Open APIs

Overview

The TM Forum Open APIs are a suite of application programming interfaces that:

• Enable services to be managed end-to-end throughout their lifecycle
• Work in an environment where multiple partners are involved in service delivery

The APIs allow simple and coherent management of any given service. Their rapid implementation is supported by key industry-strength design patterns.

TM Forum's Open APIs are based on representational state transfer (REST). They are technology agnostic and can be used in any digital service scenario, including B2B, Internet of Things, Smart Health, Smart Grid, Big Data, NFV, Next Generation OSS/BSS and more.

Find out more here about TM Forum's Open API program and the adoption of Open APIs by companies worldwide.

Quick Links

• Open API Table (specifications and downloads)
• Open API Manifesto
• Open API conformance
• Open API conformance leaderboard
• Open API community discussion and support forum
• Open API dashboard
• Open API case studies (My API Stories)
• Open API adoption assessment reports
• Open API training

API Governance

The purpose of API governance is to create a consistent approach to the lifecycle management of an API catalogue across processes, standards, policies, and guidelines while putting compliance mechanisms and measures in place.

API governance activities include planning the development of new services and updating current services, through service submission and change requests, and management of the individual API lifecycle to ensure that service specification updates are consistent and interoperable through gated review and publication.

Governance is used to ensure APIs follow industry standard principles such as abstraction, reusability, discoverability and developer-friendliness.

Data Models

TM Forum's Open APIs are based on a shared API data model, which is kept separately from the API definitions.

The TM Forum Data Model is based on the TM Forum Information Framework (SID); it is used across the Open Digital Architecture and by the Open APIs. The data model is published as a set of JSON Schema definitions. You can find the schemas in the Open Source TMF Open API Git.

The data model is published with a set of PUML definitions, each of which can be found in the Open Source TMF Open API Git under the respective APIs.