Successfully Managing Revenue Assurance

Published by: Tarifica at PBI Media LLC

Published: Apr. 1, 2001

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

REPORT OBJECTIVES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1 - THE NEED FOR REVENUE ASSURANCE

• Definition and scope of revenue assurance


• Typical revenue losses experienced by Telcos

2 - THE FOUR PROCESSES INVOLVED IN REVENUE GENERATION

3 - DELIVERING AND BILLING FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

• Product design and tariffs
  
  
  
  • Product Design
  
  
  • Tariff policy
  
  
  
  


• Service delivery - physical infrastructure
  
  
  
  • Switches
  
  
  • Mediation
  
  
  • Rating and billing
  
  
  
  


• Service Delivery - business processes
  
  
  
  • Credit management
  
  
  • Provisioning process
  
  
  • Bill delivery
  
  
  • Interconnect accounting
  
  
  • Collections Management
  
  
  • Fraud
  
  
  
  


• Organizational Issues
  
  
  
  • Leadership and culture
  
  
  • Management organization
  
  
  • Outsourcing
  
  
  • Change management
  
  
  • Communications
  
  
  
  

4 - THE PHILLIPS GROUP SURVEY OF TELCOS

5 - CREATING A REVENUE ASSURANCE FUNCTION

• Defining the scope of revenue assurance activity


• Revenue assurance organization


• Terms of reference for revenue assurance
  
  
  
  • Terms of reference for product assurance
  
  
  • terms of reference for billing assurance
  
  
  • Terms of reference for CRM policies
  
  
  • Terms of reference for fraud management
  
  
  • Terms of reference for performance reporting
  
  
  
  


• Revenue assurance skill set


• Revenue assurance training


• Agenda for revenue assurance

6 - PRODUCT ASSURANCE

• Formal evaluation schemes


• An in-house product assurance process


• Assurance of existing products or services


• Establishing product assurance capability

7 - BILLING ASSURANCE

• Call sending
  
  
  
  • Benefits of call sending
  
  
  • Test call planning
  
  
  • Call sending techniques
  
  
  • Quality of service measurement
  
  
  • Outsourced services
  
  
  
  


• Reconciliation
  
  
  
  • CDR reconciliation
  
  
  • Customer data reconciliation
  
  
  • Inventory reconciliation
  
  
  
  


• Error file analysis


• Bill checking
  
  
  
  • Manual checking
  
  
  • Bill print file to bill production
  
  
  • Automated bill content verification
  
  
  
  

8 - CRM POLICIES

9 - FRAUD MANAGEMENT

• Definition of fraud


• Overview of telecoms fraud
  
  
  
  • Why do they commit fraud?
  
  
  • How do they get access to the product or service?
  
  
  • How do they commit fraud
  
  
  • Call-selling
  
  
  • International and National PRS
  
  
  • Selling information and tools
  
  
  
  


• The role of fraud management


• Usage monitoring


• Case analysis and reporting


• Investigation and Prosecution

10 - PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS AND REPORTING

• Performance standards and benchmarking


• Performance measurement


• Performance analysis and reporting


• Measurement as a management control tool


• Monitoring and reporting action clearance

11 - TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES SUPPORTING REVENUE ASSURANCE

• Quality management


• Automated test and reconciliation tools


• Audit

12 - REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

• UK regulation


• Australian regulation


• Other countries

13 - CREATING THE BUSINESS CASE FOR REVENUE ASSURANCE

14 - FUTURE DIRECTIONS

APPENDIX 1 CALL SENDING PRODUCT VENDORS

• Vendor: ROTADATA


• Vendor: X-PLOR™ TELECOMMS

APPENDIX 2 OUTSOURCED CALL SENDING SERVICE PROVIDERS

• Vendor: ATIO

APPENDIX 3 DATA INTEGRITY PRODUCT VENDORS

• Vendor: DATAPHONE LTD


• Vendor: UNITECH SYSTEMS


• Vendor: EXPERT SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL

APPENDIX 4 FRAUD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM VENDORS

APPENDIX 5 - REFERENCES AND LINKS TO ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

REPORT OVERVIEW

Revenue Assurance is the term used to describe the actions and processes a telco uses to ensure the bills sent to their customers are accurate and that revenue due for the services provided is collected whilst managing fraud to an acceptable level.

In today's competitive marketplace profit margins are being eroded so any lost revenue due to unbillable calls or fraud seriously reduces the telcos profits. A fixed or mobile operator must adopt Revenue Assurance strategies to pro-actively manage, measure and reduce revenue losses. These initiatives must be driven by the telco's top executives down to and across almost every aspect of the business.

The report examines the causes and scale of revenue loss (can be more than 20%), providing results from the survey of 36 telcos in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. It describes where and how risks arise through product design weaknesses, switches, mediation, customer care and billing systems. It details key business processes including credit management, provisioning, bill delivery, interconnect accounting, collections and fraud. It discusses regulatory requirements, drivers and their limitations. Most importantly the report discusses organisational barriers to successful Revenue Assurance and explains how to create a business case for Revenue Assurance.

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