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  • 1.  TMF637 Resource Model - modeling related products

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jun 25, 2020 07:04
    Hi all,

    We are trying to model product inventory management API in accordance with TMF637. Our products are related, i.e. customers have "main offers" (Mobile subscription) and related add-ons (extra data in roaming, extra minutes, etc.). Product inventory resource model is built around the Product type as shown on the screenshot below. We assume that our "main offers" are in stances of the Product class; and the question is how to model add-ons correctly:

    • should they be modeled as array of ProductRefOrValue, shown as property named product of type Product?
    • or should we use array of ProductRelationship, shown as property named productRelationship of type Product; and have the product field of type ProductRelationship referencing all related products? What kind of product does Product.product describe then?



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    Nick Nilga
    .NET Solutions Architect
    Telenor Denmark
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  • 2.  RE: TMF637 Resource Model - modeling related products

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jun 26, 2020 03:56
    Hi Mykola

    I couldn't access the attached picture.

    Add-ons to a mobile can be modelled as Product with productRelationship to an already owned mobile access product. with relationship reliesOn . 



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    Srikanth Minnam
    Qvantel Oy
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  • 3.  RE: TMF637 Resource Model - modeling related products
    Best Answer

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jun 30, 2020 02:25
    I want to clarify the distinction between the product attribute and the productRelationship attribute.
    • product is a (list of) Product(s) contained within the Product, as per the corresponding ProductSpecification.bundledProductSpecification from product catalog (TMF620). This allows (where needed) definition of complex products (that are nevertheless indivisible since they are all sold within the same ProductOffering).
    • productRelationship is a (list of) Product that are related to the Product (add-on is one example, others might be dependencies, such as TV dependency on Broadband), as per the corresponding ProductSpecification.productSpecificationRelationship from product catalog (TMF620).
    So it all starts with the way you choose to model the product in the catalog, and this of course depends on the business practices of the service provider.

    Basically if you sell and price stuff independently, it should be modeled by separate product specification, wrapped in its own product offering (with prices), of course the offering can be bundled commercially with the main product offering.
    If things are an integral part of the product, always sold/supplied as part of the product and not independently priced, you could make them contained within the main product.

    Hope it helps.

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    Jonathan Goldberg
    Amdocs Management Limited
    Any opinions and statements made by me on this forum are purely personal, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the TM Forum or my employer.
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  • 4.  RE: TMF637 Resource Model - modeling related products

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jul 03, 2020 04:40
    Thanks Johnathan,

    Your explanation is perfect!

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    Nick Nilga
    .NET Solutions Architect
    Telenor Denmark
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  • 5.  RE: TMF637 Resource Model - modeling related products

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jul 03, 2020 06:54
    Hello Johnathan,

    Another question regarding to the ProductRelationship.product field. According to the resource diagram snapshot shown below, it can be empty. What product does productRelationship refer to then? Could think of an example?


    Thanks.


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    Nick Nilga
    .NET Solutions Architect
    Telenor Denmark
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  • 6.  RE: TMF637 Resource Model - modeling related products

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jul 05, 2020 05:28
    I think that this is a mistake in the diagram, possibly due to a mistake in the underlying model, the target product should be 1..1. Adding @Ludovic Robert to s​ee if a correction should be made.

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    Jonathan Goldberg
    Amdocs Management Limited
    Any opinions and statements made by me on this forum are purely personal, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the TM Forum or my employer.
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  • 7.  RE: TMF637 Resource Model - modeling related products

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Jul 06, 2020 03:14
    Hello

    This is not really a mistake but a limitation to our current UML generating tooling.
    I confirm the cardinality is 1,1 and expressed as it in the swagger;

    I recommend to always consider the swagger as the primarly source of truth. The UML is a very helpful representation but cannot by itself fully describe the API;

    Hope it helps,

    Ludovic

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    Ludovic Robert
    Orange
    My answer are my own & don't represent necessarily my company or the TMF
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