Billing System

This figure shows standard processes used in a billing system. In this diagram, the customer calls customer care or a sales department and works with an activation agent to establish a new account. The agent (customer care) enters the customer's service preferences into the system, checks for credit worthiness, and provides the customer with a phone number so that the customer may make and receive calls through the telephone network. This diagram shows the billing system is divided into two parts; a front end (near real time processing) and a back end (periodic bill processing). The front end gathers call information as connections made through the network (such as switches) and uses these events create call detail records (CDRs) of the customer's communication activities. Each CDR includes the identification of the customer and other relevant information that are passed onto the billing system. The billing system also receives CDRs from other carriers (such as a long distance service provider). The billing system then guides the billing records to the correct account and rates the call using the rate tables. These updated billing records are placed in a billing pool. The back end of the billing system periodically combines records from the bill pool to create a single invoice that is sent to the customer. The customer then sends the payment to the telecom service provider. The payments are posted (recorded) in the billing system. History files are then updated for the use of customer service representatives (CSRs) and auditing managers.

Billing System Operation Diagram