Telecom Application Map (Etom, Release 3.1)

These process elements can then be positioned within a model to show organizational, functional and other relationships, and can be combined within process flows that trace activity paths through the business. The eTOM can serve as the blueprint for standardizing and categorizing business activities (or process elements) that will help set direction and the starting point for development and integration of Business and Operations Support Systems (BSS and OSS respectively). An important additional application for eTOM is that it helps to support and guide work by TM Forum members and others to develop NGOSS solutions. For service providers, it provides a Telco industry-standard reference point, when considering internal process reengineering needs, partnerships, alliances, and general working agreements with other providers.For suppliers, the eTOM framework outlines potential boundaries of process solutions, and the required functions, inputs, and outputs that must be supported by pro cess solutions. This document consists of: An introduction to the role of the eTOM Business Process Framework. An overview of the eTOM Business Process Framework, from both Intra-Enterprise and Inter-Enterprise viewpoints, that sets out the main structural elements and approach. The implications and impact of ebusiness for service providers and their business relationships, and how eTOM supports them.  A description of extensions to eTOM for Business to Business Interactions. Several Annexes and Appendices, including terminology and glossary. An Addendum (Addendum D) describing the Service Provider nterprise processes and sub-processes in a form that is top down, customer-centric, and end-to-end focused. Process decompositions are provided for all processes from the highest conceptual view of the framework to the working level of the eTOM, and many selected lower level decompositions in the framework are also included. An Addendum (Addendum F) describing selected process flows at several levels of view and detail that provides end-to-end insight into the application of eTOM. A separate Application Note (GB921L) that shows how eTOM can be used to model the ITIL processes. ?TeleManagement Forum 2002 GB921v3. 5 Draft 4 Page 2 eTOM Business Process FrameworkAnother Application Note (GB921B, currently under development) outlining implications and impact of ebusiness for service providers and their business relationships, and how eTOM supports them, including a description of handling of Business to Business Interactions by eTOM. Note: Annexes and Appendices both allow material to be removed from the â€Å"in-line† flow of the document main body, so that the reader does not become embedded in too much detail as they read. However, they have a different status within a document. Annexes contain normative material, i. e. they have equivalent status to the material within the main body of the document, while Appendices are non-normative, i. e. they contain mat erial included for information or general guidance but which does not represent formal agreement and requirements for users of the document.Addenda have a similar status to Annexes, but are presented as a separate document that is an adjunct to the main document. This is typically because otherwise a single document would become cumbersome due to its size. Thus, a document body, together with its Annexes and Addenda (and their Annexes, if any), represents the normative material presented, while any Appendices in the main document or its Addenda represent non-normative material, included for information only. Application Notes are a specific document type, used to provide insight into how a specification or other agreed artifact is used in a particular context or area of application. They are non-normative as they provide information and guidance only within the area concerned.The basic operations framework continues to be stable even as the Information and Communications Services in dustry continues to change, largely because, like the TM Forum’s previous Telecom Operations Map (TOM), the eTOM Business Process Framework: Uses a high level and generic approach Reflects a broad range of operations and enterprise process model views Reflects the way service providers run and are architecting their businesses eTOM is already being widely used eTOM is accepted as the Telco industry standard by Service Providers, Vendors, Integrators and Consultants. The eTOM significantly enhances the TOM, the previous ‘de facto’ standard for Service Provider operations processes for the industry. eTOM has become the enterprise process, ebusiness enabled, ‘de facto’ standard for the Information and Communications Services industry processes. For those familiar with the TOM, it may be helpful to refer to the prior release of this document (GB921 v3. 0) that includes appendices covering TOM to eTOM Chapter Comparison, and TOM To eTOM Process Name Chang es. GB921v3. 6 ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 3 Relationship to Standardization ActivitiesMuch of the management infrastructures upon which systems will be built are expected to be based on standard interfaces. Relating business needs to available, or necessary, standards is a primary goal of the TM Forum in promoting a standardsbased approach to information and communications services management. Where applicable, the TM Forum uses industry standards in its work to promote the acceptance of standards and to minimize redundant work. People active in management standardization (in the broadest sense) will find the eTOM useful in setting a top down, enterprise-level, customer-centric context of how management specifications need to work together.TM Forum uses existing standards as much as possible. As a result of implementation experience through Catalyst projects, TM Forum provides feedback to appropriate standards bodies. NGOSS and eTOM NGOSS is the TM Forum’s New Generation Operations Systems and Software program, which delivers a toolkit to guide the definition, development, procurement and deployment of OSS/BSS solutions while also defining a strategic direction for a more standardized OSS marketplace. NGOSS uses a common business process map, systems descriptions, and information models and couples them with pre-defined integration interfaces, architectural principles and compliance criteria.NGOSS’s end-to-end approach enables service providers to redesign their key business processes in line with industry best practices while allowing suppliers to cost-effectively develop OSS software that can easily fit into a service provider’s IT environment. ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 4 eTOM Business Process Framework S S A y A n ysstte na em m a D ly D e lyssiis ss essi s & ig n & g n NGOSS Supporting Tools s es ap s in s M Bu ces M) O o Pr (eT Co nt ra Ne c ut Tec t In ra h te l A no rf rc log ac hi y e & te ct ur e In S f h Da orm are ta at d i (S Mo on ID de & ) l So An Souu An l l t to ii aa n De lyys on De l sis is& ssg iig & nnPr B Pr u oo Bus cc sin ee ssss ine e & & A sss De An s De naa ssg lyy iig l ss nn iss i Co m p Te lia st nce s ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 Figure P. 1: TM Forum NGOSS Framework Figure P. 1 shows the NGOSS Framework, and the vital role of eTOM within this. eTOM provides the Business Process Map for NGOSS. Moving around the NGOSS â€Å"wheel†, eTOM feeds requirements to the Information Model and thence to the Integration Framework and Compliance Criteria. More information on NGOSS is available through the TM Forum website www. tmforum. org GB921v3. 6 C S Coo Soollu n nff o uttiio o Te orrm n m n Te ssttii aanc n n ngg cee eTOM Business Process Framework Page 5Chapter 1- eTOM Business Process Framework Introduction Purpose of the Business Process Framework Traditionally in the telecommunications industry, service providers delivered end-toend services to their customers. As such, the entire value chain was controlled by a single enterprise, if necessary via interconnection arrangements with other service providers. However in a liberalized marketplace, service providers are having to respond both to the customer’s increased demands for superior customer service and to stiffer competition. They have therefore been expanding their markets beyond their self-contained boundaries and broadening their business relationships.Service Providers face very different regulatory environments and their business strategies and approaches to competition are quite distinct, nevertheless they share several common characteristics: Heavily dependent upon effective management of information and communications networks to stay competitive Adopting a service management approach to the way they run their business and their networks Moving to more of an end-to-end Process Management approach developed from the customer’s point of v iew Automating their Customer Care, Service and Network Management Processes Need to integrate new OSSs with legacy systems Focusing on data services offerings and Focusing on total service performance, including customer satisfaction Integrating with current technology (e. g. SDH/SONET and ATM) and new technologies (e. g. , IP, DWDM) Emphasizing more of a â€Å"buy† rather than â€Å"build† approach that integrates systems from multiple suppliers Some Service Providers choose to operate their own network and/or information technology infrastructure, while others choose to outsource this segment of their business.The effective exploitation of this information technology and network infrastructure, whether directly operated or outsourced, is an integral part of the service delivery chain and directly influences the service quality and cost perceived by the end customer. Service Providers will need to become skilled at assessing outsourcing opportunities whether in infor mation technology and/or network infrastructure areas or other areas and then, be skilled at integrating and managing any outsourcing arrangements. ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 6 eTOM Business Process Framework To meet both existing and new demands, Service providers still urgently require wellautomated operations processes whether they are incumbent providers or new entrants, and whether communications service providers, application service providers, Internet service providers, etc. Some service roviders are struggling with high growth from a start-up phase, others with the commoditization of key cash-cow services, and yet others with the move from a manual-intensive, inconsistent, inflexible environment to one that provides significant improvement in customer focus, service quality, unit cost, and time to market. Service providers have to pervasively do business electronically with trading partners, suppliers and wholesale and retail customers. For the growing Mobil e/Wireless and IP Services markets, these service providers are focused on quickly provisioning new customers and supporting service quality issues, while continually reducing development and operating costs.. For all service providers, there is an intense drive to introduce both new value-added services and dramatic improvements in customer support.There is also an increasing need for Service Providers to manage the integration required in mergers and acquisitions activity due to the consolidation trend the industry is now experiencing. For the full range of service providers and network operators, the leading focus of the TM Forum’s mission is to enable end-to-end process automation of the business and operations processes that deliver information and communications services. The eTOM is the business process framework for accomplishing this mission. The purpose of the eTOM is to continue to set a vision for the industry to compete successfully through the implementation of business process driven approaches to managing the enterprise.This includes ensuring integration among all vital enterprise support systems concerned with service delivery and support. The focus of the eTOM document is on the business processes used by service providers, the linkages between these processes, the identification of interfaces, and the use of Customer, Service, Resource, Supplier/Partner and other information by multiple processes. Exploitation of information from every corner of the business will be essential to success in the future. In an ebusiness environment, automation to gain productivity enhancement, increased revenue and better customer relationships is vital. Perhaps at no other time has process automation been so critical to success in the marketplace.The over-arching objectives of the eTOM Business Process Framework are to continue to build on TM Forum’s success in establishing: An ‘industry standard’ business process framework. Common d efinitions to describe process elements of a service provider. Agreement on the basic information required to perform each process element within a business activity, and use of this within the overall NGOSS program for business requirements and information model development that can guide industry agreement on contract interfaces, shared data model elements, and supporting system infrastructure and products. A process framework for identifying which processes and interfaces are in most need of integration and automation, and most dependent on industry agreement.This document, the eTOM Business Process Framework and its associated business process modeling, describes for an enterprise the process elements and their relationship that are involved in information and communications services and technologies management. Additionally, the points of interconnection that make up the end-to-end, customer operations process flows for Fulfillment, Assurance, Billing within Operations, and for Strategy, Infrastructure & Product are addressed. GB921v3. 6 ? TeleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 7 Note that, although eTOM has been focused on information and communications services and technologies management, this work is also proving to be of interest in other business areas.Service providers need this common framework of processes to enable them to do business efficiently and effectively with other entities and to enable the development and use of third-party software without the need for major customization. In an ebusiness environment, this common understanding of process is critical to managing the more complex business relationships of today’s information and communications services marketplace. eBusiness integration among enterprises seems to be most successful through strong process integration. Recent industry fallout, particularly in relation to dotcoms, does not reduce the pressure for ebusiness automation – it strengthens t he need to capitalize on ebusiness opportunities to be successful.However, the eTOM is not just an ecommerce or ebusiness process framework, it supports traditional business processes with the integration of ebusiness. Define Common Terminology The eTOM document also provides the definition of common terms concerning enterprise processes, sub-processes and the activities performed within each. Common terminology makes it easier for service providers to negotiate with customers, third party suppliers, and other service providers. See Annex B for the definition of eTOM acronyms and terminology. Consensus Tool The TM Forum produced the TOM initially as a consensus tool for discussion and agreement among service providers and network operators.Its broad consensus of support, which has been built on and extended with the eTOM, enables: Focused work to be carried out in TM Forum teams to define detailed business requirements, information agreements, business application contracts and shar ed data model specifications (exchanges between applications or systems) and to review these outputs for consistency Relating business needs to available or required standards A common process view for equipment suppliers, applications builders and integrators to build management systems by combining third party and in-house developments The anticipated result is that the products purchased by service providers and network operators for business and operational management of their networks, information technologies and services will integrate better into their environment, enabling the cost benefits of end-to-end automation. Furthermore, a common industry view on processes and information facilitates operator-to-operator and operator-to-supplier process interconnection, which is essential for rapid service provisioning and problem handling in a competitive global environment.This process interconnection is the key to ebusiness supply chain management in particular. ?TeleManagement F orum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 8 eTOM Business Process Framework What is the eTOM? The eTOM is a business process framework, i. e. a reference framework or model for categorizing all the business activities that a service provider will use. It is NOT a service provider business model. In other words, it does not address the strategic issues or questions of who a service provider’s target customers should be, what market segments should the service provider serve, what are a service provider’s vision, mission, etc. A business process framework is one part of the strategic business model and plan for a service provider.The eTOM can be regarded as a Business Process Framework, rather than a Business Process Model, since its aim is to categorize the process elements business activities so that these can then be combined in many different ways, to implement end-to-end business processes (e. g. fulfillment, assurance, billing) which deliver value for the customer and the service provider. eTOM Release 3. 0 provided a member-approved eTOM Business Process Framework with global agreement from its highest conceptual level to its first working level. This eTOM Release 3. 5 builds on this to take account of real-world experience in applying this work, and to incorporate new detail in process decompositions, flows and business to business interaction.However, eTOM is still developing in areas such as further lower-level process decompositions and flows, and ongoing feedback together with its linkage with the wider NGOSS program, will be used to guide future development priorities. Note that the development of a total process framework is a significant undertaking with process work that will be phased over time based on member process priorities and member resource availability. This is visible in eTOM’s own history, from the original Telecom Operations Map (TOM) that was carried forward into the eTOM and broadened to a total enterprise framework, through s everal generations of detail and refinement, to the current Release. More information on TOM and its links with eTOM are provided in the previous release of this document (GB921 v3. 0).A great many service providers, as well as system integrators, ASPs and vendors, are working already with eTOM. They need an industry standard framework for procuring software and equipment, as well as to interface with other service providers in an increasingly complex network of business relationships. Many service providers have contributed their own process models because they recognize the need to have a broader industry framework that doesn’t just address operations or traditional business processes. GB921v3. 6 ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 9 Customer Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations Customer Market, Product & Customer Market, Product and Customer Service ServiceResource Resource (Application, Computing and Network) (Application, Computing an d Network) Supplier/Partner Supplier/Partner Supplier/Partner Suppliers/Partners Enterprise Management Shareholders  ©TeleManagement Forum October, 2001 Employees Other Stakeholders Figure 1. 1: eTOM Business Process Framework—Level 0 Processes Figure 1. 1 shows the highest conceptual view of the eTOM Business Process Framework. This view provides an overall context that differentiates strategy and lifecycle processes from the operations processes in two large groupings, seen as two boxes. It also differentiates the key functional areas in five horizontal layers. In addition, Figure 1. also shows the internal and external entities that interact with the enterprise (as ovals). Figure 1. 2 shows the Level 0 view of Level 1 processes in the eTOM Framework. This view is an overall view of the eTOM processes, but in practice it is the next level – the Level 1 view of Level 2 processes – at which users tend to work, as this detail is needed in analyzing their busine sses. This view is presented later in the document in a series of diagrams examining each area of the eTOM framework. Figure 1. 2 below shows seven vertical process groupings. These are the end-to-end processes that are required to support customers and to manage the business.The focal point of the eTOM (as it was for the TOM) is on the core customer operations processes of Fulfillment, Assurance and Billing (FAB). Operations Support & Readiness is now differentiated from FAB real-time processes to increase the focus on enabling support and automation in FAB, i. e.. on line and immediate support of customers. The Strategy & Commit vertical, as well as the two Lifecycle Management verticals, are also now differentiated because, unlike Operations, they do not directly support the customer, are intrinsically different from the Operations processes and work on different business time cycles. The horizontal process groupings in Figure 1. 2 distinguish functional operations processes and other types of business functional processes, e. g. Marketing versus Selling, Service Development versus Service Configuration, etc. The functional processes on the left (within the Strategy & Commit, Infrastructure Lifecycle Management and Product Lifecycle Management vertical process groupings) enable, support and direct the work in the Operations verticals. ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 10 Customer Strategy, Infrastructure and Product Operations eTOM Business Process Framework Strategy & Commit Infrastructure Lifecycle Mgmt Product Lifecycle Mgmt Operations Support & Readiness Fulfillment Assurance Billing Marketing and Offer Management Customer Relationship Management Service Development & ManagementService Management & Operations Resource Development & Management Resource Management & Operations Supply Chain Development & Management Supplier/Partner Relationship Management Enterprise Management Strategic & Enterprise Planning Brand Management, Market Research & Adv ertising Enterprise Quality Mgmt, Process & IT Planning & Architecture Human Resource s Management Research & Development Acquisistion & Technology Financial & Asset Management  © TeleManagement Forum October, 2001 Stakeholder & External Relations Management Disaster Recovery , Security & Fraud Management Figure 1. 2: eTOM Business Process Framework—Level 1 Processes As can be seen in Figure 1. , eTOM makes the following improvements to the high level TOM Framework: Expands the scope to all enterprise processes. Distinctly identifies Marketing processes due to heightened importance in an ebusiness world. Distinctly identifies Enterprise Management processes, so that everyone in the enterprise is able to identify their critical processes, thereby enabling process framework acceptance across the enterprise. Brings Fulfillment, Assurance and Billing (FAB) onto the high-level framework view to emphasize the customer priority processes as the focus of the enterprise. Defines an Operations Support & Readiness vertical process grouping, applicable for all functional layers, except Enterprise Management. To ntegrate ebusiness and make customer selfmanagement a reality, the enterprise has to understand the processes it needs to enable for direct, and more and more, online customer operations support and customer self-management. Recognizes three enterprise process groupings that are distinctly different from operations processes by identifying the SIP processes, i. e. , Strategy & Commit, Infrastructure Lifecycle Management and Product Lifecycle Management. Recognizes the different cycle times of the strategy and lifecycle management processes and the need to separate these processes from the customer priority operations processes where automation is most critical. This is done by decoupling the Strategy & Commit and the two Lifecycle Management processes from the day-to-day, minute-to-minute cycle times of the customer operations processes. GB921v3. 6 ?TeleMa nagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 11 Moves from a customer care or service orientation to a customer relationship management orientation that emphasizes customer selfmanagement and control, increasing the value customers contribute to the enterprise and the use of information to customize and personalize to the individual customer. It adds more elements to this customer operations functional layer to represent better the selling processes and to integrate marketing fulfillment within Customer Relationship Management. Note that eTOM Customer Relationship Management is very broadly defined and larger in scope than some definitions of CRM.Acknowledges the need to manage resources across technologies, (i. e. , application, computing and network), by integrating the Network and Systems Management functional process into Resource Management & Operations. It also moves the management of IT into this functional layer as opposed to having a separate process grouping. e TOM is More Than One Document It is intended that the eTOM Business Process Framework will become a collection of documents and models. The current view is as follows: This document – the eTOM: The Business Process Framework – is structured as a core document that explains the overall framework approach and all its elements.In addition, two Addenda are associated with the core document: Addendum D provides process descriptions for the eTOM at Level 0, Level 1, Level 2 and selected Level 3 processes Addendum F provides examples of process flows that use the eTOM Business Process Framework and its component process elements to address high-priority business scenarios The eTOM Overview/Executive Summary is a â€Å"single sheet† document that provides an overall view of the eTOM business process framework and highlights key concepts. The eTOM Business Process Framework Model provides a version of the eTOM framework, processes and flows intended for automated process ing by modeling tools, etc.This is intended to be available in several formats: Tool-based (e. g. XML for import into a process analysis environment) Browsable (e. g. HTML) †¢ †¢ Using This Document A service provider’s specific process architecture and organization structure are highly specific and critical aspects of a provider’s competitiveness. The eTOM provides a common view of service provider enterprise process elements or business activities that can easily translate to an individual provider’s internal approaches. The document is not intended to be prescriptive about how the tasks are carried out, how a provider ? TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 12 eTOM Business Process Framework r operator is organized, or how the tasks are identified in any one organization. It is also not prescriptive about the sequence of Process Elements that are combined to implement end-to-end business processes. The eTOM provides a starting point for detailed work coordinated through TM Forum that leads to an integrated set of specifications that will provide real benefit to both suppliers and procurers in enhancing industry service provider enterprise management capability. This document is not a specification, in the sense that vendors or operators must comply directly. However, it does represent a standard way of naming, describing and categorizing process elements.It will enable unambiguous communication and facilitate the development of standard solutions and reuse of business processes. It is not intended to incorporate all the detail of eventual process implementation, but is more a guiding reference for the industry. One of the strengths of the eTOM is that it can be adopted at a variety of levels, in whole or in part, depending upon a service provider’s needs. The eTOM can also act as a translator by allowing a service provider to map their distinct processes to the industry framework. As the process examples are develop ed, service providers can use and adapt these examples to their business environment.The eTOM Business Process Framework can be used as a tool for analyzing an organization’s existing processes and for developing new processes. Different processes delivering the same business functionality can be identified, duplication eliminated, gaps revealed, new process design speeded up, and variance reduced. Using eTOM, it is possible to assess the value, cost and performance of individual processes within an organization. Relationships with suppliers and partners can also be facilitated by identifying and categorizing the processes used in interactions with them. In a similar manner, it is possible to identify the all-important customer relationship processes and evaluate whether they are functioning as required to meet customers’ expectations. Intended AudienceThe eTOM aims at a wide audience of professionals in the Information and Communications Services Industry. For experie nced Telecommunications professionals, the eTOM has proven itself to be intuitive; and a strong, common framework of service provider enterprise processes. Through TM Forum Catalyst projects and other work, it has been verified that the eTOM framework has strong application in many applications and throughout many companies. More information on use of eTOM within the industry is available at the TM Forum website www. tmforum. org The eTOM is aimed at service provider and network operator decision makers who need to know and input to he common business process framework used to enable enterprise automation in a cost efficient way. It is also an important framework for specialists across the industry working on business and operations automation. The document or framework supports, and is consistent with, many efforts under way in the industry supporting the need to accelerate business and operations automation in the information and communications services marketplace. GB921v3. 6 ? T eleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 13 The eTOM will continue to give providers and suppliers a common framework for discussing complex business needs in a complex industry with complex technologies.For both service providers and network operators additional complexities arise from: Moving away from developing their own business and operations systems software, to a more procurement and systems integration approach. New business relationships between service providers and network operators The creation of new business relationships and the move away from developing internally are a reaction to market forces. These market forces require service providers and network operators to increase the range of services they offer, reduce time to market for new services, increase speed of service, as well as to drive down systems and operational costs.The eTOM is also aimed at service provider and network operator employees involved in business process re-engineering, operations, procurement and other activities for: Understanding the common business process framework being used to drive integration and automation Getting involved in providing processes, inputs, priorities and requirements The eTOM Business Process Framework is also aimed at designers and integrators of business and operational management systems software and equipment suppliers. They can benefit from understanding how management processes and applications need to work together to deliver business benefit to service providers and network operators.An equally important and related audience is suppliers of management applications, management systems, and networking equipment, who need to understand the deployment environment for their products and solutions. The eTOM Business Process Framework provides a common framework useful in supporting the significant amount of merger and acquisition activity. Common process understanding and a common process framework can greatly improve int egration performance for mergers and acquisitions. eTOM is applicable for an established service provider or a new entrant, ‘green field’ provider. It is important to note that not all areas defined in the eTOM are necessarily used by all providers.As mentioned earlier, the framework is flexible, so that the process elements the specific service providers require can be selected on a modular basis and at the appropriate level of detail for their needs. Benefits of Using eTOM eTOM makes available a standard structure, terminology and classification scheme for describing business processes and their constituent building blocks eTOM supplies a foundation for applying enterprise-wide discipline to the development of business processes eTOM provides a basis for understanding and managing portfolios of IT applications in terms of business process requirements ? TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 14 eTOM Business Process FrameworkUse of the eTOM enables consistent and h igh-quality end-to-end process flows to be created, with opportunities for cost and performance improvement, and for re-use of existing processes and systems Use of the eTOM across the industry will increase the likelihood that off-the-shelf applications will be readily integrated into the enterprise, at a lower cost than custom-built applications GB921v3. 6 ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 15 Chapter 2 – eTOM Business Process Enterprise Framework The main purpose of this Chapter is to provide a formal description of the eTOM Business Process Framework, with two distinct viewpoints: The Internal Viewpoint, which considers the processes that characterize the â€Å"internal behavior† of a Service Provider; The External Viewpoint, which considers the processes necessary for a Service Provider to handle external interactions (e. g. xecute electronic transactions) with Customers, Suppliers and Partners in a Value Chain. In the following sectio ns both of these viewpoints are presented. The Internal Viewpoint follows the structure of former releases of GB921, the External Viewpoint is new material and a general overview is provided. Internal viewpoint The eTOM Business Process Element Enterprise Framework considers the Service Provider’s (SP’s) enterprise, and positions this within its overall business context: i. e. the business interactions and relationships, which allow the SP to carry on its business with other organizations. These wider aspects, together with the implications for an eBusiness and eCommerce world are introduced in Chapter 3.This section introduces the eTOM Business Framework and explains its structure and the significance of each of the process areas within it. It also shows how the eTOM structure is decomposed to lower-level process elements. This explanation is useful for those who decide where and how an Enterprise will use eTOM, and those who may be modifying it for use in their Enter prise. To assist the reader in locating the process area concerned within eTOM, a graphical icon of eTOM, alongside the text, is provided to draw attention to the relevant eTOM area. This is highlighted in red to indicate the focus of the following text or discussion. eTOM Conceptual View The eTOM Business Process Element Enterprise Framework represents the whole of a service provider’s enterprise environment.At the overall conceptual level, eTOM can be viewed as having three major areas of process, as shown in Figure 2. 1. Strategy, Infrastructure & Product – covering planning and lifecycle management Operations – covering the core of operational management Enterprise Management – covering corporate or business support management ? TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 16 eTOM Business Process Framework Customer Strategy, Infrastructure & Product Operations Market, Product and Customer Service Resource (Application, Computing and Network) Supplier/Pa rtner Suppliers/Partners Enterprise Management Shareholders Employees Other Stakeholders  © TeleManagement ForumOctober, 2001 Figure 2. : eTOM Business Process Framework Conceptual Structure The Conceptual Structure view provides an overall context that differentiates strategy and lifecycle processes from operations processes in two large process areas, seen as the two large boxes towards the top of the diagram, together with a third area beneath which is concerned with enterprise management. It also differentiates the key functional areas in four horizontal groupings across the two upper process areas. In addition, Figure 2. 1 shows the internal and external entities (as ovals) that interact with the enterprise. eTOM is a structured catalogue (a taxonomy) of process elements, which can be viewed in more and more detail.When viewed in terms of the Horizontal Functional groupings, it follows a strict hierarchy where every element is only associated with or parented to a single elem ent at the next higher hierarchical level. In a taxonomy, any activity must be unique, i. e. it must be listed only once. Figure 2. 1 shows the top level (Level â€Å"0†) Groupings that eTOM is decomposed into. Because the purpose of the eTOM framework is to help SPs to manage their end-toend Business processes, the eTOM enhances the TOM practice of showing how process elements have a strong association with one (or several) end-to-end business processes (e. g. Fulfillment, Assurance, Billing, Product Development etc. which are introduced later in this Chapter). These Vertical End-To-End groupings are essentially overlays onto the hierarchical top-level horizontal groupings, because in a hierarchical taxonomy an element cannot be associated with or parented to more than one element at the next higher level. Because eTOM was developed to help build and implement the process elements for a Service Provider, it was decided from the start that the primary top-level hierarchy of p rocess elements would be the functional (horizontal) groupings, rather than the endto-end process (vertical) groupings. GB921v3. 6 ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 17To understand the eTOM Business Process Framework, each process area is analyzed and decomposed into further groupings and processes. For each level of analysis or decomposition, the process area, grouping or process element itself is presented with a brief, summary-level description. At this highest level, the three basic process areas are outlined below. The Operations Process Area is the heart of eTOM. It includes all operations processes that support the customer operations and management, as well as those that enable direct customer operations with the customer. These processes include both day-to-day and operations support and readiness processes.The eTOM view of Operations also includes sales management and supplier/partner relationship management. The Strategy, Infrastructure & Pro duct Process Area includes processes that develop strategies and commitment to them within the enterprise, that plan, develop and manage infrastructures and products, and that develop and manage the Supply Chain. In the eTOM, infrastructure refers to more than just the IT and resource infrastructure that supports products and services. It includes the infrastructure required to support functional processes, e. g. , Customer Relationship Management (CRM). These processes direct and enable the Operations processes.The Enterprise Management Process Area includes those basic business processes that are required to run any large business. These generic processes focus on both the setting and achieving of strategic corporate goals and objectives, as well as providing those support services that are required throughout an Enterprise. These processes are sometimes considered to be the corporate functions and/or processes. e. g. , Financial Management, Human Resources Management processes, e tc†¦ Since Enterprise Management processes are aimed at general support within the Enterprise, they may interface as needed with almost every other process in the Enterprise, be they operational, strategy, infrastructure or product processes.The conceptual view of the eTOM Business Process Framework addresses both the major process areas as above and, just as importantly, the supporting functional process groupings, depicted as horizontal groupings. The functional groupings reflect the major expertise and focus required to pursue the business. The four functional groupings are described below: The Market, Product and Customer processes include those dealing with sales and channel management, marketing management, and product and offer management, as well as Customer Relationship Management and ordering, problem handling, SLA Management and billing. The Service processes include those dealing with service development and configuration, service problem management, quality analysi s, and rating. The Resource processes include those dealing with development nd management of the enterprise's infrastructure, whether related to products and services, or to supporting the enterprise itself. The Supplier/Partner processes include those dealing with the enterprise’s interaction with its suppliers and partners. This involves both processes that manage the Supply Chain that underpins product and infrastructure, as well as those that support the Operations interface with its suppliers and partners. ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 18 eTOM Business Process Framework Additionally, in the diagram (Figure 2. 1), the major entities with which the enterprise interacts are shown. These are: Customers, to whom service is provided by means of the products sold by the enterprise: the focus of the business!Suppliers, who provides products or resources, bought and used by the enterprise directly or indirectly to support its business Partners, with whom the enterpr ise co-operates in a shared area of business Employees, who work for the enterprise to pursue its business goals Shareholders, who have invested in the enterprise and thus own stock Stakeholders, who have a commitment to the enterprise other than through stock ownership. eTOM CEO Level View Below the conceptual level, the eTOM Business Process Framework is decomposed into a set of process element groupings, which provide a first level of detail at which the entire enterprise can be viewed. These process groupings are considered the CEO level view, in that the performance of these processes determines the success of the enterprise. The eTOM Business Process Framework is defined as generically as possible, so that it is independent of organization, technology and service. The eTOM is basically intuitive, business driven and customer focused. To reflect the way usinesses look at their processes, the eTOM supports two different perspectives on the grouping of the detailed process elemen ts: Horizontal process groupings, which represent a view of functionallyrelated processes within the business, such as those involved in managing contact with the customer or in managing the supply chain. This structuring by functional groupings is useful to those who are responsible for creating the capability that enables the processes. The IT teams will look at groups of IT functions which tend to be implemented together e. g. the front-of-house applications in the Customer Grouping, back-of-house applications which focus on managing information about the services sold to customers, the network management applications which focus on the technology which delivers the services.For processes delivered by people there is a similar separation of workgroups – the front-of-house workgroups in the Customer Grouping, back-of-house workgroups which focus on managing information about the services sold to customers, the network management workgroups which focus on the technology whic h delivers the services. Vertical process groupings, which represent a view of end-to-end processes within the business, such as those involved in the overall billing flows to customers. This end-to-end view is important to those people who are responsible for changing, operating and managing the end-to-end processes. These people are more interested in the outcomes of the process and how they support customer need rather than worrying about the IT or the workgroups that need to work together to deliver the result. GB921v3. 6 ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 19 The overlay of the Functional (horizontal) groupings of process elements and the endto-end process (vertical) groupings forms the inherent matrix structure of eTOM. This matrix structure is the core of one of the innovations and fundamental benefits of eTOM – it offers for the first time a standard language and structure for the process elements that are understood and used by both the pe ople specifying and operating the end-to-end business, as well as those people who are responsible for creating the capability that enables the processes (whether automated by IT or implemented manually by workgroups).The integration of all these processes provides the enterprise-level process framework for the information and communications service provider. This is the ‘Level 0’ view of the enterprise and shows the vertical and horizontal process groupings that are the decompositions of the process areas introduced above. These groupings are ‘Level 1’ process groupings in the parlance of the eTOM business process model, e. g. Customer Relationship Management, Fulfillment. The Level 0 view, which reveals the Level 1 process detail, is shown in Figure 2. 2. As process decomposition proceeds, each level is decomposed into a set of constituent process elements at the level below.Thus, Level 0 is decomposed into Level 1 processes, Level 1 into Level 2,and so o n. The Enterprise Level 0 view decomposes into seven Vertical (or â€Å"end-to-end†) Level 1 process groupings as well as eight Horizontal (or â€Å"functional†) Level 1 process groupings in four layers. These Vertical and Horizontal process groupings represent alternative views relevant to different concerns on the way that processes should be associated. Note that we will see that these alternatives have been selected to yield a single, common view of the Level 2 processes defined at the next level of decomposition, and hence do not represent a divergence in the modeling.In addition, there are eight additional enabling and support Level 1 process groupings within Enterprise Management. This full view of the Level 1 processes is shown in Figure 2. 2. Customer Strategy, Infrastructure and Product Operations Strategy ; Commit Infrastructure Lifecycle Mgmt Product Lifecycle Mgmt Operations Support ; Readiness Fulfillment Assurance Billing Marketing and Offer Management C ustomer Relationship Management Service Development ; Management Service Management ; Operations Resource Development ; Management Resource Management ; Operations Supply Chain Development ; Management Supplier/Partner Relationship Management Enterprise Management Strategic ; Enterprise PlanningBrand Management, Market Research ; Advertising Enterprise Quality Mgmt, Process R esea rch ; D evelo p m en t ; IT Planning ; Architecture ; T ech n o lo g y A cq u isistio n Human Resources Management Disaster Recovery, Security ; Fraud Management Financial ; Asset Management  © TeleManagement Forum October, 2001 Stakeholder ; External Relations Management Figure 2. 2: eTOM Level 0 View of Level 1 Process Groupings ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 20 eTOM Business Process Framework eTOM Operations Processes To be useful to a Service Provider, the eTOM Process Element Framework must help the SP to develop and operate their business processes.This sections shows how the matrix str ucture of eTOM offers for the first time a standard language and structure for the process elements that are understood and used by both the people specifying and operating the end-to-end business, as well as those people who are responsible for creating the capability that enables the processes (whether automated by IT or implemented manually by workgroups). â€Å"OPS† Vertical Process Groupings The Operations (OPS) process area contains the direct operations vertical process groupings of Fulfillment, Assurance ; Billing, together with the Operations Support ; Readiness process grouping (see Figure 2. 3). The â€Å"FAB† processes are sometimes referred to as Customer Operations processes. Customer Operations Operations Support and Readiness Fulfillment Assurance Billing Figure 2. : eTOM OPS Vertical Process Groupings The TOM was focused only on the direct customer processes represented by FAB. However, FAB processes were not on the TOM framework map, they were rather an overlay. In an ebusiness world, the focus of the enterprise must be enabling and supporting these processes as the highest priority. Therefore, in the eTOM, Fulfillment, Assurance ; Billing are an integrated part of the overall framework. Fulfillment: this process grouping is responsible for providing customers with their requested products in a timely and correct manner. It translates the customer's business or personal need into a solution, which can be delivered using the specific products in the enterprise’s portfolio.This process informs the customers of the status of their purchase order, ensures completion on time, as well as a delighted customer. Assurance: this process grouping is responsible for the execution of proactive and reactive maintenance activities to ensure that services provided to customers are continuously available and to SLA or QoS performance levels. It performs continuous resource status and performance monitoring to proactively detect possible f ailures. It collects performance data and analyzes them to identify potential problems and resolve them without impact to the customer. This process manages the SLAs and reports service performance to the customer.It receives trouble reports from the customer, informs the customer of the trouble status, and ensures restoration and repair, as well as a delighted customer. GB921v3. 6 ? TeleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 21 Billing: this process grouping is responsible for the production of timely and accurate bills, for providing pre-bill use information and billing to customers, for processing their payments, and performing payment collections. In addition, it handles customer inquiries about bills, provides billing inquiry status and is responsible for resolving billing problems to the customer's satisfaction in a timely manner. This process grouping also supports prepayment for services.For a high-level view of how the eTOM Process Elements can be used t o create Fulfillment, Assurance ; Billing process flows, please see document GB921 v3. 5 Addendum â€Å"f†, Process Flow Examples. In addition to these FAB process groupings, the OPS process area of the eTOM Framework contains a new, fourth vertical process grouping: Operations Support ; Readiness (see Figure 2. 3). Operations Support ; Readiness: this process grouping is responsible for support to the â€Å"FAB† processes, and for ensuring operational readiness in the fulfillment, assurance and billing areas. In general, the processes are concerned with activities that are less â€Å"real-time† than those in FAB, and which are typically concerned less with individual customers and services and more with groups of these.They reflect a need in some enterprises to divide their processes between the immediate customer-facing and real-time operations of FAB and other Operations processes which act as a â€Å"second-line† in carrying out the operational suppor t tasks. Not all enterprises will choose to employ this split, or to position the division in exactly the same place, so it is recognized that in applying the eTOM Business Framework in particular scenarios, the processes in Operations Support ; Readiness and in FAB may be merged for day-today operation. Nevertheless, it is felt important to acknowledge this separation to reflect a real-world division that is present or emerging in many enterprises.The separation, definition and execution of the Operations Support ; Readiness processes can be critical in taking advantage of ebusiness opportunities, and is particularly important for successful implementation of Customer Self Management. â€Å"OPS† Horizontal Process Groupings In the OPS process area of the eTOM Framework, there are four OPS functional process groupings that support the operations processes discussed above, and also the management of operations to support customer, service, resource and supplier/partner interac tions (see Figure 2. 4). The original TOM Process Framework used the ITU-T TMN Logical Business, Service, and Network Layers to organize the core business processes. This facilitated mapping of the Management Functions defined in TMN, to the TOM processes.As the eTOM Business Process Framework is an evolution of the TOM Process Framework and because the TMN layering approach is still relevant, the TMN Logical Layers continue to be loosely coupled to the functional process groupings. The TM Forum is working with ITU-T to harmonize the eTOM and TMN models. See reference 3 for further information on ITU-T TMN. ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 GB921v3. 6 Page 22 eTOM Business Process Framework Cu stome r Oper ati ons C usto mer R el ation ship Manag emen t Serv ice Man ag ement ; Op eration s R eso urce Man ag em ent ; Op erat ion s (Applicati on, C om puting a nd N etwor k) Sup plier/Partn er R elat ionsh ip Man ag em en t Figure 2. : eTOM OPS Functional Process Groupings Customer Relationsh ip Management (CRM): this process grouping considers the fundamental knowledge of customers needs and includes all functionalities necessary for the acquisition, enhancement and retention of a relationship with a customer. It is about customer service and support, whether storefront, telephone, web or field service. It is also about retention management, cross-selling, up-selling and direct marketing for the purpose of selling to customers. CRM also includes the collection of customer information and its application to personalize, customize and integrate delivery of service to a customer, as well as to identify opportunities for increasing the value of the customer to the enterprise.CRM applies to both conventional retail customer interactions, as well as to wholesale interactions, such as when an enterprise is selling to another enterprise that is acting as the ‘retailer’. The introduction of CRM is a key feature of eTOM over TOM. At the highest, most general level, t he TOM Business Process Framework included two process groupings to manage relations with customers, â€Å"Customer Interface Management† and â€Å"Customer Care†. In the TOM, it is explicitly mentioned that Customer Interface Management may effectively be a distinct process within Customer Care or may be performed as part of the lower level Customer Care processes. However, eTOM advances the TOM in several key ways: It expands Customer Care to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which is management approach to supporting and interacting with customers, that enables enterprises to identify, attract and increase retention of profitable customers. CRM focuses on collection and application of customer data and managing relationships with customers to improve customer retention and customer value contribution to the enterprise. CRM is more than Customer Care or Customer Interface Management, it is the integration of customer acquisition, enhancement and retention throu gh managing the customer relationship over time. For eTOM, CRM also represents the integration of Sales and Service processes and ensuring a consistent customer interface across all CRM functional processes. GB921v3. 6 ?TeleManagement Forum 2003 eTOM Business Process Framework Page 23 eTOM integrates Customer Interface Management for Fulfillment, Assurance ; Billing across all the CRM functional processes and with customer processes. Customer Interface Management represents any type of contact, e. g. , phone, email, face-to-face, etc. It expects an integration and coordination across these different interface types, to provide a consistent interface and highlights the requirement for customer process control and customer self management. eTOM also encourages the design of solutions so that systems interfaces used within the enterprise are the same as those used by customers.TOM CRM processes include an expansion of TOM Customer Care processes to: †¢ Focus on customer retention †¢ †¢ †¢ Improve enterprise process exception customer response Integrate marketing fulfillment execution Better represent the billing function at the customer level and the need to assure revenue. Service Management ; Operations (SM;O): this process grouping focuses on the knowledge of services (Access, Connectivity, Content, etc. ) and includes all functionalities necessary for the management and operations of communications and information services required by or proposed to customers. The focus is on service delivery and management as opposed to the management of the underlying network and information technology. Some of the

Admissions paper

I have come to a point in life that many people have not.   I have made a firm decision to recommit myself to pursuing my dreams.   While there are those who believe that with an ounce of luck and a ton of persistence anything can be accomplished, I believe that there is no reason to expend so much energy and rely on luck.Life is simply too short and too precious to be left to luck alone.   After serious investigation and reflection I am convinced my educational goals will be far better achieved at this prestigious University.It is not an easy decision for me, as I struggle to perform many various tasks and jobs at this point in my life.   I feel, however, that there is no substitute for a proper education and I feel that this course will be very beneficial to my future.One of the many wonderful concepts I have learned from my parents is to strive for academic excellence while balancing life with other activities and contributions.   I am proud of my previous academic recor d at (insert undergraduate school) as well as my extracurricular involvement in campus activities, part-time employment and community service.   Yet I feel that in order to reach my full potential I need to be in an environment that best caters to my interests and goals.The world is fast becoming a borderless place.   Cultures, races, beliefs and ideologies are blend together and interact because of the growing advances in communications.   In order to succeed in this world, one needs to be able to adapt to the various cultural differences as well as be able to maintain a certain sense of individual identity.My former school did not have the same diversity that I see environment where cultural diversity is promoted.     This is why I believe that this educational environment is the perfect place for me.   Not only does this University exceed my expectations but it is also enjoys a global reputation.I have learned from my parents two â€Å"laws†: the law of learnin g and the law of giving. I believe the more you learn the more open you become for learning. I am convinced this University is a great fit for â€Å"the law of learning.†Ã‚   That is why I believe that this move is a crucial step for me.   My success and my accomplishments here will herald the beginning of the fulfillment of my personal and professional goals.It is said that the one thing that nobody can ever take away from you is your education and that is the one thing that I plan to not only gain for myself but for others as well.   I have learned from my parents the critical importance of the law of giving, and I am both attracted and committed to this model of community service, particularly that â€Å"students apply skills to effect social change.†I bring to this campus a variety of assets and commitments. I have benefited from a multi-cultural mentoring program in high school.   As an open-minded student, I believe I am able to contribute to not only the c ultural diversity, but also the global views of the learning community.   My experience and perspective will greatly benefit those that I will be able to interact with on campus.   I look forward to the rich academic and cultural experience that this fine University has to offer.I have also always been committed to community service and campus government, and plan on continuing these important activities.   I will bring to the campus what others have considered in me an infectious â€Å"joy of learning, excitement for the future, and need for world contribution.† That is in essence my philosophy and I believe it will be able to contribute to the campus community if given the opportunity to do so.While I personally believe that â€Å"there is no such thing as a free lunch† and that everything a person has in life must come from hard work and perseverance, I also believe in charity.   I believe in helping others who do not have much in life.   I believe in help ing people regardless of their nation, race or creed.   I believe in being a better person so I can best help myself and others around me.I believe that this academic environment is the best place for me to turn these beliefs into realities.   I am fully aware of the significance of being considered for acceptance, and I am sincerely grateful for your time and consideration of my application.

International Organisations and their role in environmental protection Essay

Our planet has become a risk society; being exposed to the disastrous efforts as a result of the harm caused by humans. There are several risks with varying magnitude and severity such as the natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunami, tornado etc. and man-made disasters such as biological weapons, nuclear programme and so forth. Ulrich Beck, the German anthropologist intimates that the above mentioned factors indicate a world risk society. Natural hazards are existential threats to the entire human lives. Rising or falling sea level can remold the world’s coastlines and seashores and most of the densely populated areas on earth will be affected as a result. There is a drastic change in the behavior and rhythm of the sea that the uniformity of the sea which was found previously is terribly missing now. The living beings in these coastal areas would be going for a task; it affects the agricultural fields and extends to a level of causing great damage to cities across the coastal areas. As per the reports of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the coastal regions inclusive of mangroves, reefs and several other regions are on high risk. Another alarming effect is the greenhouse effect. The role of Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen nitride are proportionately high when relatively compared to the other greenhouse gases. Reports from IPCC confirm an anticipated response in proportion to the rapid increase in greenhouse gases. The overall effect is observed to increase the temperature of atmosphere, precipitation and evaporation rates. Rising ocean levels and relative changes in the atmosphere are additional effects. Another relevant effect which is thrown in lime light is global warming- a rapid increase in the temperature of earth’s atmosphere (in simple words the air we breathe) due to the blockage of the earth’s radiation, that reflects back from the surface of the earth, caused by the formation of a blanket like layer from the excessive emission of hazardous gases such as Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen nitride. This is also the reason for acid rain; due to the hazardous contamination of clouds with these gases the rain gets polluted and returns to the earth in the form of nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbonic acid and so on. All the above mentioned effects have led to the depletion of a huge diameter of ozone especially in Australia and according to the reports it continues to expand. The practice of nuclear energy testing and the dumping of nuclear waste has led to change in the demographic position of tectonic plates which was the main reason for tsunami and earthquakes in India, Indonesia and the other coastal regions. It is important to be reminded that the disaster has caused a huge death toll. In addition to the existing hazards, there are so many pandemic diseases such as SARS, bird flu, swine flu and other diseases that have targeted several countries, leading to a significant death toll. International Organisations Every individual has started giving a thought about the environmental protection and preservation of energy. They are worried that the next generation would be left empty with nothing in reserve for survival. Environmental protection has become every country’s concern in today’s world. In their attempt to preserve environment from further deterioration of environment, the states push off the economical cost to be borne by someone or the other, walking away with whatever benefit that could be incurred in the attempt. We are running on high risk with clear evidences such as hole in the Ozone layer, fast melting of icebergs, global warming and many natural havocs which are a result of exceeded exploitation of nature by human. The forthcoming natural hazards would be even worse beyond the imagination of human brain. Many International organisations such as World Meteorological Organisation, UNEP, UNDP and IPCC have played a major role in the protection of environment. UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (shortly recognized as DOALAS) is the secretariat of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). DOALAS in coordination with UNCLOS assists, advices and submits reports on the marine resources, ecosystem and environment. Similarly the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) – established in 1902; an International Organisation attributed to the protection and preservation of the living beings and to maintain a check on the ecological balance of the North Atlantic Sea. The report also includes the rate of contamination and the source of contamination. This guides them to decide on the steps to curtail preventable contamination if any. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – an association formed to create awareness on the issues of environmental hazards, the causes of the environmental hazards and eventually to raise voice against the industrial sectors or individual accountable for environmental degradation. When the depletion of ozone layer was brought into limelight by the American scientists, UNEP and few NGOs volunteered to make a consolidated effort to build awareness among public through public awareness programmes. In response to the bourgeoning harmful effects of climate change, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) came up with a group that would focus entirely on various scientific and socio-economic contributions geared towards understanding environmental and resource degradation brought about by climate change. This notable body was called Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Its main objective is to get the perspective of different scientists and other professionals from all over the world in order to touch all facets of causes and effects of climate change. Through this way, concrete actions could be taken based on the reports released by the intergovernmental body. According to the Global Environment Outlook 1 (UNEP Report, 1997), there has been a remarkable progress with regards to the implementation of biodiversity, climate and desertification conventions; however, there is still a visible lack of urgency present from across the globe. These reports which consist of environmental issues would be nothing if the society continuously fails to recognize the implications of their actions towards nature. Environmental progress in an international level could only be met if strong governmental structure and environmental unity would be strictly imposed on all regions of economic development. European Environmental Agency was established in 1990; aimed at consistent development and record maintenance on the improvements in Europe’s environment. They conduct periodical meeting and exchange information on the report submitted to know the real condition of the environment. They also established European environment information and observation network (Eionet) to provide a coordinated effort towards the protection of environment and preservation of resources. They form a group of 27 EU member countries which is inclusive of Turkey, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Switzerland and Norway Just recently, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) released their report entitled â€Å"Signals 2009† which highlights the primary environmental issues confronting Europe. One of the most impacting challenges of Europe is the sustenance of water in certain regions experiencing the blow of climate change. Some of the regions such as Cyprus and Turkey have been experiencing calamitous drought over the past few years which is why the water demand continuous to increase in an annual basis. In response to this trend, EEA recommends the need for adaptation and climate change mitigation in order to lessen the emissions of greenhouse gases within Europe. Governmental policies on adaptation also call for concrete projects that would tap the necessary resources in order to store and supply enough water for the people (Signals, 2009, p. 11). Nevertheless, the Signals 2009 Report covered fascinating yet informative depictions of what will become of our planet if none of these highly suggested plans of action were realized by the end of this year. Another enlightening and results-driven undertaking rose in October 2008 and it was managed by the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). This program wanted to veer away from the regional impact of climate change. It would rather focus on building an all-in-one package that would support the way nations govern their society as well as incorporate earth friendly systems in their future developmental plans. The scheme deemed necessary to build the Earth System Governance Project which aims â€Å"to engage more and more actors who seek to strengthen the current architecture of institutions and networks at local and global level† (Earth System Governance Organization, 2008, p. ). More so, this project finds it important to concentrate on five specific aspects that would form the structure and content of their science plan, and these are: architecture, agency, adaptiveness, accountability and allocation and access. All the same, they have integrated the themes of power, knowledge, norms and scale into their agenda in order to strengthen the formulation and implementation of their analysis on massive environmental pr oblems hitting our planet today. Though it is a politically-driven concept, it aspires, nonetheless, to create a globally regarded research network where every country can benefit from the projects and breakthroughs done by concerned scientists. The Role of United Nations UNEP conducted an international conference in Washington in 1977 with the issuance of World plan of Action for the Ozone layer and an Ad Hoc working party was formed to be in charge of the issue. The working party was constituted of environmental experts from 22 countries, eventually they submit a report of all the negotiations at the end of the ever year. The Toronto Group (IO formed by USA, Canada and Scandinavian countries) pinpointed the increased release of CFC from EU. EU refused to agree to reduce the production of CFC by using the lapse that there was no evidence to prove the connection between ozone depletion and CFC. Eventually in 1985, Vienna convention was established. It is an agreement signed by most of the European countries and the objective is to acknowledge the efforts to protect ozone layer and to cooperate to protect the layer. The UNEP along with the Toronto Group conducted marathons for public awareness and various conferences to insist the reduction of CFC by a significant proportion say 95%, but the EU agreed to reduce it only by 50% in 1999 due to the pressure from Germany. Yet the developing countries and small countries were under tremendous pressure as the reduced production of CFC would affect their growth, eventually they agreed to reduce it to a great extent as much as 300 grams per capita. In 2000, EU joined 81 states and showed an active participation in ban the production of CFC. The developing countries were guaranteed financial aids to assist the reduced production of CFC. The USA and Japan was slowly backing out with its slowing of the process whereas EU was very concerned and it continued till 2004, until the issues were resolved and the countries agreed to stop the production of CFC completely. There were a number of treaties such as Vienna convention of 1985, the Montreal Protocol of 1987, the Amendments of London (1990), Copenhagen(1992), Vienna(1995), Montreal (1997) and Beijing (1999) (www. nep. org/ozone/index. asp) regarding the fund allocation and technical assistance. World Bank, UNEP and UNDP played a major role in allocation of funds to execute Montreal Protocol. In the context of dealing with transboundary environmental issues, UNEP and WMO (World Meteorological Organisation) played a major role in the formation of Coordinating committee on the Ozone Layer (CCOL). The objective of the committee was to create awareness and to spread the pros an d cons of Ozone depletion. Later with the help of the scientists they were able to discover the fact that the reduced production of CFC will contribute towards the decelerated depletion of Ozone perhaps would not stop the depletion completely. The Ozone was measured by the US space agency NASA, the connection between the CFC emancipation and the depletion in the Ozone layer was also proved. Conclusion Global environmental issues have always been an issue of concern since there were no coordinated efforts from the International organisations. As a result, the continued efforts to preserve Mother Nature from the industrialist countries and developing countries have not been successful down the years. The industrialised countries were concerned about their growth and in the process failed to realise hazardous effect that was caused in turn. The most prudent effort of an International organisation purely depends on the way it deals with the political and technical accords. Several times their attempt to convince the developing countries and capitalistic countries was in vain. Most of the times the International Organisations are driven by the politics of the global economy and that is the major cause for a biased decision making. Nations which follow the ideologies of capitalism and socialism, both followed paths to develop their countries at the cost of exploiting the environment and causing maximum utilization of available resources. The major reason for such an unorganised work style, according to liberalists, is due to the lack of global governance.

Marketing Plan Phase II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing Plan Phase II - Essay Example Pricing should not be seen in isolation of the other factors that have a bearing and often influence the decision itself. Predominantly price is part of a price-quality equation. The most important consideration in price decisions is its objectives. And objectives are in turn based on the strategy of product positioning. Commonly companies try to achieve any of five objectives through pricing: survival, maximize profit, maximize market share, skim the market or product-quality leadership. (Kotler, 2001, p. 458) "The business of businesses is business!" Friedman (as cited in Pohl, Eva, 1970, p.12). So understandably businesses exist to maximize profits. This then brings up for consideration the price-demand-profit relationship. This in other words is the demand for a product at different prices; which is the product's price sensitivity. "Price sensitivity is a measure of how important lower prices are to the customer" (Day, 1999, p. 114). In general products are less price sensitive if buyers are less aware of substitutes, when a one-on-one comparison between competing products is not possible and when a product is perceived to have quality and exclusivity. Bread is such routine fare. As such it is highly price sensitive. But Panera's customers don't see the company's products as just any bread. There is a definite value perception.

The significance of a cohesive culture to organisational performance Essay

The significance of a cohesive culture to organisational performance - Essay Example The report discusses several changes that are necessary in the workplace of BSG Ltd. to enhance commitment and productivity among the employees. Changes such as improvement of workplace relations, teamwork, employee motivation, career mobility, workplace learning and strong leadership strategies have been highlighted. All these changes point towards the establishment of a cohesive culture that can help the management of this company to address the emerging issues in the workplace. Some recommendations regarding the implementation of the highlighted changes in the workplace have been put forward in the report. They include; adoption of a leadership strategy that promotes a cohesive organizational culture, establishment of workplace relations, promotion of teamwork, identification of development needs, control of employee turnover and enhancement of employee welfare. The need to take the workers’ interests in to consideration in the course of change has been emphasized. The conclusion portrays the learning outcomes of the report regarding the need for a cohesive organizational culture. The changes and recommendations that need to be adopted by the company have been noted as a general picture of what a cohesive organizational culture entails. The group prefers employee focused leadership in the organization as indicated in the conclusion. Introduction This report addresses some issues that have emerged in BSG Ltd. leading to a fall in the profits of the organization below projections for the last two years in light of aggressive competition and a declining economy. The results of a culture/employee attitude survey in the organization indicated lack of cohesion amongst employees, low levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, low levels of trust between management and employees, poor team work, and a belief by many that there was little opportunity for advancement. An analysis of company data for the year ending 2010 revealed a 30% incr ease in pilfering, in both warehouse stocks, and stationery supplies. Staff turnover is an issue also, up by 15% in year ending 2010. The benefits of a strong cohesive culture have been emphasized, as well as the changes that need to be implemented by management to this workplace. Some recommendations have been put forward in regard to the implementation of the changes to make them acceptable by the workforce. Organizational Culture Hofstede defined culture as a tool that the mind applies to guide a person’s day to day activities and interactions with others. He portrayed culture as a collective aspect that occupies a particular social

Analysis of Fund Management in China Research Paper

Analysis of Fund Management in China - Research Paper Example    Therefore, retail investment funds are a type of mutual funds where various individuals pool their asset together in order to access investment opportunities that would not be obtainable to them. Retail investment funds in China Retail investment funds have gained popularity in the emerging market because in the fifteen years ago few people were unaware of the existence of the retail investment funds (Jeffrey, 2010). Individuals could not purchase listed securities in the market because extremely few countries had the stock market and others had relatively little trading. Fund management is the management of financial assets on behalf of a client that involves the selection, buying and selling of financial assets. Meanwhile, it involves the collection and re-investment of any income from assets that deals with any certificates and paperwork (Fraser, 2011, 87). The Retail Investment Funds involve offering details of the performance of the fund to the client that involves both ret ail and wholesale.   Over the past 20 years, the retail investment retail has promoted the fund's sector in emerging markets by working closely with institutional investors, investment banks and the government regulators. Mangal and Sunil (2011, P. 190) indicate that the retail funds play a key role in mobilizing large volumes of private capital for equity investment in the stock markets and stimulate the growth of securities market in China. Meanwhile, they assist in improving small and medium-sized corporate to access external equity and get management advice. The retail investment development and opportunities are gradually spreading to most of the population in China that attaches great significance in building real estate. According to Swati (2005, 56), the global recession affected China’s economy severely, but China is creating a favorable environment for retail funds investment schemes. Recently, Chinese people stand in line to purchase retail funds, but as the numb er of retail funds increase, the situation changes.  Ã‚  

Personal Nursing Research Interest on Asthma Paper

Personal Nursing Interest on Asthma - Research Paper Example Asthma is an incurable disease and individuals with this condition will need regular follow-up and monitoring of symptoms. During my postings in asthma clinic, I realized that patient education is the most important aspect of management of patients with asthma and without this, control of exacerbations and symptoms in asthma becomes difficult. Hence in this research article, I chose to discuss about patient education in asthma. The most common symptoms of asthma in an adult are wheezing, cough, nocturnal or exercise-induced cough, breathlessness, tightness of chest and sputum production (Brenner, 2009). The symptoms may be perennial or seasonal, continuous or intermittent, or during the day or night. Some of the precipitating or aggravating factors include viral infections, intense emotions, environmental irritants, exercise, pets or carpets at home, drugs like aspirin, additive foods, weather changes, stress and certain diseases like gastrointestinal reflux, sinusitis and rhinitis ( Brenner, 2009). Many patients have a family history of asthma or other allergy conditions. Treatment depends on the staging of asthma which again depends on the frequency and severity of symptoms. The main drugs for treatment are bronchodilators and steroids. These drugs can be given either oral, through metered dose inhalers or through nebulizations (Sharma and Gupta, 2009, Emedicine).

What did my experience when I first went abroad or visited a different Essay

What did my experience when I first went abroad or visited a different culture than my own How did I overcome the cultural differences - Essay Example The plane trip was uneventful. When I arrived at the Vienna airport however I began to have a bit of culture shock. Everything was written in German—not in Russian! I heard lots of people around me speaking a language I didn’t understand. I went to a shop to buy some food and I could see all the magazines were different and there were many different types of food available that weren’t available in Russia. When I walked out of the airport I was surprised to see that the temperature was much warmer than it was in Russia. I wouldn’t be needing all the winter gear I had brought with me from Russia. I got in a taxi and explained that I wanted to go to a hotel in the downtown part of Vienna. It took quite awhile for the driver to understand what I wanted: communication with people was difficult. As we drove down the streets I noticed that there were many different models of cars on the streets. Many people had more expensive cars than they did in Russia, for ex ample. As I got to know Vienna over the next few days I realized it was a city of wonderful architecture and very friendly people. I was amazed at how clean the streets were and how green the parks were. A big difference was the quality of life of pensioners. In Russia many are very poor, but in Austria I could see they were well taken care of. Generally, people seemed to be happy and kind. I began to realize that I had been nervous about nothing. How did I deal with all of this? In the end I found my trip to be very enjoyable. In the beginning I had been nervous and unsure, but I made sure to keep an open mind. I was curious about Austria and I wanted to learn more. I didn’t necessarily think my own country was better—I wanted to learn. By keeping an open mind while traveling it is easier to adapt to a foreign

Personal Letter to University Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Letter to University - Personal Statement Example The best reason for me to pursue university studies (say, post-secondary education) is to correlate my career interests and personal interests under a single roof. My personal experience with inequalities in our (Afghanistan) society forced me to take a pledge to make use of every opportunity to serve the needy. As the wide gap between rich and poor is getting wider, the role of a social worker is crucial. Besides, as a person who represents third world countries, I am well aware of the fact that my responsibility is high. So, my plan is to acquire the skills and knowledge that the undergraduate program in social work can offer in order to make a difference in the world. Therefore, I have chosen to pursue a post-secondary education in Bachelor of Social Work because this course can help me materialize my personal and career goals. As a person with intense admiration towards social work, my preferred area of study is Social Work and I am applying for Bachelor of Social Work at the York University. My future career goals are deeply rooted in my personal experiences. For example, my personal experience in my motherland, i.e. Afghanistan motivated me a lot to pursue a career in social work. My ethnic identity as a person from Afghanistan, which faces the fame/problem of internal insurgencies, natural calamities, insufficiency in infrastructure development, poor living condition of the citizens, etc force me to be in the forefront of social work. I feel quite sure that a generation with education and unending aspiration towards social work can transform the future of my nation. Now that I have moved to Canada, there still remains the urge in me to serve the society within my private and public domain. Ming-sum Tsui in the work ‘Social work supervision: contexts and concepts’ makes clear that training programs conducted by universities transformed the formal social work scenario (Tsui 7). Thus, the most important motivation for my decision to

Information Gathering Obu Essay Example for Free

Information Gathering Obu Essay Every Research Report requires information as the basis for analysis. Information sources can be categorised as either primary or secondary data. There is no requirement for you to collect primary data within your Research Report; it is wholly acceptable to undertake your Research Report using only secondary data. The difference between primary and secondary data is identified below. Primary data is original data that has been collected by a researcher by whatever means appropriate in the answer of a specific research question. . e. it has been collected specifically for the Research Report. Examples of primary data include questionnaires, interviews, e-mail contacts and surveys. If you decide to collect primary data as part of your research work, then you should state and justify the following: ? The data collection techniques you intend to use e. g. questionnaires, interviews. ? Your sample size and an outline of your sampling strategy. ? The method you will use to select your sample and the likely response rate. If you intend to collect primary data from staff within your chosen organisation you must obtain permission to do this from a senior member of staff within the organisation. You should do this as early as possible during your Research Report, since if you are denied access to your desired information sources you may have to reconsider how to meet your project objectives and research questions. Secondary data is data that has been collected by others for their own purposes, but which may be used by a researcher for his or her different purposes. Examples of secondary data include reference material, books, CD ROMs and financial statements. You should always evaluate the appropriateness and relevance of secondary data sources. Information included in internet sources may not be reliable from an academic perspective and may not be appropriate for use in your Research Report. If you decide to use secondary data as part of your research work, you should state and justify your choice to do so. Where you use published secondary data you must provide precise references using the Harvard Referencing System. This is discussed in more detail in the following section. You must retain all of the information that you collected during your project work until you have received official notification of your RAP grade from Oxford Brookes University. This includes any questionnaire responses, copies of financial statements, extracts from journals, reports, magazines etc. Oxford Brookes University may wish to ask you to provide additional evidence of your information gathering following the marking of your Research and Analysis project.

The Skin and Sensation Physiology

The Skin and Sensation Physiology The Skin and Sensation Physiology Introduction Skin is the largest organ of our body that protects us from microbes and helps to regulate our body temperature. It contains different kinds of sensory receptors that respond to variety of stimuli: mechanical, thermal and chemical. The general receptors of the body react to touch, pressure, temperature, pain and change of the environment. The encapsulated receptors which include free nerve endings may sense pain and temperature; Merkels discs, which sense light pressure and root hair plexuses that sense touch by the movement of the hairs. While the encapsulated receptors are enclosed in a capsule of connective tissue which are the Meisnner’s, Pacinian and Ruffini’s corpuscles. The density of skin receptors is greater in areas that are designed to sense our environment. These receptors convey the information to the CNS thus, any stimulus should be of threshold magnitude in order to detect. The sensory system have a limit of its sensitivity therefore, stimulus below minim um magnitude cannot elicit a response. The cutaneous receptors are scattered throughout the skin and the underlying fascia. These receptors are the mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, nocireceptors and proprioreceptors that are sensitive to a certain stimuli. Sensation is defined as a state of awareness of the internal and external environment. There are four criteria to be considered in order for a sensation to occur. First is the stimulus, the change in the environment in which we should be aware of. Next, there should be a receptor- a cell or organ which is sensitive to the stimulus. There must also have an afferent nerve pathway that will carry the signal to the CNS and lastly, there should be sensory cortex where the signals was analyzed and interpreted. Hence, this activity aims to demonstrate the sensation acuity using various models in tactile localization and adaption, to determine relative sensitivity of selected areas of the skin and to be able to understand the different features of sensation in relation to various stimuli, adaptation and after image phenomenon. Methodology Tactile Distribution: Two-point Sensibility Begin the test by asking the subject to close his eye. Using a vernier caliper, test the ability of the subject to differentiate two distinct sensations by setting the vernier caliper at the distance with points close together and gradually increasing one or two points until the subject has reached the sensation when the skin is touch simultaneously at two points. Record the distance in which the subject first felt the two-point threshold and repeat two trials for each body area listed below. Back of the neck or nape area Fingertip Forearm (supine position) Tip of nose Palm of hand Tongue Upper arm Thigh area Leg area Tactile Localization Begin the test by asking the subject to close his eyes. Using a pencil tip, touch the skin of the test subject until it leaves an indentation. Then ask the subject to locate the exact spot using the pencil tips. Measure the error of localization using the vernier caliper and repeat twice for each body location listed below. Observe the localization of improvement. Palm Fingertips Forearm (dorsal side) Forearm (ventral side) Lips Thigh region Touch Receptor Adaptation Begin the test by asking the subject to sit and close its eyes. Place a coin on the forearm (antecubital fossa) of the subject. Record the time of how long it takes until the sensation cease. Once the sensation has ceased, add coins of the same size and record the time of pressure sensation. Repeat the same procedure on the other forearm and compare the observations. Ask the subject to close his eyes. Using a pencil tip, run the tip over the strand of hair and slowly pulling it up until the hair spring away from the tip. Ask the subject in which the sensation is greater when the hair is being bend or when it springs back. Weber’s Law: Sensation Intensity Difference Begin the test by asking the subject to sit on a bench and place his hand on the arm rest with eyes close. Put the 2-inch square cardboard on the distal phalanges of his index and middle finger. Gradually add 10 gram weight in the cardboard and ask the subject if he felt the weight. After the subjects feel the weight, remove the cardboard unto the finger and add additional weight from 1 to 5 grams, until he felt the weight increases and compared it with the initial weight. Record the weight increment that produced an added weight sensation. Test other initial weights at 50, 100 and 200 grams and get the Weber’s fraction. Temperature Adaptation and Negative After-Image Prepare three 1000 ml beakers with ice water, water at room temperature and waterbath at 50oC and assign each container into cold, room temperature and warm water. Ask the subject to immerse each of his hand on the cold and warm water for two minutes. Record which hands adapts faster in the said temperature. Then rapidly immerse both hands in the waterbath. Describe the sensation on each hand. Referred Pain Ask the subject to place his elbow in ice water for 2-3 minutes. Are there any changes in sensation localization? Record your observation. Results Various models in tactile localization and adaptation were used on selected areas of the skin for the demonstration of sensation acuity and relative sensitivity of the skin. Also, various stimuli, adaptation and afterimage phenomenon were also applied to understand different features of sensation. The following tables show the results on each exercises performed in this activity. Table 1. Two-Point Sensibility. The table above displays the results taken from the tactile distribution procedure for the two point sensitivity of different areas of the skin. Each area was applied with tactile stimuli from the caliper tips and the distance was recorded once the person had made a distinction of two-points. For the head portion or medial part of the body, the nape area or the back of the neck, the tip of the nose and the tongue got a threshold of 10mm, 8mm and 4mm, respectively. For the upper extremities, the fingertip, the palm of hand, the forearm in supine position and the upper arm got a threshold of 2mm, 8mm, 31mm, and 34mm, respectively. Lastly, for the lower extremities, the thigh area and the leg area got a threshold of 32mm and 36mm, respectively. Out of the nine different areas of the body where the stimuli was applied, the fingertip is noted to be having the most sensitive area while the leg area is the least among them all. Table 2. Tactile Localization. The table above displays the results taken from the tactile localization procedure of different areas of the skin. Two trials were performed and their difference measures the error of localization on each area. The fingertips and the lips received no error of localization since the subject had pointed the exact location of the indentation twice. This amount of error was followed by the palm having an error of localization of 1mm since the subject had pointed the indentation from a distance of 6mm on the 1st trial and 5mm on the 2nd trial. This was then followed by the thigh area, the dorsal part of the forearm and finally the ventral part of the forearm having an error of localization of 5mm, 6mm and 16mm, respectively. Noticeably, the fingertips and the lips had the least error since it received no error at all as compared to the ventral portion of the forearm that had the most error of them all. Table 3.a. Adaptation of Touch Receptors. The table above displays the results taken from the touch receptors adaptation procedure applied on the right and left forearm. The subject had a coin placed on its forearm with the time recorded once it can’t feel the weight of the coin anymore. The right forearm’s distinction is 5.1 seconds for one coin and 9.3 seconds for doubled while the left forearm’s distinction is 4.5 seconds for one coin and 8.8 seconds for doubled. This shows that the subject’s left forearm adapts faster than its right forearm. The difference of time in distinction was measured through subtracting the seconds felt by the right forearm to the left forearm. Having doubled coin received a less difference of time in distinction than having a single coin since the recorded seconds are 0.5 seconds and 0.6, respectively. It is also noticeable that the sense of pressure is shorter when there is only one coin then, returned but got longer after the addition of coins. Table 3.b. Adaptation of Touch Receptors. (++) = felt most; (+) = slightly felt; (-) = not felt Another adaptation procedure was performed using the subject’s hair and the results are being shown on the table above. Its hair strand was bent and sprung back using a pencil tip. The subject responded that the sensation felt greater when the hair was sprang back and least when it was bent. Table 4. Sensation Intensity Difference. The table above displays the results taken from the sensation intensity difference procedure of the fingers using Weber’s Law. Different initial weights were given to the subject’s two fingers which response was recorded after adding additional weights for the intensity difference. The Weber’s fraction came from the quotient of the two weights as how the formula displays on the table above. It is noticeable that the 10g weight got the most Weber’s fraction of 0.3 as compare to the other three weights – 50g, 100g and 200g – that got the same 0.1 Weber’s fraction. Table 5. Temperature Adaptation and Negative After-Image. (+) = adapts faster; (-) = adapts slowly/not adapting The table above displays the results taken from the temperature adaptation and negative afterimage procedure of the two hands exposed on different temperatures. With hands in each beaker, the hand that is placed on warm water adapts faster than the ones in the cold water. When both hands were transferred onto the third beaker containing room temperature water, the ones exposed on cold water earlier adapts too slow – â€Å"like it had gone numb† as compare to the ones exposed on warm water earlier. Table 6. Referred Pain. (+) = present sensation felt; (-) = no sensation felt The table above displays the results taken from the referred pain procedure applied at the elbow and had affected the sensation of the arm. After the elbow was dipped on an ice water for 2 minutes, the subject responded that the sensation had a change in location. It was then recorded that the location of the sensation is now felt on the upper arm. Discussion Conclusion The skin, the largest organ of the body and its somatosensory system or touch system, allows the human body to perceive the physical sensations of pressure, temperature, pain, experience texture and temperature and perceive the position and movement of the bodys muscles and joints. Using various models and procedures, several accounts were recorded including the lips and fingertips as the most sensitive and the more intense weights and temperature as the slowest to be adapted. These are all due to the receptor cells found in the skin that can be broken down into three functional categories: mechanoreceptors that sense different ranges of pressure and texture, thermoreceptors that sense and detect changes in temperature, and nociceptors that sense pain ranging from acute and easy to tolerate to chronic and intolerable. Literature Cited Boundless. â€Å"Skin and Body Senses: Pressure, Temperature, and Pain.† Boundless Psychology. Boundless, 06 Oct. 2014. Retrieved 16 Jan. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/sensation-and-perception-5/sensory-processes-38/skin-and-body-senses-pressure-temperature-and-pain-165-12700/ Experiencing Sensation and Perception. Chapter 12: Skin Senses. Retrieved from January 17, 2015. Available at: http://psych.hanover.edu/classes/sensation/chapters/Chapter 12.pdf. Touch. Retrieved from January 17, 2015. Available at: http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/634/Touch.html