Over time, Hrvatski Telecom’s (HT’s) legacy order management suite had become operationally complicated and inflexible, and expensive to run. The communications service provider (CSP) wanted to modernize its order management systems and processes to avoid vendor lock-in, shorten release cycles, and get products and services to market faster, in a more agile way.

HT wanted to move its order management to being open source, cloud-native and microservices-based, so that it could be scaled easily. The entire open-source order management stack was written from scratch, including key applications like order capture, order execution, product catalog, asset management, user documentation, notifications and more. The stack had more than 120 integration points and included 60 loosely-coupled microservices, which expose business functions.

With these requirements in mind, the CSP decided the new solution should align with TM Forum’s Open Digital Architecture (ODA) and Open APIs, and comply with the European Interoperability Reference Architecture (EIRA). HT used the ODA’s Concepts and Principles (GB998) for the digital platforms and the services they expose. It provided a detailed blueprint for building a standardized, cloud-native software component.

The Open API-based approach exponentially reduces the cost of integration and time to market for new services, plus they can be reused across other DT subsidiaries in other countries. Open APIs also allow HT to expose network and IT capabilities to external ecosystem partners.