Page 371 - Handbook of Modern Telecommunications

3-162 CRC Handbook of Modern Telecommunications, Second Edition

TABl E 3.6.4 Summary of Principal Processes Used in the Practice of eTOM (Continued)
Process or Function Name Definition
Billing Management In the Front its function it performs:
• Setup and maintenance of the customer’s billing profile (account, payment
method, bill cycle, billing address, etc.).
• One-and-done billing inquiries and dispute resolution (and possible escalation).
In the back office, it provides aggregation of all rated billable events and charges for
products and services delivered to the customer by the service provider and
respective trading partners and the production of a timely and accurate invoice.
Bill Compilation, Processing, and This process aggregates the rated service/call detail records and adds data for
Formatting multiple services; also handles advanced charges and payments.
Bill processing/formatting processes predefined numeric, text, and image content
into print-ready and Web-ready streams that can be reproduced on a variety of
media. For instance, telecommunications companies can process data from a
billing system into standard industry print streams to produce paper bills. In
addition, it aggregates the rated call detail records and adds data for multiple
services, and handles advanced charges and payments.
Bill Presentment Customizes bill formats on a customer or service provider basis, may consolidate
multiple statements; delivers bills via mail, online, e-mail, tape, or Internet.
Data Analysis and Mining Process of analyzing call data details collected from switches and transmits to other
billing processes.
Mediation An intermediate step for preprocessing and analyzing CDRs; fraudulent calls can be
removed, data input from different switches in multiple formats can be converted
into a format appropriate for bill processing. Also, pricing schemes can be inserted
here, rather than by the call rating module. Call data can be selected and then
transmitted to individual billing platforms, such as for voice, data, wireless,
Internet, etc. Mediation is increasingly used for convergent and real-time billing.
Revenue Assurance Factoring, finding of receivables, credit checks, remittance processing, and customer
deposit management.
Collection and Credit Analysis Collecting outstanding debt, usually with the help of third-party collectors.
Data Warehousing Call detail records and additional data sources can be transmitted into warehouses.
Data mining and other applications help to determine customers and end-product
profitability.
Local Number Portability Allows customers to retain their telephone numbers with multiple service providers.
Also, access to value-added services can be retained.
Security Management Process of identifying security risks in equipment and facilities, deploying security
procedures and tools, creating and evaluating security logs, and protecting
operations, business, and marketing support systems.
Considerations that should influence process design include:

• Exceptions should be handled excellently. In other words, process problems are identified in real
time and actions to support the customer are taken in real time.
• Business rules should be easily configured and applied automatically.
• The ability to treat a process as an asset that can be assessed, replaced, or outsourced as appropri-
ate to improve the operation of the business.

3.6.9.2 Service Provider Migration toward eBusiness
There are several alternative approaches to implementing eBusiness. Some companies are treating eBusi-
ness (and eCommerce) as separate units. Some are overlaying eBusiness on traditional business opera-
tion. Other businesses are approaching eBusiness as a replacement of traditional business channels. The
most successful eBusiness enterprises integrate eBusiness and traditional business channels where cost,
quality, and profit can be best rationalized. This is much more than just throwing together a set of Web