4 About Managing Subscribers

This chapter describes how to create and manage subscribers in Oracle Communications Convergent Charging Controller.

About Subscribers

A subscriber is a person who has purchased a service, such as a telephone service. Each subscriber has an account in Convergent Charging Controller. Each account includes:

  • One of the following:

    • A subscriber ID (an MSISDN, or CLI). When a call is made, Convergent Charging Controller determines which wallet to charge based on the MSISDN or CLI of the caller.

    • A card number. The subscriber has a card printed with the card number, which is used when making a prepaid call.

  • At least one wallet (the primary wallet). A wallet stores the balances owned by the subscriber; for example, a balance for cash, and a balance for free SMS messages. A secondary wallet can be used for cases such as shared wallets, or a primary business wallet and a secondary personal wallet.

You can add subscribers by using the following methods:

  • Use the Provisioning Interface (PI) to create accounts without having to use a customer service representative (CSR). This method can create accounts in bulk; a much faster method than by creating them individually.

  • Use the SMS application to create individual subscribers, or to create a batch of subscribers.

You can manage existing customers by using the following methods:

  • The PI

  • The SMS GUI

  • The Convergent Charging Controller Customer Care Portal (CCP)

About Creating Subscribers

When you create an account, you configure the following attributes:

  • Account details:

    • Card number.

    • Subscriber ID.

    • PIN. The PIN is used by subscribers to access their account; for example, to see their wallet balance.

    • Language.

    • Whether the subscriber's number is visible to other users. You specify this by enabling or disabling the presentation restricted attribute.

    • Whether incoming calls are disabled when the subscriber is roaming.

    • Whether to disable the subscriber from using the service (blocked).

    • Whether to allow or block incoming SMS messages.

  • Allowed and barred numbers.

  • Number translation for short codes; for example, for speed dialing.

  • Credit-card information.

  • Recharge information; for example, how often to recharge the wallet, and how much to recharge it with.

  • Access to the IVR (remote access).

  • Friends and Family configuration.

  • The closed user groups to which the subscriber belongs.

  • The balance topup rules that apply to the subscriber. The rules are used to allocate more items, such as additional notifications, to specified balance types regularly.

After a subscriber is created, you must configure the wallet for that subscriber.

About Creating a Batch of Subscribers

You can use the following methods to create batches of subscriber accounts:

  • The ccsAccount utility

  • The SMS application

  • The Provisioning Interface (PI)

When you create accounts by batch, you specify a range of account numbers to create, as well as details about wallets, product types, and PINs.

About Subscriber Self-Care

Subscriber self-care enables subscribers to manage their accounts; for example:

  • Get balance status, wallet status, and product information.

  • Modify their account; for example, change the product type.

  • Recharge their account.

You implement subscriber self-care by creating control plans that manage customer input and play announcements. For example, you can implement subscriber self-care as an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

About Configuring Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

You implement IVR by using control plans. When a subscriber calls a service number, the call is directed to a main menu, from which the subscriber makes choices that determine which functionality is presented. The main menu is implemented by using the Main Menu feature node.

Subscribers can use the IVR to do the following:

  • Get information about new products. The What's New feature node implements this option. This node can play an announcement about new features, or route the caller to another number, which can supply more information about features.

  • Check account status. The Account Status feature node implements this option. This node can play announcements for no credit, current balances, and the expiration date for current balances.

  • Change account options and product types. The Personal Options Menu feature node implements this option. This node allows subscribers to change their account language and swap products.

  • Recharge wallets. The Recharge Menu feature node implements this option. From the Recharge Menu feature node, the subscriber can recharge by using the following payment types:

    • Voucher. The Voucher Recharge feature node implements this option.

    • Credit Card. The Credit Card Recharge Menu feature node implements this option. Subscribers can recharge wallets, change their PIN, or change credit card information.

  • Get more information. The Help Information feature node implements this option. This node plays any announcement you specify.

A subscriber can also exit the IVR by starting a call.