Future Operations Support Services for Digital Operations ... · ditional support throughout my life, for being an example, and for teaching me to be better every day. Thank you dad,

Future Operations Support Services for Digital OperationsTransformation

Carolina Castanheira Pereira Fernandes

Thesis to obtain the Master of Science Degree in

Information Systems and Computer Engineering

Supervisor: Prof. Rui Antonio dos Santos Cruz

Examination Committee

Chairperson: Prof. Alberto Manuel Rodrigues da SilvaSupervisor: Prof. Rui Antonio dos Santos Cruz

Member of the Committee: Prof. Miguel Leitao Bignolas Mira da Silva

May 2019

Acknowledgments

This dissertation marks the end of the best five years of my life as a student. I want to thank all my

friends and family who have been part of this journey and have always been there for me. I want to

express my gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Rui Cruz for the support, confidence, patience, motivation,

enthusiasm and guidance that he gave me during the writing of this thesis. Undoubtedly one of the best

teachers with whom I had the privilege of learning.

I also want to thank the best mother in the world for being always present and for being an uncon-

ditional support throughout my life, for being an example, and for teaching me to be better every day.

Thank you dad, grandparents, uncles and cousins, for all the love, and encouragement throughout all

these years. Without this great family things would not have been the same.

Thank you Fatima, for all the help and patience in this phase of pressure, you were incredible. Thank

you Antonio and RAS for the understanding and time made available, it was crucial for this work to be

submitted. A special thanks also to Francisco C., Pedro R., Jose P., Alexandre M. and Miguel G. for the

availability and prompt collaboration.

Last but not least, a special thanks to Diogo for all the friendship, love, patience and support over the

last 5 years.

Thank you all. To each and every one of you - Thank you.

Abstract

The problem between Over-the-Top (OTT) and Communication Services Provider (CSP), namely for

multimedia streaming services, is not new and has been a topic much discussed in the TM Forum. At

time of writing, a technical solution that would benefit both parties has not yet been presented. With the

existing model (no integration), both OTTs and CSPs are dissatisfied. Having this concern in mind, a

Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) was used to guide this work, a proposal for a technical

solution that can be beneficial to both parties and can potentially solve the existing conflicts. The so-

lution presents the design of Business Processes showing how to integrate the OTT platforms in CSP

Operations. Some hypothetical, but close to reality, scenarios were defined in order to show how the

model could be applied. The design of the models incorporates information and suggestions collected

from national CSPs. To assess the accuracy of the methodology, a set of interviews were conducted

with industry experts, who evaluated each model of the solution. A set of surveys from users of these

types of services was also conducted, in order to understand their opinion about the ideas used in the

construction of the model.

Keywords

Over-the-Top (OTT); Communication Services Provider (CSP); TM Forum; Design Science Research

Methodology (DSRM); Business Processes

iii

Resumo

O problema entre Prestadores de Servicos atraves da Internet (OTT), e Operadoras de Servicos de

Comunicacoes (CSP), nomeadamente nos servicos de difusao de multimedia, nao e recente e tem sido

um topico muito discutido no TM Forum. Ate ao momento, uma solucao tecnica que beneficie ambas

as partes nao foi ainda apresentada. Com o modelo existente (sem integracao), tanto os OTTs como

as Operadoras estao insatisfeitos. Tendo esta preocupacao em mente, foi utilizada a Metodologia de

Pesquisa cientıfica em Design Science (DSRM) para orientar este trabalho e a proposta de uma solucao

tecnica que pode ser benefica para ambas as partes e potencialmente resolver os conflitos existentes.

A solucao apresenta o desenho de Processos de Negocios que mostram como integrar as plataformas

OTT nas operacoes do CSP. Alguns cenarios hipoteticos, mas proximos da realidade, foram definidos

para demonstrar como o modelo podera ser aplicado. O desenho dos modelos incorpora informacoes e

sugestoes coletadas de CSPs nacionais. Para aferir sobre a precisao da metodologia, foram realizadas

entrevistas com especialistas na area que avaliaram cada modelo da solucao. Foram tambem efectu-

ados inqueritos a utilizadores deste tipo de servicos, de modo a perceber as suas opinioes relativas a

ideias utilizadas na construcao dos modelos.

Palavras Chave

Over-the-Top (OTT); Communication Services Provider (CSP); TM Forum; Design Science Research

Methodology (DSRM); Processos de Negocio.

v

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Identify Problem and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.2 Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.3 Document structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Fundamental Concepts 9

2.1 OTTs and CSPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.2 Advanced Infrastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.2.1 SDN and NFV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.2.2 Microservices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.2.3 Cloudification: PaaS, Iaas and SaaS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.2.4 Operations Support Systems (OSS)/Business Support Systems (BSS) . . . . . . . 20

2.2.5 Modeling Languages and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.2.5.A Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.2.5.B Unified Modelling Language (UML) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.2.5.C Archimate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.2.5.D Flowchart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2.2.6 Frameworx (eTOM standard) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3 Related Work 27

3.1 “Next Generation Telco Architecture” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3.2 “Future Operation Support Services” by Huawei and Orange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4 Proposed Solution 33

4.1 AS-IS operators’ service distribution model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.2 TO-BE operators’ service distribution model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.3 New Models and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.3.1 Product definition and provisioning diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.3.2 Product Viewpoint - Bundles diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

vii

4.3.3 Membership Flow Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

4.3.4 Class Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4.3.5 Permissions to access an OTT service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.3.6 Reference process flow Order-to-Payment (Level 2 and Level 3) . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.3.7 Order Processing (Level 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4.3.8 Usage-to-Payment process (Level 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

4.3.9 Payment (Level 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

5 Demonstration 49

5.1 Demonstration Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5.2 Case Study #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5.3 Case Study #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

5.4 Case Study #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.5 Case Study #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

6 Evaluation 55

6.1 Assessment of the survey results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

6.2 Interviews results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

7 Conclusion 63

7.1 Discussion and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

7.2 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

7.3 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

A OTTs and CSPs Survey 71

B Interviews 75

C Level 4 Proceses 81

viii

List of Figures

1.1 Worldwide development of telecommunications subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.2 DSRM process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.1 Netflix subscribers vs. cable pay-TV subscribers in the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.2 % of U.S.A. citizens that use cable or satellite subscription. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.3 Typical Business Modedels of OTTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.4 Strategic options for action for telecommunications providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.5 Software Defined Networking (SDN) architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.6 Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2.7 Microservices reference architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.8 Separation of Responsibilities for Cloud-based services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.9 Differentiation between BSS and OSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.10 Frameworx components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.11 The eTOM Model - Level 1: Decomposition and Level 2: Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.1 BSS/OSS API Fabric Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.2 Future OSS Functional Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4.1 Operators´ service distribution model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.2 Flexible data structure for product definition and provisioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

4.3 Product Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

4.4 Membership Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

4.5 Class Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.6 Sequence diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.7 Level 1 - Reference process flow Order-to-Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4.8 Level 3 - Process elements in Order-to-payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4.9 Level 4 - Order processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.10 Service Processes (Level 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

ix

4.11 Level 4 - Product Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

4.12 Level 4 - Payment Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

6.1 The graph presents the results obtained for the question: Indicate your level of agreement

towards the following sentence: “It would be interesting to include OTT services in the

bundles offered by my CSP”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57


towards the following sentence: “I consider that accessing OTT services from the box on

my television would also be an advantage”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58


towards the following sentence: “Joint billing would be a good option for me”. . . . . . . . 58

C.1 Level 4 - Add Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

C.2 Level 4 - Change Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

C.3 Level 4 - Remove Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

List of Tables

3.1 Comparison between today’s and target Architectures of Telcos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

x

Acronyms

API Application Program Interface

BPMN Business Process Model and Notation

BSS Business Support Systems

CDN Content Distribution Network

CSP Communication Services Provider

DNS Domain Name Service

DSRM Design Science Research Methodology

DSR Design Science Research

DSL Digital Subscriber Line

eTOM Enhanced Telecom Operations Map

IA Information Architecture

IPDR IP Detail Record

ISP Internet Service Provider

IT Information Technology

IaaS Infrastructure as a Service

NAT Network Address Translation

NFV Network Functions Virtualization

OSS Operations Support Systems

OTT Over-the-Top

xi

ONF Open Networking Foundation

OMG Object Management Group

PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

PaaS Platform as a Service

SDN Software Defined Networking

SMS Short Message Service

SS Support Services

SaaS Software as a Service

SID Shared Information/Data Model

TAM Telecom Application Map

UHD Ultra High Definition

UML Unified Modelling Language

UDR Usage Detail Record

IS Information System

xii

1Introduction

Contents

1.1 Identify Problem and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.2 Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.3 Document structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1

2

In the last few decades, the telecommunications industry has undergone enormous changes. In

the past, telecommunications operators were in full control of the few services provided (Telephony and

Connectivity), technically managing their fixed-line and mobile radio communications infrastructures,

basing their business model on long-term infrastructure investments that were financed through usage-

based subscriptions and connection commissions (leased lines). However, the changes that this industry

has undergone after deregulation in all countries, due to direct competition and from services provided

over the Internet offered by “unsuspected” players, have jeopardized their traditional business models,

therefore bringing huge challenges and even threats to their survival.

The global evolution of telecommunications subscriptions can be observed in Figure 1.1. Fixed lines

have suffered constant downturn during this last decade and, in the meantime, mobile-cellular and,

especially, mobile broadband have increased exponentially [1].

Figure 1.1: Worldwide development of telecommunications subscriptions. Source: [1]

It was mandatory that the industry reacted as data consumption and competitiveness grew. In truth,

telecommunication operating companies are investing enormously in their Business Support Systems

(BSS) and Operations Support Systems (OSS) as they try to handle the lack of automation, redundant

operations and inflexibility so that they can thrive in this new digital service future [2].

In order to be prepared to offer their services with much more flexibility and customization power,

3

future Support Services (SS) need to be designed so that they can replace the traditional silos between

different OSS/BSS processes with a solid architecture that can support the changes in digital operations

and deliver orchestration and autonomic principles for Fulfillment and Assurance areas of those Support

Services [3].

This necessity is a result of the appearance of the so called Over-the-Top (OTT) providers, which

due to the propagation of IP-based telecommunication networks has made it easier for the decoupling of

application and network layers and enabled those OTT providers to deliver their services, contents and

applications directly to end consumers, competing against similar services provided by the traditional

telecommunications operators.

Since OTTs deliver their services over the Internet, they “make use” of the operators infrastructures

without any type of costs or regulation associated to them. Operators are therefore seen as mere “bitpipe

providers” because they do not “know” or control the type of contents and applications from the Internet,

that their networks carry to their own customers. Because of the increasing amount of data that passes

through their channels, which, ultimately, tends to congest the operator’s network, they have found it

essential to build and upgrade their networks at a faster pace, which in turn brought them even more

OTT traffic [4].

The traditional operators, although trying to compete with OTTs by widening their Service Portfolio,

their main worry is that these OTT companies offer services that are extremely similar to theirs, which

starts to pose a credible and quantifiable threat to their revenues. To be able to turn the tables, telecom-

munication operators have begun to realize that the time has come to invest strongly and increasingly in

new applications, process automation, networks and customer care in order to differentiate from com-

petition (other operators, as well as OTTs). However, data and mobile usage keep growing, and network

technologies are still in dire need to some kind of modernization [1].

From the OTTs side, we can state that not all is easy, as they also face a few challenges that must be

overcome. OTTs offer their services over the Internet (best-effort networking) that usually provides just

enough quality for casual communications, and so, even in a “Net Neutrality” situation, they still cannot

guarantee adequate quality for professional communications such as in E-health, or pre and after sales

support, important features which operators still offer with pronounced value and worth.

In this basis, a structured transformation of organization, processes, applications, data and network

technologies is an essential factor for success.

In our study we will focus on multimedia streaming services that are a strong favorite for the “on

demand” experience and the main challenge to Communication Services Providers (CSPs). We will

have as foundation for this research the work being developed by the TM Forum 1, that specifies a set

the best practices and standards and has a model that is acknowledged and well known, as well as

1www.tmforum.org

4

www.tmforum.org

contributed by the entire telecommunications industry and can be seen as the de facto standard [1].

Currently, the TM Forum is deliberating on how to give an answer and find a balanced and well-

adjusted solution to these setbacks that are affecting operators directly and OTTs. In the next sections

we will present some important topics and possible solutions for this problem.

1.1 Identify Problem and Objectives

This section is related with the “Problem Identification & Motivation”, the first step of Design Science

Research (DSR) model and related with the “Define Objectives of a Solution”, the second step of DSR

model, introduced in Section 1.2 as the research methodology used in this work.

In order to better understand the relevance of the theme of our work, both CSPs and OTTs were

asked what their opinion was regarding the topic presented, as well as its relevance.

Previously, we explained the purpose for choosing this subject, then we synthesize the problem for

this thesis and then present the goal of our work.

The journey has just begun for CSPs and OTTs. In view of the context given above, we realize that

there is a very important prerequisite: CSPs and OTTs have to work together and reach an agreement

that will be beneficial for both parties involved as to meet the challenges that technology development

brings. In essence, the problem is that current Operation and Business Support services of CSPs do not

include a joint model with external OTT providers and their Service Platforms. To find a solution for this

drawback, it is necessary to restructure BSS/OSS in order to support digital operations transformations

and provide orchestration and automation principles for the fulfillment and assurance areas related with

services offered by OTT, but in partnership with the CSP.

It is therefore the purpose of the work in this thesis to study and conceive an architectural vision

on how to design (and possibly build) future Support Services including a technical joint model with

OTT providers, which allows to combining these partners and their products into the CSP network and

BSS/OSS processes.

1.2 Research Methodology

This thesis follows the values and principles of the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) in

Information System (IS). As a problem-solving model, DSRM recapitulates the creation and assessment

of a ground-breaking Information Technology (IT) artifac, called “design artifact”, in order to attend to

an important organizational problem. Constructs (vocabulary and symbols), models (abstractions and

representations), methods (algorithms and practices) and instantiations (implemented and prototype

systems) are considered design artifacts. As a result of the feedback offered by assessment phases,

5

this iterative approach aims to enhance both the quality and process of the design artifact.

Design-science research products must look for veracity (justified theory) and utility (effective arti-

facts) and must be evaluated when it comes to its practical implications [5]. Consequently, a design

artifact must be evaluated regarding its utility, quality and efficacy.

DSRM, a methodology proposed by Peffers et al. for the production and presentation of DSR in IS,

is made up of six phases [6]:

• Phase 1: Problem identification and motivation. Describe and identify the research issue,

justifying the solution’s importance;

• Phase 2: Define the solution’s goals. Derive the goals from the problem definition, taking into

consideration what is possible and feasible;

• Phase 3: Design and development. Once determined its desired functionality and architecture,

create the design research artifact;

• Phase 4: Demonstration. To work out one or more instances of the problem show how to use

the artifact, which can be accomplished through experimentation, simulation, case study, proof or

other applicable activity;

• Phase 5: Evaluation. Observe and assess how well the artifact supports a solution to the problem.

This involves comparing the solution’s goal with the demonstration results;

• Phase 6: Communication. Communicate the problem and its value, the artifact, its functionality

and originality, the thoroughness of its design and its effectiveness to relevant audiences.

The mapping between the process steps and the structure of this work is presented in Figure 1.2.

Identify Problem &Motivate

Define Objectivesof a Solution

Infe

renc

e

Theo

ry

Demonstration

How

to K

now

ledg

e

Met

rics,

Ana

lysi

s, K

now

ledg

e

Dis

cipl

inar

y Kn

owle

dge

Evaluation CommunicationDesign &Development

Process Iteration

Possible Research Entrypoints

Current OSS/BSSdo not include ajoint model withOTT providers

Dissertation

Paper

Case Studies Models

Interviews

Surveys

Case Studies

A model thatenablescollaborationbetween bothservice providersand is beneficial toboth parties

Model that allow theintegration of theOTTs platform intothe operators'platform. OTTfunctions as a CSPplatform service

Figure 1.2: DSRM process (adapted from [6])

6

1.3 Document structure

The remaining of this dissertation is structured as follows:

• Chapter 2 - Fundamental Concepts and State of the Art - Provides a theoretical background,

containing a clarification of the most important concepts for the report;

• Chapter 3 - Related Work - Provide a related work regarding the scope of this research;

• Chapter 4 - Proposed Solution - Describes the proposed solution artifact and the elements that

support it.

• Chapter 5 -Demonstration - Demonstrates the usage of the solution artifact in distinct case stud-

ies.

• Chapter 6 - Evaluation - Provides an assessment of the solution to the identified problem through

interviews and surveys;

• Chapter 7 -Conclusion- Presents an overview of the present research work and future work.

7

8

2Fundamental Concepts

Contents

2.1 OTTs and CSPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.2 Advanced Infrastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

9

10

This chapter, presents and discusses the main concepts and technologies, related and addressed in

the thesis work.

2.1 OTTs and CSPs

An OTT is any service that is provided over the Internet up to the end user and not delivered directly by

an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or CSP. In other words, OTT companies do not hold or control any

Internet service or infrastructure, since, theirs are offered directly to the end consumers by using the

local operator’s infrastructure without incurring in costs and not subject to regulations.

Figure 2.1: Netflix subscribers vs. cable pay-TV subscribers in the U.S.A. Source: [7]

With the emergence of OTT, there was a turn from traditional telephony to OTT Communications and

a substitution of Short Message Service (SMS) by OTT applications such as WhatsApp1.

Traditional Broadcast services (radio, television, news, audio and video transmission) are also being

replaced by multimedia streaming applications like Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO, Apple music/TV, Spotify,

Youtube Music, TIDAL, among others.

Figure 2.1 shows that Netflix, an OTT player, managed to overcome a major cable provider in the

United States of America and Figure 2.2 shows that young adults, nowadays, watch less television,

preferring Internet-based streaming services.

It becomes therefore obvious that operators face a massive challenge making it essential that they

react quickly in order to keep up with today’s technological advances.

1www.whatsapp.com

11

www.whatsapp.com

Figure 2.2: % of U.S.A. citizens that use cable or satellite subscription, online streaming service and digital antenna.Source: [8]

Although many OTT are successful in monetizing their services, they are however using the infras-

tructures of Telcos, which are payed by the consumers within their flat-rate data plans. But this model is

the “kiss of death” for the Telco own services, for which the consumer pays per-use [9].

The business models of OTT Services, described in Figure 2.3, rely deeply on competition, the

market, and customer segmentation and are based upon the following revenue sources [9,10]:

Subscription based: Customers must pay a periodical fee in order to benefit the service;

Usage/Transaction: Specific transaction or the resources used and benefited by costumers must

be payed;

Advertisements: Suppliers sell different kinds of advertisements based on the attention that cos-

tumers pay to a given site or service;

Donations: Some platforms (such as Wikipedia) that are funded by donations (Crowd Funding);

Freemium: Customers may benefit freely from the basic features, however to have access to pre-

mium or convenience features, users are charged a determined sum;

Monetization of Information: Suppliers pay these for users to disclose information about them-

selves.

As described in [9] it is possible to identify eight strategic options for telecommunication operator

when dealing with OTT players. Those strategies are represented in Figure 2.4, namely:

The Zero Option: No action is taken against OTTs. OTT services are seen as a disadvantage to

flate-rate contracts, but are seen as beneficial to the “pay as you use” contract models.

The Defense Strategy: This strategy has two approaches:

12

is partnering with OTTs in a way which is less destructive for the industry—offeringstreaming options and premium pricing for advertisement-free services.

Traditionally network operators invested in networks because they generatedrevenues with the provision of content. Assuming that excess capacity would alwaysbe available, flat rate tariff plans emerged. This is no longer true. Telcos are paid flatrates for the use of their capacity while their role is reduced to that of a wholesaler. Atthe same time prices for wholesale services are often regulated at a restrictive cost-oriented level. On top of this net neutrality rules made it impossible to offerdifferentiated QoS and prices. Profits and thus the incentive to invest came to acertain extent from peering/transit agreements—and from income earned with thenetwork operator’s own service and content provision. This is no longer true.

In the specific case of cloud services this problem is particularly acute. Cloudservices need a highly resilient network and the synchronization of data to numerousdevices demands significant capacity. This in turn requires investments which arepaid back after years. But the increasingly wholesale nature of the Telco’s business,the international nature of many cloud service providers (giving them access tonumerous alternative network operators) and, last but not least, the upcomingdemand for and obligation to provide data portability combine to ensure that Telcos

OTT Comms OTT Media Content Commerce Services Social Media

New services enabled by internet network effects.

Collect and sell knowledge about individual for advertising and market research

Mainly private users

Advertising (targeted due to knowledge of user); Product placement

Outsource IT storage and provide alternative bus models for software/platform/infrastructure provision. Substitute trade business models

Mainly Businesses B2B; private users to some extend

Volume-based pricing; time-based pricing; Subscriptions

Marketplaces. Substitute/add sales channels for traditional shops; Facilitate international commerce and payments

Businesses B2B; private users

Margins, Transaction fees

New services enabled by internet network effects.

Gaming substitute for traditional gaming

.

Mainly private and corporate users

Advertising (targeted due to knowledge of user); Pay per click

New services enabled by internet

Provide video and music on demand. Substitute for MP3/CD/DVD/RADIO/Video Shops/Pay TV

Private users

Basic Service free of charge; Advertising, Subscriptions, Pay per use

Substitute traditional Telco services with low/no pricing strategy – once market share gained, pricing models expected to change

Private users; expanding into business users with VoIP now

Services often free of charge; Connection to PSTN against payment; Manual subscription fee

Strategy

Target Customers

Revenue Sources

Fig. 1 Summary of the OTT business models

242 M. Steingröver et al.

Figure 2.3: Typical Business Modedels of OTTs. Source: [9]

a) Data Capping: This approach highlights the implementation of customer-friendly integrated

rate plans, attractive to the customer, which makes the use of OTTs by customers ineffective.

The introduction of data capping also helps to reduce OTT service traffic.

b) Network Slicing: The possibility to offer specific business customers network slices with

specific resources and network related services features in terms of speed, reliability, security

latency etc., are a characteristic of Software Defined Networking (SDN).

The Attack Strategy: This strategy normally leads to:

a) Blocking or throttling OTT services, which can be a weak option in the sense that, customers

may get a negative view of the Operator if their favorite services are blocked or have poor

definition. Modern regulation of Net Neutrality would not normally allow this tactical approach.

b) Emulate OTT Services, allowing Operators to add their own services and platforms to compete

with OTT services, integrating them into their rate plans. However, the development of own

13

Figure 2.4: Strategic options for action for telecommunications providers Source: [11]

services involves large expenses. Regulatory constraints are low for this approach.

The Cooperative Strategy: Three approaches can be considered:

a) Product Partnership: This cooperation variant relies on strategic partnerships with one or

more OTTs aimed at securing a useful supplement to the Operator’s own service portfolio or

to determine directly the price structure for the utilization of the various OTT services by im-

plementing innovative rate plans. An additional advantage for the telecommunications provider

would be that it could benefit from the OTT’s brand name and positioning.

b) Sponsored Data Approach: This approach seeks to offer preferred access to selected OTT

services to consumers. In this case, the costs are supported by the OTT provider or are “spon-

sored” by the usage.

c) Acquisition of OTTs: This approach is a cooperation option and is characterized by the com-

plete or partial acquisition of OTTs, allowing the differentiation of the service portfolio.

A “Do nothing” strategy will not work and result in Telcos becoming just “bit-pipe” providers with strong

effects on employment and profitability. Many “attack strategies” are blocked by current regulations in

may countries. “Cooperation strategies” are good short term strategies, but may not differentiate much

in competition if many Telcos follow such approach. Therefore “defense strategies” with data capping in

the short term and network slicing in the medium term may be the recommendable way for most Telcos.

For Telcos preferring partnership models, the cooperation can enable and simplify the creation of

new revenues if they sell premium OTT services and agree on revenue sharing.

Highly dependent on multimedia streaming services, customers currently demand high service qual-

ity. However, the Internet communication and diffusion varies greatly, from a transmission through a

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), namely with Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), in which the

14

end-to-end service quality may not be certain, up to a fiber-to-the-home connection with high service

quality. This is an important topic in our analysis related with the principle of “Net Neutrality”, which

is that any ISP must treat all traffic likewise (i.e., not discriminating or charging differently) regardless

of its origin, destination or content. In fact, this is the methodology that content providers prefer. Yet,

this means that operators are not allowed to differentiate traffic and as a consequence makes it difficult

for them to provide superior quality to their own services. Nevertheless, though rarely reported, it is

now common practice for operators to “regulate” the bandwidth in the case of extreme volumes of data

transfer, e.g., streaming of Ultra High Definition (UHD) multimedia contents, from external entities.

Thus, a strategy based in collaboration and mutual cooperation will be the approach that will be used

in our solution, in order to benefit both parties and resolve existing conflicts.

2.2 Advanced Infrastructures

In this section we will present some techniques/methods that can be used to facilitate the configuration

of services and reduce the development time of new ones.

2.2.1 SDN and NFV

For quicker and more cost-effective networking, a new network architecture has been developed: the

SDN [12]. The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is taking the lead in SDN development and stan-

dardization, and has defined an architecture model, as depicted in Figure 2.5.

The SDN Architecture follows a layered approach (Figure 2.5), separating the Control Plane from the

Data Plane in network devices, that are accessible by Applications through open Application Program

Interfaces (APIs):

• The Application Layer is made up of the end-user SDN applications that use the SDN communi-

cations services. The limit between the Application Layer and Control Layer is crossed by the so

called “northbound” API;

• The Control Layer is responsible for delivering the established control functionality that oversees

the network forwarding behavior through an open, programmatic interface (i.e., API);

• The Infrastructure Layer is made up of the physical or virtual network features and devices that

stipulate packet switching and forwarding.The limit between the Control Layer and the Infrastruc-

ture Layer is crossed by the so called “southbound” API; OpenFlow is the most well-known protocol

for the southbound API;

According to this model, SDN architectures are characterized by the following three key attributes [12]:

15

Figure 2.5: SDN architecture, source: [12]

Logically centralized intelligence: In an SDN architecture, a standardized southbound interface

such as OpenFlow is used to decouple network control from forwarding functions. By concentrating

network intelligence, decision-making is made much easier founded on a large scale and global view

of the network. Currently, networks are built instead on a self-sufficient system view, where nodes

are unaware of the global state of the network, which restricts network control flexibility;

Programmability: SDN networks are fundamentally controlled by software functionality, which may

be provided by dealers or the actual end users. Network control capabilities rooted into the Control

Layer are called “network services”. Conventional network automated management is made possible

by Network programmability. This automation has also been influenced by the prompt acceptance

and use of cloud-based infrastructure and services. SDN networks can accomplish unparalleled

modernization and diversity by providing open APIs for applications that interact with the network;

Abstraction: SDN applications that use SDN services are abstracted from the primary network

technologies. This allows a common control layer to endure an assorted range of applications and

simultaneously give support to equipment and technologies in the Infrastructure layer from multiple

vendors, as well as supporting the required level of flexibility and scalability (through segmentation

of the network). Open SDN also delivers remarkable opportunity for configuration and service au-

tomation management in a vendor-independent fashion. Automation ensures close-fitting coupling of

the network operations with business objectives and the anticipated quality of experience, ultimately

allowing increased service speed while streamlining network operations.

Design, deployment and management of networking services benefit from another new derived con-

16

cept, the Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), since it offers an innovative way to handle those

network services (functions). NFV decouples the network tasks, such as Network Address Transla-

tion (NAT), firewalling, intrusion detection, Domain Name Service (DNS) and caching, from proprietary

hardware appliances so they can run in software and in a distributed way [3].

Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is designed to merge and deliver the networking mechanisms

that are required to support a fully virtualized infrastructure — including virtual servers, storage, and even

other networks. It uses standard IT virtualization technologies that run on high-volume service, switch

and storage hardware to virtualize network functions. It can be applied on any data plane processing or

control plane function in both wired and wireless network infrastructures [3], as illustrated in Figure 2.6.

Figure 2.6: NFV

NFV virtualizes network services via software to enable operators to:

• Reduce CapEx: In order to eliminate wasteful over-provisioning, this reduces the need to acquire

purpose-built hardware and supporting pay-as-you-grow models

• Reduce OpEX: decreasing space, power and cooling needs of equipment and enabling the roll

out and management of network services to be more simpler and easier;

• Accelerate Time-to-Market: decreasing the time to position new networking services to support

changing business requirements, capture new market opportunities and enhancing return on new

service investments. It also reduces the threats that are related with new services development,

allowing providers to easily test and develop services to delimit what best meets customer needs;

• Deliver Agility and Flexibility: quickly scale up or down services to address shifting needs;

17

support improvement and advancement by letting services be delivered through software on any

industry-standard server hardware.

As described above telecom operators face great challenges, due to the elevated traffic level con-

sumption propelled by OTT contents. The available management solutions are hardly adapted to this

reality, and, as a result, static management practices and systems are not well suited to the dynamic

and busy nature of Ethernet / IP networks.

SDN and NFV provide a level of flexibility and agility that should make it easier for more atomic, or

more fine-tuned service configuration, decreasing the time needed to introduce new ones. The ability

to monitor activity and trigger actions in real-time can be used by OSS/BSS systems to trigger re-

configuration of the network using SDN and NFV.

Accordingly, the use of SDN and NFV enables telecommunication operators to improve the way they

manage the introduction of services and the growth of consumption triggered by OTT services [13].

One example of that flexibility, is the capability of setting up and tearing down specific end-to-end traf-

fic flow in real-time, for a certain service and only while that service is being provided (e.g., a multimedia

UHD stream of a Movie, from an OTT delivery point/server up to the end-user TV, crossing several

networks and Autonomous Systems). This type of capability is not possible with traditional network

architectures.

2.2.2 Microservices

A Microservice can be defined as a process of developing software applications as a collection of small,

independently deployable, modular services in which, each service, runs a distinctive process and com-

municates through a precise, lightweight tool to serve a business goal [14].

Microservices are typically positioned in multiple instances for availability and reliability. Each mi-

croservice contains a local library that controls how microservices communicate with each other. The

local library also implements additional performance for microservices such as logging, tracing, and

configuration [14], as illustrated in Figure 2.7.

The concept of Application Containers enables finer-grained execution environments and permit ap-

plication isolation. As such they are great enablers for microservices applications, as Containers en-

capsulate discrete components of application logic provisioned only with the minimal resources needed

to work, and because Containers are more efficient at initialization (they can start in seconds, or even

milliseconds).

This concept may be interesting in the context of our thesis, since the proposed architecture may

be based on microservices and, furthermore, the interactions of the business process can be directly

managed by microservices.

18

Figure 2.7: Microservices reference architecture. Source: [15]

2.2.3 Cloudification: PaaS, Iaas and SaaS

We can define Software as a Service (SaaS) as a software distribution model in which applications are

hosted by a retailer or service provider and is made accessible to customers over a network, typically

the Internet.

As for Platform as a Service (PaaS), it can be defined as a model used to deliver complex services

over the Internet without need for downloading or installation of applications. PaaS is a framework where

developers can build or tailor applications in a fast, simple and cost-effective manner [16].

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are self-service models for accessing, monitoring, and managing

remote datacenter infrastructures, such as compute, storage, networking, and networking services (e.g.,

firewalls). Instead of having to purchase hardware directly, users can buy IaaS based on utilization,

working in a similar way as electricity or other service billing. In Figure 2.8, the legacy Enterprise IT,

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS responsibilities are compared.

Finally, it is important to remember that PaaS solutions allow new applications to be developed using

standard building blocks. A building block library is improved with components that are reusable. In

the infrastructure Layer, IT infrastructure must grow and evolve to adopt cloud technologies (IaaS), thus

fulfilling business needs that require agility and rapid deployment.

19

Figure 2.8: Separation of Responsibilities for Cloud-based services. Source: [17]

2.2.4 Operations Support Systems (OSS)/Business Support Systems (BSS)

OSS and BSS are used to support all the telecommunication services of a CSP [18].

On the one hand, Communication Services Provider (CSP) use BSS to run their customer-oriented

business operation processes, such as “order management” or “customer management”.

Figure 2.9: Differentiation between BSS and OSS, source: [1]

On the other hand, OSS are used to manage the infrastructure (networks, Services Platforms and

support functions) with all “service Fulfillment” processes for provisioning and activation (including net-

work configuration), and “service assurance” (including monitoring and problem management). OSS are

20

designed to help reduce the overall operating costs and improve efficiency, through automation of the

key workflows of the operations processes.

Both services help sustain the management of a telecommunications service provider infrastructure,

as illustrated in Figure 2.9.

2.2.5 Modeling Languages and Tools

In this section we will briefly describe four modeling languages that will be used in the design of our

solution.

2.2.5.A Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN)

The BPMN [19] was originally developed by the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) and

since 2005 has been maintained by the Object Management Group (OMG).

BPMN provides a graphical notation for business process specification, based on a flowcharting

technique very similar to the activity diagrams of the Unified Modelling Language (UML) [19]. Its main

objective is to support business process management by providing a notation understandable by all

business stakeholders while also being able to represent complex process semantics.

2.2.5.B Unified Modelling Language (UML)

UML is a modeling language to software engineering, that provides a standard way to visualize the

design of a system.

OMG adopted UML [20] as a standard in 1997, and in 2005 UML was also published by the Interna-

tional Organization for Standardization (ISO) as an approved ISO Standard.

2.2.5.C Archimate

Archimate is an enterprise architecture modeling language and a standard of The OMG [21]. ArchiMate

distinguishes itself from other modeling languages such as UML and BPMN by its enterprise modeling

scope. Thus, Archimate not only supports the description of business processes but also organizational

structures, information flows and IT systems and infrastructures.

The Archimate core framework is composed by three layers, that represent the levels at which an

enterprise can be modeled; the Business Layer to model business architecture; the Application Layer

to model application architecture; and the Technology Layer to model technology architecture of an

organization.

21

2.2.5.D Flowchart

In the 1960s, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) established standards for flowcharts and

their symbols. In 1970 the ISO adopted the ANSI symbols. In 1985, the current standard, ISO 5807,

was revised.

A Flowchart is a diagram which represents the sequence of actions in a particular process or activity.

2.2.6 Frameworx (eTOM standard)

The TM Forum is a neutral, non-profit member organization that promotes collaboration and collective

problem-solving in order to maximize the success of (tele)communications- and digital services providers

and their supplier ecosystem [22].

The TM Forum community was responsible for creating the Frameworx, a suite of best practices

and standards that enable a service-oriented, highly automated and efficient approach to business op-

erations. The TM Forum’s Frameworx was used as the basis for the development work in our thesis.

Frameworx delivers standardized Business Metrics that the industry has embraced and allows for

benchmarking, as well as an assembly of interfaces and Open APIs that allow integration across systems

and platforms. Companies also benefit from Frameworx since it also helps implement and use top

standard and management processes to guarantee ongoing conformance [23].

The TM Forum maintains industry standards for describing system functionality, processes and ex-

change of data under the Frameworx suite key components, such as the Enhanced Telecom Oper-

ations Map (eTOM) [24, 25], the Telecom Application Map (TAM) [26] and Shared Information/Data

Model (SID) [27].

As depicted in Figure 2.10, the components that define Frameworx are:

• Business Process Framework (eTOM)

• Information Framework (SID)

• Application Framework (TAM)

• Integration Framework

• Business Metrics

• Best Practices

eTOM is by itself a business Process Framework that designates the interaction of the processes

between different stakeholders in the telecommunications value chain and also contains cross-functional

views that show how process components span horizontally across a company, allowing for superior

detail in decoding the interaction process throughout the organization.

22

Figure 2.10: Frameworx components

According to the eTOM model, all company business processes are divided into three vertical func-

tional groups in its first level of specification, as illustrated in Figure 2.11a [28]:

Strategy, Infrastructure & Product: This group contains merged business-processes linked with

strategy development, building of infrastructure, product development and management (services),

as well as sale channel establishment and management;

Operational management: This group is the main part of all the practice and is made up of all the

processes associated with customer service maintenance and management: supporting operations,

sales and relationship management with suppliers and partners, quality assurance and billing;

Enterprise Management: This group includes the core business-processes that are essential to

support the undertakings of the company: financial management, human resource, risk, etc.

The Information Framework delivers a reference model for all the information that is needed to imple-

ment the Business Process Framework processes, reducing system and services integration complexity,

development and design by offering an off-the-shelf information model that can be quickly adopted by

all parties [27].

The Application Framework offers a common-sense grouping of applications, defining what func-

tionality is offered by each application. It also allows for a mutual language between communities who

specify, acquire, design, and sell operation and business support systems, making it possible to under-

stand each other’s viewpoints [23].

The Integration Framework is a set of criteria that supports the interoperability in-between applica-

23

tions outlined in the Application Framework via TM Forum interfaces.

(a) eTOM Level 1.

(b) eTom Level 2.

Figure 2.11: The eTOM Model - Level 1: Decomposition and Level 2: Processes

The interfaces are defined in terms of the Information Framework’s entities/attributes, and the neces-

sities for the interfaces from a business process perspective, which comes from the Business Process

Framework.

TM Forum’s Business Metrics deliver a well-adjusted scorecard transversely through finance, cus-

tomer and operations areas [29]:

24

• Revenue and Margin: financial performance (e.g., OpEx) as a % of revenue or regained outflow;

• Customer Experience: indicators from the customer’s view of the business;

• Operational Efficiency: indicators related to the key operational process areas of Fulfillment,

Assurance, Billing.

Best Practices provide useful and practical tools that balance Frameworx and help to improve end-

to-end services management across complex, multi-partner environments.

For our thesis we have focused on eTOM which is used to describe and position OSS/BSS systems

and processes in relation to one another.

25

26

3Related Work

Contents

3.1 “Next Generation Telco Architecture” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3.2 “Future Operation Support Services” by Huawei and Orange . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

27

28

In this section, we present and discuss the works of “Next Generation Telco Architecture”, by Deloitte

and the “Future Operation Support Services” by Huawei and Orange.

3.1 “Next Generation Telco Architecture”

An architecture that can answer to the future of the Telco business needs has been studied, to a great

extent, by Lorenzo Cerulli and other authors. This theoretical Telco architecture is founded on an “API

Fabric” model that depends on microservices, “softwarized” infrastructures and big data abilities that

determine the features of the current IT architectures of the Telco industry, comparing it ( Table 3.1) to

the proposed “next generation” architecture [30].

Table 3.1: Comparison between today’s and target Architectures of Telcos

Today Target

RigidEach evolutionary requirement involvesdevelopment of multiple components,interfaces, platforms,etc.

Flexible It is possible to modify or add newfunctionalities rapidly.

Slow Development of a new application takesmonths or years. Fast Development of a new application takes

weeks instead of months or years.

Closed Limited integration with externalenvironments. Open It is simple to integrate internal,

applications with external entities.

Complex Heterogeneous technologies, obsolescence,lack,of standards, high redundancy. Standardised Use of homogeneous architectural models.

Expensive High Capex (for new service development)and,high,Opex (to ensure running of IT). Cost-Effective Capex and Opex are optimised.

Lorenzo Cerulli, among other essayists in [30], goes on to say that the continuing digital transfor-

mations are not capable of supporting today’s IT architectures because they are “intricate, inflexible and

retain reduced amounts of automation since their procedures result from a large number of merges and

acquisitions”.

Cerulli also defends that operators should embrace the IT reference model developed by OTTs in

order to solve current IT architectures errors, therefore achieving an architecture founded on the use

of microservices, API, Big Data and cloud platforms, i.e., the “BSS/OSS API Fabric Architecture”, as

illustrated in Figure 3.1.

OSS/BSS are distributed into smaller components with this architecture, according to the microser-

vices paradigm or substituted by SaaS solutions. Each component has its functionality which is stable

and reusable. Breaking down systems into smaller services allows the same technical features to be

reused in diverse business processes.

Microservices and the SaaS components interact through APIs. Business processes are achieved

through a choreography model, where interactions are directly managed by microservices. Accordingly,

the communication layer is implemented using a simple “message bus”.

Data will be increasingly consolidated into a centrally managed Information Architecture (IA) in the

29

Figure 3.1: BSS/OSS API Fabric Architecture, source: [31]

Data Tier Layer, by means of a mutual and combined information model. The IA is responsible for of-

fering access to information through different functions. Through standard API, access to information

(offered as a service) will be implemented, which avoids the need to understand low-level data construc-

tions.

Big Data and analytics skills are consolidated into centralized systems when it comes to the Big

Data Layer. Analytics will interact with the API Fabric environments, by means of real-time analysis and

pattern recognition, therefore prompting the start of optimization workflows. Using big data analysis, An-

alytics will support developments of the customer experience, enabling pattern recognition and reacting

in almost real-time, thus starting the implementation of distinct business processes.

When it comes to the Infrastructure Layer, as so to satisfy business requirements that need rapid

and agile deployment, IT infrastructure must grow in order to adopt cloud technologies (such as IaaS).

Lastly, it is essential to say that new applications can be developed using typical building blocks

thanks to PaaS solutions. A building blocks library is enriched with reusable components.

3.2 “Future Operation Support Services” by Huawei and Orange

The strategic plan described by Huawei and Orange addresses digital transformation and presents a

common architectural vision that points out how to design agile Future OSS. This OSS defines an

architecture framework, as shown in Figure 3.2, and this architecture provides a common digital platform

for network and service administration and is made up of several domains [2]:

30

Figure 3.2: Future OSS Functional Architecture. Source: [2]

• Cloud/PaaS: The Future OSS cloud-based platform;

• Design Systems: enables DevOps and model-driven design;

• Support Systems: links the Future OSS Design-Time and Run-Time via Dynamic Inventory,

Catalogue (all information that contains the policy used for service and resource designing and

automating), Policy Management, and API Management;

• Orchestration: automates and accelerates all actions necessary (both cloud and legacy) to pro-

vide end-to-end service management for cost effective hybrid fulfillment and assurance. Data Col-

lection and Analytics modules within Orchestration extend this support to allow intelligent closed

loop operation;

• Fulfillment: provides the link with existing OSS/BSS implementations, turning business requests

into solutions;

• Assurance: guaranties quality service through dynamic operations and automation of manual,

time consuming tasks.

3.3 Discussion

Similar to the architectures presented by the authors, our model also aims to answer to the future

needs of telecommunications business and proposes to function as a platform that integrates another

platform/service. That is, OTT would function as a Operator platform service, being integrated in the

same.

31

Cerulli claims that operators must adopt an architecture based on the use of APIs, microservices

and big data. In our model, it was similar, the operator’s platform connecting to external Partner through

APIs.

As each component of the API Fabric model is stable and easy to reuse, our model also aims to

include this feature, since integrating an OTT service into the platform will be as simple as integrating

any other service.

The Analytics feature will also be present in our solution as the system is expected to analyse pref-

erences and make suggestions for different customer services.

Like the architectural vision presented by Huawei and Orange, our solution also aims to demonstrate

how to design a swift future OSS based on a framework, in our case, eTOM, focused on the processes

of Fulfilment, Assurance and Billing. How the orchestration (information exchange) will work between

platforms is depicted in Chapter 4.

32

4Proposed Solution

Contents

4.1 AS-IS operators’ service distribution model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.2 TO-BE operators’ service distribution model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.3 New Models and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

33

34

This chapter corresponds to the third DSRM step, “Design & Development”, and it describes the

proposal to address the research problem. The research problem and the solution objectives shall be

recalled. This thesis aims to provide a contribution to address the following problem:

Current OSS/BSS do not include a joint model with OTT providers.

Based on the analysis of the related work and on the research problem, the following objective was

established for the proposed solution:

To develop a model that allows service providers to work together, that is, design a model that allows

the integration of OTTs service Platforms on CSPs platforms and, thus, benefiting both. In order to

obtain a model as accurate as possible, several iterations were performed.

In an initial phase, the theme was validated by two national operators, Vodafone and NOS, and by

an OTT, Netflix, in order to establish the potential of the subject and to identify their interest in this great

challenge. The opinions were favourable regarding the concept and both operators showed interest in

validating the proposed model as soon as finished.

In the following sections we will present AS-IS and TO-BE models for the service delivery model of the

operators, as well as the design (in high-level) of some the processes necessary for the implementation

of the new model.

4.1 AS-IS operators’ service distribution model

CSPs provide three types of basic services to their customers: telephone (voice communications), In-

ternet (access) and TV (linear broadcast-type and on-demand). These services are commonly sold

together in Product bundles.

Television and telephone services over fixed lines, have signal priority over Internet services and

therefore service quality is only guaranteed for telephone and TV.

As mentioned in previous chapters, it is through Internet service that OTT providers reach the final

customer and, as such, they cannot guarantee service quality for their products.

In Figure 4.1a, we can distinguish the typical operators’ distribution model for the services, which

shows for example, that video and music streaming from OTT are conveyed through the Internet channel.

As this channel has the lowest service quality, the transmission of these services is questionable, and

may be of poor quality and even prone to frequent failures.

In an ideal world, the service quality problem would be solved if the Internet service had a priority,

equal to or greater than the other services. However, this is not what happens and, as such, it was

necessary to review the current model of CSPs in order to be able to understand which processes could

be improved. In the following section we present our suggestions for improvements.

35

Client router

VLAN1

VLAN3

VLAN2

Telephone

TV

Internet

ProvidesServices

CSP

Assured QoS

(a) Current model

Client router

VLAN1

VLAN3

VLAN2

Telephone

TV

Internet

ProvidesServices

CSP

Assured QoS

(b) Alternative model

Figure 4.1: Operators´ service distribution model

4.2 TO-BE operators’ service distribution model

To allow OTTs to distribute their services with guaranteed quality, and at the same time enabling the

CSPs to invest further in their infrastructures (due to the growing demand of data) knowing that they

will be compensated by the revenues from OTT services, we have designed an alternative model for

services distribution, as illustrated in Figure 4.1b .

Considering, for simplification, the case of multimedia content distribution, if the OTT services would

be treated at the same priority level as the TV service, the service quality problem would be eliminated

as the CSP has absolute control over the quality parameters in their access networks. In addition,

Internet service overload due to video and music streaming from OTTs, that would occupy much of the

bandwidth, would not occur, since these services would be distributed through a resource controlled

channel.

4.3 New Models and Processes

In this section we will present the various processes and models developed in order to support the

alternative model of a CSP service delivery.

4.3.1 Product definition and provisioning diagram

The development of a flexible data structure for the definition and provisioning of telecommunication

products is based on common approaches of the manufacturing industry [1]. The solution consists in

36

dividing it into product, service and resource, where, as illustrated in Figure 4.2, the product corresponds

to the bundles, the service corresponds to OTT services and the resource corresponds to the Service

Type. The product (bundles) typically consists of both technical components and commercial specifi-

cations and is sold to the customer. Simplifying for the case of OTT Services, the product consists of

one or more of those services. These services provide features, which are set independently of their

technical achievement. The service’s technical achievement is specified by its resources (Service Type).

The customer buys a product with certain defined functional parameters. The purchase of a product is

processed into a customer order, which is then unbundled into one or more work orders. These work

orders have an associated customer id that identifies the consumer who triggered the order.

Bundles

OTT Services

Work order(Customer_id)

Customerorder

Customer

Service Type

Consists of

Consists of

M

M

N

N

Bought by

1

Consists of

1

M

1

Figure 4.2: Flexible data structure for product definition and provisioning. Adapted from [1].

4.3.2 Product Viewpoint - Bundles diagram

The product viewpoint presented in Figure 4.3 aims to represent the options that the customer has when

joining OTT services offered by a CSP. By way of example we define 3 bundles with different content:

• Bundle A, with this bundle the customer has the right to choose one OTT;

• Bundle B, the customer can choose two OTTs;

37

• Bundle C, allows the customer to choose three OTTs.

For all the bundles there is a list of available OTTs, from which customers can choose the ones they

want. This list is defined by the CSP, according to the partnerships agreements between the CSP and

the OTTs.

Examples:- Netflix- Amazon Prime- Spotify

Bundle

Bundle A

Bundle B

Bundle C

Customer OTT

The clientchoosesonly 1bundle

contains 2

contains 1

contains 3

Figure 4.3: Product Viewpoint

4.3.3 Membership Flow Diagram

The high-level flow diagram of Figure 4.4 seeks to represent the customer’s membership process.

Start

End

Yes

NewCustomer?

Open CustomerFile

Create CustomerFile

No

Choose OTTbundle

Associate chosenbundle with theCustomer_id

Create anAccount

Apply Accountsettings

Customer File

CompleteCustomer File

New Customer File

Create aCustomer_id

ReadCustomer_id

Figure 4.4: Membership Flow

The process begins when a Party (Individual or Organization) wants to subscribe to a bundle that

includes OTTs. First of all, the Party is checked in order to determine if it is already a customer. In

the case of being a new customer of the CSP, a customer file and a “Customer id” are created. In the

38

customer file, the chosen bundle is signaled. The “Customer id” is the customer identifier in the CSP

and allows client tracking on the CSP platforms. If it is already a CSP customer, the customer file is

opened, the “Customer id” is read and associated with the desired bundle. Next, the accounts for each

User of the Customer are created and set up according to the desired type of account: child or adult .

Once the account settings are finalized, it is possible to subscribe to services to be provisioned for each

account of the Customer.

4.3.4 Class Diagram

The UML diagram of classes represented in the diagram of Figure 4.5, aims to outline the associations

between the several classes, as well as their methods and attributes.

In Portugal there are four main service providers (CSPs): Altice, NOS, NOWO and Vodafone.

These CSPs are represented in the diagram by the class “CSP”. A CSP aggregates multiple customers

(“Customer” class) which, in turn, have one or more accounts associated to their customer file.

The “Account” class represents an account associated to a customer: for example, each household

member of a given customer may have their own account, and in turn, these accounts are associated

with a single entity to be billed. As previously specified in the diagram of Figure 4.3, it is possible to

choose three distinct bundles, which enables choosing 1, 2 or 3 OTTs. Each account can be associated

to 1, 2 or 3 OTTs. This class has the following attributes:

• An account number (“Accountnum”) that allows to uniquely identify the user of each account. For

example, a customer who has two accounts associated to their file has 2 different “Accountnum”;

• A type (“Account Type”) that distinguishes the type of account: child or adult. In the case of a child

account, parent content restriction is allowed;

• A PIN code that allows the costumer to block undue access to created account parameters;

• An age (“Age”) that enables the service to recommend content that is appropriate for each age

group.

• A status (“Account Status”) that allows to know the status of each account, i.e, whether the account

is active, blocked due to non-payment or disabled.

The “Usage” class represents the relationship between the “OTT” and “Account” classes, allowing

to check the permission that a certain account has for accessing a certain OTT. This class also has

the “Usage Type” attribute that allows to check the use of the OTT service for each account. This

“Usage Type” can be measured as viewing time per OTT for each account, data consumption (Mbytes)

per account and the number of OTT accesses made to each account. Finally, the class “Usage” has the

39

attribute “Usage Status”, which determines if the user has already exceeded the allowed limit of use.

When this happens, the status changes from OK to NOK.

The OTT class has attributes such as “OTT Name”, “Description” of OTT and “OTT Status” that

allows to determine the status of OTT account, that is, whether the account is active, blocked for non-

payment or disabled. It also has the age attribute that enables the service to recommend content that is

appropriate for each age group. Finally, the “OTT” class has a “User id” that allows to identify the user

on the OTT platform.

The “ViewingTimePerOTT” method of the “Account”, “Customer and “CSP” classes allows to cal-

culate the viewing time per OTT for each account, client and CSP, respectively. This method can be

changed if we consider one of the other “Usage types” mentioned above.

The “Customer” class has attributes such as “Name”, “Address”, “email” and “VAT”, which are fields

that belong to the customer files created when joining one of the bundles. This class also has a “Cus-

tomer id” and a “Customer Status”, which allows to identify the customer on the CSP platform and to

the status of the customer, respectively. The “Customer Status” may be active, disabled or blocked for

non-payment.

The diagram in Figure 4.5 was designed based on the TM Forum’s Information Framework (SID), a

reference model for implementing eTOM business processes.

Customer- Customer_Name- Address- Email- VAT- Customer_id- Customer_Status+ ViewingTimePerOTT ()

Account- Accountnum- Account_Type- PIN- Age- Account_Status+ ViewingTimePerOTT ()

CSP- Name+ ViewingTimePerOTT ()

OTT- User_Name- User_id- Age- Description- OTT_Status- OTT_Name

Usage- Usage_Type- Permission- Usage_Status

1..*

*

1..3

Figure 4.5: Class Diagram

40

4.3.5 Permissions to access an OTT service

In Figure 4.6 we can see the sequence diagram that aims to represent the necessary flow permissions

which allows the customer to access an OTT. When the customer selects the OTT they want to view,

there is a verification process on the CSP platform that validates the status of this OTT on the customer

file, that is, it analyses the permission field to see if it is “available”. If the OTT is available for customer,

access it is then allowed and the customer can use this service. If the OTT permission field is in the “not

available” state on the customer file, then the access is denied and the customer is not able to use this

service. However, an alternative to the selected content is suggested.

:OTT :CSP:Customer

Select OTT

Check permission

Possesses a

customer file

Contains the

settings defined in

the customer file

Permission granted

alt

OTT available

Select OTT

Check permission

Permission not granted Suggest an alternative

[OTT is set as "available"

in the customer file]

[OTT is set as "not

available" in the customer file]

Operates as a

channel

Figure 4.6: Sequence diagram

4.3.6 Reference process flow Order-to-Payment (Level 2 and Level 3)

Figure 4.7 represents a typical sales process at level 1 and Figure 4.8 represents a detail process at

level 3 of the “Order-to-Payment” process. The customer makes the decision to buy a product and that

decision is related to the customer domain.

41

The “Order-to-Payment” process is responsible for the commercial processing of a Customer Order,

the Provisioning and Activation of the Services and the subsequent Billing of consumed services.

Since these processes are fundamental to make a sale, we have designed the processes of order

processing (Figure 4.9) and billing (Figure 4.12) for our solution.

Customer OrderManagement

Orderprocessing Provisioning Billing

Figure 4.7: Reference process flow Order-to-Payment, adapted from: [1]

AcquireCustomer data

Issue ServiceOrders

IssueService/Resource

Order

Receive & AcceptS/P Requisition

Initiate S/PRequisition Order

Alocate &Install

Resource

Configure &ActivateService

Implement &configureServices

Close ServiceOrder

CloseResource

Order

Track & ManageCustomer Order

handling

CompleteCustomer

Order

CloseCustomer

Order

CreateCustomer Bill

Invoice

Customer Invoice received byCustomer

Supp

lier/P

artn

er(O

TT)

CSP

Issue Customerorders

CSPInventory

DetermineCustomer Order

Feasibility

PartnerInventory

Close Order

Figure 4.8: Level 3 - Process elements in Order-to-payment. Adapted from: [32]

4.3.7 Order Processing (Level 4)

The process in Figure 4.9 aims to illustrate the processing flow of a work order. The various types of

activities that a customer can request from the CSP such as adding, changing or terminating a service

are represented in the macro process.

42

Serv

ice

plat

form

s CSP

Pla

tform

OTT

Pla

tform

Cus

tom

er

Production order

processing

Technical Provisioning (Add

Service)

Technical Change (Change Service)

Technical Termination

(Remove Service)Remove Service

Change Service

Add Service

Figure 4.9: Level 4 - Order processing

This process is subdivided into 3 schemes (due to their size), and so, in Figure 4.10a we can observe

the flow of an Add service work order, in Figure 4.10b we can observe the flow of a Change Service

work order and in Figure 4.10c we can observe the flow of a Remove Service work order. (These figures

are repeated in Appendix C in larger size).

The “Customer id” is defined as the unique identifier of the customer on the CSP platform, while the

“User id” is the unique identifier of the customer User on the OTT platform. When a “User id” is assigned

or associated to a customer, it is associated with the existing “Customer id”. These identifiers, corre-

spond to a pseudonymisation process, in conformance with privacy and data protection regulations [33],

preventing and protecting from a direct identification of the corresponding Natural Person in the Systems

of Providers.

As for the process design, it is assumed that a “Customer” already exists (was created) on the CSP

platform, that is, the “Customer id” is already known. It is important to take into consideration that

the data object represented in the process as “inventory” corresponds to the CSP Service/Resource

Inventory subsystem, which contains all the “User id”s available for the CSP to assign to their customers.

These “User id”s are defined and distributed by OTTs to CSPs. The data object represented as “User id

inventory” contains all the OTT “User id”s, that is, the “User id”s distributed by the CSPs, as well as the

“User id”s created directly on the OTT platform.

43

Serv

ice

Plat

form

s

CSP

Pla

tform

OTT

Pla

tform

Insert user-id in inventory

Check inventory of

user-ids

Select an user-id to book

Analyze user-id error

Choose desired plan

Check user-id

Create user-id on the platform

Change plan for user-id

Enable plan for user-id

Migration of OTT Account

Update Customer File

Analyze error

Update inventory

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

NoIs it a custom

user-id?

Migration succeed?

Is there a user-id?

Order completed

Error solved?

Service enabled?

Canceled orderError solved?

User Id booked?

Add Service

User-id Inventory

Updated customer file

Updated Inventory

Inventory

(a) Add Service

Serv

ice

Plat

form

s

CSP

Pla

tform

OTT

Pla

tform

Check user-id and service

status

Analyze status error

Select current plan

Check user-id

Disable current plan


Analyze error

Update inventory


No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Is there a user-id?

Order completed

Error solved?

Service enabled?

Cancel orderError solved?

Current state ≠ New status?

Change Service


Updated Inventory

Inventory

(b) Change Service

Serv

ice

Plat

form

s

CSP

Pla

tform

OTT

Pla

tform

Quarantine for 6 months


status

Check user-id

Select user-id Disable service to user-id Disable user-id

Analyze user-id and service

disable error

Fix error

Update inventory


No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Is there a user-id?

Canceled order

Order completed

Error solved?

User-id and service

disabled?

Remove Service


Updated Inventory

Inventory

(c) Remove Service

Figure 4.10: Service Processes (Level 4)

44

The Production order process starts when a customer requests one of the following situations:

• Add Service: When a customer wants to add a service, an order of type Add is created.

– The CSP platform checks whether the “User id” is custom or “stock”. A custom “User id”

is a “User id” previously created directly by the user on the OTT platform or created on the

platform of another CSP. This situation occurs, for example, when a customer had previously

subscribed services directly of an OTT and wants to migrate the account to the CSP, in order

to preserve her/his preferences and usage history.

If the “User id” is custom, it is inserted into the inventory, then selected and reserved until the

end of the process, when it is marked in the inventory as allocated/active and associated with

a “Customer id”. If it will be for a new “User id” then the inventory is queried to select a free

“stock” “User id”, which is then reserved until the end of the process, when it is marked in the

inventory as allocated/active and associated with a “Customer id”.

– After selection of the “User id”, its status in inventory is verified, which, when presented as

“reserved”, allows to associate it with the desired product/service plan. Otherwise, if not pre-

sented as “reserved”, an error is triggered and the work order is suspended requiring manual

intervention. When the problem is solved, a rollback is triggered towards the beginning of the

processing of the work order. If the error cannot be solved, the work order is canceled.

– After selecting the desired plan for the OTT platform, an external order request is triggered to

the Partner OTT platform. In the external platform the “User id” is then checked in the OTT

resource inventory. If the “User id” does not exist, it is then created on the platform and the

selected plan for that “User id” is activated. The service activation is tested to confirm if it is

activated. If confirmed, the external work order completes, returning the result to the CSP

order processing, which will then update the inventory and the customer file.

– In case the external work order completes with error the result to the CSP order processing

triggers a manual check by an operator. If the error is solved, rollback is done for the external

work order to the OTT to restart the process. But if the error cannot be solved, the customer

work order at the CSP platform is canceled.

– If the “User id” exists on the OTT platform, the plan for the service subscribed with the CSP

updates the OTT service Plan and triggers an account migration process to the CSP platform.

If the migration succeeds, the inventory and the customer file are updated, for that “User id”

and the corresponding plan. If the migration process fails, an error is triggered, requiring an

analysis. If the error is solved, a rollback for the external work order is returned to the OTT

with a restart to the first activity, otherwise the customer work order is canceled.

45

• Change Service: When a customer wants to change a service, an order of type Change is

created.

– In the CSP platform, the “User id” and the service state in the inventory are verified, and later

confirmed whether the current state is different or not from the new state. If it is different, the

new plan is selected and an external order request is triggered to the Partner OTT platform.

– In the external platform the “User id” is checked on the OTT platform. If the “User id” exists

the current plan is deactivated and the new plan for that “User id” is activated.

– If the service is activated, the inventory and the customer file are updated and the order is

complete. If the current state is equal to the new state, an error is triggered which must be

manually analyzed in order to be fixed and, if not, the order is canceled. On the other hand, if

it is solved the rollback is carried out towards the beginning of the process.

– In the OTT platform, if the “User id” does not exist or if the plan is not activated, an error that

requires intervention is triggered. If this error is not resolved the order is canceled.

• Remove Service: When a customer wants to unsubscribe to a service, an order of type Remove

is created.

– In the CSP platform, the “User id” and state of the service are verified in the inventory, and

later on, the same “User id” is verified on the OTT platform.

– If this “User id” already exists on the OTT platform, then the “User id” is selected and the

service associated with it is disabled. As such, the “User id” is deactivated since there is no

service associated to it. This “User id” is however quarantined for a period of 6 months, to

prevent its usage for other customers, and to also allow reactivation for the same customer

account.

– After deactivating the “User id” in the CSP platform, it is verified that the service and “User id”

are disabled. In case they are disabled, the inventory is updated with the information that this

“User id” is quarantined for 6 months and the client file is also updated, thus completing the

work order.

– If the “User id” or service is not disabled, an error that requires analysis is triggered. If this

error is solved the rollback is carried out towards the beginning of the process, otherwise the

error will have to be solved manually by an operator.

4.3.8 Usage-to-Payment process (Level 4)

Figure 4.11 represents the usage-to-payment process, which begins with the customer decision to sub-

scribe to a product and ends with the payment for the used product. In this case, the products used by

46

the customer are the OTT services provided through the CSPs.

Figure 4.11: Level 4 - Product Usage, adapted from: [1].

Based on the contract, the use of the service requires a usage-based payment, which is related to

the volume of data spent, the time of use of the service or number of accesses to the service, depending

on what is agreed between the CSPs and the OTTs. The collection and rating of usage data is part of the

technology domain. The diagram of Figure 4.5 represents the class “Usage” that intends to show how

the accounting can be done through the defined attributes (simplified for this example). The diagram

of Figure 4.12, represents the billing process that was designed taking into account the good practices

referenced in TM Forum Frameworx.

4.3.9 Payment (Level 4)

The process in Figure 4.12 aims to illustrate an example of how inter-accounting between CSP and

OTT could be performed, since the OTT services would be part of the Product Catalogue on the CSP

platform, and the respective billing could be joint.

The billing and payment processes are activated when the customer subscribes a service in the CSP

platform. Once the service is provisioned and activated, the CSP’s platform starts to generate IP Detail

Records (IPDRs), i.e., usage records, and the OTT platform provides the requested service, generating

the corresponding Usage Detail Records (UDRs). After IPDRs and UDRs are generated, these are

collected by the CSP platform in its Mediation subsystem, bringing together the generated UDRs and

IPDRs to correlate the data (the usage data may correspond to different metrics in each platform, for

example, a movie with a certain duration on one platform, and the corresponding stream of bytes in the

other platform).

After this process, the billing cycle begins. The billing cycle can be done peridically, for example,

every 15 days or on a monthly basis, depending on the agreement between the CSP and OTT.

The different activities and usages are accounted for that period (Charging), with the corresponding

value/charge determined (Rating) from the tariff or prices negotiated with the OTT. The customer ledger

is also updated with the user log, that is, what was spent during the accounting period. After updating

the customer file, all customer services are booked (Billing), invoices can be produced, and then the

collection process starts (Receipts after invoice issued). For simplicity, dunning processes (i.e., payment

of debts, and consequent actions/activities) were not represented at this level.

47

CustomerService Platforms

CSP PlatformsOTT Platforms

Request Service

Provide serviceG

enerate U

sage Detail

Record (U

DR

)

Collect

IPDR

/UD

RC

hargingB

illingR

atingC

ollectionU

pdate Custom

er File w

ith user record

Generate IPD

RIPD

R/U

DR

R

econciliation

billing cyclepaym

ent processed

Service Selected

Custom

er File

Figure4.12:

Level4-P

aymentD

iagram

48

5Demonstration

Contents

5.1 Demonstration Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5.2 Case Study #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5.3 Case Study #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

5.4 Case Study #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.5 Case Study #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

49

50

This chapter covers step 4 of the DSR method. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of this solution,

some hypothetical scenarios, but close to reality, were defined in order to understand the real application

of the designed model.

5.1 Demonstration Scenarios

In order to demonstrate the diversity of options that the presented solution model allows, some scenarios

were defined. For these scenarios, the national CSPs taken as example were Vodafone Portugal and

NOS Comunicacoes. The OTTs considered, Netflix1, HBO2, Spotify3, FOX Play4, Mubi5 and Qobuz6,

are providers of media streaming services (music and video).

For those scenarios, it is assumed that the OTTs and corresponding services are available in the

Product Catlogue of the CSPs, and so, are the result of partnership contracts between both types of

providers.

In the case of Vodafone Portugal the OTTs offered in the Product Catalogue are Netflix, HBO, FOX

Play, Mubi and Spotify.

In the case of NOS Comunicacoes the OTTs offered in the Product Catalogue are Netflix, HBO, FOX

Play and Qobuz.

5.2 Case Study #1

Sandra Pereira, a Vodafone customer, goes to a store of the operator to subscribe to the OTTs services

provided by Vodafone. Sandra is a subscriber of a package that includes a bundle of mobile phone,

mobile Internet, fixed phone, fixed Internet and Television. Sandra possesses two TV sets at home,

being one a UHD 4K screen, and a living room equipped with a Hi-Fi system that includes a Network

Steamer for music.

Sandra heard that Vodafone is now offering several OTT services in their packages, and intends to

subscribe to one of the bundles that gives access to those OTT services.

Sandra is addicted to TV series and cult movies, and she is also an audiophile, so she chooses a C

bundle that allows her to select 3 OTT services. She choses HBO, Netflix and Qobuz. As Sandra was

already a customer of Vodafone, her “Customer id = SP81793556” already existed.

Sandra, however, already had an HBO account, when she subscribed the service from the Internet,

1https://www.netflix.com/pt/2https://hboportugal.com3https://www.spotify.com/pt/4https://www.foxplay.pt5https://mubi.com6https://www.qobuz.com

51

https://www.netflix.com/pt/

https://hboportugal.com

https://www.spotify.com/pt/

https://www.foxplay.pt

https://mubi.com

https://www.qobuz.com

and intendeds to keep her account (but transferred to Vodafone) in order not to lose her preferences and

the list of favorite series recommended by her friends and the ratings she has given to each episode

she already watched. Additionally, she saw this opportunity to subscribe to Qobuz, a high quality music

streaming service, not available previously in the country.

In the Vodafone store, upon choosing the C bundle, a Customer Work Order is created (of type

Change, as the system retrieved the current subscriptions of the customer), which includes four Add

Service orders for OTT services. As Sandra already had an HBO account, the existing “User id” on the

HBO platform, [email protected], was introduced into Vodafone’s “User id” inventory. This

“User id” is what identifies Sandra on the HBO platform. For the Vodafone offer, the selected “User id”

will be associated to the HBO standard plan.

As Sandra was not yet a subscriber of Netflix and Qobuz services, specific “stock” “User id”s of

[email protected] for Netflix, and [email protected] for Qobuz, were retrieved from

the resource inventory of Vodafone. The “User id” of [email protected] is then associated

with Netflix Premium plan (allowing to watch UHD 4K contents). The “User id” = QZ0123456789@qobuz.

com is associated with Qobuz Hi-Fi Plan.

After the work order processed, the account associated with the user sandra.pereira12@gmail.

com at HBO was migrated and this information was saved in Sandra’s customer file and updated in

Vodafone’s inventory and HBO inventory.

For the other subscriptions, they are created on the Netflix and Qobuz platforms and associated

with the chosen plans. This information is stored in Sandra’s customer file and the inventory registers

the information that those “User id”s belong to the “Customer id = SP81793556”, associated with the

selected plans.

Monthly, Sandra pays Vodafone the contracted rates for each subscribed service.

5.3 Case Study #2

Pedro Santos, who is not a NOS customer, goes to the NOS store to find out about the NOS offers

that include OTT services, as he is moving with his family to a new house, and needs both fixes and

mobile services. After choosing a NOS 5 package, a bundle of Fixed Phone, Fixed Internet, Mobile

Phone, Television, Mobile Internet, and OTT services, Pedro confirms the contract terms and, as such,

the “Customer id = PS098657”, is created on the NOS platform identifying Pedro as a new customer.

Pedro subscribes to bundle A of OTT services, which gives access to 1 OTT to choose from the list

made available by NOS. Since Pedro has 2 children who love movies, Ines and Miguel, aged 10 and 19

respectively, he chooses Netflix. However, Pedro intends to create two accounts, one of them protected

with a PIN to be used by him and his son Miguel and another without PIN to be used by his daughter

52

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Ines. Setting up a child account for Ines allows her parents to restrict the time and content that Ines can

see each day.

When Pedro intended to add the service, a Customer Work Order (of type Add Services) was created.

Pedro did not have a Netflix account, so the “User id” of stock [email protected] was selected

from the inventory. This “User id” is what identifies Pedro on the Netflix platform. After the “User id” was

selected, it was created on the Netflix platform and associated with the chosen Netflix plan. Pedro

chooses the Premium plan allowing to watch UHD 4K movies simultaneously on 4 screens (as Pedro is

installing his house with UHD TV sets in the Living room and in each of the 3 bedrooms).

After the work order processed, the information is stored in Pedro’s customer file and the inventory

registers the information that the “User id” = [email protected] belongs to the “Customer-id =

PS098657” associated with the Premium plan of Netflix.

After school, Miguel decided to watch a movie. When he selected the box menu, he came across the

HBO application, selected it and soon afterwards a message was presented on the screen informing him

that to have access to that service, it was necessary to subscribe to it. He was also asked if he wanted

to look for other offers similar to the one selected. Since Miguel did not have his father’s permission

to upgrade or make any subscriptions, he pressed the “yes” button and was presented with a list of

suggestions, which included the Netflix service and the available movie channels subscribed.

Every month, Pedro pays the agreed amount to NOS. Because he has Netflix Premium and traffic is

accounted for, but “unlimited”, the Netflix service quality is always guaranteed whenever Pedro uses the

service at home.

The inter-accounting between the CSP NOS and OTT Netflix is made monthly, considering the data

volume used by “User id” = [email protected].

5.4 Case Study #3

Rui Fernandes, a NOS customer with the “Customer id = RF564783924”, had previously subscribed the

Bundle A of OTT services included in package NOS 4, which gave him access to Netflix Premium. The

“User id” that identifies Rui on the Netflix platform is [email protected].

Since he does not use the Netflix service very much, Rui has decided to change his Netflix Premium

plan to the Netflix Basic plan.

Choosing to change the service created a Change Service order. On the NOS platform, the “User id”

= [email protected] and the service status were verified. As the new desired state was

different from the current state in inventory, the Netflix Basic plan was selected. On the Netflix platform,

the “User id” = [email protected] was verified and, as it already existed on the platform, the

Netflix Premium plan was deactivated and the Netflix Basic plan for that “User id” was activated. This

53

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

information is stored in Rui’s customer file and the inventory registers the information that the “User id” =

[email protected] belonging to “Customer id = RF564783924” is associated with the Netflix

Basic plan.

On a monthly basis, Rui pays the agreed rate to NOS. Because Rui has the Netflix Basic Plan and

the traffic is accounted for in normal contract data traffic, whenever he reaches the usage limit, traffic is

restricted to such a minimum that if Rui used Netflix every day, he would only have enough data to view

his emails.

The inter-accounting between the NOS and Netflix is made monthly, considering the amount of data

used by all NOS users on the Netflix platform during the billing period.

5.5 Case Study #4

Maria Sampaio, customer of Vodafone, with the “Customer id = MS754302345”, has subscribed to a

package that includes a bundle of mobile phone, mobile Internet, fixed phone, fixed Internet and Televi-

sion, as well as a bundle B of OTTs services, that gives her access to Spotify Premium and FOX Play.

The “User id”s that identify her on the Spotify and FOX Play platform are [email protected] and

[email protected] respectively.

Maria is going to move out of the country and has decided to end the service with Vodafone in Por-

tugal. Choosing to cancel her contract with Vodafone, a Customer Work Order is created with a set of

Remove Service orders. In the Vodafone platform the “User id”s and the statuses of the services were

checked in the inventory. In the Spotify and FOX Play platform, the “User id” = [email protected]

and “User id” = [email protected] were verified, respectively. Since they are “User id”s recog-

nized by each of the platforms, in each of one of them the corresponding “User id” is selected, and

the respective service is deactivated. After that this information is stored in Maria’s customer file and

the inventory registers the information that the “User id” = [email protected] and the “User id” =

[email protected] are disabled for “Customer id = MS754302345”.

Four months later, Maria had to return to Portugal and decided to reactivate her account with Voda-

fone. Since “User id”s are quarantined for a period of 6 months, Maria re-subscribes bundle B with the

same OTT services, keeping the same “User id” for both Spotify and FOX Play, without losing the history

associated with these two services.

54

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

6Evaluation

Contents

6.1 Assessment of the survey results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

6.2 Interviews results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

55

56

The fifth phase of the DSR model corresponds to the evaluation and aims to measure how well an

artifact supports a solution to the problem by comparing it with the proposed objective (Section 1.2)

with the observed results of the use of the artifacts in the demonstration (Chapter 5). For this purpose,

the artifact consistency will be evaluated through case studies (the demonstration of the proposal). In

addition, to evaluate the accuracy of the methodology, we conducted a set of interviews with experts

who evaluated the model, and carried out a set of surveys for users of these type of services, in order to

understand their opinion about some ideas used in the construction of the model.

6.1 Assessment of the survey results

A survey was carried out in order to assess users’ opinions regarding the integration of OTT services in

Operators platforms. The survey was divided into four sections:

• First Section: Set of questions to collect general data about the user, such as age, gender and

region of the country where they inhabit.

• Second Section: Satisfaction levels collected regarding the bundles offered by the user’s con-

tracted CSPs in order to understand if the consumer was familiar with OTT services (fig. 6.1).

• Third Section: To gather the frequency with which these OTT services are used, as well as to

understand if transmission quality is considered one of the most important aspects when using an

OTT service (Figure 6.2).

• Fourth Section: Regarding the integration of OTTs services into Operator platforms (Figure 6.3).

82,6%

2,3% 15,1%

AgreeDisagreeUndecided

Na sua opinião, seria interessante incluir serviços OTT nos pacotes oferecidos pela sua Operadora?

Count of Na sua opinião, seria interessante incluir serviços OTT nos pacotes oferecidos pela sua Operadora?

Graphic subtitle:

Figure 6.1: The graph presents the results obtained for the question: Indicate your level of agreement towards thefollowing sentence: “It would be interesting to include OTT services in the bundles offered by my CSP”.

57

The survey obtained 304 responses in all, with every region of Portugal represented, as well as the

various age groups. The prevailing set of answers corresponded to users in the age ranges of 18 to 25

years, 26 to 40 years and 41 to 60 years.

82,2%

3,6% 14,1%


Considera que aceder também aos serviços OTT a partir da Box da sua televisão seria uma vantagem?

Count of Considera que aceder também aos serviços OTT a partir da Box da sua televisão seria uma vantagem?

Graphic subtitle:

Figure 6.2: The graph presents the results obtained for the question: Indicate your level of agreement towards thefollowing sentence: “I consider that accessing OTT services from the box on my television would alsobe an advantage”.

By analyzing the answers, we found that 179 of the respondents already use at least one OTT

service. Of those respondents, it was found that around 80% use this type of service more than twice

a week and about 85% of the respondents consider that the quality of transmission is one of the most

important features when using an OTT service.

75,0%

8,2%

16,8%


Na sua opinião, a faturação conjunta seria uma boa opção?

Count of Na sua opinião, a faturação conjunta seria uma boa opção?

Graphic subtitle:

Figure 6.3: The graph presents the results obtained for the question: Indicate your level of agreement towards thefollowing sentence: “Joint billing would be a good option for me”.

Regarding the integration of OTT services in the CSPs’ platform, in those 304 answers, 82.6% con-

sidered that it would be interesting to include OTT services in the bundles offered by CSPs. Only 2.3%

58

considered that it would not be worthy of note.

It is interesting to note that 82.2% considered that it would advantageous to be able to access OTT

services from their television set-top box, with only 3.6% considering that it would not have any advan-

tage. Finally, it was asked if joint invoicing would be a good option, for which 75% agreed and 16.8%

disagreed.

From these results, it became evident that the integration of OTT services into Operator platforms

would be of considerable advantage for consumers of this type of services and that joint billing could be

a good option for CSPs and OTTs users.

6.2 Interviews results

To evaluate the proposed model, interviews were carried out with 5 specialists in the areas of Telecom-

munication, OSS / BSS, Service Platforms, Automation and Product Management. Directors and Man-

agers of two national CSPs, NOS Comunicacoes and Vodafone Portugal, are among those interviewed.

The positions occupied by the interviewees were: Product Management Director, Director of Service

Platforms, Operations Director and Automation Manager.

Each interview lasted approximately 1h30min and a script (Appendix B) was used as helper during

the interviews, containing specific questions related to the designed processes (and by showing the

drawn diagrams). This script consisted of 18 questions that cover all the proposed processes.

To begin with, the subject of the thesis was introduced and the problem inherent to it was explained.

After the explanation, the opinion about the relevance of the topic was questioned.

All the interviewees considered the theme as “Very Relevant” enumerating the reasons for that

classification:

• The increase in bulk and presence of OTTs in network traffic can be a potential threat to the

CSPs business. Since their growing presence, and the corresponding traffic, are not expected to

decrease, it is a real and factual problem that has not yet a solution;

• OTTs services are dictating consumer habits and so, it is inevitable that they should/must be an

integral part of CSPs’ offerings;

• OTTs are already direct opponents/competitors of CSPs, namely in the area of multimedia content

distribution, and this situation may demand for major changes in the typical/current CSPs’ business

models;

• There is a great uncertainty about where the CSPs’s business process ends and where the OTT

business process begins;

59

• This subject is still a very premature topic and therefore a major challenge for both CSPs and

OTTs.

The level of difficulty in terms of resources and cost/benefit for the integration of an OTT service in the

CSP platform was also questioned. Regarding this matter, the respondents answered that, technically,

it would be equivalent to any other integration they already make and that the benefit would be the

differentiation in the portfolio of services offered. This type of integration, just like any other integration

of services in the CSP platform, requires some investment and time (typically, several months).

After introducing the topic about the distribution of OTT services over the Internet, a channel that

does not guarantee quality of service, namely for multimedia contents, it was asked if, it would be possi-

ble to implement a distribution model together with OTTs that uses streaming mechanisms but ensuring

the quality of service in the Access network of the operator. Regarding this question the respondents

answered that it would be easier to prioritize the OTT’s traffic with whom they had established an agree-

ment and thus guarantee that OTT service quality. In that situation, the network would probably require

some re-dimensioning, conforming to the quality levels required, allowing differentiation by services, e.g.

for premium services, the bandwidth would be higher, with smaller delays and higher bit-rates.

After the initial questions, the process design was presented and discussed through the drawn dia-

grams and process flows.

For the Product Viewpoint - Bundles diagram, the interviewees were questioned if that model would

be a possible solution in the context of the integration of OTT services in the CSP platform. All the

respondents answered that it seemed a good solution, since it enables customers to choose the OTTs

they want, noting that, with the large number of existing OTTs, any client needs to make a criterious

choice, as it would hardly be able to pay for all OTTs she/he likes. They also mentioned that this kind

of bundles, are the ones they offer when they want to customize the service for their customer of mobile

services.

For the Product Definition and Provisioning, the respondents were asked about the definition of a

“product” and a “service” in order to validate if the presented diagram reflected the reality. The inter-

viewees responded that they make use of a Product Catalogue, where the Packages are designed,

consisting of sets of multiple products, and each product is a set of services. Usually the product is the

first to be defined and then the services are also outlined. After obtaining this answer, it was asked if the

diagram was designed according to the reality of an operator. The answers obtained were unanimous

and positive, making it possible to concluded that the presneted diagram was correctly conceived, with

nothing to add.

The third diagram presented and explained was the membership Flowchart and it was asked whether,

from the CSP’s point of view, it makes sense to have a “Customer id”, a unique customer identifier

on the CSP platform, that it be stored in the customer file making it possible to track. The answers

60

translated total agreement regarding the existence of a unique identifier. As an example, it was stated

that for mobile services the identifier is the Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number

(MSISDN), i.e., the telephone number. It was also mentioned that the existence of a unique identifier

is very important to identify the customer making it possible to provide a personalized service to the

customer. It was also referred that, due to privacy concerns, and in conformity with the regulations,

namely the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) [33], only the “pseudonimized” identifiers are

used throughout the systems and services platforms of the CSP.

The fourth diagram presented and explained was the Class Diagram and it was questioned whether

some other class or key/important attributes would need to be considered. After the answers given

in the first interview, some improvements were suggested, after which the diagram was adjusted to

contemplate those suggestions, which in turn were validated in the following interviews. The feedback

given in the other interviews was that the diagram made perfect sense and that, in their opinion, no class

or key attribute was missing.

The fifth diagram presented and explained was the Permission to access an OTT service — the

Sequence Diagram. It was asked if the way they implemented the permissions granted to the client in

the premium channels was similar to the one shown in the diagram. According to the answers from all

the interviewees, the diagram is consistent to reality and it was even considered as a good idea to have

included a suggestion/recommendation for an alternative to a content selected by the user. It was also

mentioned that in case of non-payment the process is similar to the one presented.

The sixth diagram presented and explained was “Order Processing”. This process is divided into 3

schemes: Add Service, Change Service and Remove Service.

The first question was related to the existence of an “inventory” where identifiers for users would be

instantiated. It was asked if it would make sense to have an inventory of “stock” identifiers (for the OTT

service users, for association with subscribed the services. i.e., whenever necessary to Add, Change

or Terminate a service that an inventory query should be made to select and validate the user identifier

already associated or to be associated with a service. The answers were unanimous and everyone

considered it a good idea.

The second question was directed to the “Add Service” process to see if the flow of activities rep-

resented was appropriate. After the answers given in the first interview, some improvements were

suggested, after which the process was adjusted to contemplate these suggestions, which in turn were

validated in the following interviews. The feedback obtained from all interviews confirmed that the pro-

cess was adequate and no further suggestions for improvement were made.

The third question was directed to the “Change Service” process to see if the stream of activities

represented was appropriate. The response of all the interviewees was that the process was adequate

to the reality and no improvements were suggested.

61

The fourth question was directed to the “Remove service’ process to see if the stream of activities

represented was appropriate to the reality. As a response to the second interview, some improvements

were suggested, after which the process was adjusted to contemplate these suggestions, which in turn

were validated in the following interviews. The feedback obtained was that the process was adequate to

reality and no further suggestions for improvement were made.

The sixth diagram presented and explained was the “Payment” process and it was asked how the

inter-accounting is integrated into the CSP platform. The answers given revealed that this is a “compli-

cated” topic and that the CSPs do not yet have an ideal solution for these type of integration, although

the discussed process seemed similar to what they have, for example in roaming of data or voice calls.

The last question concerning the same diagram was whether the process was appropriate to reality.

In response to the first interview, some improvements were suggested after which the process was

adjusted to contemplate these suggestions, which in turn were validated in the following interviews. In

the second interview a new improvement was also suggested, and so the process was again adjusted

in order to contemplate that suggestion and which in turn were validated in the following interviews. The

feedback obtained in the other interviews was that the process was adequate to reality and no further

suggestions for improvement were made.

In this interview process, an interactive method was used to carry out the models, that is, whenever

an improvement was suggested, the models were modified accordingly so that in the following interview

this suggestion would already be contemplated. The models were analyzed and reviewed by each of

the interviewees and some of them suffered more than two transformations until the final version.

62

7Conclusion

Contents

7.1 Discussion and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

7.2 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

7.3 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

63

64

The main objective of the work in this thesis, was to develop a technical model to allow service providers

of different nature to work together, or, more specifically, to design a model that allows the integration of

Over-the-Top (OTT) services on Communication Services Provider (CSP) platforms.

That objective was derived from the problem that currently exists between OTT and CSP, a topic

much discussed in the TM Forum, namely for multimedia streaming services, in which the traffic gen-

erated by the OTT services is carried by the CSPs up to the end users, without any type of business

agreement or revenue compensation/sharing, being the CSPs just “bitpipes” in the process.

7.1 Discussion and Conclusion

To conduct this research, we followed the DSR process, which consist of 6 phases of development. We

started by analyzing the current situation with Business Support Systems (BSS) and Operations Support

Systems (OSS) in CSPs, to identify the problem of not yet including a joint model with OTT providers as

Partners in the processes.

Therefore, and in order to obtain a model as accurate as possible, several iterations in the design

of the proposed model were performed. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of the developed solu-

tion, some case studies were created considering hypothetical scenarios, but close to reality, in order to

understand the real application of the designed model. Finally, to evaluate the accuracy of the method-

ology, we conducted a set of interviews with experts in the industry who evaluated each model of the

solution; we also carried out a set of surveys with users of this types of services, in order to collect and

understand their opinion about some of the ideas used in the construction of the model.

From the evaluation results we can conclude that our model meets the requirements and objectives

formulated.

Some of the advantages of our model, for both OTTs and CSPs, are:

• OTTs are able to guarantee that their content reaches their customers with assured service quality;

• OTTs would get more publicity, since operators would advertise and promote them in their com-

munication channels;

• OTTs would have guaranteed the maintenance of their Content Distribution Network (CDN) nodes

hosted at the CSP core network, as service Partners on the Operator platform, ensuring support

for any problems that may occur;

• The traffic in the network of the CSP would be more controlled, providing better quality to their

customers;

• CSP customers would have guaranteed quality in contracted OTT services;

65

• CSPs would have a more predictable infrastructure investments, since traffic would be more under

control.

7.2 Communication

The last phase of the DSR model is to communicate the problem, the solution and the results to the

scientific community. For this, a scientific paper was produced, and submitted to the 23rd IEEE EDOC

2019 - The Enterprise Computing Conference (https://edoc2019.sciencesconf.org).

7.3 Future Work

Regarding the outcome of this thesis work, there are several research opportunities that can be ad-

dressed for future work:

• Detail process models at level 3 and 4 of the eTOM framework;

• Design the models to cover further areas of relevance in CSP such as operations, strategy and

Product;

• Collect more opinions and suggestions from OTTs and other operators and reformulate the models

accordingly;

• Implement the processes that could be integrated into an experimental platform in partnership with

an OTT and OSS / BSS solutions supplier.

• Develop an open API in partnership with an OTT and propose the API to the TMForum.

66

https://edoc2019.sciencesconf.org

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AOTTs and CSPs Survey

This survey was published online to cover a wide range of responses from different OTT and CSP

service users. Below is the survey template:

This survey is part of the study for my Master’s thesis on ”Future Operations Support Services for

Digital Operations Transformation” and is intended to gather information to help understand your OTT

(Over-the-top) preferences, such as Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, Spotify, FOX Play, Hulu, etc., and the

services that CSPs like Altice, NOS, Nowo and Vodafone offer.

The survey takes about 2 minutes to answer.

It is completely anonymous and your answers will only be treated statistically.

Thank you in advance for your time.

1. General Information

(a) Indicate your gender:

Male

Female

71

(b) What is your age?

Under 18

18-25

26-40

41-60

Over 60

(c) In which region of Portugal do you live?

North

Centre

Greater Lisbon

South

Islands

2. CSPs

This section aims to evaluate your satisfaction with the CSP you have subscribed to, as well as

your satisfaction with the bundles that are offered.

(a) Which of the following CSPs have you subscribed to?

Altice (MEO)

NOS

Vodafone

Nowo

(b) 1 to 5, being 1 - ” Totally unsatisfied” and 5 - ”Totally Satisfied” how do I rate my

satisfaction regarding the bundles offered by my CSP?

1 2 3 4 5

Totally un-satisfied

Unsatis-fied

Neithersatisfiedor unsat-

isfied

Satisfied Totallysatisfied

(c) Do you use any of the following OTT services: Netflix, HBO, Spotify, Amazon Prime,

Hulu, FOX Play etc?

Yes

No

Rule: If the answer was “No” to this question, go directly to section 4.

72

3. OTTs

In this section we want to understand the level of use and interest in OTTs.

(a) How often do you use the services mentioned in the previous question?

1 or less per week

2 to 3 times a week

4 to 5 times per week

6 to 7 times per week

(b) How do you rate your level of agreement towards the following sentence? ”As an OTT

service user, I consider transmission quality to be one of the most important aspects

when using this type of service”.

1 2 3 4 5

Stronglydisagree Disagree

Neitheragree ordisagree

Agree Stronglyagree

4. CSPs and OTTs

The purpose of the thesis is to design a joint model between CSPs and OTTs that is beneficial to

both. Therefore, the next issues are related to the integration of these two types of service.

(a) Description: The bundles offered by CSPs, besides TV, Internet and Phone, would in-

clude access to OTT services (Netflix, HBO, Spotify, Amazon Prime, etc.). These packs

ensure that the quality of the OTT service is guaranteed.

Indicate your level of agreement towards the following sentence: ”It would be interest-

ing to include OTT services in the bundles offered by my CSP”:

Agree

Undecided

Disagree

(b) Description: Access OTT services through television, which is already possible with

some CSPs, in addition to access through mobile phone, tablet and computer.

Indicate your level of agreement towards the following sentence: “I consider that ac-

cessing OTT services from the box on my television would also be an advantage”:

Agree

Undecided

Disagree

73

(c) Description: Instead of receiving an invoice for each separate service, i.e. an OTT in-

voice(s) [Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, Spotify] and another from the CSP, billing would

be joint and you would receive only one invoice for all services used.

Indicate your level of agreement towards the following sentence: “Joint billing would

be a good option for me”:

Agree

Undecided

Disagree

We thank you for your time spent taking this survey.

Your answers have been registered.

74

BInterviews

The interviews were carried out directly to the interviewees, where the various diagrams were shown

and the opinions related to them were collected. Below the interview script:

Interview Script (Future Operations Support Services for Digital Operations Transformation)

Name:

Function/Job:

Company:

I authorize the disclosure of the data “Function / Job” and “Company” within the scope of the thesis.

Overview about the thesis’ goal and introduction to international discussion at TM Forum.

1. After a brief introduction on the subject, do you consider it?

Slightly relevant

75

Relevant

Very relevant

2. What is the reason for choosing the previous answer?

3. Regarding the level of difficulty and in terms of resources, how do you classify the integra-

tion of the OTT service as if it were CSP service platform, that is, how do you classify the

cost / benefit of this type project?

4. Instead of using internet to distribute services, do you think it would be possible to im-

plement a distribution model in which streaming or voice mechanisms would be used to

guarantee the quality of service? Yes or no? Why?

5. Could the definition of a modeled bundle be a possible solution in the context of integrating

OTTs and CSPs platforms? Yes, No? Why?

Product Viewpoint: (Product diagram shown and explained)

Examples:- Netflix- Amazon Prime- Spotify

Bundle

Bundle A

Bundle B

Bundle C

Customer OTT

The clientchoosesonly 1bundle

contains 2

contains 1

contains 3

6. How do you define a product and service?

7. Does the diagram reflect the reality of a CSP?

Model “Flexible data structure for product definition and provisioning.”: (Product & Service

diagram shown and explained)

76

Bundles

OTT Services

Work order(Customer_id)

Customerorder

Customer

Service Type

Consists of

Consists of

M

M

N

N

Bought by

1

Consists of

1

M

1

8. From the CSP’s perspective does it make sense that the customer id is a unique identifier

of the CSP and that it is stored in the customer File in order to allow customer tracking?

Flowchart of membership model: (Flowchart of membership shown and explained)

Start

End

Yes

NewCustomer?

Open CustomerFile

Create CustomerFile

No

Choose OTTbundle

Associate chosenbundle with theCustomer_id

Create anAccount

Apply Accountsettings

Customer File

CompleteCustomer File

New Customer File

Create aCustomer_id

ReadCustomer_id

9. Given the diagram, is there any other class that you consider important to be represented

in the diagram?

10. Are the attributes of each class sufficient for the implementation of the model?

Class Diagram: (Class diagram shown and explained)

77

Customer- Customer_Name- Address- Email- VAT- Customer_id- Customer_Status+ ViewingTimePerOTT ()

Account- Accountnum- Account_Type- PIN- Age- Account_Status+ ViewingTimePerOTT ()

CSP- Name+ ViewingTimePerOTT ()

OTT- User_Name- User_id- Age- Description- OTT_Status- OTT_Name

Usage- Usage_Type- Permission- Usage_Status

1..*

*

1..3

11. For premium channels that are not included in the offered bundles, how do you implement

permissions given to clients in a way that resembles the one shown in the diagram? If not,

how is it defined?

Sequence Diagram: (Sequence diagram shown and explained)

:OTT :CSP:Customer

Select OTT

Check permission

Possesses a

customer file

Contains the

settings defined in

the customer file

Permission granted

alt

OTT available

Select OTT

Check permission

Permission not granted Suggest an alternative

[OTT is set as "available"

in the customer file]

[OTT is set as "not

available" in the customer file]

Operates as a

channel

12. There are user-ids instantiated in an inventory and, whenever there is a request, the inven-

tory is queried to identify the available users-id and subsequently a user-id is selected that

remains locked until the order is finished. Does it make sense according to the reality of

the CSP?

Order Processing Diagram: (Order processing diagram shown and explained)

78

Serv

ice

plat

form

s CSP

Pla

tform

OTT

Pla

tform

Cus

tom

er

Production order

processing

Technical Provisioning (Add

Service)

Technical Change (Change Service)

Technical Termination

(Remove Service)Remove Service

Change Service

Add Service

13. Regarding the ”Add service”, is the flow of activities adequate in the face of reality?

Order Processing Diagram: (Add service diagram shown and explained)

Serv

ice

Plat

form

s

CSP

Pla

tform

OTT

Pla

tform


Check inventory of

user-ids


Analyze user-id error

Choose desired plan

Check user-id




Migration of OTT Account


Analyze error

Update inventory

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

NoIs it a custom

user-id?

Migration succeed?

Is there a user-id?

Order completed

Error solved?

Service enabled?

Canceled orderError solved?

User Id booked?

Add Service

User-id Inventory


Updated Inventory

Inventory

14. Regarding the ”Change service”, is the flow of activities adequate in the face of reality?

Order Processing Diagram: (Change service diagram shown and explained)

Serv

ice

Plat

form

s

CSP

Pla

tform

OTT

Pla

tform


status

Analyze status error

Select current plan

Check user-id

Disable current plan


Analyze error

Update inventory


No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Is there a user-id?

Order completed

Error solved?

Service enabled?

Cancel orderError solved?

Current state ≠ New status?

Change Service


Updated Inventory

Inventory

15. Regarding the ”Remove service”, is the flow of activities adequate in the face of reality?

Order Processing Diagram: (Remove service diagram shown and explained)

79

Serv

ice

Plat

form

s

CSP

Pla

tform

OTT

Pla

tform

Quarantine for 6 months


status

Check user-id

Select user-id Disable service to user-id Disable user-id


disable error

Fix error

Update inventory


No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Is there a user-id?

Canceled order

Order completed

Error solved?

User-id and service

disabled?

Remove Service


Updated Inventory

Inventory

16. What suggestions for improvement would you present for this process?

17. How is inter-account integration incorporated into the CSPs platform?

18. Is the diagram presented adequate to the reality of a CSP?

Payment Diagram: (Payment diagram shown and explained)

Cus

tom

erSe

rvic

e Pl

atfo

rms C

SP P

latfo

rms

OTT

Pla

tform

s

Request Service

Provide serviceGenerate

Usage Detail Record (UDR)

Collect IPDR/UDR Charging BillingRating Collection

Update Customer File with user

recordGenerate IPDR IPDR/UDR

Reconciliation

billing cycle payment processed

Service Selected

Customer File

80

CLevel 4 Proceses

81

Service Platforms

CSP PlatformOTT Platform


Check inventory of

user-ids


Analyze user-id

error

Choose desired plan

Check user-id




Migration of

OTT A

ccount

Update

Customer File

Analyze error

Update

inventory

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Is it a custom

user-id?

Migration

succeed?

Is there a user-id?

Order

completed

Error solved?

Service enabled?

Canceled order

Error solved?

User Id

booked?

Add Service

User-id

Inventory

Updated

customer file

Updated

InventoryInventory

FigureC

.1:Level4

-Add

Service

82

Service Platforms

CSP Platform OTT Platform

Chec

k us

er-id

an

d se

rvic

e sta

tus

Ana

lyze

stat

us

erro

r

Sele

ct c

urre

nt

plan

Chec

k us

er-id

Disa

ble

curre

nt

plan

Enab

le p

lan

for

user

-id

Ana

lyze

erro

r

Upd

ate

inve

ntor

yU

pdat

e Cu

stom

er F

ile

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Is th

ere

a us

er-

id?

Ord

er

com

plet

ed

Erro

r sol

ved?

Serv

ice

enab

led?

Canc

el o

rder

Erro

r sol

ved?

Curre

nt st

ate ≠

New

stat

us?

Chan

ge S

ervi

ce

Upd

ated

cu

stom

er fi

leU

pdat

ed

Inve

ntor

y

Inve

ntor

y

Figu

reC

.2:

Leve

l4-C

hang

eS

ervi

ce

83

Service Platforms

CSP PlatformOTT Platform

Quarantine for 6 m

onths


status

Check user-id

Select user-idD

isable service to user-id

Disable user-id


disable error

Fix error

Update

inventoryU

pdate Custom

er File

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Is there a user-id?

Canceled order

Order

completed

Error solved?

User-id and service

disabled?

Remove Service

Updated

customer file

Updated

Inventory

Inventory

FigureC

.3:Level4

-Rem

oveS

ervice

84

Documents

Future Operations Support Services for Digital Operations ... · ditional support throughout my life, for being an example, and for teaching me to be better every day. Thank you dad,