DATA INTERCHANGE INITIATIVE A Service Neutral Ebusiness Framework

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DATA INTERCHANGE INITIATIVEA Service Neutral
E-business Framework

• Stephanie Cowart
• Manager, Wholesale Operations
• BellSouth Billing, Inc.

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Agenda

• ATIS Board TOPS Council Background
• Overview of Data Interchange Focus Group Work
  Plan Recommendations
• Benefits of Standards Creation and Implementation
• DI-E2E Task Force and Liaison Relationships

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ATIS Board TOPS Council

• Technical Operations (TOPS) Council is a standing
  committee of the ATIS Board of Directors
• As a result of the TOPS Council work, five Focus
  Groups were initiated
• VoIP
• Wide Area Ethernet
• Security
• Mobile Wireless
• Data Interchange
• More information on the work of these Focus
  Groups is available at the ATIS booth
• This presentation focuses on the Work Plan
  developed by the Data Interchange Focus Group

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Data Interchange Key Issues

• The Data Interchange Focus Group took an in-depth
  look at the existing telecommunications industry
  data interchange environment and identified four
  key issues
• The industry is using multiple network
  interfaces, protocols, and message formats for
  data interchange, increasing cost and operational
  inefficiencies
• CORBA, XML, and ConnectDirect, EDI, CMIP, etc.
• Data definitions and usage rules are not globally
  defined for the telecommunications industry. This
  leads to redundancies and conflicts, making it
  difficult to integrate new products and services

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Data Interchange Key Issues, cont.

• Legacy data interchange solutions and existing
  industry standards inhibit rapid implementation
  of new services, impeding the evolution to "real
  time" end-to-end business processes
• Uniform implementations are inhibited by multiple
  solutions currently in use. Establishing trading
  partner relationships and adding new services is
  time consuming and labor intensive

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Data Interchange Focus Group Recommendation 1

• Adopt and evolve the telecommunications Markup
  Language (tML) Transport Profile as the
  E-business Framework solution for Operations
  Support Systems (OSS) Interconnection
• tML is a variant of XML oriented towards
  telecommunications
• This recommended Transport Profile is defined in
  ATIS Document TCIF03-003 (The tML Transport
  Profile specification), a recently developed and
  approved ATIS standard. This document is
  available from the ATIS Document Center at
  lthttp//www.atis.orggt
• The E-business Framework defines a transport
  gateway that provides common network transport
  for applications that interchange data and
  business transactions over the Internet or
  through a private line connection

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Data Interchange Focus Group Recommendation 1,
cont.

• The transport gateway supports various OSS
  operations including, but not limited to,
  Ordering, Billing, Provisioning, Procurement,
  Payment, and Service Management e-business
  transactions
• Transport Profile Features
• XML Web Services provides the underlying
  transport specification
• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) was selected
  as the message envelope protocol due to its
  simplicity and widespread use
• HTTP(S) was chosen as the transport protocol as
  it is supported by virtually all operating
  systems and offers security features
• The Internet or a private TCP/IP network will be
  used as the transport network.

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Data Interchange Focus Group Recommendation 2

• Adopt a consistent data interchange solution that
  facilitates the evolution of Legacy Systems to
  real time end-to-end business processes
• As the E-business Framework timeline is
  finalized, standardized industry migration and
  retirement plans need to be developed for
  existing data interchange standards (e.g., EDI,
  CORBA, CMIP)
• Solutions should be managed and developed using a
  standard methodology to propel the industry to
  the next generation of OSS interconnection
  standards
• Recommendation is to use the Unified Modeling
  Approach (UMA), as defined in ATIS Unified
  Modeling Approach (UMA) User Guide. This
  document is available to ATIS OBF members at
  lthttp//www.atis.orggt

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Data Interchange Focus Group Recommendation 2,
cont.

• Evolving to Real Time Processes
• Addressing the OSS-to-OSS (O2O) Interface
• An O2O interface is a simple interface that
  allows business documents (business data and
  business transactions) to be exchanged between
  OSSs. Each O2O interface supports a specific
  business function (such as Ordering, Billing,
  Payment, etc.)
• The transport gateway addressed in Recommendation
  1 purposely de-couples the transport gateway
  from the O2O interfaces
• The intention is to enable a single gateway to
  accommodate multiple O2O interfaces
• As more legacy data interchange solutions are
  consolidated into the E-business Framework
  solution, real time end-to-end business
  processes can be realized

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Data Interchange Focus Group Recommendation 2,
cont.

• Evolving to Real Time Processes, cont.
• Standardize O2O interfaces by converting existing
  O2O data into business document formats using tML
• A tML schema is a document template that provides
  detailed information regarding the data structure
• This self documenting feature enables software
  components to process and transform data
  efficiently
• Existing tML business documents (used for
  IP-based services for example) can be easily
  transformed to any data format that legacy
  systems will understand
• Standards Development Organizations (SDO) can
  readily convert their existing business documents
  (such as LSOG, EMI, etc.) into tML schemas

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Data Interchange Focus Group Recommendation 3

• Develop a Generic Telecommunication Data
  Dictionary (GTDD)
• Many data elements are currently contained in the
  OSS standards documents
• While similar, these elements arent necessarily
  defined or used in exactly the same way
• A common way to describe and use each element
  across all standards documents is needed
• The GTDD initiative addresses this need

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Data Interchange Focus Group Recommendation 3,
cont.

• A project was initiated at the ATIS Ordering and
  Billing Forum (OBF) to investigate the viability
  of creating a GTDD
• Sub-team with representation from various OBF
  member companies
• Telephone Number (TN) was chosen as a first
  element to analyze as it is a common field used
  by many documents
• Preliminary work on TN has been completed
• Based on knowledge gained from the project, a
  recommendation has been put forward by the work
  team regarding next steps and resources
• The GTDD is viewed as a necessary building block
  for successful achievement of the overall Data
  Interchange goals

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The E-business Vision Business-to-Business
Data Interchange Relationship
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The E-business Vision How to Get There

• Data Interchange Strategy
• Provide a Common Gateway-to-Gateway (G2G)
  Transport Solution
• Decouple O2O Interfaces from the Transport
  Solution
• Provide interfaces/mapping to legacy systems
  during transition period
• Utilize tML/XML as the Business Language
• Develop New Convert Existing O2O Interfaces
  using tML/XML
• Retire Existing O2O Interfaces

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The E-business Vision How to Get There, cont.

• Data Requirements Strategy
• Develop a Generic Telecom Data Dictionary (GTDD)
  to provide a common reference for the industry
• A common data definition and usage reference will
  
• Provide a common thread through existing OSS
  Business Functions
• Facilitate The Integration of New Products and
  Services
• Standards Development Methodology Strategy
• Adopt UMA as the Standards Development
  Methodology
• UMA Provides methodology to develop business
  requirements, analysis, and Information Modeling,
  Design, and Implementation Processes

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The E-business Vision - Benefits

• Easy to Conduct Business Electronically
• Easy to Integrate New Products and Services
• Easy to Develop and Maintain OSS Data Interchange
  Standards
• Easy to Establish B2B Relationship
• Opportunities to Reduce Cost

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Data Interchange Standards Creation

• Data Interchange End-to-End Task Force formed at
  the ATIS OBF
• DI-E2E Task Force responsible for standards
  creation and implementation of standards based on
  Data Interchange Focus Group Work Plan
• Task Force to exist until DIFG Work Plan is
  implemented

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DI E2E Task Force Mission Statement

• The Data Interchange End-to-End Task Force
  will coordinate, with the assistance of ATIS
  Project Management,  development of a service
  neutral e-commerce framework.  This
  framework will include standard, secure
  processes data models protocols and
  implementation agreements by which services can
  be ordered, provisioned, billed, settled, and
  managed.  This task force will exist until the
  Data Interchange framework is fully developed,
  and all milestones are identified and being
  worked in the appropriate SDO.   

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DIE2E Task Force Membership

• Companies Represented
• Billing Concepts
• SBC
• Comcast
• 1800AFTA
• Sprint PCS
• Consolidated Communications
• UDP
• BellSouth
• Qwest
• TEOCO Corporation
• MCI
• ATT
• Telcordia Technologies
• MetaSolv Software

• Co-Chairs
• Mike Norris, Canadian Clearinghouse
• Stephanie Cowart, BellSouth
• Other SDOs Represented
• T1M1 OAMP
• T1M1 OB
• IPDR.org

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DI-E2E Task Force Next Steps

• Task Force responsible for creation of an
  implementable project plan based on the
  recommendations of the DI Focus Group
• Project plan will be managed by ATIS Project
  Management team and will contain individual
  milestones
• Milestones and associated completion dates will
  be accomplished by impacted committees, groups,
  or individuals
• All milestone work coordinated by Task Force and
  ATIS Project Management
• ATIS to provide project plan status to TOPS
  Council
• Resource needs will be addressed
• Roadblocks, jeopardies will be reported
• TOPS Council to provide specific support when
  necessary