neutral architecture) and TAM (telecom applications map). 21.5 eTOM Model The eTOM is a business process model or framework that defines the telecom and enterprise processes in the service provider space. It is an enhancement of the TOM model. eTOM serves as an industry standard framework for service providers Fundamentals of EMS, NMS and OSS/BSS to procure resources and to interface with other service providers. The complex network of business relationships between service providers, partners, and other third-party vendors are also accounted in the model. eTOM provides a holistic view of the telecom business process framework. The normal operations process consisting of fulfillment, assurance, and billing is differentiated from the strategy and life cycle processes. There are three main pro- cess areas in eTOM comprising of strategy infrastructure and product manage- ment, operations, and enterprise management. Strategy infrastructure and product (SIP) management covers planning and life cycle management of the product. Operation covers the core of operational management and enterprise management covers corporate or business support management. The real-time activities in operations are classified under fulfillment, assurance, and billing (FAB). The planning to ensure smooth flow of operational activities is captured as part of the operation support and readiness. This is separated from FAB in the eTOM model. In order to support operations for a product, there needs to be a planning team working on product strategy and processes for life cycle management. This is the strategy component in SIP. The processes that take care of infrastructure required for the product or directly relate to the product under con- sideration makes up the infrastructure part of SIP. Finally, processes for planning the phases in the development of the product make the product group of SIP. Telecom companies would have a set of processes common to an IT company like human resource management, knowledge management, and SO on. To repre- se