Telecommunications companies are concerned with issues such as the following:
1) How can we build and support high-quality telecommunications networks?
2) How can we build innovative products and services to enhance communications?
3) How can we improve customer service and satisfaction with our offerings?
4) How can we maximize revenues and minimize costs?
5) How can we ensure that our systems accommodate the fast technological pace within telecommunications?
To answer these types of questions, telecommunications enterprises need to track information about the following:
1) The people and organizations they are concerned with, namely, telecommunications carriers, billing agents, distribution channels,
customers, suppliers, employees, and internal organizations.
2) Their network infrastructure including network components, assemblies, circuits (logical configurations providing communications
channels), issues regarding the network, and availability of the network. This is sometimes referred to as service provisioning, which
includes network engineering, construction, and turn-up.
3) Service orders and repair orders. There is a need to be able to order telecommunications services and items, easily activate service, and
track repair orders to fix problems.
4) Invoice and billing data.
5) Products, product deployments, and deployment usage.
6) Work effort management to monitor projects to construct and repair network facilities.
7) Budgeting and accounting information.
8) Human resources management.
The main subject areas for the generic Telecommunication Data model is as follows:
People and Organizations in Telecommunications
Telecommunications Products
Order
Delivery
Invoicing
Monday, 30 May 2011
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
OSS deals with critical issues of operators
OSS deals with critical issues of operators:
•Order management systems allow operators to coordinate the process of configuring the network to deliver the services ordered by a customer.
•Provisioning systems allow operators to turn up (activate) services on the network/service infrastructure.
•Inventory systems allow operators to accurately track their network assets, and assign those assets to customers.
•Mediation systems allow operators to determine service usage.
•Rating systems allow operators to determine how much to bill based on the service usage for a particular customer.
•Network management systems allow operators to detect and isolate network failures, and quickly restore service.
•Service assurance systems allow operators to correlate network performance with service quality requirements, and appropriately communicate and compensate customers for any disruption.
•EAI systems allow operators to quickly integrate diverse support systems and network elements.
•Order management systems allow operators to coordinate the process of configuring the network to deliver the services ordered by a customer.
•Provisioning systems allow operators to turn up (activate) services on the network/service infrastructure.
•Inventory systems allow operators to accurately track their network assets, and assign those assets to customers.
•Mediation systems allow operators to determine service usage.
•Rating systems allow operators to determine how much to bill based on the service usage for a particular customer.
•Network management systems allow operators to detect and isolate network failures, and quickly restore service.
•Service assurance systems allow operators to correlate network performance with service quality requirements, and appropriately communicate and compensate customers for any disruption.
•EAI systems allow operators to quickly integrate diverse support systems and network elements.
EAI : Enterprise Application Integration in Telco
EAI = electronic integration of support systems is required for an automated back-office in large-scale operations.
The role of EAI : is to simplify the integration headache by creating an open data exchange platform optimized for heterogeneous inter-process communication ("plug and play").
EAI is the software designed to support communication between software systems, including OSS
The role of EAI : is to simplify the integration headache by creating an open data exchange platform optimized for heterogeneous inter-process communication ("plug and play").
EAI is the software designed to support communication between software systems, including OSS
Rating Engine
The Role of Rating Engine
The role of the rating engine is to apply pricing rules to a given transaction, and route to the rated transaction to the appropriate billing/settlement system.
Rating steps:
(1)Determine
a.Connection date & time
b.Duration
c.Rate period for discounts
i.Time of day (TOD)
ii.Day of week (DOW), holidays
d.Rating increments
i.1, 6, 10, 30, 60 second increments
ii.Per packet, per byte
e.Jurisdiction
i.Regional, National, International
ii.May be used for rating, settlement, tax
(2)Rate table look-up using
a.Event date
b.Event type
c.Optionally
i.Rate table ID
ii.Rate period
iii.Jurisdiction
(3)Calculate event charge
(4)Calculate tax (optional)
(5)Store relevant information on the xDR
Steps to rate a call
(1)Determine charge points
a.Originating charge point
i.“A” number from the CDR (May be the originating cell site address)
ii.Originating charge point = country code + city code + exchange
b.Terminating charge point
i.“B” number from the CDR (May be the terminating cell site address)
ii.Terminating charge point = country code + city code + exchange
(2)Retrieve place names
a.Table: Charge point place names
b.Originating & terminating
c.Store on CDR
(3)Determine band
a.Fixed or Mobile
b.Terminating country
c.Terminating network
d.First 5 minutes etc
(4)Rate table look up using
a.Rate Table ID (optional)
i.Assuming rates specific to rate plans
b.Call date
c.Call type
d.Band
e.Rate period (optional)
i.May be a flat discount percentage applied
(5)Rate table look up may return
a.Flat price per event
b.Rate per increment
c.Rate per increment + discounts
The role of the rating engine is to apply pricing rules to a given transaction, and route to the rated transaction to the appropriate billing/settlement system.
Rating steps:
(1)Determine
a.Connection date & time
b.Duration
c.Rate period for discounts
i.Time of day (TOD)
ii.Day of week (DOW), holidays
d.Rating increments
i.1, 6, 10, 30, 60 second increments
ii.Per packet, per byte
e.Jurisdiction
i.Regional, National, International
ii.May be used for rating, settlement, tax
(2)Rate table look-up using
a.Event date
b.Event type
c.Optionally
i.Rate table ID
ii.Rate period
iii.Jurisdiction
(3)Calculate event charge
(4)Calculate tax (optional)
(5)Store relevant information on the xDR
Steps to rate a call
(1)Determine charge points
a.Originating charge point
i.“A” number from the CDR (May be the originating cell site address)
ii.Originating charge point = country code + city code + exchange
b.Terminating charge point
i.“B” number from the CDR (May be the terminating cell site address)
ii.Terminating charge point = country code + city code + exchange
(2)Retrieve place names
a.Table: Charge point place names
b.Originating & terminating
c.Store on CDR
(3)Determine band
a.Fixed or Mobile
b.Terminating country
c.Terminating network
d.First 5 minutes etc
(4)Rate table look up using
a.Rate Table ID (optional)
i.Assuming rates specific to rate plans
b.Call date
c.Call type
d.Band
e.Rate period (optional)
i.May be a flat discount percentage applied
(5)Rate table look up may return
a.Flat price per event
b.Rate per increment
c.Rate per increment + discounts
Billing Process
Definition:Network data management (i.e., mediation) and rating are the key OSS elements that support the billing process.
Purpose of a Billing System:
•Meter and bill the services consumed by the customer
•Allow definition of different rates for services
•Allow easy management of customer accounts
•Maintain record of payments received
Billing Functionality:
Billing is more than just a means of collecting money. In a marketplace fueled by competition, Carriers are recognizing billing as a strategic weapon in the battle for new and retained business.
Various types of telecom billing includes
Wireless Billing
Convergent Billing
Interconnect Billing
IP Billing
Critical Billing requirements include
•Flexible rating capability for new services
•Multi-mode processing : real time, hot or batch
•Multi-party settlement capability
•Service convergent
•Unified accounting: postpay/ prepay/ nowpay
•Adaptability and ease of use
•Multi-territory and multi-role capabilities
•Carrier- grade performance
–Functional
–Scalable
–Useable
–Available
Key definitions
•Account: Any customer is represented in the billing system as an account. One account can have only one customer
•Plan: A plan is a bundle of services associated with the account
•Service / Product: Different billing vendors have different definitions for service…. check out the definition for specific package
•Billing cycle: A periodic cycle for which the customer is billed. E.g. from the 4th of a month to the 3rd of the next month. Can be weekly, monthly, bi monthly, quarterly
•Accounting cycle: A cycle for which the charges against an account are calculated (not billed)…typically monthly.
•Recurring Charge (RC): A predetermined charge associated with a product or service that is assessed on a regular interval i.e., monthly, quarterly, annually
Mediation Systems:
The role of mediation systems is to capture usage information from the network and service infrastructure, and distribute it to upstream billing, settlement, marketing and other BSSs.
Mediation processes the Call Detail Record (CDR), call, message, usage, traffic, ticket, event, xDR
Usage types can be
•Fixed to Fixed
•Fixed to Mobile
•Mobile to Fixed
•Mobile to Mobile
•Roaming
•Value Added Services (SMS, Call Forward, etc.)
Key activities in Mediation – Usage collection
•Polling / Data Collection
•Consolidator across network elements
•Standardize inputs to Biller
•Support for real time applications
•Drop non-billable usage
•Reformat, validate, number translations
•Direct usage between applications
•Insulate the biller from Network elements
The validation functions in mediation includes:
•Duplicate checks
•Drop calls
•Perform edits and translations
•Creating message legs
•Table look up and conversion (CLLI -> country code, city code, exchange)
•Assign a unique tag number to the event
Purpose of a Billing System:
•Meter and bill the services consumed by the customer
•Allow definition of different rates for services
•Allow easy management of customer accounts
•Maintain record of payments received
Billing Functionality:
Billing is more than just a means of collecting money. In a marketplace fueled by competition, Carriers are recognizing billing as a strategic weapon in the battle for new and retained business.
Various types of telecom billing includes
Wireless Billing
Convergent Billing
Interconnect Billing
IP Billing
Critical Billing requirements include
•Flexible rating capability for new services
•Multi-mode processing : real time, hot or batch
•Multi-party settlement capability
•Service convergent
•Unified accounting: postpay/ prepay/ nowpay
•Adaptability and ease of use
•Multi-territory and multi-role capabilities
•Carrier- grade performance
–Functional
–Scalable
–Useable
–Available
Key definitions
•Account: Any customer is represented in the billing system as an account. One account can have only one customer
•Plan: A plan is a bundle of services associated with the account
•Service / Product: Different billing vendors have different definitions for service…. check out the definition for specific package
•Billing cycle: A periodic cycle for which the customer is billed. E.g. from the 4th of a month to the 3rd of the next month. Can be weekly, monthly, bi monthly, quarterly
•Accounting cycle: A cycle for which the charges against an account are calculated (not billed)…typically monthly.
•Recurring Charge (RC): A predetermined charge associated with a product or service that is assessed on a regular interval i.e., monthly, quarterly, annually
Mediation Systems:
The role of mediation systems is to capture usage information from the network and service infrastructure, and distribute it to upstream billing, settlement, marketing and other BSSs.
Mediation processes the Call Detail Record (CDR), call, message, usage, traffic, ticket, event, xDR
Usage types can be
•Fixed to Fixed
•Fixed to Mobile
•Mobile to Fixed
•Mobile to Mobile
•Roaming
•Value Added Services (SMS, Call Forward, etc.)
Key activities in Mediation – Usage collection
•Polling / Data Collection
•Consolidator across network elements
•Standardize inputs to Biller
•Support for real time applications
•Drop non-billable usage
•Reformat, validate, number translations
•Direct usage between applications
•Insulate the biller from Network elements
The validation functions in mediation includes:
•Duplicate checks
•Drop calls
•Perform edits and translations
•Creating message legs
•Table look up and conversion (CLLI -> country code, city code, exchange)
•Assign a unique tag number to the event
Friday, 29 January 2010
Service Assurance Process
Definition:The "assurance" process embodies a range of OSSs designed to ensure that network .The role of network management OSSs is to provide network operators the critical performance and fault information required to ensure smooth network operation.
NMS[Network Management Systems]:Network management systems work by collecting events from the network, then quickly consolidates analyzes and distributes the relevant data to ensure fast resolution of problems.
Service Management OSS:
Service management OSSs reconciles network performance against service guarantees and/or customer-specific SLAs.
• Quality of Service (QoS) is defined in standard Service Descriptions as well as individually negotiated customer-negotiated SLAs
o Performance – latency (response time), error rates, throughput, dropped calls, blocking
o Service - downtime, order completion time, MTTR, MTBF, notice of failures
o Softer issues — billing articulation/accuracy, customer service, proactive AM
• Reporting
o Standard (predefined) and exception reports, including dashboards
o Performance of a service against an SLA Reports of any developing capacity problems
o Reports of customer usage patterns, etc.
o Performance reviews with the customer
o Responses to performance inquiries from the customer
• Credits to customers (rating)
• Charge-back to suppliers (rating)
• Utilization — network planning, blocking trends, etc.
Service management OSSs monitor network performance, reconciles against customer SLAs, and generates credits and other service-oriented reports for planning and customer care systems.
Service Assurance Today :
Key drivers
• Customer satisfaction – high expectations, low loyalty
• QoS as a competitive differentiator
• Revenue and profitability
• Competitiveness / differentiation
• Enterprise accounts
Key issues
• Network technology evolution
• IP networking
• Advances in end-user devices
• Complex service infrastructure
Goal: customer-centric assurance
• Rapidly identify root cause of customer complaints
• Total view of customer experience through real-time monitoring
• Monitor and report performance on a service or customer (enterprise) basis
• Expand scope to third-party suppliers
Detailed Service Assurance Work Flow:
1) Determine if there is a service problem
2) Determine if there is a network problem
3)Determine if it is related to existing trouble ticket
4)If needed create the new trouble ticket
5)Isolate, repair and fix the ticket
6)Close trouble ticket
Issues :
1)80% Calls are not network related like
how do I use this?Provisioning Error?Any known Problem?
2)Proactive Reporting.
3)What network outage affect which services?
4)Third Party suppliers?
NMS[Network Management Systems]:Network management systems work by collecting events from the network, then quickly consolidates analyzes and distributes the relevant data to ensure fast resolution of problems.
Service Management OSS:
Service management OSSs reconciles network performance against service guarantees and/or customer-specific SLAs.
• Quality of Service (QoS) is defined in standard Service Descriptions as well as individually negotiated customer-negotiated SLAs
o Performance – latency (response time), error rates, throughput, dropped calls, blocking
o Service - downtime, order completion time, MTTR, MTBF, notice of failures
o Softer issues — billing articulation/accuracy, customer service, proactive AM
• Reporting
o Standard (predefined) and exception reports, including dashboards
o Performance of a service against an SLA Reports of any developing capacity problems
o Reports of customer usage patterns, etc.
o Performance reviews with the customer
o Responses to performance inquiries from the customer
• Credits to customers (rating)
• Charge-back to suppliers (rating)
• Utilization — network planning, blocking trends, etc.
Service management OSSs monitor network performance, reconciles against customer SLAs, and generates credits and other service-oriented reports for planning and customer care systems.
Service Assurance Today :
Key drivers
• Customer satisfaction – high expectations, low loyalty
• QoS as a competitive differentiator
• Revenue and profitability
• Competitiveness / differentiation
• Enterprise accounts
Key issues
• Network technology evolution
• IP networking
• Advances in end-user devices
• Complex service infrastructure
Goal: customer-centric assurance
• Rapidly identify root cause of customer complaints
• Total view of customer experience through real-time monitoring
• Monitor and report performance on a service or customer (enterprise) basis
• Expand scope to third-party suppliers
Detailed Service Assurance Work Flow:
1) Determine if there is a service problem
2) Determine if there is a network problem
3)Determine if it is related to existing trouble ticket
4)If needed create the new trouble ticket
5)Isolate, repair and fix the ticket
6)Close trouble ticket
Issues :
1)80% Calls are not network related like
how do I use this?Provisioning Error?Any known Problem?
2)Proactive Reporting.
3)What network outage affect which services?
4)Third Party suppliers?
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
order management, provisioning and inventory players in market
OSS product vendors
•ADC (provisioning: wireline, cable)
•AI Metrics (order management, inventory and provisioning: wireline, next-gen, enterprise)
•Co-Manage (inventory, provisioning: data - ATM/FR/DSL/SONET/IP/IP-VPN) Cramer (provisioning, inventory, order management: mobile, voice, data)
•Eftia OSS Solutions (order management, provisioning, inventory: wireline, CLEC)
•Granite (provisioning and inventory: wireline, mobile, enterprise)
•Metasolv (order management, provisioning, inventory: wireline, wireless, data, isp)
•NetCracker (order management, provisioning, inventory: wireline, next-gen, data)
•Peregrine Systems (inventory management: wireline, next-gen)
•Sigma Systems (provisioning: cable)
•Telecordia: (order management, provisioning, inventory, dispatch: RBOC wireline)
•Visionael (inventory management: next-gen)
Others
•In-house developers
•ILEC/CLEC provisioning gateways (DSET, Nightfire, Quintessant, Wisor)
•Billing services vendors: Amdocs, Convergys, CSG, Infodirections
•Custom solutions (consultants/integrators)
•Legacy systems
•ADC (provisioning: wireline, cable)
•AI Metrics (order management, inventory and provisioning: wireline, next-gen, enterprise)
•Co-Manage (inventory, provisioning: data - ATM/FR/DSL/SONET/IP/IP-VPN) Cramer (provisioning, inventory, order management: mobile, voice, data)
•Eftia OSS Solutions (order management, provisioning, inventory: wireline, CLEC)
•Granite (provisioning and inventory: wireline, mobile, enterprise)
•Metasolv (order management, provisioning, inventory: wireline, wireless, data, isp)
•NetCracker (order management, provisioning, inventory: wireline, next-gen, data)
•Peregrine Systems (inventory management: wireline, next-gen)
•Sigma Systems (provisioning: cable)
•Telecordia: (order management, provisioning, inventory, dispatch: RBOC wireline)
•Visionael (inventory management: next-gen)
Others
•In-house developers
•ILEC/CLEC provisioning gateways (DSET, Nightfire, Quintessant, Wisor)
•Billing services vendors: Amdocs, Convergys, CSG, Infodirections
•Custom solutions (consultants/integrators)
•Legacy systems
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