WO2002015478A1

WO2002015478A1 - A communications network and service system

Info

Publication number: WO2002015478A1
Application number: PCT/AU2001/001018
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael Joachim Willi Richter; David Harry Macfarlane Giddy
Original assignee: Telstra New Wave Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2000-08-14
Filing date: 2001-08-14
Publication date: 2002-02-21

Abstract

A communications services network having a network infrastructure to deliver analog and data communications traffic in a variety of protocol formats for customers, the infrastructure having a common data switching architecture and a service infrastructure applied across the network and having a facilitate usage component to facilitate usage of the infrastructure by customers.

Description

A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK AND SERVICE SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a communications network and a service system and in particular a network for delivery of a wide variety of telecommunications and communications services using an integrated network and services infrastructure.

BACKGROUND

Telecommunications and communications networks have been traditionally built by introducing or adding dedicated components to handle specific types of communications traffic. For instance, the standard voice network, often referred to as the PSTN, was established to handle analog voice traffic and includes local exchange switches and main exchange switches constructed to carry and switch this type of traffic only. Additional networks have been connected and added to the voice network and configured to handle different types of data traffic or other analog traffic, such as facsimile transmissions. The data networks have been built with different infrastructure to cater for the different protocols and types of networks used. Examples include the X.25 and ISDN networks. Recently, additional components have been added to handle IP traffic which can be carried over a variety of different networks. Networks have also been configured to specifically handle wireless communications traffic, such as different forms of cellular telephone and data networks. Incremental development over the years has produced a communications infrastructure with an architecture that can be considered disparate, cumbersome and ad- hoc, making it extremely difficult for network or service providers responsible for the infrastructure to maintain, administer and develop. It also makes it difficult for network or service providers to effectively and efficiently meet and respond to customer requirements.

It is desired to provide at least a useful alternative, and particularly a network and/or service system which alleviates the above and is integrated and flexible with a flat switching architecture that can handle and manage delivery of a wide variety of communications services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a communications services network having: a network infrastructure to deliver analog and data communications traffic in a variety of protocol formats for customers, said infrastructure having a common data switching architecture; and a service infrastructure applied across said network and having a facilitate usage component to facilitate usage of the infrastructure by customers.

The present invention also provides a communications services network having a network layer, service layer and a relationship layer.

The present invention also provides a service system for a communications network, having a first component to facilitate and enable usage of services on the network, a second component for managing a relationship between a service provider and at least one customer.

The present invention a service process executed by a communications services network, including: identifying a customer; assessing at least one communications need on the basis the customer's interaction with said network; offering at least one option for access to at least one service of said network in response to said assessing; and connecting said customer to a service of said network in response to selection of said at least one option. The present invention also provides a communications network having a network infrastructure to deliver analog and data communications traffic in a variety of protocol formats for customers, said infrastructure having a common data switching architecture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred exemplary embodiments of the present invention are hereinafter described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a diagram of network and service infrastructure layers of a preferred embodiment of a communications network;

Figure 2 is a diagram of network component layers of the communications network;

Figure 3 is a block diagram of ATM components of the network;

Figure 4 is a block diagram of an ATM access device (AAD) connected to service delivery components of the network;

Figure 5 is a block diagram of a Customer Centred Process System (CCPS) of the network;

Figure 6 is a block diagram of modules within each service layer component of the CCPS; Figure 7 is a symbol key to process flow diagrams for process levels 2 and 3 of the

CCPS;

Figure 8 is a flow diagram of a Facilitate Usage core process of the CCPS;

Figure 9 is a tabular list of the constituent processes of the Facilitate Usage core process; Figure 10 is a flow diagram of a Determine Usage and Facilitate Interaction level 2 process of the Facilitate Usage core process;

Figure 11 is a flow diagram of a Monitor, Control and Complete Interaction level 2 process of the Facilitate Usage core process;

Figure 12 is a tabular list of the constituent processes of the Bill, Collect and Settle core process;

Figure 13 is a flow diagram of the Bill, Collect and Settle core process; Figure 14 is a flow diagram of the Gather Events from Collection Points level 2 process;

Figure 15 is a flow diagram of the Manage Customer Balance level 2 process;

Figure 16 is a flow diagram of the Bill Customer level 2 process; Figure 17 is a flow diagram of the Collect Payments and Manage Enquires level 2 process;

Figure 18 is a flow diagram of the Maximise Receivable from Customer level 2 process;

Figure 19 is a flow diagram of the Settle with Third Parties level 2 process; and Figure 20 is a flow diagram of the Provide Financial Information level 2 process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A communications services network for delivery of telecommunications and other communications services, has, as shown in Figure 1, a horizontally layered architecture with network and service infrastructures partitioned into a total of four layers 2 to 8. The architecture resembles the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) 7-layer network reference model with the network layers flattened and two new service and relationship layers added as the highest levels. The lowest layer 2 in the model represents the network infrastructure which includes the physical connections allowing network communications to occur. This includes connections made with coaxial and twisted pair cables, optical fibres, radio frequency signals. The next layer 4 provides connectivity services using the physical network layer, allowing information to be delivered from one place to another. This includes a variety of interfaces and protocols, including the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and data networks using synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Internet protocol (IP), and integrated services data network (ISDN). The third layer 6, the service layer, represents the range of value-added service offerings that are based at the transaction level. This level of offering involves manipulation of the content of the information flow, eg searching the World Wide Web, Uniform Messaging translation, or involves customer specific transactions such as payment transactions. The services of the layer are supported by user interfaces, content, applications and service platforms, such as servers. Finally, the relationship layer 8 provides structured services to allow users to manage their personal or professional lives, or businesses to more effectively interact with their markets and suppliers. This layer has components to establish various relationships between people and businesses.

The relationship layer 8 delivers the capability for network or service providers to be the preferred starting and destination point for users of the Internet. Within this layer, users have the ability to manage their own relationships, and to become part of or manage extended relationships, such as communities. In addition, a wide set of tools and capabilities are available to users to facilitate interaction.

The range of services provided by the communications network depends in part upon the physical communications media which support the overlying layers. The physical network is constructed as a "flat" switching architecture, whereby all forms of data including voice, text, and multimedia are transported by a single packet-switched network protocol. Figure 2 shows network infrastructure components of the communications network, with the lowest layer 10 of optical fibre supporting an optical network layer 11 carrying wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) signals. Each wavelength carries data by synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) multiplexing in layer 12. At the top level 14, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) provides a common network core across all optical and non-optical networks, supporting Internet protocol (IP) at the application level. Although access to the network for many customers is through the PSTN, it is advantageous to transfer both voice and data into the IP/ATM network (and as close to the customer as possible) so that the PSTN functions only as an interface to the packet-switched network.

The network architecture of the communications network is based on ATM because it is considered a true multi-service technology which supports voice, video, data and multimedia. Therefore, the service platform for the communications network is an ATM- based multi-service infrastructure including integrated network and service management systems. The ATM network can be viewed as two functional network domains: Core Network (Network Intelligence, Backbone and Edge switches) and Access (ATM Access Device (AAD), Service Specific Access Device (SSAD) and Network Termination (NT)).

The Core Network Domain only supports ATM interfaces, and no services or service adaptation functions are directly supported off the backbone. The Network Intelligence underpinning the Core Network Domain includes Intelligent Network (IN) functionality (eg, number translation, Virtual Private Networking (VPN)) and network-based servers (eg, service internetworking servers, route servers and database servers).

The Access Domain provides access into the ATM Core Network. In particular, an ATM Access Device (AAD) provides the service adaptation functionality to interface non-ATM services into the core ATM network, including circuit emulation. The AAD is a multiplexer supporting low-throughput (eg, 2 Mbit/s) native ATM customer interfaces. In order to achieve low cost per port, the AAD has no switching functionality. In cases where the device is located on customer premises, all of the Access Domain functions including Network Termination are supported by the AAD. Figure 3 shows a diverse range of non- ATM networks interfacing to the ATM network through the AAD 40 of a local transmission hub 55. PSTN voice data 46 is supported via the PSTN/ISDN network 45 and a voice-dial gateway 44 connected to the AAD 40. IP connectivity is supported via (a) a data dial gateway 41 and the PSTN/ISDN network 42 for Dial-up IP 43, (b) via ADSL CU 48 and ADSL exchanges 47 for "permanent" ADSL IP 49, and (c) through other IP gateways 50 for optical fibre, wireless and satellite IP 51. Connections through the AAD are established using a network management system. Switched ATM services are provided through the AAD by incorporating the signalling channel and switched connections in a Virtual Path (VP) connection.

The transmission architecture of the network has three levels in its hierarchy which map directly with the three switching functions: backbone, edge and access device, as shown in Figure 4. The network has a flat switching architecture, with switching and signalling only supported at edge switches 30. ATM backbone switches 22 only support Virtual Path (VP) cross-connect functionality and are thus not strictly switches as defined by the ITU-T. The backbone 22 and edge switch 30 provide for Virtual Circuit Connection (VCC) and Virtual Path Connection (VPC) connectivity, with the backbone 22 supplying management system initiated VP connectivity which fully interconnects the edge switches 30. The edge switch 30 provides management and control plane initiated VPC and VCC connectivity. The edge switch 30 connects two backbone switches 22 for redundancy and load sharing. The edge switches 30 also interconnect directly when sufficient demand exists. To support a variety of advanced services, the edge switches 30 include various network intelligence functions such as address translation functions, address resolution for IP as well as traditional IN functions, so that capabilities which exist in the PSTN/ISDN as well as new functions such as LAN interconnect, Intranet and Internet are available. The edge switches 30 supply services on ATM interfaces at rates of 34 Mbit/s and above.

Main Transmission Hubs (MTH) 20 are located in major exchanges in mainland capital cities, and have access to interstate as well as intrastate transmission systems. A backbone switch 22 is located at selected MTH sites. Local Transmission Hubs (LTH) 24 are located in major suburban exchanges and major regional cities and have access to MTH sites 20 within the state and to other nearby LTH sites 24. The edge switches 30 are located at these sites, subject to demand. MTH sites are by definition also LTH sites. Transmission Access Points (TAP) 32 are located at all other exchanges and within some customer premises and have access to transmission to nearby LTH sites 24. Sites of this type are considered for the location of ATM access device functions 28. MTH and LTH sites are also TAP sites by definition. Server functions connect to the network via edge switches 30, however the most appropriate edge switch depends upon the nature of the server. Content based servers (eg, WWW, video), address translation servers and address resolution servers, which normally experience high loads are best distributed and co-located with most edge switches. Conversely, low utilisation servers and Intelligent Network Service Control Points (IN SCP) are best connected to MTH-located edge switches.

An alternate embodiment consists of a similar architecture to that described above, but where the common network core is implemented using only the IP layer without the supporting ATM infrastructure. In this case, the IP layer is implemented using dedicated IP routers interconnected using both optical and non-optical bearers with and without the use of a SDH transport layer. In this case, the core network supports only IP interfaces and all the Network Intelligence is related to IP functions (such as IP VPNs, Domain Name Servers, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol servers, Point-to-Point Protocol terminators, IP Security protocol terminators, etc.) The previously described Access Domain in this case is applicable for all access types supporting IP. In this embodiment, routers are located at both MTH sites and LTH sites and extend to TAPs in some cases. The functions described for edge switches are, in this embodiment, performed by a combination of routers and support servers.

The network and service infrastructure of the network, as shown in Figure 1, allows combinations of elements from each of the four layers to be packaged together to provide offerings to customers, and not all elements necessarily need to be provided by a single service provider. As an example, a provider might provide end-to-end services internationally, but may not own all the network components delivering the services. A global multimedia service company might not necessarily provide all the connectivity or services elements in all locations, nor will it necessarily own the content. As packages subscribed to by customers are likely to be made up from elements at all levels of the network, a coherent service infrastructure, spanning all of the layers is used, as described below. The actual components of the service infrastructure supporting or servicing each layer may be different, but they are available on a common enabling technology base.

A Customer Centred Process System (CCPS) is a service infrastructure which manages and monitors the way in which service is provided to customers. CCPS is structured as four levels of processes. The core processes at the top level (level 1) are numbered Px, where x is the process number. Level two and three processes are designated as Px.y and Px.y.z, respectively, and level 4 processes are not numbered. Two generic processes, Identify Customer, Assess Needs and Route, and Capture Learnings and Feedback are numbered Pg.l and Pg.2 respectively. Supporting processes are included in a PX, Manage the Corporation supra-process. CCPS has seven top level core processes, as shown in Figure 5, and customer relationship management 61 is central to and touches all of the remaining supporting processes 62 to

68. The seven core processes are:

(i) Manage Customer Relationship (PI) 61 (ii) Develop Offering (P2) 62 (iii) Market and Promote (P3) 63 (iv) Sell and Enable (P4) 64

(v) Facilitate Usage (P5) 65 (vi) Bill, Collect and Settle (P6) 66 (vii) Maintain Service (P7) 67

All of the processes are executed by a plurality of software modules in the network infrastructure components, but can also be executed at least in part by dedicated hardware components.

The core process Manage Customer Relationship 61 provides a hub to the Customer Centred Process System. It is the key process that is used to manage lifetime relationships with customers. Knowledge about customers is collected during all customer interactions, and is added to the customer's profile and preferences captured in the Manage Customer Relationship process. The resulting customer information, together with knowledge of markets and provider offerings, provides the basis for product and service development, and selling to customers.

The level 1 processes PI, P4, P5, P6 and P7 include two generic level 2 processes, Pg.l Identify Customer, Assess Needs and Route 601, and Pg.2 Capture Learnings and Feedback 602 as the first and last of their constituent level 2 sub-processes. The level 1 P3 process includes Pg.l only. These generic sub-processes are included in all level 1 processes where the customer has incoming or outgoing contact with the service provider. They ensure that the customer is successfully routed to the correct person, service or content within the service provider, and that information about these interactions is captured.Pg.l controls customer routing, differentiated treatment and preference recording. Pg.2 records customer contact into a contact history record. The customer's role, specific needs and other options from the service provider, are identified during this process. The options given to the customer take in to consideration persona and role. Usage, used to charge customers for the provider service or to build a clear picture of how customers use the service provider, is recorded with each customer transaction.

With reference to Figure 6, for PI Manage Customer Relationship, following from the generic Identify Customer, Assess Needs And Route process 601, an Acquire Customer process 612 identifies the customer, recognises the customer as a unique entity, and provides a customer profile with preferences. Customer acquisition (of individuals and organisations) occurs when customers provide information about themselves, gaining an identity which can be used during all transactions. This is different to setting up an account linked to something like a house or a location. Customers use this process to establish and modify their means of payment, their preferences and their profile (facts about themselves). They can establish "personas", which define different views of the customer's preferences related to a role or situation that the customer can be in. For instance, a customer may wish to have a persona for their work in Australia, a second for work when overseas and a third for home or private usage.

Using customer provided information gathered from other processes, plus information from other sources, the service provider executes a Build And Develop Insight process 613 to develop records on a customer's needs, value and risk (credit risk, defection risk, fraud risk). The focus of insight development is for the customer as a whole, across all services and locations. In the same way that customer information can be shared with third parties during a transaction, so it may be shared with the provider's business partners on a more long term basis. Similarly, the provider gains customer knowledge from other third parties.

A Maintain Customer Relationship process 614 captures profile and preference changes, and allows customers to modify their portfolio of services. This process also responds to customer feedback and enquires, and assesses and rewards customer loyalty. Customer privacy and security are managed, including the provision of a variety of security/privacy levels.

An End Customer Relationship process 615 determines the need to end relationships with the service provider and manages the appropriate actions.

The P2 Develop Offering process is used to develop and manage a prioritised program of products, packages and market ready offerings. Information from market intelligence, customer insight, an understanding of technology, and of the business strategy is assimilated to produce and maintain a strategy for market offerings using strategy production and maintenance processes 621, 623.

In this process, knowledge of the customer is the basis of all product and service development. Based on customer insight and market intelligence, products are developed to target a mass market, a customer segment, or the needs of a major customer.

Design and development can be entirely a service provider activity or can be in conjunction with third parties. Once they have been developed and tested, product and service capabilities are made market-ready by developing market offerings. In this way offerings for different customer segments, including major customer bids, can "reuse" product and service capabilities.

Product and service capabilities are defined, developed, tested and deployed in a Manage Product and Service Capability Lifecycle process 622. Their performance and profitability are monitored and decommissioned where appropriate.

A Build, Enhance & Test Product and Service Infrastructure process 624 is used to manage network, alliance and content capabilities.

The focus of the P3Market and Promote process is to clearly identify target customers, match the offering to the customer or customer segment, and execute a design process 632, and a prepare and execute process 633 for promotional initiatives. Marketing is targeted and delivered in coordinated initiatives through a variety of channels. Customer reaction is then gauged, recorded and analysed by an analysis process 634 to optimise marketing effectiveness, and relay information back to the business. Coordinated campaign delivery of this nature is used for customer retention as well as sales. The P3 process is also used to develop account plans for large customers.

In P4 Sell and Enable, using customer insight gathered through the Manage Customer Relationship PI process, the service provider can better match offerings to the needs and value of the customer using an Identify & Match Customer Needs to Offerings process 642, and develop a satisfactory solution.

A Develop Solution & Gain Acceptance process 643 and a Deliver Solution to Established Commitments process 644 match customer needs to the service provider's offerings, make appropriate commitments for product delivery, keep customers informed throughout the delivery process, and adjust to customer needs. Finally an Ensure Customer Satisfaction process 645 ensures that the customer is satisfied with the delivered solution and knows how to use it effectively.

The P5 Facilitate Usage process creates value by enhancing and facilitating the use of products, services, and content. It recognises that customers' most common interaction with the service provider is their everyday usage, connections and access to content and services. Customers' usage habits are analysed and used to help refine knowledge about the customer. These records help the service provider to tailor its services for the customer. The process also enables customers to use the service provider as a "concierge" to a wide variety of service provider and third party content and services.

In the P6 Bill, Collect and Settle process, all events, usage, and transactions are collected, and rated or priced, for use in billing. Customers are able to view their usage, transactions and events along with the charges for the activity. Appropriate discounts can be flexibly applied. There are benefits for customers who prepay for certain services. Alternatively, they are provided with an easily understood bill that accurately reflects their service usage and the nature of their full solution. A convenient means for paying this bill is also provided. Feedback on customer spend and bill analysis is used to optimise customer profitability and to manage customer risk. Settlements with third parties and collections from customers are also made in this process. This includes the revenue collected from customers, residential and wholesale, plus settlement provided to suppliers, (eg, settlement with other operators for interconnect.) Credit risk and fraud are monitored and controlled in such a way as to maximise the service provider's long term revenue. The business uses this process to effectively and efficiently collect revenues and allocate them correctly.

For P7 Maintain Service, customers have two types of needs satisfied by this process: the need to have service problems resolved, such as faults or technical support, and the need for a quality environment for the service they use. The process therefore has two major processes that ensure the service provider's customers receive optimal service - reactive maintenance of service using a problem resolution process 674, where the service provider responds to enunciated needs of customers, and pro-active maintenance of service 678, where the service provider contacts customers to provide information or notification of problems. Reactive maintenance of service sees customer problems analysed, investigated, diagnosed and resolved after being notified. Service and repair commitments to the customer are given priority. Pro-active maintenance of service is delivered to all customers. It includes the predictive and preventative monitoring and maintenance of the product and service infrastructure. In the always-on environment of the future, service performance will be measured in terms of speed, and access to content.

The following nomenclature is used to discuss quality of service: "problems" are experienced by the customer, whereas "trouble" is initiated within the service provider.

Following problem diagnosis by an Identify & Analyse Customer Service Problems process 672, service difficulties may be linked to technical or service trouble within the service provider (or partner) service delivery by a Plan Customer Problem Resolution process 673 and resolved by a Perform Resolution to Established Commitments process 674. The problem is closed by a Gain Customer Acceptance & Close Problem process 675. The P7 process also includes activities for monitoring the level of service 676 provided by third parties that are involved in the delivery of service. The impact of the trouble on customer services is assessed and handled by an Impact and Correlate Trouble to Customer Services process 677.

The corporation management process, PX Manage the Corporation, supports the other core processes. The process is used to build the supporting business infrastructure for the processes that directly deliver value to the customer. A first process 681 is executed to develop and maintain the vision and strategy for the business, and this is used by to manage and develop specific strategic plans for (i) business capabilities by one process 683 and (ii) operational infrastructure by another process 684. The performance of the business is then set and is measured and optimised by the Manage and Optimise Performance process 682.

A number of processes directly support the business of the service provider, including a build and maintain the IT infrastructure process 685, a Manage Corporate Financials process 686, and a Manage Human Resources process 687 to appropriately deliver the strategy. The Manage External Relations process 688 includes relations with suppliers, interconnecting telcos, alliances and partners. A Manage Materials process 689 and a Manage Corporate Services process 690 are also part of the PX process.

Figure 7 shows a key to the level 2 and 3 sub-process diagrams of the remaining Figures. The key can be used to identify process interrelationships, connections to other process levels, and data inventory usage.

The P5 Facilitate Usage process creates value for customers and the service provider by enhancing and facilitating the customer or individual user's use of products, services, and content in real time. The process enhances the customer's experience each time they interact with the service provider by real time profiling of each customer or user. This occurs through utilisation of data that is captured as a result of the customer using a data or IP service or connecting to content in a provider or third party network. The Facilitate Usage process utilises the "knowledge" gained during each interaction to customise the customer/user's next contact with the provider's services. This may entail the recommendation of a particular service, product, or solution, or recommendations on the most efficient or effective way to utilise the services provided by the provider or a third party. It may also lead to information being captured for marketing/sales purposes, service, or billing purposes by the service provider, or provided as a value added service to a customer. In most instances, the Facilitate Usage process is largely automated, ie, the customer has no interaction with a person in order to use the chosen service, although the final connection may be to a person. In other instances, there may be human support to facilitate the interaction, using the support of the process software.

The process provides a "concierge" like support role to enable the customer to successfully achieve their connection, transaction, and completed interaction as smoothly and efficiently as possible. The Facilitate Usage process underpins all other service infrastructure processes and is central to each customer or user interaction with the service provider. The "concierge" capabilities may be provided reactively, on-demand to the customer, or may be pro-actively volunteered as a result of customer usage data and insight.

The principle features of the Facilitate Usage process are: (i) Establish who the customer is and what they are authorised to connect to. (ii) Establish what the customer wants to connect to, or what they want to transact.

(iii) Facilitate the interaction for the customer and automatically provide more effective or efficient ways to interact with the service provider or third parties, (iv) Collect all the information necessary to collect revenue from the transaction, and maintain an audited record of the transaction, provide data feeds to marketing intelligence systems as well as service information to enable the service provider to dimension the network, capture fraud and plan capacity. (v) Collect all information necessary to facilitate interactions for the customer, and other customers, in the future by storing them in a central database.

It should be noted that the Facilitate Usage 65 and PI Manage Customer Relationship 61 processes have interdependencies and share common information.

The Facilitate Usage process collects all information on customer events and interactions, and supplies this information to all authorised processes or people. The receiving process decides what to do (if anything) with the information. The Facilitate Usage process also interfaces with third party databases to share appropriate information.

The Facilitate Usage process presents a constant stream of information to all processes to ensure flexibility and scalability. Business rules, tools, and analysis engines can analyse the data generated by Facilitate Usage - requiring the process to supply the same level of information to all existing and future processes. This includes the capability to "partition" information to a third party (such as in a wholesale environment). The other processes are capable of providing a partitioned view with the information provided by Facilitate Usage.

Information about each transaction is recorded and is used to settle with external parties and to charge customers. In the Internet, this includes "portal" like, and infomediary capabilities to assist customers in the search for information, connecting them to a service or content, providing a secure Authentication and Authorisation service, and facilitating electronic financial transactions. For example, a bank may pay lc to the service provider to refer a customer and 10c for a referral that results in a sale for the bank.

Complexities are handled in this process by recording the usage information for use in the P6 Bill, Collect and Settle process 66 for new revenue streams, and new ways of billing customers.

Facilitating usage also entails providing assistance in "how to use" the product, service, or customer equipment; even though the need to offer the customer help may be initiated in another process eg, Maintain Service 67, Sell and Enable 64 or Bill, Collect and Settle 66. The "how to use" service ranges from on-line FAQ/QandAs, help files, and Help desks, to paid training and consultancy.

The process applies to connectivity and networking products as well as relationship products. For the Connectivity layer 4, it facilitates call completion, by automated services or operator assisted services. It also facilitates the networking of customers by conference bridges, or operator assisted teleconferencing. For the Relationship layer 8, it facilitates:

(i) information interchange as in web hosting and search engines, e-mail, and 1900 information services;

(ii) content as in web pages, databases, FoxTel™ programs, and Yellow/White pages directories; and (iii) transactions as in e-commerce, and on-line booking/ordering.

In addition, user's individual preferences are captured and actioned in terms of quality, performance, cost and content. The Facilitate Usage Process sets up, maintains and actions different profiles or "personas" for each user. For example, an individual user may have different profiles depending on their job function, or geographic location.

The Facilitate Usage core process includes a number of sub-processes which are described below, with reference to Figures 8 to 11. Figure 8 is a flow diagram of the P5 process showing level 2 processes, beginning with customer contact, and proceeding through the processes described below. Figure 9 shows all of the relevant level 2, 3 and 4 processes.

A Pg.l/P5.1 Identify Customer, Assess Needs and Route process 601 is based on the generic Pg.l Identify Customer, Assess Needs and Route process. The process includes recognising and authenticating a customer, and then identifying the customer's requirement to interact with content or services. Establishing the need for the interaction occurs in the processes below. The correct point within the service provider to send the customer data is also determined and the data sent to the point. A P5.2 Determine Usage and Facilitate Interaction process 652 is used to establish the particular need of a customer for interaction with internal or external parties, content or services, eg, connect to an airline for a ticket booking; connect to the national archives to help with a school project; connect to an on-line stock broking service to invest. The process of determining the customer's need is generally automated, however in some cases it is performed manually, such as in the case of using a directory assistance service.

Once the need is determined, and the customer has selected any options provided to them, the interaction is made to the internal or external party. An interaction can only be made if the customer has a means to pay (if required), the necessary credit, and the appropriate access privileges. Options provided to the customer, and the experiences the customer has, are based on the customer's recorded preferences, the persona/role selected (which may happen automatically), and the customer's value, for this transaction.

Marketing and promotional information is presented to the customer based on their established identity. This information enables customers get the most from the service provider and third party provided services.

A flow diagram of the Determine Usage and Facilitate Interaction level 2 process is shown in Figure 10, including the following level 3 sub-processes:

A P5.2.1 Determine Usage Need process 521 determines the need of the customer and a network resource to connect to the customer. This is either an automated or human assisted process. In more complicated situations, the customer may have a requirement, such as "I wish to go on holiday to Malaysia", which is then fitted to a connection, or set of interactions to external services.

There are occasions where the service provider can directly fulfil the need of the customer using content or services. The options for interaction vary from transaction to transaction for any particular customer. These variations are based on the role that the customer is playing at the time, and the persona that they have selected for the transaction. A P5.2.2 Check Access and Customer Credit process 522 confirms that the customer can use the network resource or service. For example, check the credit, passwords, and service availability for this customer. This tends not to vary much from transaction to transaction of any particular customer, as it is based on facts about the customer. This involves executing data processing steps to confirm the customers access to the requested content or service, and then checking the customer's credit.

A P5.2.3 Educate the Customer on Product Use process 523 confirms, if necessary, that the customer understands how to effectively use the service, and provides training and information to the customer. The customer can be electronically provided with documentation or help information and other training materials to ensure effective use of the service.

Once a customer has been validated or interaction established, a P5.2.4 Facilitate Interaction process 524 facilitates the interaction to the content or service, and hand-off information is provided for a third party where necessary. In particular, it is during this process that the customer is connected to a network resource providing content or service and where necessary connected to other parties. An event record is initiated for recording the interaction. Once the customer is successfully connected to facilitate the interaction, this completes the P5.2 Determine Usage and Facilitate Interaction level 2 process.

The next process in P5, Facilitate Usage, is a P5.3Monitor, Control and Complete Interaction process 653, as shown in Figures 8 and 11. During and at the close of the customer transaction information is collected which can be used for auditing transactions, maintaining service quality, billing customers, and settling with external parties. The latter two are used by the Bill, Collect and Settle process 66 to produce billing information and to arrange settlement. Changes in customer usage patterns are also monitored, as they may relate to partial churn of services, or the use of override codes. The interaction is controlled and monitored by the service provider. Monitoring ensures the customer gets the service experience they require (such as help with a conference call facility) and that the service provider's interests are protected. For the latter, customer credit is monitored in real-time and service suspension is initiated if necessary, a simple example of which would be using a Smartcard in a pay phone. Customers are given information useful for them to control their usage and prevent unwanted disconnection.

A flow diagram of P5.3, the Monitor, Control and Complete Interaction process, is shown in Figure 11. This process includes the following sub-processes, continuing from process P5.2.4 described above.

A P5.3.1 Measure and Record Usage process 531 accurately records the usage of the content or service by the customer. Customer usage is monitored during the interaction, and transactions are recorded. This information is used to make any real time debits, such as debits from a Smartcard. The process requires usage and transactions to be rated in realtime.

A P5.3.2 Monitor Interaction process 532 controls the interaction where required. This can involve the introduction of parties, information and knowledge to improve the customer experience. Customer credit is also monitored to ensure a customer can continue the interaction. Usage can be presented to the customer and the process handles requests to complete the interaction.

A P5.3.3 End Usage, Record Final State and Close process 533 collects information about the completed transaction. In particular information is collected about activity from external parties which enables revenues to be collected from customers and settlement to be made with external parties. Following this process, there is a final step to capture customer and staff feedback from the transaction.

In Pg.2/P5.4 Capture Learnings and Feedback process 602 customer profile and preference information is captured which enables the customer to be connected to the right content and services more efficiently on the next occasion. This completes the P5 process. The Bill Collect and Settle process 66 covers functions associated with the collection of any billable customer event, occasion, activity, customer product and chargeable service action, and the subsequent path that this information takes through the system until a bill is produced and revenue has been collected. The Bill, Collect and Settle process provides the customer with a billing service that is easy to use, delivers many value added features and ensures that information is treated with integrity and assurance in order to meet customers' billing requirements and expectations. Customers can personalise their billing arrangement(s) and are able to make changes without the need for service provider intervention.

The primary features of the Bill, Collect and Settle process are: (i) accurately identify all collectable data, usage and activity, (ii) rate and package charges in real time (i.e., immediately).

(iii) selectively provide real time billing for areas such as current balances, rated transactions, price quotes (e.g., by product, product package, customer specific), rating during the "event" (e.g., on-line game), (iv) allow customers to personalise their billing with regard to format, layout and content, (v) exit and enter (internal and external to the service provider) the billing process at controlled points for manipulation, verification, auditability and bundling.

(vi) rapid deployment for all product and billing changes and enhancements, particularly in the area of data and IP products, (vii) incorporate new network and network centric platforms into the Bill and Collect activity. (viii) support bill pricing and reporting for Managed Services.

Events, usage and transactions are collected and rated across all customer segments. Customers can view all events, usage and transactions along with the rated amount for the activity both prior to and post bill. Discounts are flexibly applied and can be clearly understood. Customers can pre-pay, and/or are provided with an easily understood bill, that accurately reflects their service usage and the nature of their full solution. Customers can choose from many options for convenient means to pay. Information from a customer's bill is used to provide customers with advice on how to get the most value from their solution. Feedback on customer spend and bill analysis is used to optimise customer profitability and to manage customer risk.

Settlements with third parties and collections from customers and third parties are made in this process. This includes the revenue collected from customers, both residential and wholesale, in addition to settlement provided to suppliers, for example, settlement with other service providers for interconnect.

Credit risk and fraud are monitored and controlled in such a way as to maximise long term revenue. The service provider uses this process to effectively and efficiently collect revenues and allocate them correctly.

The core process 66 includes a number of level 2, 3 and 4 sub-processes, as shown in Figure 12. A flow diagram of the process 66 is shown in Figure 13, including the following level 2 processes.

A P6.1/Pg.l Identify Customer, Assess Needs and Route process 601 is used to connect the service provider to customers for collections and customers to the service provider for payments, bill enquires, bill disputes and fraud notifications.

A P6.2 Gather Customer Events process 662 gathers all internally and externally recorded events, usage or transactions. This not only includes information used to directly bill the customer, but also information used as an audit of activity, for both the customer and the service provider. The collection points for this information, representing both internal and external events, may come from other processes, including P4 Sell and Enable, P5 Facilitate Usage, P7 Maintain Service, and PI Manage Customer Relationship.

Adjustments, solution changes and activation events are also collected at this point of the process. All collected information relating to billing is converted to a common format that is used throughout the rest of the process (mediation). Finally, rating allocates a value to each of these events. Each rated record may be an accumulation of several events.

Figure 14 is a flow diagram of this level 2 process 662, illustrating the relationships between the level 3 sub-process steps described below.

A P6.2.1 Gather Events From Collection Points process 721 gathers the information collected on customer events. It gathers information from third parties, including service providers. The generation of this information happens in other processes, such as the Facilitate Usage (P5) process.

Usage, events and transactions represent all information that will be used to charge the customer or to provide an audit of activity and usage for both the customer and the service provider. It includes network usage, transactions, such as purchases, made via the service provider, rebates, adjustments, service events and hosted connections to content and services. All of the collected information is compiled into customer event records which are passed to a Mediate Events Process 722.

The P6.2.2 Mediate Events process 722 aggregates records from within the service provider, and from third parties with customer records, and converts to an appropriate format. In some instances more than one event may be brought together to provide a meaningful item for rating or presentation to the customer. Where necessary, items are labelled with a description of the event.

A P6.2.3 Rate Events process 723 rates the usage records for customers. Prices are calculated from a service provider's tariffs and a price assigned to an event record and the event record updated with the price so as to constitute a rated event.

A P6.3 Manage Customer Balance process 663 is a level 2 process that routinely collects relevant rated records to keep records up to date and in a standard format. The cycle time for this collection varies by customer and service. However the trend is towards real-time collection, so that customers can rapidly access usage and charge information.

Customer usage and activity information is formatted in a generic form for presentation to the customer. The generic form takes into consideration customer preferences (supplied in core process PI) for bill and usage presentation. Preferences can be, for example, a single bill for all services, or a hierarchical billing structure for different functions and locations. This generic formatted information is then presented to the customer, with some extra steps, on any medium (Internet, paper, etc.). The cycle time for production of the information varies from customer to customer, and from one service to another.

Figure 15 is a flow diagram of this level 2 process 663, illustrating the relationships between the level 3 sub-processes described below.

All customer payments and all customer rated usage and activity is collected in a P6.3.1 Accumulate Payments, Usage and Activity Information process 731. These are then accumulated to calculate a latest customer balance. The closer to real-time these steps occur, the sooner the customer can view their present balance. Usage and activity do not have a dollar amount applied if only an audit is required. Payment types include Payment in Advance, Accrual, or Flat Rate (where an agreed regular payment amount is supplemented with an infrequent reconciliation statement).

A P6.3.2 Prepare Current Usage and Activity Report process 732 prepares a current and up-to-date usage and activity report for the customer from the accumulated and balanced information calculated in the previous process (P6.3.1). The information is assembled into a common formatted output that can be used for presentation on any media.

A P6.4Bill Customer process 664 is a level 2 process that handles discounting and adjustments are applied on a more cyclic basis than the processes relevant to customer specific pricing discussed above. This pricing is only for amounts that cannot be calculated or applied in real-time, including cross-product and cross-account discounts, tier and fhreshold discounts and certain loyalty rewards. Customers are requested to pay for their services through a regular notification of charges (eg bill, a direct debit or credit card transaction). The bill cycle is either time based (eg each month), or value based (eg, each threshold). Payments information is taken from the generic output of the last process (Manage Customer Balance) and a final bill is produced and checked for accuracy. The bill is produced in the required medium (ie, paper or electronic) and delivered in the required manner (ie, mail, disc, e-mail) to the customer. For Direct Debit and Credit Card payments, the request for payment is issued to the agreed Financial Institution and the bill is for the customer's information only.

Figure 16 is a flow diagram of this level 2 process 664, illustrating the relationships between the level 3 sub-processes described below.

A P6.4.1 Identify and Price Charges for Customer process 741 calculates the full billed amounts from rated events and where necessary includes additional charges, discounts and adjustments. All rated events are assigned to an individual customer for pricing, so that charges, discounts, adjustments and rebates can be applied across a whole customer solution when a request for payment is made. Loyalty program points, if applicable, are also accrued here. This differs from the previous process because it occurs on a more cyclic, rather than real-time basis. It is at this point that billing information is assembled across the customer's solution. Information is added to the customer's charges which cannot be added in real-time.

A P6.4.2 Prepare Customer Bill process 742 formats a bill, which is the request for customer payment. In most instances the bill has two components, a report of activity and usage plus a request for payment of a dollar amount. Billed amounts are associated with the appropriate billed entity for the request for payment.

A P6.4.3 Check Bill Quality process 743 checks the bill for correctness (e.g. extreme variations, or outlandish numbers). Reviews bills with suspected problems and initiates investigation or analysis. If the abnormals are caused by problems, corrects the problems and releases the bill.

A P6.4.4 Deliver Customer Bill process 744 delivers the customer bill/statement through the customer specified channel. Various channels may be used over different media. For example, the bill may be delivered over the Internet by e-mail or on the web, by facsimile or by post. The bill is distributed according to the customers selected billing date.

A P6.5 Collect Payments and Manage Enquires process 665 is a level 2 process that collects customer payments for all usage and activity. Customers pay directly to the service provider, or to an agency or partner. For credit card or direct debit payment, the charges are debited from the customer through the appropriate financial institution. Customers are able to pre-pay for services. The payment process handles monetary amounts and other types of payments for usage and activity, such as with loyalty points.

Billing disputes are resolved to the agreement of all parties and any adjustments recorded. It is in this process that customers can dispute usage and activity that has taken place, the charges for usage and activity, and rewards for usage and activity (such as points for talk minutes). Adjustments are made as necessary and disputed amounts held back from the bill until resolved.

Figure 17 is a flow diagram of this process 665, illustrating the relationships between the level 3 sub-processes described below.

A P6.5.1 Manage Customer Payments, Pre-Payment or Deposits process 751 receives customer payments, including deposits, pre-payments and direct debits. The payment process also accounts for loyalty credits, so that customers can use these to pay for the provider's services or purchase rewards from associated third parties. This automated process relies on customer self-service for many forms of payment. A P6.5.2 Manage Billing Enquires and Disputes process 752 investigates any billing complaints and resolve to satisfaction of customer and the service provider. The process is used when the customer has an issue with the amount to pay, or an enquiry about the amount to pay. Disputes may be the result of the service provider's errors, third party errors, customer misunderstanding, miscommunication or fraud. Disputes also cover issues over accumulated loyalty points. Occasionally billing disputes are resolved by offering a different billing solution to the customer. This links back to the Sell and Enable P4 process.

A P6.6 Maximise Receivables from Customer process 666 is a level 2 process that manages customer receivables to reduce the risk of uncollected revenues. Firstly unpaid amounts are mentioned to identify those that may be at risk. Steps are then taken to action at risk amounts. The decision as to what is an at risk amount is based on insight into the risk of the customer, generated by the Manage Customer Relationship process. Different customers are treated differently for collections based on the risk profile and value to the service provider. The process also monitors for fraudulent activity. This looks for suspicious amounts and transactions, as well as identifying known fraudulent identities (such as credit cards and pseudonyms). The process takes place across the customer's whole solution, so that decisions to action unpaid amounts are not made based on a single product or service, but on whole of customer information. The emphasis is also on proactive monitoring and control of all at risk revenues. All collected amounts are processed for financial recording. An output is provided that can be used for corporate financial reporting in the Manage the Corporation process.

Figure 18 is a flow diagram of the process 666, illustrating the relationships between the level 3 sub-processes described below.

Unpaid amounts are reviewed and monitored for risk by a P6.6.1 Monitor Customer Receivables process 761. At risk amounts are determined from the risk and value insight into the customer, as discussed above. A P6.6.2 Action At Risk Customer Charges process 762 takes action on customer charges which are viewed as at risk. Action is based on the risk and value profile of the customer. The customer is provided with a notice of unpaid amounts. A plan for re-payments is arrived at with the customer (if possible), including mechanisms to prevent missed payments in the future. Other actions such as partial restriction of services (e.g. barring, temporary disconnection, etc.) are initiated if appropriate. If necessary, amounts for collection are passed to an external agency.

A P6.6.3 Identify and Action Fraud process 763 reviews and analyses risk indicators and abnormal usage reports, and initiates investigation and action.

A P6.7 Settle with Third Parties process 667 is a level 2 process that calculates all settlement amounts for services or service infrastructure provided to customers in a shared arrangement with third parties. Suppliers receive payments for all Events, Usage or Transactions for which they have agreed to provide part of the service or service infrastructure and the service provider has agreed to the basis for their Payment. The service provider receives interconnect revenues from third parties and revenues for hosted or mediated services involving third parties, where the service provider provides part of the service or service infrastructure, but the third party receives the customer payment.

Figure 19 is a flow diagram of this level 2 process 667, illustrating the relationships between the level 3 sub-processes described below.

A P6.7.1 Calculate Settlement Amounts process 771 calculates amounts that the service provider owes other parties. This includes revenue from partnerships, royalty type arrangements and settlement with other carriers. Payments for wholesale products are not settlement amounts, but just another form of customer payment. Calculation here applies to amounts where the services provided to end customers are shared with a partner or interconnect party. Disputes are handled in the billing disputes sub-process. A P6.7.2 Manage Settlement Collection process 772 collects amounts owed to the service provider by third parties. A P6.7.3 Forward Settlement to Third Party process 773 is used by the service provider to pay amounts owed to third party.

A P6.7.4 Manage Unpaid Settlement Amounts and Debt Distribution process 774 collects unpaid revenues from third parties and provides for third party debts and negotiating distribution of end customer debts between carriers.

A P6.8 Provide Financial Information and Reporting process 668 is a level 2 process that generates all revenue, bad debts and settlement amounts and reports to a general ledger. Provision of information for financial markets and regulatory information is not carried out in this process. The relevant level 3 sub-processes are described below with reference to Figure 20.

A P6.8.1 Prepare and Balance Payments and Receipts process 781 prepares and balances revenue and payments reports. A P6.8.2 Prepare information for general ledger process 782 prepares all collected information for the general ledger. A P6.9/Pg.2 Capture Learnings and Feedback process 602 is the generic level 2 process that completes the core process, and has been described previously.

Many modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A communications services network having: a network infrastructure to deliver analog and data communications traffic in a variety of protocol formats for customers, said infrastructure having a common data switching architecture; and a service infrastructure applied across said network and having a facilitate usage component to facilitate usage of the infrastructure by customers.

2. A network as claimed in claim 1, wherein the facilitate usage component monitors in real-time a customer's attempt to access a network resource and offer at least one option associated with said attempt during said attempt.

3. A network as claimed in claim 2, wherein said at least one option is based on customer data representing the customer's actions, preferences, and needs.

4. A network as claimed in claim 2, wherein the facilitate usage component operates on the basis of data acquired by monitoring past usage of said infrastructure by said customer.

5. A network as claimed in claim 3, wherein the facilitate usage component operates on the basis of data representing interaction of said customer with said network, such as location, time of day, terminal equipment, originating address and/or destination address.

6. A network as claimed in claim 1, wherein a customer's interactions with said service infrastructure is customised on the basis of data representing said customer's interactions with said network and service infrastructures.

7. A network as claimed in claim 1, wherein a customer may have one or more personas defined by profile data held for said customer, and said facilitate usage component operates on the basis of a persona determined for said customer.

8. A network as claimed in claim 6, wherein the personas are determined on the basis of characteristics of the customer's interaction with the network, such as location, time of day, terminal equipment, originating address and/or destination address.

9. A network as claimed in claim 7, wherein the personas are determined on the basis a communications need for said customer.

10. A network as claimed in claim 1, wherein the network infrastructure includes a device to multiplex and demultiplex said communications traffic for customers into a common data protocol stream for the switching architecture.

11. A network as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said facilitate usage component identifies a customer, and assesses a customer's need.

12. A network as claimed in claim 11, wherein said facilitate usage component initiates connection of the customer to a network resource in response to assessing said need.

13. A network as claimed in claim 1, wherein the service infrastructure includes a capture learnings and feedback component for acquiring data associated with a customer's interaction with the network.

14. A communications services network having a network layer, a service layer and a relationship layer.

15. A network as claimed in claim 11, wherein said network layer includes a physical layer and connectivity layer.

16. A service system for a communications network, having a first component to facilitate and enable usage of services on the network, a second component for managing a relationship between a service provider and at least one customer.

17. A service system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the components include components to identify a customer, assess a customer's needs and connect a customer to a network resource.

18. A service process executed by a communications services network, including: identifying a customer; assessing at least one communications need on the basis the customer's interaction with said network; offering at least one option for access to at least one service of said network in response to said assessing; and connecting said customer to a service of said network in response to selection of said at least one option.

19. A service process as claimed in claim 18, wherein said assessing is based on data acquired by monitoring the customer's past interaction with said network.

20. A service process as claimed in claim 18, wherein said offering is based on personal data of said customer, including preference data.

21. A service process as claimed in claim 18, wherein said identifying includes identifying a persona for said customer on the basis of profile data representing one or more personas for said customer.

22. A service process as claimed in claim 21, wherein the personas are determined on the basis of characteristics of the customer's interaction with the network, such as location, time of day, terminal equipment, originating address and/or destination addresses.

23. A service process as claimed in claim 18, including capturing data representing said customer's interaction with the network for use in said assessing.

24. Software distributed across said network having code to execute the steps of a service process as claimed in any one of claims 18 to 23.

25. A communications services network having components distributed across the network to execute a service process as claimed in any one of claims 18 to 23.

26. A communications network having a network infrastructure to deliver analog and data communications traffic in a variety of protocol formats for customers, said infrastructure having a common data switching architecture.