Contents

Title and Copyright Information

Preface

• Audience
• Accessing Oracle Communications Documentation
• Documentation Accessibility
• Document Revision History

Part I Pricing Concepts

1 About Creating a Price List

• About Price Lists
• What Is Rating?
  • About Billable Events
  • How BRM Rates a Billable Event
    • About Real-Time Rating
    • About Pipeline Batch Rating
• About Different Types of Rates
  • About External and Internal Events
  • About Cycle Rates
    • About Cycle Forward Events
    • About Cycle Arrears Events
    • About Cycle Forward Arrears Events
    • How BRM Creates Cycle Events
    • Benefits of Using the Cycle Event Types
    • Allowing Cycle Fees to Be Prorated
  • Applying Multiple Rates to the Same Event
• Ways to Rate Events
  • About Ratable Usage Metrics
    • About Applying Multiple RUMs to Rate an Event
  • About Rating Based on Date and Time
  • About Resources
    • About Rounding Resources
    • About Setting Rules for Resource Consumption
  • About Rating Based on Event Attributes
  • About Rating Based on Event or Resource Quantity
• About Products
  • Specifying Rates in Products
    • Specifying Minimum Event Quantities for Rate Plans
    • Specifying How to Round Event Quantities
  • About Organizing Rates in a Product
    • About the Event Map
    • About Rate Plans
  • About Product Ownership
  • Specifying Which Services Are Rated by a Product
  • About Specifying the Events to Rate in a Product
  • Specifying Product Types
  • Specifying General Product Information
    • Defining How Many Products a Customer Can Purchase
    • Restricting When a Product Is Available
    • Specifying Product Priority
    • Rating Based on Product Provisioning
    • Providing Deal-Level Discounts
• About Deals
  • About the Best Pricing Configuration
    • About Base Deals
    • About Alternate Deals
    • An Example of Best Pricing Calculation
  • Purchasing Deals after an Account Is Created
  • Providing Discounts with Deals
    • Prohibiting, Allowing, and Requiring Deal Modification
  • About Product and Discount Validity Periods
    • Setting the Effective Periods of Products and Discounts
    • About Effective Periods That Start on First Usage
  • About Product and Discount Status at Purchase
  • Assigning Services to Deals
  • Using Deals to Bill Customers on Demand
  • About Deal Dependencies
  • Strategies for Creating Deals
  • Using Deals across Time Zones
• About Plans
  • About Applying Credit Limits to Resources
    • About Credit Thresholds and Credit Floors
    • Credit Limit and Floor Options
  • Tracking Resources by Service
  • Grouping Services by Subscription
  • Creating CSR Plans
  • Using Plans to Bill Customers on Demand
  • Strategies for Creating Plans
  • Transitioning between Plans
• About Plan Lists
  • About the Default and CSR Plan Lists
• About Offer Profiles
• Price List Example
• About Setting Up a Price List
  • Prerequisites for Creating a Price List
  • Planning Your Price List
  • About Using Pricing Center
    • Who Uses Pricing Center?
    • Example of Using Pricing Center
• Making Changes to Your Price List
  • Deleting Products
  • Logging Changes to Price Lists
• Ensuring Price List Consistency
• Troubleshooting a Price List
• Displaying Price List Elements
• Creating a Price List with the XML Pricing Interface
• Common Price List Solutions
  • Providing Free Hours
  • Deleting Unused Free Hours
  • Charging for Canceling a Product
  • Charging a Discounted Purchase Fee Based on Date of Purchase
  • Creating a ”Third-Month Free” Rate
  • Creating Discounts Based on Usage
  • Creating Products for Administrative Events
• Advanced Rating Features
  • Charging Cycle Forward Fees in Advance
    • Example: Charging Cycle Forward Fees in Advance for Monthly Cycle Fees
    • Example: Charging Cycle Forward Fees in Advance for Quarterly Cycle Fees
  • About Charging for Administrative Events
  • About Using Product-Level Provisioning to Configure Services
  • About Remittance
  • About Custom Event Analysis
  • Setting Optional Rating Flags

2 Understanding the Sample Pricing Plans

• About the Sample Plans
  • Purpose of the Sample Plans
  • Looking at the Sample Plans
    • Opening an IPL Price List File
    • Opening an XML Price List File
• Descriptions of the Sample Plans
  • Plans for Internet Service Providers
    • Plan 1 – Measured Web Access with Discounts
    • Plan 2 – Unlimited Web Access with Discounts
    • Plan 3 – Unlimited Internet Service with Recurring Discounts
• Re-Creating the Sample Plans
  • Overview of Creating a Pricing Plan
  • Plans for Internet Service Providers
    • Re-Creating Plan 1 – Measured Web Access with Discounts
    • Re-Creating Plan 2 – Unlimited Web Access with Discounts
    • Re-Creating Plan 3 – Unlimited Internet Service with Recurring Discounts
• Descriptions of the Advanced Sample Plans
  • ASP User Profile Plan
    • Concepts Illustrated
    • Customization Required for the ASP User Profile Plan
    • Structure of the ASP User Profile Plan
    • Questions about the Plan
  • Audio/Video Plan
    • Concepts Illustrated
    • Customization Required for the Audio/Video Plan
    • Structure of the Audio/Video Plan
    • Questions about the Plan
  • Customer Service Plan
    • Concepts Illustrated
    • Customization Required for the Customer Service Plan
    • Structure of the Customer Service Plan
    • Questions about the Plan
  • IP Limited Access Plan
    • Concepts Illustrated
    • Customization Required for the IP Limited Access Plan
    • Structure of the IP Limited Access Plan
    • Questions about the Plan
  • Online Articles Plan
    • Concepts Illustrated
    • Customization Required for the Online Articles Plan
    • Structure of the Online Articles Plan
    • Questions about the Plan
  • T1Access Plan
    • Concepts Illustrated
    • Customization Required for the T1 Access Plan
    • Structure of the T1 Access Plan
    • Questions about the Plan
  • Web Hosting Plan
    • Concepts Illustrated
    • Customization Required for the Web Hosting Plan
    • Structure of the Web Hosting Plan
    • Questions about the Plan

Part II Setting Up Pricing

3 Setting Up Price List Data

• About Configuring Price List Data
• Setting Up Resources
  • Setting Up Resources for Real-Time Rating
  • Setting Up Pipeline Manager Resources
    • Defining Currencies
    • Defining a Resource
    • Defining Currency Exchange Rates
  • Mapping Pipeline Manager Currencies and Real-Time Rating Currencies
• Setting Up Offer Profiles
• About Resource Rounding
  • About Rounding Rules
  • How BRM Applies Rounding
    • About Rounding and A/R Actions
    • About Rounding Billed and Unbilled Items
  • About Rounding for Specific Event Types
  • About Rounding Aggregation Counter Resources for Discounting
  • About G/L Report Rounding
  • About Rounding Modes
    • About Rounding Modes That Correct for Loss of Precision
  • When Rounding Is Not Applied
• Configuring Resource Rounding
  • About Configuring Rounding Rules
    • Prioritizing Rounding Rules
    • About Rounding Mode Values
  • Configuring Rounding Rules
  • Configuring Rounding Rules for Aggregation Counter Resources
    • About Rounding Modes for Discount Expressions
  • Configuring to Record Rounding Differences in the G/L
    • Defining a G/L ID for Rounding Differences
    • Mapping the Rounding G/L ID to an Event
    • Configuring BRM to Record Rounding Differences
  • Setting Up Rounding in Pipeline Manager
    • About Configuring the FCT_Rounding Module
    • About Rounding Rules in Price Models
    • Avoiding Rounding Conflicts in Pipeline Manager
  • Rounding Examples
    • Correcting for Precision Loss When Rounding Down
    • Rounding Using Different Modes
  • Modifying a Rounding Rule
• Setting Up Ratable Usage Metrics (RUMs)
  • About Setting Up Rums for Real-Time Rating
    • Creating Ratable Usage Metrics
  • Setting Up Pipeline Ratable Usage Metric (RUM) Groups
    • About Defining Units of Measurement (UoMs)
    • About Defining Ratable Usage Metrics (RUMs)
    • About Defining a RUM Group
    • Converting Units of Measurement
• Mapping Event Types to RUMs
• Mapping Event Types to Services
• About Tracking Resources in Account Sub-Balances
  • About Non-Currency Sub-Balances
  • How Resources in Validity-Based Sub-Balances Are Updated
    • Configuring Time-Stamp Rounding for Validity Period Start Times
    • About Non-Currency Sub-Balances That Start on First Usage
  • About Configuring Sub-Balances
    • About Sub-Balance Contributors
    • Retrieving and Updating Sub-Balances
  • Configuring Sub-Balances
    • Editing the pin_sub_bal_contributor File
    • Running the load_pin_sub_bal_contributor Utility
  • Sub-Balance Configuration Example
    • Sub-Balances per Service Example
• Specifying the Order in Which Resource Sub-Balances Are Consumed
  • How BRM Applies Consumption Rules
    • How Batch Rating Applies Consumption Rules
    • How Real-Time Rating Applies Consumption Rules
  • Setting Resource Consumption Rules
    • Setting Consumption Rules in Your Price Plans
    • Setting Systemwide Consumption Rules for Each Resource
    • Setting the Default Consumption Rule
    • Modifying Resource Consumption Rules
• About Rollovers
  • About Rollover Resource Sub-Balances
  • When Rollover Events Occur
  • Deleting Expired Sub-Balances
  • Rollover Example
  • About Rolling Over Resources That Expire in Midcycle
  • Prorating Rollover Resources
• About Rolling Over Free Resources during Plan Transition

4 Policy-Driven Charging

• About Policy-Driven Charging in BRM
• About Setting Up Policy-Driven Charging
• How Policy-Driven Charging Works
• About Notifications Related to Offer Profiles Sent by BRM
• Configuring Your BRM Environment to Support Policy-Driven Charging of Services
• About Setting Up and Managing Offer Profiles
  • About Using New Resource IDs in Your Offer Profiles
  • Configuring Offer Profile Data
  • Managing Offer Profile Data
    • Storing Offer Profile Data
      • Loading Modified Offer Profiles in the Interactive Mode
    • Retrieving Offer Profiles
    • Modifying Offer Profiles
    • Deleting Offer Profiles
• About Configuring Resources for Tracking by BRM
• Configuring Event Notification for Policy-Driven Charging
  • Merging the Policy-Driven Event Notification List with the BRM Event Notification List
    • Verifying That Policy-Driven Charging Event Notification List Entries Are Enabled
    • Merging Event Notification Lists
    • Loading the Updated Event Notification File into the BRM Database
• Enabling Enterprise Applications to Handle Policy-Driven Charging Events
  • Verifying That BRM Is Integrated with Your Enterprise Applications
  • Enabling Enterprise Applications to Process Policy-Driven Charging Events
    • Setting Up One Payload Configuration File
  • Specifying the Payload Configuration File to Use
• Updating Reservation Preferences Configuration for Policy-Driven Charging
  • Updating Reservation Preferences Configuration Settings for Resources
  • Loading Reservation Preferences for Policy-Driven Charging
• Updating the Connection Manager for Policy-Driven Charging
  • About Configuring the Required Memory for Offer Profiles Cache
  • About Referencing Offer Profile Related Variables in pin.conf Files
  • Updating the pin.conf Configuration File for Offer Profiles
• Customizing Information Received from BRM
  • About the PCM_OP_BAL_APPLY_MULTI_BAL_IMPACTS Opcode
  • About the PCM_OP_BAL_POL_APPLY_MULTI_BAL_IMPACTS Policy Opcode
    • How Balances Are Processed for Out-of-Session Notifications
    • How Balances Are Processed for Notifications for Prepaid Sessions
    • Customizing Information in Offer Profile Threshold Breach Notifications
  • About the PCM_OP_OFFER_PROFILE_CHECK_POLICY_THRESHOLD Opcode
    • Determining Whether Balance Impacts Trigger Notifications
    • Readjusting Quotas for Requests to Update and Authorize
    • Readjusting Quotas for Other AAA Requests
  • About the PCM_OP_TCF_AAA_GET_SUBSCRIBER_PROFILE Opcode
    • Customizing Information Received from BRM
  • About the PCM_OP_ACT_POL_EVENT_NOTIFY Policy Opcode
    • Customizing Information in Event Notifications for Policy-Driven Charging
• Managing Offer Profiles with Opcodes
  • Managing Offer Profile Data with Price List Opcodes
    • Creating, Modifying, and Deleting Offer Profiles with PCM_OP_PRICE_SET_PRICE_LIST
    • Retrieving Offer Profiles with PCM_OP_PRICE_GET_PRICE_LIST
  • Managing Offer Profiles with Offer Profile Opcodes
    • About the PCM_OP_OFFER_PROFILE_SET_OFFER_PROFILE Opcode
• Customizing Subscriber Preferences Data for Policy-Driven Charging
• Customizing Business Events Associated with Policy-Driven Charging
• Sample Threshold Breach Notification

5 Working with Provisioning Tags

• About Provisioning Tags
  • Deciding Which Provisioning Tag Method to Use
• Using the Provisioning Tag Framework
  • Configuring Provisioning Tags
    • Specifying an Opcode in a Provisioning Tag to Create an ERA
    • Variables for Parameter Values
    • Default Provisioning Tag
    • Using Custom Opcodes
  • Configuring Provisioning Tags for Policy-Driven Charging
    • About the Default Provisioning Tag Provided by BRM
    • Collecting Data for Provisioning Tags
    • Configuring Provisioning Tags for Offer Profiles
  • Modifying Provisioning Tags
  • Loading Provisioning Tag Configurations
  • Loading Provisioning Tags for Policy-Driven Charging
  • Modifying and Compiling the Provisioning Policy Source File
  • Using a Policy Source File to Set Up Provisioning
  • Sample Provisioning Tag XML File
• Default Provisioning Tag for Policy-Driven Charging

6 Working with Extended Rating Attributes

• About Extended Rating Attributes
  • About Multiple ERA Lists
  • About Configuring ERAs in Customer Center
  • About Sharing ERAs
• Creating ERAs
• Creating Friends and Family ERAs
  • Sample Friends and Family Provisioning Tag
• Using ERAs with Multiple Lists
  • Using Model Selectors for ERAs
  • Using Rate Plan Selectors for ERAs
• About Rating Based on Friends and Family ERAs
  • Real-Time Rating for Friends and Family ERAs
    • Prioritizing Rates for ERAs in Real-Time Rating
    • Customizing Real-Time Rating for Friends and Family ERAs
  • Pipeline Rating for Friends and Family ERAs
    • Prioritizing Rates and Discounts for ERAs in Pipeline Rating
    • Improving Pipeline Rating Performance for Events with ERAs
    • Customizing Pipeline Rating for Friends and Family ERAs
• Customizing ERA Names and Descriptions for Client Applications
  • Creating Names and Descriptions for ERAs Defined in the Provisioning Tag Framework

7 Rating Implementation and Customization

• How Rating Works
  • How BRM Rates and Records Usage Events
    • Specifying the Rating Mode
    • FM Rate Opcodes Called by PCM_OP_ACT_USAGE
  • Generating Ratable Usage Metrics
  • About Calculating the Maximum Available Usage
  • About Currency Conversion
  • About Applying Cycle Forward Fees
  • About Applying Cycle Arrears Fees
  • Customizing the Cycle Interval for Products
  • About Restricting the End Time of Granted Resources That Start on First Usage
    • Configuring Real-Time Rating to Restrict Resource Validity End Time
  • About Applying Folds
    • About Applying Folds Only For Account-Level Products
    • Customizing How Folds Are Applied
    • Customizing the Order to Apply Folds
    • Specifying Which Resources to Fold
    • Customizing Which Resources to Fold When Products Are Canceled
  • Assigning Rate Plans and Impact Categories to Events
  • Rating an Event Based on Extended Rating Attributes
  • Modifying Rated Events
  • Customizing How to Calculate RUMs
  • Rating and Recording Activity Events
• Managing Sessions
  • Starting Sessions
  • Recording the Start of a Session
  • Updating a Session Event
  • Recording the End of a Session
  • Rating and Recording Session Events
  • Loading Sessions in Real Time
• Managing Price Lists
  • Committing Price List Data to the BRM Database
  • Retrieving Price List Data from the BRM Database
• Managing Individual Pricing Objects
  • Managing /product Objects
    • Managing the Validity Period of Granted Resources
    • Customizing How to Create and Delete Products
    • Using Opcodes to Customize Products
  • Managing /discount Objects
    • Creating /discount Objects
    • Creating Pipeline Discount Models
    • Modifying /discount Objects
    • Deleting /discount Objects
    • Customizing /discount Objects
    • Retrieving Discount Data
  • Managing /deal Objects
    • Specifying Relative Start and End Times for Products and Discounts in a Deal
    • Storing Start and End Times for Products and Discounts in a Deal
    • Customizing How to Create and Delete Deals
  • Managing /plan Objects
  • Managing /dependency Objects
    • Flist /dependency Arrays
    • Customizing How to Create and Delete Dependencies
  • Managing /transition Objects
    • Customizing How to Create and Delete Transitions
  • Managing /group/plan_list Objects
  • Managing /sponsorship Objects
• Managing Filter Sets
  • Creating Filter Sets
  • Updating Filter Sets
  • Deleting Filter Sets

8 Testing Your Price List

• About Using a Test Database
• Creating Test Accounts
• Generating Test Account Activity
  • Running sample_act
  • Checking Results of Running sample_act
• Advancing the Date
  • Setting Up the pin_virtual_time Utility
  • Running pin_virtual_time
  • Stopping and Starting BRM
• Generating a Test Invoice
• Example Price List Test

9 Using the XML Pricing Interface to Create a Price List

• About Creating and Modifying Price List Files
• About the XML Pricing Interface
  • About Downloading and Loading XML Price List Files
  • Prerequisites for the XML Pricing Interface
• Starting the XML Pricing Interface
  • Getting Help for the XML Pricing Interface
  • Working in Interactive and Non-Interactive Mode
• Creating Price Lists with the XML Pricing Interface
• Modifying Existing Price Lists with the XML Pricing Interface
• Moving a Price List between Databases with the XML Pricing Interface
• Downloading Price Lists from the Database with the XML Pricing Interface
  • Downloading a Full Price List
  • Downloading a Subset of the Price List
  • Downloading Price Lists in Batches
• Loading a Price List into the Database with the XML Pricing Interface
• Purging Price Lists from the BRM Database
  • Purging the Entire Price List from the BRM Database
  • Deleting a Subset of the Price List from the BRM Database
  • Deleting Pricing Objects from the BRM Database
  • Purging Dependency or Transition Objects from the BRM Database

10 Migrating Price List Data from Legacy Databases

• About Migrating Legacy Data
  • Overview of the Migration Process
  • Legacy Data XML File Example
• Guidelines for Mapping Legacy Data
  • Rate Plan XML File Example
• Mapping Legacy Data
• About the Types of Objects to Migrate
• Working with and Modifying the XSD
• Before Loading Legacy Data
• Configuring the Registry File for LoadIfwConfig Utility
• Loading Legacy Data into the Pipeline Manager Database with LoadIfwConfig
• Deleting Data from the Pipeline Manager Database with LoadIfwConfig
  • Deleting Data Sample XML File
• Updating Data with the LoadIfwConfig Utility
• Exporting Data from the Database with the LoadIfwConfig Utility
• Troubleshooting

11 About Real-Time Rate Plans

• About Organizing Real-Time Rates in a Product
  • About the Event Map
  • About Real-Time Rate Plans
    • Specifying the Rate Plan Currency
    • Specifying the Rate Plan Tax Code
  • About Rate Tiers
• About Real-Time Rates and Balance Impacts
  • Specifying How an Event Affects an Account Balance
    • About Scaled Impacts
    • About Fixed Balance Impacts
    • Specifying Multiple Balance Impacts for a Single Rate
    • Specifying the Validity Period of Granted Resources
    • Assigning Impact Categories to Balance Impacts
    • Assigning General Ledger (G/L) IDs to Balance Impacts
    • Allowing Charges to Be Sponsored
    • One Sponsor per Product
  • About Balance Impacts That Become Valid on First Usage
    • About Setting Resource Validity Periods Based on First Usage
    • About First-Usage Start Time for Shared Resources
    • About Synchronizing First-Usage Validity of Resources in Deals
    • About Restricting Resource Validity End Time to the Product or Discount End Time
• About Fold Events
• Ensuring That All of an Event Is Rated

12 Real-Time Rating Based on Multiple RUMs

• About Rating Based on Multiple RUMs
• Applying Multiple RUMs to Rate an Event
• Example of Mapping an Event to Multiple RUMs

13 Rating Based on Multiple RUMs with Pipeline Manager

• About Rating Based on Multiple RUMs with Pipeline Manager
• Applying Multiple RUMs to Rate a Batch Event

14 Real-Time Rating Based on Date and Time

• About Rating Based on Date and Time
• Ways to Specify When Rates Are Valid
• Using Rate Tiers to Set Up Rating Based on Date and Time
  • Specifying Which Rate Tiers Are Applied First
  • Specifying How Long Rate Tiers Are Valid
  • Specifying When Rate Tiers Are Valid
  • Using Date, Day, and Time Ranges Together
• Using the Correct Time Zone
  • Specifying a Time Zone Mode
  • Resetting the Server Time Zone
  • Configuring Applications to Generate Time Zone Data
• Using Event Start Time to Determine a Product's Validity

15 Real-Time Rating Based on Event or Resource Quantity

• About Quantity-Based Rating
  • Selecting a Quantity Discount Bracket Based on Previous Rating
  • Selecting a Quantity Discount Bracket Based on a Resource Balance
• Example 1: Rating Based on the Quantity of an Event
• Example 2: Rating Based on Total Event Quantities
• Example 3: Rating Based on Total Number of Events
• Example 4: Rating Based on a Resource Balance Not Affected by the Rated Event
• Example 5: Rating an Event As If Using a Single Balance Impact Group

16 Using Event Attributes to Rate Events in Real Time

• About Using Event Attributes to Rate Events
• Using Event Attributes to Select Rate Plans
• Using Event Attributes to Define Impact Categories
  • About the Default Impact Category
  • Creating Impact Categories
    • Creating Unassigned Impact Categories
• About Charging for Custom Events and Attributes
  • Charging for Custom Events and Attributes
  • Using Custom Fields with Real-Time Rating
• About Using Zones to Group Event Attributes
• About Setting Up Zones
  • Real-Time Zoning Pipeline Architecture
  • Setting Up Zones by Using Pricing Center
  • About Setting Up Zones by Using Zone Mapper
    • About Defining Zone Maps for Products
    • Options for Matching Event Attribute Values
    • Changing and Deleting Zone Maps
• Selecting Multiple Rate Plans and Impact Categories
• Customizing Zone Mapping
  • How Zone Mapping Works
  • Customizing Zone Mapping
    • Finding Zone Maps
    • Getting Zone Maps from the BRM Database
    • Saving Zone Map Data
    • Getting Zone Maps and Impact Categories from the Pipeline Manager Database
• Using the Rate Plan Selector in Pricing Center
  • Using Wildcards to Match Event Data
  • Specifying the Priority for Attributes

17 About Pipeline Rate Plans

• About Configuring Pipeline Rating
• Creating Pipeline Rate Plans and Price Models
  • Understanding the Difference between Real-Time and Pipeline Rate Plans
  • About Pipeline Rate Plans
    • Data Required to Create Rate Plans
    • Rating EDRs Split across Time Periods
  • About Pipeline Rate Plan Versions
    • About Basic and Delta Rate Plan Versions
  • About Pipeline Rate Plan Configurations
    • Using Passthrough Prices
  • About Pipeline Rate Adjustments
  • About Pipeline Price Models
    • Setting a Minimum Charge
    • Assigning G/L IDs in Price Models
  • About Price Model Selectors
  • Example of Using a Price Model Selector

18 Setting Up Pipeline Price List Data

• About Mapping Services
  • About Creating Map Groups
• Mapping Service Codes and Service Classes
  • About Setting Up Service Mapping
• Mapping Events and Services
  • Mapping an Event Type to a BRM Service Type
  • Mapping Multiple Event Types to a BRM Service Type
    • Enabling the BRM Database to Store Multiple Event Types per Service
    • Populating the Event Types in the EDR Container
    • Configuring Output Streams Based on Service Code and Event Types for iRules
    • Example Procedure to Map Multiple Event Types to a Service Type
• Mapping Usage Classes
  • About Setting Up Usage Class Mapping
• Mapping Usage Types
  • About Setting Up Usage Type Mapping
  • Configuring the IRL_UsageType iRule for ERAs
  • Configuring the IRL_UsageType iRule for Filter Sets
  • Configuring the IRL_UsageType iRule for Both ERAs and Filter Sets
  • Configuring the FCT_IRule Module to Run the IRL_UsageType iRule
• Adding Customer Balance Impact Data to EDRs
  • Configuring the DAT_AccountBatch Module
    • Specifying Not to Load Closed Accounts
    • Specifying Whether to Load All Account Data
    • Specifying How Much Account Data to Retrieve on Startup
    • Configuring Product Validity Checking
    • Configuring Account Product Validity Checking for Backdated Events
    • Getting Information about Loading Accounts
  • Configuring the FCT_Account Module
  • Specifying Which Data Is Used for Identifying Accounts
  • Configuring Account ID Prefixes
  • Specifying Which Non-Currency Sub-Balances to Load on Startup
    • Configuring the Non-Currency Resource Validity
• Modifying and Loading the EDR Container Description
  • Modifying EDR Container Descriptions
    • EDR Container Description Format
  • Loading EDR Container Descriptions
    • Creating the EDR Load Utility Command File
    • Before Running the EDR Load Utility
    • Starting the EDR Load Utility
• Dropping or Upgrading Incomplete Calls after Changing the EDR Container Description
  • Discarding Incomplete Calls after Changing the EDR Container Description
    • EDR Data Available for Auditing
  • Upgrading Incomplete Calls to the New Container Description

19 Rating by Date and Time with Pipeline Manager

• About Rating by Date and Time with Pipeline Manager
  • About Holiday Calendars
• Configuring Date and Time Rating
  • Creating Holiday Calendars
• About Special Day Rates
  • About Global Special Day Rates
  • Setting Up Global Special Day Rates
  • Setting Up Account-Specific Special Day Rates

20 Setting Up Zones for Batch Pipeline Rating

• About Zoning
  • About Impact Categories
    • About Wholesale and Retail Impact Categories
  • About Standard Zones
  • About Geographical Zones
  • Displaying Zoning Information on an Invoice
  • About Pipeline Manager Zone Modules
• About Zone Models
  • About Hierarchical Zone Models
  • Setting Up Zone Models
• Setting Up APN Mapping
  • About APN Maps
  • Creating APN Maps
• Setting Up Prerating
  • Creating Zone Data Files
    • Master Data File
    • Standard Zone File
    • Geographical Zone File
    • Area Code Coordinate File
• About Usage Scenario Mapping
  • Setting Up Usage Scenario Mapping
  • About Usage Scenario Maps
  • Creating a Usage Scenario Map File
• Converting Zone Values for Output
• Setting Up Multi-Segment Zoning
  • Configuring Segments in the FCT_SegZoneNoCust Module

Part III Using UE Loader to Import Service Usage Events

21 About Rating Events Created by External Sources

• About Importing and Rating Events
  • About Universal Event Mapper
  • About Universal Event Loader
• About Setting Up Event Importing
• About Supported Event Log Files
  • Event Log File Terminology
  • Supported File Types
  • Supported Record Formats
  • Supported Trailer and Header Records
    • Header Records
    • Trailer Records
• About Creating Custom Opcodes
  • About Custom Opcodes to Map Event Data to Accounts
  • About Custom Opcodes to Load Event Data
• About Loading Event Records Based on Record Type
• About Ignoring Record Types When Loading
• About Using Filters for Loading Events
  • About Discarding Event Records Based on Record Content
  • About Logging Event Records Based on Record Content
• About Validating the Event Log File
• About Importing International Log Files
• Importing and Rating Events from External Sources
  • About Importing Events from External Sources
    • Overview of Preparing for Loading Events
    • How UE Loader Works
    • Constructing an Flist by Using UE Mapper
  • Creating an Event Import Template
    • Before You Begin
    • Preparing Event Log File Data
    • Creating Opcodes for Finding Accounts Associated with Event Data
    • Creating Opcodes for Loading Event Data
    • Making Custom Fields Available for Mapping
    • Displaying the Description of Custom Events
    • Adding Options to UE Mapper Drop-Down Lists
    • Migrating Event Import Templates from One BRM Database to Another

22 Loading Events from External Sources

• About Loading Events
• Configuring UE Loader
  • Configuring Connection Information for UE Loader
  • Enabling UE Loader to Convert Flists to Strings
  • Specifying the Event Log File Location
  • Specifying Whether to Log Duplicate Event Log Files
  • Setting the Number of Threads for Performance
  • Setting Memory Options
  • Specifying How to Load Events
  • Configuring Log File Locations for UE Loader
  • Specifying the Maximum Load Errors to Process before Quitting
  • Specifying the Directory to Store Logged Event Records
• Specifying the Default Date/Time Format for Timestamps
  • Specifying Time Format Symbols
  • Specifying Time Format Syntax
  • Allowing for Leniency in Time References
• Configuring UE Loader for International Log Files
  • Configuring the UE Loader Infranet.properties File
  • Language, Country, and Encoding Codes
• Loading Events
  • About the Order of Events
  • Loading Events Manually
    • Before You Begin
  • Loading Events Automatically
• Troubleshooting Event Loading
  • Understanding UE Loader Log Files
  • Understanding UE Loader Error Codes
  • Troubleshooting Tips
    • Specifying the Maximum Load Errors to Process Before Quitting
    • Troubleshooting Connectivity Errors
    • Troubleshooting Preprocessing Errors
    • Troubleshooting Event Loading Errors
    • Testing Event Importing
  • Reloading Events That Failed to Load
• Improving UE Loader Performance
• Retrieving Data about Events You Load

Part IV Setting Up Rerating

23 About Rerating Events

• About Rerating
• About the Rerating Process
• About Automatic Allocation from Rerating
  • Corrective Billing and Automatic Allocation of Rerating Adjustments
  • Enabling Automatic Allocation of Rerating Adjustments
• About Deferred Taxes During Rerating
  • Enabling Calculation of Deferred Taxes During Rerating
• About Rerating Events by Using the Rates Applied when the Rating Conditions Change During the Session
  • Enabling Rerating when the Rating Conditions Change During the Session
• Understanding the BRM Rerating Features
  • About Rerating Pipeline and Real-Time Events Concurrently
  • What You Can Do with Rerating
  • About the Rerating Pipelines
• How BRM Applies the Balance Impacts of Rerating
  • How BRM Generates Rerated Events
  • About Rerating Unbilled Events
    • Rerating Unbilled Usage Events
    • Rerating Unbilled Cycle Events
  • About Rerating Billed and Posted Events
    • Rerating Billed and Posted Usage Events
    • Rerating Billed and Posted Cycle Events
  • About Rerating and Pricing Changes
  • Events That Are Not Rerated
  • About Rerating Events for Account Sharing Groups
    • About Rerating Events That Impact Sponsored Resources
• BRM Functionality Affected by Rerating
  • Determining the G/L Entry for an Event
  • Displaying Shadow-Event Rerating Details on Invoices
• Determining Whether Balance Impacts of Rerating and Previous Rating Are Equivalent
  • Specifying How to Compare Balance Impacts When Creating Adjustment Events
• How BRM Tracks Rerated Events
• Configuring BRM for Elastic Charging Engine Rerating
  • Enabling Elastic Charging Engine Rerating
  • Configuring the Connection Manager for Elastic Charging Engine Rerating
  • Loading the Elastic Charging Engine Configuration Files into Your BRM Environment
    • Loading the ECE Payload Configuration File
    • Loading the ECE Event Notification List
    • Updating the RE Loader Control Files with ECE Control Data

24 About Real-Time Rerating Pipelines

• About Real-Time Rerating Pipelines
• Overview of Event Processing in the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
  • About Transaction Management for the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
• Configuring Rerating of Pipeline-Rated Events in the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
  • Configuring a Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
    • Configuring Multiple Real-Time Rerating Pipelines
    • Configuring the Real-Time Rerating Data Pool
    • Configuring the Modules in the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
    • Configuring the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline to Set Product Validity Periods
    • Configuring the Real-Time Rerating Pipelines in the IFW_PIPELINE Table
    • Configuring NET_EM to Route Rerate Requests Based on the Event Field Value

25 About Rerating Pipeline-Rated Events

• Overview of Rerating Events
  • About Extracting Events from the BRM Database
  • About Rerating Events with Pipeline Manager
  • About Loading Rerated Events into the BRM Database
    • Adjusting Account Balances
• About Back-Out-Only Rerating
  • About Extracting Events for Back-Out-Only Rerating
  • About Configuring the Backout Pipeline for Back-Out-Only Rerating
    • Configuring the OUT_GenericStream Module
• About Synchronizing Rating and Loading Applications

26 Using Event Extraction Manager

• About Event Extraction Manager
  • About the Event Extract Configuration File
  • About the pin_event_extract.cfg File
  • About the pin_event_extract Utility
  • About the Event Extract Output File
• Event Search Criteria
• Synchronizing Extraction and Rating Applications
• Extracting Events
  • Configuring Connection and Output File Parameters
  • Specifying Which Events to Extract for Rerating
    • Extracting Events from Specific Partitions
    • Sample pin_event_extract.cfg File for a Specific Rate Plan
    • Sample pin_event_extract.cfg File for a Specific Sequence Number
  • Running the pin_event_extract Utility
  • Troubleshooting Event Extraction Errors
  • Sending the Output File to Pipeline Manager
• Extracting Events from a Multischema System
• Customizing How to Extract Events for Rerating

27 Configuring Rerating in Pipeline Manager

• About the Back-Out Pipeline
  • Configuring the Back-Out Pipeline
  • About Starting the Back-Out Pipeline
  • About Stopping the Back-Out Pipeline
• About the Rerating Pipeline
  • About Configuring the Rerating Pipeline
  • About Starting the Rerating Pipeline
  • About Stopping the Rerating Pipeline

28 About Comprehensive Rerating Using pin_rerate

• About Comprehensive Rerating
  • About Rerate Jobs
• About Rerating Real-Time-Rated and Pipeline-Rated Events Concurrently
  • About the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
    • About Transaction Management for the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
  • How pin_rerate and the Batch-Rating Pipeline Synchronize Processes
    • About Suspending and Recycling EDRs during the Rerating Process
  • Procedure for Concurrent Rerating of Real-Time-Rated and Pipeline-Rated Events
• About Rerating Events When You Do Not Use Pipeline Batch Rating
  • Procedure for Rerating Only Real-Time-Rated Events
• How Failed Rerate Jobs Are Processed
• About Automatic Rerating
• How Rerating Affects Account Migration
• Managing Comprehensive Rerating with Custom Applications
  • How Comprehensive Rerating Works
    • Flags Used for Rerating
    • Return Values for Rerating
  • How BRM Creates Rerate Jobs
  • How BRM Handles Duplicate Rerate Jobs
    • Detecting Duplicate Rerate Requests
    • Avoiding Duplication of Rerate Jobs
  • Tracking Rate Changes for Rerating
  • Rerating Cycle Fees

29 Configuring Comprehensive Rerating

• About Configuring Comprehensive Rerating
• Configuring Concurrent Rerating of Pipeline-Rated and Real-Time-Rated Events
  • Configuring a Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
    • Configuring Multiple Real-Time Rerating Pipelines
    • Configuring the Real-Time Rerating Data Pool
    • Configuring the Modules in the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline
    • Adding Real-Time Rerating Pipeline Data to the IFW_PIPELINE Table
  • Configuring the Batch Rating Pipeline and pin_rerate to Synchronize Processing
    • Configuring Rerating Business Events and Event Notification
    • Configuring Pipeline Manager to Handle Business Events from pin_rerate
    • Configuring pin_rerate to Receive Acknowledgment Events from Pipeline Manager
    • Configuring Standard Recycling
• Configuring Rerating When You Do Not Use a Batch Rating Pipeline
• Specifying Whether the Batch Rating Pipeline Is Enabled
• Setting the Rerating Event Cache Size (Fetch Size)
• Configuring the Number of Accounts Per Job and Number of Jobs per Transaction
• Configuring Rerating to Reset First-Usage Validity Periods
  • Configuring the Real-Time Rerating Pipeline to Set Product Validity Periods
  • Configuring Event Notification for Rerating Cycle Events Triggered by First Usage
• Configuring Rerating for Accounts Associated With Subscription Service Transfer
• About Automatic Rerating of Backdated Events
  • About Backdated Deal, Product, and Discount Purchase
  • About Backdated Deal, Product, and Discount Cancellation
  • About Backdated Adjustment of Non-Currency Resources
  • About Backdated ERA Modifications
  • Configuring Automatic Rerating of Backdated Events
    • Setting Thresholds That Trigger Automatic Rerating
    • Configuring Event Notification for Rerating Backdated Events
  • Backdating beyond Configured Billing Cycles without Automatic Rerating Request
    • Enabling the AllowBackdateNoRerate Business Parameter
• About Automatic Rerating of Out-of-Order Events
  • About Detecting Out-of-Order Events
  • How BRM Rerates Out-of-Order Events
  • About Out-of-Order Rerating Criteria
  • Setting Up Out-of-Order Rerating
    • Defining Out-of-Order Criteria
    • Loading Out-of-Order Criteria
    • Configuring Out-of-Order Detection in a Pipeline
    • Configuring Event Notification for Out-of-Order Rerating
    • Specifying a Reason Code for Rerating Out-of-Order Events
    • Configuring Batch Controller for Rerating Out-of-Order Events
    • Configuring the OODHandler Batch Handler for Rerating Out-of-Order Events
    • Purging Event Ordering Profile Data for Closed Billing Cycles
• About Trigger-Dependent Rerating
  • Setting Up Trigger-Dependent Rerating
    • Creating a Custom Opcode for Trigger-Dependent Rerating
    • Configuring Event Notification for Trigger-Dependent Rerating
    • Configuring Event Notification for Override Pricing

30 Using the pin_rerate Utility

• About Using the pin_rerate Utility
• Selecting Accounts and Events for Rerating
  • Specifying Accounts for Rerating
  • Specifying Events for Rerating
    • Customizing Event Searches for Selective Rerating
  • Specifying the Event Sequence for Rerating
• Assigning Rerate Reasons to Rerate Jobs
• Defining Custom pin_rerate Parameters for Rerating
  • Configuring Custom pin_rerate Parameters
    • Defining Custom Parameters
    • Loading Custom Parameters
• About Processing Rerate Jobs Created by Automatic Rerating
• Rerating Real-Time-Rated and Pipeline-Rated Events Concurrently
  • Processing Rerate Jobs for Concurrent Rerating
    • Notifying the Batch Pipeline That Rerating Is Starting
    • Processing Acknowledgment Events from the Batch Pipeline
    • Rerating the Events Associated with the Accounts in Rerate Jobs
    • Recycling EDRs Suspended during Rerating
  • Processing Rerate Jobs According to a Rerate Reason Code for Concurrent Rerating
• Processing Rerate Jobs When You Do Not Use Pipeline Batch Rating
  • Processing Rerate Jobs When Selecting Accounts for Rerating
  • Processing Existing Rerate Jobs
  • Processing Rerate Jobs per a Rerate Reason When Rerating Only Real-Time-Rated Events
• Processing Failed Rerate Jobs
• Using pin_rerate for Back-Out-Only Rerating
  • Using Custom pin_rerate Parameters with Back-Out-Only Rerating
    • Example of Using a Custom Parameter with Back-Out-Only Rerating
• Reports Generated by the pin_rerate Utility
  • Report Generated When Rerating Is Performed before Billing
  • Report Generated When Rerating Is Performed after Billing
• Improving pin_rerate Performance

Part V Pricing and Rerating Utilities

31 Pricing Utilities

• load_brm_pricing
• loadchangesets
• load_event_map
• load_pin_beid
• load_pin_impact_category
• load_pin_rum
• load_pin_spec_rates
• load_pin_sub_bal_contributor
• loadpricelist
• load_usage_map
• Universal Event Loader

32 Rerating Utilities

• load_pin_config_ood_criteria
• load_pin_rerate_flds
• pin_event_extract
• pin_load_rerate_jobs
• pin_rate_change
• pin_rel
• pin_rerate