Open APIs

Hi

I was looking for some guidance on how to implement product Order hierarchy/layering (Parent Order composed of several child orders) as part of TMF 622

Scenario 
In a B2B scenario it is possible for a single customer to place multiple orders for multiple site/locations. If each site order is modelled as a Product Order, I still need a construct to model a Customer Order that is composed of several site orders
We have implemented both Customer Order and Site Orders as instances of Type Product Order with Foreign Key relationship with Customer and Site Order

How would this manifest in the 622 Product Order API as the customer order is composed of Site Orders and does not have Product Order Items

We are considering the following possible options
Use 622 to create the customer Order sending references to the site level order as Product Order Item (This would need extending 622 to state that a Product Order Item can reference Product Orders)
Extend 622 to create an additional entity OrderRelationship (similar to orderItemRelationship) that maintains the relationship between customer and site orders. Problem with this approach is that the Customer Order will not have any Product Order Items which has a 1..* relationship to Product Order
Create a separate resource model to represent the Customer Order construct (not 622). Essentially saying that a customer order is not a instance of the product order

Appreciate any guidance if the problem has been solved before and any known pros and cons of the approaches

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Lancy Mendonca
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This is a great question, Lancy. I'm also in the same scenario. It's unfortunate, there are no responses to this one.

Would you mind sharing what was your approach? I'm inclined towards changing the Product Order line item association to 0..* instead of 1..* 

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Manu
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Original Message:
Sent: Mar 18, 2022 06:38
From: Lancy Mendonca
Subject: TMF 622 Product Order - Product Order Hierarchy

Hi

I was looking for some guidance on how to implement product Order hierarchy/layering (Parent Order composed of several child orders) as part of TMF 622

Scenario 
In a B2B scenario it is possible for a single customer to place multiple orders for multiple site/locations. If each site order is modelled as a Product Order, I still need a construct to model a Customer Order that is composed of several site orders
We have implemented both Customer Order and Site Orders as instances of Type Product Order with Foreign Key relationship with Customer and Site Order

How would this manifest in the 622 Product Order API as the customer order is composed of Site Orders and does not have Product Order Items

We are considering the following possible options
Use 622 to create the customer Order sending references to the site level order as Product Order Item (This would need extending 622 to state that a Product Order Item can reference Product Orders)
Extend 622 to create an additional entity OrderRelationship (similar to orderItemRelationship) that maintains the relationship between customer and site orders. Problem with this approach is that the Customer Order will not have any Product Order Items which has a 1..* relationship to Product Order
Create a separate resource model to represent the Customer Order construct (not 622). Essentially saying that a customer order is not a instance of the product order

Appreciate any guidance if the problem has been solved before and any known pros and cons of the approaches

------------------------------
Lancy Mendonca
------------------------------

Hi Lancy,

In my personal opinion, a much cleaner and more TMF-aligned approach would be to avoid conflating the Customer Order (a business-level construct) with the Product Order (a TMF622 entity tied specifically to product fulfillment).

The core issue lies in trying to use the ProductOrder resource for two conceptually different things:

1. The overarching Customer Order

2. The individual Site Orders

One ProductOrder per Site

Instead of modeling both as ProductOrder instances, a simpler and more robust model is:

• Each site-level order is a complete, standalone ProductOrder

• It contains all relevant ProductOrderItems for that site

• It references the appropriate relatedParty (e.g., B2B customer or site contact) and optionally relatedPlace (i.e., the physical location)

Customer Order (Higher-Level Construct)

• Exists outside of TMF622

• Acts as an orchestration or grouping mechanism

This approach keeps the implementation clean, modular, and compliant, avoiding pitfalls of overloading the purpose of ProductOrder and aligning better with typical B2B ordering scenarios in telecom.

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syed javed
Tecnotree
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Original Message:
Sent: Mar 18, 2022 06:38
From: Lancy Mendonca
Subject: TMF 622 Product Order - Product Order Hierarchy

Hi

I was looking for some guidance on how to implement product Order hierarchy/layering (Parent Order composed of several child orders) as part of TMF 622

Scenario 
In a B2B scenario it is possible for a single customer to place multiple orders for multiple site/locations. If each site order is modelled as a Product Order, I still need a construct to model a Customer Order that is composed of several site orders
We have implemented both Customer Order and Site Orders as instances of Type Product Order with Foreign Key relationship with Customer and Site Order

How would this manifest in the 622 Product Order API as the customer order is composed of Site Orders and does not have Product Order Items

We are considering the following possible options
Use 622 to create the customer Order sending references to the site level order as Product Order Item (This would need extending 622 to state that a Product Order Item can reference Product Orders)
Extend 622 to create an additional entity OrderRelationship (similar to orderItemRelationship) that maintains the relationship between customer and site orders. Problem with this approach is that the Customer Order will not have any Product Order Items which has a 1..* relationship to Product Order
Create a separate resource model to represent the Customer Order construct (not 622). Essentially saying that a customer order is not a instance of the product order

Appreciate any guidance if the problem has been solved before and any known pros and cons of the approaches

------------------------------
Lancy Mendonca
------------------------------