R6 Billing pRocess - INFONOVA · PDF fileR6 Billing pRocess convergent billing - overcoming the billing challenges posed by cloud, ... Invoicing (generation of invoices) and Bill Formatting
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R6 Functional oveRview
products customers orders billing finance
R6 Billing pRocessconvergent billing - overcoming the billing challenges posed by cloud,
legacy and next generation networks and services
Infonova R6 | Billing
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Table of Contents
1. R6 Billing Process ........................................................................................ 3
1.1 Virtualization, White Labeling and Multi-tenancy .................................................. 3
1.1.1 Wholesale Billing .......................................................................................... 4
1.1.2 Retail Billing ................................................................................................. 5
1.1.3 Settlement Billing ......................................................................................... 6
1.2 R6 Supports Convergent Billing for Online and Offline Charges .............................. 7
1.3 Billing Components .......................................................................................... 8
1.3.1 Mediation .................................................................................................... 8
1.3.2 Rating ....................................................................................................... 11
1.3.3 Invoicing ................................................................................................... 14
1.3.4 Bill Formatting ........................................................................................... 19
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1. R6 Billing Process
Billing has never been a more pressing issue for service providers. For most companies,
breaking out old billing systems and replacing them with new ones is simply not an option.
Today a convergent solution that enables flexible creation of billing for content, data, voice
and other new services for various market segments (e.g. Utilities, Medical, Financial) is a
cornerstone of successful business.
R6 Billing with its Mediation, Rating, Invoicing and Bill Formatting capabilities is designed to
overcome many of the challenges posed by next generation networks and services as well
as legacy and wholesale offerings. R6 Billing is fully convergent and suitable for a wide
range of IP based services, VoIP and traditional fixed/mobile voice services. Therefore, our
workflow has been made very flexible and system independent:
• Pre-integrated and fully fledged convergent platform with capabilities to deliver
convergent online and offline charging solutions with innovative pre- and postpaid
billing models
• Enabling of complex billing tasks for IP/VoIP/Fixed Line/Mobile and Content services
• Support for Intercarrier, Interconnection and Wholesale Billing
• End-to-end solution for next generation Service Providers and aggregators
1.1 Virtualization, White Labeling and Multi-tenancy
Virtualization and White Labeling reflects the architectural features of R6 that enables it to
support multiple operating entities delivering end to end order to cash services for their own
products on the same platform at the same time.
Virtualization refers to the features of the system that enables it to support multiple
operating entities on the same platform.
White Labeling refers to the features that enable each operating entity to have control
over their customers, products and branding, while using the same services and
processing functions in common with the other entities.
R6 Virtualization and White Labeling is implemented through a range of architectural design
and functional features embedded in the core R6 architecture.
The 'Primary' Operating Entity (also known as the Virtual Service Provider - VSP) is
responsible for the operation of the platform including interfaces to external service
providers (e.g. Utilitie Suppliers, Fiexed/Mobile Netcos, Cloud Services or Media & Content
Providers). The VSP packages services as a ‘wholesale product offer’ to the 'Tenant C2C
Operating Entity', also known as the Virtual Service Operator(VSO). The VSO can re-
package services as their own products and offer them to customers as ‘retail product
offers’. R6 can support any number of VSOs including the VSP providing wholesale services
to external customers.
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Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
PrimaryOperating Entity C2C
Aggregation
Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
Utility Suppliers
Fixed/MobNetco(s)
CloudServices
Media &Content
cos
Channels
CusY CusK CusP
Infonova R6
VSO 2VSO1 VSO N
3
1
2
Figure 1 - R6 Monetization and Revenue Allocation Overview
To automatically monetize, distribute and allocate revenues between service providers,
wholesale aggregator and tenants R6 Billing provides:
(1) Wholesale Billing
(2) Retail Billing
(3) Settlement Billing
1.1.1 Wholesale Billing
Infonova's R6 platform is designed to support the rapidly evolving wholesale environment
with its complex resale arrangements, rapidly changing pricing structures and the need to
deliver a comprehensive suite of wholesale service offerings incorporating network,
unbundled network and non network related offerings.
For wholesale billing support R6 enables a wholesale operator to efficiently target market
segments with differentiated pricing plans and bill formats from simple through to highly
complex offers.
Retail operators receive billing information per bill cycle from the wholesale operator.
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Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
PrimaryOperating Entity C2C
Aggregation
Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
Infonova R6
Figure 2 - R6 Wholesale Billing
1.1.2 Retail Billing
Retail billing comprises the sale of services and features to channels, end-customers or
SMBs by an retail operator (tenants). In R6 the retail operator resells the wholesale product
offers as retail product offers. These retail product offers are combined with a suitable retail
tariff model that holds tariff and pricing information for the retail charges.
Retail operators use the infrastructure of the primary operating entity (wholesale operator)
to bill their customers and are completely self contained. The bill run process can be
triggered separately in several ways e.g., manually via WebAC, or by the scheduler, etc.
Additionally the retail operator can simulate bill runs for auditing or analytical purposes. If a
simulation e.g. provides unwanted results, corrections can be done manually and the
simulation can be rerun. The results of a completed bill run are than used to create all
necessary data for the invoice. Retail operators can create their own invoice template with
their own corporate branding.
Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
PrimaryOperating Entity C2C
Aggregation
Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
Channels
CusY CusK CusP
Infonova R6
VSO 2VSO1 VSO N
End CustomersSMB
Figure 3 - R6 Retail Billing
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R6 Retail Billing comes with the capability to establish Account Hierarchies. This functionality
allows the transfer of invoice line items within the account hierarchy and enables both split
billing and combined billing, especially for enterprise customers, who require complex billing
capabilities. Account Hierarchy can be established for residential and business customers.
Residential Customers The R6 account hierarchy functionality supports numerous
scenarios. Family members for example can have different rate plans, with children having
an internet service with a download limit, and their parents having unlimited access. The
charges can be split into different bills, but volume discounts apply to all the family’s
usages.
Business Customers - here R6 provides more complex account hierarchy support with
split and aggregated billing capabilities. Companies are always changing and evolving:
business divisions are re-structured, employees assigned to other departments - there are
countless adjustments that require changes of how charges are billed and who pays the bill.
1.1.3 Settlement Billing
Settlement Billing manages the revenue allocation and monetization of services provided by
service providers to the wholesale aggregator.
PrimaryOperating Entity C2C
Aggregation
Service Provider 1
Infonova R6
Service Provider 2
Figure 4 - R6 Settlement Billing
To ensure that the price charged by the service provider really corresponds to the services
used, R6 supports automatic invoice reconciliation, which compares and detects
discrepancies between invoices declared by service providers and the services delivered.
Therefore a billing account for each new service provider is established to which the
mediation and rating process allocated charges are accumulated. R6 processes a separate
bill run for each service provider using the tariff the wholesale aggregator has to pay. This
generate reconciliation invoice must match the invoice provided by the service provider.
Convergent services provided by service providers are often complicated and costly, and
many problems can arise between delivering the service and collecting the cash. That’s why
an effective revenue assurance process is essential to guarantee that the wholesale
aggregator has more earnings than expenses.
Due to R6’s multi-layered business architecture across service providers, the cost of services
used by end-customers can be calculated for revenue assurance purposes using the service
provider’s tariff(s) and spread across all involved parties. Separate bill cycles for Service
Providers can be defined in Supplier Management which calculates the costs of services and
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reflects the price paid by the Retail Operator before discounts and other price rules set in
the Wholesale Product Offer are applied.
The created wholesale invoice can then be matched with the corresponding reconciliation
invoice to verify that the wholesale aggregator is running profitably.
Tenant C2C Operating
Entity
PrimaryOperating Entity C2C
Aggregation
Service Provider
Infonova R6
Wholesale Invoice
Intercarrier Invoice
Reconciliation Invoice
Revenue Assurance
Figure 5 - R6 Revenue Assuring Process
1.2 R6 Supports Convergent Billing for Online and Offline Charges
R6 is also designed to orchestrate Voucher Management and Online charging solutions,
delivering a range of capabilities dependent on the functionality of the 3rd party systems
integrated.
These integrations typically deliver capabilities that include secure and flexible prepaid
recharge functionality and charging of customers, in real time, based on service usage. R6 is
capable of a broad variety of convergent charging and billing scenarios.
Convergent online and offline charging enables powerful opportunities for combinations of
pre- and postpaid services. The R6 functionality has been extended to enable the
orchestration of online charging systems that delivers a range of capabilities dependent on
the functionality of the online charging system that has been integrated.
Within R6 a unified and SID compliant data model for service, product and pricing
information enables an easy combination of online & offline charging capabilities. The
convergent tariff model defined in R6 Product and Service Management combines online and
offline charges in a single tariff model. After the session has ended, a CDR is written, which
can be charged using the offline charges defined in the convergent tariff model.
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Infonova R6
Online Charging
CDRsInvoices
Tariff Model
Online Charges Offline Charges
Top Ups
Usage Requests
Offline Charging
Me
dia
tio
n
Ra
tin
g
Inv
oic
ing
Infonova PSM
Balance Updates
Bill
Fo
rma
ttin
g
Figure 6 - Convergent Tariff Model Structure
1.3 Billing Components
The Billing business process is designed to fully support cloud, legacy and next generation
networks and services and is the core part of R6’s concept-to-cash solution. It covers the
entire billing process end-to-end, from collection of billing data, Mediation (transformation
and validation of the data), Rating (assignment of pricing according to tariff models),
Invoicing (generation of invoices) and Bill Formatting (layout of data for specialized bill
formats).
1.3.1 Mediation
R6 Mediation is responsible for handling any kind of data coming from billing feeds sent by
external systems for billing purposes. It prepares the data for a subsequent process like, the
Rating process, for example.
The R6 Mediation business logic is split into two separate processes, the ImpEx (Import and
Export) process and the Mediation Transfer Process (MTP). ImpEx is responsible for
collecting the data from the billing feeds and for converting the different representations of
data (e.g. CDRs, IPDRs) to a predefined master-type (UDR). Also a part of the ImpEx
Mediation is the correction of some validation errors. The MTP is responsible for validation
and transformation of the data which are provided by ImpEx.
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MEDIATION
Infonova R6
External Netco Systems
RATING
Collection
Correction
Conversion Validation
Correlation Transformation
ImpEx
Billing feeds
UDRs
Figure 7 - Services in the Mediation Process
Mediation holds the following services:
Collection Service
Conversion Service
Validation Service
Transformation Service
Correlation Service
Correction Service
1.3.1.1 Collection Service
ImpEx handles the collection of records that are provided via billing feeds (data from
external systems). Collection stores the data received in special tables, designed for varied
data types.
Store incoming billing feeds
Collects data from different devices (billing feeds) and stores them in the respective
databases.
1.3.1.2 Conversion Service
This step is also handled by ImpEx. This process converts the different types of call-detail-
records to an internally standardized CDR (call detail record) or IPDR (internet protocol
detail) format. This is done for each data type that is collected from the billing feeds (e.g.,
IPDR, CDRs, etc).
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Convert billing feeds to standardized billing feed formats
Converts incoming billing relevant data to a standardized internal format per data
type
Store standardized billing feed formats
Stores the changed formats to the database
1.3.1.3 Validation Service
Validation is handled by the Mediation Transfer Process (MTP). This process checks if the
service is configured to be correlated to a product and does other client-specific checks, for
example, to check whether data is older than a defined date, if yes, the data is discarded
into the erroneous listing.
Check service event configuration
For the validation of data check if the service configured is to be correlated to a
product (and some other client-specific checks).
1.3.1.4 Transformation Service
Transformation is also handled by MTP and transforms the collected and converted records
of any data type (CDR, IPDR) to the system-internal format called UDR (Unified Data
Record). UDRs are stored for further processing in “near-real-time”.
For virtualization, special data records for the Virtual Service Operator (VSO) and Virtual
Service Provider (VSP) are created and stored.
Transformation provides following features:
Create (VSP/VSO) UDRs
Store (VSP/VSO) UDRs
Stores the information about (VSO/VSP) UDRs in the relevant databases.
1.3.1.5 Correlation Service
In this process step, managed by MTP, Service Event (phone call, or internet usage,…) is
mapped to a service account, a billing account, and the VSO or VSP. Additionally, as a
preparation for the following rating process, the bill cycle and bill type are determined.
Map service event to service account
Incoming service events are mapped to the relevant service account
Map service event to billing account
Incoming service events are mapped to the relevant billing account
Map service event to bill cycle
Incoming service events are mapped to the relevant bill cycle
Map service event to bill type
Incoming service events are mapped to the relevant bill type
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1.3.1.6 Correction Service
Erroneous records are rejected to the Calling process (ImpEx) and are stored in separate
tables for further steps. Those next steps need to be done manually by an operator. In
WebAC, an operator can view erroneous UDRs and perform the necessary steps (e.g.,
correcting some configuration). Thereafter UDRs are automatically re-processed by ImpEx.
Reject erroneous records
in case of an error records are rejected and retransferred to ImpEx
Store erroneous records
Erroneous records are stored for logging reasons
Figure 8 - Mediation Errors in WebAC
1.3.2 Rating
R6 Rating is a high performance rating engine that rates events in near realtime. It takes
the pre-processed records from mediation and applies rates and tariff information from the
offer/product configuration to UDR data. It processes all incoming requests, controls the
end-to-end execution of rating and charging commands and returns the corresponding
results.
Rating handles UDRs which have been converted from CDRs by Mediation.
In Infonova R6, Rating evaluates each UDR by using configuration data provided by the R6
Product and Service Management Module and the R6 Customer Relationship Management
Module, and previously rated data. The aggregated results are then processed by Invoicing
in the following step.
Rating completes the following tasks:
Partition data into bill cycles
Calculate usages from UDRs
Aggregate UDRs for certain billing periods, bill cycles, and service accounts
If an error occurs during processing, the UDRs are stored temporarily in the database until a
new validation and rating workflow is triggered manually.
These are the processes handled by Rating:
Charging
Rating
Adjusting
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Rebilling (internal process)
Clean-up (internal process)
Throttling
Notifying
The following figure gives an overview on Rating processes:
Mediation
Customer Relationship Management
Product & Service Management
Infonova R6
Invoicing
UDRs
Product InformationCustomer
Information
Im
pEx
CDRsexternal files
Web
AC
Trigger 1
Trigger 2
Trigger
External Netco Systems
Previously Aggregated
Data
UARsRating
Adjusting
Clean-up
Rerating
Internal Processes(Re-evaluation)
Charging
Rating
Bulk Data Generation
Throttling
Notifying
Triggers for External Systems
Aggregated Data
Figure 9 - Rating Process Overview
1.3.2.1 Bulk Data Generation
Charging
This process calculates how much a specific customer has to pay for a given product and call
at a given time. Allowances given to the customer (monetary and non-monetary benefits
like free minutes, free text messaging or volume discounts) are calculated here.
Rating
In this process the UDRs are aggregated and the results are stored in the database.
Invoicing uses the aggregated data in the bill run.
Historization of processed UDRs
Copies of the original input are stored in the database for historization purposes.
Historization of executed Rating Processes
Meta information of the executed Rating processes are stored in the database for
maintenance and operational purposes.
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Aggregation of processed UDRs
This is the main task of the Rating process: The processed UDRs are aggregated
and the results stored in the database.
Error Handling
All errors that occur during rating (because of database inconsistencies in the
customer or product configuration data) are stored in the database to be checked at
a later time.
1.3.2.2 Re-evaluation of Previous Rating Results (Internal Processes)
Adjusting
The Adjustment functionality ensures a valid internal state of the system. For example, a
Usage Adjustment Record (UAR) that has been received from an external system provides
the trigger for Mediation to re-categorise previously received CDRs – these original CDR’s
then have to be cancelled. The Adjustment process resolves these cancellations by deleting
the erroneously submitted usage records and historical UDRs, performing the required
modifications in related database tables (i.e. updating the aggregated data), and by creating
the corresponding invoice adjustments (if the UDRs have already been included in an
invoice).
Rerating
In this process, usages and the corresponding aggregated data are re-calculated, for
example, when data comes in late (e.g. this applies to capped products) and also in the
case the Adjustment process discussed above.
Clean-up
This process automatically ensures that data is in a valid state, even when the system
discovers invalid data input. In the event of system miss-configuration (for example, if a bill
cycle is invalid), this process cleans up database tables and marks the data to be re-
evaluated. The Clean-up process also keeps the database in a consistent state if unexpected
system behavior (e.g. crash, rollback) occurs.
1.3.2.3 Triggers for External Systems
Throttling
If a customer's usage of a service exceeds a certain level during a billing period, throttling
functionality comes into account. In case of DSL, for example, the bandwidth can be
automatically reduced at nominated thresholds. Rating notifies Order Interface Management
(OIM), which in turn triggers other workflows that result in the throttling of the customer's
service.
Notifying
When customers exceed a certain amount of a specific service in a given timeframe they are
notified by the notifying trigger. Again Rating notifies Order Interface Management, which in
turn triggers other workflows that result in customer notifications.
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1.3.3 Invoicing
R6 Invoicing takes rated records and aggregates different types of events based on the
service in the product configuration and any billing rules that apply. During billing, charges
(recurring, installment and once only), usage, line item transfers in account hierarchies and
allowances are applied as well as discounts for overall or partial amounts. The result is a tax
invoice for each billing account in the bill cycle. Invoices contain detailed information
including call itemization for selected or all billing accounts in the billing cycle. If a billing
account involved has multiple active services, all related data are included in one invoice.
The resulting data is stored in the system database and invoice summaries are transferred
to accounts receivable.
Invoicing has the following major steps:
Rating Period Closure Closing of the rating period for all billing accounts in the current bill cycle
Combined Invoicing and Formatting Run
Invoicing
The bill run covers different process steps from task validation, charge
calculation to usage allocation and rounding adjustments calculation.
Bill Formatting
This is handled by the Invoicing module, but is an essential step in the Billing
process. Invoicing is handing over the information to the Bill Formatting process,
for invoice generation.
Billing closure
After finishing the bill run for a given bill cycle, the status information for the
accounts has to be updated in the database to represent the accomplished bill
run.
Invoicing
Rating Period Closure
Billing Closure
Bill Formatting
Bill Run
Figure 10 - Invoicing General Overview
The Bill Run process, the component's major task, can be triggered in several ways (e.g.,
manually via WebAC, or by the scheduler, etc.) and executes the following actions:
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Wait for completion of Rating for all accounts in the given bill cycle for the closed billing period (occurs before usage allocation step).
Start Bill Run: A Bill Run is started for a single billing period, e.g., 2010-05, and for all customers billing accounts assigned to a single bill cycle. A Bill Run handles Usage charges prepared by the Rating process:
Usage charges prepared by the Rating process
Recurring charges
Installment charges
Once-only charges incl. adjustments
Discounts and promotions (only on fixed fees, is not dynamic)
Taxes (are included in the above mentioned steps of charges handling)
Rounding differences on invoice level
DiscountingLine Item
Transfer
Infonova R6
External Systems(Print & Mail vendors)
Rating
Close Rating
Period
Billing ClosureRounding
Adjustment Calc.
Usage
AlocationTask Validation
Usage Merge
Bill
Formatting
Once-Only
Charges Calc.
Installment
Charges Calc.
Recurring
Charges Calc.
Invoicing
Figure 11 - Invoicing Process Steps
he following tasks are executed in the bill run:
Close Rating Period
Task Validation
Once-Only Charge Calculation
Installment Charge Calculation
Recurring Charge Calculation
Usage Allocation
Usage Merge
Usage tax recalculation
Line item transfer
Discount granting
Rounding Adjustments Calculation
Presentment data
Billing Closure
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Clo
se
Ra
tin
g
Pe
rio
d
Close Rating period:Set the current rating periodto the next rating period.
On
ce
-On
ly
Ch
arg
es
Ca
lcu
latio
n
Insta
llme
nt
Ch
arg
es
Ca
lcu
latio
n
Calculation of charges related tooffers or triggered by eventsor related to a single eventthat occurs at a defined time
Usa
ge
Allo
ca
tio
n
Ro
un
din
g
Ad
justm
en
ts
Ca
lcu
latio
n
Re
cu
rrin
g
Ch
arg
es
Ca
lcu
latio
n
Bill
ing
Clo
su
re
Calculation of charges that are paid in installments
Calculation of recurring chargeslike rental fees or insurancepayments
Allocation of records that represent analready Rated Usage records to the corresponding billing account
Calculation of roundingdifferences on invoicelevel
Dishonor
Fees Calc.
Outstanding
Bills Calc.
Equipment
Purchase
Calc.
Insurance
Calc.
Flat Rate
Calc.
Billing
Account
Billing
Account
UDR
UDR
Rounding
Differences
Calc.
Bill Run
Invoicing
Bill Formatting
Ta
sk
Va
lida
tio
n
Check all information used in Bill Run for consistency and correctness
Usa
ge
Me
rge Incorrectly filed usage records are
verified and moved to the correct partition (optional task, in case bill cycle changes for the billing acc’t)
All
information
correct
Usage
records
correctly
stored
Rating
processes
finished
Close Billing cycle, change status information
Change
Status
Lin
e Ite
m
Tra
nsfe
r
Handles the transfer to or of all line items
Transfer to
line items
Dis
co
un
tin
g
Discounts (monetary benefits)are calculated and applied
Discounts
Calc.
Figure 12 - Invoicing Process Description
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1.3.3.1 Close Rating Period
This step updates the current rating period date to the next rating period, and thus prevents
that late usages are processed in the current bill run.
1.3.3.2 Task Validation
Input parameters for back-end PL/SQL bill run API are checked for consistency and
correctness.
1.3.3.3 Once-Only Charge Calculation
In this step, charges that are related to a customer's offers or triggered by special events
like dishonor fees, outstanding bills, etc., and charges related to a single event (for
example, activation of a service, or dishonor fee) that occurs at a defined time are
calculated.
Discounts and Promotions Discounts and Promotions can be considered for fixed fees only.
Check Product Rates Product rates are checked for correctness (for example, whether a WebAC Operator's manual entry of a once-only charge is allowed for the product)
1.3.3.4 Installment Charge Calculation
This step calculates charges that the customer wants to pay in installments.
Number and Frequency of Payments The number and frequency of the installments can be set.
Transfer Installment Plan It is possible to transfer a service and its installment plan to another billing account; in case of service termination, the customer's refund or outstanding amount is calculated.
1.3.3.5 Recurring Charge Calculation
Here all recurring charges (for example, monthly) like rental fees or insurance payments are
calculated.
Discounts and Promotions Discounts and Promotions can be considered for fixed fees only.
Tax Calculation The taxes are always calculated for all charges.
Frequency of Recurring Charges and Time of Payment In this feature the frequency of recurring charges and when the charges are paid (in advance or arrears) can be set.
Refund Calculation A customer's refund is calculated, when a service is cancelled
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Prorated and Non-prorated Charges When a service is cancelled, the customer's outstanding charges are calculated.
1.3.3.6 Usage Allocation
This step allocates usage records that have already been rated (priced), to the
corresponding billing accounts. This step waits for the Rating component to complete its
tasks and checks the data for consistency.
1.3.3.7 Usage Merge
This step is optional. Here, usage records that have been filed incorrectly are verified and
moved to the correct partition to be included in the bill run.
1.3.3.8 Line Item Transfer
This step occurs if an account hierarchy exists and handles the transfer to or of all line items
(e.g. local phone calls, text messages, ring tone downloads) from every account in an
account hierarchy.
1.3.3.9 Discounting
Discounting is the bill run step where discounts (monetary benefits) are calculated and
applied. Discounts can be assigned to product offers, billing accounts and account
hierarchies. Different types of discounts can be specified, e.g., percentage, or clipping. A
tiering model is used to define and calculate the correct discount. Discounts can be applied
to all charges or limited to a charge type or bill type as defined by the scope filter (e.g.,
once-only charges).
1.3.3.10 Rounding Adjustments Calculation
Here, rounding differences are calculated on invoice level; it has to be made sure that sub-
totals and totals sum up correctly, when rounding the amounts.
1.3.3.11 Billing Closure
This task closes the bill run and changes status information of billing accounts.
1.3.3.12 Resume Bill Run
This task is optional. In case of an error during the bill run (for example, configuration error,
no space left, timeout while waiting for the Rating component, etc.), the bill run can resume
work where it stopped, after the error has been fixed.
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1.3.3.13 Discard Bill Run
This task is optional. If the bill run fails or is unusable, it can be discarded and the original
status (before the bill run started) is restored (rollback). When restarted, the process begins
at the task validation step.
1.3.3.14 Finalize Bill Run
In order to complete a bill run, it has to be finalized. This means that the bill run data is
checked and confirmed. This is a manual task that is performed in WebAC. The billing
account status is set, the last billed period is changed to this one, and the customer's
product information is updated (installments, once-only charges, etc.).
Figure 13 – Finalize or discard bill run
Bill run simulation
Before starting a real bill run that is closing the billing period, a simulation can be
performed. A simulation can be done especially for auditing or analysis purposes. If a
simulation completes with unwanted results, manual corrections can be done, and the
simulation can be rerun. Bill run simulations can be performed on individual customers or
for a bill cycle.
Invoices on demand
Invoice on demand enables execution of a bill run with finalization for a specific billing
account before the end of the invoice period is reached. This is needed for example in case
the billing account has a too high open post pay balance or the billing account needs an
invoice for the current open balance. If the account has unused allowances at the time of
invoice on demand, the customer will not be able to use those allowances after the invoice
on demand is generated. Bill runs for invoice on demand are possible for a single VSO for
the current billing period and only once per billing period.
Suppress Small Invoices
Invoices below the minimum invoice amount can remain uncharged. When this functionality
is enabled, the invoices are not created and the amount is transferred into the next month.
1.3.4 Bill Formatting
R6 Bill Formatting gets the results from Rating and Invoicing and generates the data for the
invoices for all billing accounts. It collects and summarizes charges on account, service and
call detail level.
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Bill Formatting combines all data, e.g., usage from the Rating component, non-usage from
the bill run, disputes, adjustments and account data from CRM, and generates the invoice,
which is then stored in the database. The invoice data is then converted into XML files and
sent to 3rd-party systems for distribution to the customer. The end-user invoice information
is also displayed in a graphical user interface (e.g., WebAC).
Infonova R6
External Systems(Print & Mail vendors)
Invoicing
Rating
Bill Formatting
Invoice Presentment
Invoice Summary Transformation
Invoice DataOnline
XML FileCreation
Figure 14 - Bill Formatting Process
The design for the header and footer sections of the latter invoices is also created in the Bill
Formatting component (e.g., product names, headers of service and/or product groups,
etc.).
Bill Formatting holds the following services:
Invoice Summary Transformation Service
Invoice Presentment Service
1.3.4.1 Invoice Summary Transformation Service
The Invoice Summary Transformation Service collects und summarizes the required data
from Invoicing, Rating and CRM to an invoice summary in which billing data are collected
and summarized on the level of
account
service and
calls
for each customer. This invoice summary is then converted into an XML file that can be used
by 3rd party systems. File transfer is handled by the ImpEx component.
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1.3.4.2 Electronic Bill Presentment (EBP) and Electronic Invoice Presentment (EIP)
This service displays the invoice summary data on graphical user interfaces like WebAC and
R6 Customer Self Management (Infonova R6 CSM).
Amount to pay
Summary of charges
Figure 15 - Example Invoice Summary as Displayed in WebAC
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Truly Transformational Solutions
Infonova was founded in 1989 and delivers highly automated IT solutions for Telco, Media & Convergent as well as Utility companies. Infonova’s BSS solutions have been implemented for incumbent, attacker and cable operators supporting triple & quadruple play service portfolios. Encapsulating decades of knowledge, Infonova’s latest BSS product, Release 6 is a fully J2EE concept to cash platform that supports real multi-tenant concept to cash operations for fully convergent and complex business models.
To learn more, visit our Web site at www.infonova.com.
Contact
For more information on Infonova lead to high performance, contact infonova@infonova.com.
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