T h e Te l c o R e v e n u e A s s u r a n c e H a n d b o o k

o Operation Support Systems (OSS)

o Network Inventory Management
o Home Location Register (HLR)
o Customer Service
o Service Order Processing
o Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
o Misc. Support Systems

The Functional Dimension –

What Do you Actually DO?
Given a list of the specific areas to be included in our assurance ac-
tivities, our next problem is to define exactly what needs to be done
to perform the assurance process.

On the basis of a great deal of investigation and experience working

with a wide variety of different carriers, I developed the following
short list of core operations that can be considered a part of RA.
• Auditing
• Monitoring
• Baselining (scorecards)
• Investigation
• Synchronization
• Correction

The following will provide a quick overview of what we mean by

each of these terms.

Auditing

Auditing is the term we use to identify operations concerned with

the systematic scrutiny and testing of the integrity of a particu-
lar process or system. The purpose of these operations is to assure
that each part functions correctly. An RA audit, while similar to an
accounting audit, includes a broader range of review areas and a nar-
rower focus.

The most common and easily recognizable example of an RA audit

is the billing system cycle audit. Over the years, telcos have found

52