Telecom OSS

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OSS Essentials: Support SystemSolutions for Service Providers

Kornel Terplan

7.4 Best of Suite Products for Customer Care and Billing

7.4.1 Design of a New Billing System

7.4.2 Convergent Billing Platform (CBP) from ADC-Saville Systems

7.4.3 Ensemble from Amdocs

7.4.4 Infranet from Portal Software, Inc.

7.5 Best of Suite Products for Order Processing and Provisioning

7.5.1 Telecom Business Solution from MetaSolve

7.5.2 Service Fulfillment Products Suite from Nortel/Architel

7601010 Advance course in network based automation7601010 Advance course in network based automation Nik SallehNik Salleh 1 December 20031 December 2003


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7.4 Best of Suite Products for

Customer Care and BillingThese processes face customers, require:

availability of real-time data friendly UI

capable of self-care able to support customer relationship

management



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7.4.1 Design of a new Billing System

There are four main steps:

1. Extract data from existing database.2. Translate to new database structure.

3. Import data to new database.4. Run applications against the new database.



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Difficulties in database conversion:

not all data is accurate. data may be incomplete.

not all data can be audited. data is used almost everywhere within

organization, impacts every department.

will be resisted in the beginning. database not clean due to add-on, patchwork

development and maintenance.7601010 Advance course in network based automation7601010 Advance course in network based automation Nik SallehNik Salleh 1 December 20031 December 2003


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Project Management Task force

to recognize the magnitude of the conversiontask.

to assess the impact of the changes. to ensure that the organization is ready for the

new billing system.



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Benefits of database conversion:

opportunity to clean the database. therefore, old database shouldnt be forced

into the new billing system.



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Typical data to be included in new billing system:

Subscriber details (names, addresses, paymentinformation, etc.) Contract details (dates, services, process, discounts,

etc.) phone numbers accounts receivable transactions history of customer with the service provider

billed & unbilled usage customer contract history including usage patterns



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Priority components in the billing system development: Network interfaces - for critical tasks of activating

customers, provisioning services, and collecting usagedata. Customer facing interface customer service

representatives must always have access to necessaryinformation.

Business interfaces interfaces with banks, credit cardcompanies, external agencies. For collecting revenues,printing bills etc.

Financial interfaces interfaces to internal financialsystem. Ensures that the billing system integrates intothe corporate accounting and management controlprocesses.



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Testing should use copies of live data from the old

system to realize the unexpected data gaps to realize the inaccuracies that will cause

problems because those occurrences cannot be

replicated by simulated data



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Three approaches to conversion:

1) Trial runs using friendly customers or test customers should be as realistic as possible resembles normal business environment test business scenarios from end to end of

billing process provides opportunity to fine-tune the billingsystem



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2) Pilot runs a limited live implementation of the full system

appropriate only when suitable limitations canbe applied, such as, by geographical area or portfolio segment.



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3) Parallel runs a fail-safe approach to conversion. old billing system is fully maintained until the

new system is fully proven. but it is expensive, requires more resources,

for maintain existing system and also for familiarizing with new system.

requires maintenance of old and new

business processes.7601010 Advance course in network based automation7601010 Advance course in network based automation Nik SallehNik Salleh 1 December 20031 December 2003


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Training should be planned in the development

process: to build confidence in the new billing system identify and train key users within each functional

area of business process key users should also be involved in testing and trials

Basic conversion processes may be simple, but the actual execution is complex, due to theinterdependencies of billing systems with other business processes .



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7.4.2 Convergent Billing Platform (CBP)

from ADC-Saville Systems Billing and customer care solutions in one

platform. Depository of corporate data on all aspects of

customer relationship. Enables network operators to create customer

value to respond to future marketing challenges to capitalize on new markets



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from ADC-Saville Systems enables service representatives to communicate

with customers and respond to them from onesystem. Enables service providers and network

operators to access critical data customer data

network data marketing data financial data



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from ADC-Saville SystemsBenefits:

Maintaining customer information and service profiles. Recording customer interactions in a contact log and forwarding action

items to department or users. Delivering service to customers in near real-time (under 1 hour).

Creating trouble tickets and dispatching them to the correct workforcefor resolution.

Billing, discounting, and providing supplementary information accordingto the preference of individual customer.

Enabling service providers and network operators to modify prices andintroduce products specific to customer segments.

Discounting customers according to their value to the corporation andaccording to the margins associated with product lines and offerings.



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from ADC-Saville Systems Enables integration of charges from multiple service providers into

one service.

Offers customized consumer accounts and verifies credit, enablingeasy customer service and the ability to upsell new services. Companies have an automated connection to third-party providers

delivering new services, and can confirm service delivery. Marketing manager module to enable new products and services to

be developed in under an hour. Easy handling of events like processing of call detail records and

one-time activation charges. The software also offers a multi-switch interface, flexible rating

schemes, and near real-time billing for multiple products andservices.

http://www.tmcnet.com/articles/itmag/0400/0400roundup.htm#3



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Principal feature: Use of advanced technology

object oriented design, rule-based applications, web-enabling, client/server,three-tiered architecture

Modularity carrier can choose only modules and applications to meet current business

needs Scalability

supports unlimited growth without having to modify the software architecture uses parallel and multithread processing

Flexibility rule-based, table-driven architecture allows flexible definition of switch inputs,

new services, price plans, rating rules, discount schemes, bill formats. online table facility enables frequently changing business variables (e.g. rate per

unit, sales commissions) to be modified and applied immediately.



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Features and functions of the Internet Administration Framework (IAF): Service management module

provides flexible platform for defining and registering new services using dynamic attribute model and provisioning data collectors (PDCs)

PDC allows service providers to add new services without coding delays and

download, operates like a plug-in. Product console

can create product offerings, pricing, and bundles quickly through web-basedGUI

Rule-based rating engine Allows complex rating rules in a simple logical manner.

Customer care module Customizable html interface application for customer service representatives



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7.4.4 Infranet from Portal Software, Inc.

Can rapidly develop, price, and provision new services.

Real-time architecture allows business operation to beperformed end-to-end (from data input to final storage indatabase) in real-time.

Open architecture allows customization and integration(via its API) with other Internet and enterpriseapplications (customer care, call center etc.)

Supports emerging market opportunities such as privatebranding, application hosting (ERP, sales forceautomation, etc.), online content publishing (real-timeaccess to content; supports DRM)



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7.5 Best of Suite Products for Order

Processing and Provisioning Combine multiple processes into a chain using

workflow principles. Using existing workflow concepts from Oracle,

HP, Vitria.

Implement order processing and provisioningaround the workflow concepts.



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7.5.1 Telecom Business Solution (TBS)

from MetaSolveConsists of subsystems:

Work management Brings together the work pieces from subsystems.

Data management In relational data model Contains business objects, their business

relationships, business rules.

OSS gateway management Supports exchange of information to internal and

external systems.



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7.5.2 Service Fulfillment Products Suite

from Nortel/Architel Architel OSS products

service fulfillment capabilities - order management, inventory management,design/assign, service activation, OSS

interconnection. CORBA-based interfaces (open architecture)

3rd

parties customer care and billing fault, performance, traffic, SLA management



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Documents

Telecom OSS