There has been an international effort from standardization bodies to create a common model to govern service management in a communications environment. Various schemes have emerged from the standards. The most influential ones are TMN (telecommunications management network) and FSAN (full service access network)-which partly cover the service management issue. This paper addresses the issue of service management specifically for the provision of broadband services. The requirements, roles and processes involved in service provisioning using examples of broadband access networks are addressed as well as the issue of future automation in the service management systems that will greatly assist the process. This work was done within the framework of the EURESCOM project BOBAN.