Metasite OpenBSS for telecoms, cable and ISPsSolution overview

From a business owner point of view, telecom billing does not have a great reputation:

§  Anything billing-related typically means slow, expensive and complicated.

§  Businesses usually end up adapting to billing, not the other way around.

§  Exciting and valuable business features are often developed outside of billing in peripheral systems.

Over 15 years of experience integrating large billing systems we came across many drawbacks of systems available in the market:

§  Billing systems are closed monoliths – with no easy way in or out

§  Billing systems tend to be developed by vendors who are not too interested in customers’ needs

§  Billing system internals are poorly documented

§  Billing systems are not modular and cannot grow/scale fast

So we have built a viable alternative.

Metasite OpenBSS is a convergent, fully-featured business applications suite designed to serve both regular mobile network operators, MVNOs, cable service providers and ISPs.

Solution has been successfully deployed in various configurations at telecoms and cable service providers in multiple EU countries.

The OpenBSS solution features a unified front-end customer servicing stack for cross-functional units and departments including CuCa, CreCo, BO, POS, Self-service, Dealers, Products and Services, Accounting, Logistics and Marketing. It also includes sophisticated BI modules built to deliver business-critical reporting.

Metasite OpenBSS is delivered as an open platform with SOA based ESB allowing integration with Network Elements, third party systems (CRM, billing, etc.), credit scoring organisations et al, and is based on scalable architectures tailored to fit operations of virtually any size. OpenBSS runs on Java EE 7 or later, accessible via any web-standards compatible browser.

Metasite OpenBSS An open modular business support system "for MNOs, MVNOs, cable service providers and ISPs

To learn more about Metasite OpenBSS, please contact us at hello@metasite.net "or +44 203 769 1721.

Metasite OpenBSS solution for MNO/MVNO Architecture overview and key integration points

Batch integration

Intelligent Network Platform

Balance management (OCS)

Real time unified rater Provisioning Bonus

Wallets

Data charging gateway RADIUS

USSD IVR VMS

Service provisioning CDR Mediation Service Signaling

Service Logic Execution environment

HLR BSC/Mobile network

Provisioning device MSC/STP GGSN/SGSN Mediation device SMSC MNO systems

Provisioning commands

Event records

Signaling B2B integration

Metasite OpenBSS platform Realtime integration

Metasite-delivered supporting systems Top-up networks + banking institutions E-shop Self-service Credit check Channel

1 Channel

2 Bank 1 Bank 2

Realtime integration

POS CRM Billing, Invoicing, AR, Collection

Campaign Mgmt & Analytics

Order Management

SSO and Access management

Payment Gateway

At MNO/MVNO Metasite OpenBSS suite connects to IN platform: §  APIs for real-time data exchange

(customer, product and service provisioning, etc.)

§  JDBC directly to CDR replica database (postpaid billing, BI, etc.)

§  Order management component for complex provisioning workflows

Order management back-end component connects to network elements for provisioning: §  Connects to third party systems for

real-time credit checks §  Manages automatic, human-driven

or mixed workflows §  Encapsulates and externalises

business logic §  Serves the role of integration

middleware for third party systems via SOAP API

§  Exposes a Web-services SOAP API §  Is configurable and extendable

MVNO client-specific Metasite OpenBSS implementation example

Metasite OpenBSS solution High-level overview

Rating Engine’s primary purpose is to rate the unrated CDRs or other network traffic types and to apply additional products (bundles, discounts) on the top of base rating rules. Main components:

§  Input file manager - manager of drivers for each input format (CDR file)

§  Resolver - input files normalizer mapping values to internal structure, cleaning duplicates and implementing data enrichment

§  Rating engine - rules-based engine which applies predefined rates

§  Triggering subsystem - triggers alerts to external systems when some counter exceeds predefined value (for example, credit limit is reached)

§  CDR storage Rating engine rates CDR's using tariff plans predefined in Product Catalogue. Additionally it stores subscription or account level counters for free or bundled units (minutes, SMS messages, megabytes etc.) and applies different rates until bucket limit is reached.

Rating solution use cases

§  CDR rating for billing §  CDR rating for reconciliation purposes §  Rated CDR can be used to test third party's billing system

and discover any inaccuracy or data discrepancy. Architecture

Rating system is implemented as stream-line process where records go trough all the components until they are completely processed and stored. Integration of components is being done using Message Bus. It allows to have horizontal scalability and to achieve a very near real-time billing in terms of credit limit update and billing events provisioning to the other systems.

CDR Rating Engine Part of Metasite OpenBSS

Billing solution is designed for large numbers of customers databases using data sources - rated or unrated CDRs, customer product and payment information.

Main components:

§  Payment Process Manager / Payment gateway §  Billing manager / Bill Run §  Invoicing module / E-invoice generator §  CDR Rating Engine §  Connection with product catalogue §  Connection with CRM Each component is designed as a separate application and can work as stand-alone service. All components can be integrated one with another and/or with the external systems using APIs. Payment Process Manager / Payment Gateway

§  Features a wide choice of payment collection channels: direct debit, credit cards, regular bank payments and other payment providers

§  Issues direct debit commands to financial institutions §  Automates encryption/decryption processes required by

financial institution §  Provides GUI for financial or other departments to monitor/

review specific reports and manage unmatched payments

Billing Manager / Bill Run

§  Billing cycle run - calculates usage charges and applies monthly charges, additional one time charges, post-rating discounts

§  Billing run validation - when billing cycle run is finished, generated charges must be validated. Process allows to confirm or reject generated records

§  Balance management/update - billing cycle run affects total customer balance. After confirmation it should be updated accordingly

Invoicing Module / E-Invoice generator

Module is responsible for print-outs generation in PDF or EXCEL formats: §  Generating e-bills for the whole billing cycle or selected

period §  Generating e-bills with detailed inbound/outbound

itemisation §  Regenerating e-bills §  Generating test e-bills §  Sending e-bills by email to customers or preparing invoices

for viewing in the online self-service system §  E-bill register and archive

Billing Part of Metasite OpenBSS

Customer management component – the central point for full 360 view and management of all subscriber-related interactions.

Main features:

§  360 degree customer data view §  Full orders history §  Full charges, payment, and balance history, invoice

overview §  Call history and details (CDR data: voice, SMS and data

usage) §  Contact and interaction log §  Debtor information §  Customer free text search by multiple criteria §  Integrates directly with IN platform §  Top-up management §  Manage customer accounts and related subscriptions §  Manage products, invoices, trouble tickets, payments §  Management of incidents through integration with 2nd

and 3rd level of support §  Presents the IN platform data in a highly usable and

simple form §  Number Porting Management

Customer Management Part of Metasite OpenBSS

Well-designed self-service system for end-users to order and manage products & services, top-up by reload voucher, debit & credit card, review invoices, payments, top-up and call details history, to review usage statistics and contact Customer Service.

Main features: §  Supports both prepaid and postpaid §  Allows ordering of products & services (mobile, fixed) §  Top-up & payment history, invoice PDF §  Call detail history (Voice/SMS/Data) §  Contact Customer Service (click to call / chat / email /

send request) §  Online top-up (by reload voucher, debit & credit card) §  Accessible and well-designed usage stats for customers §  Supports online sales and E-shop "

(up-sell, cross-sell) Integration points with all other OpenBSS Suite components – billing, customer management, product management (or any other internal system, upon request).

Online Self-Service Part of Metasite OpenBSS

§  Product – general product entity §  Product hierarchy – hierarchical relations between product

entities §  Product parameters – additional product parameters for

various products implementation §  Product selector rule – product contracting rule for

customer or account §  Tariff – entity holding product installment and periodic

charges §  Rating element (direction) – process combination for one

CDR direction §  Bucket – free (or alternative tariff) items counter Advanced marketing tools

§  Campaign management system §  Automated churn prediction and prevention system §  Advanced business intelligence

Product Catalogue

Product catalogue is designed for handling information about wide range of different telco and TV products. New types of products can be implemented using current structure with slight modifications.

Product Management Part of Metasite OpenBSS

We are offering 3rd party data visualization software Tableau – a leader in BI and Analytics market. Tableau is business intelligence software that allows anyone to easily connect to data, visualize and create interactive, sharable dashboards.

Talend Open Studio based ETL jobs for data transferring between OpenBSS ant other OLTP systems and data warehouse. Data warehouse is build using Postgre SQL RDBMS.

Reports and dashboards are created using the intuitive and easy-to-use GUI of Tableau desktop version. Reports and dashboards are directly connected to data sources. Once the desired reports and dashboards are configured, they can be shared via Tableau server for the interactive use or exported into MS Excel (xlsx), CSV, PDF or IMG files for static review.

When you build report in Tableau, your team can access it securely from any browser, tablet or mobile device. They can drill down and ask new questions by editing a view. Get answers fast in meetings, in the field and on the go.

Business Intelligence solution support

§  Software updates §  Database maintenance §  ETL support and updates §  Any new system integrations §  Any new types of reports §  Consulting and trainings

Analytics and Reporting Part of Metasite OpenBSS

Business Intelligence solution architecture

§  Operational data sources §  Talend-based ETL process §  PostgreSQL based data warehouse §  Tableau server for ad-hoc data analysis

and report sharing

Tool enabling direct sales and delivery with main features:

§  System for selling SIM cards, rateplans, handsets & add-ons §  Configurable rateplan, product inclusion/exception rules §  Error-proofed workflows – no mistakes made by POS user §  Checks in internal and external black-lists §  Activation rules (e.g. max subscriptions per account) §  Assignment of purchased handsets to contract via barcode §  Number selection §  Contract generation §  Order creation: customer activation, NP & SIM Swap §  ‘Park an order and pick up to continue later’ omni-channel

feature §  Allows contacting Dealer Support §  Can be used by different roles (retail shop, telesales,

account managers) §  Supports CPQ functions and workflows (provide, approve,

change) §  User-friendly sales process §  Designed to minimize number of clicks & steps §  UX similar to online shopping sites

Point-Of-Sale Part of Metasite OpenBSS

Digital telecom subscriber contract management system enables faster turnaround of sales contracts, reliable contract storage and immediate access.

Mobile app for sales persons equipped with a tablet and stylus for:

§  Scanning personal ID document (document does not change hands: customer holds the ID for sales person to scan)

§  Allowing the customer to sign the contract directly on the screen with a stylus

§  Generating a signed contract PDF document for e-archiving

Electronic document archive for:

§  Receiving and storing documents §  Supplementing documents with customer or contract

related metadata §  Providing reliable access to stored documents via integrated

sales, CRM and self-service apps §  Advanced document search options and versatile reports §  Enabling easy management of user roles and permissions

Integration points with all other OpenBSS Suite components – billing, customer management, product management (or any other internal system, upon request).

Key Benefits

§  Substantially shortens sales contract turnaround times §  Automatic customer data processing reduces input errors §  Dramatically reduces paper, printing and printer fleet

maintenance costs §  Simplifies contract archiving process eliminating logistics

issues related to physical archive locations §  No contracts or other important related documents are lost:

easy to keep track of contracts and correctly assign related documents to customers

§  Fast access to archived documents §  Positive impact on the environment

How it works

Prerequisites

§  Legal validity of digitally signed documents in B2C segment §  Devices with styluses and internet connection available at

POSs

E-Agreements Part of Metasite OpenBSS

Order management component – the central point for executing complex cross-system workflow logic (orchestrator) that connects to the relevant (3rd party) components for end-to-end orchestration.

Main features:

§  Order validation and decomposition §  Order status checks §  Provisioning across multiple network elements §  SMS notifications §  Manages automatic, human-driven or mixed workflows §  Order delivery to back-end system(s) §  Provides Order feedback to requestor §  Has a GUI that shows the currently active processes and

allows easy 'task' management §  Allows a perfect tracking of orders using a unique 'order

lifecycle' workflow §  Connects to third party systems for real-time credit checks §  Encapsulates and externalises business logic §  Serves the role of integration middleware for third party

systems via SOAP API §  Exposes a Web-services SOAP API §  Is highly configurable and easily extendable

Integration points with:

§  Billing/IN system §  Provisioning systems §  Logistic partners §  Internal & external credit checks §  Other OpenBSS components (CRM, POS, billing, product

management, self-service) §  Any other internal system, upon request

Order Management Part of Metasite OpenBSS

SSO and Access Management

The platform features custom built user authentication, authorization and session handling component (SSO) and user role / privileges management mechanisms applied in each of internal application.

The SSO module controls all of the system users. It allows users to create, deactivate or edit the system users as well as to manage their permissions to allow/deny access to certain parts of the system.

SSO component uses SOAP Basic authorisation mechanism based on username / password pair. OpenBSS components (POS, CRM, billing, etc.) use SSO functions to check user access rights to those applications, while user roles are managed and controlled in each OpenBSS application separately.

When user is logged into the system the implemented single sign-on feature handles user session management between the OpenBSS applications and allows the user to easily access another application if required.

Metasite OpenBSS Technology, deployment and support

Technology

§  Solution is build using Java technological stack and relies on enterprise-grade open source technologies, frameworks and libraries

§  Solution can be deployed on any operating system supporting Oracle JVM. For the optimal performance, Linux OS is recommended

§  Solution relies on transactions in RDBMS. PostgreSQL DB ensures transactional consistency and integrity of data

Metasite OpenBSS may be deployed on-premise or in the cloud.

Metasite can provide 24/7/365 support or hand over support to the client.

After launch, further customisation and development may be handled by Metasite or client’s internal IT team.

To learn more about Metasite OpenBSS, please contact us at hello@metasite.net

or +44 203 769 1721.

Aldas Kirvaitis Founder / BDM +44 203 769 1721 aldas@metasite.net Metasite Business Solutions 60 Windsor Avenue London SW19 2RR United Kingdom

Rimante Paulauskaite Key Account Manager / BDM +370 610 46311 rimante@metasite.net Metasite Business Solutions 5 Gedimino Avenue Vilnius LT-01103 Lithuania, EU

www.metasite.net