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Version: 2.4

Catalog Module

The Catalog module is the central definition layer for commercial and technical offerings in tSM. It provides a unified model for product, service, resource, material, skill, work, and price-list catalogs.

From architecture perspective, Catalog is a business module built on top of the low-code platform:

  • dynamic attributes and UI are handled by the Characteristics/Form pattern,
  • workflows and automation are handled by Process Engine and scripts,
  • integration is exposed via Public API and TM Forum aligned APIs (mainly TMF633 patterns).

Scope and Responsibility​

Catalog is responsible for:

  • defining what can be sold, delivered, installed, or billed (Specification),
  • organizing items into business and technical taxonomies (Catalog, Category),
  • defining dependency and bundle rules (Relationship, relationship types),
  • managing commercial parameters (PriceList, VAT ranges, price component types),
  • controlling lifecycle and validity through configurable code tables (status/type entities).

Downstream modules (Order, Inventory, Ticket, Workforce, Billing, Service Orchestration) consume these definitions.

Detailed Subdocuments​

Configuration Model​

Catalog follows the standard tSM Characteristics pattern:

  • entity subtype behavior is controlled through EntityType and specification profiles,
  • dynamic attributes are stored in chars (TsmChars) and rendered by Form Designer definitions,
  • extensibility is achieved by configuration first (forms, characteristics, statuses, relationship types),
  • module entities expose config, data, dataTags, and validity windows for runtime customization without schema changes.

In practice:

  1. Configure catalog/category/specification type and lifecycle tables.
  2. Configure characteristics profiles and forms for catalog categories/specifications.
  3. Configure relationship types and pricing code tables.
  4. Use APIs to manage catalog content and consume it in downstream modules.

TM Forum Governance​

Catalog module is governed by TM Forum concepts:

  • TMF Open API model as baseline (especially Service Catalog patterns, TMF633),
  • TAM domain decomposition (catalog domain separated from order, inventory, assurance),
  • SID and Characteristics pattern for extensibility without model fragmentation.

tSM applies pragmatic alignment: core contracts follow TMF structure, while additive fields support project-specific needs.