R6 Billing pRocess - INFONOVA · PDF fileR6 Billing pRocess convergent billing - overcoming...

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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


Entity


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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Entity


Aggregation


Entity


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.


Entity


Aggregation


Entity


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.


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.


Entity


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

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Ca

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latio

n

Insta

llme

nt

Ch

arg

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Calculation of charges related tooffers or triggered by eventsor related to a single eventthat occurs at a defined time

Usa

ge

Allo

ca

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n

Ro

un

din

g

Ad

justm

en

ts

Ca

lcu

latio

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Re

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g

Ch

arg

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Ca

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latio

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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 [email protected].

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