06 WS TC2013NUE Revenue Assurance

Revenue Assurance
Active testing of sophisticated tariffs and roaming 14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany
Hans Banken Mathias Stangl
Agenda
Complex Tariff Examples Roaming Revenue Assurance Managed Service
14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany
2 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH
Tariff Examples
The challenge:

Markets become increasingly competitive, operators need to differentiate themselves Complex and fast changing tariffs are introduced and need to be tested.
The Answer:
SITE Revenue Assurance
Tariff Examples
Simple Tariffs: depending on service, time and destination
The Price Plan table defines a price per unit for:

a certain type of service (e.g. SPEECH, SMS, GPRS) at a certain time (e.g. off-peak, peak) to a certain destination (e.g. national, international)
Tariff Examples
Dynamic Pricing: e.g. step pricing depending on call duration

The price can be calculated by any function. The name of the function and the parameters can be set via GUI in the price plan table. New functions can be added by Keynote SIGOS at any time (no maintenance window required).
Tariff Examples
Bonuses after Top-Up: e.g. 20 SMS valid for 10 days after 30 EURO top-up

The Recharging Test Case writes a Top-Up CDR with the top-up amount to the reference CDR table This CDR is processed by the rating engine and the bonuses are registered and then consumed by sub-sequent CDRs.
A tariff function is defined for the tariff that adds the bonus according to the top-up-amount
Tariff Examples
Tariff Change when a certain threshold has been reached
A different tariff applies, when a certain threshold either monetary or in units, has been reached.
A Variant:
Monetary Cap: e.g. costs for calls or data are limited to a certain amount
Tariff Examples
Campaigns or Bundles activated by SMS or USSD
Campaigns are activated by the subscriber via SMS In most cases a 2 step dialog is used: subscriber sends a SMS to a service number. a response requesting a confirmation is returned. subscriber sends the confirmation to the service number. a response indicating that the campaign is now active is returned. After activation the subscriber has a certain amount of free or discounted service usage for a certain time interval.
Tariff Examples
Some properties of bundles
Bundles can include free (bonus) or discounted service usage for voice, SMS, MMS or data. One bundle may comprise benefit or discounts for a set of services, e.g. free SMS and discount for voice. Bundle usage can be valid for a specific interval, e.g. 1 day, 2 weeks. Bundle usage can be restricted to certain destinations or time bands, e.g. onnet calls from 20:00 to 06:00. Different round-ups or price units may be applied (1 sec, 60 sec). More than one bundle can be active at the same time. Priorities of different bundles need to be configurable, e.g. 100 minutes per 1 day has a higher priority then 500 minutes per month).
Tariff Examples
Implementation of bundles

The test case that activates the bundle writes to CDR similar to a top-up CDR. (Sub-) Accounts have to be defined and balances for the accounts need to be tracked by the rating engine. The price plan entries define the account to which a certain event shall be charged.
Agenda
Roaming Revenue Assurance
Roaming Revenue Assurance and domestic Revenue Assurance do have a similar scope, but each of them comes with their own challenges:
Domestic Revenue Assurance
Domestic billing chain:

Switch Mediation Billing
Radio
Customer Care
Function: - Collect raw CDRs - MSC, SMSC, GGSN, etc
Function: - Collect raw CDRs - Convert raw CDRs to Standard CDRs
Function: - Rate CDRs according Tariff Plans
All information is internally generated and under operators control !

Roaming Billing Chain:

Roaming Partner
Switch Billing
Clearing House
Operator
TAP3
Billing & Invoice
Your subscriber
Operator relies fully on information generated by roaming partners and clearing houses
Can you trust your Roaming Partners?

You Your Partner Your Revenue
Roaming
The Main Challenge when testing roaming: Make calls in the network of all your roaming partners you want to test
The Answer: GlobalRoamer and GRP 705 networks in 268 locations in 189 countries Scheduled GRQ test can be used to create the CDRs
What else is needed?
Typical Tariff patterns domestic:

Pay for outgoing services only Pricing not affected by the subscribers location
Typical Tariff pattern roaming:

Pay for incoming services (usually calls) Pricing determined by the subscribers location
The SITE billing engine is able to automatically detect that a subscriber is roaming and rates accordingly Roaming position determined according to 'Used Plmn Name'
call from SIM card "de xyz" roaming in "frxyz"
call to SIM card "de xyz" roaming in "fr xyz"

Generating CDRs out of the test calls:
Automatic creation of roaming position and roaming service type
How about incoming calls in roaming?
One Testcall
automatically becomes two CDRs:
First entry is incoming roaming call Second entry is domestic call

Calls are rated based on origination: Add the origination to the price plan table Incoming calls are charged: Create an additional reference CDR for incoming calls
Agenda
Revenue Assurance A fully managed service

Complex tariffs require

detailed planning more than simple adhoc tests test set-up and scheduling reporting & alarming in-depth analysis
The full managed service for Revenue Assurance takes care of it!
Revenue Assurance A fully managed service

Example Use Case for customer XYZ Fully test and verify a prepaid tariff function (domestic) Weekly Bundle
Properties:

If there are top ups with certain amounts, there is a discounted price towards certain destinations (top up tariff modifier) By sending an SMS to a service number, free units can be purchased (WeeklyBundle):

500 free minutes to on net destination Valid for 7 days max
If both functions are active in parallel, SMS tariff modifier has higher priority
Complex Tariff properties
Default prices:
When no top up is performed or when top up is performed with less than $20
Top up with $20,$30 or $50 changes the rating for 30 days for all destinations
e.g. If Top up $20 is performed calls with up to 600s to On Net and calls with up to 120s to Off Net cost 45ct
WeeklyBundle only affects On Net, runs max for 7 days and has higher priority
e.g. If Top up with $20 is performed and WeeklyBundle is purchased, calls to On Net are for free whereas calls to Off Net cost 45ct for 120s
Call Scenarios
Different scenarios are possible and must be tested
Test all thinkable combinations and edges
WB
50
30-30 30-WB 30-30
50-50
30
Df-Df 20-20 20-WB 20-20
20
Df
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25 days
Call Scenarios
Different scenarios are possible and must be tested
Test all thinkable combinations and edges

Consume 500 free minutes = Test if subscriber really gets 500 free minutes
WB
50
30-30 30-WB 30-30
50-50
30
Df-Df 20-20 20-WB 20-20
20
Df
Do not consume 500 free minutes = Test if the validity is one week
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 days
Call Scenarios Testing Plan
Test plan reflects several jumps between

Default Tariff Topped up with 20 $ Topped up with 20 $ + WB activated Topped up with 30 $ Topped up with 30 $ + WB activated Topped up with 50 $
Transform test plan into a SITE testing schedule
Execution of test calls
Configuration & intelligent scheduling of all tests
Surveillance of tests
Assuring that all planned CDRs are generated
Daily Reports to RAS team about testing situation
Instant alarms >> Re-execution of tests if necessary

Daily Reporting - Matching
Revenue Assurance Reports via email
Matching Report providing overview and details
Daily Reporting - Rating
Full Managed Service
Pre-Analyses of results as soon as exceptions have been detected
Regular conference calls to discuss results

Use Case Findings
Are there really many issues in telecom networks billing processes? Just testing over 24 days with a sample size of 468 created CDRs
>> Matching & Rating issues have been found!
Use Case Findings
Overview Matching Exceptions
>> 1 Speech CDR from live network missing

Use Case Findings Speech
Details Matching Exceptions
Occurred during WeeklyBundle Revenue Loss of 150 (5 blocks of 30 seconds free units) The call which created the CDR was a dropped call:
Call drop initiated by network after 120.18 seconds Reason: CC Disconnect normal unspecified
Overview Rating Exceptions
>> 10 Rating deviations on the end of the Showcase

In the Live network, the WB seems to be reactivated on 30th
WB 500 Free minutes consumed
Live network rates according TopUp 30
Live network rates according WB again
Live network rates differently for On Net Destination
WB
50
Rating Sigos Rating Network
30
20
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Prerequisites Full Managed Service
Just the following is necessary to start the service:

SIM Card with tariff provisioned Subscribers CDRs from the network (e.g. the bill) Information on the tariff properties
Do I need to own a SITE system?

Either on your own SITE system or on GlobalRoamer
The Full Managed Service is fully flexible!
Summary
Complex tariff can be tested
Automated roaming support
Full managed service: planning, execution, reporting, analysis
Thank you!
info@keynote-sigos.com

06 WS TC2013NUE Revenue Assurance

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Revenue Assurance

Hans Banken Mathias Stangl

Complex Tariff Examples Roaming Revenue Assurance Managed Service

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

2 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

SITE Revenue Assurance

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

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The Price Plan table defines a price per unit for:

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14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

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14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

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14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

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14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

8 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

9 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

10 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

Complex Tariff Examples Roaming Revenue Assurance Managed Service

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

11 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

Roaming Revenue Assurance

Domestic Revenue Assurance

Roaming Revenue Assurance

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

12 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

Roaming Revenue Assurance

Domestic billing chain:

Function: - Collect raw CDRs - MSC, SMSC, GGSN, etc

Function: - Collect raw CDRs - Convert raw CDRs to Standard CDRs

Function: - Rate CDRs according Tariff Plans

All information is internally generated and under operators control !

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

Roaming Revenue Assurance

Roaming Billing Chain:

Billing & Invoice

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

Roaming Revenue Assurance

Can you trust your Roaming Partners?

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

15 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

What else is needed?

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

16 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

Roaming Revenue Assurance

Typical Tariff patterns domestic:

Typical Tariff pattern roaming:

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

17 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

Roaming Revenue Assurance

call from SIM card "de xyz" roaming in "frxyz"

call to SIM card "de xyz" roaming in "fr xyz"

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

18 2013 Keynote SIGOS GmbH

Roaming Revenue Assurance

Automatic creation of roaming position and roaming service type

14th Keynote SIGOS Telecommunications Conference Nuremberg, Germany

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