Process Overview

The high-level process for completing a conformance certification assessment includes the following steps:

1. 1 Qualify

   Contact us to complete a short qualifying questionnaire or to arrange a meeting to allow TM Forum to understand the following:

   • Your level of familiarity and experience with the Business Process Framework, Information Framework or Open APIs
   • What you would like to certify and why
   • The resources you have available to complete the assessment

2. 2 Scope

   A meeting will be scheduled with the TM Forum conformance certification team during which the following will be reviewed:

   • More background on the product, solution or internal adoption of standards being considered for certification
   • Include either
     • Business Process Framework (eTOM) and/or Information Framework (SID) to be included in the assessment
     • As of 1st September 2017, a minimum scope of 5 elements (5 Level-3 processes in eTOM or 5 ABEs in the SID or a combination of both) required for conformance certification
     • Individual or suites of Open APIs to be included
   • The process, timeline, resources and artifacts required to successfully complete your assessment
   • Recommended next steps and approach

3. 3 Contract

   The Conformance Certification assessment is a paid program. The TM Forum team will determine the scope and pricing. Upon agreement, work will commence.

4. 4 Kick-Off

   TM Forum will organize and lead a kick-off meeting with key stakeholders from both TM Forum and the organization requesting certification. During a kick-off meeting the following will be reviewed:

   • Recap of the end-to-end process, including guidelines, templates and type of evidence needed to demonstrate conformance
   • A draft project plan with detailed information on tasks and timeline

5. 5 Gather Evidence and Submit Mappings

   To achieve certification, the organization must provide evidence of how their product or solution aligns with TM Forum standards. This involves completing a mapping document for all relevant elements in scope, with concise descriptions and supporting evidence.

    

   For eTOM conformance, map Level-4 process elements for each Level-3 element in scope. If a Level-3 has no Level-4 elements defined, then the mappings are provided directly against the Level-3 process element. 

    

    

   For SID conformance, map entities and attributes within the relevant ABEs.

   Open API conformance can be assessed using tools like CTKs, reference implementations, swagger files etc. are available to allow self-assessment and documentation.

6. 6 Verify and Score (TM Forum)

   As the requesting organization submits completed mappings and detailed evidence, TM Forum subject matter experts will assess and verify all of the collateral provided. This review phase is interactive, giving the organization an opportunity to clarify any queries from the assessors. Once the reviews are completed the scores are calculated according to the scoring guidelines and the level of conformance achieved.

7. 7 Develop Final Report

   A Conformance Certification Report for the Business Process and/or Information Framework assessment is generated by TM Forum that contains a compilation of artifacts gathered during the assessment. It will include a description of the product, solution or implementation, a visual representation of the footprint of the frameworks that were “in scope” during the assessment and details of the final scores and levels of conformance achieved for each area. For the Open APIs, TM Forum provides a template to report the findings of self-assessment results from the TM Forum-approved CTK (Conformance test kit), which is then reviewed and validated by TM Forum for acceptance. 

8. 8 Publish Results

   With the requesting organization’s approval, the final report is published on the TM Forum website. 

9. 9 Promotion of Completed Certification

   Once the results are published, TM Forum will present the organization with an “Acknowledgement of Achievement” certificate as well as the official TM Forum Certified logo that may be used in marketing and communication campaigns.
   TM Forum will also provide a quote or supporting information for press releases issued by the organization that earned the certification mark. TM Forum will announce the completed certification in its regular conformance channels. Marketing support may be facilitated upon request.

Get Certified

To discuss your readiness for conformance certification and for all other questions please submit your details and we will contact you.