Telecom Billing and Accounting-Part1

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Telecom services includes the following services for billing −

Billing Process & Rating Matrix:

1.     After a call is made or you can say a usage is generated by the end customer, the mediation system gathers usage data from the network switch and builds a call-detail record (CDR). This CDR must contain 'A' party number and 'B' party number, the start and the end date & times.

2.      CDR is then stored  and sent with Control file, until it can be rated. To rate the call, the CDR is examined to see if the call is, for example, an 800 number, a local call that is covered by a local-area calling plan, international call or a toll call. Information such as the time of the call was placed and city code or country codes are used to calculate the rate for the call.

3.       Rating Process includes importing the Event file from the predefined directory to the managed file area by using Managed File Importer (FID). It includes creating the Rating Engine to rate the imported files and later on insert the successful rated records, duplicate and rejected records in there respective tables in the database.

4.       The Rating process covers the Event Detail record(EDR)/Event file from the time it enters the IRB Billing system until it is rated by the IRB Rating Engine. This means that the Rating process consists of many processes which includes IRB as well as custom processes.

5.       The following is the list of processes that takes place during the Rating process:

a.   Mediation - Performs the File Transfer Process (FTP) of the control and event files into the IRB system.

b.  FID Processing - FID reads the control files and creates Geneva Managed Files (GMF).

c.  Task Master(TM) - Reads the jobs to be run.

d.  Rating Process –

6.      

           There could be a rating time discount or billing time discount, different payments done by the customers, different adjustments given, all these information contribute in the final invoice generation.

7.  7.        RATE creates the following events:

      8.        Costed events (Event that has a basic cost calculated for it. It is also known as a    

                  rated event.)

     10.        Rejected events (Events that cannot be rated)

     11.       Duplicate events (A duplicate event is defined as any unbilled event that relates

                 to another unbilled event in all of the ways like If Account  Numbers, Event Sources,        

                 Event Type IDs, Cost Center IDs, event dates and time are identical) .

                   The Rating Process consists of 3 distinct activities:

a.  Activity A: Transferring EDR / Event files into the Billing system from   mediation

b.   Activity B: Importing the EDR files into the IRB Managed Area by   FID

c.   Activity C: Rating the EDR by RATE

Billing System :

   Telecom Billing is a process of collecting usage, aggregating it, applying required charges and finally generating invoices for the customers. Telecom Billing process also includes receiving and recording payments from the customers.

    The following are six types of invoices in accounting that you might send to customers.

Pro forma invoice. 

Interim invoice. 

Final invoice. 

Past due invoice. 

Recurring invoice. 

Credit memo.

  A billing system should be composed of a series of independent applications that, when run together, are referred to as the billing system. A good billing system should provide the following major functionalities with a depth of flexibility −

Customer-interface Management − The billing system must be able to handle customer-initiated contact, oversee outbound customer contact, and manage the contact life cycle.

Order Management − It is a basic functionality, which should be available in a typical billing system. Billing system should be capable enough to capture product & service order and manage the order-entry life cycle, and oversee the order-completion life cycle.

Sales and Marketing − A satisfactory billing system should answer customer's query, handle commissions, provide sales support, track prospects, manage campaigns, analyze product performance, and acquire multiple dwelling units.

Rate Plans and Rating − A billing systems must manage a variety of products and services, different rate plans associated with those products and services and should provide flexible ways to rate usage generated by those products and services.

Discounting − A billing system should be capable of giving various types of discounts on different usages and rentals.

Invoicing − It is important that the system performs billing inquiry, generates bills, processes deposits, performs account administration, maintains tax and fee information, and processes financial information.

Credit Control & Collection − A billing system should control usage and revenue by assigning different credit classes to different customers. System should support payment collection and applying them on different invoices.

Multilingual Support − Multilingual support involves providing invoices and customer care services in multiple languages.

Multiple Currencies − Multiple currencies used in different countries can complicate the billing system as the billing and customer care system must be capable of recording and processing in units of multiple currencies.

Partner revenue management − Partner revenue management are the sharing of revenue between carriers that provide services to each other's customers.

Problem Handling − A billing system should also be able to manage trouble-ticket entry, coordinate trouble-ticket closure, and track the resolution progress of a trouble ticket.

Performance Reporting − A satisfactory system will provide performance reporting, ensure quality-of-service (QoS) reporting, create management reports, and generate regulatory reports.

Dunning action and Reporting − Dunning action stands for a part of process of collection of revenue.  If customer is failed to pay the dues before prescribed pay by date or due date of Invoice, then Services to the customer is bound to be barred or disconnected.  If Dunning action is not initiated, the customer’s dues will be piled up and business will go into losses. 

Company Accounts and Reporting – Every country has their own Company law to deal with the company’s business as per regulations laid down and in the interest of country’s interest.  So, Service provider under Telecom Services has to upkeep and maintain statutory books of accounts and Statement.  When we think of business, it is just a series of transactions, however a company is a lot more than that. It is not just about a transaction or a well performed and executed contract. Rather it is a distinct entity. And it has a pool of people who may be investing into it and are availing its products and services, hence it is functioning as a much larger figure than a mere transaction or a contract. Knowledge of Company’s Law is also important while conducting any sort of due diligence while any making any investment or any sort of acquisition. Then a corporate lawyer must go through various books, reports, and related documents to understand all the legal aspects of that investment or acquisition. These lawyers not only help understand the risks related to these scenarios, it also helps corporate to comply with various provisions and compliance of the Companies Act. Or else company must pay hefty penalties under the various sections of Companies Act.

Roaming and Interconnectivity billing-  IUC billing is a part of Inter-connectivity billing and FTS Billing’s roaming and interconnect features ensure comprehensive support of collection validation, guiding, and charging of mobile roaming records according to the rules outlined in the CSPs agreements with its roaming partners. Furthermore, the solution caters for the key interconnect business processes like collection and import of interconnect usage, flexible charging of transit traffic, aggregation of charges for interconnect partners, and interconnect reconciliation and dispute resolution. All these ensure very smooth operation with interconnect and roaming partners.