ial part of TM. The Telemanagement Forum, the TOM and eTOM processes and the TMN four-layer structure with the FAB processes were all intro- duced in Chapter 4, as the operator process plan and cost-efficiency section. The business and process areas will be further elaborated below, starting with the basic process part. 16.3 BASIC PROCESS PART Processes play a very important role in defining, establishing and handling telecom man- agement. Analysis, descriptions and management of processes pave the way for the introduction of IT support aids and applications that are becoming an integral part of modern telecom management systems. The contribution of the process approach may be summarized in the following points: Both customer satisfaction and telecom business greatly benefit from a clearly defined process environment, which also allows continuous improvement. The processes guide the operator's personnel, preventing damages derived from wrong operation or lack of knowledge. They provide an environment more independent of single personnel experience and expertise. The processes deliver continuous and clearly defined measurements on effectiveness and QoS, and provide proven methods for continuous improvement. As explained in Chapter 4, this chapter will deal with subjects within what is called 'operations' by the Telemanagement Forum. See Figure 16.10. The traditional heading of a chapter like this one used to be 'Operation and Mainte- nance' or possibly 'Network Management'. However, the scope has increased to embrace FULFILMENT ASSURANCE BILLING Service configuration Fault collection and correlation (customer care) Performance statistics Billing mediation Corrective actions Figure 16.10 The main tasks within the TM area - the FAB operations Telecom Management - Operations areas such as service management, customer/end-user management, business impact, man- agement interconnection and much more. The chosen heading 'Telecom Management - Operations' is a way to retain the word 'management' in the title. Telecom manag