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Telecommunications Semantic Ontology Layer

The Semantic Ontology Layer sits between the Data Plane and the Application Catalogue, providing a unified, standards-aligned knowledge graph that resolves entities across BSS/Billing, Salesforce CRM, OSS/Network Management, CDR/Network Data Lake, Customer Interactions, and Field & Tower Data systems.


Industry Standards Alignment

The telecommunications ontology is aligned to global industry standards and frameworks.

TMF (TM Forum) Open APIs

The TM Forum defines a suite of Open APIs that standardise telco business and operational interfaces. Every domain, workflow, and policy in this ontology is tagged with its TMF API alignment:

TMF API Scope Ontology Coverage
TMF629 Customer Management Subscriber profiles, segmentation Customer 360 & Churn, Customer Experience, Dynamic Pricing
TMF622 Product Order Plan subscriptions, add-ons Customer 360 & Churn, Dynamic Pricing
TMF632 Party Management Accounts, contacts, households Customer 360 & Churn, Revenue Assurance & Fraud
TMF638 Service Inventory Active services, service paths Network Performance, Field Operations
TMF639 Resource Inventory Network elements, cell sites, equipment Network Performance, Network Capacity, Field Operations
TMF642 Alarm Management Faults, alarms, events Network Performance, Field Operations
TMF654 Prepay Balance Balance, topup, charging events Revenue Assurance & Fraud, Dynamic Pricing
TMF678 Customer Bill Invoices, charges, payments Revenue Assurance & Fraud, Customer Experience

eTOM (enhanced Telecom Operations Map)

The eTOM framework defines end-to-end business processes for telecommunications operators. Ontology workflows and policies map to eTOM Level 1/2 processes:

eTOM Process Scope Ontology Coverage
Strategy & Commit Product portfolio, pricing Dynamic Pricing
Infrastructure Lifecycle Network planning, build, deploy Network Capacity, Field Operations
Product Lifecycle Plan design, launch Dynamic Pricing
Operations Support & Readiness Resource provisioning Field Operations
Fulfillment Order, service activation Customer 360 & Churn, Revenue Assurance & Fraud
Assurance Fault, performance, QoS Network Performance, Customer Experience
Billing & Revenue Rating, billing, collections Revenue Assurance & Fraud, Dynamic Pricing
Customer Relations CRM, retention, experience Customer 360 & Churn, Customer Experience

Architecture

graph TD
    subgraph DataPlane [Data Plane - 6 Source Systems]
        BSS["BSS / Billing"]
        SFCRM["Salesforce CRM"]
        OSS["OSS / Network Management"]
        CDR["CDR / Network Data Lake"]
        CI["Customer Interactions"]
        FTD["Field & Tower Data"]
    end

    subgraph OntologyLayer [Semantic Ontology Layer]
        SCHEMA["Schema<br/><i>12 Domains · ~50 Tables</i>"]
        WF["Workflows<br/><i>10 TMF/eTOM-aligned</i>"]
        POL["Policies<br/><i>8 Governance Rules</i>"]
        INT["Integrations<br/><i>6 System Mappings</i>"]
    end

    subgraph Apps [Application Catalogue - 8 Apps]
        C360["Customer 360 & Churn"]
        NETPERF["Network Performance"]
        REVFRAUD["Revenue Assurance & Fraud"]
        CEM["Customer Experience"]
        NETCAP["Network Capacity"]
        DYNPRICE["Dynamic Pricing"]
        FIELDOPS["Field Operations"]
        REGCOMP["Regulatory Compliance"]
    end

    BSS --> SCHEMA
    SFCRM --> SCHEMA
    OSS --> SCHEMA
    CDR --> SCHEMA
    CI --> SCHEMA
    FTD --> SCHEMA

    SCHEMA --> WF
    POL --> WF
    INT --> SCHEMA

    WF --> C360
    WF --> NETPERF
    WF --> REVFRAUD
    WF --> CEM
    WF --> NETCAP
    WF --> DYNPRICE
    WF --> FIELDOPS
    WF --> REGCOMP

Ontology Components

The ontology consists of four interconnected layers, all stored in enterprise-knowledge/:

Layer Files Format Purpose
Schema telco-schema.yaml YAML 12 domains, ~50 tables with fields, types, risk levels, constraints, and relationships
Workflows workflows/*.yaml (10 files) YAML Triggered process flows with steps, rules, SLAs, and dependencies
Policies policies/*.md (8 files) Markdown Business rules, thresholds, approval chains, and compliance constraints
Integrations integrations/*.yaml (6 files) YAML Field-level sync mappings between source systems with conflict resolution

Relationship Types

Entities in the schema are connected via typed relationships that form a knowledge graph:

Relationship Meaning Example
triggers Entity event initiates a workflow Alarm severity change triggers Fault Resolution workflow
syncs_to Entity data flows to another system Subscriber_Master syncs_to SF_Account via integration
constrained_by Entity operations governed by a policy CDR_Record constrained_by revenue-assurance-policy
depends_on Entity requires a parent/related entity Work_Order depends_on Cell_Site
validates Entity validates another in a business process Spectrum_License validates Cell_Site for regulatory compliance

Cross-Application Entity Heatmap

Shows how many of the 8 telco apps require each entity. Higher usage = more foundational.

Entity Count Applications
Subscriber_Master 8 All apps
Cell_Site 5 Network Performance, Network Capacity, Field Operations, Revenue Assurance & Fraud, Regulatory Compliance
CDR_Record 5 Customer 360 & Churn, Revenue Assurance & Fraud, Network Capacity, Customer Experience, Dynamic Pricing
Network_Element 4 Network Performance, Network Capacity, Field Operations, Regulatory Compliance
Alarm 3 Network Performance, Field Operations, Customer Experience
Plan_Product 3 Customer 360 & Churn, Dynamic Pricing, Revenue Assurance & Fraud
Work_Order 2 Field Operations, Customer Experience
Spectrum_License 1 Regulatory Compliance

Subscriber_Master is the most connected entity in the telco ontology — equivalent to Account in CRM, Customer_Master in Banking, Patient_Master in Healthcare, Product_Master in Retail.


Schema Statistics

Metric Count
Domains 12
Tables ~50
Source Systems 6 (BSS/Billing, Salesforce CRM, OSS/Network Mgmt, CDR/Data Lake, Customer Interactions, Field & Tower Data)
Workflows 10
Policies 8
Integrations 6
Relationship Types 5 (triggers, syncs_to, constrained_by, depends_on, validates)
TMF APIs Covered 8+

Documentation

Document Description
Schema Reference Complete domain and table reference with fields, types, and relationships
Workflows All 10 AI workflow definitions with triggers, steps, and dependencies
Policies All 8 governance policies with rules, thresholds, and approval chains
Integrations All 6 system integration mappings with field-level detail
App-Object Mapping Minimum required objects per application with relationship matrix
Mapping Architecture Schema-first architecture, Semantic RAG pipeline, and ReAct tools

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