eTOM - Business Process Framework for Telecom

I’ve been craving to write for long on Telecom as I understand it from my experience in the domain over the past (close to) 1 year.

The Telecom Business has two aspects to it:
1: Services – Connecting people and providing High Quality common services to ALL Members of the society at a low cost.
2: Equipment – The Network Elements eg: switches, wires, handsets etc

There has always been a guiding principle to run any Business. That guiding principle is a Business Model / a Framework so here I reproduce information about eTOM that I have come across.

The eTOM:

The NGOSS (Next Generation Operations Systems and Software) Business Process Framework is represented by the Enhanced Telecom Operations Map, also known as (eTOM). The eTOM Business Process Framework is the ongoing TM Forum initiative to deliver a business process model or framework for use by service providers and others within the telecommunications and related sectors of industry.

The eTOM Business Process Framework represents the whole of a service provider’s enterprise environment. The Business Process Framework begins at the Enterprise level and defines business processes in a series of groupings. The Framework is defined as generically as possible so that it is organization, technology and service independent and supports the global community. At the overall conceptual level eTOM can be viewed as having the following three major process areas:
1: Strategy, Infrastructure & Product covering planning and lifecycle management
2: Operations covering the core of operational management
3: Enterprise Management covering corporate or business support management

The process structure in eTOM uses hierarchical decomposition, so that the business processes of the enterprise are successively decomposed in a series of levels. Process descriptions, inputs and outputs, as well as other key elements are defined. The eTOM process modeling depicts process flows in a vertical swim lane approach that drives end-to-end process and process flow-through between the customer and the supporting services, resources and supplier/partners.
The Framework also includes views of functionality as they span horizontally across an enterprise’s internal organizations. For example, managing customer relationships spans an enterprise from marketing to ordering to billing to after-service support and follow-on sales.
In particular, eTOM provides the Business Map for NGOSS and is a prime driver for business requirements to feed through from the NGOS Business View to the System View and eventually intothe NGOSS Implementation and Deployment Views. The focus of eTOM is on the business processes used by service providers, the linkages between these processes, the identification of interfaces, and the use of customer, service, resource, supplier/partner and other information by multiple processes.
The eTOM Business Process Framework can be used as a tool for analyzing your organization’s existing processes and for developing new processes. Different processes delivering the same business functionality can be identified, duplication eliminated, gaps revealed, new process design speeded up, and variance reduced. Using eTOM, you can assess the value, cost and performance of individual processes within your organization.
You can facilitate your relationships with suppliers and partners by identifying and categorizing the processes you use in interactions with them. In a similar manner, you can identify the all-important customer relationship processes and evaluate whether they are functioning as required to meet your customers’ expectations.

21 Days!! Are U Ready??

He is handling more than half a dozen businesses right from telecommunications to entertainment from energy to wireless services and yet has Fitness marked Bold in his agenda. Anil Ambani is my MAN of the MOMENT!

And why?? you ask, cause he is the only soul who has enabled me to wipe out that myth saying “I have a job to do and I am way too busy to have fitness as a part of my daily routine”

None of us normal professionals has more on our plates than he does – so wasn’t it reason enough for us to feel motivated to set out time to trim those waist lines pump in some energy and get enthusiastically started out with the ME TIME 1st thing in the morning! There’s more to it than just being able to run a marathon I’m sure.

I’ve felt the energy levels soar, my spirit being uplifted, that sudden spring in my walk and that freshness resonating from my complexion and yet I have allowed my exercise regime to be discontinued owing it to the variations in temperatures and a 17 other things which are truly irrelevant.

Like they said “Where there’s a Will there’s a Way!!” But the will goes missing in 2 weeks and so does the way! I get back to my lethargic self trying to get on with a mechanical way of doing things and blaming it on circumstances that I do not find time – when the truth always is - all my time was spent oversleeping!

So here I pledge –

“I am going to take great pains for the next 21 days starting tomorrow the 29th of Feb to 20th of March to wake up each morning, put on my fitness gear and hit the ground running!”

Why 21?? Well it’s got nothing to do with Ganesha! J It takes 21 days to develop a Good Habit. If you can do it 21 days in a row you can do it for all days beyond that. Persisting for 21 days is a challenge and I have taken it up --- Have You??

WebSphere Message Broker

WebSphere Message Broker is a powerful information broker that allows both business data and information, in the form of messages, to flow between disparate applications and across multiple hardware and software platforms. Rules can be applied to the data that is flowing through the message broker in order to route, store, retrieve, and transform the information.

WebSphere Message Broker offers the following features:

Universal connectivity
– Simplifies application connectivity to provide a flexible and dynamic infrastructure. Routes and transforms messages from anywhere, to anywhere.
– Supports a wide range of protocols, for example, MQ, Java Message Service (JMS) 1.1, HTTP(S), Web services, file, and user-defined protocols
– Supports a broad range of data formats, for example, binary (C/COBOL), XML, industry (SWIFT, EDI, HIPAA, and so on), and user-defined formats
– Supports interactions and operations that allow you to route, filter, transform, enrich, monitor, distribute, decompose, correlate, and more.

Simple programming
– Message flows process and route messages. A message flow contains a series of connected nodes that have the required integration logic that is used to operate on messages as they flow through the broker.
– Message trees describe the data in a format independent manner.
– Transformation options include graphical mapping, Java, extended SQL (ESQL), Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), and WebSphere Transformation Extender.

Operational management and performance
– Extensive administration and systems management facilities for developed solutions
– A wide range of operating system and hardware platforms supported
– Performance of traditional transaction processing environments

Support for adapters
– A collection of software, application program interfaces (APIs), and tools in WebSphere Business Integration Adapters that enable applications to exchange business data through an integration broker. WebSphere Business Integration Adapters rely on JMS messaging.

WebSphere Message Broker contains a choice of transports that enable secure business to be conducted at any time and any place, providing powerful integration using mobile, telemetry, and Internet technologies. WebSphere Message Broker is built upon WebSphere MQ and therefore supports the same transports. However, it also extends the capabilities of WebSphere MQ by adding support for other protocols, including real-time Internet, intranet, and multicast
endpoints.

An Enterprise Service Bus - ESB

This web archive is a result of a preparation that I am undergoing for a variety of reasons:

1: For a Certification
2: Acquainting myself with the IBM product stack for SOA Deployment
3: For my own Interest
4: As a part of the mandatory Skill Set required by my Project

The reproduction here is of course a consolidation of multiple references.

An ESB is an architectural concept that is implemented through the use of one or
more products. IBM currently offers two ESB products.

WebSphere ESB is built on proven messaging and Web services technologies. It provides standards-based Web services connectivity and XML data transformation. WebSphere ESB is shipped with WebSphere Process Server.

WebSphere Message Broker provides universal connectivity, including Web services, and
any-to-any data transformation. In addition, such products as DataPower® and WebSphere Transformation Extender can be used to extend the capabilities of the core ESB products.

An ESB is a key part of a complete solution for connectivity. An ESB might need to be extended or complemented with additional features or products to deliver a complete solution to meet your connectivity requirements.

A Non SOA Solution:
In a non-SOA solution, communication between service requesters and providers is accomplished via a series of direct connections, one connection per requester/provider pair. This requires that the requester be aware of the requirements of the provider and vice versa, for example, the transport protocol, message format, and location of the service. As enterprise solutions grow, the web of direct connections and the complexity of managing those connections
also grows.

A SOA Solution:
In an SOA solution, an ESB acts as an intermediary between requesters and providers. Connections are made to the ESB, rather than directly between the communicating pair. The ESB makes the transition between transport protocols and message formats used by the requester and provider. The location of each service is known to the ESB but not to the service.

The Role of an Enterprise Service Bus:
This decoupling of the consumer’s view of a service from the implementation of a service provides the following advantages:

1: Reduces the number, size, and complexity of interfaces
2: Reduces the impact of changes made to the format and location of services, both in terms of impact to the applications and in terms of system management
3: Enables integration between disparate resources
4: Allows the substitution of one service provider for another without the service consumer being aware of the change or without the need to alter the architecture to support the substitution

The Basic Capabilities that an ESB should comply with:
The capabilities of an ESB vary depending on the products that are used to
implement it. An ESB should provide the following basic functions:

1: Routing messages between services
The requester sends the request to the ESB. The ESB makes the call to the service provider. The ESB determines the destination for the service provider.

2: Converting transport protocols between the requester and service
Without an ESB infrastructure, service consumers connect directly to service providers using a transport protocol that is supported by the provider. With an ESB, there is no direct connection between the consumer and provider. The service consumer connects to the ESB by using its preferred transport protocol without any knowledge of how the connection to the provider is
made. The ESB sends the request to the provider by using a protocol that is supported by the provider.

3: Transforming message formats between requester and the service provider
Typically, interfaces and operations of disparate services are not identical. The ESB transforms the message from the source into a format that can be accepted by the target. Handling business events from disparate sources. The same service provider that is responsible for a business function can be invoked from a variety of business contexts.

More on Message Broker as an ESB some time later :)
~ sayli :)

I've picked up New Vocabulary! :)

It’s been just less than two months in my Current Role and I have picked up some New Vocabulary. I also made numerous observations in my 1st ever Vendor Evaluation exercise that I had an opportunity to be a part of. Thanks also to the meetings and interactions with colleagues, vendors, clients and numerous other sources which have compelled me to have enough motivation to go ahead and ingrain the new found list of phrases in my blog here! :)

So here you go (the next time you find me using these phrases/words you know where it came from :) ;))

1: Are we there - In terms of getting everyone on the same page?
2: We’ve hit the ground running.
3: I understand where you are coming from.
4: You can’t afford to rock the boat anywhere!
5: Let’s position ourselves correctly.
6: We don’t wish to Poke Holes at anyone :)
7: We can’t boil the ocean in one Talk!
8: Its BAU (meaning Business As Usual).
9: I am just doing a Reality Check!
10: Let’s Sanitize the Process.
11: Does that sound like a plan?
12: Let’s leverage what’s done by our Brothers and Sisters and put a Positive Spirit on it! :)
13: Let us elevate this discussion.
14: Is the game plan still on? (regarding this task / meeting)
15: Can I exercise a timeout – I do not mean to override you.
16: For the lack of better words – …
17: Let’s take a Buy In from the authority.
18: I am unable to articulate that thought.
19: Are we ready to pull the rug on the floor?
20: This is a big kicker okay..
21: We are here to manage the Client’s expectations.
22: They probably got stuck in Limbo Land.
23: Let us talk in Business Parlance.
24: We ought to do more than just an academic exercise here.
25: We will be able to give you a better handle on this.
26: This is yours – Now Run the Show!!
27: With 'abc' the rubber meets the road!
28: Call it whatever you want.
29: I’ll bet my wallet on this.
30: Long Story Short -
31: Every so often!
32: He had an ability to diverge from the proposed agenda and still have everyone on the same page.
33: They are probably looking at instant gratification.
34: It helps to draw parallels between what you have done and what is unique to this engagement.
35: Is there a Strategic Advantage to this?
36: They are making an assurance to take the Client from where they are to where they want to be!
37: We would be looking at North Bound Interfaces which are generic and South Bound which would be more specific.
38: Is this part of the scope / agenda?
39: HA: High Availability & DR: Disaster Recovery

Points 32 to 39 are observations I made and have recorded here as learning’s from the RFP Response presentation that I was a part of. I was the Junior most official in the room of esteemed others like - The Practice Head, the Relationship Manager, a Principal Consultant, a Domain Expert, a Subject Matter Expert, an experienced Resource with both Technical and Functional knowledge from the Vendor Panel and AVP IT, Manager IT, Distinguished Team Members from the Client Side and a Business Transformations Panel, a PM, a set of IT Architects from my company.

My role was to evaluate the solution within the Framework of a SOA based Application Integration approach. Ideally I would’ve loved to dedicate a separate article on it but do not wish to run the risk of violating the Information Security / Business Conduct Guidelines that I always have complied with irrespective of which organization I belonged to. :)

Hope you have a nice time using some of the above phrases and having your own interpretations of them! :)
~ sayli :)

Leadership for the IT Professional

Yes, I did go back on my words, cause Valentine's definitely wasnt the time to Post a piece on Leadership ! :) So here it is reproduced for the curious few, inclusive of me :)

Leadership means getting something done through other people. Leadership is not equivalent to management. Leadership requires the effective coordination of resources that are often not directly under the leader’s control:

• A leader accepts the responsibility for the success of a project or organization and provides selfless giveback and support to ensure everyone’s success.
• A leader recognizes the need to change, adapt, and innovate – and they find effective ways to communicate those needs to the organization.
In order to understand the meaning of architectural leadership it is necessary to understand that any professional can be a leader. Leadership is essential for all IT professionals who wish to progress in their careers.

Examples of leadership in a technical context are:

• Establishing and driving a new architectural vision or direction in order to adapt to changing business dynamics
• Developing a new technical standard or framework as part of a standards body
• Setting and maintaining the direction of a team of IT professionals to achieve a common goal
• Resolving a complex technical problem by developing new tooling or techniques
• Designing a new innovative solution IT architecture that changes the way an organization does business or establishes a new IT industry view or initiative
• Helping the organization to recognize weak links in their technical strategy and implementation in a way that helps to facilitate the organizations closure of gaps
• Facilitating the implementation of a significant and complex architectural initiative through other technical members of the organization – this is often accomplished through mentorship, enablement, and giveback
• Acting in the role of the technical advocate by [recommending] an innovative IT solution that changes the dynamics of the business environment; a technical advocate works with business leaders to consider strategic changes to the business – facilitates entry into new markets – and responds to changing market dynamics.
• Being seen as a role model by team members

Architectural leadership for the Chief/Lead IT Architect is defined as leading the creation and realization of a sufficiently complex system or enterprise architecture that is:

• Critical to the business
• Significant and complex – non-trivial and meaningful to the business
• Innovative
• Recognized as essential across multiple organizations or multiple lines of business
• Visible to stakeholders including, for example, customers or business partners

I came across this in my general reading and wished to Archive it in my own blog instead of the usual save / bookmark as favourite. Hope it helped.

lotsa luc,

~ sayli :)

Happy Valentines .... !! :)

What do you give a MAN who has everything?? Everything that sweeps me off my feet!! That makes me blush n smile and look crazy in a crowd of strangers! Everything that has found its way in my heart and engraved those memories in words of gold! Abhi is My Man who has everything! :)

Yesterday, I thought, today was going to be an ordinary Valentines Day .. Abhis appointment book for today was full… I was probably thinking we may not be able to make it for a dinner together … I had had a long day after having being treated to an exhaustive Induction program that had made me breathe IBM… literally !! :)

I was drop dead tired … fast asleep by midnight and I was disturbed by a voice that said "saaay"
My eyes opened to the light of candles and a curious face wishing me "Happy Valentines !! :) " :) Abhi sat there holding the cake and I realized oh Yes! Valentines it is indeed !! :) When he handed me the card that read With all my Love – Just for You I felt wow !! (hez always managed to find cards better than I could) :)

He handed me a beautiful bag and out comes the Little Black Dress with beautiful earrings to match !! :) Now this is a feeling LEO’s love to have !!! I was being pampered :) and I could’ve loved for time to just stand still!! But good that it dint, cause Valentines Morning had me even more surprised!

Abhi was off to office early and I was left to pack my lunch at the kitchen platform when the door bell rang.. Baba willingly answered it to bring in a Bouquet of Red Roses !! I turned to face Baba when he said "Sayli"; seeing my Jaw drop at the sight of the red roses baba just said one word "Abhi" and I blushed !! I called him to tell him he is crazy !! :) and I continued repeating that in my mind… wasn’t it a perfect start to the day !!…

Now its my turn to reveal what I had hidden in my office drawer since Tuesday afternoon ! :)
I am heading for a dinner date with hubby deary!! :) and I too have a surprise for him!! :)

As for the rest of you … whether or not cupid’s struck already – May u find Love and Fulfillment in all your Relationships ! :)

Happy Valentines !! :)
~ sayli :)

An IT Architect - Who IS He ??

Okay! So I am an IBM Certified SOA Associate. So ?? What next ??

I have been extremely fortunate to have got an opportunity to apply the techniques for modeling a SOA. Or rather, it was the learnings that I continued to get from my engagements in Vodafone that lead me to get myself certified on SOA.

There is still however, a feeling of unease. It roots from the fact that I am being exposed to a team of IT Architects. A team who has expertise that goes beyond just a product, a framework or a technology alone, and probably I want to see myself replicating those varied capabilities. But, I could get there, only if I made a start. So let me make a start today, by identifying and analyzing if I could elivate my actions, thoughts and knowledge, by archiving and understanding what I found (and reproduce here for your reference,) about the Role, Scope and KRA of an IT Architect.

This surely is a piece of interest to a few, but to those who are interested, chances are that you may also take a step towards being one. So read on ...

An IT Architect defines solutions to client business problems through the reasoned application of information technology. Those solutions are documented as architectures and can include systems, applications, and process components. They may also involve the application and integration of a broad variety of products; technologies, and services; various systems and applications architectures; and diverse hardware and software components.

The role of the Chief/Lead IT Architect is:
• To initiate, business justify, and lead projects for the development of new and sufficiently complex components within the enterprise architecture in the areas of information, applications, and technology, in order to meet business objectives
• To establish an architectural framework that is the foundation for other systems across the organization and is essential for the proper execution and delivery of critical and strategic business systems
• To implement organizational-wide initiatives aimed at supporting the enablement of the IT Architect community through the development of tooling, education, or career enhancement

The Chief/Lead IT Architect is:
• An expert in the understanding of architectural principles and their implications to system design, securability, system extensibility and interoperability, costs, and operational considerations
• A student of the profession that is constantly learning and applying new techniques and technologies and seeks to design new innovative architectural solutions

What distinguishes IT Architects at different levels are leadership, and scope, depth, and breadth of impact. Well "Leadership" is a pretty relative term, but I did find its specific relevance to the IT Architecture Parlance. More in the next post :)

Have a gr8 evening !
~ sayli :)

Another Day - Another Chapter !

Its another weekday… the City’s woken up to those morning rush hours …cutting through painful traffic jams and signals which are thankfully followed!
You reach Metropolitan and if you’re one among those bike riders you probably are queued up in a massive line to get into a lift that carries you to the terrace parking …the car commuters however, have it easier …

For one who is fitness conscious you probably take the stairs, else you just wait to get into the lift to hit the button to floor 3. A swipe of the card and you are greeted to an environment full of activity! A central hallway with cubicles on either side with soft boards in colors as varied as red to green, (except pink which was bid goodbye and saw its sunset with the brand hutch) the usual sound of the keyboard and the mouse clicks, some highly audible conversations over the phone, a wodden floored LOUNGE AREA, overlooking a grandeur view of the hills and towers alike - hosting a couple of guys catching up on the newspapers (thanks to no internet access) another couple lined up outside the net café (a glass partition with two PCs running internet catering to a strength of 130 odd people on a floor), a fair amount of activity near the vending machine, all conference rooms which seem to be overflowing with the likes of Technical Gurus, IT Architects, SMEs and the Variants !! That’s the Vodafone IT office for you!

A stark contrast to the Tech Park One (TPO – C building), floor one which houses a chunk of IBMers in Pune. A massive breathing space, spacious cubicles, carpets done up in stone grey, interiors done up in muted colors like beige, grey and white, people just plugging in their laptops and catching up on news, personal email, social/professional networking sites, logging onto SameTime, w3 (which is like the life line of every IBMer), checking emails on lotus notes..

The pantry wears a deserted look and the only thing that looks colorful, are the two red dustbins with “Wet Garbage” and “Dry Garbage” tagged onto them (it always makes me wonder if it made any sense at all to have two separate bins since each soul in the pantry generally walks in either to drink water or have coffee/tea which makes it both Wet Garbage - God knows what goes into the dry garbage bin, but I do see it full!) lots of conference rooms lined up on one side on the floor with each requiring you to book them in advance - this is IBM for you !

Its been exactly a week since I shifted to the TPO office and 2 days since I started shuttling between Vodafone and IBM offices. So I guess its reason enough for me to come to terms with the stark contrast in atmospheres. Just as I have my own time getting used to different working styles, I am also welcomed to a newer culture - whether one is better than the other is truly not a question - but how well you adapt yourself to both simultaneously, is something worth sparing a thought for - cause after all when you switch roles from being The CLIENT to being A VENDOR, it’s a lot more than just office space and privileges than change!! The only thing that remains unchanged however, is the fact that U DELIVER - client or vendor / slowdown or no slowdown!

Good Luc to one and all. My heart goes out to all the fresher [who got laid off by the likes of TCS and IBM] with the hope that they find better things to do in life. As for the more fortunate like us, may the thirst for exploring an alternative lucrative profession take us to the next [not so insecure] level!!

luv n luc as always
- sayli..