Implementation of Billing System for x-play services of Telecom Operator with Resource Development & Management Process

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Implementation of Billing System for x-play services of Telecom

Operator with Resource Development & Management Process

Anel Tanovic

Department for IT development of multimedia services BH Telecom d.o.o. Sarajevo

Obala Kulina Bana 8

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Alvin Huseinovic

Department of Computer Science and Informatics

University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Zmaja od Bosne bb

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

[email protected]

Abstract: - Implementation of Billing system in Telecom Operator is one of the most challenging operations

that each Telecom Operator has to implement. This operation is particularly important if the Billing system is used for x-play services of Telecom Operator. X-play service includes IPTV, VoIP, Internet and Mobile Telephony. Something what is particularly important is to choose the right IT Service Management standard or process from this standard that is needed to implement this system. Most widely used standard in the telecommunications industry is eTOM standard and implementation of this system falls under the strategy and under the Resource Development & Management Process. This document describes the development of the Billing system for the x-play service of Telecom Operator by using principles of the Resource Development & Management Process. The conclusion of the paper should show how successful is the proposed model of Billing system after its implementation in a Telecom Operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Key-Words: -

eTOM, Resource Development & Management, IPTV, VoIP, VOD, Internet, Information system, Billing system.

1 Introduction

Enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) is the most popular standard for IT Service Management in the telecommunications industry [1], [2]. The process that is responsible for creating IT systems or services is called the Resource Development & Management proces [2], [3]. This process is responsible for the design and implementation of information system, Billing system and SAP system of Telecom Operator. The process gives instructions to teams and explains steps how to implement each of these systems that are essential for the normal operation of the Telecom Operator.

X-play service of Telecom Operator includes in one package a combination of these services: IPTV, VoIP, Internet and Mobile Telephony [3]. Formed Billing system should regularly collect information about users of x-play services from the information

system and information about consumption for each user from: IPTV, VoIP, Internet or Mobile Telephony platform (Figure 1) [6].

Telecom Operator, which development of Billing system is shown in this document, has a total of 4 packets of x-play service: Phone (it includes IPTV and VoIP), Net (it includes IPTV and Internet), Full (it includes IPTV, VoIP and Internet) and Premi (it includes IPTV, VoIP, Internet and Mobile Telephony) [5]. Services with additional charge include: VoIP traffic, Mobile Telephony traffic, Video On Demand (VOD), the using of additional TV channels (PLUS package), the using of additional HD TV channels (HD package), the using of an option of 2 STB's, Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) option and the option of restriction of VoIP number in the phone book [5]. Figure 1 describes all components of Billing system.

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Figure 1. Components of Billing system

The second chapter of the paper describes the development of the Billing system which is connected to the data that the system receives from the information system. The third chapter describes the development of part of system which defines price categories of x-play packages, additional IPTV and VoIP services, VOD packages, VoIP traffic and the traffic of Mobile Telephony. The fourth chapter describes the development of a part of system that collects data about consumption of users from network elements for IPTV, VoIP and Mobile Telephony. The fifth chapter describes the formation of the final table for Phone, Net, Full and Premi package without the included value of added tax and with the included value of added tax. Results of testing of the proposed model of the Billing system are attached in the conclusion of the work, after its release into production in a Telecom Operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Previous research that the authors have worked in this field is based to the improvement of the existing model of eTOM standard by comparison to ITIL V3 standard. The name of the article that the authors have written is: „Improvement of eTOM standard from the ITIL V3 standard“, and it is now in proceedings for the Journal of Global Information Management [9].

2 Implementation

of

the

Billing

system for data from the information

system

Tables I, II, III and IV show new tables in the formed database of Billing system that this system should get from the central information system of Telecom Operator [4]. Each table should include users from all 4 packages of the x-play service [6], [7].

TABLE I. TABLE PHONEUSER1

The name of the field

The meaning of the field The field indicates the price

USERID

The unique identification

number of the user who has NO

some x-play service

USERNAME The name of user NO

USERSURNAME The surname of user NO

USERPHONE The VoIP number of user NO

USERADDRESS The address of user NO

USERCITY The place of user NO

VODREGION The VOD region of user NO

2 STB

The parameter that indicates if the user has 2 STB’s YES PLUS

The parameter that indicates if the user has a PLUS package of additional TV channels

YES

HD

The parameter that indicates if the user has a HD package of additional TV channels

YES

MWI

The parameter that indicates if the user has an additional option of Message Waiting Indicator in his VoIP telephone

YES

PHONEBOOKPE RMISSION

The parameter that indicates if the user uses the option of the restriction of his VoIP number in the Phone Book

YES

TABLE II. TABLE NETUSER1

USERID

The unique identification number of the user who has some x-play service

NO

2 STB

YES

HD

YES

TABLE III. TABLE FULLUSER1

USERID

NO

2 STB

YES

HD

YES

MWI

The parameter that indicates if the user has an additional option of Message Waiting

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Indicator in his VoIP telephone

YES

TABLE IV. TABLE PREMIUSER1

USERID

NO

2 STB

YES

HD

YES

MWI

The parameter that indicates if the user has an additional option of Message Waiting Indicator in his VoIP telephone

YES

3 Implementation of price cathegories

for x-play packages

The next important step in the implementation of the Billing system is to define the price categories of the basic x-play service, additional services, Video On Demand service, VoIP Telephony and Mobile Telephony [8]. Table V describes prices of the basic packages for the x-play service, table VI describes prices of additional IPTV services, table VII describes prices of the Video On Demand service, table VIII describes prices of calls from one VoIP network to the another VoIP network or to Fixed Telephony network, table IX describes prices of calls from VoIP network to the network of Mobile Telephony, table X describes prices of calls from the network of Mobile Telephony to the VoIP network or to the network of the Fixed Telephony and table XI describes prices of calls from the network of Mobile Telephony to the network of Mobile Telephony too [6], [8]. In this prices are included prices of SMS and MMS messages.

TABLE V. THE PRICE OF X-PLAY SERVICES The name of

x-play service

The price of x-play service

PHONE package Price 1 NET package Price 2 FULL package Price 3 PREMI package Price 4

TABLE VI. THE PRICE OF ADDITIONAL IPTV SERVICES The name of additional IPTV services The price of additional IPTV services 2 STB Price 1 PLUS Price 2 HD Price 3 MWI Price 4 PHONEBOOKPE RMISSION Price 5

TABLE VII. THE PRICE OF VIDEO ON DEMAND PACKAGE The name of VOD package The price of VOD package Category 1 Price 1 Category 2 Price 2 Category 3 Price 3 Category 4 Price 4

TABLE VIII. THE PRICE OF CALLS FROM ONE VOIP NETWORK TO THE ANOTHER VOIP NETWORK

The name of calling VoIP network

The price of calling VoIP network

The same operator Free The state operator 2 Price 11 The state operator 3 Price 22

The state 1 Price 1

The state 2 Price 2

The state n Price n

TABLE IX. THE PRICE OF CALLING FROM VOIP NETWORK TO THE MOB NETWORK

The name of calling MOB network

The price of calling MOB network

The same operator Price 11 The state operator 2 Price 22 The state operator 3 Price 33

The state 1 Price 1

The state 2 Price 2

The state n Price n

TABLE X. THE PRICE OF CALLING FROM MOB NETWORK TO THE VOIP NETWORK

The name of calling VoIP network

The price of calling VoIP network

The state 1 Price 1

The state 2 Price 2

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TABLE XI. THE PRICE OF CALLING FROM MOB NETWORK TO THE MOB NETWORK

The name of calling MOB network

The price of calling MOB network

The state 1 Price 1

The state 2 Price 2

The state n Price n

4 Implementation

of

the

Billing

system

for

data

from

network

elements

Billing system has to collect data from network elements for IPTV, VoIP and Mobile Telephony and it has to contain the data about consumption from Video On Demand service, VoIP service and Mobile Telephony service [8]. All data are stored in the tables below and they are collected through the records that are coming directly from the central server of one service. These records fill below tables every 1 hour. Records from network elements are formed by internal scripts on the servers of these servers that are implemented to run every 1 hour. At the entrance to the Billing system there is a script that checks the validity of data and in a case of irregular data returns data to the network elements. Data from the network element for the Internet does not come because they all have fixed values. Table XII describes data’s that are coming from network elements and which are connected to VOD service which has an additional payment, table XIII describes data’s which are coming from the server of VoIP service and table XIV describes data’s which are coming from the server of Mobile Telephony [6].

TABLE XII. TABLE VOD

The name of the field The meaning of

the field

USERID

ID_VOD_CONTENT The unique

identification number of video content

VOD_CONTENTS_NAME The name of video content

CONSUMPTION_START The time when the video content is bought VOD_CONTENTS_PACKA GE_UID The unique identification number of video content category on which is based the charging of video content VOD_CONTENTS_PACKA GE_NAME

The name of video content category on which is based the charging of video content

TABLE XIII. TABLE VOIP

The name of the field The meaning of

the field

USERID

USERPHONE User’s VoIP

number RECEIVEDPHONE

The telephone number of user who has received a call

CONSUMPTION_START

The time when the call is started CONSUMPTION_END

The time when the call is finished CONSUMPTION_DURATI

ON

The time duration of the telephone call

TABLE XIV. TABELA MOB

The name of the field The meaning of the

field

USERID

USERMOBILEPHONE User’s MOB number

RECEIVEDPHONE

The telephone number of user who has received a call CONSUMPTION_START

The time when the call is started CONSUMPTION_END

The time when the call is finished CONSUMPTION_DURATI

ON

The time duration of the telephone call

5 Establishment of final consumption

for packages of x-play service

When the Billing system collects data from the tables described in chapter I and chapter III, and according to the defined price described in chapter II, then it can make a final sum of consumption for one calendar month [6], [7]. Tables XV, XVI, XVII and XVIII make a monthly sum of consumption by individual users for each package of x-play service. Table XIX keeps a consumption of a VOD service for each user as an additional service for IPTV, table XX keeps a consumption of each user for VoIP telephony and table XXI keeps a consumption of each user for Mobile telephony. Table XXII describes a total value of consumer’s price without a value of added tax, and table XXIII describes a total

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value of consumer’s price with a value of added tax and values in this table represent bills that each user has to pay.

TABLE XV. TABLE PHONEUSER2

The name of the field

The meaning of the field

USERID

The unique identification number of the user who has some x-play service BILLING

The total price of the x-play service and additional IPTV services for each user

TABLE XVI. TABLE NETUSER2

USERID

The unique

identification number of the user who has some x-play service BILLING

TABLE XVII. TABLE FULLUSER2

USERID

The unique

TABLE XVII. TABLE PREMIUSER2

USERID

The unique

TABLE XIX. TABLE VOD2

USERID

The unique

The total price of VOD service for each user

TABLE XX. TABLE VOIP2

USERID

The unique

The total price of VoIP service for each user

TABLE XXI. TABLE MOB2

USERID

The unique

The total price of VoIP service for each user

TABLE XXII. TABLE USER1

USERID

The unique

identification number of the user who has some x-play service

BILLING

The total value of consumer’s price without a value of added tax

TABLE XXIII. TABLE USER The name of

the field

USERID

The unique

identification number of the user who has some x-play service

BILLING

The total value of consumer’s price with a value of added tax

6 Conclusion

The process of testing performances of implemented Billing system is done 6 months after its release into production. Then the number of users of x-play service was 10.000. The number of users of Phone package was 7.000, the number of users of Net package was 800, the number of users of Full package was 1.900 and the number of users of Premi package was 300 [5]. Table XXIV shows the number of users who has complained to the bill at the end of sixth month and the number of eligible claims after an internal review for all users.

TABLE XXIV. THE NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS BY USERS THROUGH PACKAGES OF X-PLAY SERVICE AND THE NUMBER OF JUSTIFIED

COMPLAINTS The name of package The number of complai nts The number of justified complaints Phone 14 0 Net 2 0 Full 5 0 Premi 1 0

The total number of complaints was 22. Internal review for each user has shown that all complaints are not justified. All delivered accounts are entirely correct according to applicable tariffs for IPTV [5], VoIP, Internet service and Mobile Telephony [8].

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Testing of 22 users has shown that the implemented Billing system by the model described in this document is entirely correct and it can be used for further expansion of new x-play packages of Telecom Operator. Future research in this field will be based on the description of the development of specific services of Telecom Operator by the principles of eTOM processes.

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank experts from Telecom Operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the realisation of this project.

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