CDR based Billing and Customer Care System
G.C.Manna.-GM(IT) Calcutta Telephones
Incharge I,O&M-CDR Data Centre, East Zone.
1.0. Introduction : It was 1985 when one call detail record was sent to disputing
customers of Telephone bills declaring a new era of Telecom revolution. Subscriber
controlled STD line locking / unlocking, call diversion etc. were made available to
subscribers. A Computer Centre was set up at Calcutta in 1986 where the exchange data
tapes are used to be sent at end of each month for billing and accounting purposes. One
intranet was developed afterwards which connects to commercial units of areas and
provide billing and customer care facilities.
In last couple of decades, computer and communication technologies have undergone sea
changes. Information is now available at finger tips at anytime and anywhere. Cash
money has been converted into debit or credit card. Internet and mobile provide
information at any time. 'Fixed' is a matter of past; 'flexi' is present. 'Monopoly' is a buzz
word, 'Promotion' is modern. Payment' is old, 'prepaid' is new. No 'Local' all 'Global'.
Telecommunication area has also undergone changes. DoT has turned to BSNL.
Corporate Office wants accounting on daily basis. It disburses fund thrice a week, makes
salary payment through bank. Balance Business Score Card introduced for monitoring
man power utilisation. HR Package has been introduced to keep track of each employee
record. Now, it wants to know its daily revenue from its services. This is only possible
through instant collection and management of call detail record (CDR) from each
exchange across the length and breadth of the country and implement it through CDR
based Billing and Customer Care System (CCS)' Project.
2.0 - Scope : Call detail Record (CDR) based on Integrated Billing Project of BSNL.
Project 1 East (Calcutta) and South (Hyderabad) Data Centre.
Project 2 West (Pune) and North (Chandigarh) Data Centre.
Project 1 total cost Rs. 522.95 crores for East and South Zone (50% each).
Network for East Zone shall consist of Calcutta Telephones, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa,
Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Assam&NE-I Circles( Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram) exchanges
- All the Telephone Exchanges shall be connected to the Data Centre on line
- All the Customer Service Centres shall be served from Data Centre.
- Centralized Call Centre
East Zone Data Centre installation work is in progress at Salt Lake Telephone Exchange.
A.P.O has been placed with the vendor on 6th June, 2007.
3.0. Data collection: 3.1 Telephone exchanges: When a customer makes a call through telephone exchange, a
CDR is generated. Collection of CDR’s of the exchanges are through ‘push’ in certain
(ALCATEL) exchanges and in some other cases, they are ‘pull’ (SIEMENS) through
small files in X.25 format. In case of E10B, a magnetic tape emulator (MTE) and for
CDOT, CES is used as intermediate to convert proprietary solution to standard X.25.
Some SIEMENS exchanges of Calcutta can provide Ethernet connection directly.
Local Exchange Router (LE router) accepts x.25 formatted packet inside an IP packet
and dispatches to a Central Router through E1. Central router connects to PE router of
MPLS backbone through STM1 links which, in turn, dispatches the packet at Data
Centre backbone router for mediation and record.
Collection Methodology of CDRs
Eth
S
W
I
T
C
H
Firewall
Firewall
Backbone
Router
Data Center
E3/STM-1
Backbone
Router
NIDS
Mediation
System
E3/STM-1
Edge Rtr
Edge Rtr
Edge Rtr
Edge Rtr
Edge Rtr
NIB – MPLS VPN
Network
Edge Rtr
STM1
STM11
Central
Router
Call
Received
SSA
Central
Router
E1
E1
Call
Call
MadeCompleted
LE Router
Local Exchange
CDR
Generated
LE Router
CES
PSTN
Swt.
PSTN
Swt.
MTE
CDOT
3.2 VAS servers: IN, mobile, internet, Leased Line, trunk booking,12XXX,VPN,
EPABX etc. data shall be made available to Data Centre after mediation and offline.
3.3 CTD CDR Network :
CDR Network of CTD
MPLS
EDGE ROUTER AT BBSR
TBZ OCB
Aggregation Router
TBZ, 4th Floor
Ethernet
TBZ AXE10 TAX
Ethernet
STM 1
AREA: CITY
TAX
EDGE ROUTER AT TBH
E1
Ethernet
E1
Aggregation Router
TBH, 2nd Floor, NIB
SATYABALA TAX
E1
TBH EWSD TAX
STM1
TBH WLL
Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet
TBH EWSD
TBH TAX OCB
Ethernet
E1
E1
SALKIA OCB LOCAL CUM TANDEM
E1
CEN OCB
Ethernet
TBH EWSD POI
E1
CRN EWSD
POI & TANDEM
TBH COT
E1
BBZ EWSD
Ethernet
E1
AREA : CENTRAL
E1
COSSIPORE OCB LOCAL CUM TANDEM
E1
E1
CIRCUS EWSD
E1
E1
AREA : SERAMPORE & SOU
E1
E1
BARASAT OCB
E1
E1
PANIHATI OCB
E1
E1
BEHALA OCB
BEHALA EWSD
E1
2
E1
BHATPARA OCB
E1
E1
BKP EWSD
AREA : JDV
E1
E1
E1
E1
AREA : ALIPORE & South
ALIPORE OCB
Russa EWSD
MANIKTALA EWSD
E1
Ethernet
E1
BAGBAZAR EWSD
DUMDUM OCB
DUMDUM 5ESS
SALT LAKE EWSD
AREA : BIDHANNAGAR
Ethernet
SHIBPUR
OCB
SHIBPUR
EWSD
10/06/2008
E1
E1
AREA : NORTH
E1
Ethernet
E1
E1
E1
CHINSURA OCB
AREA : HOWRAH
AREA : BKP
E1
E1
JOKA OCB
UTTARPARA OCB
E1
E1
KALIGHAT OCB LOCAL TANDEM
E1
NARENDRAPUR
OCB
JDV OCB
Ethernet
JDV EWSD
3.4 CTD CSR Network:
Aggregation Router
TBZ, 4th Floor
CSR Network of CTD
Aggregation
Router TBH,
4th Floor
Burrabazar Exch
STM1
Entally
BHATPARA
FE
Circus Extl
CENTRAL ROUTER TBZ
CENTRAL ROUTER TBH
STM1
Benia Pukur
Circus
KALYANI
FE
BKP EXCH
BARASAT
G. C. Avenue
BELGARIA
AREA: Central & City
Panihati Exch
TBZ
TBH
AREA: BARACKPORE
DumDum
Exch
Lake Town
DE/GRA
Cossipore
SNP
Bidhan Nagar
GRA
Kestopur
BRP
Maniktala
Teghoria
RKT
E1 to TBH
E1 to TBZ
E1 internal
Ethernet
Bagbazar Exch
AREA: Bidhan Nagar & North
NDP
Jadavpur
AREA: JADAVPUR
Satyabala
Sibpur
Belur Math
Ichhapur
BE College
Uttarpara
Chinsura
Salkia
Behala
Exch
Alipore
Exch
Budgebudge
RISRA
Uluberia
AREA: HOWRAH
10/06/2008
CND Exch
Serampore
Garden
Reach
AREA: ALIPORE
AREA: SERAMPORE
JOKA
Kalighat
exch
Dhakuria
Baligunj
Place
Kasba
RUSSA
AREA: SOUTH
3.5 CTD connectivity to CDR data Centre:
CDR East Zone Data
Centre at Salt Lake,
Kolkata
Kolkata SSA
TBH
Kolkata NIB
C
E
N
T
R
A
L
A
G
G
R
R
O
U
T
E
R
R
O
U
T
E
R
TBZ
Internet
Routers
BBSR
NIB
Backbone
Routers
Kolkata TAX
Telephone Bhawan
IVRS
FE
STM1
10/06/2008
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4.0 Data Centre :
4.1 Data Centre Infrastructure:
The data centre houses 3 no of 1250 KVA transformers substation. 3 generators of 500
KVA each and one generator of 1000 KVA capacity along with associated
synchronisation panel supplements absence of mains supply. 8 nos of UPS each with 200
KVA capacity shall work with 100% redundancy. D.C. supply shall be used for IVRS
and interfacing ADM16 equipment for extension of MPLS network to data centre. 12 a.c
earthpits and 2 dc earthpits are used for protection of equipments. Two precision ac
plants of 225 TR capacity shall provide cooling to equipments. Workstation area,
network monitoring area and UPS room shall be cooled for comfort ac. The data centre
shall be monitored through cameras and entry shall be permitted through physical access
control system (PACS) key only.
Server room houses 3 no. IBM P595 and 11 no. HP Superdome series data centre class
servers. Servers are clustered such that they are zonewise duplicated with third one as
disaster recovery for mated data centre (South for East and vice-versa).While IBM has
been designated for running CRM application, 4 Superdomes will run billing and other
mission critical applications. AIX V5.3 and HP Ux V11.2 shall be the operating system
for IBM and HP servers respectively.
Besides, there are total 171 nos of HP Proliant rack servers mounted over 12 racks are
meant for running edge applications and IVRS. 13 IBM blade servers are also housed in
server room.
A multigigabit CISCO LAN switch type 6513 is the gateway for interchanging data with
SAN room, network room, active backup room elements and operator terminals with the
servers.
Network room houses 2 nos 7613 series CISCO as backbone routers for CDR collection.
2 nos of CISCO 7609 routers are for connection to internet. One RAS type CISCO
AS5530SM are also installed for accommodating 12 E1 links for dial-in services. HP
Rx3660-30 nos, Rx2660-15nos and Rx6660-1 no servers are used for mediation and test
and development(T&D).
SAN room has provision for 105 TB primary storage volume and 55 TB for 2 dynamic
backup copies (when one copy writes to disk library, other copy constantly gets updated)
(40% of each type loaded now). 180TB has been provisioned as DR for south alongwith
40 TB as back up volume.
Active backup room has 644GB hard disk as Primary and 320 GB as DR of South. These
disks are used as buffer for reading/writing to active tape library which has robotic arms
to pick/replace digital tapes in designated locations of tape library.
NOC room shall house two 75” plasma TV screens at two walls back to back with
provision to accommodate 8 operators who will be constantly monitoring status of each
and every node(exchange) and link.
Central building management system, Intrusion detection system, virus control etc.are
state of the art features available in this project.
4.2 Data Centre services – Existing exchange provisioning ( excluding exchange
maintenance terminals) system, Leased Line / VPN servers, Sales / Marketing Servers,
TVARIT, Commercial FRS etc. ( application with data base ) shall be suitably loaded to
the data Centre servers which will run on new platforms. Data Centre servers shall have
additional network management system to monitor network status of the whole zone,
which will be displayed on two large Plasma screens. Loading and monitoring of anti
virus software from Data Centre to every individual node in the network is possible.
Customer Resource Management (CRM) is all new module for commercial and sales
integration. Billing System is the same as for mobile and from CSG Kennan. However,
mobile CDR shall not be collected on line immediately. The system shall provide hot
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line usage of land line (including BroadBand) information; but for IN, mobile , internet,
Leased Line, VPN etc. regular bills shall be issued. Subscribers service call
(197,198,1800-etc) shall initially be diverted to IVRS through 75 PCM channels and
further, on demand, to call Centre which will deploy IP-EPABX and IP-Phones. A data
storage bank for holding about 7 years of data has been provisioned. Probably,
centrallised Printing of bills together with electronic stapling for all services provided to
a customer shall be carried out and dispatched through India Post. Elaborate facility of
accessing own account by a customer, through IVRS, e-mail, web page etc. shall be
available to view hot bill status.Part payment and through IVRS,mobile,credit card
possible.
Data Centre Solution Architecture
Scope of Supply
P2P
Optional Comp.
3rd Party
Credit Checking
Agency
EAI
IN Services
Financial System
Scope Limited to
Integration
Accounts Payables/
Receivables
SMS Server
Print
Shoppe
General Ledger
GIS
Email Server
Bank/Payment
Gateway
IOBAS
Clearing House
Num. Portability
IVRS
3rd Party
Taxation
Num. Management
IVRS
Call Center
CSG Kenan Billing
Revenue
Assurance
Program
5 ESS
EWSD
C-Dot
OCB
Data
Warehouse
DSS
MTE/
CES
IVRS
Retail Billing
CRM
Content Billing
Work Flow Process mgt
CSG
Mediation
Collection
Corporate Billing
Sales & Ordering
Processing
Web Self Care
Compliant Handling System
Validation
Order Management
Trouble Ticketing
Distribution
Agents Comm.
E10B
Bill
Info
N/W Inventory
Legacy
System
Orders
EAI
AXE
NEAX
FETEX
Others
Provisioning
ERS
DQ
EMS
Report Generation
Directory Printing
Server Management
Alert notifications
Access to Ext Databases
Desktop Management
Listing Services
Database Management
FMS
Creation/modification
of Subscriber
Fraud Detection
Assignment of
supplementary /value
added services
Analysis and
Prevention
Event Management
N/W Management
5.0 Benefits :BSNL advantages :(i)
On line Billing & Accounting System for revenue reconciliation on daily
basis.
(ii)
On line implementation of BSNL Tariff Policies and Promotional Schemes
throughout the country at the same time. No manual intervention required.
(iii)
Data mining for 7 years for deciding marketing strategy.
(iv)
Customer profile generation and flexible implementation of concessional
schemes from Data Centre for individual customers.
Customer benefits :(i)
Prepaid like environment for knowing metering information and account
balance through IVRS and Web Self care services at any time.
(ii)
Payment (including part payment) facility through ATMs, Banks and credit
cards also.
(iii)
One bill to individual customer for all services like landline, BroadBand,
mobile and other value added services. On line mobile bills shall be added in
near future.
(iv)
One bill for all services of Corporate Business Houses including landline,
EPABX, BroadBand, Leased Line, VPN & IN Services operating throughout
the Zone.
(v)
Personalised services and schemes.
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(vi)
6.0
Calcutta Data Centre is the Billing Centre for all Corporate Business Houses
having all India presence for all services.
Conclusion: The CDR billing and customer care system adding new dimension to
the wings of BSNL. ‘One customer one bill’ is the motto. Our exchanges and
services have undergone dramatic improvements. It is the first systematic and
integrated approach to win the heart of our esteemed customers in one hand and
modernize our finance and accounts on the other.
Abbreviations:
CDR
CSR
CRM
DR
DQ
EAI
EMS
ERS
FMS
FRS
GIS
IOBAS
IN
IP
IVRS
MPLS
MTE
NIB
NOC
NW
P2P
PSTN
RAS
SAN
SSA
STM
TB
TCP
T&D
VAS
VPN
Call detail record
Customer service (centre) router
Customer Resource Management
Disaster recovery
Directory Enquiry
Enterprise Application Integration
Enterprise Management System
Element Management System
Enterprise Resource System
Financial Management System
Fault Restoration System (Telephone)
Geographical Information System
Inter Operator Billing and Accounting System
Intelligent Network
Internet Protocol
Interactive Voice Response Systems
Multiprotocol Level Switching
Magnetic Tape Emulator
National Internet Backbone
Network operation centre
Network
Point to Point
Public Switched Telephone Network
Remote Access Server
Storage Area Network
Secondary Switching Area
Synchronous Transmission Mode
Tera bytes (1000 GigaBytes)
Transmission Control Protocol
Test and development
Value added Service
Virtual Private Network
Diagrams : ITPC, Pune & IT cell Calcutta.
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