How Services are Charged: Rating

Service Charging Some services are charged based on a day-to-day use while some services are independent of the service usage. Given below is a list of services which are charged based on usage and non usage of services. Usage Non Usage Installation Fee Setup fee etc. One Time Which service? What time / day? Where is call made? How long? CUG / NCUG Friends and Family Pay for what you use Bill Frequency Proration vs. Advance charge Suspension, Reactivation Recurring Change SIM, Change Mob Rate Plan Change Event Based www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Services and Basis of Charging Basis of Usage Charging Voice Per minute, Geography, Time of day, Call type SMS, E-mail, UM Per message, MT/MO Mobile data Per MB, APN, QoS, Location Stock quote No. of tickets, Exchange, Delayed/Real-time Video Type of movie, Day of week, Free viewing period www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

UoM for Rating Services Per message (e-mail, unified messagmg) Per minute telephony, video conferencing Per MB (wireless LAN access, disk storage) Per view (video-on-demand) Per kWh or equivalent (electricity, gas) Per liter (water) Per ticker symbol (WSP stock quotes) Per click (click-through advertising) Per seat (software application rental) Per $ (commission on purchase) Per bullet (interactive games) Per touchdown (sports update video clips) www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Models Various models have been developed for the rating of services. Some of the important rating models are given below. Constant/Flat rate One flat price irrespective of call duration or volume Example: SMS Lineal Charging Example: If 1 minute of a voice call charges Rs.1, then N minutes of a voice call will charge Rs. Staircase Tiered Non lineal charging model Different rates at every step, takes the rate from each step for the final calculation Staircase Threshold Different rates at every step, but looks at call duration and the step in which the duration falls www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

10% Off all Usage when Total Volume exceeds threshold Rating by Volume Rating can be done based on the volume or quantity of data delivered in terms of packets, K bytes ect. Based on Volume Data Volume $ Usage Charged/Volume Based on Usage Charged 100$ 200$ $ Based on Discounts 10% Off all Usage when Total Volume exceeds threshold $ www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Usage Feeds via Mediation Layer Multidimensional Rating Multidimensional Rating involves rating the services based on both the duration for which the service is used as well as the service usage. Rate per Duration Rate per Volume Usage Split Usage Feeds via Mediation Layer Network Core www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Dimensions Time Based The rating may depend on factors such as the time when the service is used, the location of use and also the mode of access of the service. Time Based Peak, off Peak time Day, Evening, Night time Week day, Weekend Holiday special rate Caution: This should cover 24X7 without gap and overlap. www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Dimensions Geography Based Local Long distance Regional National International www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Dimensions Access Specific Toll Free CUG, NCUG Friends and Family On Net, Off Net www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Time Rate defines day and evening start/end points for Standard Rating Dimensions in Geneva Time Rate defines day and evening start/end points for Standard Now let’s take a look at the various rating dimensions as provided in Geneva. Time Band Configuration www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Geographical areas drive the unit charge Rating Dimensions in Geneva Geographical areas drive the unit charge Distance Band Configuration www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Dimensions in Geneva The geographical area, time of day, number of units etc. are linked to set each unit charge Rate Plan www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Process Rating is the process of calculating costs for individual events and guiding each event to the account that is billable for it. A plan holds the set of rules with pricing that allows the Rating Engine to price events Events Rated Records If Success Mediation Rating Process Network Core Rate Plans & Customer Information Note: In some billing systems, rating happens to be a single process whereas in others, it could be set of processes. www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

File based Offline/Batch Rating Inputs Although many billing systems today support prepaid (real time) as well as post paid (off line), it could also be available within single stack or as separate components. Many of them claim as 'near' real time rather than real time. Event Files File based Offline/Batch IN/Mediation Rating Engine Rated Events Messaging Interface Real Time www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Logic in Nut Shell 1 Identify the services used in the event 2 Identify the day & time of the event occurrence 3 Identify the location of the event occurrence 4 5 Identify the tariff and service profile for event occurrence 6 Identify who should be charged for the event PRICE www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Prepaid Scenario Prepaid Billing needs: Real time balance check and reservation Online charging during service usage (to make sure credit is not overshoot) Traditional billing systems support BATCH mode operation Pre-paid billing is generally taken care at IN platform which is separate from post-paid billing system New generation convergent billing system offers pre-paid post-paid convergence www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Real Time Rating System How call in Pre-paid works? Real Time Rating System Reverse Rating Money Wallet Reservations SCP IN Platform Account & Rateplan Creation: Reservation 1 Call Continues Extension: Reservation 2 Extension: Reservation 3 Insufficient Credit: Rejected Call Complete: Commit Incoming Call www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Leftover Is it possible to run multiple rating engine for load balancing purpose? Yes, it is passible to run multiple rating engine for load balancing purpose. Is there any way to undo rating? Yes, some billing COTS products support undo rating. It is the process by which already rated calls are unloaded from the database in case they have been wrongly rated. What is re-rating? Unloading wrongly rated events and rate them again by making proper changes. www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Rating Leftover Is it possible to rate pre-rated CDRs? Scenario: Especially roaming scenario where in pre-rated CDRs are coming in side system and operator would like to add some extra charges to existing price. Archival strategy for the CDRs Based on the business process and the hardware size, you can configure the archiving strategy for the CRDs. Event Guiding / Event Resignation After rating a particular CDR, the calculated charge needs to be debited to the account. Event guiding is a process to decide the account to which the charge needs to be debited www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com

Duplicate CDR Check Done at various stages At Mediation Preferred In Billing Systems Towards entry to rating module Towards entry to Billing module Can be done on Filename level or event level Filename level: Quicker Event level: Performance degrading Hashing and bucketing concept used Curiosity When duplicate CDR check is done at mediation level, why it is necessary to do it in billing systems? What will happen if it is not checked anywhere? What will happen if such event gets rated twice? www.prolearninghub.com www.prolearninghub.com