TELECOM BILLING TERMINOLOGIES/GLOSSARY

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Term

Description

24x7 architecture

An architecture that allows a computer system to operate

continuously with the absolute minimum of downtime. This
typically includes the ability to upgrade components of the system
hardware, software, data, etc. without the need for the whole system to
go offline.

access service request

A request made by one telephone company to another telephone

company to meet any kind of interconnectivity or data sharing
need. Abbreviation: ASR.

account

The entity that is invoiced.

account action threshold

The threshold value that triggers an external action as part of an

account threshold set.

account available credit

The amount used to determine if further authorizations can be

granted.

account balance

The total amount billed minus the total amount paid.

account credit buffer

An addition to an account's credit limit that can be used to

compensate for non-cash resource bundles available to an
account; for example, free minutes of telephone calls when
performing an authorization credit check.

account currency

The currency used for an account. All transactions on the account

must be in the account currency.

account number

A unique identifier for an account that can be either systemgenerated or entered manually.

account start date

The time and date that an account is deemed to have started.

account status

The status of an account that indicates which stage of its life cycle
the account is at. Valid life cycle stages include pending, live,
awaiting final bill, suspended, and terminated.

account suspension

A period during which billing should not take place for the account.

account unpaid spend

The account unpaid spend is defined as the account balance

minus total adjustments plus unbilled usage plus the total of
accumulated partial events.

accounting method

The method by which invoices and payments are handled. This

can be either open item or balance forward.

accounting period

A period of time, expressed in terms of a fiscal year and period

within that year, that can be used when exporting financial
information from Infinys.

accounts receivable

The outstanding balance due on current customer accounts.

Abbreviation: A/R.

accruals

This is the U.K. English equivalent to earned but unbilled accruals.

active account

An account that is live and can be billed.

adjustment

A method of crediting or debiting an account with an arbitrary

amount of money.

advice of charge request

A message sent from the network element to Prepaid System to

request information on how much a given event would cost if
initiated.

age of receivables

The number of days between the actual bill date of the unpaid
invoice and today's date.

agreement

A contractual business relationship established by the operator

with its business partners. The agreement enables the partners to
offer services to the operator's customers and to share the
revenue with the operator.

APMN

Stands for associated PMN.

application programming
interface

The interface callingconventions by which an application program

accesses operating systems and other services. An application
programming interface is defined at the source-code level and
provides a level of abstraction between the application and the
kernel orotherprivilegedutilities to ensure the portability of the code.
Abbreviation: API.

associated PMN

A public mobile network associated with a specified event.

Abbreviation: APMN.

asymmetric digital
subscriber line

A technology for transmitting digital information at a high

bandwidth on existing telephone lines to homes and businesses.
Abbreviation: ADSL.

asynchronous transfer
mode

A wireline protocol that supports data communication

withseparatebandwidthcontrolsfordifferenttypesoftransfer over data
connection facilities. Abbreviation: ATM.

audit trail

A record that is added to whenever a transaction with a financial

implication is made.

authentication

The process of verifying that a user is who he or she claims to be.

The user supplies a user ID and an authentication credential, such
as a password. The system accepts these as inputs and verifies
that the user is valid and has access to the system.

authorization

The process of verifying what an authenticated user is allowed to

do.

balance forward

An accounting method in which payments and invoices are

allocated to the oldest receivables invoice.

balance transfer

A transfer of money between accounts.

Banks Automated Clearing

System

A system for processing automatic payment collections and

refunds on bank accounts, credit cards, or debit cards.
Abbreviation: BACS.

BIDDS

Stands for Barclays International Direct Debit Service and it is a

system for processing automatic payment collections on bank
accounts

bill image

An on-screen version of a bill as sent to the customer.

bill template

A template used by the Bill Formatting Engine for producing bills.

bill type

A categorization of a bill based on its purpose, timing, and content.

Examples are initiation bill, periodic bill, final bill, post-final bill,
interim bill or credit note.

billing time discount

A discount that is applied to an event at billing time, changing the

cost of the event as written to the database. Billing time discounts

include pre-itemization discounts, tax discounts, post-itemization

discounts, aggregate pricing discounts, and banded discounts.
billing window

The length of time that the billing operator can generate product
charges in advance of the next bill period.

bundle

See package.

busy hour

The peak time for network traffic.

calling circle

A relationship between telephone users, who are modelled as

members and non-members of the circle. Within this model, a call
made by a member of the circle to another circle member might
be priced using a different rate to that applied to a non-member
making the same call.

Calling Line Identifier

The telephone line from which a telephone call originates.

Abbreviation: CLI.

CAMEL

Stands for customized applications for mobile network enhanced

logic.

carrier grade real-time

The instantaneous handling of actions, such as rating of events, in

volumes that meet the needs of Tier 1 operators. A carrier grade
real-time system provides the combined functionality and
operational robustness that Tier 1 operators require.

catalog

A set of configurable data specifying price plans and other related

information. The catalog's position in the catalog life cycle is
indicated by its catalog status

CDR

A record of a telephony event. Abbreviation: CDR.

Centrex

Centrex or CENTRalised EXchange is a service offered by telecom

service providers that allocates a section of a public telephone
switch to dedicated use by a single organization. It gives the
customer the functionality of a private telephone switch without
the need for in-house telecom equipment or expertise, and is
especially useful for small companies.

charge type

Examples: initiation charge, periodic charge, final charge,

termination charge, reactivation charge and usage charge.

chasable debt

This is the U.K. English equivalent to net receivables.

child product

A product the purchase of which is dependent upon the purchase

of another product.

collection action

An action that is to be performed when the receivables for an

account reach a particular age.

collection schedule

The series of actions to be taken as receivables become older,

that is, reach a defined effective age of receivables. It defines
which dunning action must be carried out and timing for each
action.

collection system

A system that is available for the handling of receivables. Each

collection action is associated with a collection system through
which it is implemented.

contact

A person with whom the operator has contact for a given

customer. Each contact can have a designated language
tobeusedinanycorrespondence, tohavecommunicationwith, etc. .

contract

A commitment from the customer to take one or more products

for a set period of time, usually in return for a cheaper price plan.
Contracts can be either fixed contracts or variable contracts.

contract term

The duration of a contract. This determines the date for

calculating early termination surcharges, and forfixedcontracts how
long the price is fixed for.

convergent billing

The ability to take any number and combination of products and

services and consolidate them into a single bill, regardless of the
type of product and market segment.

credit class

The credit category for an account or customer. It summarizes the

overall credit worthiness of a customer or account.

credit exposure

The estimated maximum potential liability of an account

considering all events includingpartialeventsandauthorizations that Infinys
is aware of. The credit exposure of an account is defined as the
total billed for the account minus the total payments received for
the account plus unbilled rated events minus total adjustments for
the account plus the cost of accumulated partial event plus the
outstanding amount relating to pre-authorized events.

credit limit

The total amount of liability that the Infinys operator is prepared to

allow a particular customer or account to have.

credit note

An extra bill containing all adjustments in the customer's favor

since the last bill was generated.

customer

A legal grouping entity for accounts. A customer can purchase

packages, subscriptions, and products that then are billed on one
or more accounts.

customer hierarchy

A flexible accounting structure used to represent the actual

structure of a billed entity.

day book

A financial report listing all transactions of a specific type that

occurred on a specific day; for example, sales, payments or
disputes.

debt action

This is the U.K. English equivalent to collections

debt age

This is the U.K. English equivalent to age of receivables

deposit

The amount of money held against an account in parallel with the

account balance, usually to offset possible failure to return
equipment, non-payment of bills, etc.

discount application

A discount application describes the type of discount that can be

applied to modify an event's price.

discount period

The period of time during which a particular event discount

applies. For example, for a discount where a customer receives 30
minutes of free telephone calls every two weeks, the discount
period is two weeks.

dispute

A record of a disagreement raised by a customer or partner,

typically in reference to a charge. An Infinys user may raise, track,
and resolve disputes.

dunning notice

A written notification that is sent to the customer of a delinquent

account asking for payment.

duplicate event

A duplicate event is defined as any unbilled event that relates to

another unbilled event in all of the following ways: the account
numbers are identical, the event sources are identical, the event
type IDs are identical, the cost center IDs are identical, the event
dates and times are identical.

early termination
surcharge

A charge generated when products on a contract are terminated

before the end of the contract

includingwhenthecontractasawholeisterminated.
electronic funds transfer

The transfer of money from one financial institution to another

over an electronic network. Abbreviation: EFT.

event

A distinct incident that occurs at a particular point in time and

which has event attributes that allow it to be rated. For example, a
telephone call, an Internet download, or the viewing of a program.

event attribute

A feature of an event that allows it to be rated, discounted, etc. For

example, a telephony event may have attributes, which describe
the time it occurred, the duration of the call, the number dialed,
and the type of call .

failed payment

A physical payment that has not been successful; for example, a

check payment rejected due to lack of funds.

final bill

A bill generated when an account is terminated to bill all

outstanding charges that are due. If necessary, it can be followed
by a post-final bill.

fixed contract

A contract where the price of the products on the contract is fixed

at the start of the contract.

foreign network operator

A network operator other than the Billing System network

operator. A foreign network operator may have an interconnect
accounting agreement with the host network operator that allows
events to be passed between the two networks. Abbreviation: FNO.

foreign PMN

A public mobile network owned by another network operator.

Abbreviation: FPMN.

general ledger

The accounting records that show all the financial statement

accounts of a business. Abbreviation: GL.

home PMN

The home public mobile network of a customer making roaming

mobile telephone calls. Abbreviation: HPMN.

host network operator

The network operator with which the Billing System operator is

associated.

in-advance tariff

This is the U.K. English equivalent to in-advance price plan.

Incumbent Local Exchange

Carrier

The term for a Local Exchange Carrier following deregulation of

the telecommunications industry. Abbreviation: ILEC.

intelligent network

A service-independent telecommunications network. Intelligence

is taken out of the switch and placed in computer nodes that are
distributed throughout the network. This provides the network
operator with the means to develop and control services more
efficiently. New capabilities can be rapidly introduced into the
network and easily customized to meet individual customer's
needs.

interconnect accounting
agreement

A breakdown of events to facilitate the reconciliation of outbound

interconnect call detail records, that is, call detail records for
which an invoice will be received. Abbreviation: IAA.

interim bill

A bill generated in addition to the periodic bills generated for an

account. AKA interim invoice

interstate call

A type of telephone call with an origin dialingnumber and destination

dialednumber within different U.S. states.

intrastate call

A type of telephone call with an origin dialingnumber and destination

dialednumber within the same U.S. state. State regulators have
jurisdiction over intrastate calls.

invoice

A legal document demanding payment for one or more product

instances, and their associated events, for a single account.

itemization

Detailed breakdown of one or more items of the invoice; for

example, a list of requested films from a pay-per-view television
channel.

late event

An event that occurs while a rating time discount is applicable but

is not entered into the Billing database until after the discount's
period of applicability has ended.

leased line

A dedicated line used to transmit voice, data, or video and

charged by a fixed monthly fee.

local number portability

Local Number Portability LNP is the process that allows a customer

to keep their telephone number when they change their operator
in their same geographic area. Local number portability requires
that service providers release their control of one of their assigned
telephone numbers so customers can transfer to a competitive
provider without having to change their telephone number. LNP
also involves providing access to databases of telephone numbers
to competing companies that allow them to determine the
destination of telephone calls delivered to a local service area.

local toll call

A toll call carried by the Local Exchange Carrier that is within a

Local Access Transport Area.

lockbox

A check processing service.

logical inventory

The intangible assets of a company. For example: IP addresses,

calling card numbers, and telephone access numbers are
examples of logical inventory.

long distance call

A call carried across Local Access Transport Areas by a long

distance carrier or Inter Exchange Carrier.

loyalty points

The points awarded as products are purchased and/or used. They

may be redeemed for goods as specified by the service provider.

market segment

An optional categorization of a customer, such as a senior citizen

or college student, that is used to filter and price available offers.
Examples: senior citizen, college student, AAA member, etc.

mediation

A process for retrieving usage records suchascalldetailrecords from the

network equipment.

MOC

Stands for mobile originated call. An outgoing mobile telephone

call. Specifically with a TAP file this is recognized as a type of TAP
event. Abbreviation: MOC.

MSISDN

Stands for Mobile Station International Standard Dialing Number.

MTC

Stands for Mobile Terminated Call. An incoming mobile phone call.

Specifically with a TAP file this is recognized as a type of TAP
event. Abbreviation: MTC.

net receivables

The maximum receivables that can be chased on an account or an

invoice, calculated using the equation total receivables minus any
pending disputes raised against the account/invoice minus
pending or exported payment requests relating to the
account/invoice.

network element

The control element on the network that is responsible for

controlling and metering events for any type of service that uses
Billing System to rate usage.

network operator

A body responsible for the operation of a network; for example,

the company that runs a telephone network.

nominal bill date

The date a bill created via the Billing Engine was scheduled or
requested to be produced. This may differ by several days from
the actual bill date if billing is run late or infrequently.

Number Translation
Service

A service such as an 0800 or 0898 call provider.

numbering plan area

The first three digits of a North American telephone number

referred to as the area code.

offering

The collection of items that is sold to the customer as a single

marketing entity.

operational support
system

A system that helps service providers manage computer network

problems. Abbreviation: OSS.

override price

A change to the standard price plan price for a product, defined

individually for a customer.

package

A defined group of products that are sold together as a unit at a

pre-defined price.

parametric product

A product that can have a quantity associated with it, so that a

customer can, for example, take 200 Centrex lines or 14 miles of
leased lines and have it appear as a single item.

parent product

A product that can be purchased without any dependencies.

partner account

The account that is created under an agreement and is invoiced

for charges that are specific to managing the account.

payload

The physical message that is sent through the Event Service to an

external system. Payloads are of different types, such as a class
name and object identifier, a name/value pair, or an XML
document.

payment authorization
request

A request sent to a payment authority bank, creditcardservice, etc. to

confirm, update, or cancel an automatic payment authorization.

payment due date

The defined period of time usuallyexpressedindays after an invoice is

produced, when payment of that invoice should be received.

payment method

The way in which the customer can make payment; for example,
direct debit, check.

payment request postprocessor

A post-processor used to convert payment request format files

containing payments into formats suitable for BACS and BIDDS.

pending product

A product that is not yet active

periodic bill

A bill produced at regular intervals depending on the bill period

specified for the account.

periodic charge

A product charge that is applied every charge period. Example: a

line rental charge.

PMN agreement

A roaming agreement between the Billing operator and its

roaming partners.

port in

The process of importing logical item identifiers, such as

telephone access numbers, from another service provider into the
Billing operator's inventory. A configuration must support ranges
in order to port in access numbers

port out

The process of exporting logical item identifiers, such as

telephone access numbers, to another vendor. A configuration

must support ranges in order to port out access numbers.

prepayment

An amount invoiced in advance of a particular date

forexample, theendofanaccountingperiod for goods and services that are to
be provided after that date; for example, pay in advance line
rental charges.

Private Branch Exchange

A computerized on-site telephony system, usually used by

business customers. Abbreviation: PBX.

product

A tangible or intangible object that is offered to the customer to

buy or lease. A product may be for continual service, equipment,
or for field work activity

product attribute

A quality or distinctive feature of a product that is defined by the

CSR during configuration. A mobile telephony product may define
product attributes for the MSISDN and IMSI.

product charge

A charge of a particular charge type generated by a product.

proratable tariff

A price plan wherein the charge for a product may be rated in

proportion to a part period at the start or end of supply.

quarantine

A period after deactivation during which a logical item, such as a

telephone number, cannot be assigned to a different holder. When
a quarantine has been applied to an item, the item is not available
for assignment until the quarantine expires.

rate plan

A plan that defines all the rules and parameters that enable the
Rating Engine to determine a price for a single event; for example,
a telephone call, pay-per-view event, or home shopping selection.

rating

The method of determining the cost for individual events.

rating time discount

A discount that is applied to an event at rating time, changing the

cost of the event as written to the database. A rating discount is an
example of a rating time discount.

real-time rating

The process of receiving and rating events individually or in small

groups, rather than in large batches. Real-time rating minimizes
delays between an event's creation and rating.

receivable class

This class is used to categorize a bill into bill receivables and to

assign a payment priority to each bill receivable.

refund

The monies paid back to the customer, either automatically

forexample, directlyintotheirbankaccountviaBACS or interactively
forexample, bysendingthemacheck. Refunds are treated as negative
physical payments.

reissued bill

A bill reissued at the recipient's request to replace an original that

may have been misplaced or gone astray in the post.

rejected event

Any event that cannot be rated. For example, this could be

because the event source cannot be found or the event record is
corrupt.

rerating

The action of recalculating the price of events at billing time,

typically to reduce them in response to event discounts.

revenue assurance

A check that no rated events are being lost, that is, that the
number and total value of events entered for an account are equal
to the number and total value of rated events that are billed for
that account.

roamer event

An event produced by the customer of a foreign PMN when

roaming on an Infinys operator's network.

roaming

A mobile telephone term indicating that a customer has made a

call, which is serviced by a network operator other than their home
network operator. This occurs when the customer is traveling in an
area that is not serviced by their home network operator.

sales agent

The personnel at a communication service provider who is

primarily concerned with driving initial sales to new customers.

service provider

The provider of a service.

settlement

A payment made between partners as a result of processing and

reconciling transactions in accordance with a partner agreement
and its revenue sharing terms.

settlement period

The period for which settlement amounts between the Infinys

operator and a merchant are reported on and settled for with
regard to a group of services or products.

shopping

The process of viewing available offers and selecting one or more

offers with the intent to purchase.

SIM

A removable module that is inserted into a mobile terminal

GSMhandsetorfax. The card contains all subscriber-related data, such
as access numbers, service details, and memory for storing
messages. Abbreviation: SIM.

SLA

Service Level Agreement.

SMS

'short messaging service' or 'service management system'.

TADIG error code

An error code used within TAP file transfer, as defined by the

Transferred Account Data Interchange Group. Error codes are
detailed in TD.57.

TAP File Export

TAP3 system process that creates TAP3 files for export.

TAP File Import

TAP3 system process that imports TAP3 files from a PMN.

trunk line

A long distance line that directly links two telephone exchanges.

unbillable

An account is marked unbillable when billing of the account

cannot be completed.

unit based rating

The method of rating events in which the duration of units and

price per unit can be specified and the event duration is always
rounded up to the next unit boundary.

V-H rating

A rating method that determines the cost of an event by defining

vertical V and horizontal H coordinates to the source and
destination locations and computing the distance between them.
Also known as X-Y rating, or the Cartesian coordinate geographic
model.

value added service

A communication facility for the transmission and provision of

additional features. For example, the ability to transmit stock
market quotations on demand. Abbreviation: VAS.

vanity item

An item identifier that is considered more desirable than others. A

vanity is an optional element that is associated only with
configurations that support ranges for logical inventory.

vanity mask

The numeric pattern or exact value of each format element in an

identifier.

vendor

The supplier of a particular product or service.

visited PMN

A public mobile network used by a customer while they are

roaming. Abbreviation: VPMN

voice over Internet
protocol

The routing of voice conversations over the Internet or any other

IP network. The voice data flows over a general-purpose packetswitched network, instead of the traditional dedicated, circuitswitched voice transmission lines. Abbreviated: VoIP.

volume product discount

A particular discount that allows customer loyalty to be rewarded

by providing discounts based on the number of events or product
charges that a certain product generates.

wireless

A telephone service that uses electromagnetic waves to carry a

signal, rather than sending it via cable or wires. Wireless handsets
are sometimes known as cellphones or mobile phones.

wireline

A conventional telephone service that allows voice, video, and

data transmissions via a network of wires. Also known as landline
or fixed-line.

write off

The disregarding of a small amount of receivables. For example,

this may occur if the currency conversion of a payment made in a
currency other than the account currency returns a number
slightly smaller than the invoice.

zero activity account

An account for which, during a bill period, no product charges

forexample, periodiccharges are in force, no usage thatis, noevents have
been attributed, no discount has been attributed, and no
adjustments apply.

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