Billing Systems
Overviow :
Billing Systems allow you to control and manage Internet use by generating user names and passwords for Internet users, and monitoring each Internet session in terms of duration, bandwidth used, etc. Then, the Billing System generates detailed reports allowing you to charge users accordingly.
It enables the service provider to take competition head on with instant deployment of innovative marketing activities through prepaid and post-paid packages and discounts, prevents revenue leakage and lowers costs. It also helps in the perfect channel zing of bandwidth based on subscriber packages and enables the service provider to maintain a continuous, reliable service, building customer loyalty.
Hence advantech provides the best in billing and management of ISP and SIP technologies.
Planning and Understanding Business:
Preliminary information about the business
Guidelines for planning & managing critical areas of business
Explanation on various policies
Business Scenario:
Options for Internet connection :
• Traditional Modem Dial Up – connection through telephone line .
• ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) .
• DSL (Digital Subscriber line)
• Cable .
• Broadband .
• Wireless Enhanced Access .
Possible locations for Internet distribution:
Hotspots - Cyber cafes – educational institutes … etc
Competition faced:
Because business applications provide productivity enhancements, there are specific sets of requirements like:
Reliability:
Business applications demand highly reliable networks. To successfully enter the local market and capture market share, service providers must deliver highly reliable access service.
Security:
Business applications have privacy and competitive implications, thus requiring secured access. This implies authorized users must be authenticated before accessing the network and a firewall has to be integrated.
Bandwidth:
Certain business applications demand huge bandwidth usage. Providing adequate and consistent bandwidth to customers is one of the key factors in improving the quality of service, gaining customer satisfaction, and as a result increasing business.
Business objective:
• Secured and fast Access
• Optimize Network performance
• Subscriber satisfaction
• Generate more revenue without compromising on requirement
Policies:
Policy is the strategy that specifies the Internet access duration and bandwidth usage for a User -subscriber. In other words, policy controls the Internet access of the subscriber.
Consider all types of prospective users and their typical requirements, before deciding on a policy. Primary objective is to define a policy, which includes all the necessary parameters that satisfies most of the subscriber needs.
Three areas that require concentration are:
Surfing time policy
Use Surfing time policy to allocate and manage surfing time of the user.
Surfing time policy defines the duration of surfing time and the period of subscription. The surfing time duration is the allowed time in hours for the User to access Internet. The period of subscription is the time period till the User is allowed access.
Access time policy
Use Access time policy to set the allowed access time of the user.
Access time policy defines timings or schedule for access and pricing factor for different time bands. It also allows specifying time band based discounts.
Bandwidth policy
Use Bandwidth policy to allocate and restrict the bandwidth usage of the user.
Bandwidth policy defines Guaranteed Bandwidth and Burs table Bandwidth. Guaranteed bandwidth is the minimum guaranteed bandwidth and burs table bandwidth is the maximum bandwidth that a user can use, if available. You can allocate bandwidth for a group of users, a single user, and for IP Address(s).
User:
For authorization and access users are grouped into seven types:
Administrator .
Manager .
Operator .
Zone Manager (Only if Zone Management module is registered) .
Zone Operator (Only if Zone Management module is registered) .
User – Subscriber .
Leased Line User .