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BSS Overview
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Topics To Be Covered BSS Level1 - BILLING & MEDIATION BACC Overview
Customer Relationship Management Rating Overview Billing Mediation & Provisioning Fraud Management & Revenue Assurance
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BSS LEVEL 1 BILLING & MEDIATION
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Agenda BACC Overview BACC (Billing And Customer Care) System Overview
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Convergent Rating Billing Mediation & Provisioning Fraud fit Revenue Assurance
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BACC Overview
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BACC Overview Challenges for BACC System Elements of a BACC System
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Billing Challenges Highly Complex Billing & Settlement scenarios
Scalability - # customers, # bills/day Near Real Time processing of Transactions Flexibility - Lead time to introduce a new service Products and Services across different technologies Convergence Integration of new BACC products with existing / new OSS Customer Retention & Customer Orientation
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Traditional Billing System
Circuit Switched Network Rating Billing Invoicing Switch B Destination Switch A Origin dB Call Manager OFC/Coaxial Send CDR’s Mediation Collate CDR’s Call Detail Record (CDR) Reformatted CDR’s
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Traditional Billing System Packet Switched Network
Rating Billing Invoicing Router B Router A Event Log dB OFC/Coaxial Send IPDR’s IP Mediation Collate Event (IPDR’s) IP Detail Records (IPDR) Reformat IPDR’s
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Types of Billing Retail Wireline - PSTN Billing
Wireless - Mobile Billing IP Billing Convergent Services Wholesale Roaming Settlement Interconnect Billing
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Billing Scenarios Retail System Operator A B XC1 XC2
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Billing Scenarios Wholesale - Interconnect Other Operator
System Operator POI A XC1 B XC2 XC: Exchange or Switch POI: Point of Inter-Connect
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Interconnect: Concepts
Point of Interconnect Interconnect Owner Operator Trunk Group
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Billing Scenarios Wholesale - Roaming Home N/W Visiting N/W B A XC1
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Roaming: Concepts Network Elements Mediation Roaming DCH
Other operator Rating TAP3 Conversion Roaming Events Event Charging TAP Formatted Files TAP Files to DCH TAP DCH Sends Convert TAP files into pre-defined format Rate the Events To Billing Database
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The Services Yesterday
End User Services FAX VAS SMS Voice Connectivity Layer
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The Services Today and Tomorrow
End User Services Content & Application Layer Messaging Commerce Apps Still Imaging Community Portal VOIP Video Streaming Mail Services ERP systems FAX VAS SMS Voice Connectivity Layer
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System Components Billing Customer, Product, Tariff, Misc Retail
Billing Engine Invoicing Payment Disputes Mediation Rating Engine Customer, Product, Tariff, Misc System Components Billing Retail Wholesale
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Billing Process Bills customers for using Services
Collects Call Detail Records (CDRs) from carriers on a daily basis Applies customer specific rates and taxes to CDRs Applies adjustments (credit or debit) Calculates discounts and service charges
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Billing Process Prepares customer invoices consisting of
Invoice summary Detail usage data by service Product summary Account Code detail & summary Prepares Bill Reports Examples: Time of the day Area code summary Traffic by day report
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Typical Billing Flow CUSTOMER Order Entry Credit Validation
Customer Data Product Data Tariff Data Adjustments Customer Query/Dispute Network Data Capture Data Collection & Guidance Rating Engine Transaction Data Billing Engine Invoicing & Dispatch Payments & Receips Debt Mgmt/Recovery Accounting Other Billing Input Call Analysis
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Billing Overview Important Aspects of Billing System
Key system underlying all Telco processes Defines the customer and their behavior Single most important channel of revenues Because of the huge volumes of data involved, Telco billing is handled in "batches" known as 'billing cycles'. The majority of the problems with billing systems have to do with: Capacity and Timing Maintenance of Customer CB New product development
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Functional Blocks of a Standard BACC system
Billing Rating Product Packaging Customer Care Service Provisioning Network Inventory Collections Credit Control Order Management System Administration Reporting Trouble Ticketing Real Time Charging
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Package Maintenance Salient Features
For defining plans, products, components, discounts and packages to attach to the service offering A tool Convergent across market verticals and product lines Integrates products with inventory Association of plans by market segments, location and different sources of sign up Discounting through Bundling Multiple rate and charging structures Tiered/Slab, Destination & Location-based Changing Parameter based charging
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Non-recurring charges
CONVERGENT PACKAGES Recurring charges Usage charges Non-recurring charges Promotions Discounts Package Maintenance
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Order Management Salient Features
Helps executing service order for various service requests raised through CRM system. Have interfaces with Billing, Provisioning and Number Inventory system. Integrated with Trouble ticket process. Closely linked with Workflow Management system specially in case of Landline service.
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Customer Relationship Management
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Customer Relationship Management
Salient Features Allows Customer Service, Sales and Marketing people to have a holistic view of each customer. Provides 360 degree View of customer details Facilitates customer registration and manages multi level customer hierarchies. Provides customer profile related master information to other systems, Integrated with Trouble ticket and service request manage mem systems to address customer complaints and service requests. Opportunity Management is also integrated with CRM solution.
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Customer Relationship Management
Salient Features Easy to use CSR interfaces Reduces training time and cost Various payment methods Subscriber choice Effective reporting Better insight into health of business Adapts to market dynamics Transparent dispute management Increases customer satisfaction and confidence
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Web Care An innovative, customer-centric, web-based solution
Acts as an interactive tool for subscribers to manage their account and services
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Subscriber Care Features
Online customer registration Bill presentment and payments Complaint logging and tracking Service purchases and online payments Customer Communicate Online – CSR Chat Log & Track Complaints Purchase Services Make Payment Manage Profile
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Dealer Care Features Dealer Care Allows to register customer
Sell/suspend different services Handles customer query Dealer Handle Customer Queries Log & Track Complaints Accept Payments Sell/Suspend Services Register Customer
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Rating Overview
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Rating Engine – Pre Processing
Usage File Pooling Usage Formatting File Validation Record Validation Error Handler Request resent To Rating Engine
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Rating Engine Error Handler Rules Complex Rating Rules
Record Validation Error Handler Request re-rate To Billing Engine Rules From Pre-Processing Engine
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Rating Terminology Prepaid & Postpaid Duration-based vs. Volume-based
Hot-Billing Flat rate Vs. Elapsed Time Subscription Type Bandwidth charging Content Charging
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Rate by Volume Rate by the quantity of data delivered (packets, kbytes, etc.) Date Volume $ 10% Off all Usage when Total Volume exceeds threshold Usage Charged/Volume $2 $1
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Usage Feeds via Mediation Layer
Rate by Duration Rate per Duration Rate per Volume Usage Feeds via Mediation Layer Carrier Network Usage Split Rate for the duration of a session
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Rating for Different QoS Levels
Different rates for different QoS using Event Classes Vary rate based on identified QoS Lack of uniform standards to identify QoS attributes
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Rate by Event Rate for each time a service is used
Residential users are not accustomed to volume based rating for items they can't measure (e.g., SMS, ) Some applications (Telemetry) are sending the same amount of information per event
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Rate for Content Rate for content being delivered Direction Assistance
Hot Financial News
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Rate for Transaction Rate for usage of a premium service
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Rate Plan Information Charge flat rate or per call rate or both
Offer multiple rate plans Accept pre-rated calls Time based ratings The rate plans are setup to handle multiple time periods
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Time Zones Input 6 different time zones using a 24 hour 7 day grid
Allows flexible pricing strategy to either mimic the PTT rate plan or boost revenue during of peak time.
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Flexibility and Freedom
Empowers the communications service provider with the freedom to rapidly change business scenarios to keep pace with the market Enhances flexibility as only a single configuration is needed for the service change to take affect, not a database Less reliance on the vendor as changes can be made in-house, guaranteeing a quicker response rate Increase revenue streams with a greater capacity to bulk- and cross-product discount Wider variety of packages and quicker time-to-market increases customer satisfaction
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Billing
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Billing Engine Discount Taxes/SLA Billing Bill Rules Calculation
From Other Interfaces To Invoice Formatter Discount Taxes/SLA From Rating Engine Bill Cycle/ Account Info. Bill Calculation
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Bill Calculation Usage billing, Contract billing, Equipment
Pre-paid/ post paid billing Initial Bill, Regular (monthly/ quarterly) Bill, Interim Bill, Final Bill Late Payment, Overdue Interest, Refunds, Special rebate Convergent bill for mobile, PSTN Other charges (special services, detailed bill) Installment/ Direct Debit calculation
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Discount Discounting at each product/ CDR level (e.g. Friends and Family) Discounting at total bill value level (e.g. Volume Threshold) Multiple discounts/ reward schemes Pro-rating of discounts Ease of defining products and discounts for the marketing team (data driven discounting functionality) Corporate Hierarchy Discounting
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Taxation Fixed and percentage taxation Multilevel taxation
Interim tax revisions/ pro-rating of tax Zero tax/ tax exempt account Separate tax calculation for Credit and Debit Surcharge on Tax
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Invoicing Engine Billing Engine Invoicing System Invoice Cycle
Billing Files Customer
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Invoicing Invoice Capabilities Support Multiple Languages/Graphics
Support Multiple Delivery Options / CD ROM/ Diskette Features provided by customization Customer specific inserting Customer specific messages
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Bill Printing and Presentment
Bulk printing and posting (eg. 5m bills/day) Invoice or Statement, Summary/ Detailed bill Multi-lingual, multi-currency Re-printing, Dunning/ Reminder letters Electronic Presentment, multiple media Flexible bill format (to introduce ad-hoc captions/ messages, graphics, MICR), customer defined format
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A Sample Bill
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Bill Payment/ Account Receivables
Separate Module takes care of Payments Payment Modes: Cash, Cheque, Credit Card, Direct Debt, Standing Instruction, Bank Transfer, Lockbox Full/ Part/ Advance/ Single payment for multiple invoices Installments/Refund/ Reverse payment Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment Payment Allocation Rule
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Credit Control The Credit Control requests include deactivation of certain services for specific subscribers when they exceed their credit limits Manages the "Risk" side of the Business Check on Customers and their usage to decide who to trust for how much. Rule based Credit Control actions
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Collections & Debt Mgmt
Interface to Financial System, Payment, Activation/ Deactivation systems Support dunning letters, reminders and outside collection agencies Outgoing Calls Barred
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Mediation & Provisioning
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Mediation - Introduction
Mediation - Purpose and Features Interface between Switch and Billing Systems Capture every usage record Validation, Filtration and formatting of Records Route records to different applications Support usage records for different services Provisioning different services Multiple Channels of xDR inputs Filtration Rules Aggregation Rules Delivery Rules Real Time xDR Delivery to Multiple Downstream Application
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Usage Delivery / Provisioning
Schematic View Mediation Network Elements Business Application Usage Delivery / Provisioning Mediation Elements Data Processing Unit
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Support of Technology, Switches & Interfaces
Cisco Lucent Nortel Scientific Atlanta Siemens Fujistu Motorola Alcatel Ericson Nokia X.25 TCP/IP FTAM FTP TELNET MTP Technologies GSM Satellite IP Networks Cable TV CDMA Fixed-Line GPRS
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Layout of Mediation Business Applications PSTN GSM Delivery Buckets
CDMA RAD SERVER VoIP Cable MMS VMS GPRS WAP Collection Agent Data Processing Module Data Shortage Provisioning Request Configuration Manager Delivery Buckets Business Applications Provisioning Agent
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Mediation Functionality
Collection Validation & Filtration Data Dressing Augmentation Correlation Aggregation Splitting Output Generation Presentation Distribution Network provisioning Audit Trail Collection Agent Data Processing Module Data Shortage Provisioning Request Configuration Manager Delivery Buckets Provisioning Agent
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Validation & Filtration
Duplicate records will have to be filtered due to multiple sources Only billable even: records will have to be taken by filtering out the non-billable event records. Data Validation: Valid data In lira Helds Relevant data to the switch junk, redundant data etc. Field1 Field2 Field3 Field..n Raw CDRs Field Extraction Field1 Field2 Field3 Field..n Syntax Check Field1 Field2 Field3 Field..n Field1 Field2 Field3 Field... Filtration Process Invalid CDRs Field1 Field2 Unfiltered CDRs
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Data Dressing… Augmentation Splitting
Helps to add more details to the COR record Complex reference data from external sources is used for this. This enriches the record contents Help to convert the data from the switch to a more understandable format. Splitting This is more of cloning the record instead of actual splitting. Again, while cloning the record into a number of records for various systems, relevant record is retained. Used by various systems which do not need the entire data The original CDR record is still retained.
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…Data Dressing Correlation Aggregation
Required for long duration calls, GSM and IP evens. While recording this usage info, the networks elements would have created multiple usage data records. Multiple records are created as the usage info is generated on a regular basis and an ongoing event is recorded every time. Correlation functionality correlates these different calls and combines it into one for billing purposes. Aggregation Multiple network elements would track usage for a particular event. Network elements generate piecemeal usage information. Mediation uses these & creates complete billable. During collection, multiple usage records would be obtained for the same event Aggregation would consolidate these records Into a single record for a billable event.
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Output Generation Presentation Distribution
Before distributing these split records to various systems, it is necessary to trim the data so that only relevant data is sent to the connected systems. Mediation systems reformat the records for these destination systems Distribution These records might be distribute to various systems like : Wholesale Billing Fraud Network capacity reseller support Data mining Churn management Archived databases of all recorded events
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Network Provisioning A recent but natural addition to the functionality of mediation Since these systems interact with the network elements, it is easier for automatic provisioning of customer services to be done by mediation.
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Provisioning – Schematic Diagram
Provisioning Agent HLR VMS SMS Cable Head-end Mail Server End Application Provisioning Manager TCP/IP X.25 Serial Communication Socket Telnet RPC
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Process Flow of Provisioning
YES Update Database Provisioning Manager Duplicate? Duplicate Check Identify NE Identify ME Prepare Switch Commands Request File File Receiver Syntax Check Customer Care & Billing NO Execution in Switch Send Acknowledgement
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Audit Trail Auditing is important for any system
For mediation, it is important from the point of revenue collection Audit ensures that all the required records are obtained from various devices all the records obtained by mediation are complete duplicates are not retained in the system Mediation is the starting point for these records, if errors are eliminated here, it reduces chances of errors downstream.
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Mediation Process Flow
Usage Record Service Provision Data Collection Data Aggregation Business Applications Billable Event Record Data Validation Data Filtration Data Segregation Reject Processing Provisioning Request Rule Based Aggregation Rule Based Segregation Rule Based Filtration Element Specific Validation
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Fraud Management & Revenue Assurance System
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Fraud Management System
This is a major problem and the current estimated loss is US$ 20 Billion per annum Fraudsters rely on delays in information flow with the operator's organization and utilize loopholes In the system Efficient fraud management can be done through the use of a good FMS A good FMS should be able to detect fraudulent patterns of usage in real time The operator is thus informed of possible losses at an early stage and can thus control the losses
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Various Types of Frauds
Subscription fraud Call selling Pre-paid fraud PRS fraud Internal fraud PBX hacking fraud Cloning Calling card fraud
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Revenue Assurance System
Salient Features A tool designed to detect revenue leakages The main features of Revenue Assurance are: Switch to Bill CDR reconciliation Interconnect reconciliation Detecting Rating Discrepancies Discrepancies in Discounting through Bundling Subscriber and Feature Reconciliation Roaming Issues VAS Reconciliation
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