to support new technologies and products. The networks will continue to evolve and the only way to perform network management in a cost effective and operationally friendly manner is to do cost-effective OSS/BSS management. This chapter gives the reader an overview of the management applications that make up the OSS/BSS stack from a holistic perspective. It considers the customer, service, and network layers in OSS/BSS and the applications that are used for man- aging interactions with third-party vendors, suppliers, stake holders, and partners. The intent is to meet the goal of this book, which is to give the reader a fundamental understanding of the concepts without diving into the details of a specific topic. It is important to note that TeleManagement Forum (TMF) has come up with a Telecom Application Map (TAM), which is an application framework that can be referred to for understanding the role and the functionality of the various applications that deliver OSS and BSS capability. The TAM documents provide a Management Applications comprehensive description of management applications and the components that make up the individual applications. TAM is part of NGOSS and has applications defined under groups similar to SID and eTOM to ensure that applications can be easily mapped to appropriate processes and information models. Additional Reading 1. www.tmforum.org GB929: Applications Framework Map (TAM). Latest release of TAM documents can be downloaded from the Web site. 2. Lawrence Harte and Avi Ofrane. Billing Dictionary, BSS, Customer Care and OSS Technologies and Systems. Fuquay Varina, NC: Althos Publishing, 2008. 3. Kornel Terplan. OSS Essentials: Support System Solutions for Service Providers. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001. 4. Andreas Molisch. Wireless Communications. New York: Wiley-IEEE Press, 2005. 5. Andrew McCrackan. Practical Guide To Business Continuity Assurance. Norwood, MA: Artech House Publishers, 2004. 6. James K. Shaw. Strategic Management in Telecommunications. Norwood, MA: Artech Hous