NGOSS Shared Information/Data Model

Shared Information/Data Model or SID is a unified reference data model providing a single number of terms of business objects included in basic business processes and also connections and relations between mentioned objects in telecommunications. In order to run their business processes and enable good reporting, companies create rules that describe how data must be created and used in information systems. These rules are called data standards. Using data standards, employees in different departments or geographical locations will use the same information system definitions to describe the same thing in the real world. In some industry sectors, sector-wide data standards are created to streamline definitions across different companies operating in this sector.

The TeleManagement Forum's NGOSS Shared Information/Data (SID) model provides the telecommunications industry with a common vocabulary and set of information/data definitions and relationships used in the definition of NGOSS architectures. The SID is an object model, which uses Unified Modeling Language (UML), a data and process modelling language, to define entities and define the relationships between them, as well as the attributes and processes (termed methods) which make up the entity or object.

The SID, as the NGOSS information model, provides an information/data reference model and a common information/data vocabulary from a business as well as a systems perspective. The SID uses UML to formalize the expression of the needs of a particular stakeholder viewpoint.

The SID provides the common language for communicating the concerns of the four major groups of constituents (stakeholders) represented by the NGOSS Viewpoints - Business, System, Implementation and Deployment, as defined in the NGOSS Lifecycle. Used in combination with the eTOM business process and activity descriptions and the Telecom Application Map (TAM) the SID make it possible to bridge between the business and Information Technology groups within an organization by providing definitions that are understandable by the business, but are also rigorous enough to be used for software development.

The SID model takes inspiration from a wide variety of industry sources, but its principal origins are the Alliance Common Information Architecture (ACIA) created by a team led by Bill Brook from AT&T and BT and the Directory Enabled Networks - next generation (DEN-ng) model created by John Strassner.

When initially released in 2000, the SID model covered the business (BSS) arena well, and also the device management field well, but was insufficient in its ability to represent logical networks and capacity. These deficiencies are being addressed through revision of the model to include concepts such as topologies, but the history has resulted in poor utilisation of the model in certain telecom fields, notably inventory management.

References

The TMF Reference page: [http://www.tmforum.org/browse.asp?catID=1684]