Category: (1) TAM Application Type
Application Identifier: 11.1
Maturity Level: 4
Overview
Catalog Management is
a cross domain, multilayer application that operates as a master repository for
componentized entities of products, services and / or resources within one or
more domains of a service provider’s environment.
Catalog
Management includes the abilities to create and design new entities, map entity
definitions, manage complex rules, support componentization of entities and manage
their relationships and dependencies. Additional aspects include versioning,
change management, enhanced viewing, as well as editing and tracking
capabilities
Functionality
The
common capabilities of Catalog Management applications will have the following
features:
-
Entity
handling- A catalog management application should be able to create, modify
and delete entities.
-
Entity
data implementation – The catalog
will provide the capability to implement a flexible data model with the
ability to structure entities and attributes as desired by the user and to
extend the model according to the requirements.
-
Integrity
rules – Apply integrity rules at the entity level. Rules are required to
maintain data integrity in the catalog. Human errors during product and
service configuration cause major problems in testing and production phases,
and automatic mechanisms that can eliminate such errors in advance are
mandatory
-
Compatibility rules- define rules on operational
entities which are applied by
downstream systems when instantiating the catalog entities in the operational
systems. For example when instantiating products out of
ProductSpec
-
Componentization
– Ability to group entities. A catalog user needs flexibility and openness in
configuring data catalog entities. One of the configuration options that
enable high re-usability is the possibility to group entities and re-use the
group level
-
Component
relation management – Ability to manage hierarchical, inheritance and reuse
relations between components. Re-usability is a major requirement for
management of a catalog. Re-usability is achieved through inheritance and
through the re-use of standalone entities as well as entity
hierarchies
-
Entity
state management: The ability to manage the state of an entity during its
lifecycle (e.g. planned, deployed, in operation, replaced by,
locked…)
-
Inter
layer aspects of a catalog mamangment application including
-
Inter
layer dependency-rules management – Manage rules that governs the relationships
between entities in different layers. A catalog that manages different layers
needs to maintain the rules within the layer and between the layers. For
example, how product
definition translate to different services provisioning rules, and so on.
-
Inter
catalog data integrity management Data consistency should be kept not only in
the specific layers of products, services and resources but also between
layers. A specific product can be provisioned in multiple ways by different
services supporting different technologies, and the specific rules and
dependencies make it a mandatory requirement to enable management of the
inter-layer dependencies.
-
Versioning
– Manage multi-versions of the same entity is a very important aspect in a
catalog. The complexity starts with the ability to manage multiple versions
for single entities, however in real life it is required to support much more
complex scenarios where entities relate to other entities that have a
different lifecycle and a different versions map, however the validity and
maintenance of the versions needs to be maintained.
-
Change
management – Manage the implications of catalog changes to determine the
consequences of any given change. In addition, catalog users should
be able to track and locate the history of changes in the catalog in an easy
and accessible manner.
-
Inquiry
handling - Catalog data requires easy storage and retrieval of information.
Historical changes should be stored and easily retrieved, including changes
done on the entity level or changes done by different users. Retrieval process should return simple
queries but also complex queries retrieving data entities that comply with
complex conditions, in order to enable easier analyzing and slicing of the
catalog data.
-
Revision
control –. A catalog provides a work environment that permits users to work in
parallel without interfering with each other’s efforts, to manage the relevant
permissions on the data or on activity level, and to support the different
user interfaces required. The
catalog provides the capability to manage access and change control at various
levels such as user or group.
-
Data
driven Security – control access to the data by its actual values, so a user
may not see offerings in which
the customer type (which is an attribute) is Business if he (the use) is
allowed to see only residential customers information.
-
View
Management – Generating different views for users that manage different data
layers. As a master catalog can support multiple lines of business and
multiple layers, it should be dynamic enough to provide different display
options for the different cases. For example, a network implementer may
require a visual graph that will show relations between services in a
graphical manner, while a product manager will require a dedicated view that
displays only the product offerings that are under his domain of
responsibility. Creating different custom views for different roles is a
mandatory requirement in such a catalog.
-
Partner
integration for both export and import of catalog entities:
-
Export to external partners: A Catalog Management application
should include the ability to allow partners (e.g. Content Providers, or
other SPs) to browse in catalog in real time or batch mode. Not all data
shall be exposed; security and access control (as mentioned above) are
essential features
-
Import from external partners: External partners may want to
populate catalogs with their own (entities) specifications and be able to
create associations with existing entities. Access control, validation and
testing must be set appropriately.
Supported Business Services
