RN365 Release Notes for IG1141 Procurement and Onboarding Suite R18.0

We believe a standards-based model-driven approach is essential to scale with the growing demand for interoperability and to evolve as technology advancement and innovation happens. The IG1141 suite advocates a future-forward architecture approach that supports the transformation journey of the service providers and specifically to address the challenges of onboarding automation.  Since the completion of first version of IG1141 in 2016, we have created a suite of documents to capture our thoughts and recommendations on the VF package metadata definitions:

• IG1141 Procurement and Onboarding of Virtualization Packages R18.0.0 highlights the challenges of onboarding automation.
• IG1141A  Onboarding Automation: Package ID, Software Assets and License Management Support R18.0.0 addresses how virtualization in Service Providers’ networks and associated resources and services will impact the licensing models.
• IG1141C Onboarding Automation:  VF Categorization and Orchestrateability R18.0.0 provides detailed analysis and recommendation on how a standardized Virtual Function (VF) categorization and package type may help the automation of VF procurement and onboarding processes.
• IG1141M Onboarding Automation:  Metrics Support R18.0.0 explains the importance of a “common metrics definition” in operation environments that are highly driven by data and policy management. This is followed by the TM Forum approach for managing such metrics. The document shows how a common metrics template (supported by an information model such as the TM Forum SID) can help speed up the onboarding process and assist with other aspects of lifecycle management for software such as license management.