Synchronizing Data Between ECE and the BRM Database

7 Synchronizing Data Between ECE and the BRM Database

You synchronize data with the Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) database to ensure that Oracle Communications Elastic Charging Engine (ECE) is rating service usage events with the most current pricing data.

Topics in this document:

About Synchronizing Data Between BRM and ECE

When customer data is updated in the BRM database, the updates must be applied synchronously (in real time) to ECE. For example, when a CSR adds, cancels, or modifies an account or when an adjustment such as a cycle fee is applied to an account balance, that information must be updated in ECE so that ECE can rate service usage events properly.

To synchronize customer data between BRM and ECE, you use Account Synchronization Manager. Account Synchronization Manager sends customer data in a business event to a database queue, where ECE Customer Updater retrieves the business event and updates the information in ECE cache, allowing ECE to rate events using the latest customer information. For more information, see "About Account Synchronization" in BRM Installation Guide.

You can view or modify the list of BRM business events that are sent to ECE by using the ECE_home/brm_config/payloadconfig_ece_sync.xml file.

Setting Up Synchronization between BRM and ECE

To set up your system to synchronize customer data between BRM and ECE:

Install and configure Account Synchronization Manager, ensuring that you:
- Copy the ECE_home/brm_config/payloadconfig_ece_sync.xml file to your BRM environment and then merge it with your payload configuration file.
- Copy the ECE_home/brm_config/pin_notify file to your BRM environment and then merge it with your event notification file.
See "Installing and Configuring Account Synchronization" in BRM Installation Guide.
Configure BRM to send account data updates to ECE in real time. See "Enabling Real-Time Synchronization of BRM and ECE Customer Data Updates".
Configure BRM to retrieve real-time balances for a service from ECE. See "Configuring the Connection Manager to Get Real-Time Balances for a Service from ECE".

Enabling Real-Time Synchronization of BRM and ECE Customer Data Updates

When customer data is updated in the BRM database, the updates must be applied synchronously (in real time).

To enable real-time synchronization of BRM and ECE customer data updates:

Open the BRM_home/sys/cm/pin.conf file in a text editor.
Add the following entries to the end of the file:
```
-cm ece_real_time_sync_db_no 0.0.9.8
-cm em_group ece PCM_OP_ECE_PUBLISH_EVENT
-cm em_pointer ece ip emGateway_host emGateway_port
```
where:
- emGateway_host is the name or IP address of the server on which External Manager (EM) Gateway is running.
- emGateway_port is the number of the port through which EM Gateway connects to the host.
Note:

By default, the publisher database number for EM Gateway is 0.0.9.8.
If the publisher database number of EM Gateway in your system is not 0.0.9.8, replace 0.0.9.8 with the correct publisher database number in the following entry:
```
-cm ece_real_time_sync_db_no 0.0.9.8
```
Save and close the file.
If you changed the EM Gateway publisher database number in your CM pin.conf file, do the following:
1. Open the BRM_home/sys/eai_js/payloadconfig_ifw_sync.xml file in a text editor (or the merged file if you merged payload configuration files).
2. Locate the PublisherDefs section.
3. In the Publisher DB="DB_number" entry, replace DB_number with the publisher database number of your EM Gateway.
Save and close the file.
If you changed the EM Gateway publisher database number, restart the Payload Generator External Module (also called the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Java Server or eai_js).
Restart the CM.

Configuring the Connection Manager to Get Real-Time Balances for a Service from ECE

The CM connects to ECE through EM Gateway.

To configure the CM to get real-time balances for a service from ECE:

Open the BRM_home/sys/cm/pin.conf file in a text editor.

Add the following entry:

- cm em_group ece_bal PCM_OP_BAL_GET_ECE_BALANCES

Set the following entry to match your environment:

- cm em_pointer ece_bal ip emGateway_host emGateway_port

Save and close the file.
Stop and restart the CM.

How ECE Gets Historical Data From the BRM Database

Because there is a gap of time between when a call occurs and when it is rated, information about the customer can change during that time. For example, a customer might change the phone number before a call is rated. ECE must look up account data based on the old number.

To retrieve historical information, ECE gets data from audited objects. By default, auditing in BRM is turned off for most objects. After you install the account synchronization components, you must run the object_auditing.pl script to turn on auditing for the objects and fields that ECE needs data about. See "object_auditing" in BRM Installation Guide.