Billing_wb-whitepapers - MINDBill Convergent Prepaid and Postpaid v3

MINDBill® Billing and Customer Care Solution

Convergent Prepaid and Postpaid Solution

Description

© 2011 MIND CTI Ltd.

THIS DOCUMENT IS CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY AND IS THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF MIND CTI LTD. AND HAS BEEN PROVIDED FOR REVIEW BY THE RECIPIENT ONLY, AND MAY NOT BE DISCLOSED TO ANY THIRD PARTY.

INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. COMPANIES, NAMES, AND DATA USED IN EXAMPLES HEREIN ARE FICTITIOUS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. NO PART OF THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL, FOR ANY PURPOSE, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF MIND CTI LTD.

THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

© MIND CTI Ltd. All rights Reserved.

Table of Contents

MINDBill Convergent Prepaid and Postpaid Billing i

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................ 1

MOBILE PREPAID IN PLATFORM............................................................................................................ 2 MSCC AND BALANCE MANAGEMENT............................................................................................................. 2 ROAMING CHALLENGES .................................................................................................................................. 3 SCP AND SIGNALING ...................................................................................................................................... 3

IVR.............................................................................................................................................................. 4 RTS ................................................................................................................................................................ 5

RTS Plugins ................................................................................................................................................ 6 DIAMETER....................................................................................................................................................... 6

RATING............................................................................................................................................................ 7 PRODUCT CATALOGUE.................................................................................................................................... 7 TARIFF STRUCTURE......................................................................................................................................... 7

Discounts – FUBs....................................................................................................................................... 7 PREPAID DATA................................................................................................................................................ 9

PREPAID CARDS AND VOUCHER MANAGEMENT............................................................................ 11 VOUCHER MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................................................. 11 LOTS MANAGEMENT..................................................................................................................................... 11 CARDS MANAGEMENT .................................................................................................................................. 12

SELF CARE RECHARGE OPTIONS......................................................................................................... 13 IVR............................................................................................................................................................... 13 USSD............................................................................................................................................................ 13 WEB SELF CARE............................................................................................................................................ 13 NOTIFICATION EMAILS AND SMS ................................................................................................................. 14 CREDIT CARD PROCESSOR ............................................................................................................................ 14

Adapter for Payment Processor ............................................................................................................... 15 ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT....................................................................................................................... 16

CSR – CUSTOMER SERVICE PORTAL ............................................................................................................ 16 ACCOUNT CHARACTERISTICS ........................................................................................................................ 17

Account Types........................................................................................................................................... 17 Account Status .......................................................................................................................................... 18 Multiple Contacts and Addresses ............................................................................................................. 18 Account category...................................................................................................................................... 18 Account Class ........................................................................................................................................... 18 Billable or Non-Billable ........................................................................................................................... 19

UNLIMITED HIERARCHY OF ACCOUNTS ........................................................................................................ 19 Reference Service ..................................................................................................................................... 20 Custom\non-standard rating plans........................................................................................................... 21

Negotiate\Override Default Tariff Rates at Account Level .................................................................. 21 RETROACTIVE OPERATIONS........................................................................................................................... 21 TAXATION..................................................................................................................................................... 21

Exemption Codes ...................................................................................................................................... 22 RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................................................ 22 POINT OF SALE .............................................................................................................................................. 23

Solution Architecture................................................................................................................................ 24 The Sales Module ..................................................................................................................................... 24 The Cashier Management Module ........................................................................................................... 25

INVOICING AND SHIPMENT.................................................................................................................... 26

Table of Contents

MINDBill Convergent Prepaid and Postpaid Billing ii

BILLING CYCLES SETTINGS AND BILLING PERIODS....................................................................................... 26 BC execution............................................................................................................................................. 27 Invoice content ......................................................................................................................................... 27

SHIPMENT AND BILL PRESENTATION............................................................................................................. 28 Bill presentation - Invoice image.............................................................................................................. 29 XML Format and XSL Layout .................................................................................................................. 29 State of the art architecture ...................................................................................................................... 29

Invoice Server Technology................................................................................................................... 29 A/R AND DUNNING ..................................................................................................................................... 31

DUNNING AND OVERDUE PAYMENT HANDLING............................................................................................. 31 Ageing Debt.............................................................................................................................................. 31 Account Closing Procedure...................................................................................................................... 32 Debt Collection......................................................................................................................................... 32 Balance Threshold Warning..................................................................................................................... 32 Hot Billing and Bill Shock........................................................................................................................ 33

BUSINESS PROCESSES .............................................................................................................................. 35 BUSINESS PROCESS LOGICAL ARCHITECTURE............................................................................................... 35

Business Process Flow Steps.................................................................................................................... 36 MVNOS........................................................................................................................................................... 38

MULTI MARKET SEGMENTATION .................................................................................................................. 38 VIRTUAL PROVIDERS .................................................................................................................................... 39

SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW............................................................................................ 41 TECHNOLOGY................................................................................................................................................ 41 LOGICAL ARCHITECTURE.............................................................................................................................. 41

The Access Layer ................................................................................................................................. 42 The Business Layer .............................................................................................................................. 42 The Data Layer ..................................................................................................................................... 43 The Management Layer........................................................................................................................ 43

SCALABILITY AND EXPANDABILITY .............................................................................................................. 43 REDUNDANCY AND HIGH AVAILABILITY ...................................................................................................... 43 SNMP AND MONITORING TOOL SUITE ......................................................................................................... 44

Monitoring Tool Suite............................................................................................................................... 44 Nagios – How It Works?........................................................................................................................... 44 MMTS KPI Setup...................................................................................................................................... 45 Suggested KPI Samples ............................................................................................................................ 45

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE & REPORTS ANALYSIS.......................................................................... 46 DASHBOARD ................................................................................................................................................. 46 CALL TRAFFIC ANALYSIS.............................................................................................................................. 46

ROAMING MANAGEMENT....................................................................................................................... 49 NRTRDE...................................................................................................................................................... 49

Guard Alert............................................................................................................................................... 51 GRM............................................................................................................................................................. 51

BACK OFFICE INTEGRATIONS .............................................................................................................. 53 G\L ............................................................................................................................................................... 53 WEB SERVICES.............................................................................................................................................. 53

IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE............................................................................................................. 54 MIND’S IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH ........................................................................................................ 54 GENERIC DEPLOYMENT PLAN ....................................................................................................................... 54

Table of Contents

MINDBill Convergent Prepaid and Postpaid Billing iii

SUMMARY..................................................................................................................................................... 56 PREPAID CHALLENGES AND MIND SOLUTIONS............................................................................................ 56 MIND SOLUTIONS DIFFERENTIATORS .......................................................................................................... 56 ABOUT MIND............................................................................................................................................... 57

APPENDIXES ................................................................................................................................................ 58 IN CALL SCENARIO – GPRS DATA SESSION WITH QUOTA MANAGEMENT................................................... 58 IN CALL SCENARIO – MOBILE CALLING WITH RECURRING QUOTA ALLOCATION........................................ 59 DIAMETER SMS CLIENT SCENARIO .............................................................................................................. 61 MEDIATION CALL CATEGORIZATION ............................................................................................................ 61

Call Flows Summary – Revenue Generation........................................................................................ 61

Introduction

Introduction The MINDBill portfolio for convergent billing supports in one system both Postpaid and Prepaid for multiple services consisting of: Voice, Internet, Data, Content, and more. MIND’s proven field track record having scalability enables MIND to offer Telecom operators a genuine convergent billing system for building a strategic convergent billing asset.

The MINDBill solution is an off-the-shelf product that includes billing, customer care, mediation, AAA, provisioning, and rating for multiple services. MIND has a proven track record in production implementations for a swift deployment of a complete turn-key product-based end-to-end Customer Care and Billing solution that is tailored to local needs accordingly.

The MINDBill Product Catalog is designed to adapt to the dynamic marketing requirements enabling Telecom operators to define, configure and deploy new packages and services, setting apart having distinct rating and discounting schemes to take advantage of market developments and to increase revenue. Operators that have deployed the MINDBill convergent solution are able to bundle groups of services into tailor-made packages targeting specific market segments for which they can offer special rates, discounts and promotions to achieve a competitive advantage and differentiate their brand.

MINDBill Prepaid IN complements MINDBill's prepaid offering for VOIP, Broadband and WiMAX, presenting a true quad play charging solution. MINDBill Prepaid IN is a convergent end-to-end billing and customer care solution for the prepaid mobile and wireline market segments. It is highly available and scalable from a few thousands to millions of prepaid subscribers.

MINDBill is a genuine convergent prepaid and postpaid platform that includes built-in billing, customer care, mediation, provisioning, and rating for multiple services. MINDBill's convergent prepaid and postpaid services platform supports a single front-end customer care interface; it incorporates the benefit of an integral comprehensive point-of-sale solution (with a very user-friendly sales clerk application) with modules for cashier and inventory management and introduces a wide set of BI capabilities.

1. MINDBill Modular Topology Layout

MINDBill Convergent Prepaid and Postpaid Billing 1

Mobile Prepaid IN Platform

Mobile Prepaid IN Platform MSCC and Balance management The MINDBill Prepaid IN platform supports multiple real time protocols enabling consumption of multiple services in parallel by a single subscriber: Voice, SMS, MMS, Data/GPRS, Content and more. The multiple services credit control mechanism is a centralized quota management that concurrently supervises all of the open sessions usage.

2. Balance Manager

MINDBill Prepaid IN charges for various services within the same account consuming from the same balance through multiple real-time protocols. This offers a Service provider access to a genuine single prepaid platform for deploying in prepaid mode a number of different services that are handled by different network elements communicating in different protocols (e.g. CAMEL, WIN/IS-826, RADIUS, Diameter, GTP’, SIP, HTTP, TCP/IP, LDAP, etc.). The built-in Balance Manager is designated to provide the real time quota allocation that enables the simultaneous usage of a number of services while monitoring the consumption of a single account balance or a service wallet to avoid revenue leakage.

MINDBill Prepaid IN supports all versions of commercially used IN protocols: CAMEL 2, 3 and 4 for GSM and IS-826 for CDMA.



3. Multiple Services Credit Control

Roaming Challenges MINDBill Prepaid IN multiple services credit control is a key differentiator that allows for full prepaid roaming in the mobile market segment. A particular case is that of some services which are not supported by the used version of the IN protocol. In this situation there is a need to overcome network limitations such as terminating SMS and MMS or GPRS roaming in CAMEL2 networks whereas MINDBill Prepaid IN connects directly to the relevant network elements (e.g. GGSN, SMSC, MMSC, Content) through their distinct AAA protocols (Diameter, Radius, SMPP/IP, etc.) in parallel to the IN signaling control for services like Voice and mobile originating SMS.

SCP and Signaling The MINDBill IN Service Control Point (SCP) is used for proving prepaid support for IN-based networks. The IN SCP supports both CAMEL and WIN and it is capable of integrating into GSM and CDMA-based networks. Currently, it supports direct dial calls with built-in IVR announcements, roaming call scenarios, SMS, MMS and Mobile GPRS sessions.



4. Prepaid IN Solution Diagram

The MINDBill prepaid solution includes voice service applications for zero-stage direct dialing services without IVR, zero-stage direct dialing services with IVR for unsuccessful call announcements and an IVR-based Top-up application.

The ‘Zero-Stage’ direct dialing prepaid service includes the following features:

• Direct Dial service access by dialing the destination number directly. • Automatic subscriber authentication based on Calling Line Identification – CLI. • Call authorization based on balance and destination per subscriber. • Automatic call cut-off when balance depletes. • Emergency and Toll free calls support – even when balance is zero. • A configurable balance depletion warning prompt playback support. • Automatic redirection to the Top-up server – on call setup, if no sufficient balance is left, it is

possible to automatically redirect the call to the Top-up server. The IN SCP hardware highlights:

• Supports traffic rates up to several thousand TCAP transactions per second. • Supports both low-speed SS7 links and high-speed, 2 Mbps Q.703, SS7 links configurable on a per-

link basis. • Supports SIGTRAN M3UA and SUA protocols. • Based on a 2U carrier-grade server – Provides carrier-grade qualities that prevent revenue loss. • Supports ITU-T, ETSI/3GPP and ANSI. • Supports resilient system architectures and multiple point codes.

IVR The MINDBill IVR is an integrated part of the MINDBill solution. This DSP-based IVR is capable of collecting and playing DTMF, prompt playback, barging in, voice recording and more. The IVR application provides all of the required features for setting up a prepaid solution, including a top-up service and warning prompts playback features:

• It supports multi-lingual prompt playback using language-specific number logic.




• Route incoming calls by automatically identifying the number the caller dialed. This is also known as the Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS).

• Includes DTMF detection and generation – for caller authentication, password change, Voucher PIN insertion and menu selection.

• Supports both E1 and T1 trunks. • Supports a wide range of PSTN protocols including ISDN and ISUP. • GUI-based Plug-in developer IVR flow creation environment – customizing the IVR flows according

to the service provider’s request is an option.

RTS The MINDBill Prepaid IN billing is a real-time operation mode. Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) actions are all handled in real time. The role of the MINDBill Real Time Server (RTS) is to mediate in real time between the network elements, such as Signaling server, SMSC, MMSC, GGSN, Softswitches, access servers, Gateways and wireless service nodes, with the billing system database. The RTS provides a full set of real-time AAA functions responding in real time to the following events:

• Authentication request - the customer (and sometimes the actual service) can be identified by various methods, including: username/password, PIN, IMSI, MSISDN, CLI/ANI, MAC address, access device IP address and/or trunk ID, and others. If the customer (and the service) is authenticated successfully, the relevant response is returned to the network element that may include the current customer balance; otherwise, the customers’ service is denied, and the access attempt is rejected. If the authentication stage was successful, in certain cases an Authorization request follows (e.g., for a prepaid call). If authorization is not required, the service (session) is enabled immediately. The RTS provisions to the network element the subscriber service properties, for example: Bandwidth\Throughput setting; QoS value; Idle time out, IP allocation, etc.

• Authorization request - based on the type of service, dialed number and origination of the call, the rating plan and the customer’s balance, the RTS returns the maximum allowed duration of the call or to allocate a quota of usage such as volume of traffic bytes to download/upload. The session is either authorized or rejected, and the appropriate message is sent back to the network element with a cut-off parameter, where relevant. • When the RTS allocates a quota of volume MBs/KBs traffic or minutes:seconds duration, in this

mode a repeatable cycle of Re-authorize or quota replenishment is performed according to the volume and/or duration threshold until the quota is completely consumed and the service wallet or account balance bottoms out.

• During the call setup, the customer’s remaining balance or quota allocation provided by the balance manager is checked and based on the dialed number for which the maximum call duration is calculated for that call or quota. The RTS performs a reverse rating according to flexible multi-dimensional rating schemes and subscriber balance management. Advanced rating features such as rounding of call duration, call setup charge, minimal/maximal charge, minimal/maximal duration, stepped and tiered rates, special discounts and many more are fully supported.

• Accounting message - once the session is ended, a message is sent to the RTS, that includes usage parameters, such as the duration, volume upstream/downstream, QoS measures, and other attributes. The MIND RTS rates the session according to the relevant service tariff and usage parameters, stores a final rated CDR in the database and updates the customer’s balance simultaneously. • The MIND RTS includes the embedded logic for creating partial CDRs that is splitting CDRs

when crossing billing periods, or a session transition from peak/off peak rates time profiles. This enables the customer’s continuous online service, paying the exact proportional amount according to the designated time profile rating, and for the service provider having precise resolution for reporting and auditing needs.

• Interim accounting messages or quota access requests or ApplyChargingReport are also handled with incremental accumulation of the consumption and a CDR is inserted either upon crossing time profiles or starting on the next billing period.



The MINDBill RTS incorporates a built-in SCP for interfacing the signaling server for the IN, Radius server, DCCA, and more drivers for supporting concurrent multiple real time protocols in one single platform. This allows a Service provider deploying in prepaid mode a number of different services handled by different network elements communicating in different protocols supervised by a centralized quota management simultaneously.

All the AAA messages are processed, and the responses are returned to the originator instantaneously. One RTS can handle many concurrent requests, being built as a multi-threaded application.

Using an N+1 configuration, the MINDBill Real Time Server can be deployed for a full load sharing and automatic failover support. Therefore, if one of the servers fails, no data will be lost, since all subscriber-related data is stored in the central MINDBill Oracle Database.

RTS Plugins MINDBill includes a Java plugin generator module for customizing a tailor-made flow in order to fit the processing requirements of the system to each of the customer’s specific business logic. The MINDBill plugin generator is a graphical flow-chart to-java IDE that allows developers to: create and edit flow diagrams, decide which mediation functions to use, such as the following: filtering, guiding, correlating, etc. Furthermore, it enables developers to decide upon each of the record values and it translates the graphical flows into java class files or creates JAR files. The result JARs can be loaded at runtime to host application and executed as plugins. This allows developers to design business logic as graphical flows for ease of development and maintainability. Modifying business logic outside the host application (without the need for a whole build) is possible. Performance-wise, the result is a java class, which will execute as fast as it was designed, as opposed to interpreters. The jars are then defined in the MINDBill system and can be used for processing new data usage records.

The MINDBill Real Time Server includes the option to block the subscriber accounts after a certain (configurable) number of authentication attempts failure. The MINDBill Real Time Server also supports additional advanced features such as changing of passwords and recharging of prepaid accounts from vouchers and credit cards. It includes AAA event correlation across multiple network elements. Enhanced RADIUS features: Dynamic IP pool management and IP assignment; Local RADIUS or RADIUS Proxy to home server for Authorization; RADIUS Forwarding broadcasting Accounting to multiple RADIUS Servers.

Diameter The protocol enables a Client to Authenticate, Authorize and Account (AAA) prepaid and postpaid users of the MINDBill system. It is based on Diameter Base Protocol (RFC 3588) and Diameter Credit Control Application (RFC 4006).

The Diameter base protocol is intended to provide an Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) framework for applications such as network access or IP mobility. Diameter is also intended to work in local Authentication, Authorization & Accounting and roaming situations.

The Diameter Base protocol provides the minimum requirements needed for AAA. The Base protocol may be used by itself for accounting purposes only, or it may be used with a Diameter application, such as DCCA to provide credit control for pre-paid services.

By utilizing DCCA, the MIND Diameter Sever can be used for real-time credit-control for a variety of end user services such as network access, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) services, messaging services, and download services. It provides a general solution to real-time cost and credit-control.

Furthermore, this mechanism can allow users to be informed of the charges to be levied for a requested service. Also, there are services such as gaming and advertising that may credit as well as debit a user account.

It is necessary to provide encrypting methods for the information passed between the peers. The transport between the RTS and its Diameter clients is protected by using the IPSec security protocol.

Rating

Rating Product Catalogue The Manager and Administrator modules is where the user configures the system tables, list of values, etc. and sets the parameters in the Manager and Administrator with the GUI. The product catalogue consisting of bundles are set with Package that contains Products-Services-Features alongside their rating tariffs.

In the MINDBill design, an account is the billable entity having a balance. An account is assigned a Package that contains Products-Services-Features. The MINDBill account structure includes assignment of Goods reflecting mobile handsets, SIMs, IMSIs and other add-ons. The MINDBill product catalogue allows offering different combinations of services that are bundled into products. The Service is the consuming entity where the subscriber service profile is set, such as Bandwidth\QoS, IP address and other service-related properties that are provisioned in the AAA flow. Every service has a default tariff reflecting the costs.

Tariff Structure MINDBill allows true convergence of prepaid and postpaid services under the same account. The same rate plan may be used for both prepaid and postpaid as the same engine does rating and charging. The full richness of postpaid features and capabilities is available in real time for prepaid services, including: multi-dimensional rating parameterized using a very user friendly GUI, distinguishing Air and Toll usage; Rating intervals: stepped (dropping rates), configurable discounts, free unit bundles, taxation, recurring and one time charges and many more.

5. Charges and Discounts

Discounts – FUBs In MINDBill the product catalogue includes an entity named Free Unit Bundles (FUBs). It is an external entity to the service that is "plugged in" to the package. The Free units bundles distinguish among destination categories, e.g. Local, National, Intl’, Mobile, Wireline, Onnet, Data, SMS and more. The FUBs are applicable across service types and service codes within the same account package. MINDBill also enables operators to decide whether to transfer the unused units from a billing period to another or cancel them at the end of the billing period for which they were awarded.


Rating

The service provider can provide Free Units as promotions or on a monthly basis as part of a subscription plan, etc. This is oriented towards the competitive mobile environment. A customer can get a promotion of, e.g. $10 that can be applied to a number of services, for example SMS; Onnet calls and domestic wireline calls. Whatever consumption is made first consumes the promotion\free units.

The MINDBill system supports a shared pool of free minutes and benefits so that on a company perspective the heavy users can utilize non used free units\minutes of the light users from example. This encourages corporate customers to sign up for the service offering seeing that it is beneficial across the board for the entire corporate users.

6. Product Catalogue Modelling


Rating


Prepaid Data An example for marketing offerings for usage-based vouchers is:

Plan Price Quota Bandwidth Effective period

Standard $10 1GB 512/256 Kbps 30-day

Bronze $20 2GB 512/256 Kbps 30-day

Bronze speedway $30 2GB 1024/512 Kbps 30-day

Silver $40 4GB 512/256 Kbps 45-day

Silver speedway $50 4GB 1024/512 Kbps 45-day

Gold speedway $75 6GB 1536/1024 Kbps 60-day

Platinum $100 10GB 2048/1024 Kbps 60-day

Typical marketing offerings for a monthly plan have a fair usage policy. The subscriber is allocated a credit quota according to the plan consisting of 4/6/10 GBs and when the credit quota is depleted the system automatically downgrades the bandwidth until the end of the month. The purpose of this plan is to enforce a fair usage policy avoiding abusing the spirit of the unlimited offerings.

Plan Price Quota threshold Bandwidth Downgrade bandwidth

Effective period

Starter unlimited $50 5GB 512/256 Kbps 128/64 Kbps 1-month

Surf unlimited $80 8GB 1Mbps/512 Kbps 256/128 Kbps 1-month

Pro unlimited $120 10GB 2 Mbps /1 Mbps 512/256 Kbps 1-month

An additional marketing offering is to encourage customers to pay in advance for a few months by providing discounting schemes relative to the advance payment:

Plan Starter unlimited Surf unlimited Pro unlimited

Quota threshold 5GB 8GB 10GB

Bandwidth 512/256 Kbps 1 Mbps /512 Kbps 2 Mbps /1 Mbps

Downgrade Bandwidth 128/64 Kbps 256/128 Kbps 512/256 Kbps

Price 1-month $50 $80 $120

Price 3-month 10% discount $135 $216 $324

Price 6-month 20% discount $240 $384 $576

Additional types of usage-based pricing are for example having a combination of a monthly subscription fee that includes a predefined credit quota and pricing for additional usage having a volume discounting scheme.

Plan ADSL beginners ADSL light ADSL pro

Monthly subscription fee $20 $40 $70

Bandwidth 1.5 Mbps 3 Mbps 5 Mbps

Quota threshold 1GB 3GB 5GB

Up to 10 GBs usage $10 per additional GB

From 10GB-25GBs $8 per additional GB

From 25GBs - unlimited $6 per additional GB

The MIND Prepaid Data Internet service properties consist of four dimensions:

Rating


1. Face value amount: e.g. $10; $20; $30; $40; $50; $75, $100, $80, $120, etc. 2. Expiration Period is the minimum between:

a. Utilization period (set during the voucher creation date “Recharge until date” e.g. ~2-year until 31/12/2011)

b. Effective period: 30-45-60 days i) Relative to first usage ii) Insert date

c. Optional Recovery period for consuming non-used quota in case of a recharge within a predefined period, e.g. 6-month relative to the end of the effective period.

3. Set service balance credit/quota: e.g. 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 6GB, 10GB, etc. or threshold for bandwidth downgrade: 5GB, 8GB, 10GB

4. Set service throughput/bandwidth properties: 512/256; 1024/512; 1536/1024; 2048/1024 Kbps; etc. The MINDBill system supports the challenges in handling the different properties for prepaid and postpaid Internet data services. This is primarily enforcing the subscriber suspension upon depleting the credit quota or alternatively applying the bandwidth downgrade in real time. An additional challenge is in handling package changes between plans having different properties seamlessly without disconnecting the end customer.

Prepaid Cards and Voucher Management

Prepaid Cards and Voucher Management Voucher Management The MINDBill Voucher Management functionality facilitates the automatic creation of voucher lots, each enabling different charging models, access restrictions and services associated. The vouchers can be used as rechargeable cards, one-time prepaid disposable cards, and for refilling existing accounts. Vouchers can be activated and used by accessing the operator’s Web portal, USSD, or IVR and typing in the vouchers details, PIN code, and password. Vouchers may have an expiration date and usage limitations measured by time, volume, and location.

The Prepaid Management module features an intuitive and user-friendly web-based interface that allows the billing operations to manage prepaid calling card lots and vouchers. The application has two main modules: Lots Management and Cards Management.

Lots Management The Lots Management module is used to perform various functions on batches of prepaid calling card lots or cards groups. The Lots Management tool enables the provider to manage the lots activation and promotions, to edit the lot and even to keep track of the lot history. Lots usually contain a very large number of cards, which puts constraints on the operators who need to operate with only part of the cards in a lot (e.g. assign it to an agent). In order to simplify such tasks, MINDBill Prepaid Management introduces the concept of Card Groups. Card groups are portions of the same lot (i.e. they have the same S/N prefix) and represent ranges of cards with consecutive S/Ns. There is no hierarchy between cards groups. Each such portion can be assigned, as mentioned above, to agents. The agent can perform several actions on its assigned cards group, such as activate or suspend them. The agent also obtains a commission on the usage of the cards in its groups.

7. Lots Management GUI


Prepaid Cards and Voucher Management


Cards Management The prepaid subscriber needs to have control of his prepaid account and requires the same level of service and customer care as a postpaid subscriber. The Cards Management module enables the user (for example an agent) to view information on the prepaid calling cards and vouchers. The agent can view only the cards that he has rights on. This application is a very useful tool for agents, who can edit calling cards and keep track of them and their usage.

After you locate the batch, you can perform one of the following functions:

• Delete the lot; • Activate the entire lot; • Deactivate the entire lot.

Self Care Recharge Options


Self Care Recharge Options MINDBill Prepaid IN enables the account balance recharge with all payment modes and voucher models, introducing new customer self-care facilities: IVR and USSD interfaces for balance inquiry, voucher insertions and credit card top up, complementing the existing Web Self Care and a rich set of Web Services for 3rd party application integrations.

IVR The IVR Top-up service application includes the following features:

• Access to the service by dialing an access number from the mobile network and from outside the mobile network using a fixed line.

• Caller authentication by CLI within the mobile network or by PIN and password when calling from outside the network.

• Multi-lingual announcements – language may be assigned per subscriber, per special access number or by playing a language selection menu.

• Configurable number of failed PIN insertion or authentication attempts before the call is disconnected.

• Optional actions menu – allows the caller to choose whether to recharge their prepaid account or change their prepaid account password.

• Current balance prompts (configurable). • Account or calling card recharge from voucher – by transferring money from another account or

calling card, or from a credit card. • Prepaid account password change – with optional new password playback.

USSD MINDBill supports signaling for USSD enabling vouchers insert and credit card payments interface. An example for USSD deployments is:

• *ADD (*233) – VOUCHER TOP UP • *PAY (*729) CREDIT CARD • *MIN (*646) Check available Minutes in service wallet • *BAL (*225) Check account Balance

Web Self Care The MINDBill WebBill customer self-care application provides an interface to the customer to undertake a variety of business functions directly for themselves. This application interacts to provide fully automated service or assisted service over various customers touch points.

The MINDBill Web Self Care application enables convenient customer self-care through an efficient Web interface. The MINDBill EBPP enables easy customer verification of real-time balances, reduce the provider’s costs, give subscribers real-time information on their account status and is accessible anywhere, anytime. The MINDBill EBPP is an optional add-on module Web-based application that links the provider’s Web site and the MINDBill system.

WebBill can be easily customized from the form of a controlled ‘secure window’ application into the underlying OSS systems used by the customer to view and perform top-up payments to a complete portal where the customer can manage his entire relationship with the operator.

The default configuration of the MINDBill customer self-care application includes the following features:

• View the current balance • Review invoices and call details



• View service usage charges • Add a top-up payment or insert a voucher to recharge a prepaid account balance • Add new payments to open invoices • MINDBill EBPP can authorize the user’s credit card in real time. • Account management (such as contact attributes) • Service management (such as PIN and password changes)

This default configuration, the look&feel HTML can be fully tailored according to the provider needs as a customization.

The system has an advanced security mechanism, enabling limiting the subscriber operation as subject to its profile. Based on this profile, a set of security items are assigned to the self-care user, thus allowing performing from a limited number of operations to a broad number.

Review section on Web Services that enable service providers to independently create their own web self care using the MIND XML API for this purpose.

Notification Emails and SMS E-mail notifications are required to notify customers that their request or complaint is being handled, and they are meant to strengthen the connection with the customer. The MINDBill system supports sending notifications about the account, services, and order statuses to the workflow participants.

MINDBill supports defining different notification letter layouts per provider, bundling them in presentation formats, assigning them to accounts, and sending them at defined moments. The provider has the possibility to customize each notification letter template with specific parameters according to the account and account service entities. It is possible to override, at account level, the selection of notification letter layouts in the presentation format.

The following notifications can be sent:

• Welcome Information: sent after a service is successfully activated and provisioned; • Credit Card Expiration Notice: sent when the credit card expiration date has reached a

configurable threshold, defined in days; • Rate Plan Change: sent at a package change; • CC Payment Failed: sent when a payment by credit card has failed; • Invoice Ready to Be Automatically Billed: sent at invoice generation, when the option to

automatically pay the invoices is set at account level; • Invoice Ready Automatically Billed Not Set: sent at invoice generation, when the option to

automatically pay invoices is not set; • Automatic CC Payment: sent when a batch CC payment is made; • Credit Card Declined: sent on a CC payment rejection; • Monthly Bill is Now Available: sent when the invoice has been made, after the completion of the

billing cycle; • Service Plan is Expiring: sent for all SIMs that have the expiration date relative to the thresholds

configurable at the BP level; • Service Expired Notice: sent when the services of a package have expired; the threshold used is the

expiration date of the mobile incoming service designed under each package; • Cancellation Confirmation Notice: sent on SIM account closure that was manually initiated; • Return Confirmation Notice: sent as an acceptance of a return request that came from the end-user.

Credit Card Processor The Credit Card Processor supports making credit card payments online in real time by sending a request for payment to the credit card clearing house when the customer asks through the self-care interfaces or via a


customer care representative. The Credit Card Processor automatically sends requests for payment to the credit card clearing house and receives an immediate response (either an acknowledgement or a rejection). For pay-in-advance debit accounts, when the customer’s payment becomes due, the Credit Card Processor automatically sends requests for payment by batch in the beginning of the month. In case the payment request is rejected, the account services can be automatically suspended.

Upon payment acceptance, the customer’s balance is updated simultaneously. This is critical for prepaid customers and limited credit customers where the cut off duration is calculated based on the remaining balance in their account. Since MINDBill is a real-time billing platform, the payments module inserts records into the database and triggers the update of the subsequent fields in real time as well.

Adapter for Payment Processor The Credit Card Processor processes all types of credit cards. For this purpose it is designed and developed to link up to all types of banks and credit card clearing houses. Each bank and credit card company has their own particular format and language for receiving and transmitting Payment transactions messages. MIND has created the ePayment adapter specifically to bridge any protocol gap. MIND takes the specific bank or credit card company’s protocol and writes an adapter enabling seamless interface with the MINDBill Processor. This adapter enables the MIND Processor to communicate with the bank or credit card clearing house.

8. Credit Card Processor Adapters

The key concept behind this system is that the Provider does not need to change the software for every new bank and credit card clearing house that is added to the system. The software (Processor) and the intelligence inside of it remain the same. For each new bank or credit card clearing house that is added to the system all that is necessary is to write or define a new adapter. Each adapter is a located in the ePayment folder of the MINDBill ePayment System.


Account Management


Account Management CSR – Customer Service Portal In the MIND system an Account is a consuming entity of services and resources. The Account is assigned with packages, products and services. Service parameters and feature are configurable. The account is assigned with a distinct account code; the customer details are recorded; Shipment address; Payment information is available; Balance reflecting non paid invoices and non billed charges as well providing an up to date insight on the credit limit.

The account management application is called the CSR web client. It is a web based application GUI for CSRs to perform customer care activities consisting of creating accounts, setting the account status; updating subscriber service attributes, inserting payments, adjustments viewing invoices and call details.

The MIND billing system is the front end for account management based on the CSR web client (and alternatively the XML API) that registers and creates new accounts and assigns the relevant package of services, that includes update of account profile and subscriber service attributes.

The MINDBill Account Home Page gives one centralized and summarized view on the subscriber. Thus, the summary screen (home page) shows the subscriber’s contact details, its current package and services, the discounts the subscriber benefits from, their last invoices and payments, their active business processes and the last activities preformed on the account. The web CSR is a very user friendly and easy-to-learn providing an intuitive navigation between the menus and screens.

This application gives the operator a centralized view on all the relevant aspects of the subscriber, including the services he consumes, the invoices that were generated, finance information, customer’s complaints and so forth. The system enables tracking and recording all the interaction the CSRs had with the subscriber. In addition, CSR supports full audit trail on any activity performed on the account, whether an automatic operation done by the system or a manual operation executed by a user, including time stamps.

By using the powerful MINDBill CSR, customer service representatives can:

• View customer balance; • View customer account details; • Create, search, and adjust accounts; • Timeline customer activity; • Upgrade to new products or orders; • View and modify the account hierarchy; • Review non billed calls; • Review invoices and call details; • Accept and review payments; • Use a multilingual user-friendly interface.

Account Management

9. CSR – Customer Service Portal

The quick launch commands from the header can be customized and tailored to meet operators’ needs. For example, the system is configured to have quick access to the “Change status”, “Add new adjustment”; “Change package” (bundle); and “New trouble ticket” features.

The home page can be tailored according to the operator’s specific needs and business model, being fully configurable. This enables to hide non-relevant fields so as to minimize the viewing in order to grasp the big picture in a glance. This is supported by the inherent system design of “Branding”, which is the hiding of pages and fields in the XML configuration. All of this is for improving the efficiency of the CSRs and of the billing operations personnel handling account maintenance.

Account characteristics Account Types The MIND system supports both prepaid and postpaid in one system by distinguishing four different account types:

1. Postpaid Credit – These customers have no limit placed on their call volume or duration. They are invoiced periodically, and each invoice reflects all of the charges incurred since the last invoice.

2. Postpaid Limited Credit – These customers are limited to a predefined credit amount that is calculated based on the open invoices and the non billed charges and usage. In a AAA real time mode during the call setup the customer’s balance is checked and based on the dialed number, the tariff, the maximum call duration is calculated for that call to be cut off in real-time. Once the caller’s account reaches the credit limit, the account is disabled in real time. An invoice is issued


Account Management


according to the billing cycle. This is particularly useful for minimizing the risk for new customers who have not yet built up a credit relationship with the Service Provider.

3. Prepaid Debit Customer- these customers receive service only for a specific prepaid amount. The system keeps track of the customers’ calls in real time, reducing the account balance accordingly at the end of the call. When the balance bottoms out, the service to the account is disabled. The customer can then recharge his account by again prepaying using a top up voucher; credit card payment; cash etc.

4. Prepaid Debit Card – This is a prepaid calling card customer. MIND provides full Debit Card services including disposable and rechargeable cards. During call authorization of a debit card customer, the remaining balance for the card is used to calculate the cutoff time for the call.

Account Status A Full control over account life cycle is supported going from one status to another: New (registration); Active; Suspended; Pending to Close; Closed; Terminated; Old (before archiving); Archived.

The MINDBill system includes built in automated business rules for changing the account status automatically: for prepaid and limited credit accounts going to Suspend upon depleting the credit limit or balance. Inactive\dormant accounts can go into status Suspend after a preconfigured parameterized period e.g. 180-day.

Multiple Contacts and Addresses The MIND system supports setting of multiple contact types that reflect the relationships with the different personnel from the company as well as multiple service addresses. The system enables to define per account multiple contacts and addresses. As a basic setup the MIND system enables the user to define a primary contact that has an address and contact, phone details, which are used by default for billing and shipment. A separate billing address can be defined that would be printed on the invoice header and another contact details for the shipping address that would be printed on the envelope or email address to ship the invoice to. This enables a global company having a corporate legal address to be printed on the invoice and the accounting department can be situated in another country handling the payments to acknowledge the payments transfer for example.

Account category 1. Account Category: In the MIND system a mandatory attribute is designating an account as

Residential or Commercial. The purpose of this is to enable applying business rules related to packages and services and credit score management. These values are further addressed by the order management customization procedures. In the product catalogue the Billing manager can designate certain bundles to Residential customers and others for Business customers; or general bundles for both market segments.

2. Groups: The system supports a user defined list of account attributes e.g. Industry sectors

3. User Defined Fields (UDFs) – The system enables to define additional properties at the account level for distinguishing different customer segments including a predefined list of values or validating text input by the user.

Account Class Handling of corporate accounts in the MINDBill system requires mirroring the organization structure. The purpose of the account class attribute is to support the unlimited hierarchy that is built in to the MINDBill account management. An account can be set as a Node or Leaf <-> Parent or Child:

• Nodes: Company; Organization; Department; Branch; Office; Family

• Leafs: Consumer; Subscriber; Employee; Family Member

Account Management


Billable or Non-Billable The account hierarchy methodology supports setting descendant accounts as either Billable or Non-Billable.

• Accounts are designated as billable when they get invoiced and are responsible for paying for all the services they or any of their hierarchal descendants consume, that is, for services that are not billed at lower levels. The top senior “Ancestor” is always set by default as Billable in order to accommodate the billing of the non billable accounts or services in the hierarchy.

• Descendants are optionally set as billable or non-billable. Accounts are designated as non-billable when all their services are fully paid for by an upper-level billable account.

• If an account is billable, some of its services may be set a non-billable. In this case, an upper level billable account gets billed and pays for these services

Unlimited Hierarchy of Accounts The handling of corporate accounts in the MINDBill system starts with defining the account class attribute in the account characteristics that results in the mirroring of the organization structure. The account management hierarchy settings results in a structure enabling all of the billing permutations for an enterprise that are required by the corporation to facilitate its internal cost accounting.

The complex web of relationships between billable entities in an organization provides a formidable challenge in allowing billing flexibility and fast processing addressing the individual needs and constraints of every corporate client.

The flexibility of the MINDBill guiding and rating would enable a Telecom Operator to attract corporate customers with rating schemes that would easily enable them to identify the cost benefits offered e.g. Additional discount or free calls for Online numbers that belong to the same account hierarchy, company. Combination of monthly subscription fees allocating free minutes or other benefits per employee that is optionally assigned to a shared pool of free units available across the entire company users; accumulative usage for achieving overall volume discounts; Split billing between the company, branches and other business units. With MINDBill the Mobile Operator is offering more attractive schemes to enroll a wider Business\Corporate customer base.

Not only large enterprises, but also SMEs and even families are examples of business structures that sometimes have a very complex hierarchy. MINDBill as the provider’s billing and customer management system supports these complex models in order to allow the provider to offer special and flexible products and promotions to such customers and bill for these services throughout the hierarchy. A well-structured system of accounts provides two major advantages:

• Rating and billing of services may be distributed within and between the layers of the hierarchy; • Generate separate bills per business unit as the corporate hierarchy requires; • Offering volume discounts for the accumulative service usage throughout the hierarchy • Handle split billing between Branches and the Head office according to the individual business rules

that is set at the account level or service level. • An additional flavor is supporting Split billing at account level or service level. A descendant

account can be set as Billable with split billing that is paid by the ancestor\parent account; or a better resolution is the setting of split billing at the service level. In a corporate hierarchy having for example a Company-Division-Employee (end user). The system supports a configuration that the default subscription fees would be paid by the company and a certain service would be billed to the Division e.g. International calls

The handling of an unlimited account hierarchy requires embedding the flexibility to support changes in the account hierarchy and billability of the nodes:

• As companies grow and expand, MINDBill system offers the possibility to move a single account or an entire branch of a hierarchy to a new parent account that can be from the same hierarchy or even another hierarchy.

Account Management

• The system supports the business logic for changing a Billable to non-billable account and from Non-billable to Billable.

This structured hierarchy provides the base for a complete billing solution for all enterprises and a powerful tool for defining the services offered to each level of the structure. Recurring\subscription fees and setup charges for a service can be set and applied at several levels, while a usage-based tariff can be set and applied only at an upper level of the hierarchy and not necessarily at the consuming level. Upper levels may pay for all or only certain services used by its sub-accounts, or even split a single service between them. Imagine an organizational model where a big company is made up of several divisions, sub-divisions and departments. This structure and behavior can be modeled, rated and billed within the MINDBill system.

10. MINDBill Accounts Hierarchy

The accounts hierarchy represents an organizational structure where upper level accounts include sub-accounts as their descendants, and lower-level accounts represent end-customers. Each account can consume services of its own. High-level accounts can control the packages and services offered to their descendants and can pay for part of or all of their bills.

If an account (child\descendant) is billable, some of its services may be non-billable. In this case, an upper-level billable account is billed and pays for the services. Furthermore, for some services, the payment can be split between two or more entities. For example, a department can pay up to $100 of the monthly phone charge for an employee. If the employee’s phone charge exceeds $100, the employee pays for the excess amount. Another example: a company pays $10,000 of a department’s phone bills. If the department exceeds $10,000 it pays the extra amount from its own budget.

For the descendant accounts that are billable the system enables to configure the billability property at the service level to indicate to the system if the Leaf account (e.g. Employee) or Node account (e.g. Parent Branch) is paying for the service usage and\or subscription fees. In the MIND invoice details the charges per non-billable account or service are itemized for the senior account in the hierarchy, which is paying for their consumption to view the breakdown of the charges per entity in the account hierarchy and to feed it into its own cost accounting module if required.

Reference Service


Account Management


The Reference Service streamlines the billing of different accounts-service instances from a hierarchy. It is an accumulator of the entire usage for the descendants service instances within a hierarchy. The purpose of this is to enable accumulative usage rating and billing at an upper level in the hierarchy for applying volume discounting for example at the corporate level on top of the individual per session rating. For example, it is

ce; The service provider can launch a stepped\tiered subs ee ratin age istration per corporate client where as the follow p table mp

possible to define a reference service associated to a Voice service for a parent account in order to bill all the usage of the child accounts and achieve a critical mass for volume discounts intervals.

A per-service tariff can be set at the account level. Recurring and setup charges for a service can be set and applied at several levels. For example, a company can pay for a unified-messaging service for all its employees, based on the number of employees using this servi

cription fing looku

g scheme to encour is supported for exa

more subscribers regle:

Interval Subscribers range Price per subscriber

1. 1-10 $10

2. 11-25 $9

3. 25-50 $8

4. 51-100 $7

5. 101-unlimted $6

Custom\non-standard rating plans Negotiate\Override Default Tariff Rates at Account Level

The MINDBill solution supports setting of custom/non-standard rate plans that allows the specialized sales team to negotiate the tariff plans with customers, especially the business ones, before signing the contract or even after the contract is in progress. MINDBill offers in the Web CSR (customer service portal\B2B Portal) flexible possibilities to override usage (based on the destination, origination, and effectiveness time interval)

ith hundreds or ness rules for rating are set at a master level and can be hen needed for winning a sales initiative.

retroactive operations are a complex procedure that requires avoiding violating . Only Telco grade mature and experienced systems have this built in methodology to m errors.

viders with a very broad and flexible tax mechanism that allows them to respond can r

and non-usage charges (installation charge, recurring charges, subscription fees), and then set these ad-hoc new rates directly on the afferent account’s service.

This capability allows the providers to meet the challenge of offering flexible rates for specific class of customers (e.g. enterprise or business customers) without encumbering the product catalog wthousands of specialized tariffs. That is the busioverridden at the specific customer\account level w

Retroactive operations In an asynchronous external provisioning environment there are situations where the user is activated on the network side (e.g. HLR) and only later within days created and activated on the billing system. Such an asynchronous procedure often results in discrepancies between making calls and generating usage relative to the start date of the service activation in the billing system. For a postpaid environment the MINDBill system includes the flexibility to recreate the account and services retroactively including reprocessing of the CDRs and applying the relevant rate plan, free minutes, discounts retroactively once the mistake is identified by the user. We emphasize this sincethe system integrityhandle user or syste

Taxation MINDBill supplies service pro

quickly and easily to the regulatory complex and dynamic changes. MINDBill’s taxation mechanism wo k in one of two modes:

• Internal taxation – taxes are calculated according to a combination of internally defined parameters;

Account Management


• External taxation – implies integration with the Vertex engine; the list of taxes, categories, and services are imported from the external taxation engine during the system deployment time, and

e is created for each valid combination of parameters and a tax group is assigned to the rule.

orks according to "best match" logic, i.e. it looks for the most detailed

elled transactions and other operations

Preparin es are a

• e to be paid for services, according to local laws; for

o Tax Groups according to the different

ax or group level, using the effective dates. Each change in o be effective on a specific date. The tax mechanism calculates the relevant tax the transaction.

ions that are relevant in each provider’s environment.

er can manage a list of relevant exemption codes and descriptions. When the s exempted from paying a specific tax and if so, it ignores

ribers. The solution keeps track and manages the items by serial number, status,

be charged to their ms to be sold using a cashier interface including the selling gular services and don’t receive a bill.

The IN ent features:

taxes for all transactions in the system are calculated on the fly. This is primarily applicable for the USA market.

A unique rulMINDBill supports distinct taxation rules for each part of the call charges (Air Charge, Toll Charge, Surcharge).

When calculating a tax, the system wrule that matches the transaction details, and in case there is no exact match, the system looks for a more general rule using fewer dimensions.

The correctness of taxation details for recalculation, Good return, cancis ensured by the GeoCode mechanism. For revenue assurance, any change on the Account contact that is relevant for taxation will notify the CSR about the GeoCode renewal.

g a list of taxes and arranging them in the relevant tax group is the basis of all tax calculations. Taxman ged on two levels:

The Tax List is used to define taxes that havexample, City Tax, Federal Tax, Sales Tax, and VAT. For each tax, the tax code, description, percentage and effective date are recorded.

• Tax Groups – In many cases, more than one tax is relevant to the same transaction. In order to manage the different combinations, taxes are aggregated inttax situations. For each tax group, a code, description and effective date are recorded, as well as the list of individual taxes that make up the respective group.

The history of tax changes is saved either at the tone of the records can be set tvalues according to the date of

Exemption Codes MINDBill is able to manage a list of specific tax exemptWhen the system calculates a tax, it checks to determine if the customer has an exemption for that specific tax and ignores the default tax rule if an exemption applies.

In order to manage specific tax exemptions that do not fit a large account group (and therefore do not have an appropriate rule), the providsystem calculates the tax, it checks if the account ithe standard tax percentage.

Resource Management Various resources and equipment are necessary in order to offer services and products. The MINDBill Resource Management module automates the management and tracking of the items (handsets, phone numbers, etc.) sold to subscand location, providing solutions for the flow management from the reception of the items up to their allocation to the customers.

The interface with the MINDBill Billing and Customer Care platform provides an integrated solution for the service providers that support various business models. Equipment sold to subscribers caninvoice, or a direct sale feature allows for these iteof equipment to those who may not subscribe to re

M DBill Resource Managem

• Handling of item reception gement • Item catalog and pricing mana

• Item status flow management and control

Account Management

• Items locations management • Report generation on the inventory items • Integrated solution with MINDBill Billing and Customer Care platform

11. Inventory Management

This service enables the assigning of inventory items to subscribers based on their services and charging them

for items and filter results based on their status, suppliers, item SKU,

s as well as return items for the same customer for a defined period. ement controls and manages all the inventory management requirements from

g customers and even to non-subscribers. POS integrates with external systems such as the cred engine and the address validation. POS includes three modules

• The Sales Module

for the inventory items. The inventory application can act as a server, enabling the billing system to send requests and receive answers from the inventory. The request and its results are written in the journal.

The inventory journal includes inventory assignment, release and replacement with statuses and explanations. The inventory supports three types of tagged prices: Purchased price, Standard price (for calculating the value of stocked items) and Sales price to indicate the cost of the part to the customer.

The inventory module preserves maintenance information, such as maintenance provider codes, maintenance duration and dates, supplier Contact details as well as purchase order. The inventory system has a friendly user interface enabling users to searchetc. Summary reports can also be generated by the system using different filters such as date, location, status, item SKU, price and more.

The system enables providers to create an item path. These item paths define the logical stages (status, cycle) that an item goes through. For example, a returned item goes from return to test, to renovation or to unusable. The system can reserve new itemMINDBill Resource Managstart to finish.

Point of Sale The POS module is aimed mostly at the wireless retail market, enabling operators to offer their products and services in retail stores and manage the process within our enhanced solutions. POS is fully integrated into the MIND Billing and Customer Care solutions, allowing operators to offer seamlessly services and accessories for new and existin

it card clearinghouse, the external taxationworking together:

• The Resource Management Module


Account Management

• The Cashier Management Module

The MINDBill POS solution functions within the operation support system architecture, enabling an unlimited number of Point-of-Sale terminal devices to be operated simultaneously.

Solution Architecture

12. MINDBill POS system architecture

The Sales Module The sale module is an easy to use cashier station that supports all service activations, phones and accessories sales through one interface on a single receipt. The Sales module enables all payment methods such as Cash,

nteracts with the Resource Management module to show the sales clerk the available items for sale in the store warehouse, to assign sold items to customer accounts, and to enable flows such as returns and repairs.

Check, Credit Card, etc. It provides full control of the cashier devices such as Cash Drawer, Credit Card swipe, Bar Code reader and Ribbon printer.

The Sales module i


Account Management

13. Sales Module

The Cashier Management Module The Cashier module is a comprehensive store management environment that implements, in coordination with the Sales module, drawer and workstation assignments to clerks, Open day and Close day procedures, Cash transfers between drawer and safe, and a rich set of reports.


Invoicing and Shipment


Invoicing and Shipment Billing Cycles Settings and Billing Periods The MINDBill system supports defining multiple Billing cycle codes running on any days of the month. Every billable account is assigned with a consistent billing period (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc) that is determined by the predefined billing cycle parameters. Billing cycle parameters enable to include recurring charges\subscription fees in advance generated on the 1st of the month and usage collected until last day of the previous month for example.

The MINDBill system supports various Bill types for handling different business requirements: Normal (automatic BC), Draft (Proforma) and Immediate (manually by CSR), Final (on Account closing)

The invoicing throughput is primarily utilizing the billing period mechanism in order to directly associate between CDRs and invoices:

• Every CDR is inserted with a Billing Period ID

• The Billing period ID is assigned to an Invoice ID separately

• Achieving high performance by summarizing the call charges without marking the individual CDRs reducing the I/O utilization

• CDR Table is partitioned daily to utilize Oracle performance properties and supports parallel queries

• The Billing period mechanism includes handling of the FUBs automatic free units periodic allocation. This enables aligning the free units benefit accordingly to the Billing Period. The system generates Free Units and BDU allocation on designated date independent of the BC run.

• The system includes the option to run a Recalculate procedure that reorders the assignment of the free units according to the sequence of call date and time that is particularly useful for a batch file processing where often there is late CDRs having an earlier call date and time relative to other CDRs. The end user expects the free units\free minutes to be allocated in sequence and this is supported by the system retroactively.

In a batch file processing environment there are situations that late CDRs are processed after the Bill run. In such cases the late CDRs are added to the next Billing period. The invoice includes from previous billing periods the non-invoiced CDRs (or aggregations).

The MINDBill system includes invoice generation rules for setting parameters indicating the system behavior for handling small bill amounts (business rules per virtual provider as well):

• Minimum Threshold amount for generation: results in skipping the invoice generation for small amounts e.g. €1 (this is primarily in order to save on the Shipping & Handling Expenses of hard copies for example or finance systems handling direct debit of miniscule amounts). Whenever this occurs the MINDBill system inserts journal notes per account (flag) in order to indicate to the CSR of this occurrence when interacting with the customer as well as for revenue assurance reports.

• Void attempts: After skipping a predefined number of BCs the user can force the system to automatically generate an invoice overriding the threshold amount in order to prevent old non-billed charges fro accumulating. The Billing Cycle invoices are generated according to the billing periods that have been completed. The system enables to generate one invoice for two or more consecutive Billing periods that have been completed in case that a previous billing period was skipped for example because of a threshold amount.

• Negative amounts: Indicates to the system if to generate invoices fro negative amounts automatically since this might impact local financial regulations particularly taxation.

• Specific date range: All of the above parameters can be overridden during a specific date range for example end of the year in order to align the revenue recognition with the Fiscal year.

• Minimum amount to issue an invoice for shipping: This would result in adding the amount to next invoice, carrying forward.



• Per invoice handling charge: Special charges for call details and for a hard copy.

BC execution The Billing cycle runs automatically without any manual intervention on the appropriate billing cycle “process date”. The MINDBill system facilitates the Billing operations control of the BC:

• Disable option for avoiding automatic BC execution in case that pre-invoice calculations needs to be performed e.g. Recalculate.

• BC Stop (cancel) operation in case that a mistake is realized during the BC execution

• Each step is monitored and statistical breakdown for revenue assurance reports is provided

• Audit and control of each process: the system provides a statistical breakdown on the number of accounts loaded for the BC generation; invoices generated; invoices that were not generated; invoices failed. A further drill down is supported enabling the Billing operations to identify the accounts that were not invoiced and the reject reason in order to handle it. Afterwards, the BC can be executed repeatedly only for the non-invoiced accounts generating the required invoices after overcoming the configuration settings if needed for example.

• Invoice’s rows (content) saved in invoice table

• As a best practice, the system supports a step by step procedure enabling the Invoice validation after generation and before layout and shipment is performed in order to identify potential configuration problems to be fixed before finalizing the shipment, sending out of the invoices to customers.

The MINDBill system enables to run a test BC in order to evaluate the results before running the production BC:

• Handle rejected CDRs beforehand

• Pre invoice calculations: Daily usage aggregations; Accumulation rating period; Fixed charges transactions; Adjustments, etc. …

• Run tests and pre invoice queries:

• In case of uncertainty e.g. new rating plans, new services, sensitive customers

• Run drafts, evaluate the results, correction actions are conveyed: configuration changes, re-calc the UDRs, etc.

Invoice content During the invoice generation process the MINDBill invoice server inserts into the invoice table a detailed breakdown per charge with subtotals per service and summary. The MINDBil invoice table enables a company to comprehensively view the entire hierarchy usage and charges that have been accrued to the senior billable account fro the consumption of the non billable entities in the hierarchy.

• Package and Service Charges o One-time charges o Recurring charges o Usage – CDRs/UDRs o Surcharges o Breakdown Call Category

Statistics • Discounts itemized

o Free units o Destination type o Favourite Destination

The MINDBill invoice includes a cover letter and header:

• Account details and address • Bill number • Billing period dates • Balance and payments

o Previous balance o Payments inserted (during billing

period) • Deposits • Refunds


o Service Discount o Account Discount o Volume Discounts o Promotions

• Breakdown charges per service: VoIP, SMS, Wireless; Data, etc.

• Split billing between billable accounts and services (e.g. Enterprise customers)

• The charges generated for Non billable accounts are itemized in the invoice of the parent account per descendant. Enabling a clear drill down for the corporate

• Taxes • Special charges • Interest and penalties for Dunning procedures • Adjustments Credit and/or Debit for Disputed

invoices • Loyalty points allocated and consumed • Goods purchased (Option for separate

invoice) • Payment Slip (Remittance) • Customized messages on XSLT • Multi Language Translation of Labels and

Descriptions

14. Example of invoice with detailed charges breakdown itemization

Shipment and Bill Presentation The invoice process generates one generic XML as part of the invoice generation. The XML building is based on the existing data on generation date. This enables permanent storage/archiving of Invoice XML (for retrieving original images as required by authorities).

The Customized Bill rendering via XSLT customization is done in the Layout server. The target formats: ASCII, XML, HTML, PDF, and Postscript. The rendering target is archived for future re-distribution. The invoice XML can also be retrieved via the Web Services XML API for the EBPP and as an input to other systems.




An invoice can be shipped in one or more of the following options:

• Printer local (hard copy) and regular mail • E-mail (HTML or PDF) • Exported file – Printing house mass job batch file: PDF, Postscript, DBF

Bill presentation - Invoice image MINDBill supports multiple invoice layouts per provider. Several customized layouts can be defined per Provider, a different layout can be assigned to different Accounts: Corporate accounts layout vs. Residential accounts; or by payment method: direct debiting vs. manual payments by customer. In the Customer Service Portal using the MINDBill Web CSR and in the EBPP the customer views a customized presentation layout according to the breakdown and details that the service provider wishes to highlite using HTML or PDF.

The flexibility of the MINDBill solution enables to display the invoice header and charges in PDF and the call details CDRs in HTML for example, which is more convenient often.

Customization of the invoice "look and feel" includes the ability to change the page layout, logo and language of the invoice and the level of itemization breakdown; Translation of all the labels and description for the Invoice Layout. Invoice designs can then be customized using XSLT and assigned to different providers or to different customer groups, e.g. different invoice layouts for business and for non-business customers. Or different layouts for displaying or hiding the discounts and other itemized breakdowns.

XML Format and XSL Layout 1. Service providers have the capability of independently formatting the invoice image. This is achieved by the means of the XSL technology that is widely used to convert XML data format to any format (text file, other XML, or HTML, PDF, Postscript). The system provides the means to set an XSL template filename that will be used to transform the invoice information to a customized image prior to shipment or displaying on the CSR web client instead of the default MIND Invoice HTML layout.

2. In the XSL template the provider can independently configure and add any additional invoice messages for example. The system supports the provider’s capability to generate an invoice image for HTML display and/or sending it to a printing house based on the creative requirements that would be done in-house based on the XML and XSL technology.

3. When invoice shipment is triggered or retrieval from the web self care (EBPP) or Web client, the Mind system retrieves the invoice data from the database in XML format, and performs the transformation using the provided XSL template defined for the particular template to HTML format or PDF.

State of the art architecture The Invoice/Layout/Shipment modules are designed on J2EE applications. The system throughout is designed for 1 million invoices per day (depending on the H/W).

The system enables to apply different Billing cycle (BC) codes having the same cycle process date and other parameters as the flexibility of the business model may require e.g. SMEs in one cycle code and large enterprises in another separate billing cycle code. A single BC task executes asynchronously all the BC’s on the same “Process day”.

Invoice Server Technology

• Vertical (linear) scalability – multiple client machines Windows\Linux\Unix utilizing the J2EE architecture

o Billing cycle can run on different processes and client servers in parallel o Multi-threading per process – maximizing CPU utilization

• Application Servers – JBOSS (4.X Version) • J2EE – MDB (Message Driven Bean) , Stateless beans, Cluster



• JMS - Java Messaging Service. Pipes & Filter design pattern implemented by MDB’s and JMS for asynchronized flow of Invoice, Layout & Shipment requests

• Messages are passed to the relevant server queue • Increase performance by minimizing queuing time and Cache memory • High availability JBOSS cluster and SNMP monitoring

A/R and Dunning


A/R and Dunning The system supports the various payment methods through the Web CSR application and the XML API Web services interface: Cash; Cheque; Credit card; Direct debit (batch files import)

In the MIND system a payment can be preformed manually or automatically. This results in an immediate update of the customer balance. For Debit accounts and Limited credit the service is activated as soon as payment is authorized.

MINDBill supports interfacing with various 3rd party systems, either online or in a batch process mode. For example:

• Clearing houses (credit card adaptors) • Banks systems (direct debit) • ERP systems (to transfer payment details)

The system includes am automatic direct credit payment that is triggered upon Invoice due date utilizing the above 3rd party systems interfaces.

The flexibility for payments provides the option to cover

• A single invoice • Part of the invoice total amount • And/or several invoices: a single payment transaction can cover many invoices that is a relation of

one payment ID to many invoices. • The system supports a ‘pay-in-advance’ (down payment). The ‘Payment surplus’ (a payment which

its amount is more than the invoice amount) is supported as well. The system automatically allocates the surplus to the next open invoice by default.

Dunning and Overdue payment handling Ageing Debt During invoice generation the MIND system applies the invoice due date that is the baseline for handling ageing debt and overdue payments and dunning.

The payment terms is a default parameterized value (set at the provider level) x-days relative to invoice generation set as a fixed day in the month (including the last day of the month) and can be overridden per account in case that a special arrangement had been agreed upon particularly useful for large corporate clients.

The MIND system classifies the overdue invoices and accounts according to the standard Ageing Debt Reports 30-60-90. Another automated procedure that is discussed next is the Credit Limit Threshold Warning

The MIND system includes built in Late-payment procedures that consists of:

• Configurable Grace period: after due date, dunning procedure and interest not activated yet

• Parameterized Overdue charges o Interest calculation methods o Settings for Handling fees

• Special overdue invoice

• Dunning Work flow (customization) o Dunning letters o Subscriber reliability class changed: Credit limit reduced

A/R and Dunning


• Payment arrangement: another powerful instrument in handling bad debt before foreclosure is the payment arrangement that enables to divide the outstanding balance over an agreed installments plan. These installments are added to the future invoice remittance for diligent payment by the customers.

The MIND system supports an Automatic or manual Suspending and/or Closing of accounts that is based on preventing risk of increasing bad debt:

• Ageing Debt parameter

• And/Or Amount due parameter When an account is closed the MINDBill system performs a Write-Off of the non collectable debt that is transferred to the G/L interface as well to synchronize the finance transactions between the systems

Account Closing Procedure In the MIND system the Account life cycle includes starting in status NEW and changing the status to: Active; Suspend; Cooling period - Pending to close before Final invoice; and Pending to close after Final invoice; Closed; Old.

1. Cooling period = Pending to close before Final invoice - this is the cooling period where as the Account Services are suspended and the service provider can continue and issue invoices for non-billed transactions for example late CDRs; RCs and Adjustments. The Account status can be changed to "Active" in this state when the customer pays or for any other reason. Note that it is a configurable parameter for example 180-days.

2. Pending to close after Final invoice - in this period only debt collection procedures can be done primarily inserting the payment for the final invoice and/or any other unpaid open invoices. In this status the account status cannot be changed to "Active". The account status is blocked for reactivation since the final invoice had been generated. For example 90-days.

3. Closed - the outstanding unpaid invoice amounts are written off as lost debt.

4. Old - this is a status for CSR convenience purposes filtering out Old accounts

Debt Collection The MIND workflow engine supports an out of the box Debt Collection Path that can be customized and extended according to the individual business needs.

Path flow:

Step 1: Call Customer or send letter to customer

Step 2: Suspend outgoing calls

Step 3: Close account

Step 4: Inform legal department

Step 5: Write off

The difference between the paths is in the configurable time periods between steps. Additional customizations and extensions can be introduced according to customer requirements.

Balance Threshold Warning MIND has introduced a threshold warning level for limited credit and credit accounts. In the account profile the CSR can set a threshold balance warning level per account (credit / limited credit / debit). For postpaid unlimited credit account types the system tracks the balance even if there is no automatic suspension mechanism for this type of accounts. In case the total amount to be paid to the provider (invoices and non billed transactions) is greater than a predefined threshold the MINDBill system would perform the actions below. For the limited credit accounts, the system calculates the threshold to be above the credit limit since

A/R and Dunning


the credit limit would trigger an account suspension in case reached. If the calculated open balance amount reaches the threshold the system would perform the following actions:

a. Flag the account as THRESHOLD_EXCEED_STATUS=Y

b. Send an email notification to the designated recipient

c. Insert a note into the account journal: “account remaining amount is less than the threshold amount”. The user can view the journal motes using the existing Journal views that enable to filter or a customized report can be programmed for this purpose to the MIS.

d. Issue a SOAP XML notification to the provisioning server. This can be used as an input for a customized provisioning client that would perform other activities handled by a separate customized workflow procedure for example.

Hot Billing and Bill Shock The MINDBill convergent Billing system supports both prepaid and postpaid in one system by distinguishing primarily three different account types: Postpaid Credit; Postpaid Limited Credit and Prepaid Debit

An Account type Postpaid Limited Credit is limited to a predefined credit amount that is calculated based on the open invoices and the non billed charges and usage. In a AAA real time mode during the call setup the customer’s balance is checked and based on the dialed number, the tariff, the maximum call duration is calculated for that call to be cut off in real-time.

An additional dimension of “Hot Billing” supports the Limited Credit account types. Within the configuration of the hot billing mode the system monitors the non-billed usage online either for the entire service types or only for a certain predefined limited number of relevant service types. In case of reaching the credit limit threshold for the non-invoiced usage the system triggers an action normally suspending the list of affected services e.g. International and Domestic calls can be Suspended. Other service types for destination categories can be excluded like Onnet calls, Local calls or SMSs would not be suspended automatically, depending on the configuration settings. The services are reactivated automatically after the customer has paid the entire amount above the credit limit threshold including the usage charges from the current billing period.

Additionally, the Hot Billing process initiates a sub-process for sending notification letters sent by SMS or email to the subscribers informing them with regard to the suspension or reactivation of their services.

The Bill shock utilizes the same infrastructure only sending email notifications advising customers on their excessive Voice usage in case it reaches a predefined warning threshold that is set individually per customer. The system provides a counter for accumulating the usage rated service types e.g. Voice, Roaming, Data, etc. throughout the Billing period that would be automatically reset in the start of the next Billing period.

The core concept of the Hot Billing is that consuming usage based service types (Roaming, Data, Long distance) results in reaching a threshold, which triggers an action, e.g. automatic process like Suspend of outgoing calls. The implementation of the action is based on the integrated jBPM and J2EE architecture enabling customizing additional business process to compliment the individual Telco operator’s needs and is not limited to the default Suspension of the services for example.

A/R and Dunning

15. Hot Billing


Business Processes


Business Processes BPM (business process management) offers a generic programmatic structure for designing transactions and executing them using automated decisions, tasks and sequence flows. A Telco operator can use BPM to handle account registration, order management and account closing procedures like enforce contract properties. Workflow based actions ensure high SLA.

To that end, business processes (BP) are becoming increasingly explicit and business process management (BPM) is evolving from a paper-based diagramming tool to a comprehensive solution that models, monitors, simulates, and redesigns processes for competitive and cost effective improvement.

The MINDBill end-to-end billing application encapsulates a powerful workflow engine. It is a flexible, event-driven, automated tool that maximizes the BP to create corporate value. The workflow core functionality is a state-of-the-art integrated 3rd party workflow engine application that supports a multi-provider environment.

MINDBill includes the built in jBPM (JBOSS, open source application) workflow engine for customizing procedures that streamline\automate CSR activities providing generic automated business processes and the framework for customizations and extensions:

Customized order management primarily for registration

Automating the provisioning actions including handling automatically a failure situation.

Credit management: Customizable automated debt collection and dunning procedure; automate the steps involved in handling overdue payments until final disconnection and forwarding to legal action.

Contract management - Customized business process for applying contract properties upon contract termination: If terminated before expiration date apply penalties e.g. charging for discounts retroactively; if extended apply additional benefits fro example.

Future Account suspend date setting for 24:00

Built in Trouble Ticketing

Automated scheduled package change

USA Credit score: MIND has performed integrations with Equifax and D&B for corporations. The system’s credit score management functionality enables to limit the selection of bundles and setting of the credit limit.

USA Address validation: In the USA often required for ensuring that another individual is not disguising itself as a Company to prevent potential fraud. Also important having the correct company address printed on the invoice for tax purposes.

Other tailored customizations for automating business processes….

Business Process Logical Architecture BPM solutions typically include three components:

An engine that executes process definitions

Services that allow the engine to interact with the outside world

Tools that aid process development and monitoring.

The building blocks of the Business Processes environment are the following:

• Web CSR – a multi-user friendly environment that allows a clear view of work lists, with priorities; • The Workflow Engine – a powerful, scalable engine that runs and dispatches all workflow

processes and calls internal and external procedures and applications; it has the following characteristics: o jBPM – an open-source BPM implementation from JBOSS;

o It is installed over a J2EE Application Server;

Business Processes

o Provides load balance for scalability and high-availability;

o Contains a jPDL process language for defining the process flow and actions;

o Built in jBPM API (used by MINDBill Web CSR);

o Data repository on the Oracle database;

o Includes services for data persistence using Hibernate, scheduling, messaging, logging, and versioning.

• BP Development – The jBPM utilizes a user friendly development tool for business process definition, editing and building. A rapid and controlled development process. It is relatively easy to learn and use by non-experts. Allows deviations and extensions by Professional Services staff (or advanced customers that have been certified). The development environment supports online customization\modifications for deployed processes

• Processes management and control allows a clear view of work lists with priorities; enabling Escalation by roles; Multiple notification options – GUI, e-mail, pager…; Reporting and statistics

16. Business Processes logical architecture

MIND offers in its deployments tailored, fully automated, order management, service fulfillment, trouble tickets, and debt collection processes, all unique to its market segment.

Business Process Flow Steps A business process is implemented by a business process flow. A business process flow represents a certain set of actions (“steps”) in a pre-defined order performed automatically or with human intervention. In case of the latter, each such a step is associated with group of users, so that “someone” in the organization is aware that this is their responsibility to perform that task.

The business process flow is designed using several control components, such as ‘if’, ‘go-to’, ‘switch’, ‘branching’ and others.

The MIND workflow framework supports various step types:

• A User step is assigned to a role and appears in the CSR’s tasks list. For example, “call customer”. • A Pending (for an external event) step is a sub-type of the regular user step, only that it does not

require its intervention. For example, “wait for the customer to arrive”. • A Wait step is actually a timer (e.g. “wait 14 days”).


Business Processes


• A System step is an action preformed by the system. For example, “issue an invoice”. • An Outbound adaptor (interface) step is an inherent capability of the engine to call an external

application (e.g. web-service, Java class and others) without coding. • A Synchronize step is a step that verifies that all parallel actions (steps) are performed, and only after

that the flow continues. For example, the customer will not be activated unless the installation was done and a “down payment” was performed.

The MIND comprehensive process monitor solution is able to get a list of all the processes, according to each provider defined in the system.

MVNOs


MVNOs The MIND system supports a centralized billing system that is virtually partitioned for additional service providers all using one system without interference. A network operator can outsource billing services to MVNOs or other service providers that concentrate on market penetration for their brand and outsource the billing activity to a centralized billing system. The MIND solution supports a series of markup rates from Network operator-wholesale rates to Virtual provider-retail rates to end customer.

MINDBill includes business logic for service providers that have a business model, which is designated to cater specifically for business customers on a global basis. The MINDBill convergent billing and customer care is designed to handle multiple markets utilizing our built in virtual provider definition and support for multiple currencies. This would enable a global operator to define every business unit across countries as an independent entity in one centralized billing system: U.S., followed by U.K., Canada, and Taiwan would be defined as individual Markets having invoices issued in the local currency; local taxation; applied specific Business rules; analyzed as a separate profit center enabling the holding company to distinguish profitability between the different business units.

Multi Market Segmentation The MIND system supports a centralized billing system that is virtually partitioned for additional service providers all using one system without interference. A network operator can provide billing services to the local business units that concentrate on market penetration for their brand and the billing activity is handled by centralized billing system.

Every business unit (Virtual Provider) is able to create subscribers (accounts) and assign them Packages\Bundles of services that were created by their parent provider. The local country business unit (virtual Provider) bills its subscribers according to its business model (product catalog). Every business unit is isolated from interfering with the configurations and account management of other business units (virtual providers).

A provider is an entity that provides a service or a set of services to end-user customers or to other providers. The provider can determine the business rules and parameters that influence the way the system responds to different business situations. In order to respond to varied market situations, MINDBill allows the user to control a myriad of parameters.

MINDBill provides the independency of the Virtual Providers to manage their business:

• Enable to define a separate product catalog on every provider level\Business unit\Market-country o General Details – e.g. code, currency, language, tax calculation method, domain name and

reply E-mail address, invoice layout, presentation formats, business rules (e.g. G/L, Business processes, invoice generation rules, and more)

• Virtual providers have independent remote access to update the tariffs, create new services and packages via a “Manager” application

o Enhanced security enabling the network operator to define the level of Business units independency;

• Multi-level hierarchy of providers and virtual providers, accessible according to security permissions o Web services for creating new users per virtual provider o Built-in limited access to view only their customer base and product catalogue

• Web access limited to the VP functionalities (B2B portal) o The “Manager” application can be accessed remotely from the CSR Web client using

terminal emulation through MS Terminal Services using remote desktop ActiveX control o A silent login is performed: username and password are provided as parameters (according

to security group privileges) o Multiple concurrent instances of Manager can run on the same machine

MVNOs

• The above results in reducing the central IT billing operations activities that can be delegated to the virtual providers, local country business units accordingly; Saving on overhead personnel in the Billing operations dept.

• Handling multi currency environment per provider including dual currency. The Dual Currency option allows service providers operating in various countries to express their tariffs in the local hard currencies, but also use the system main currency e.g. USD for calculating in parallel the service usage charges, transactions, subscription fees, adjustments and invoices. The conversion is performed mainly upon invoice generation based on the Currency table having conversion rates set by the user. This enables a global organization to align its G/L interface into a common denominator fro reporting needs and analyzing profitability per business unit.

17. Multi Market Environment

Virtual Providers A partner management (and specifically, a virtual provider model) is a business model where the network provider leases its network equipment and its billing system to other providers (called virtual providers - VP). The MINDBill Billing and Customer Care platform provides operators, through the MINDBill Virtual Providers (called VP) functionality, with the ability to apply an independent business model of virtual operators in one centralized system.

The virtual providers are providers that offer services to end-consumers or other virtual providers using the services of a network provider, which leased its services.

A virtual provider entity is composed of two existing entities:

• A provider (Virtual Provider) that is subordinated to the parent provider; • This includes the ability to pass on parent characteristics to the descendants; • An account – Each Virtual Provider has a related account in the system, which contains its services.

The provider of this account is the parent provider. • The system includes a mechanism to safeguard revenue leakage prevention:

• Restricting the VP to offer only certain services and features; • Blocking the VP’s subscribers according to the VP’s balance versus its parent provider;

Virtual Providers are able to create subscribers (accounts) and assign them services that were created by their parent provider.


MVNOs

18. Providers hierarchy


Solution Architecture Overview


Solution Architecture Overview Technology The MINDBill Multi-layered infrastructure is supported by a modular software architecture enabling real-time distribution processing, achieving performance, scalability and high availability.

MINDBill uses an open architecture including the latest software paradigms - Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Document Oriented Architecture (DOA) - thus enabling fast and seamless integration with other systems and third-party applications

MINDBill is built using standardized best-of-breed object-oriented technologies such as Java and XML, and it is J2EE compatible as it is powered by a commercial Application Server.

Since MINDBill is developed using Java, it runs on any standard platform. It runs on SUN Solaris, IBM AIX, HP UX or Intel HW using Linux or Windows. It can be deployed on Web Sphere, Oracle and JBoss application servers.

MINDBill has a four-tier architecture, consisting of the following tiers:

Client Application Tier – This is the top tier graphic user interface between the user and the application. It includes client applications for customer registration, customer care and billing administration.

Business Object Tier – This tier includes the business logic and rules of the billing system. This tier manages accounts, services, events and tariffs. It includes an object request broker that facilitates the transfer of information requested by the client application tier from the database object tier.

Database Object Tier – This tier brings together data objects that define the accounts, services and tariffs.

Database Tier – This tier includes management software where the actual billing and customer-care information is stored.

From the start, the advanced four-tier software architecture of MINDBill was designed to be open, interoperable, scalable, reliable and secure. The partitioning of the system into different independent tiers enables an easy interface of each tier to external third-party components and legacy systems. This enables to integrate with the required interfaces in any Information System environment.

Logical Architecture The MINDBill logical architecture is based on four layers: the Access layer, the Business layer, the Data layer and the Management Layer.


19. MINDBill Logical Architecture

The Access Layer All the modules that interface with external systems (i.e. Intranet, Internet, Telephony Network, etc.) are placed in the Access layer. The Access layer consists of the Management access and Network access sub-layers:

Management Access MINDBill Management Access provides the operator with the following main modules:

• Service Creation and Product Catalog – allows providers to configure and launch new services and business models in fast time-to-market;

• Customer Care – Web-based Access tools for both Customer Service Representatives and for subscribers' Self Care;

• MIND APIs – Enabling open interface with external systems. Network Access The MINDBill Network Access enables the exchange of business and operational information between MINDBill and the various network elements. It consists of 3 main modules:

• Mediation – Provides both real-time and batch collection, analysis and processing of billing events; • Provisioning – Updates and activates subscribers' services and features in the network elements; • IN/SIP Application Server – Call Control for prepaid services such as prepaid card dialing based on

IVR services, card recharging, etc. for both IN (SS7) and SIP-based Networks.

The Business Layer

The Business layer consists of the modules responsible for the various business processes and business logic of the MINDBill system:

• Rating and charging • Billing and invoice generation • Customer creation




• Trouble ticketing • Additional business processes.

The heart of the MINDBill business processes is the Workflow Engine, which provides the operator with the ability to modify and create new business processes.

The Data Layer The Data layer holds the business persistent data. It includes the database and the common storage. It is based on the Oracle industry-proof database engine.

The Management Layer The Management layer includes business and traffic reporting tools.

Scalability and Expandability MINDBill’s modular and scalable architecture allows the system to grow with the service provider. Scalability is achieved by “scale-out” (adding more servers) or by “scale-up” (adding CPUs or the upgrading the existing servers with more powerful HW).

Scalability is achieved by increasing the number of CPUs and RAM per application server machine. Afterwards, installing additional application servers that increase the volume handled by the system supports scalability. For example, the J2EE CSR application is a built-in integrated application installed on a separate server. As the number of users of the Service Provider gradually grows, the number of application servers would need to be increased as well. Another example is the RTS, handling the mediation, which is scalable to the network by installing additional servers.

MINDBill is scalable both vertically, by adding more memory & CPUs, and horizontally, by adding additional servers to process in parallel (utilizing the Java and J2EE architecture). MIND’s infrastructure department advises on the best H/W configuration so that the DB nodes capacity is balanced with the number of Client machines accessing it to support the expansion in simultaneous sessions.

MINDBill is designed to be easily adapted to changes in the size and configuration of a service provider’s network. The product is designed to permit the service provider’s network to grow from accommodating a small number of subscribers to accommodating a large number of subscribers, primarily through the addition of hardware. The system’s database capacity is made scalable and expandable by increasing the number of CPUs, memory (RAM) and disk space (external RAID). This feature allows a service provider to expand its infrastructure and its subscriber base without the need to redesign or replace its collection, correlation and rating software. This scalability of MINDBill software is important since many service providers can begin with a relatively small subscriber base and experience rapid growth.

The Oracle DB primarily drives the system throughput. The throughput that’s provided by the Oracle Database Server scales to match the size of the H\W configuration as it grows. The MINDBill architecture enables scalability without impacting performance.

Redundancy and High Availability MINDBill provides a solution with built-in redundancy and high-availability (HA) architecture. It is reliable with no single point of failure, guaranteeing undisrupted service for mission-critical systems. All servers are data-less, hence load sharing and HA are obtained using the N+1 architecture.

• MINDBill Data Servers HA are based on Oracle’s Parallel Architecture and Clustering. The DB is installed in a cluster of high availability with one active node and another DB node in standby mode (SUN Cluster, Veritas, Red Hat Linux Cluster and more).

• The MIND system is installed on an Oracle DB having standard Oracle backup procedures (RMAN). Normally, the MIND embedded Oracle DB is installed on an external RAID 1+0 to achieve maximum throughout and redundancy.

• The mission critical applications are designed in a redundant configuration with an automatic failover mechanism.



• The J2EE and jBPM applications are installed using JBOSS that supports a cluster mode. • Since the RTS is a mission critical application, it is programmed with a built-in fail-over mechanism,

which is activated in case of application or server failure. If one RTS fails, another RTS can replace it without any data loss.

• When there is no connection to the Database, the RTS will write the information received from the network elements to files. This mode is named “No DB mode”. The RTS stores the received information to files and processes them when the DB connections resume. The solution also includes the ability to manually switch a RTS to the no DB mode for testing purposes.

• In a typical network topology all of the applications are installed on a backup server that is in standby mode so that another instance of the same application can be easily activated.

• In addition to the above, MIND supports a DRC configuration having a remote site that is updated online using the Oracle Dataguard.

SNMP and Monitoring Tool Suite Monitoring Tool Suite In order to achieve our SLA commitment the MINDBill system includes an integrated monitoring tool that proactively alerts on the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) in order to perform corrective action as a preventive measurement and of course to alert in case of a critical system failure immediately for a prompt response before the customers user experience is affected.

MIND's Monitoring Tool Suite (MMTS) is 24x7 operational control and proactive monitoring of the entire MINDBill system (hardware and software) based on Nagios, AWStats, n2rrd, Jopr, NagVis, NSClient++, NRPE, WMI and SNMP. Nagios is a powerful monitoring system that enables organizations to identify and resolve IT infrastructure problems before they affect critical business processes.

MMTS monitors the entire IT infrastructure to ensure systems, applications, services, and business processes are functioning properly. In the event of a failure, MMTS alerts the technical staff on the problem, allowing them to begin remediation processes before outages affect business processes, end-users, or customers.

The MMTS provides:

• Comprehensive Monitoring of all the mission-critical infrastructure components including MINDBill applications, services, operating systems, network protocols, system metrics, and network infrastructure.

• Visibility: Provides a central view of your entire IT operations network and business processes. • Awareness: Alerts are delivered to the IT staff via email and/or SMS. Multi-user notification

escalation capabilities ensure alerts reach the attention of the right people. • Problem Remediation: Event handlers allow you to automatically restart failed applications,

services, servers, and devices when problems are detected. • Trending and Capacity Planning: Allows organizations to plan for infrastructure upgrades before

outdated systems catch them by surprise. • Reports: Ensure SLAs are being met, provides historical records of outages, notifications, and alert

response for later analysis. • Extendable Architecture: Provides easy integration with in-house and third-party applications, the

critical MINDBill components externalize their status using SNMP. This includes alarms that are sent using SNMP traps.

Nagios – How It Works? • Monitoring: The IT staff configure Nagios to monitor critical IT infrastructure components,

including system metrics, network protocols, applications, services, servers, and network infrastructure.



• Alerting: Nagios sends alerts when critical infrastructure components fail and recover, providing administrators with notice of important events. Alerts can be delivered via email, SMS, or custom script.

• Response: The IT staff can acknowledge alerts and begin resolving outages and investigating security alerts immediately. Alerts can be escalated to different groups if they are not acknowledged in a timely manner.

• Reporting: Reports provide a historical record of outages, events, notifications, and alert response for later review. Availability reports help ensure your SLAs are being met.

• Maintenance: Scheduled downtime prevents alerts during scheduled maintenance and upgrade windows.

• Planning: Trending and capacity planning graphs and reports allow you to identify necessary infrastructure upgrades before failures occur.

MMTS KPI Setup • Create the Indicator: Define the indicator we want to measure and report such CPU, memory

utilization, network bandwidth, ICMP • Create Measures: Track and manage the measurements of each indicator • Dashboard Integration: Update the dashboard with the created indicator • View: View the results in the dashboard

Suggested KPI Samples • Hardware:

Any kind of hardware (servers, storage, switches & routers, UPS, etc) using SNMP traps

Servers temperature

Fans speed

and much more

• O/S: CPU Utlization

CPU Load

Memory Usage

(S)FTP

Disk Defragmentation

Disk Partitioning

and much more

• Database performance indicators :Oracle Table Growth & Connection Datafiles I/O Traffic

Redo Log I/O Traffic

RMAN Backup Status

Resource Limits

and much more

• Applications monitoring and availability

Business Intelligence & Reports


Business Intelligence & Reports Analysis

MINDBill incorporates a flexible reporting & BI platform allowing the operator to create, manage, and display all required data and activities.

The MIND reporting solution is based on SAP Business Objects Edge Business Intelligence (BI). This comprehensive, versatile suite delivers solutions that address any business intelligence requirement – from flexible ad-hoc reporting and analysis, to dashboards and visualization supporting all of a Telco operator needs. The solution is a powerful business intelligence choice for Telco providers that require a deep insight for traffic analysis, revenue sources, that want to improve costs effectiveness, comprehend resources utilization, discover new opportunities, and gain a competitive advantage.

Dashboard The MINDBill system includes an online dashboard that presents the most updated information of the CDRs processed from the switches and presents an updated monitor view of the traffic, allowing the detection of problems and escalation at early stages. It provides useful graphs that show traffic per service type, call type, and time of day, recent calls, expensive calls, frequent destinations, expensive destinations, etc.

The ASR statistics is an important factor for a traffic termination environment, particularly as an additional factor for the LCR. In the MIND reporting system, the ASR parameter is configurable for any value starting with zero, since 1-2 seconds call duration is not necessarily an indication for a successful call attempt.

20. Traffic Dashboard

Call Traffic Analysis Traffic Analysis reports serve as a basis for deciding on the optimum allocation of resources and other efficient revenue saving measures. This tool generates reports that measure call loads to different destinations, at different hours of the day, the number of calls per minute for a specific gateway or group of gateways, as well as providing a measurement for maximum network capacity. Traffic data is summarized in peak, average and daily traffic reports that may be displayed and printed in various graph formats.


The Call Traffic Analysis tool allows:

• Monitor all call traffic on the network. • Analyze trunk utilization. • Display and print data conveniently in bar, line and area graph formats. • Measure call loads to different destinations. • Select the resolution to calculate the average. • Export reports and graphs for use in other applications.

21. Traffic Report

All summary reports created by the Query Generator can be broken down per carrier, network element, IP address, Trunk ID and are presented in a graph form. The format, colors, gridlines and titles to control the look and style of the graphs can be defined.

22. Traffic report by time of day



Call Summary by Call Duration: The Service Provider can analyze and assess QoS. If more than 50% of the calls are less than ½ a minute, then there is a definite problem in the quality of the Voice. The following graph (report) displays the distribution of calls by duration.

23. Call duration statistical analysis


Roaming Management

Roaming Management NRTRDE The MINDBill system provides the ability to generate NRTRDE files for inbound traffic of visiting roamers and also process incoming NRTRDE files for outbound roaming usage traffic.

Glossary of terms:

NRTRDE – Near Real Time Roaming Data Exchange

PLMN – Public Landline Mobile Network

HPLMN – Home PLMN

VPLMN – Visited PLMN

Roaming call: is a call made by one PLMN subscriber using another PLMN network. The call would be considered made by the home PLMN using the Visited PLMN network. The calls are exchanged between the different roaming partners using a clearing house.

The VPLMN calculates amounts and/or taxes that he will request from the HPLMN for the roaming calls based on the roaming agreements.

A long period of time passes between the call processing until it is received by the HPLMN. This poses a challenge since during a relatively long time period prevents the HPLMN from applying efficient Fraud detection processes for example.

The MINDBill NRTRDE module allows exchanging of Roaming CDR information in a short time. The exchanged data is based on subset of raw CDRs data only and is simple to read and analyze. Unified data file format to be used by all roaming partners TD.35 The time period between the roaming call ends until it is received by the HPLMN should not exceed

4 hours. There is no standard way for sending files between the roaming partners and clearing houses, this is

usually done by FTP. The application may produce multiple NRTRDE files per PLMN each day, normally on a 15-min.

intervals. Only Voice, SMS and GPRS calls are handled by the NRTRDE application.


Roaming Management


24. NRTRDE

When processing the NRTRDE-In CDRs received from Syniverse in TD.35 format, the Add-on Guard utility enables to determine IMSI's that are potentially in fraud of the carrier. Using criteria as defined in BA.20, Fraud Prevention Procedures (defines the liability rules for NRTRDE and associated procedures). The system will alarm when thresholds such as the following have been exceeded:

MOC call duration exceeded (long calls) MTC call duration exceeded (long calls) Daily MOC minutes total exceeded Daily MTC minutes total exceeded Daily GPRS Kb total exceeded Daily SMS incoming number exceeded Daily SMS outgoing number exceeded

Roaming Management

25. NRTRDE-In CDR Processing

Guard Alert The MINDBill NRTRDE solution is complimented by an add-on Guard investigation tool allows detecting violations based on the processed incoming NRTRDE files. It is possible to configure alert rules that monitor individual events (e.g. MOC call duration limit not to be greater than 30 minutes, MTC call duration limit not to be greater than 60 minutes, etc.), for aggregation of events (e.g. daily MOC limit not to be greater than 60 minutes, daily GPRS limit not to be greater than 5MB, etc.) or overlapping events (e.g. monitor calls made in the same timeframe – in order to detect if a chip was cloned, etc.). When a rule is violated an alert will be raised and according to the definition of the rule, it will be logged, sent via e-mail or sent via Instant Messaging.

GRM The MINDBill GRM add-on module provides the ability to generate roaming usage files, TAP files for GSM Partners and CIBER files for CDMA Partners, for inbound traffic of visiting roamers, and to process incoming TAP/CIBER files of outbound roaming usage traffic. Using its partner management capabilities, the MINDBill system provides the ability to define and manage the required roaming contracts terms (IMSI/MIN range, MNC, MCC, cut-off time, etc.) and the applicable tariff plan (IOT) for each roaming partner. Therefore, it enables to apply a markup-based, flat rate based, IOT-based, or any other required rating model for the incoming roaming traffic. As for the outgoing roaming traffic, the MINDBill Roaming Files generator enables to create TAP3/CIBER files for all of the applicable roaming partners using either a single IOT plan for all the partners, or multiple IOT plans. Furthermore, it supports processing and generating RAP files and CIBER rejects files.

• Roaming Scenarios: TAP3 is used for billing between GSM to GSM Operators, GSM to non-GSM Operators (supporting Inter-Standard Roaming), GSM to Satellite Operators and for billing between GSM Operators and their Service Providers.

• GSM Basic Services: The three basic GSM service categories, Voice, Fax and Supplementary Services, have been supported since TAP1.

• SMS – Short Message Service: SMS has been supported since TAP2+. • Data: TAP3 supports Single Circuit Switched Data, HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) and

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). • Value Added Services (VAS): TAP3 supports all Value Added Services, including billing for

content.


Roaming Management

• CAMEL: Customized Application Mobile Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) phases 1 and 2 are supported in the current version of TAP3.

• Inter Operator Tariff (IOT) Charging Principles: TAP3 provides full support of the Inter Operator Tariff. This enables the home operator (HPMN) to verify the IOT of the visited operator (VPMN). The VPMN can give call level discounts and the HPMN can then verify that the discounts have been correctly applied. Without being affected by any discount program or call levels being charged by the VPMN, the HPMN can then easily re-price each call according to his own tariff.

• Rejects & Returns Process: The Returned Accounts Procedure (RAP) was introduced on 1st April 2001 and is supported by TAP3.

• The MINDBill GRM module currently supports generating and processing TAP 3.11. Any additional required TAP version will require future update.


Back Office Integrations


Back Office Integrations G\L The MINDBill G/L Module provides the full flexibility for handling and supporting all accounting functionality. It follows the Financial accounting standards. Furthermore, all the financial transactions are segmented, aggregated into predefined groups and the system enables posting all the transactions amounts per G/L code to an external accounting system by reports or by files that are generated by the built-in export utility.

Since the G/L account can vary from one system to another, depending on the resolution needed by the accounting system, the mapping between financial transactions and the G/L account codes is done in a highly flexible manner in order to comply with the providers’ business model.

The General Ledger represents the individual accounts used by an organization to record its assets, liabilities, equity, revenues, and expenses. One of the basic rules in accounting is the association of different types of fiscal transactions to specific balance sheets (or G/L accounts). The G/L accounts record business transactions as totals. The MINDBill G/L system associates different types of fiscal transactions (e.g. taxes, discounts, usage, payments etc.) to specific balance sheets (or G/L accounts). The MINDBill G/L Account system enables a wide range of mapping options. Each fiscal transaction is assigned to a G/L account code. The system allows posting transactions amounts per G/L code to an external accounting system using reports or the export utility.

A Segment is a sub-organization that may have separate accounting/reporting, e.g. a department, subsidiary, etc. Each segment is represented by a different G/L code prefix. This enables G/L codes hierarchy (similar to the account hierarchy).

The following capabilities exist within the GL Module:

• Relate financial activities to General Ledger Accounts: Transactions related to specific types of assets, liabilities, equity, income (revenue) or expenses.

• G/L Cycle frequency and time: Collect and aggregate the financial transaction for the General Ledger account per G/L Cycle. The G/L cycle frequency and schedule is defined per provider.

• Revenue recognition: The G/L reports provide the required information on Revenue recognition (i.e. billed/ unbilled, earned/ unearned).

• Hierarchy Segmentation: enabling tracking of G/L revenues according to the accounts hierarchy in the system.

Web Services The MINDBill platform is built as an open platform, for easy integration with the existing Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS). The solution is equipped with a comprehensive set of APIs that cover all CRM needs, business rules and reference data. The interfaces are based on open standards, such as SOAP/XML and J2EE, and out-of-the-box middleware support (CORBA, Tibco, etc.). In addition, import and export utilities enable en-masse updates toward external systems. These characteristics enable easy integration with multiple OSS/BSS, including billing, fraud, lawful interception and data warehousing.

The API handles account, account-service and payment-related functions. Using this API, any external application, irrespective of platform, can create, update or query accounts, account-services or payment details. MIND’s billing API can be used by any third-party application, through HTTP requests in standard SOAP protocol. The data is expressed in standard XML format. The application that uses the API can be located anywhere, locally or remotely with Internet or intranet connections to the API server.

Implementation Schedule


Implementation Schedule MIND’s Implementation Approach

• MIND provides professional services, consisting of installation, turnkey project implementation services, customer support, training and maintenance services, customization and project management. Our professional services also include enhanced support options, known as managed services, which are mainly offered to customers in the United States and Europe and are performed from our offices. These managed services include performing day to day billing operational tasks.

• MIND has a proven track record in successful deployments worldwide. Customer satisfaction is our principle guideline. MIND incorporates ISO9001:2008 internal procedures to ensure a successful implementation methodology.

• MIND deploys a proven platform product based solution with a track record for swift deployments and the flexibility to tailor for customer requirements in a short time frame. Operators achieve a quick time to market by launching the system early to gain a marketing advantage and ROI.

• The MIND company group of veteran professionals has extensive experience in Billing models with a deep understanding of business processes related to the Billing. Our broad experience includes IT systems integration with Billing and many network elements would ensure a swift integration with the required existing infrastructure to achieve the prepaid and/or postpaid launch on time.

• The MINDBill solution is a multi platform technology. The Open architecture with SDKs and APIs facilitates local independent customizations, extensions and integrations. MIND encourages its customers to perform independent programming using the MIND web services.

Generic Deployment Plan Based on our wealth of experience gained through the years, the MIND professional services organization has developed a “10 weeks Go-Live” plan. This plan is a modular procedure that is carefully tailored to your specific requirements and needs, and details the needed activities to launch MIND solutions within a 10 weeks time frame. The “10 weeks” period starts right after the customer has signed the contract - which is based on the pre-sale activities that were previously performed - and ends when the MINDBill system is completely installed at your premises and fully functional.

Our generic “10 weeks plan” consists of the following stages:

26. Generic Deployment Plan

The Design & Analysis Stage defines the project scope, and its deliverable is the Statement Of Work (SOW). The SOW defines the project in terms of functionality and also includes the project implementation & migration plan, assumption, risk management, high-level test plan and other important documentation needed to successfully accomplish the implementation of the project.

Implementation Schedule

The output of the field study is a detailed document named “System Requirements Specifications” (SRS). In this methodological approach the MIND project manager together with a product manager details the:

a. Business models and the required mediation and billing functionalities, characterizing work procedures, map the current procedures and activities in the client business environment, workflow requirements.

b. Defining the flow of information between the IT systems, integration with CRM, ERP G/L and other back office systems. Identify and detail the required interfaces for communicating with other systems.

c. Call flow analysis and network elements integration with both mediation and provisioning aspects.

d. Identifies requirements for enhancements and advises on software customizations if needed

e. Detail the roles and responsibilities.

f. Set the expectations of the deliverables.

The System Installation Stage starts right after the SOW has been delivered. It deals with installing and defining system infrastructure at your premises. In addition to the configuration of the machines, special attention is paid to keeping the infrastructure and parameter configuration as defined in the SOW.

The Software Customization Stage - At this stage MIND CTI's engineers configure the MINDBill B&CC system as defined in the SOW. Our engineers create the required business parameters that are necessary for the organization, such as network elements, language, currencies, providers, rate schemes, etc. The different adaptors are also adapted to the customer's standards (e.g. bank and credit card adapters), the interface to the customer's external system, etc. When everything has been customized according to the customer's needs, the MIND CTI engineers perform some basics tests to approve the successful configuration of the system and the software.

The Training Stage - Although the MINDBill billing system is straightforward, intuitive and user-friendly, performing this stage is a recommended part of new implementations. The MIND CTI training team has a time-proven training methodology that has been used with our customers all over the world. The training sessions are dedicated to 4 main audiences: the IT team, CSR personnel, the marketing team and the billing operators.

The Customer (User) Acceptance Test Stage - After your personnel have been trained to work with the system, you need to verify that our system answers all your expectations both from a business perspective and an architecture perspective. At this point you, will receive a detailed testing plan called the Accepted Test Plan (ATP). Its purpose is to test the MINDBill billing system as a whole and to make sure it satisfies all your requirements.

The Final Deployment & Migration Stage - After our software has passed the acceptance test and your employees are trained to use the billing system, the final deployment activities and migration of the legacy data into the new production environment is performed, followed by the shutting down of the legacy CC&B and the opening of your brand new B&CC system to the public. You are now ready to start making unprecedented profits and to take your customer satisfaction to another level, using our state-of-the-art solutions and benefiting from our ongoing support and professional expertise.

Go-Live - From this point, your organization is ready to sell and offer products and services to the public. Even though the project has been “delivered”, MIND CTI will continue to accompany the customer with an “ongoing support” phase, to ensure that all involved sides are completely satisfied with the MINDBill B&CC system.


Summary


Summary Prepaid Challenges and MIND Solutions A major goal of the operators is to maximize ARPU. One of the major means is by promoting Value Added Services to subscribers. The challenge in a prepaid environment is the simultaneous consumption of Multiple Services. MIND’s solution is the Real-time Multiple Services Credit Control to prevent revenue leak. This enables a single balance for Voice, SMS, Data and content. Or alternatively a service wallet of Free units that are first/last consumed in addition to a common account balance.

An additional type is Roaming handling prepaid concurrent services consumption. This is circumvented by the MSCC communicating directly with the network element, e.g. GGSN, SMSC, MMSC, etc. There is a challenge for supporting of multiple protocols required for interfacing with different vendors’ equipments. MINDBill includes an intelligent, scalable mediation, including AAA and built-in quota management; with the option for interfacing to a legacy system.

Operators need to introduce marketing differentiation and this is achieved by the MINDBill flexible rating multi dimensional parameters.

Another challenge is promoting different channels to markets in order to maximize market share and penetration to many segments. This is achieved in MINDBill with the virtual providers model (MVNOs).

Delegate sales to dealers and resellers. Operators require supporting for various recharge options that sustains customer-provider relations. This is achieved using the user friendly and easy to use sales clerk application in the POS and Web CSR. The solution includes the Web-based Calling cards and voucher management for Web self care, USSD, IVR recharge.

MIND Solutions Differentiators • MINDBill is a convergent Prepaid and Postpaid platform encompassing functionality that includes

billing, customer care, mediation, provisioning, rating for multiple services. • A key differentiator is that the Prepaid rating capabilities are compatible with postpaid flexibility

particularly for volume discounts for example. • MIND deploys a proven platform product based solution with a track record for swift deployments

and the flexibility to tailor for customer requirements in a short time frame. Operators achieve a quick time to market by launching the system early to gain a marketing advantage and ROI.

• The MIND company group of veteran professionals has extensive experience in Billing models with a deep understanding of business processes related to the Billing. Our broad experience includes IT systems integration with Billing and many network elements.

• The MINDBill solution is a multi platform technology. The Open architecture with SDKs and APIs facilitates local independent customizations, extensions and integrations.

• MIND has a long list of interoperability with many network vendors enabling service providers unlimited selection of the best of breed to accommodate their operational and commercial needs.

• The MINDBill solution is scalable and expandable architecture with proven production experience. The MIND solution is based multi-layered architecture supporting real-time distributed processing, achieving performance, scalability and high availability.

• The MINDBill Product infrastructure is built on latest technology that ensures long durability for many years ahead as a sustainable development platform.

• MIND has developed a proven platform that has been operational for 12 years in Telecom operators Experienced in: Wireline, Mobile, VoIP, ISP and Cable. Experienced deployments worldwide references: Europe, Asia, Africa, USA: H3G Italy, China Unicom, Singtel, Moldova Telecom and more.

• MIND’s company culture is committed to our customers’ success providing excellent ongoing support to the dynamic needs of the service providers having to be in the frontier of the competition.

Summary


About MIND MIND CTI Ltd. is a leading provider of convergent end-to-end billing and customer care product based solutions for service providers as well as telecom expense management (call management) solutions. MIND provides a complete range of billing applications for any business model (license, managed service or complete outsourced billing service) for Wireless, Wireline, VoIP and Quad-play carriers in more than 40 countries around the world.

A global company, with over twelve years of experience in providing solutions to carriers and enterprises, MIND is a leading provider of telecom solutions for Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 n-play (multiple services) carriers that require a complete end-to-end BSS (Business Support Systems) solution.

MIND CTI Ltd. is a public Nasdaq traded company (NASDAQ-MNDO), that was incorporated in Israel in 1995 and started providing our enterprise software products in that year. In 1997, we introduced our billing and customer care software.

MIND operates from offices in the United States, UK, Romania and Israel with a headcount of over 300 employees.

MIND is a publicly traded company with transparent financial audited reports that are submitted and publicized on a quarterly and annual basis. MIND has been experiencing a continuous positive cash flow and profitability over the past decade. Annual revenues are around $20 Million. Revenues in Q1 2010 were $5.3 million, with a net income of $1.4 million and our cash position increased was $20.5 million on March 31, 2010. Sales in the Americas represented 52% and sales in Europe represented 33% of total revenue.

Appendix


Appendixes IN Call Scenario – GPRS Data Session with Quota Management The following scenario illustrates the flow of a GPRS mobile call with a recurring quota allocation procedure. After a number of quota allocations, the mobile user normally terminates the session.

27. GPRS session with Recurring Quota Allocation

The above flow describes direct dial mobile call with a recurring quota allocation procedure:

• Mobile A starts a new GPRS session 1. The SGSN sends an initialDP GPRS (Initial Detection Point) event which notifies the SCP of the

new session or context change Main Parameters:

a. MSISDN

b. IMSI

c. AccessPointName (distinguish MMS)

2. The SCP sends the incoming message to the RTS/Balance Manager which grants authorization with the time available for the call and instructs the IN SCP to send 3 messages to the switch:

Appendix

a. ApplyChargingGPRS – Two of these messages may be sent either for: limiting the time of the session of limiting the data volume of the session.

b. RRGPRS – Request Report GPRS This is used to ask the SGNS to inform the SCP whenever a new DP occurs, and in this case we will ask for attach, attachChangeOfPosition, detached, and disconnect .

c. ContinueGPRS – this directs the SGSN to continue call processing and connect the call.

3. Mobile A can now use the data connection.

4. Once the connection is made, a new ERGPRS (Event Report GPRS) is sent to the SCP to inform that the session has started

5. The SCP passes that info on to the RTS server\Balance Manager.

6. When the first quota ends, a new event of ApplyChargingReportGPRS (either volume or time quota is finished) to notify the SCP.

7. The SCP notifies the RTS server \Balance Manager which returns the next quota volume\time.

8. The SCP sends a new ApplyChargingGPRS request to the SGSN which will add the new quota to the volume\time left for the user. This can be done repeatedly throughout the call.

9. When the session is disconnected (for any reason), a new ERGPRS is sent to the SCP to inform it of the disconnect event.

10. The SCP passes that info to the RTS/Balance manager which in turn allows it to release the session.

11. Once the session is released, a new ApplyChargingReportGPRS arrives to the SCP which contains full time/volume usage data on the session.

12. A final CDR is inserted

IN Call Scenario – Mobile Calling with Recurring Quota Allocation The common IN prepaid call is a direct dial call. The following scenario illustrates the flow of a direct dial mobile call with a recurring quota allocation procedure. After a couple of quota allocations, the call is normally terminated by the mobile user.


Appendix


MSCMobile A IN SCP BalanceManager Mobile B

User Dialing

User Disconnects

InitialDP

ApplyCharging

RRBCSM

Continue

ERBCSM - Disconnect

ReleaseCall

ApplyChargingReport

Initial Quota Request

Quota Response

Call Answer

Call Disconnect

Release Call

Final Quota Report

Connection Breaks

Voice Connection

Quota Ended

ERBCSM - Answer

ApplyChargingReport

ApplyCharging

InterimQuotaRequest

Quota Response

MSCMobile A IN SCP BalanceManager Mobile B

User Dialing

User Disconnects

InitialDP

ApplyCharging

RRBCSM

Continue

ERBCSM - Disconnect

ReleaseCall

ApplyChargingReport

Initial Quota Request

Quota Response

Call Answer

Call Disconnect

Release Call

Final Quota Report

Connection Breaks

Voice Connection

Quota Ended

ERBCSM - Answer

ApplyChargingReport

ApplyCharging

InterimQuotaRequest

Quota Response

28. Direct Dial Call with Recurring Quota Allocation

The above flow describes direct dial mobile call with a recurring quota allocation procedure:

1. Mobile A starts a new call by dialing Mobile B.

2. The MSC sends an InitialDP (Initial Detection Point) event, which notifies the IN SCP of the new call.

3. The IN SCP processes the request and sends an initial quota request to the Balance Manager. After authorizing the user, the BM grants the available duration quota for the call to the IN SCP.

4. Then, the IN SCP sends 3 IN messages to the MSC:

a. ApplyCharging –Setting up the call timer for the initial call duration. Includes the tone field that is played 30 sec before disconnect. (only CAMEL3)

b. RRBCSM – Requesting the MSC to inform the IN SCP of an ANSWER or DISCONNECT events.

c. Continue – Directs the MSC to continue call processing and connect the call.

5. Next, Mobile A is connected to Mobile B.

6. Once the connection is made, an event report (for ANSWER event) is sent to the IN SCP.

7. The IN SCP passes the event information to the Balance Manager for preventing any potential revenue leakage.

8. Based on the initial RRBCSM setting, when the timer is about to deplete, the MSC will send an event report to the IN SCP.

Appendix

9. The IN SCP processes the request and sends an interim quota request to the Balance Manager. The BM grants the available subsequent duration quota for the call to the IN SCP.

10. The IN SCP sends an additional ApplyCharging request to the MSC, which sustains the call for the additional duration granted.

11. When the user disconnects the call, the MSC sends a new event report to the IN SCP.

12. The IN SCP passes this event information to the Balance Manager, which in turn instructs to release the call.

13. Once the call is released, a new ApplyChargingReport is sent to the IN SCP, which contains full time usage data on the call.

14. The information is sent to the Balance Manager for accurate and final call charging.

Diameter SMS Client Scenario

29. Diameter call flow

Mediation Call Categorization Call Flows Summary – Revenue Generation 1) Intra-Office (Ext-Ext)

a) Identifies the hierarchy relationship between the A-number and B-number


Appendix

b) Calls within the same site or branch

c) Non-billable and optionally filtered or flagged

2) Inter-Branch VPN (or closed user group)

a) Sites belonging to the same company

b) Special rates for endpoints belonging to the same company

i) Optional not charged - included in monthly subscription fee

ii) Or reduced rates

iii) Rating relative to Domestic PSTN rates to display cost saving

3) Onnet to Onnet: Endpoints belonging to the softswitch

a) Includes FMC

b) Apply reduced rates for Onnet calls

c) Optional filtering rule for “duplicate” inbound CDR

4) Onnet-to-Offnet (Outbound traffic): Domestic, Mobile, Intl’, etc.

a) Apply account charges and interbilling settlement charges

5) Offnet-to-Onnet (Inbound traffic): Apply termination charges

6) Offnet-to-Offnet (Transit traffic): Apply termination charges and interbilling settlement charges to both parties

30. Mediation Call Categorization


Date post:	30-Jul-2015
Category:	Documents
Upload:	solust
View:	123 times
Download:	0 times

Billing_wb-whitepapers - MINDBill Convergent Prepaid and Postpaid v3

Documents