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Maximizing Carrier Profitability &
Efficiency
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Summary:
Carriers invest in a BDS Solution to obtain a wealth of information
pertaining to recovery of lost revenue, identification of unnecessary
costs, and locating operational inefficiencies. This information
is captured in eleven categories of exception reports - reports
that tell the user exactly what needs to be fixed and where.
No more sifting through piles of data to arrive at the data exceptions.
The BDS Solution reconciliation engine does the work for you.
When asked by customers and partners what
the most critical component of our technology offerings is, the
answer always seems to come as a surprise. At BottomLine Data
Solutions (BDS), we are extremely proud of the Solutions we develop,
and believe that every Communications Carrier should own one or
more of the Solutions that BDS has to offer. However, our Solutions
are a means to an end - and that end is highly
valuable information largely not available elsewhere.
When all is said and done, the entire BDS Solution Portfolio has
been structured for a single purpose - information. Carriers invest
in a BDS Solution to obtain a wealth of information - information
pertaining to recovering lost revenue, identifying cost savings
opportunities, correcting OSS database errors that contribute
to rework and lost productivity, and advancing their competitive
position. This information is generated via the BDS Reconciliation
Engine and is captured on user-friendly, intuitive exception reports.
To produce these reports, data is necessary. Each of the four
BottomLine Solutions relies on two forms of data - raw data and
audited data. Raw data is data that has been drawn from the Carrier
OSS, or other data sources (access database, spreadsheet, homegrown
system, hard copy, etc.) and stored in the BDS CircuitWise™
database for validation purposes. Raw data embodies the OSS
perception of how the true network is configured -
what we refer to as the Virtual Network. In a perfect world, the
Virtual Network will match the
Actual Network - commonly it does not. The Virtual Network data
is used by Technicians and Analysts to then compare with the true
'As-Built' (either as captured during the course of a field equipment/circuit
inventory, or via auto-polling of network elements).
Once the equipment and/or circuit validation exercise is complete,
the raw data then becomes audited data. The audited data is also
referred to as the 'As-Built' - the true network picture. In some
instances, if no discrepancies are noted, raw data and audited
data are identical. However, if the BDS Reconciliation
Engine compares the data portrayed in the database with that of
the "real world" and flags differences - these differences (or
exceptions) are captured on Exception Reports.
BDS Exception Reports come embedded with each BDS Solution and
fall into 11 distinct categories. The ultimate purpose of each
report is to provide the user with the detailed information needed
to know exactly what to fix, and where:
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Equipment
Catalog: |
Comprehensive
analysis of catalog exceptions, identify obsolete catalog items,
and general parts catalog tracking |
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Provisioned
Equipment: |
Review
existing configurations and changes to installed equipment under
a variety of scenarios including Add, Delete, and Modify data
produced during field data collection |
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Network
Ports: |
Network
equipment port analysis - evaluate discrepancies between port
type, port status, speed, and more |
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Analyze
Circuits: |
Analysis
of circuit discrepancies at a variety of levels, by site, by
speed, by customer and more |
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Analyze
Cross-Connects: |
Analyze
tie cable, hardwire, software, and jumper discrepancies |
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Analyze
Customers: |
Data
derived by reports contained in other categories, however consolidated
by customer account |
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Billing
Account Data: |
Reveals
customer billing discrepancies such as customers not being billed,
customers on incorrect billing cycle, customers billed at incorrect
rate, and so forth |
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Analyze
Suppliers: |
Manage
a variety of supplier categories by site and between sites |
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Leased
Line Data (COGS): |
Displays
leased lines (offnet) circuits that differ in status in the
OSS and BSS versus the true 'as-built'; detailed information
to stop unnecessary lease circuit payments and recover LEC overpayments |
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Audit
Reports: |
Detailed
presentation of deltas (differences) between raw (OSS) and audited
(true) equipment data by site, down to the card and port |
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Equipment
Layout: |
Tree
and visual rack representation by network location; eliminates
need to maintain separate VISIO and/or AutoCAD images - images
automatically produced to scale |
Following are five sample reports - examples from five of the
eleven reporting categories. To view these reports, simply click
on the appropriate link below:
The above sample reports were all produced via the CircuitWise™
Reporting Engine. However, BDS reports are also compatible with
most third-party reporting tools, with custom report writing services
available upon request.
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