ra fms overview

8/22/2019 RA FMS Overview

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Overview of Revenue Assurance

and Fraud Management Systems


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Revenue Assurance(RA)

Increased focus on RA due to

Regulatory pressure of reporting revenue

Increasing pressure to show more profit

Struggle for existing revenue management

systems to keep with technological

breakthrough(introduction of new network

elements in the network) Complex revenue management systems


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Revenue Leakage

Revenue leakage is the difference betweenrevenue supposed to be earned and the actualrevenue (actual cash) realized.

Causes of revenue leakage Incomplete customer records

Accumulated CDR errors

Incorrect rating

CDR late to mediation Corrupt CDRs

Failure to create CDRs


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Possible leakage points Signaling errors on switch

System capacity mismatches (Overflow) Misaligned processing or logic rules

Failure to activate or provision the customer correctly

Failure to track customer activity properly

Improper registration and management of network inventory

Mediation related

Failure to filter records correctly

Incorrect application of customer Identifiers

Incorrect formatting of CDRs

Dropped records

Duplicate records

Billing related

Usage beyond billing stop

Incorrect Call plans

Billing errors

Late billing

Over Discounting


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Possible leakage points

Collections Dunning Related

Failure to track old accounts

Misapplication of credits

Inefficient and ineffective dunning practices Failure to feed back the dunning lessons to Marketing ,

sales and product planning groups

Provisioning and customer service related leakages

Physical circuits not ceased when account terminated Over Provisioning

Improper update of customer status

Provisioning without notification of billing start


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RA defined

Revenue management Chain: The systems andoperations that are concerned with the directcapture ,processing and collection of revenues

Revenue Assurance: The process of guaranteeingthat the revenue management chain isfunctioning as specified Or

Revenue assurance is a business process to

detect ,probe correct revenue leakage, tominimize opportunity loss, to minimize/ avoidcosts.


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RA- Solution ArchitectureProvisioning

System

Others

AdaptersProfile

Adapters

DC Engine/DC BusDC Repository

Real time KPIs and Alarm

Analysis Engine Rule Engine

Analysis Server

Data Capture Layer

Adapters

Subscriber

Records

Subscriber

Order Status

Data Capture

DC Adapter

Reports Engine

IN

Postpaid Subscriber

Records

Third party

content

Provider

Content Usage

RecordsPostpaid Usage

Records

PMS

Payment

Records

Usage

Records

Subscriber Records

Rating Configuration

Data

Postpaid

Billing System

Configuration

Data

Interconnect

Billing System

Interconnect

Usage Records

Payment

Records

Usage

Records

CRM

Subscriber

Records

Network

Element

Usage

Records

Configuration Data &

Business Rule

Mediation Inventory

Management

System

Accessory

Details

CDR Adapter


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RA Functional ScopeThe primary scope for RA is mentioned below:

Subscriber Profile Verification across

Network Element

Intelligent Network

CRM

Post-paid Billing System

Usage Verification across

Switch

Mediation

Post-paid Billing

Interconnect Billing

Third party contents

Payment Verification between PMS and Post-paid billing system.

Configuration Verification

Network Element

Mediation

Interconnect billing

Call Testing System to verify rating output of Post-paid Billing System.

Configuration of Alarms and KPI Reports


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Subscriber Reconciliation

Subscriber Instance and Services reconciliation between CRM & Postpaid

Billing

The Purpose of reconciliation of subscriber records between CRM and

Postpaid Billing is

Subscriber Instance reconciliation Identify Subscribers present in CRM and not present in Postpaid

Billing

Identify Subscribers present in Postpaid Billing and not present

in CRM

Subscriber Services reconciliation

Identify Subscriber services present in CRM and not present in

Postpaid Billing

Identify Subscriber services present in Postpaid Billing and not

present in CRM


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Subscriber Instance and service reconciliation between Network Element

and Postpaid Billing

The Purpose of reconciliation of subscriber instance Network Element and

Postpaid Billing is

Subscriber Instance reconciliation Identify Subscribers present in Network Element and not present in

Postpaid Billing

Identify Subscribers present in Postpaid Billing and not present in

Network Element.

Subscriber Services reconciliation Identify Subscriber services present in Network Element and not present

in Postpaid Billing

Identify Subscriber services present in Postpaid Billing and not present in

Network Element.


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Subscriber Instance and service reconciliation between Network Element

and CRM

The Purpose of reconciliation of subscriber instance between Network Element

and CRM is

Subscriber Instance reconciliation

Identify Subscribers present in Network Element and not present in CRM

Identify Subscribers present in CRM and not present in Network Element.

Subscriber Services reconciliation

Identify Subscriber services present in Network Element and not present in CRM

Identify Subscriber services present in CRM and not present in Network Element.


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Fulfillment of new orders

Timely Fulfillment of new orders

The Purpose is to ensure timely fulfillment of

new orders without any delay

Identify the orders which are failed at

provisioning due to some problem

Identify the orders which are pending at

provisioning


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Usage Reconciliation Objective of Usage Reconciliation module is to reduce/remove revenue leakage due

to CDRs not transmitted successfully across Network Element to Billing System

Usage Reconciliation Between Different Systems

Following usage reconciliations are carried out in this module:

Control log level and CDR level reconciliation between Network Element and

Mediation

Control log level and CDR level reconciliation between Mediation and Postpaid Billing

Control log level and CDR level reconciliation between Mediation and Interconnect

Billing

Rated CDR level reconciliation between Retail Billing and Interconnect Billing

xDR level reconciliation between Postpaid Billing and Third Party Content Provider

Call type and specific destination wise control Log Level report from Mediation

Control Log Level Traffic analysis

Control Log level and CDR level Rejected CDR analysis at Mediation, Postpaid billingand Interconnect billing

Missing CDR file sequence at Mediation, Postpaid billing and Interconnect billing

Aging of rejected CDRs at Postpaid billing

Aging of rejected CDRs at Mediation

Aging of rejected CDRs at Interconnect Billing


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Usage Reconciliation

Control log level and CDR level reconciliation between Network

Element and Mediation

The Purpose of usage reconciliation between Network Element

and Mediation is:

Identify discrepancy in CDR count, MoU between files receivedfrom Network Element and Mediation through control log

reconciliation

For selected files,

Identify CDRs present in Network Element and not inMediation

Identify CDRs present in both Network Element and

Mediation, but have different MoU


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Control log level and CDR level reconciliation betweenMediation and Postpaid Billing

The Purpose of usage reconciliation between Mediation

and Post Paid Billing System is: Identify discrepancy in CDR count, MoU between files

received from Mediation and Post Paid Billing Systemthrough control log reconciliation

For selected files,

Identify CDRs present in Mediation and not in Post PaidBilling System

Identify CDRs present in both Mediation, and Post PaidBilling System but have different MoU


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Control log level and CDR level reconciliation betweenMediation and Interconnect Billing

The Purpose of usage reconciliation between Mediation

and Interconnect Billing System is: Identify discrepancy in CDR count, MoU between files

received from Mediation and Interconnect Billing Systemthrough control log reconciliation

For selected files,

Identify CDRs present in Mediation and not inInterconnect Billing System

Identify CDRs present in both Mediation, and InterconnectBilling System but have different MoU


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Rated CDR level reconciliation between Retail Billingand Interconnect Billing

The Purpose of Rated CDR reconciliation between

Retail Billing and Interconnect Billing System is: For Sample CDRs

Identify Rated CDRs for which operator is being paidbut subscriber is not charged.

Identify Rated CDRs for which subscriber is chargedbut operator is not being paid.


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xDR level reconciliation between Postpaid Billing andThird Party Content Provider

The Purpose of xDR reconciliation between PostpaidBilling and Third Party Content Provider is:

For sample xDRs

Identify xDRs present in Postpaid Billing and not inThird Party Content Provider.

Identify xDRs present in Third Party Content Providerand not in Postpaid Billing.


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Reject CDR analysis

Control Log level and CDR level Rejected CDR

analysis at Mediation, Postpaid billing and

Interconnect billing

The Purpose of this module is to identify the

CDRs rejected at the Mediation, Postpaid

billing and Interconnect billing due to wrong

format (addition of new field in the CDRformat) or abnormal situation.


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Missing CDR files

Missing CDR file sequence at Mediation,Postpaid billing and Interconnect billing

Purpose

To identify the CDR files Sent by Network Element but missing at

Mediation

Sent by Mediation but missing at Post Paid

Billing System Sent by Mediation but missing at Interconnect

Billing System


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Payment reconciliation

Objective

The objective of payment reconciliation module is to reduce/remove revenue

leakage due to discrepancies across different system and to achieve this, perform

reconciliation/verification of payment information across different systems.

Payment reconciliation between Payment Management System (PMS) andPostpaid Billing System

The Purpose of reconciliation of payment records between PMS and Postpaid

Billing is

Identify payment records present in PMS and not present in Postpaid Billing

System Identify payment records present in Postpaid Billing System and not present in

PMS

Identify payment records having different values in Postpaid Billing System and

PMS


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RA Runtime Schedule


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Fraud Management system

Telecom Fraud

Telecommunications fraud is an act of obtainingtelecommunication services and/or the

instruments, equipment or devices with nointention of paying for them or abuse of services.Fraudsters motivation is either to make money orto use services at no or reduced cost or to acquire

anonymity to mask criminal activities or obtainthe sheer thrill of challenging the telecomsnetwork security


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Fraud

Fraud is broadly categories as:

Usage Frauds: Frauds that are committed for the

purpose of using services without intention of

paying for them are categorized under UsageFrauds.

Subscription Frauds: Some subscribers obtain

subscription for services using false identity with

no intent to pay.

Mi FMS F i l A hi


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Minotaur FMS Functional Architecture

Suspect Behavior Alert

Candidate Fraud Detector & High Usage DetectorRules, Thresholds, Lists, Profiling etc.

Usage Data

Event Data Server Customer Data Server

Partitioning, Filtering, Validation

Case History Builder & Internal Alarm AnalysisAlarms Collection, Case History Management, Case Outcome Analysis

Case ManagerAdministration, CM Configuration, Investigation Management

Tickets

Reports

CaseO

utcomeServer

Fraud Detection Engine (FDE)

Fraud Analyst

FDE

Config

uration

Manager

Subscriber Data


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Possible Fraud Scenarios

Usage Fraud

Misuse of another Subscribers services

Misuse ofoperators services

Running unauthorized private exchange

Electronic device fraud Security issues

Usage data (i.e. EDRs) and usage pattern resulting from any such

activities is analyzed by FMS and input data is matched against

defined rule conditions and associated thresholds. Any deviation to

defined values / rules will generate alarms for the furtherinvestigations. There is no limitation on number of rules that can be

defined in FMS. As per the requirement user can define any number

of rules / thresholds


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Fraud Scenarios Subscription Frauds

Activation fraud

Adjustment in discounts or credits for a subscriber

Manipulation of credit limit for a subscriber

Change of applicable tariff plan

Incorrect application of payments Subscriber data anomalies between Network Elements and Billing

Removal of suspensions, adding unauthorized services/lines

Fraudulent Subscriptions normally result in very high or abnormal usage

of services. This is alerted through usage alarms by setting various rules

on usage data as mentioned earlier. FMS has functionality to build andstore the profile of subscriber along with billing information. It also

stores the profiles previously classified as fraudsters. FMS also evaluates

Log files from the various systems (if they would be fed to FMS in

required format) like the CRM and Billing for suspect activity as it also

profiled user / system level activities


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Resolution of Fraud Tickets

The Intelligent alarm Analysis (IAA) server, will generate a ticket based

on the SBAs, Behavioral History pertaining to the Services used by the

entity and scorecard

The Ticket will be passed onto the Case Manager Server, where it is

redirected to users with particular roles. Here the type of fraud, priority

and workflow is taken into consideration while assigning the tickets

The User / Subscriber Analyst with the appropriate role and privilege will

accept the ticket and classify it as either a fraudulent case or a non

fraudulent one.

If the ticket is identified as a non fraudulent one, the User / Subscriber

Analyst will close the ticket marking it as a non fraud ticket closure. Here

the Case Outcome Server will update the entity profile in the CFD by

adaptive feedback to neural models, rules and known fraud case

histories. This will help in increasing the accuracy while checking the

profile violations against the defined rules.


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Resolution The user / subscriber analyst task is to analyze and investigate each case and

then make a fraud or non fraud decision. It is general practice to have a set ofbasic questions which if applied will give the user/analyst an idea of what has

occurred and also the ability to quantify the problem being investigated. A

checklist of questions would be as follows;

Who is the subscriber?

New or Old subscriber , Residential, Business or VIP

What combination of lines/services are installed

Account history when activated, any bills issued, paid, outstanding,

unbilled

Subscriber details linked to BSNL employees

Any links to previous identified fraud accounts

Obtain contracts for further examination

Additional call/reverse analysis to identify if subscriber linked to BSNL

employee

Cross reference known fraudsters database


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Resolution

Not Fraud

Make a note of the concerns on the FMS, If the usage

pattern recurs it should be investigated further

Fraud

Make a note of the concerns on the FMS, even if finally

determined to be non-fraudulent

Take appropriate action such as call barring or

disconnection, in line with company guidelines

Subject fraudulent account to post detection analysis


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FMS Run time Schedule


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THANK YOU

ra fms overview

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