Telecom Billing - Migration to new system

 

Telecom Billing - Migration to new system:

Data migration is the process of transferring data from one system to another, either by way of designing Loader or through Coding new technique.  It is necessary to map the data structure of both the system, so that Customer’s data is posted from one field from old system to the same field in the new system.   During this process, the data can be transformed, extracted, and changed in several ways, so that there could be billing without any error or complaints from customer.

Data-Centric Operations – The Need for Change

 Communication Service Providers (CSPs) vary in both size and type. From traditional facilities based PSTN carriers and cable operators, to today’s “facilities-less” Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), all have one thing in common. They provide telecommunications services totheir customers. The business for delivering these services is represented by data including that associated with customers, network assets, service definitions, and partner relationships. Datawithin the myriad of systems addressing the business needs in these areas truly define a CSP’s business. As such, the data must be current, reliable, easily accessible, and accurate. Shown in Figure 1 below, every OSS/BSS function includes a significant data component. Each one receives data, acts on it, and either retains the information or passes it to another system. A trusted data source of record and a continuous flow of “good” data through these systems is thekey to flow-through operations, OSS/BSS integration, and business transformation. A focus on data and information architectures that cross multiple OSS/BSS functions is particularly important as CSPs seek to support multiple services over multiple network technologies and to provide a seamless service view of critical information to their customers. As the telecommunications industry changes to accommodate an emerging IP infrastructure, increased competition, and multiple service offerings, so must the OSS/BSS environment transform to address new business requirements. Instead of thinking about OSS/BSS in the functional units shown in Figure 1, the growing importance of data to many organizations today means that service providers are now organizing around data or information architectures. As more advanced services evolve to take advantage of the new capabilities that both network and computing technology can offer, especially those involving real-time billing for content management, presence, availability, and call control, data migration 1 has become an increasingly important priority spawned by a variety of business needs including:

Industry Consolidation. Service provider mergers and acquisitions result in a single carrier with disparate data stores from formerly separate companies. These must be consolidated.· Information Sharing. Many OSS functional areas share the same information. Duplicating this information across functional silos promotes errors, produces inconsistencies in customer interactions, and breeds inefficiencies around maintaining multiple data sources since each is viewed as “essential” by the teams that are dependent on this data for addressing the needs of their work functions.· Single Customer View. Many operators are moving towards a single customer view of both subscription and service-level information. A long time data of the telecom industry but difficult to obtain because of legacy data consolidation problems, single customer views are becoming a reality due to their necessity in facilitating sales, marketing, service provisioning, and customer care functions in an increasingly competitive environment. To address these needs, data must be consolidated and augmented with new information to deliver a single customer view to the people that need it the most—customer support.  It is very tough task to map the data of old system with the data structure of new system. 

Real-Time Data Analysis. Real-time (as opposed to batch) data analysis is an essential part of some new services. Rapid data processing is needed for IMS, new service deployment, interactive usage, and some aspects of network management. An efficient, consolidated data backbone is increasingly critical. · Accurate Data. An OSS or BSS application is only as good as the data upon which it depends. Expensive OSS/BSS implementations fail when data errors, duplicated data, or lost data problems are not addressed during migration. · Efficiency Improvement. Utilizing Data Integration software and services will produce considerable efficiency gains. If data is represented at a high level of abstraction, then similarly abstract functions can be written to access this data for any OSS/BSS functional area. For instance, an abstract method might be to create, retrieve, update, delete, print, transfer, compare, or merge information. From one OSS/BSS functional area to the next, the format changes but the operations are the same.

For migration of major cities, which had about 76k Customers to be migration from Source system which has a system database of new system, a strategy adopted for migration of these circuits was per data available with their Source System.  A soft data was available with such cities, for last bill issued in respect of all 76k Circuits with single row for each customer.  This soft data was processed through SqlProcedure or coded software, internally developed by the IT Engineer and filled in the columns of billing templates required for migration.  A test bill will be processed for check up the accuracy.

New Service Capabilities: If data is stored in a standardized manner, then operations on that data can also be standardized. As new services are defined within next generation and traditional networks, they must draw on common data sources for several different business needs relating to service fulfilment, customer interaction, network inventory, services planning, marketing, and product/service management. Data must be migrated from an array of both old and new systems to address these common information needs. Addressing the issue of migrating to a data-centric strategy now, at the dawn of an age where data is retrieved, analyzed, and compared to current conditions as part of a “new wave” of real-time based services, will clearly separate those organizations that will attract and retain the highest-paying customers from those that do not.

New Customer in Waiting List:   If the customer is listed in the waiting list and paid the booking deposits for the connection, a migration strategy is to be codified so that on provisioning of the connection, the data of such customer could be created as per policy.  Stating that a data-centric approach to operations support is important to the organization and making it a key objective of any IT department is a good first step. Achieving the desired results, however, requires dedication to the end goal, time, and the right resources (systems and services).Additionally, proven processes for transforming data contained in soloed systems to an information architecture capable of supplying customer, product, usage, and other business-specific information, is critical to the success of any project and ultimately the organization involved.