 hold largely because "en vogue" technologies change SO often. IICs must invest time and resources in their own companies, not standards groups, and time-to-market demands make it impractical for IICs to wait for standards to develop. Shifts in business-to-business communications technologies have created further hurdles. For example, many companies are transitioning from various EDI platforms to XML. Without digging into the details, the fact is there are many methods and technologies out there for doing business electronically. With companies scrambling for solutions, no one has discovered the "be-all, end-all" eBusiness approach. It is difficult for IICs to choose a specific eBusiness direction until more of the dust settles. Many of the problems and hurdles we have discussed have been addressed in various industry forums, and though these forums often make wise recommendations, their work rarely has set the standard for OSS design, implementation or integration. The greatest successes standards-related groups, such as the TeleManagement Forum, have had is in developing common models and language for describing OSS components and functional areas. The telecommunications management network (TMN) model, and its more defined counterpart, the telecommunications operations map (TOM), have provided some common guidelines that are generally accepted. The Ultimate Guide to Building and Delivering OSS/BSS Business Management Layer Functions relating to strategic planning and business operations Service Management Layer Provisioning, trouble management and customer interaction; tightly integrated with BML Network Management Layer Fault analysis and correlation, performance management, network configuration; tightly integrated with EML Element Management Layer Manages, activates and configures individual network elements Network Element Layer Responds to demands from higher layers; delivers services Figure 6. The TMN Pyramid 2.2 TMN The International Telecommunications Union - Technical (ITU-T), under the auspices of the