
Also, the re-usability of standard process components will reduce the necessity to develop ad hoc
process components;
• Clearer communication: Simplified and reduced number of measurement points will improve the
communication with the executive management around service delivery.
Summing up, the first step solution provided of convergence and simplification of the telecommu-
nication frameworks represents a crucial step and proposal effort for the present and the future, as
53
IT systems are increasingly transforming the telecom business processes. It is, therefore, a continu-
ous process of improvement, learning and experiences within the shareholders, stakeholders and best
practices reference, taking a strategic controlled view of the end-to-end process.
6.2 Main Limitations and Difficulties
As first steps taken, this work is presently an academic research, and the urge of standardisation and
cooperation is one of the biggest challenges. The close efforts of the TeleManagement Forum (TMF) in
conjunction with Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) to provide a pragmatic joint
solution for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, concerning the business and
ecosystems survival is a must for the telecommunication services provider industry. The proposed solu-
tion to mitigate technical harmonisation difficulties can be further discussed with standards organisation
groups, as the limitations resided mostly on not having been addressed and discussed with industry
groups the viability details of processes and terminology articulations, relying just in a broad dimension
of the related processes.
The intricacy of the associated work should not be depreciated; the COBIT5 and the eTOM frame-
works are not by any means, easy models to understand and comprehend. So it must be considered that
any individual not familiar with these subjects will have to take quite a steep learning curve to manage
the knowledge, whilst simultaneously being able to take the full benefit of their potential. However taking
into account the time limitation, we can argue that there is value bridging the frameworks in the core
aspect of services delivery, to handle the conceptual complexities, thus contributing to the facilitation of
their adoption and benefits.
6.3 Insights and Lessons Learned
These COBIT5, eTOM and ITIL frameworks have different purposes. Each is useful in its own way, and
complement each other with some overlap of ideas in some situations. However, there is a relatively wide
gap between the frameworks and their intended end client ecosystem. It is not easy to find professionals,
as discussed in Chapter 4, who have the knowledge and the know-how to bridge the gap between
these structures recommendations and their implementation/adoption at the end customer, and able to
respond entirely to the customer needs. This is why many service providers are typically “re-inventing the
wheel” by creating their own internal “process frameworks work-arounds” using one one these standards
(e.g., just eTOM) as foundation, and modifying/improving the processes using their own experience
acquired in their various IT projects. The approach proposed in this thesis would help to fill the gap
between theory and practice, and would help to differentiate companies to compete for projects, as it:
54
• Demonstrates the vast accumulated knowledge in these areas, enriched by the outcomes gathered
from several success case studies of real-life operators/projects;
• Quickly introduces to the customer how to solve these types of problems;
• Potentially reduces consulting times and costs compared to the efforts when following just one of
the frameworks (e.g., eTOM, COBIT5) and neglecting the others.
In the Portuguese carriers, there are currently modelling their processes and mapping with the eTOM,
taking the COBIT5 as another framework for other industry and not for their scope, dismissing the
governance strategic best practices function.
The developed work, allows me to take a different perspective, experience and insight of the best
practices, the current situation of the Portuguese Telco and ICT market and an improvement on organi-
sational savvy and policy procedures.
6.4 Future Work
“Life is a marathon, not a sprint”.
There is, however, plenty of research that can be performed having this thesis for a basis. As first
steps provided, the following and furthermore domains can be researched trying to detect overlaps
and/or complementarity between the frameworks, as well as integrating and harmonising with the inter-
nal processes of particular CSP.
Assess an internal enterprise process within the eTOM-COBIT5 harmonisation using Lean method-
ologies would be the definitive work requiring time and research efforts for the simplification and map-
ping schema in the multiple domains and purposes, with the ultimate idea of simplification and detecting
wastes. As a complexity taking place, the automation of the assessment could be a useful tool for further
process and good practice certification. For future work we envisage the following:
1. Reach different domains, besides services provisioning;
2. Design and assess the ultimate harmonisation with the internal enterprise processes (process
owner): Analyse the methodology with Lean techniques and tools;
3. Automate the assessment.
55
56
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[7] J. Sathyan, Fundamentals of EMS, NMS and OSS/BSS. Auerbach Publications, 2010.
[8] H. Tada, W. Usui, and X. J. Wen, “An approach toward implementation of OSS/BSS using NGOSS,”
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[9] Cisco, “Introduction to eTOM,” Tech. Rep., 2009. [Online]. Available: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/
us/products/collateral/services/high-availability/white paper c11-541448.pdf
[10] ITU-T, “M.3050 Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) – An eTOM primer,” p. 32, 2007.
[11] The IT Service Management Forum, An Introductory Overview of ITIL, 2011.
[12] ISACA, “COBIT: A Business Framework for the Governance and Management of Enterprise IT,” pp.
1–94, 2013.
57
[13] TM Forum, “Frameworx Reference Core Frameworks Concepts and Principles,” 2015.
[14] ——, “Frameworx Standard Business Process Framework ( eTOM ),” no. May, pp. 1–373, 2015.
[15] ISACA, “COBIT5: Enabling Processes,” pp. 1–230, 2012.
[16] T. Vieira, “Improve the ITIL process in Incident Management with matching Lean-eTOM,” Ph.D.
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[18] F. Latifi, R. Nasiri, and M. Mohsenzadeh, “Enriched eTOM Framework in Service Deliver Opera-
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[19] P. T. Jordan, “Transforming Telefonica,” Telefonica, Tech. Rep., 2015.
[20] TM Forum, “Telefonica Business Process Blueprint Design Fx14.5 Conformance Certification Re-
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58
AICAMES 2016 Conference and Meeting
Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
59
60
The International Cultural and Academic Meeting of Engineering Students (ICAMES) is an interna-
tional engineering meeting and competition organised by Engineering Society of Bogazici University.
(a) Proposal Presentation
(b) ICAMES Certificate
Figure A.1: Master Project Proposal Presentation at ICAMES
All the costs of the participants were covered by the organisation including food, accommodation,
and entertainment, except the travel expenses. However, to be selected for this worldwide engineering
event, the academic committee had to review the project and endeavour the quality and engineering
aspects of it.
Our Masters Project proposal was selected for the meeting as one of the top 20 engineering school
61
projects in the world 1, and it was successfully discussed, as shown in Figure A.1(a), despite the lim-
itation of being just one proposal scheme and not a final solution, but significant enough to represent
Instituto Superior Tecnico–Universidade de Lisboa, and Portugal as a country.
1http://www.icames.boun.edu.tr/
62
BSurvey: Documents and
questionnaires
63
64
UNIVERSITYOF LISBON Daniel Olim, MsC
Daniel OlimDepartment of Computer Scienceand EngineeringAv. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa
Phone: (351) 926362478E-mail: [email protected]:https://pt.linkedin.com/in/danielolimAlexandre Fonseca
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) & Executive ManagerPortugal Telecom, S.AAvenida Fontes Pereira de Melo 40,1069-300 Lisboa
ASSUNTO: Estudo Portugues das boas praticas nas empresas de Telecomunicacoes
Ex.mo CTO Alexandre Fonseca,
Ao abrigo do estudo que esta a ser desenvolvido1, no Instituto Superior Tecnico, vimos aconsiderar a sua participacao como fundamental e significativa para se entender o panorama do mercadode Telecomunicacoes Portugues nas praticas de referencia internacional. Este estudo foi dirigidoaos principais Executivos Tecnologicos de operadores de Servicos de Telecomunicacoes, tais comoNOS, Vodafone e Portugal Telecom, e tambem a fornecedores de solucoes tais como Huawei e Ericsson,consistindo num pequeno survey/interview que nao demora mais que 5 (cinco) minutos.
Segue-se em anexo o “survey” impresso, mas pode tambem aceder em formato digital pelo seguinteURL (em codigo QR): https://goo.gl/k8Waae seguido do codigo de acesso: 5Q2K
Caso opte por formato impresso, por favor envie para o endereco encontrado na carta.
Agradecendo antecipadamente aatencao de V. Ex.a, apresento osmeus melhores cumprimentos,
Daniel Olim, MsC
1M.Sc Dissertacao: “Melhoria do eTOM com a harmonizacao e complementacao do COBIT5”, supervisionada pelo Prof.Dr. Rui Santos Cruz
65
IST Thesis Project: Business process Improvementin CSPsObjectivo: Estudo do mercado de Telecomunicações português, opinião dos significativos players quanto a complexidade e simplificação do modelo eTOM e boas praticas empresariais. Duas perspectivas fornecedores e operadoras.
Agradecemos desde já a sua colaboração. Daniel Olim
Duração: 1,5 minutos
*Required
1. Por favor, insira o código XXXX *
2. Por favor, identifique o tipo de organização *Mark only one oval.
Fornecedores de Soluções de Telecomunicação Skip to question 3.
Operadora de Serviços de Telecomunicações Skip to question 13.
Fornecedores de Soluções
3. O que considera mais importante?Mark only one oval.
Pessoas
Processos Lean e endtoend control
Ambos
4. Qual é a sua opinião do estado actual do mercado de Telecomunicações Português,cumpre com os standard de referencia a nível de processos de negócio? *
5. Os seus clientes em Portugal utilizam os processos eTOM como referencia?Mark only one oval.
Sim
Não
Alguns
6. Em termos organizacionais, quais são as principais dificuldades e desafios queenfrentam em Portugal? *Mark only one oval.
Pessoas (Falta de recursos, training)
Integração e complexidade de processos e frameworks
Todos os anteriores
Other:
7. Qual é a sua opinião do estado e desafio actual do eTOM e a existência de várias ITFrameworks como o COBIT5 ou TOGAF que são complementares
8. Onde prevê que a harmonização/complementarização do eTOM e COBIT5 pode ajudar asua organizaçãoCaso não prevê nenhum beneficio, por favor escreva: NONE
9. Como avalia a proposta de enriquecer o eTOM services deliver com a harmonização ecomplementação do COBIT5Mark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
10. Que dificuldades prevê na implementação do eTOM+COBIT5Mark only one oval.
Internal Culture
Positioning of the Frameworks against your business and each other
Technical differences (terminologies)
All above
Other:
11. Derivado da sua experiencia, possui alguma situação, materia ou case study que permitacontribuir para o trabalho desenvolvido eTOM & COBIT5
12. Autoriza ser citado no estudo desenvolvidoSera citado como executivo tecnológico da empresa em questão.Mark only one oval.
Sim
Não
Operadora de Serviços de Telecomunicações
13. Em termos organizacionais, quais são as principais dificuldades e desafios queenfrentam em Portugal? *Mark only one oval.
Pessoas (Falta de recursos, training)
Integração e complexidade de processos e frameworks
Ambos
Other:
14. O que considera mais importante?Mark only one oval.
Pessoas
Processos Lean e endtoend control
Ambos
15. A estrutura corporativa empresarial depende da cultura regional variando de pais parapais, há adopção da distinção entre Management e Governance é uma realidade emPortugal? *
16. Quais são as IT frameworks que usa? *Mark only one oval.
eTOM
COBIT5
Ambos
Other:
17. Finalidade *
18. Onde prevê que a harmonização/complemetarização do eTOM e COBIT5 pode ajudar asua organizaçãoCaso não prevê nenhum beneficio, por favor escreva: NONE
19. Como avalia a proposta de enriquecer o eTOM services deliver com a harmonização ecomplementação do COBIT5 DSSMark only one oval.
1 2 3 4 5
20. Que dificuldades prevê na sua implementaçãoMark only one oval.
Internal Culture
Positioning of the Frameworks against your business and each other
Technical differences (terminologies, purposes...)
All above
Other:
21. Derivado da sua experiencia, possui alguma situação, materia ou case study que permitacontribuir para o trabalho desenvolvido eTOM & COBIT5
22. Autoriza ser citado no estudo desenvolvidoSerá citado como executivo tecnológico da empresa em questão.Mark only one oval.
Sim
Não
70
CWeb Summit 2016: Volunteer
Certification
71
72
Certificate of Appreciation
Presented to
www.websummit.net
In recognition of volunteering at
2016
DANIELOLIM
73
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