CASE STUDY: Modeling ITIL Process Flows with eTOM Level 3 Process Elements

Name of company submitting case study: Smartrek AG

Web links to company submitting case studies: www.smartrek.com

Name of authors: Hans Rudolf Stucki, Marc Obrist

Authors’ email addresses: hans-rudolf.stucki@smartrek.com, marc.obrist@smartrek.com

Contact for further information: Hans Rudolf Stucki, Partner, Smartrek AG

Applicable TM Forum technical areas: eTOM/ITIL

Applicable Industry Areas:

VIEWPOINT: NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES:

X Service provider perspective X Mobile GSM/GPRS
Software vendor perspective X Mobile CDMA/EVDO
Hardware vendor perspective X Mobile Edge/UMTS
System integrator perspective X ATM
X Consultants perspective X SONET/SDH
X MPLS
SERVICES: X Ethernet
X Voice X Frame Relay
X Video X Converged network
X Data X Cable
X VoIP X Satellite
X IPTV X Broadband
X VPN X Fixed Line
X Content X DSL
X independent of service X IP
X WiFi/WiMax
X independent of network technology

TM Forum Case Study Page 1 November 2009

CASE STUDY SUMMARY:

This Case Study relates to a customer project successfully implemented by Smartrek AG for a
major European service provider. The starting point of the project was that the service provider
has developed own telecom process flows based on eTOM vertical domains (FAB) and has
decomposed these down to operational procedures to support the business. Because of expansion
into new business areas (outsourcing, B2B, IT), the service provider had to set up processes for
managing IT - with its own terminology and staff trained in these processes and procedures.

The Case Study will demonstrate how the frameworks of the Information Technology
Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and eTOM can be combined to face the challenge to expand from
pure telecom business to the converged information technology and telecommunication market.
Furthermore it validates concepts and recommendations outlined in GB921U, GB921V, TR143,
and other TM Forum documents.

FULL CASE STUDY:

• Business Problem to be solved:

The service provider within this Case Study has developed it’s own end-to-end processes to
accomplish the daily work. These processes have been inspired by the vertical FAB domains
within eTOM. Each process has been decomposed down to operational procedures by
formulating the activities along the workflow.

Because of the expansion into the new business areas B2B and the operation of customer
infrastructure, the service provider had to set up standard processes for managing IT. Mainly the
communication between the service provider and the business customers stipulated the
restructuring of the end-to-end processes based on industry standards in order to unify
terminology and the way of interactions. Most of the business customers have implemented an
ITIL-like way of working, using its terminology and process steps. Thus corporate customers
made clear statements within contracts and service level agreements (SLA), demanding proof that
the service provider operates towards “good practice” according to the ITIL framework.

ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world. ITIL gives a
detailed description of a number of important practices with comprehensive checklists, tasks and
procedures that any organization can tailor to its needs. The focus of the eTOM Business Process
Framework is on the business processes used by service providers. eTOM provides a complete set
of standard process elements which cover all the fields of activities a service provider has to cope
with.

• Working towards a solution:

Based on earlier successful projects and the fact that Smartrek is experienced in both, ITIL and
eTOM, the service provider contracted Smartrek in order to define the end-to-end processes and
to model those flows that fit for both, corporate customers and the service provider.

Business process modeling (BPM) was the main discipline to resolve the business problem. BPM
is the activity of representing processes of an enterprise, so that the current process may be
analyzed and improved in future. BPM is typically performed by business analysts and managers
who are seeking to improve process efficiency and quality.

TM Forum Case Study Page 2 November 2009

Smartrek has recognized that both, ITIL and eTOM are needed to overcome the service
provider’s challenge. If either is used in isolation, the result is that the missing elements will still
need to be filled in. When using ITIL standards alone, process steps have to be designed to
describe the flow. Appearing as a simple task the delimitation and description of process steps is
tricky. There is the risk to fail to recognize reoccurring activities if one just formulates them in
the context of the specific process flows by combining activity and business objects. For example,
handling a trouble ticket and a service request are the same activities from a procedural view.
However, the business objects managed by the activities may be different. On the other hand,
applying the eTOM framework alone, gives one a tool kit with all the standard process
components but no end-to-end process flows.

Smartrek applied the concepts set out in GB921V where a linking mechanism had been
developed to allow ITIL and eTOM to work together.

SP Business IT Good Practice

Conclusion:
At the left in figure 1, eTOM and ITIL can offer
Process Needs Needs
eTOM covers the service complementary value
providers business Customer
Continual Service
Improvement

process needs and forms a

Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations

Strategy & Infrastructure Product Operations Fulfillment Assurance Billing

Commit Lifecycle Lifecycle Support & Service
Management Management Readiness Design
Marketing & Offer Management Customer Relationship Management
Service
Strategy

process model that Service Development & Management

Resource Development & Management

(Application, Computing and Network)
Service Management & Operations

Resource Management & Operations

(Application, Computing and Network)
Service
Operation ITIL

organizes these. This

Co Imp ro

men ice
Supply Chain Development & Management Supplier/Partner Relationship Management
nti

ve e rv
t
nu ve m

pro l S
al

Im nua
Se nt

Enterprise Management Service

nti
model is then be used to
rvic
e

Strategic & Enterprise Enterprise Risk Enterprise Effectiveness Knowledge & Research
Transition

Co
Planning Management Management Management
e

Financial & Asset

Management
Stakeholder & External
Relations Management
Human Resources
Management
Final Result
deliver the standard eTOM eTOM Business Flows
ITIL Best
Process Flows that Deliver ITIL
elements of end-to-end Practices
Good Practice Services
process flows which
Filter &
represent real world cases Reconcile
of specific business
scenarios.
Figure 1: eTOM and ITIL working together [GB921V]

In the middle, ITIL captures IT good practice needs and organizes these into a model of areas of
IT Service Design, Transition, Operation, etc.

These ITIL good practices have been used to select which of the possible process flows are in line
with the service providers requirements. Based on this, at the bottom right, we can deliver a
subset of all the possible process flows that are in line with the ITIL processes areas.

To understand how ITIL can be supported with eTOM, it is necessary to recognize that ITIL
provides a view of each of the process areas it addresses (such as Incident Management, Problem
Management, Change Management, etc.) with the intention of defining what needs to be done
and thought about in order to achieve good business results. The specification and delimitation of
any activity within the areas are not explicitly defined, but are left to the BPM responsible.

eTOM directly addresses this aspect. It structures the complete map of activities of a service
provider into standard process elements. Each process element is described in detail and its use in
the overall context is specified. This means that the ITIL areas can be described with process
flows composed of eTOM standard process elements (eTOM level 3 process elements).

TM Forum Case Study Page 3 November 2009

Figure 2 depicts the positioning of ITIL process areas and the use of eTOM L3 process elements
within the process hierarchy as described in GB921U. The original diagram found in GB921U
was further developed by Smartrek within the customer project.

Defines business activities.

What is our business Distinguishes operational customer oriented processes
Level 0: Business Activities from management and strategic process

Segmentation into related Shows groups of related business functions and

business functions
Level 1: Process Grouping
What needs to be done
(from a business perspective)
Level 2: Core Processes
What we actually do
(from a process flow perspective)
Level 3: Business Process Flows
Level 4: Operational Process Flows How we do it
(from an operational perspective)
Level 5: Detailed Process Flows
standard ‘high-level” end-to-end processes
Processes that combine together to deliver
end-to-end processes (e.g. ITIL process areas)
Description of the process flows with
standard process elements (e.g. eTOM L3)
Detailed operational process flows with
error conditions and variants
Æ Operational Manuals
Further decomposition
where required
Æ Work Instructions

Figure 2: eTOM and the Process Hierarchy [based on GB921U]

• Solution:
The essence of how ITIL and eTOM are applied is to be aware that ITIL defines the end-to-end
processes on Core Process level and eTOM L3 process elements are used to model the Core
Process flows on Business Process Flow level. ITIL discusses working steps that deal with topics
like, Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, etc. With eTOM, the
model provides an organized structure of process elements that are then used to model the steps
within whatever process flows are needed. In this Case Study we will have a more detailed look
at ITIL Incident Management.

In ITIL terminology, an ‘incident’ is defined as an unplanned interruption to an IT service or

reduction in the quality of an IT service. Failure of a configuration item that has not yet impacted
service is also an incident, for example failure of one disk from a mirror set.

TM Forum Case Study Page 4 November 2009

 Incident Management is the process for
From From User Email
Event Web Phone Technical dealing with all incidents. This can
Mgmt Interface Call Staff
include failures, questions or queries
reported by the users (usually via a
Incident
Identification telephone call to the Service Desk), by
technical staff, or automatically detected
Incident
Logging
in other monitoring processes and
reported by event monitoring tools.
Incident
Categorization
The primary goal of the Incident
Service Request
Yes Management process is to restore normal
No
To
Request Fulfillment service operation as quickly as possible
Incident
and minimize the adverse impact on
Prioritization
business operations, thus ensuring that
Major Yes
the best possible levels of service quality
Incident Major Incident
Procedure and availability are maintained. ‘Normal
No
service operation’ is defined in ITIL as
Initial
Diagnosis service operation within SLA limits.

Yes Functional
Escalation
Yes
Functional
Escalation
In ITIL, process areas are typically
Yes Hierarchic
Needed 2/3 Level
explained by using
Management
Escalation
Escalation
Needed
No
- textual descriptions of process
Investigations
No &
Diagnosis
activities, methods and techniques
- high level diagrams
Resolution
& - listing of object attributes
Recovery

Incident
Closure

Figure 3: Incident Management process flow [ITIL V3]

For those new to ITIL, it is therefore not always easy to distinguish what part of the description is
process, method, object or attributes. A good example to illustrate this issue is the process step of
“Incident Logging”.

ITIL recommends that all incidents must be fully logged and date/time stamped, regardless of
whether they are raised through a Service Desk telephone call or automatically detected via an
event alert. The description of this step then continues with an extensive list of information
needed for each incident, like unique reference number, category, urgency, impact, prioritization,
date/time recorded, name/ID of the person and/or group recording the incident, method of
notification (telephone, automatic, e-mail, in person, etc.), description of symptoms, incident
status (active, waiting, closed, etc.), support group/person to which the incident is allocated,
related problem/known error, activities undertaken to resolve the incident, resolution date/time,
etc. The description contains a great deal of many different aspects: some related to process, some
to objects and attributes, others to status.

TM Forum Case Study Page 5 November 2009

This weak point of ITIL can be resolved by eTOM which comes with standardized process
elements providing the basic activity components to build a process flow - comparable to
standard parts in the engineering industry. In addition, eTOM does not stand alone, but is part of
the TM Forum’s Solution Frameworks. To that end, the Business Process Framework is directly
mapped to the Information Framework (SID). Teamed with the SID, the eTOM model provides
enterprises with not only a process view of their business but also an entity (business object) view.
That is to say, the SID provides the definition of the ‘things’ that are to be dealt with by the
business processes defined in the eTOM. The SID and eTOM in combination offer a way to
explain ‘how’ things are intended to fit together to meet a given business need.

In order to combine the main benefits of the ITIL and eTOM frameworks, Smartrek uses the
documentations of ITIL and models the process flow with the standardized eTOM L3 process
elements and builds associations with the affected SID entities.

ITIL:
Incident Identification
<<Core Process>> <<Process Element>>
Incident Management Design Core Process Flow with Manage Contact
eTOM Level 3 Process Elements
ITIL:
Incident Logging
<<Process Element>>
Manage Request

<<Core Process>>
Request Fulfillment
Core Process Description
• Incident Identification
• Incident Logging <<Process Element>> <<Process Element>>
• Incident Categorization Create Customer Report Customer
• Incident Prioritization Problem Report Problem
• Initial Diagnosis
• Incident Escalation
• Investigation and Diagnosis <<Process Element>> ITIL:
• Resolution and Recovery Track & Manage Incident Categorization
• Incident Closure Incident Prioritization
Customer Problem

ITIL:
Core Process Flow (ITIL) <<Process Element>> Incident Escalation
Isolate
eTOM Process “Toolkit” Customer Problem ITIL:
Initial Diagnosis

Detailed Business Process Flow (eTOM L3)

Figure 4: Combine eTOM and ITIL [Smartrek]

Major steps throughout the project:

Preparation prior to the project:

1. Download of the Business Process Framework (eTOM) , Information Framework (SID)
and Applications Framework (TAM) models from TM Forum website and adapt them to
be able to import into the modeling tool
2. Getting familiar with ITIL documentation and process descriptions

Within project:
3. Getting familiar with existing processes and documentation
4. Identify appropriate business use cases (e.g. Order2Payment, Trouble2Resolve,
Request2Change, etc.)
5. Identify the relevant ITIL process areas

TM Forum Case Study Page 6 November 2009

 6. Define new end-to-processes if ITIL does not cover all the business use cases (e.g.
customer facing, billing oriented, etc.)
7. Identify eTOM L3 process elements that fit best to support ITIL process steps
8. Model draft ITIL process flows, using the standard eTOM L3 process elements
9. Refine model through several iteration loops and reviews by the respective stakeholders

Important note: in order to maintain reusability of the eTOM L3 process elements throughout
the enterprise business process model, the standard eTOM L3 process element descriptions are
not changed at this point of time and level of detail.

In the project, it was defined that “Incident Logging” will be executed using the eTOM L3
process element “Manage Request”, but we did not extend the description of the process element
with the extensive text found in ITIL. If we would have done so, the standard process element
could not be reused for other types of request in other process flows than Incident Management
(e.g. in Request Fulfillment). However to capture the tasks defined by ITIL we added a list of the
actions performed per process elements.

With this approach similar tasks performed in different process flows such as dealing with
requests are modeled with the same eTOM L3 process elements and can be identified easily
throughout the organization. Using relationship matrixes between ITIL processes and eTOM
process elements, it is then possible to identify potential for optimization and streamlining in both,
organization and IT systems.

• Results:
By following this approach, Smartrek is able to model the operational process flows outlined in
ITIL by using eTOM L3 process element descriptions. As part of ongoing activities and results
from customer projects, Smartrek has prepared templates for Fulfillment, Assurance and Billing
& Revenue Assurance process flows. Based on these templates, Smartrek is able to efficiently
and effectively model real world process flows as required by its customers.

Furthermore, Smartrek filled the missing Customer and Billing domains in ITIL and defined
equivalent processes such as Order Fulfillment dealing with customer orders and Billing
managing the complete customer accounting process.

Figure 5 illustrates the first few activities of the Incident Management flow. We used BPMN 1.2 1
standard to model the ITIL process areas. The figure shows two pools representing the Customer
and the Service Provider. Within the Service Provider pool there are two lanes, one standing for
the Service Desk and the other for the Network Operation organization. Incident Management is
triggered either by a customer complaint or by an internal degradation report produced out of a
monitoring process. We modeled Incident Management according to its ITIL definition with the
depicted eTOM L3 process elements.

1
Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) is a graphical representation for specifying business
processes in a workflow. BPMN was developed by Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI), and is
currently maintained by the Object Management Group since the two organizations merged in 2005. As of
January 2009, the current version of BPMN is 1.2, with a major revision process for BPMN 2.0 in progress.

TM Forum Case Study Page 7 November 2009

Customer

Complaint sent

Track & Manage

Customer Problem

Incident or Request?
Service Desk

+
Incident Create Customer Isolate
Manage Contact Manage Request
Problem Report Customer Problem
Service Provider

Service Request

Request Fulfillment Report Customer Close Customer

Problem Problem Report
+
Status Customer Problem Customer Problem
= cancelled or cleared Report closed
Network Operation

Figure 5: ITIL Incident Management modeled with eTOM L3 process elements

Smartrek uses Enterprise Architect Professional Edition Version 7.x to model the processes and
all dependencies between them. The first step required to efficiently carry out such kind of project
is to import and model eTOM Release 8.0 in the system. This way eTOM is used as the reference
model in each project. Practically this means that we simply drag and drop eTOM L3 process
elements to model ITIL process areas or any other kind of business process flow as illustrated in
figure 2.

Having modeled the processes in a business requirements tool it can be further used to

• Provide process documentation on a corporate web site

• Relate requirements to the process steps as part of requirements engineering projects
• Assign SID entities (and TAM functions) to the process elements to further standardize
specification work

As outlined above, one of the major benefits of using eTOM for process flow modeling is the fact
that it is part of the TM Forum’s Solution Frameworks. The Business Process Framework is
directly mapped to the Information Framework (SID) and to the Applications Framework (TAM).
The three go hand-in-hand so that data in management applications truly reflects the business
requirements of the service provider and organizations get a standardized model for grouping
function and data into recognizable applications or services. These beneficial interactions are not
in the scope of the ITIL framework. In combination with eTOM, however, ITIL is also linked to
the TM Forum’s Solution Frameworks and can profit from the widely adopted set of standards
and best practices for transforming business and operations, as illustrated in Figure 6.

TM Forum Case Study Page 8 November 2009

 Process Context Application Context Information Context
(ITIL and eTOM) (TAM) (SID)

Business Object Business Object

High level
(Core Processes)
Business Process Business Process Mgt. System Mgt. System

Enterprise Business Object

Intermediate level BP Module

(Business Processes) Decision
EBO EBO
Mgt Application Mgt Application
Start BP Module End

EBO

Detail level
(Operational Processes)
PO PO
BP Step

Start End
Mgt Function Mgt Function Project
PO Object
BP Step

Figure 6: eTOM - TAM - SID working together [Smartrek]

In addition to the project described in this Case Study, the same approach has been used with a
worldwide operating outsourcing company, providing managed network operation services to
communications service providers and in the defense industry.

The successful implementations validated concepts and recommendations outlined in GB921U,

GB921V, TR143, and other TM Forum documents, answering the question of “which framework
should I choose?” with the clear answer “the best mix of both!”

______________________________________________________________________________

eTOM® and tmforum logo are registered trade marks of the TeleManagement Forum
Smartrek and Smartrek logo are registered trade marks of Smartrek AG
Sparx and Enterprise Architect are registered trademarks of Sparx Systems Pty Ltd.
ITIL® is a registered trade mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other
countries

TM Forum Case Study Page 9 November 2009

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Applicable TAM Application Framework Categories:
Market/Sales
Campaign Management
Channel Sales Management
Corporate Sales Management
Product Management
Product Performance Management
Product Catalog Management
Product Strategy/Proposition
Management
Product Lifecycle Management
Customer Management
Customer Information Management
Customer Self Management
Customer Contact, Retention &
Loyalty
Order Management
Quotation Engine
X Customer QoS/SLA Management
X Customer Service/Account Problem
Resolution
Customer Billing Management
Invoicing
Collections Management
Bill Formatting
Receivables Management
Service Management
Service Specification Management
Service Inventory Management
Service Configuration Management
Service Design/Assign
X SLA Management
X Service Problem Management
X Service Quality Monitoring and
Impact Analysis
X Service Performance Management
Service Rating/Discounting
Management
TM Forum Case Study
Resource Management
Workforce Management
Resource Specification Management
Resource Inventory Management
Resource Design / Assign
Resource Provisioning / Configuration
Resource Logistics
Resource Testing Management
Resource Activation
Resource Planning / Optimization
Resource Domain Management (IT
Computing, IT Application, Network)
X Resource Performance Monitoring /
Management
X Resource Problem Management
X Correlation & Root Cause Analysis
Resource Status Monitoring
Resource Data Mediation
Arbitrage Management
Voucher Management
Billing Data Mediation
Real-time Billing Management
Enterprise Management
Revenue Assurance Management
HR Management
Financial Management
Asset Management
Security Management
Knowledge Management
Fraud Management
Supplier/Partner Manager
Partner Management
Supply Chain Management
Wholesale/Interconnect Billing
Application
Page 10 November 2009