3 About Processing Home Subscribers' Roaming Usage

This chapter describes the roaming incollect process in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) for rating home subscribers' roaming usage.

Important:

• The following sections describe the incollect process for processing TAP files only.

• To process TAP files, TAP Roaming Manager requires Suspense Manager, Rated Event (RE) Loader, and InterConnect Manager to rate roaming usage. Suspense Manager, RE Loader, and InterConnect Manager are not part of TAP Roaming Manager and require separate licenses. You must install these supporting managers to rate roaming events. See "About Suspense Manager" and "Understanding Rated Event Loader" in BRM Configuring Pipeline Rating and Discounting for more information.

Before reading this document, you should be familiar with the following:

• BRM concepts and architecture. See "Introducing BRM" and "BRM System Architecture" in BRM Concepts for more information.

• Pipeline Manager. See "About Pipeline Rating" in BRM Configuring Pipeline Rating and Discounting for more information.

• Roaming. See "About Rating Roaming Events" for more information.

Understanding Roaming Incollect Architecture and Process Flow

You use roaming incollect processing to process TAP files that contain call event detail records (TAP records) for all roaming activities performed by your subscribers on your roaming partners' networks. The incollect process architecture primarily consists of the validation, reprice, and settlement pipelines. These pipelines perform the following tasks:

• The validation pipeline performs fatal error and severe error validations of the data in the incoming TAP files according to the GSM TD 57 standards.

  Note:

  In the roaming registry file (Pipeline_home/conf/roaming.reg, where Pipeline_home is the directory where Pipeline Manager is installed), the name of the validation pipeline is TAPInProcessing.

• The reprice pipeline rates the call event detail records in the TAP files using your subscriber's roaming plan. The rated events are loaded into the BRM database and impact the subscriber's account balance.

• The settlement pipeline creates settlement events by associating the rated roaming usage events with the roaming partner accounts in the BRM database. The settlement events are loaded into the BRM database and impact your roaming partner's account balance.

• The Stop RAP Generator pipeline generates the Stop Return RAP files required to be sent to the visited network operator. The Stop Return RAP files sent to the visited network operator are loaded into the database.

Figure 3-1 depicts a high-level overview of the roaming incollect process architecture:

Figure 3-1 Roaming Incollect Process Architecture

Description of ''Figure 3-1 Roaming Incollect Process Architecture''

As Figure 3-1 illustrates, incoming TAP files are handled during the incollect process as follows:

1. The validation pipeline converts the TAP records in the TAP files into event data record (EDR) format and performs fatal error and severe error validations of the TAP file. For each file, one of the following actions is taken:

   • If a fatal error validation failure occurs, the entire TAP file is rejected, and a fatal error RAP file is created.

   • If a severe error validation failure occurs, only those records that fail are rejected, and a severe error RAP file is created.

   • If the TAP file has a sequence number greater than the one expected, a missing error RAP file is created and the TAP file is processed.

   • TAP records that pass validation are sent to an output file. A copy of the output file is sent to the reprice and settlement pipelines for further processing.

   See "How Roaming Usage Data Is Validated" for more information.

2. The reprice pipeline processes the validation pipeline output file and rates the roaming usage events using the subscriber's roaming plan. Rated events are loaded into the BRM database by RE Loader.

   If the reprice pipeline fails to rate an event, the event is suspended and loaded into the BRM database using Suspended Event (SE) Loader. Using Suspense Management Center, the suspended events can be corrected and recycled to the reprice pipeline to be rated again.

   See "About Charging Your Subscribers for Their Roaming Usage" for more information.

3. The settlement pipeline processes the validation output file and creates settlement events by associating the rated events with the roaming partner account in the BRM database. Settlement events are then loaded into the BRM database by RE Loader.

   If the settlement pipeline fails to create settlement events for any record, the pipeline rejects all the records in the file and the entire file is suspended and loaded into the BRM database. The suspended file can be corrected and recycled back to the settlement pipeline by using Suspense Manager.

   See "How Settlement Events for Incollect Roaming Charges Are Created" for more information.

4. The Stop RAP Generator pipeline collects information on the incoming TAP files using the StopRapGen utility and generates the Stop Return RAP files to be sent to those visited network operators who have not provided the TAP files in seven days. The Stop Return RAP files sent to the visited network operator are loaded into the database by the UpdateTapInfo_StopRapout iScript.

   See "About Generating Stop Return RAP Files" for more information.

For detailed information on configuring incollect processing, see "Setting Up Pipeline Manager for Roaming Incollect Processing".

How Roaming Usage Data Is Validated

The validation pipeline processes TAP files as follows:

• TAP records are converted to event data record (EDR) format.

  The INP_GenericStream module provides the input interface to the validation pipeline using the TAP input grammar file. The input grammar converts call event detail records in TAP files to the internal EDR format and maps all call event detail fields (including mandatory, conditional, and optional fields) into staging fields in the EDR container.

• The sequence number of the incoming TAP file is validated to identify any duplicate or missing TAP files.

  Each TAP file is assigned an individual sequence number by the roaming partner from which the file originates. If the sequence number of the TAP file received is greater than the one expected, a missing error RAP file is created indicating the missing files.

  The Sequence Checker is an instance of the Sequencer module that validates the sequence number of the incoming TAP file for each roaming partner to identify duplicate or missing files. Using Pricing Center, you define a single instance of the Sequence Checker with multiple sequences. Each sequence corresponds to a roaming partner. You define each sequence by specifying a sequence key that is the same as the Sender ID (the roaming partner sending the file). Depending upon the roaming partner who sent the TAP file, the Sequence Checker selects the sequence based on the sequence key to validate the sequence number of the incoming TAP file.

  For more information on the Sequencer, see "About Sequence Checking" in BRM System Administrator's Guide.

• Data in the TAP file is validated.

  The ISC_TAP_0312_Validations module performs fatal error and severe error validations. Severe error validation is performed only if fatal error validation was successful. It ensures that all the required blocks in the file and all the required fields in the call event details are present.

  When it detects a fatal error, the ISC_TAP_0312_Validations module rejects the file and creates a fatal error RAP file and demands that the Transaction Manager (TAM) roll back all transactions and restore the original input file and the state of all the modules in the pipeline to how they were prior to starting the transaction.

  Note:

  In Pipeline Manager, any module that maintains a state has to register itself with the TAM. When a module demands that the TAM roll back transactions, the TAM then notifies all the registered modules to roll back their state.

  When it detects a severe error, the ISC_TAP_0312_Validations module rejects the record and adds the error to the TAP Error Record block in the EDR container. See "About Validation Error Codes".

  Note:

  • Only call event detail records with errors are rejected; remaining call event detail records in the TAP file are processed normally.

  • By default, the validation pipeline does not check for duplicate call event detail records. If you need to perform duplicate checks for the roaming records, you can configure the FCT_DuplicateCheck module to perform duplicate checks.

• Data in the staging fields is mapped to the business fields in the EDR container.

  The ISC_TAP_0312_InMap module maps the data in the staging fields to business fields in the EDR container. Data from the batchControlInfo, accountingInfo, networkInfo blocks in the TAP file is mapped to the header record. Data from the auditControlInfo block of the TAP file is mapped to the trailer record. Data from the callEventDetails block in the TAP file is mapped to detail records.

• Rejected records are sent to the reject output stream.

  The FCT_Reject module evaluates the errors in the EDR container and sends rejected EDRs to the reject output stream. The reject output stream generates a severe error RAP file using RAP output grammar.

• Valid records are written to an output file for further processing by the reprice and settlement pipelines.

  The OUT_GenericStream module uses standard output grammar (BRM SOL42) to write valid EDRs to an output file.

  The output file created by OUT_GenericStream is sent to the reprice and the settlement pipelines simultaneously. This is done by using the Event Handler. When the output file is ready, the validation pipeline notifies the Event Handler by sending it the EVT_OUTPUT_FILE_READY event. Upon receiving this event notification, the Event Handler launches the move_incollect_roam.pl script to copy the output file to the input directory of the reprice pipeline. When the copy is complete, the Event Handler moves the original output file to the input directory of the settlement pipeline.

For information about configuring the validation pipeline, see "Configuring the Validation Pipeline".

About Validation Error Codes

When a TAP file validation failure occurs, Pipeline Manager reports an error code and a description of the error. The error codes are categorized as fatal (ERR_TAP3_FATAL), severe (ERR_TAP3_SEVERE), or warning (ERR_TAP3_WARNING). The description of the error includes the TAP field name, TAP field numeric ID, TD 57 error code, and a description of the failure.

The following is an example of a fatal validation error:

Pipeline Error Name:

 ERR_TAP3_FATAL

Pipeline Error Description:

TAP Field Name: AccountingInfo, TAP Field Id: 15, TAP Error: 30, No Taxation group present and batch contains taxes.

TAP Validations That Are Not Supported

The ISC_TAP_0312_Validations module does not support all the TAP validations. For instance:

• Syntax error validations on Integer fields that are handled by the parser.

• Validations based on the roaming agreements.

• Validations that are not possible due to pipeline architecture limitations.

The following tables list the validations that are not performed by the ISC_TAP_0312_Validations module. You can implement these validations by writing your own custom iScript or by adding these validations to the ISC_TAP_0312_Validations module.

Syntax Error Validations on Integer Fields

Table 3-1 lists the syntax error validations on integer fields. These validations are not supported.

Table 3-1 Syntax Error Validations on Integer Fields

TAP Field	Error Code	Traffic Type	Severity	Description
Action Code	10	SS	Severe	Syntax error.
Advised Charge	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Bearer Service Code	10	MOC, MTC	Severe	Syntax error.
Bearer Service Code	11	SS	Warning	Syntax error.
Call Event Details Count	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Call Reference	10	MOC, MTC, SS, LCS	Severe	Syntax error.
Call Type Level 1	10	MOC, GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
Call Type Level 2	10	MOC, GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
Call Type Level 3	10	MOC, GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
Called Place	10	MOC	Warning	Syntax error.
Called Region	10	MOC	Warning	Syntax error.
CAMEL Invocation Fee	10	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
CAMEL Service Key	10	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error.
CAMEL Service Level	10	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
Cause For Termination	10	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
Cell Identity	10	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error.
Charge	10	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Charge Refund Indicator	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Chargeable Units	10	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Charged Party Id Type	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Charged Party Status	10	SCU	Severe	Syntax error.
Charged Units	10	CALLS	Warning	Syntax error.
Charging ID	10	GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
CLIR Status Indicator	10	MOC, MTC, SCU	Warning	Syntax error.
Commission	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Content Charging Point	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error and more than one timestamp present within Content Transaction Basic Info.
Content Charging Point	11	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error and only one timestamp present within Content Transaction Basic Info.
Content Provider Id Type	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Content Provider Id Type	11	LCS	Severe	Syntax error.
Content Provider Identifier	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Content Provider Name	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Content Transaction Code	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Content Transaction Type	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
CSE Information	10	CALLS	Warning	Syntax error.
Customer Id Type	10	LCS	Severe	Syntax error.
Data Volume Incoming	10	GPRS, CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Data Volume Outgoing	10	GPRS, CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Default Call Handling Indicator	10	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error.
Discount Code	10	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Discount Code	11	ACCTNG	Fatal	Syntax error.
Discount Rate	10	ACCTNG	Fatal	Syntax error.
Discount Value	10	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Discountable Amount	10	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Equipment Id	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Equipment Id Type	10	CONTENT, LCS	Warning	Syntax error.
Exchange Rate	10	ACCTNG	Fatal	Syntax error.
Exchange Rate Code	10	ACCTNG	Fatal	Syntax error.
Exchange Rate Code	11	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Fixed Discount Value	10	ACCTNG	Fatal	Syntax error.
Fixed Network User Rate	10	MOC, MTC	Warning	Syntax error.
Home Id Type	10	CONTENT, LCS	Severe	Syntax error.
Home Identifier	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Home Location Description	10	CALLS	Warning	Syntax error.
IMS Signalling Context	10	GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
ISP Id Type	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
ISP Identifier	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Location Area Code	10	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error.
Location Area Code	10	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error.
Location Id Type	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Location Id Type	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Location Identifier	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Message Description	10	MESS DESC	Warning	Syntax error.
Message Description Code	10	MESS DESC, SCU	Warning	Syntax error.
Message Status	10	SCU	Severe	Syntax error.
Message Type	10	SCU	Severe	Syntax error.
Network Id Type	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Network Init. PDP Context	10	GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
Number Of Decimal Places	10	ACCTNG	Fatal	Syntax error.
Object Type	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Paid Indicator	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Payment Method	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Priority Code	10	SCU	Severe	Syntax error.
Release Version Number	10	NOTIFICTN, BTCH CTRL	Fatal	Syntax error.
Serving Location Description	10	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
SMS Destination Number	10	MOC	Severe	Syntax error.
SMS Originator	10	MTC	Warning	Syntax error.
Specification Version Number	10	NOTIFICTN, BTCH CTRL	Fatal	Syntax error.
TAP Decimal Places	10	ACCTNG	Fatal	Syntax error.
Tax Rate Code	10	ACCTNG	Fatal	Syntax error.
Tax Rate Code	11	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Tax Value	10	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Taxable Amount	10	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
Total Advised Charge	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Advised Charge Refund	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Call Event Duration	10	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	Syntax error.
Total Charge	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Charge Refund	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Commission	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Commission Refund	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Data Volume	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Total Discount Refund	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Discount Value	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Tax Refund	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Tax Value	10	AUDIT	Fatal	Syntax error.
Total Transaction Duration	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Transaction Authorisation Code	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Transaction Description Suppression	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Transaction Detail Description	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Transaction Identifier	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Transaction Short Description	10	CONTENT	Warning	Syntax error.
Transaction Status	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Transparency Indicator	10	MOC, MTC	Severe	Syntax error.
User Protocol Indicator	10	MOC, MTC	Severe	Syntax error.
UTC Time Offset Code	10	NETWORK	Fatal	Syntax error.
UTC Time Offset Code	11	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.

Out-of-Range Validations on Date Fields

Table 3-2 lists the out-of-range validations on date fields. These validations are not supported.

Table 3-2 Out-of-Range Validations on Date Fields

TAP Field	Error Code	Traffic Type	Severity	Description
Actual Delivery Timestamp	20	CONTENT	Severe	Value out of range and timestamp referenced as Charging Point.
Actual Delivery Timestamp	21	CONTENT	Warning	Value out of range and timestamp not referenced as Charging Point.
Call Event Start Timestamp	20	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	Value out of range.
Charge Detail Timestamp	20	CALLS	Severe	Value out of range.
Charging Timestamp	20	CALLS	Severe	Value out of range.
Completion Timestamp	20	SCU	Warning	Value out of range and charging point is 'D'.
Completion Timestamp	21	SCU	Severe	Value out of range and charging point is 'C'
Deposit Timestamp	20	SCU	Warning	Value out of range and charging point is 'C'.
Deposit Timestamp	21	SCU	Severe	Value out of range and charging point is 'D'.
Earliest Call Timestamp	20	AUDIT	Warning	Value out of range.
File Available Timestamp	20	BTCH CTRL	Fatal	Value out of range.
File Available Timestamp	21	NOTIFICTN	Warning	Value out of range.
File Creation Timestamp	20	NOTIFICTN, BTCH CTRL	Warning	Value out of range.
Latest Call Timestamp	20	AUDIT	Warning	Value out of range.
Order Placed Timestamp	20	CONTENT	Severe	Value out of range and timestamp referenced as Charging Point.
Order Placed Timestamp	21	CONTENT	Warning	Value out of range and timestamp not referenced as Charging Point.
PDP Context Start Timestamp	20	GPRS	Warning	Value out of range.
Requested Delivery Timestamp	20	CONTENT	Severe	Value out of range and timestamp referenced as Charging Point.
Requested Delivery Timestamp	21	CONTENT	Warning	Value out of range and timestamp not referenced as Charging Point.
Transfer Cut Off Timestamp	20	BTCH CTRL	Fatal	Value out of range.

Validations Involving Bilateral Agreement

Table 3-3 lists the validations involving bilateral agreement. These validations are not supported.

Table 3-3 Validations Involving Bilateral Agreement

TAP Field	Error Code	Traffic Type	Severity	Description
Accounting Information	33	TFBATCH	Fatal	Item TAP Currency not present and currency other than SDR specified in roaming agreement.
AUDIT Control Information	36	TFBATCH	Fatal	Item Total Tax Refund present and use of Content Transaction not bilaterally agreed.
AUDIT Control Information	37	TFBATCH	Fatal	Item Total Discount Refund present and use of Content Transaction not bilaterally agreed.
AUDIT Control Information	38	TFBATCH	Fatal	Group Total Advised Charge Value present and use of Content Transaction not bilaterally agreed.
Call Event Details	32	TFBATCH	Severe	Service Centre Usage present although not agreed bilaterally.
Call Event Details	34	TFBATCH	Severe	Content Transaction present although not agreed bilaterally.
Call Event Details	35	TFBATCH	Severe	GPRS Call present although not agreed bilaterally.
Call Event Details	36	TFBATCH	Severe	Location Service present although not agreed bilaterally
CAMEL Invocation Fee	200	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	CAMEL Invocation Fee not in line with roaming agreement
CAMEL Service Used	41	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	Tax Information missing within the group and CAMEL Invocation Fee is greater than zero and taxation is expected according to roaming agreement.
CAMEL Service Used	42	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	Tax Information present within the group but not expected in accordance with roaming agreement for the call/event and Tax Value referenced within the group is greater than zero.
CAMEL Service Used	43	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Warning	Tax Information present within the group but not expected in accordance with roaming agreement for the call/event and Tax Value referenced within the group is not greater than zero.
Charge	100	CALLS	Severe	Charge not in line with roaming agreement.
Charge Information	34	CALLS	Severe	Group Tax Information missing within group but expected in accordance with roaming agreement for that particular call. Tax Information group missing must be interpreted as Tax Value zero.
Charge Information	35	CALLS	Severe	Group Discount Information missing within group but expected in accordance with roaming agreement.
Charge Information	38	MOC, MTC	Severe	Breakout of Charge Types AIR (01) and/or TOLL (03) not present on a duration based charge, but expected in accordance with roaming agreement; i.e., only Charge Type 00 present within group. This validation rule can be applied only where bilaterally agreed between Sender and Recipient.
Charge Information	39	MOC, MTC	Severe	In accordance with roaming agreement, charges are defined in individual Charge Types, but the Charge for Charge Type 00 does not equal sum of Charges for the other Charge Types as stated within roaming agreement. This validation rule can be applied only where bilaterally agreed between Sender and Recipient.
Charge Information	40	CALLS	Severe	Group Tax Information present within group but not expected in accordance with roaming agreement for the call/event and Tax Value referenced within the group is greater than 0 (zero).
Charge Information	41	CALLS	Warning	Group Tax Information present within group but not expected in accordance with roaming agreement for the call/event and Tax Value referenced within the group is not greater than 0 (zero).
Chargeable Subscriber	32	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Severe	MSISDN missing within group but expected in accordance with roaming agreement.
Charged Party Identifier	200	CONTENT	Severe	Item is an IMSI of a known network operator and initial characters are different from the network operator's MCC + MNC, or not as bilaterally agreed.
Customer Identifier	200	LCS	Severe	Item is an IMSI of a known network operator and initial characters are different from the network operator's MCC + MNC, or not as bilaterally agreed
Discount Code	200	CALLS	Severe	Referenced discount is not in line with roaming agreement.
Discountable Amount	22	CALLS	Severe	Discountable Amount is not in line with roaming agreement.
Geographical Location	31	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Severe	Serving BID missing within group but expected in accordance with roaming agreement.
Geographical Location	32	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Severe	Serving Location Description missing within group but expected in accordance with roaming agreement
IMSI	200	CALLS	Severe	First characters are different from home operators MCC + MNC, or not as bilaterally agreed (e.g., if the recipient has not been allocated a MCC and MNC).
Location Information	31	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Severe	Group Geographical Information missing but Serving BID expected in accordance with roaming agreement.This validation rule can be applied only where bilaterally agreed between Sender and Recipient.
Location Information	32	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Severe	Group Geographical Information missing but Serving Location Description expected in accordance with roaming agreement.This validation rule can be applied only where bilaterally agreed between Sender and Recipient.
MSISDN	10	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error and item MSISDN not expected in accordance with roaming agreement.
MSISDN	20	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Number not represented in international format and MSISDN not expected in accordance with roaming agreement.
Operator Specific Information	30	ALL	Warning	Item is present without bilateral agreement
SCU Charge Type	32	SCU	Severe	Item Distance Charge Band Code missing within group and distance defined as a pricing parameter within SMS bilateral agreement.
Serving Network	20	MOC, MTC, SS, SCU, GPRS	Severe	Value out of range, i.e. it is neither a TADIG PMN Code nor a bilaterally agreed value.
TAP Currency	200	ACCTNG	Fatal	TAP Currency not in line with bilateral agreement.
Tax Rate Code	200	CALLS	Severe	The referenced Tax Rate is not in line with the roaming agreement at the corresponding call date. Note that, where variable tax rates apply to the call/event the exact validation of the tax rate may not be possible and, therefore, cannot be carried out.
Tax Value	200	CALLS	Severe	Tax Value is not in line with the roaming agreement at the corresponding call event date.
Taxable Amount	100	CALLS	Severe	Taxable Amount not in line with roaming agreement.

Validations that Require Additional Component Involvement

Table 3-4 lists the validations that require additional component involvement. These validations are not supported.

Table 3-4 Validations that Require Additional Component Involvement

TAP Field	Error Code	Traffic Type	Severity	Description
Actual Delivery Timestamp	200	CONTENT	Severe	Actual Delivery Timestamp before the commercial roaming start date for the specific service and the TAP file is not a test file and the timestamp is referenced as the Charging Point.
Batch Control Information	37	TFBATCH	Warning	File Sequence Number previously received and rejected with fatal error, therefore RAP File Sequence Number expected but not present.
Batch Control Information	40	TFBATCH	Warning	RAP File Sequence Number present although File Sequence Number has not previously been rejected with a fatal error (e.g. previously missing or new files).
Call Event Start Timestamp	200	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	Call Event Start Timestamp before the commercial roaming start date for the specific network service and the TAP file is not a test file
Call Type Level 1	102	MOC, GPRS	Severe	Item not specified according to how the call has been priced (as verified against the Sender's IOT).
Call Type Level 2	100	MOC, GPRS	Severe	Item not specified according to how the call has been priced (as verified against the Sender's IOT).
Call Type Level 3	100	MOC, GPRS	Severe	Item not specified according to how the call has been priced (as verified against the Sender's IOT).
Charging Timestamp	200	SS, LCS	Severe	Charging Timestamp before the commercial roaming start date for the specific service and the TAP file is not a test file.
Completion Timestamp	200	SCU	Severe	Completion Timestamp before the commercial roaming start date for the specific service and the TAP file is not a test file.
Content Transaction Basic Info	31	CONTENT	Severe	Item RAP File Sequence Number missing and Content Transaction previously received and rejected.
Content Transaction Basic Info	32	CONTENT	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and Content Transaction not previously received and rejected.
Content Transaction Basic Info	33	CONTENT	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and TAP transfer batch being resubmitted as corrected (having been previously rejected with fatal error).
Deposit Timestamp	200	SCU	Severe	Deposit Timestamp before the commercial roaming start date for the specific service and the TAP file is not a test file.
Exchange Rate	200	ACCTNG	Fatal	Exchange Rate less than expected and referenced by one or more Call Event Details.
Exchange Rate Code	202	CALLS	Warning	The Exchange Rate referenced by Exchange Rate Code in Call Event Details is greater than expected.
File Sequence Number	200	NOTIFICTN, BTCH CTRL	Warning	File sequence number of the received file is greater than that expected.
File Sequence Number	201	NOTIFICTN, BTCH CTRL	Fatal	File sequence number of the received file has already been received and successfully processed and the file is not a copy of the original file.
GPRS Basic Call Information	31	GPRS	Severe	GPRS Call is being resubmitted and RAP File Sequence Number is missing within group.
GPRS Basic Call Information	38	GPRS	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and TAP transfer batch being resubmitted as corrected (having been previously rejected with fatal error).
GPRS Basic Call Information	41	GPRS	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and call not previously received and rejected.
Location Service	32	LCS	Severe	Item RAP File Sequence Number missing and Location Service previously received and rejected.
Location Service	33	LCS	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and Location Service not previously received and rejected.
Location Service	34	LCS	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and TAP transfer batch being resubmitted as corrected (having been previously rejected with fatal error).
MO Basic Call Information	33	MOC	Severe	Item RAP File Sequence Number missing and call previously received and rejected.
MO Basic Call Information	34	MOC	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and call not previously received and rejected.
MO Basic Call Information	36	MOC	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and TAP transfer batch being resubmitted as corrected (having been previously rejected with fatal error).
MT Basic Call Information	33	MTC	Severe	Item RAP File Sequence Number missing and call previously received and rejected.
MT Basic Call Information	34	MTC	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and call not previously received and rejected.
MT Basic Call Information	35	MTC	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and TAP transfer batch being resubmitted as corrected (having been previously rejected with fatal error).
Notification	37		Warning	File Sequence Number previously received and rejected with fatal error, therefore RAP File Sequence Number expected but not present.
Notification	38		Warning	RAP File Sequence Number present although File Sequence Number has not previously been rejected with a fatal error (e.g. previously missing or new files).
Order Placed Timestamp	200	CONTENT	Severe	Order Placed Timestamp before the commercial roaming start date for the specific service and the TAP file is not a test file.
Requested Delivery Timestamp	200	CONTENT	Severe	Requested Delivery Timestamp before the commercial roaming start date for the specific service and the TAP file is not a test file.
Service Centre Usage	31	SCU	Severe	Item RAP File Sequence Number missing and SCU previously received and rejected.
Service Centre Usage	32	SCU	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and SCU not previously received and rejected.
Service Centre Usage	37	SCU	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and TAP transfer batch being resubmitted as corrected (having been previously rejected with fatal error).
Supplementary Service Event	31	SS	Severe	Item RAP File Sequence Number missing and SS previously received and rejected.
Supplementary Service Event	32	SS	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and SS not previously received and rejected.
Supplementary Service Event	35	SS	Warning	Item RAP File Sequence Number present and TAP transfer batch being resubmitted as corrected (having been previously rejected with fatal error).
Supplementary Service Used	101	SS	Severe	Invalid or non transferable Supplementary Service Code and Action code combination present within group.

Other Validations that Are not Supported

Table 3-5 lists other validations that are not supported.

Table 3-5 Other Validations that Are not Supported

TAP Field	Error Code	Traffic Type	Severity	Description
CAMEL Invocation Fee	201	MOC, MTC, GPRS	Severe	CAMEL Invocation Fee is greater than 0 (zero) and CAMEL call not expected.
CAMEL Service Used	31	MOC	Severe	CAMEL Destination Number missing within group although number was modified by CAMEL (logical group 3G CAMEL Destination).
CAMEL Service Used	37	GPRS	Severe	Group GPRS Destination missing within group although APN was modified by CAMEL (logical group 3G CAMEL Destination).
Charged Party Identifier	10	CONTENT	Severe	Syntax error.
Charged Party Identifier	20	CONTENT	Severe	Value out of range and item is a MSISDN.
Customer Identifier	20	LCS	Severe	Value out of range and item is a MSISDN.
Destination Network	10	SCU, MOC	Warning	Syntax error.
Destination Network	20	SCU, MOC	Warning	Value out of range.
Dialled Digits	20	MOC	Severe	Value out of range.
Discount Value	22	CALLS	Severe	Where the associated Discount Code relates to a Discount Rate, the Discount Value does not correspond to the Discountable Amount and Discount Rate.
Distance Charge Band Code	20	SCU	Severe	Value out of range.
Equipment Id	100	CONTENT, LCS	Warning	Item content does not match Equipment Id Type.
ESN	10	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error.
ESN	20	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Value out of range.
GPRS Call	200	GPRS	Warning	Number of GPRS partials received exceeds limit defined by BARG in BA.12.
Home BID	10	CALLS	Warning	Syntax error.
Home BID	20	CALLS	Warning	Value out of range.
IMEI	10	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error.
IMEI	20	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Value out of range.
IMSI	10	CALLS	Severe	Syntax error.
IMSI	20	CALLS	Severe	Value out of range.
MDN	10	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Syntax error.
MDN	20	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Warning	Value out of range.
MIN	20	CALLS	Severe	Value out of range.
Network Access Identifier	20	GPRS	Severe	Value out of range.
Originating Network	10	MTC, SCU	Warning	Syntax error.
Originating Network	20	MTC, SCU	Warning	Value out of range.
Serving BID	20	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Severe	Value out of range.
Serving BID	21	MOC, MTC, SS, GPRS	Severe	Value not assigned to Sender.
Supplementary Service Parameters	10	SS	Warning	Syntax error.
Supplementary Service Parameters	20	SS	Warning	Value out of range.
Tax Value	22	CALLS	Severe	Where the associated Tax Rate Code relates to a Tax Rate, the Tax Value does not correspond to the Taxable Amount (or Charge where no Taxable Amount present) and Tax Rate.

Transmitting TAP Files to the Validation Pipeline

When you receive TAP files from a clearing house or your roaming partner, you must put the files in the input directory of the validation pipeline for the pipeline to process them. If your mediation system does not automatically place the TAP files in this directory, you can configure a Batch Controller and write a custom Batch Handler to move the TAP files to the validation pipeline input directory.

For more information about Batch Controllers and Batch Handlers, see "Controlling Batch Operations" in BRM System Administrator's Guide.

About Charging Your Subscribers for Their Roaming Usage

Normally, the call event detail records in a TAP file contains the roaming charge and the calculated tax amount that your roaming partner passes to you after having rated your subscribers' usage based on the agreement between you and your roaming partner.

To bill your subscribers for their roaming charges, you can choose to accept the charges and the tax amount passed in by your roaming partner and use them to bill your subscribers or you can reprice or mark up the roaming EDRs based on your subscribers' roaming subscription plan or retail rate. See "Charging Your Subscribers for Their Roaming Usage".

To specify whether or not to apply the tax amount, you set the taxation flag in the roaming partner's account configuration. See "Choosing Whether to Apply Taxes for Roaming".

To rate the call event detail records, the reprice pipeline uses the same modules as the rating pipeline. For the list of modules used by the reprice pipeline, see "Configuring Reprice Pipeline Function Modules".

If the reprice pipeline is unable to process or rate the record due to errors such as incorrect rating configuration, the record is suspended and recycled using Suspense Manager. See "Processing EDRs Suspended by the Reprice Pipeline".

When the final charge calculation is complete, the IRL_EventTypeSplitting iRule routes the records to separate output streams based on the service type; for example, GSM and GPRS. The output module writes the records to an output file by using the RE Loader output grammar.

RE Loader reads the output file and loads each event into the BRM database. For instance, the GSM events are loaded into the /event/delayed/session/telco/gsm object and the GPRS events are loaded into the /event/delayed/session/telco/gprs object.

The event objects contain all data related to the event including your subscriber's rating and billing information and are associated with the /service/telco/gsm object, for GSM records, and /service/telco/gprs object, for GPRS records, of the subscriber's account. After the event objects are loaded into the database, you can run BRM billing to bill your subscribers for their roaming usage.

For information about RE Loader, see "Understanding Rated Event Loader" in BRM Configuring Pipeline Rating and Discounting.

Charging Your Subscribers for Their Roaming Usage

You can rerate the incollect data to bill your own subscribers for roaming usage. To do this, choose one of the following methods:

• Passthrough rating

  The rated events delivered from other network operator costs are passed through to your retail billing system without being rated by you. This means that you assume the rating carried out by the other operator is correct.

• Markup adding

  A specified value is added to the wholesale charge delivered by another network operator. The markup can be an absolute value, such as $1.00, or a percentage, such as 15%. Markup adding is usually performed after having applied a tariff check and validated the rated events from another network operator.

• Complete rating

  The events are rated by using your pipeline configuration.

To specify how the call event detail records should be processed, you use Pricing Center to create rate plans and price models that define the criteria used to determine the charge. For more information, see "Defining Rate Plans for Rating Roaming Usage".

Processing EDRs Suspended by the Reprice Pipeline

If the reprice pipeline is unable to rate an EDR, it sets the error in the EDR and suspends it. The FCT_Reject module evaluates the error and routes the EDR to the suspense output stream as specified by the RejectStream pipeline registry entry.

Using SE Loader, you load the suspended EDRs into the BRM database. Using Suspense Management Center, you can query the suspended events and make the necessary corrections. After the corrections are made, you can recycle the events for processing.

When Pipeline Manager receives the recycle request, the INP_Recycle module retrieves the suspended records from the BRM database and routes the events to the pre-recycle pipeline. The pre-recycle pipeline converts the suspended events back to EDR format and sends the EDRs back to the reprice pipeline for rating.

For detailed information about how EDRs are suspended and recycled, see "About Suspense Manager" in BRM Configuring Pipeline Rating and Discounting.

Choosing Whether to Apply Taxes for Roaming

Your roaming partners will rate your subscribers' roaming usage and also calculate and apply the tax amount. You can choose whether or not to pass this tax charge on to your subscribers. You do this by setting the taxation flag in the network operator configuration. For more information, see "About Setting Up Network Operator Accounts".

During incollect processing, the DAT_InterConnect module retrieves the taxation flag value for each network operator from the Pipeline Manager database and stores this information in the in-memory cache.

When processing the EDRs, the ISC_ApplyTax module retrieves the PLMN ID for the network operator and passes this ID to the DAT_InterConnect module to get the taxation flag value for the network operator from the in-memory cache. If the taxation flag is set to on, the tax amount is passed to the subscriber; otherwise, the tax amount is ignored.

About Processing Your Subscribers' Prepaid Roaming Charges

The TAP file may contain postpaid roaming activities in addition to the prepaid activities.

Postpaid records are processed by the reprice pipeline, to be repriced based on your subscriber's roaming subscription plan, and by the settlement pipeline, for financial settlement with your roaming partner.

Unlike postpaid roaming activities, prepaid roaming activities are processed in real time. When a subscriber makes a prepaid call, the visited network operator sends the call data to the home network operator in real time. The home network operator rates the call and applies the balance impact in real time. The visited network operator also sends the roaming charges for the prepaid service to the home network operator in the TAP file. For more information on how prepaid events are processed, see "Understanding Prepaid AAA" in BRM Telco Integration.

Prepaid roaming activities are represented as CAMEL records in the TAP file. CAMEL records are processed by the settlement pipeline for financial settlement with your roaming partner. The settlement pipeline associates the CAMEL records with the roaming partner account and creates settlement records that are loaded into the BRM database.

Note:

By default, CAMEL records are also passed to the reprice pipeline even though it is prepaid and may not need repricing. This provides you the flexibility of how you want to process CAMEL records. For example, using custom iScripts, you may want to update CAMEL records to have zero balance, or you can choose to remove the records so that they are not processed by the reprice pipeline at all.

For more information about settling roaming charges, see "About Settling Roaming Charges".

About Repricing Optimally Routed Calls

Optimal call routing provides for seamless routing of calls. For example, suppose a mobile subscriber A has established mobile service with network operator X, and mobile subscriber B has mobile service with network operator Y in different service areas. In this case, calls between subscriber A and subscriber B are long-distance calls. However, when one subscriber is in the service area of the other, the call is routed locally.

If a call is optimally routed, the Destination Network field is set in the TAP file. The TAP mapping iScript maps the destination network into the DETAIL.DESTINATION_NETWORK field in the EDR container.

When the EDR is processed in the reprice pipeline, you can verify the roaming charges for optimally routed calls and reprice them. You can do this by using a custom iScript or by defining price models to reprice the call based on the value defined in the destination network field and use model selector to choose the proper price model at the time of repricing.

For more information about custom iScripts, see "Creating iScripts and iRules" in BRM Developer's Guide.

For more information about creating price models, see "Setting Up Pipeline Rate Plans" in BRM Setting Up Pricing and Rating.