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  • 1.  TM645 query Service Qualification - How to cluster services in the response per technology?

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Sep 10, 2021 09:32

    Hi,

    We are analyzing the implementation of a strict TMF645 Service Qualification version for the query operation.
    We want in the output/response the possibility to list all the different services & their characteristics but this per available technology at the requested location.

    Therefore the required output needs to be able to host the following structure of information for us (example):

    item 1  > this reflects the preferred cluster of services
      CFS Access
        Technology = FIBER GPON
      CFS TV
         MaxNoOfStreams =
         MaxVideoQuality  =
     CFS Voice
         MaxNoOfChannels =
     CFS Internet
         MaxDownStream =

    item 2  > 2nd option for cluster of services
      CFS Access
        Technology = VDSL2
      CFS TV
         MaxNoOfStreams =
         MaxVideoQuality  =
     CFS Voice
         MaxNoOfChannels =
     CFS Internet
         MaxDownStream =

    item 3  > 
      CFS Access
        Technology = 4G
      CFS TV
         MaxNoOfStreams =
         MaxVideoQuality  =
     CFS Voice
         MaxNoOfChannels =
     CFS Internet
         MaxDownStream =

    The technology influences / limits certain service characteristics. The set of possible services is to be seen as a cluster linked to the selected/possible techology.
    The current TMF645 specification doesn't allow us to cluster the possible answers as indicated above because the cardinality from ServiceQualificationItem to ServiceValueOrRef is limited to 1.
    Is there an option to review this & change this cardinality?
    Do you propose / see another way to handle this?

    We also need to provide the requester a way to show the preference of technology. Currently we would add a number of characteristics on the  ServiceQualificationItem, including such 'Priority' (or 'Weight') - could this be foreseen? Any alternative proposal for this requirement?

    kind regards,

    Peter



    ------------------------------
    Peter Broucke
    Proximus
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  • 2.  RE: TM645 query Service Qualification - How to cluster services in the response per technology?

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Sep 12, 2021 02:17
    Hi Peter
    So nice to be back in contact with you after 20 years or so !
    As you correctly state, a qualification item relates to a specific Service (or a Product in the corresponding offer qualification API).
    The idea of clustering is an interesting one, but changing cardinality from 1 to 1:* would be a breaking change.
    You can of course extend your implementation of the API to add characteristics (or indeed strongly-typed attributes).
    @Ludovic Robert as the API owner might have additional thoughts, as also @Johanne Mayer our NaaS expert.
    Hope it helps

    ​​

    ------------------------------
    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.
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: TM645 query Service Qualification - How to cluster services in the response per technology?

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Sep 13, 2021 02:10
    This is a very valid requirement which is not just needed for Service Qualification, but also for Service Ordering, where there is a need to group related services together, so that downstream fulfillment system can recognise them as a group and process accordingly.

    Consider a scenario where someone has to order these services together on a given location. In such case also, we need to group them together so that downstream system would know which internet needs to be provisioned with which Access. This scenario would be more common in B2B connectivity Services where there are multiple EVCs and UNIs needs to be provisioned at a given location.

    Consider a scenario where an Enterprise what to order dedicated E-LAN services for their Finance and Operations teams, both of which share same locations. In that case, we will have multiple EVCs and Multiple UNIs in a single Order. The need here is to group relevant UNIs with their corresponding EVC so that the fulfillment system understand that they need to be handled together. 

    I think we should have something called a Service Group that can be used to group multiple CFSs together so that provisioning systems can have enough information to handle them together. The same concept can be used in Service Qualification API as well to return the Service Groups wherever needed.

    ------------------------------
    Kinshuk Kulshreshtha
    Oracle Corporation

    My views posted on this forum are personal, and do not reflect the position of my employer or TM Forum.
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: TM645 query Service Qualification - How to cluster services in the response per technology?

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Sep 14, 2021 03:16
    Hello

    Peter, not sure to follow - which resource from TMF are you using ? the CheckServiceQualification or the QueryServiceQualification ?

    Kinshuk, regarding the order, for me, this grouping for provisioning is performed by leveraging the relationship. Regarding your example  you will have from the EVC order item an array of relationship to the UNI part of this EVC. The relationship could be between new or existing service. The call to the provisioning system has to leverage these relationships (as you mention) to handled them together.

    Ludovic

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



  • 5.  RE: TM645 query Service Qualification - How to cluster services in the response per technology?

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Sep 15, 2021 01:31
    Hi,

    It seems to me that this serviceQualification is really only needed for the Access service.
    The other services are overlay services that have far less limitations than the access.
    The service qualification of the Access service can therefore reply with the limitations and all other services will use the relationship with the Access service to validate the apllicable limitations.

    The ServiceQualification for the Access can then return something like this:

    item 1 > this reflects the preferred cluster of services
    CFS Access
    Technology = FIBER GPON
    MaxNoOfTVStreams =
    MaxVideoQuality =
    MaxNoOfVoiceChannels =
    MaxInternetDownStream =

    item 2 > 2nd option for cluster of services
    CFS Access
    Technology = VDSL2
    MaxNoOfTVStreams =
    MaxVideoQuality =
    MaxNoOfVoiceChannels =
    MaxInternetDownStream =

    item 3 >
    CFS Access
    Technology = 4G
    MaxNoOfTVStreams =
    MaxVideoQuality =
    MaxNoOfVoiceChannels =
    MaxInternetDownStream =

    ------------------------------
    Koen Peeters
    Ciminko Luxembourg
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: TM645 query Service Qualification - How to cluster services in the response per technology?

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Sep 15, 2021 03:08

    Hi Ludovic,

    We are implementing the query service because for the intention is to show all possibilities if a specific service with certain characteristics is ok or nok. 
    There's also a request to implement the check service but rather for B2B, our current B2C use case needs the query service to support our business process.

    There is an option to use the serviceRelationship and use the access CFS as kind of main CFS and put the real services under a serviceRelationship but our colleague data architect was indicating that this wasn't the purpose of this relationship.

    Peter
     



    ------------------------------
    Peter Broucke
    Proximus SA
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: TM645 query Service Qualification - How to cluster services in the response per technology?

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Sep 15, 2021 07:21
    Hi Peter,
    For me, the serviceRelationship purpose is to describe 'horizontal' relationship between service. Suppose you define a CFS for Internet Access and another for TV access (on internet) then the relationship allows you to describe that TV access requires (or "applies on" or "relies on") the Internet Access.  In the example given by Kinshuk the connectivity will require 2,* access point.

    I got your point now about Query - we did not have the capability in the API to provide several service configurations for one SQItem. You'll have a set of SQItem.

    Regarding the priority, I see it more as a feature for the check in the alternate proposal (if any). Check intent is to answer a precise qualification request, so if qualification failed, and alternate are provided, it could make sense to prioritize them. The Query intent is to handle more 'unscopped' question so I'm not sure we can prioritize proposition.

    Thanks
    Ludovic

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



  • 8.  RE: TM645 query Service Qualification - How to cluster services in the response per technology?

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Sep 16, 2021 02:22
    Hi Ludovic,

    I think your point about serviceRelationship is bang on. I think the scope of serviceRelationship is more than just horizontal. Relationship types like reliesOn (which is primary example in the TMF641 Spec) reflects that its a dependency relationship, which may not always be a strict horizontal relationship. 

    In the example that Peter has given above, all other services relies on CFS Access. From feasibility perspective, all other CFSs and their attributes (like download speed etc.) are actually dependent on the Access Technology. If Access is ADSL, then speed of Internet will be 20Mbps and TV is not possible. But if Access is FTTH, Internet speed will be 200 Mbps and TV is also feasible. 

    In this case, the model should use the reliesOn relationship and the QueryServiceQualification should only be on Access as Koen specified above. Other  CFSs can be pulled using this relationship from Service Inventory



    ------------------------------
    Kinshuk Kulshreshtha
    Oracle Corporation

    My views posted on this forum are personal, and do not reflect the position of my employer or TM Forum.
    ------------------------------